Refinancing

I am half way through paying off my home mortgage loan. Back when I bought the house, mortgage interest rates were around double what they are today. For a long time, I did not sweat this. I wrote off the interest paid on my taxes. Recent Trump laws are capping what I can write off on my taxes. It is time to refinance this high interest loan.

So I called up 3 lenders when I had the time. They all varied in closing cost fees and interest rates. I thought I would just go with the lowest cost option. I called up my sales dude a few times. He never answered his phone. Not a good sign. Eventually I almost forgot about refinancing.

Then my lender sent me something in the mail, encouraging me to refinance to save money. I called up my lender and decided to bite the bullet. Interest rates had fallen a little since the last time I looked. It was weird that everything could be handled electronically, even the signing of documents. The only in-person activity would be closing. I chose a title company that would send somebody out to my house to do the closing here.

Civic Duty

Got called to serve jury duty. Packed my bag the night before. Printed directions to the court too. The GPS suggested a lot of other routes. There was an accident on the highway close to my exit. So I was delayed a bit. Still got there so early, had to wait outside the building until the guard let us in.

Waited again inside to enter the jury room. Some woman named Bug spoke to us during orientation. She liked talking too much. Got selected for a case on the blue team. Somebody took my seat when I was to the bathroom. Finished reading my Anne Rice book as I waited to be called.

The pink team was dismissed first due to a plea. The judge decided my case would be heard tomorrow. Luckily that would be by a different jury. I ran out of the building. There was a bus to some distant location in front of the court. Waited for a bus to the parking lot. A kid gave up his seat to a woman who flew into the seat during a quick bus turn.

Drove home and stopped by to get some Chinese takeout. I am safe for another 3 years for jury duty.

Bathroom Exhaust Fan Troubles

The exhaust fan in our bathroom was starting to make a lot of noise. I called my handyman. Asked if I should just buy a new fan. He told me to hold off. Instead he tried cleaning the motor. No help. Then he looked to order a replacement motor. I thought he got one, but I was going out of town on vacation.

When I returned home, I found that my handyman had some trouble obtaining a motor. My handyman had taken the motor out of the fan to try to get a suitable match. So we were without a bathroom fan for about a month. That gets real problematic when I bleach the shower to clean it.

Eventually I told my handyman that I just wanted him to install a new fan. Momoko and I got the most powerful fan with the least amount of noise we could find at Lowes. Today our handyman installed the fan. It is smaller than the old one. So he is still patching up the ceiling.