The building crane is once again our state bird

Not sure what to think of this:  It was announced this week that Toyota would be moving all it's US divisions....sales, marketing, engineering, and manufacturing....to my neighborhood here in the Dallas area.  They will be building a 70 acre office campus on Headquarters Drive in Plano, just down the street from K's company headquarters.  Four thousand jobs will be moving here.

This on top of six thousand jobs State Farm Insurance is bringing to their new 1.5M sq ft towers now under construction.  There are also a dozen or more 10 story +/- office towers under construction for smaller clients, too.

They say they're coming here because of our excellent "quality of life" (true) and relatively low cost of living (also true), affordable housing, etc.  But as I see it they could quickly turn all those categories around for the worst.  

Our housing costs have gone up 10% in the past 12 months.  The next 12 months could make that look tame.  If these huge relocations were spread out over time they could all be easily absorbed, but all at once, I'm afraid they might overwhelm us.

Your sense of civic pride gets all "chest poundie", but your brain says proceed with caution.  Oh well, I guess it's a problem many parts of the country would like to have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This, however, I know exactly what to think of:

Two Giant Banks, Seen as Immune, Become Targets

 

'Bout time:   It seems the Feds are finally getting serious about slapping the big banks down after letting them run roughshod over us for a decade. 

 

What the country's best dressed bankers will soon be wearing?

Some have been laundering money for Iran and others, while others have been setting up tax dodges for wealthy Americans looking to skip out on their taxes.  And many more are still hiding under their desks, waiting to see how long they'll be locked up*.

 

Yes!  The Feds are actually going after them on criminal charges, and not for just some hand-slap paltry fines.  Good!

 

The banks that exist today are NOT like the banks that worked so well for so long and made America great.  Maybe....just maybe they're about to learn they're not "too big to jail".  Now if we could just break them up into parts not "too big to fail".

  

Without the taxpayers safety net (read: blank check) maybe they'll learn to make prudent loans to prudent borrowers again.

 

S

 

* I doubt anyone will personally be put behind bars. Darn! 

 

 

Living large by living small

I always chuckle when I see that commercial on TV for a retirement investment fund when they ask, "Will you be able to keep your same standard of living after you retire?"  *gasp*  I wonder, "Why would you want to?"  Why would you want the same big 'ol house that you raised 3 kids in when you're down to just two empty nesters?

K and I  (mainly I) realized this about 7 years ago and sold / gave away most of our "stuff", a prelude to downsizing our living quarters by 2/3.  Things were surprisingly easy to part with.  Our furniture was very high quality, but it had no sentimental value.  Over 30 years I had collected a 400-500 volume library, and I just assumed it would move with me.  But then K pointed out that if I don't re-read them or use them for reference, they're just 500 dust catchers.  Good point.  I kept a few special volumes, but then got rid of the rest.  Now I buy (mostly) e-books.

We found a 2 bed / 2 bath apartment in the Shops of Legacy, an upscale residential / restaurant / entertainment district in Plano (a north Dallas suburb) which also not by coincidence was just 1 mile from K's work, and just 2 blocks from a freeway that took me straight to my work.

We were super excited....until we signed the lease, they gave us the keys, and we opened the door.  "OMG", we thought.  "What have we done?"  The place looked tiny.  

Our house had a 24' x 36' Great Room, and this apartment had a den less than half that size.  But as we moved in and started to put our remaining stuff away we found we had more than enough room.

You have to learn to think in 3 dimensions.  It isn't just about "floor space", but about vertical space, too.  These days TV's are only an inch thick and can hang on the wall.  Stereo speakers are the size of Rubick's cubes and can fit anywhere.

The Container Store has the perfect sized see-thru storage boxes to fit under beds.  Their larger boxes can be stacked to the ceiling in a corner of the closet with out-of-season clothes, then switched twice a year.

Those dead spaces high above washers/dryers can be utilized with Elfa style shelves and clothes rods.  No space goes unused.

Downsizing includes furniture, too.  Two people don't need a huge dining table with leaves and 6 or more chairs when a simple drop leaf table will work just fine.

And as we settled in more it got even better.  The grounds were beautifully manicured, the trees were perfectly pruned, fresh flowers were always being planted, and I didn't have to do any of it.  Hungry?  Bored?  Just a 2-block walk took us to Bishop Street, a 6-block-long strip that offered 25+ eateries, a multi-screen theater, and several adult beverage establishments.

Something around the apartment need maintenance? The A/C filter need changing?   I just fire off an email and it's fixed.  They even change our light bulbs.  No joke!  And time NOT spent doing chores around the house left us more time to enjoy....well, life.

But eventually we found some of our old habits returning.  We would impulsively buy something, play with it a few times, then relegate it to the spare bedroom / catch-all room.  We once again had too much space.  We decided to downsize yet again, this time to a newer, nicer, but slightly smaller 1 bed-1 bath apartment.

My giant oak roll-top desk and tall file cabinet went away and were replaced by a smaller, more efficient style desk and file box (kept in the closet).  I'm fascinated by efficient things.  I love this multi-purpose furniture (link).  (Wait for the top video to load.  It's very impressive.)  It's meant primarily for those tiny Manhattan apartments, but I can see using some of those tables in my house.

I recognize that downsizing isn't for everyone.  If you have a large brood and your house is their assembly point or you have lots of out-of-town company, you're pretty much stuck.  And you have to be willing to check your ego at the door.  This lifestyle won't impress many.

But if you'd rather spend your time golfing, playing tennis, cycling, or painting yet another picture of a tree (if those are your thing) vs. worrying whether you'll land that big client and get that sorely needed bonus, it's a nice way to live.

We've cut our housing expenses by 50%, even after figuring in the tax advantage of owning.  I'm not saying we'll never own again, but if we do, it will have to be a small townhouse or condo, one where everything outside is maintained by someone besides me.

It's a great lifestyle that I will never give up.  Smaller is good....unless you want to build a giant 6,000+ sq ft house.  Then I'm your builder.  Call me.  *wink*

S

Don't I even get time off for good behavior?

Kelly's Eastside Grill used to be one of my favorite places to go for a causal meal and an adult beverage.  It's a little hole-in-the-wall place in downtown Plano with good food and reasonable prices.  In nice weather I liked to sit outside and enjoy the sidewalk scene.  

I say this in the past tense as I haven't been allowed to go there for about 5 years now.  No, I wasn't banned from there by "Kelly" the proprietor, but by "Kelly" my wife.  All because of what she refers to as "The Great Little Person Incident of '07".

We had just arrived at Kelly's where I placed my order for a jalapeno burger, spicy fries, and a cold beer and then excused myself to go to the rest room.  I had just begun my "business" when someone outside tried to twist the knob to come in.  I politely said, "Just a minute."  

In about 5 seconds there was a knock on the door and again I said, "Hold on."  Then in just a couple of more seconds he started banging, so I yelled, "KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON PAL!"

After the obligatory hand washing (yes mom) I opened the door and said, "Sheesh!"....only there was nobody there.  Well, there was, only he was a "little person" about 4 feet tall.  I had to look down and squint to see him.

I went back to my table and told K what had happened when we began to hear sirens....you could hear 'em getting closer and closer until they stopped right outside Kelly's.  Paramedics came in with all their paraphernalia and minutes later hauled the little guy out on a stretcher.

K's face went pale as she leaned over and whispered, "What did you do to him?"

"Me?  Nothing!  I never touched him, I swear."

We woofed down our meal in record time and she hustled me out the door, doing everything but holding a jacket over our faces like the perps on TV when they're running the gauntlet of reporters on their way to arraignment. 

To her that was "The Great Little Person Incident of '07".  I have no idea why it embarrassed her so much.  To me it was just a little guy with a personal plumbing problem.  I hardly think it deserves my five year (and counting) banishment from Kelly's.  

How come I couldn't just get a 10 minute "time out" or something, considering I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING?

It ain't fair, I tell 'ya.  ;)

S

She's created a MONSTER!

Remember the horror movie where the little kid turns into a monster, his eyes glowing in the dark, etc?  Was that The Omen?  Anyway, that's what K's little dog has turned into.  He got a haircut yesterday for the first time and I don't think he liked it, and he's taking it out on ME!

I think she should have named him Damien.  Every night this week he hasn't slept well.  He wakes up at 3 am and whines, so K gets up with him and tries to calm him back down.  Consequently she's had no where near enough sleep all week.  By last night she was just dragging.  I told her I would take dog duty on Friday night / Saturday morning so she could sleep in.

Sure enough at 3:15 the little bastard starts whining.  I took him into the den and put him on his round dog bed while I tried to go back to sleep on the couch.  (NOTE:  I'm 6 feet tall, but the couch is only about 5' 6" between the arms on the ends.  How do those big-ape basketball players sleep at night?)  I tried lying on my side (which women can't do BTW because they don't have a kick-stand :) with my legs all bent up, but that was NOT conducive to sleep.

And it didn't matter anyway because all Damien...er...Luke wanted to do was scratch at the bedroom door and whine for K.  Well guess what K?  You wanted to "bond" with YOUR dog?  You got your wish!  I tried picking him up to keep him away from the bedroom door so K could sleep, but trying to hold him is like trying to hold a 5 pound glob of jello during an earthquake!  Finally I gave up and took him back to K and said, "I tried...he's yours", and then I went back to the couch so he could sleep IN MY BED.  

Then this morning we heard the loudspeakers blaring and the crowd cheering because our neighborhood is hosting yet another 5K / 10K / Fun Run.  I'm pretty sure Luke had something to do with that event, too, just to spite me.  I'm surprised there wasn't a banner stretched across the street that said, "WAKE UP, SCOTT.  NO SLEEP TODAY FOR YOU".  If you ever want to pull off a bank heist, do it the same morning they're having a 5K in Plano, TX because all the cops are there blocking off streets, setting up barricades, acting as crowd control, etc.  Nobody's watching the banks.  You could be in New Mexico before they could send a cop to the crime scene. 

I think I might have to re-visit my childhood and take a nap today.  Which might not be a bad idea as it's supposed to rain all day anyway.

Later, friends.

S

PS...Yeah, yeah, I know.  He's cute.  :)