I came to NYC today with some other guys from Sub School. We got tickets that are normally $400 for free because we are active duty military. Such a sweet program. I'm having a really good time.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II
Today I visited Plymouth, Mass. And saw plymouth rock. It is an icon of America's permanance and enduring freedom. It's actually not suoer cool, but we were in the area and thought why not stop by. It's just as I remember it when I first saw it 13 years ago.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Latest picture of Elle
Here's the latest pic of Elle Shevaun sent me. Isn't that flower headthing cute? One more week 'til I meet up with them.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The crazy OK Go Guys have done it again
OK Go, one of the most creative bands in recent memory has made another crazy music video. After their last video, the amazing 4 minute long Rube Goldberg machine I was wondering what they might come up with for their next video. Well this time they have taken 192 hours of video of themselves and the LA skyline and made a 4 minute video. The video was all taken in one long camera shot and was sped up and slowed down to make it go to the music.
Discover magazine did an interesting piece about the video here. http://goo.gl/VPsH
And because the band started their own label, this is the first time one of their video's has been available for download at the bands webiste at www.okgo.net, give it a try and enter the contest on facebook when you download it.
Give the video a watch and let me know what you think in the comments.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Vibram Five Fingers Week 2 [update]
(these aren't my feet) photo from http://goo.gl/lggB
For my final post of the night I thought I would update you all on my Vibram Five Fingers. THEY ROCK! They are my favorite shoes I have ever owned. I feel like I am walking around barefoot while wearing them, and running in them is fantastic.
I have to warn those that are considering them though, you have to take it easy and get used to them. For the first few days I simply wore them around as I would any other shoe. To be honest I didn't feel too much in my legs. But on day four I went for my first run in them. I warmed up first and then did about a mile and a half on a treadmill. I thought I was taking it easy, I went fast for a little bit, but did most of it at a moderate pace. The next morning, however, I went to get out of bed and I almost fell over because my calfs hurt so bad. It took a few days but my calfs started to feel better. I went for another run on Friday, this time outside on the street and things went a little better, my form was better and I was getting more used to running in the VFF's, and my legs only hurt moderately on Saturday.
Today I went for another run, this time on grass at the YMCA in Athens, and I went for about 25 minutes. It was a great run and I could feel my calfs working but they don't hurt too much. I'll let you know how I feel in the morning though, but my legs are getting stronger that's for sure.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
It's been a while
It's been a long time since I posted on this blog, in fact I almost forgot about it. Since I last posted I have graduated from college, attended Navy Officer Candidate School, been commissioned an Ensign in the Navy and moved to Athens, Ga where I am in Supply School. So far I've learned about Supply Management, Food Service, and Leadership & Management. Now I am learning about Disbursing Management and Retail Operations. Lots to learn before going to the fleet. I'll keep this updated more now that I remembered it's here.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Credit Card Interest Rates
I was reading on Digg.com today and I came across an article someone titled "Senate Refuses to cap credit card interest rates at 15%" The talkback on both digg and the article itself are kind of amazing to me. It seems that people don't understand why a company is in business and why anyone would ever lend their money to someone else.
So first, let's try to understand why a business would lend money to someone. The only reason I can think of is to make a profit, otherwise their money is better allocated to something else that can increase profits. Business's exist to make money. Period.
If a business exists to make money, and that business want's to turn a profit by lending their money out, the set rates of interest based on a persons probability of paying said money back. For example, I have a relatively high credit score, it's not amazing by any means, but I have a proven record of making payments on time and being responsible with my finances. Because of this record interest rates that have been offered to me are low, around 10% for most of my credit cards. The banks can afford to give me that rate because I have a good history of paying that money back, and so I am a low risk.
Someone that doesn't have a good history of paying their debts on the other hand, isn't going to get the same interest rate as me. If for example someone misses a payment, or is consistently late in paying their obligations, the bank takes on a higher amount of risk if it is going to lend that person money. Therefore the bank should charge a higher amount of interest to cover possible losses if that person ends up not making their payments. In some cases I don't see there being a big problem charging 35% (which is the limit in most states on credit card rates) to someone if they want to borrow money.
We have to remember that borrowing money is not a right, it is a privilege awarded to those who will probably be able to pay back that money. Especially on unsecured debt, like a credit card.
While I don't have a problem with credit card companies charging high interest rates to people who seem to be a higher risk, I can see why some people might be disturbed when a credit card company wants to charge him a higher rate for seemingly no reason.
For example, in early 2007 I received a letter from Chase Bank about a credit card I had. I had a balance on this card and was working to pay it down. The letter stated that my interest rate was going to be changed to more than 30%, but to call the company if I had a problem with that. So I called the company to see what was going on because I had never missed a payment or had a late payment on any of my credit cards. I was told that because I had gotten near the limit on one of my other cards they were raising my rate and there was nothing I could do about it but cancel the card. So do you know what I did? I canceled that card and transferred the balance to another company. That was my right as a consumer, just like it was the banks right to increase the interest rate because it felt I was more of a risk.
As a people, Americans need to start thinking more about being responsible and having consequences to our actions and less as victims. Sure there are victims out there, but most people make choices and then play the victim when their choices bring about consequences that are other than ideal.
The credit card market is very competitive and if people are responsible and pay their bills on time and do what it takes to be seen as a good risk for a bank, they will never pay high interest, and if a bank wants to raise their rate, they can find another bank with more attractive rates somewhere else.
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Image from Andres Rueda on flicker at http://www.flickr.com/photos/andresrueda/3027534098/
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