[JES]

All of that excess they can’t take with them when they leave this world. Reconcile that with a flyer I saw at a local Jimmy Johns at lunch today. “Spaghetti dinner this Saturday at First Baptist Church to raise money for 7 year old Joy who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last month. Her father is a grad student and the funds raised will go to pay for her medical bills.” I will let you know how the spaghetti tastes:)

[JES]

I work for the federal government. I wouldn’t want to paint the picture that everything is perfect here in Iowa, but for families in situations like ours, it makes sense and life is as good or better than SoCal for us. For single people in their 20s, I would recommend living in a place like PB in San Diego, and I have encouraged a few people here to actually move out there, get out of Iowa, and experience the world. Also, for families who make 150k+ a year, San Diego offers quite a few choices, and were I in that boat I would be tempted to live in a place like Encinitas or Carlsbad. Instead, I make half that, my wife doesn’t work, and my quality of life – minus the weather, beach, mountains, Mexico, Vegas etc., is pretty good. But at this stage in my life I’m more worried about good schools, safe communities, reasonable cost of living etc. One downside is that we truly miss our relatives in San Diego. That is by far the hardest part…

[JES]

I work for the federal government. I wouldn’t want to paint the picture that everything is perfect here in Iowa, but for families in situations like ours, it makes sense and life is as good or better than SoCal for us. For single people in their 20s, I would recommend living in a place like PB in San Diego, and I have encouraged a few people here to actually move out there, get out of Iowa, and experience the world. Also, for families who make 150k+ a year, San Diego offers quite a few choices, and were I in that boat I would be tempted to live in a place like Encinitas or Carlsbad. Instead, I make half that, my wife doesn’t work, and my quality of life – minus the weather, beach, mountains, Mexico, Vegas etc., is pretty good. But at this stage in my life I’m more worried about good schools, safe communities, reasonable cost of living etc. One downside is that we truly miss our relatives in San Diego. That is by far the hardest part…

[JES]

Here’s an idea. Move to a place like Des Moines,Iowa where companies like Principal Financial are actually expanding by 1,500 jobs (And Wells Fargo is also expanding) and homes cost $150,000 for a 4br, 3ba home w/basement in a nice area with great schools and a yard. Your home and car insurance will drop by 50%, your neighbors will actually care about you, and you will find many of the same amentities exist that you probably think you would miss in SoCal.

For example, in West Des Moines – the ‘well to do’ area of Des Moines – there is a huge mall called Jorden Creek that is similar to the Irvine Spectrum, complete with a Costco to make you feel at home. The Cubs have a minor league stadium that is dirt cheap, and brand new. Don’t like the ‘big city’ of Des Moines? Move to Iowa City or Ames, fantastic small university towns complete with sports events, civic activities, zero crime and fantastic schools.

I live in one of these towns, 500 yards from a brand new gym that rivals the one next to ViaSat in Carlsbad and has an indoor pool. Next door is a high end, brand new cafe/restaurant that is world class. And get this – these businesses are in a master planned, Midwest style neighborhood that is similar, but on a much smaller scale, to San Elijo Hills. And the city of 25,000 full time residents + 25,000 college students just approved a $10 million water park. My commute went from 1 hour to 5 minutes, my salary stayed the same, and I get to eat tasty corn every night. There are more city parks than I can count, bike trails, and for those of you looking for diversity, in the past month we have met couples from Kenya, Korea, South Africa, Zimbabwe, China and more. 5-10% of the population is Asian, many of the grad students are from the Middle East, and if you look hard you can find Amish and Mennonite students. Look harder and you may see them in their horse drawn carriages. At intersection stop signs here, you have to force people to go before you, even if they got to the stop sign first. Every single time.

I can appreciate the desire to wait it out, see what happens to prices, and keep hoping for a drop. My point is that there is an alternative. If you allow yourself a paradigm shift, you will see that there is a world of opportunity in fly over country. We miss the weather, the relatives, Sea World and Lego Land, but other than the relatives, my kids, wife and I really don’t need that extra entertainment to live a good life. Did I mention that I also reduced my housing costs by $1,500/Month and grocery costs by 20%? School tuition is also 50% less, and the kids are playing soccer and swimming all at a fraction of Encinitas costs.

Congratulations if you bought when prices were low, are sitting on equity, and are living a great SoCal life. To the rest of you poor souls who are slaving away as teachers, engineers and even lawyers, socking away every last dime with the hope of someday buying a SoCal stucco box in a city with poor schools when the market crashes, I’m here to tell you that there are alternatives. Does it tick you off that prices haven’t really fallen in North County yet, or that surfer guy Bob who doesn’t work is sitting on $1 million in equity because his parents passed down a broken down Encinitas beach house to him when they died? And that you went to law school and still can’t afford a condo? Get rid of that negative energy and just leave. Treat every day as if it could be the last day of your life and start building that American dream for your family now. Who knows if prices will ever drop, and if they do you can always move back.

I moved away, and have not posted here since we left. No regrets, and no desire to ever return…

[JES]

Here’s an idea. Move to a place like Des Moines,Iowa where companies like Principal Financial are actually expanding by 1,500 jobs (And Wells Fargo is also expanding) and homes cost $150,000 for a 4br, 3ba home w/basement in a nice area with great schools and a yard. Your home and car insurance will drop by 50%, your neighbors will actually care about you, and you will find many of the same amentities exist that you probably think you would miss in SoCal.

For example, in West Des Moines – the ‘well to do’ area of Des Moines – there is a huge mall called Jorden Creek that is similar to the Irvine Spectrum, complete with a Costco to make you feel at home. The Cubs have a minor league stadium that is dirt cheap, and brand new. Don’t like the ‘big city’ of Des Moines? Move to Iowa City or Ames, fantastic small university towns complete with sports events, civic activities, zero crime and fantastic schools.

I live in one of these towns, 500 yards from a brand new gym that rivals the one next to ViaSat in Carlsbad and has an indoor pool. Next door is a high end, brand new cafe/restaurant that is world class. And get this – these businesses are in a master planned, Midwest style neighborhood that is similar, but on a much smaller scale, to San Elijo Hills. And the city of 25,000 full time residents + 25,000 college students just approved a $10 million water park. My commute went from 1 hour to 5 minutes, my salary stayed the same, and I get to eat tasty corn every night. There are more city parks than I can count, bike trails, and for those of you looking for diversity, in the past month we have met couples from Kenya, Korea, South Africa, Zimbabwe, China and more. 5-10% of the population is Asian, many of the grad students are from the Middle East, and if you look hard you can find Amish and Mennonite students. Look harder and you may see them in their horse drawn carriages. At intersection stop signs here, you have to force people to go before you, even if they got to the stop sign first. Every single time.

I can appreciate the desire to wait it out, see what happens to prices, and keep hoping for a drop. My point is that there is an alternative. If you allow yourself a paradigm shift, you will see that there is a world of opportunity in fly over country. We miss the weather, the relatives, Sea World and Lego Land, but other than the relatives, my kids, wife and I really don’t need that extra entertainment to live a good life. Did I mention that I also reduced my housing costs by $1,500/Month and grocery costs by 20%? School tuition is also 50% less, and the kids are playing soccer and swimming all at a fraction of Encinitas costs.

Congratulations if you bought when prices were low, are sitting on equity, and are living a great SoCal life. To the rest of you poor souls who are slaving away as teachers, engineers and even lawyers, socking away every last dime with the hope of someday buying a SoCal stucco box in a city with poor schools when the market crashes, I’m here to tell you that there are alternatives. Does it tick you off that prices haven’t really fallen in North County yet, or that surfer guy Bob who doesn’t work is sitting on $1 million in equity because his parents passed down a broken down Encinitas beach house to him when they died? And that you went to law school and still can’t afford a condo? Get rid of that negative energy and just leave. Treat every day as if it could be the last day of your life and start building that American dream for your family now. Who knows if prices will ever drop, and if they do you can always move back.

I moved away, and have not posted here since we left. No regrets, and no desire to ever return…

[JES]

Perry – So very true, but I suppose it’s not a dissappointment to all! Had he just come out a month ago and said, “My fellow Americans, it has become clear that our policy in Iraq – drawn from optimism and a desire to see the people of Iraq live in freedom – needs to be revised. This revision will require new thinking, new strategies, and as a consequence a new Secretary of Defense,” the GOP would at least control the Senate right now.

[JES]

ZK –

The argument you raise would be valid if it weren’t for the fact that most of those 100+ Congressmen and Senators never changed their stance, even when war was imminent. If their vote is not indicative of their actual stance, then surely we should have 100+ examples of these guys speaking out against their earlier vote and demanding that we not go to war in early 2003, right? After all, these were the days when we all knew that our troops would be hit with WMD in the ring of fire around Bagdad, so if they were truly against the war why in Gods name didn’t they speak up?

[JES]

deadzone –

You’re not worth my time anymore. I put forward a reasoned statement that is open to discussion or disagreement and I get nothing but personal insults and anger from you. I’m just happy that I unintentionally pushed your emotional buttons and had you bouncing off the walls and talking nonsense.

Read my posts and you’ll see I’m no Bush lover, but I am also trying to be fair about how this war went down. The fact is that 100+ Democrats in the House/Senate voted for the use of force, and right before the war almost all were still for it, or kept their mouths shut. I didn’t see a huge swell of Dems professing that they had now changed their mind around Feb 2003, did you? Intelligence agencies around the world thought the WMD existed, as did the majority of Democrats, including ones that didn’t vote for the war.

-JES

[JES]

IMO Bush’s comments just before the election that he was planning to keep Rumsfeld until the end helped deliver the Senate to the Democrats. I’m a moderate Republican and it ticked me off to no end. Out of 80+ million votes (or however many were cast…), I have no problem believing that at least 8,000 people in Virginia or 3,000 in Montana decided that their party was out of touch, or as non-Republicans were mobilized by his comments.

Cutting him loose now does not speak to the President’s desire for change or being open to new ideas, but rather to the fact that he was forced to fire him/have him resign due to the election.

[JES]

REMINDER:

81 Democratics in the House and 29 Democrats in the Senate voted to AUTHORIZE war with Iraq in October 2002.

It’s conveinant to place all of the blame on the Republicans and the President. But to the Lindismiths out there please don’t forget that there were many Democrats who thought a military option would work in the Middle East. There were many Democrats who thought that Democracy would have a chance in Iraq.

Ask yourself this: What exactly did the 110 Democratic Congressmen and Senators who voted FOR the war think would happen after we toppled Saddam? Did they think we would turn it over to another dictator? Doubt it. Did they think we would just leave the country in chaos? No way. I would venture to guess that they, just like the President, had hopes for some kind of democracy in Iraq.

But these 110 Democratic Congressmen and Senators probably never planned for the type of chaos we are now seeing, just like the President didn’t. For that I blame them all for being so blind as to think we could just go in there and leave again by the the summer of 2003. but I blame them ALL, not just Bush. Bush has the added responsibility of failing to respond to the chaos, failing to replace Rumsfeld sooner and putting himself in a ‘state of denial.’ The buck stops with him, and for his failings he delivered the House and Senate to the Democrats.

Let’s not pretend that the Democrats had no part to play in this though. Plently of them thought a military option would work, and plenty of them had hopes for democracy in Iraq.

[JES]

The main justification I hear for the bottom being near is that inventories are starting to go lower again. Greenspan said this the other day. I fail to see why something that is seasonal can be used to justify an end to the downturn. Sure, builders are discounting heavily and selling some inventory, but this is just one of many issues we face.

[JES]

ZK –

You managed to capitalize the words ‘Arab’ (twice), ‘Iran’ and ‘Syria’, but left ‘Bush’ lowercased four times. This seems like a very passive aggressive way of showcasing your disdain for the President. Are we to assume that you have more respect for Iran and Syria than you do for Bush? I’m not a big fan of his either, but I still respect the office that he holds.

[JES]

In that case it is likely we will see reports of trailer pakrs going up in flames because of the combined divorce / GOP disaster news later tonight:)

[JES]

Britney filed for divorce from Kevin F, and I think this will upset many young, angry voters who were planning to vote Dem today. Her southern fans will be too distraught to vote, and Tennessee and Virginia will go to the GOP.

[JES]

Perry, Affirmative Action as you explain it and as it is practiced are vastly different. If that sergeant took the LSAT today and applied to USD Law in San Diego, they would indeed consider his service. However, if he is below, say, a 157 LSAT score, it won’t matter at all. However, if he is Hispanic, black (not Iranian or Indian or Asian by the way), he will be admitted with a score 5-10 points lower at most law schools in the country, simply for being black or Hispanic. DePaul in Chicago admitted approximately 25+ applicants last year who were URMs and all had under 150 LSATS (gathered from lawschoolnumbers.com). I have yet to find a non URM admitted with that low of a score, and many non URMs were denied with 155-160 LSATs.

Never mind the fact that some of these Hispanic and black students come from middle income to rich families. I know one girl whose parents are doctors from Peru, she is blonde hair, blue eyed, and she was admitted to a top MBA school early admission and they salivated about her ethnicity. What happens if you are adopted and don’t know your background? Can you claim to be Hispanic just to get in to a better school? How exactly do we prove who is and isn’t a URM? If you are a Jewish, white San Diegan with parents who came from Russia and Spain, you are technically Hispanic since one of your parents came from Spain!

[Author]

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