July 2006 Archives
In spite of the heat wave, a bunch of us went to Magic Mountain on Thursday, and wound up having a really good time.
The group was: me, Carole, Michael, Crystal, Alexis, Logan, Jeremy, and Sarah. Michael had business up in Big Bear, and drove down that morning; we all piled into Crystal's Yukon XL around 10:15am and hit the road, with Carole driving. We had a fun road rage episode with a Dodge Ram pick-up on I-5 before getting a quick lunch at Wendy's.
It was hot, but a combination of water ride soakings, drinking lots of water, and rest stops kept us going. We had a little-too-long debate on whether to ride Tatsu (which we did, in the end), but otherwise everyone seemed to have a great time. I did first-rides on Goliath and Tatsu, which are always fun. (I sat next to Logan on Goliath and pretty much forgot about him. The photo showed him cowering in fear while I'm smiling and oblivious. Crystal gave me a hard time about it - understandably.)
Carole's feet petered out around 8:30pm - at the farthest point in the park. We shuffled to the front entrance while the others took in a last ride on Goliath.
All in all, a great day with friends and family.
From The Huffington Post:
Anyone can ask tough, intricate, confrontational questions. But all that ever does is start an argument, and it gets people nowhere. On the other hand, these are...well, easy. These are friendly questions. These are questions that allow another person to actually explain their thoughts, and explain fully. And to do so in as comfortable, as simple a way as possible.
Without feeling attacked. Without feeling pressure. Without feeling no one cares what they have to say. Friendly. Easy.
Print them out, carry them around in your pocket, and the next time someone begins quoting from a Republican talking points memo, take the list out and ask.
1. What are the Top Seven best things that the Bush Administration has done?
2. Is the Iraq War is going well?
3. After three years thus far, when do you think Iraq might be able to "stand up" so that America can "stand down"?
4. For his part in the event, how would you rate the job the President did protecting New Orleans from devastation?
5. How do you think the rebuilding of New Orleans is going?
6. When Dick Cheney and the oil company and energy executives met in private to plan America's energy policy, how much of their goal was to benefit consumers?
7. Do you believe in the President's call for an Era of Personal Responsibility?
8. Since Republicans control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, how personally responsible are they for conditions in America today?
9. Why do you think they haven't been able to find anyone who can verify that George Bush ever showed up for National Guard duty in Alabama?
10. Would you want Donald Rumsfeld to plan your daughter's wedding?
Continue reading 50 easy questions to ask a Republican....
My brother-in-law Rob needed to add Yvette's name to the title as part of their remodel financing, so I volunteered to drive out to notarize a Grant Deed. When I got there, Rob noticed that some of the documents indicated the house was in Los Angeles County; further review showed the on the Grant Deed itself, the house was listed as being in both Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County — in the same paragraph.
We called Carole, who said to fill out and notarize everything just in case, so we plodded through. It's likely I'll have to do it again in a day or two.
From a funny online obituary, quoting a man's children:
His sons said of Fred, "he was often wrong, but never in doubt".
I did my first loan document signing this evening. I got a call from Mobile Docs around 4:45pm asking if I was available for a 7:00pm signing appointment in Rosemead, and I agreed. They e-mailed the documents — as about eight attachments in five e-mails — and I printed them out at work. I reviewed my old signing agent lessons to brush up, and called the clients to confirm the time and remind them about the ID requirements.
I arrived on time, and things began well. I followed the standard process, and there were no problems, even with a set of documents that needed to be back dated. We used a small, circular table; I had the husband sit to my immediate left, with the wife directly across. We did the journal entries first (per the standard plan). As they signed each document, I collected them in the open space on my right.
At the end, I gave them their copies, and told them to call their loan agent if they had any questions about the loan, but to call me if they had any questions about the signing process.
As I gave the docs a final review I noticed that I'd missed a signature, so the next day I drove to their offices (her's in Rosemead, his in Vernon) to fix it up.
All in all, a good start. I should get a check for $100 in a week or so.
Apparently I asked for a 6:00am wake-up call this morning, and the feral parrots that haunt our area noisily obliged. I wasn't too happy about it — I hadn't gotten to sleep until after midnight, and the heat had not yet reached the point that would have bothered me, but it was not to be. Ten minutes after their arrival, they decamped to wake up some other neighborhood.
These audio files are WAV for now, until I can get to work and convert them to MP3 and/or OGG. To accurately match the situation, be sure to turn the volume way up.
