ice water and ocicats

My Friday started with staying home for a condo appraisal. On motyl's advice we've been looking into refinancing, and, um, YEAH... for the cost of about $2500 we will be able to drop our interest rate almost a full percentage point (from 5.75% to 4.875%), switch from a 30-year term to a 15-year term, and stop having our taxes escrowed. All of these are things we want, but the first one is the craziest: it saves us more than $100K over the remaining life of the loan. Nicest of all, I am not finding this stressful; it's only paperwork, and doesn't determine big things like whether we get to live here. :-)

We don't have final approval yet, but the appraiser thought that we would have no trouble. Our place needs to be worth some percentage more than the loan amount in order for us to get the new loan, so here is a new reason to pay down mortgages faster than required, something I hadn't been aware of before: you'll have a lower principal balance, which makes it that much easier to refinance when housing prices are depressed.

Right now things are strange -- interest rates are low, but only really safe loans are getting approved at all. Luckily, our house seems to have retained its value from 5 years ago (though it maybe hasn't gone up to speak of, that's not of concern right now), and it turns out heisenbug now has the highest credit score I've ever heard of. High enough that I looked up the maximum possible score... which is 850. Keep working, bug!

What else happened yesterday? I did a great handstand when I wasn't expecting to. I got some stuff done at work that I wasn't expecting to, given my sleepiness level. I got some letters notarized and delivered and I got to play with the notarization stamp (very satisfying; I may need to become a notary public myself just so I can have one of those). I went out to dinner by myself, which is something I actually like very much although I complained about missing my date with heisenbug. I got to listen to a vice president speak at work, which is good because I hadn't met him before, although I think there's some chance that he may be a mobster.

Ah, jobs and stuff. Things have not been so good at work, things have not been so fun at the gym, I am the tired. I will not get good at gym things if I do not do them each day, and I can not do them each day... great, I will just suck some more, and I will write gross code that fits all the dumb rules.

And, you vex me, my bank. I do not need a more safe way to get on your page. It was quite safe. It is now too safe. It may be safe from ME by now.

I'll sleep now, then talk to Flea ere work, when the sun is back up. "Flea", I will say, "thank you but do not send so much snail mail, it kills all the trees." "Flea, why do you not take my cash on the same day each month?" " Flea, what should I do now with the plan to save cash up when I am old?" "Flea, why are you so damn far from my house? If I get rich will you make house calls?" I think it is nice to have a flea, but it is bad to have to take the train way out to see it. If you get a flea of your own, find a close one. Or at least learn to knit so that you can knit on the train.

There's not a good word for the way I feel, though I have felt it quite a lot. It feels like, ugh, just go, do the next thing, so that one day when things are back to good that thing will have been done. Putt putt putt. I still feel tres bad that I killed a plant last week, yes, at least one of you knows the one. It froze to death. I may have teared up a bit. :_( Last year I brought it in and put lights on it... this year I cut it up and put it in a lawn bag, and fed some of its dirt to plant 2. It feels like a sign... a bad one. One less thing to take care of. Life cuts its own self back to what can be done, which is good in a way, but damn harsh for the plant and things like it.

I am glad my cat is loud and tells me when she needs me. You be that way too, 'kay?