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.

Third Party Sellers on Amazon

Need some new paper towels. Searched on Amazon. The cheapest was from a third party seller. He only had one review. But since he was the cheapest, I gave him a try. The shipment came. They were the wrong type of paper towels.

Amazon did not let me get a refund or return on this order through their web site. So I called Amazon. They contacted the seller, who said he would work on a replacement ASAP. When I inquired when exactly that would be, they said one week.

I am now not too confident in this seller. Luckily Amazon has a A-to-Z guarantee. I might be making use of that guarantee to get a refund if I get the run around from this seller.

Back From the Con

Momoko and I attended an anime convention this weekend. I took Friday afternoon off so we could drive up. We stayed at a hotel that was close to the convention hotel. We caught a panel on Voltron. All the paladins were played by girls. They had a lot of insider meme jokes. We bolted two thirds through the sessions.


We slept in a bed that had a slope down towards the ground where our heads rested. Breakfast was a cook to order meal from the hotel. One elevator was out of service the whole weekend. We left out car parked in the hotel parking lot the whole weekend due to overcrowding.


I went to a panel on Sheera by myself. It was a whopping one and a half hours long. Catra had organized the thing. Glimmer was a star. Sheera was played by a friend of Catra and did not offer much. They answered every question I could think of asking.


We finished up the panels with one on Saiki K. I thought we were doomed because there were two lines to get into the small room. The real doom was the presenter. She could not offer any compelling reason to watch her presentation. Almost everyone left early. We persevered to the end.


After leaving the hotel and conference, we drove a ways to the vendor exhibit at the old Hobby Lobby. I found a super deal of two prints for $5. I purchased a total of 4 prints from Jonathan Miller. Momoko loaded up on buttons. We drove my McDonald's for sweet tea, large fries, and McChicken before driving home.

Anime Convention

Momoko and I are out visiting her dad. It just so happens that an anime convention is being held a few hours away. We were excited that we might be able to attend. Unfortunately the hotel hosting the convention has long since sold out of rooms. We checked back to see if anyone cancelled their reservations. No luck.


Today I just happened to notice that a part of the convention is happening in a nearby hotel. And they had a few vacancies. The price is a little higher. And we would have to walk over to the main hotel. However Momoko and I decided we would do it.


We went outside in the oppressive heat today to practice what it would feel like to walk the distance between the hotels. It was hot. But it was doable. We are now booked for a room with a king size bed. I am getting off early from work on Friday so that we can get on the road for the trip.

Little Kat the Chauffeur

I drove the family up to Kit Kat's old theater to see a Miyazaki film. It was an old one. The theater was showing it for one day only as a special presentation. Some lady on our row was chatty with us prior to the movie starting. Then some other lady in the front row kept talking aloud until she was shushed.


Little Kat drove us home. I was hungry for a snack, hoping to swing by McDonald's. Little Kat took us to Burger King instead. I got a double hamburger for $1.79 off their value menu. The next day, Little Kat drove Momoko and I to the airport. We got there in plenty of time to check in. Some lady was holding up the fast security screening line with all her belongings taken out of her luggage. Momoko was also delayed because the screener wanted to know about the inhaler she packed.


Once through security, I wanted to eat breakfast at Chick-fil-A. Momoko thought the line was too long. So we went to Arby's instead. The guy in front of me was short a French fry. So I checked out order diligently to find we too were short a fry. We refilled our drinks and headed to the departure gate. There Momoko and I played head-to-head Scrabble.


I barely made it in the A-section of boarding. The flight was not full. We made the trip to Momoko's dad's house in record time. The stewardess asked if I wanted a second drink. Of course I needed an extra coke. Took a long time for me to receive it. The passengers had to shut all the windows on the plane to keep it cool in the hot summer weather.