Havenbasin Road

The heat is ridiculous, and with not a cloud in the sky it is very unpleasant. I don’t want to complain too much here but it is just too hot to really enjoy any activity that has to do with the outdoors right now. Even swimming in a lake, pond or ocean would be unpleasant at the moment, mainly because of the sunburn you would end up with. No clouds.

On really hot days you just don’t feel like doing much, the heat seems to drain you. Well, it drains me anyway. I thought most people were that way, but I met a guy the other day who was saying that the heat invigorates him. He said he loves working out on a hot day, prefers warm days to cold. I thought he was a bit crazy. I don’t know if he truly was or not, but probably not. People truly are just different in what they find enjoyable. Although really hot days I think the majority of people aren’t all that big on them. I personally have decided after a very, very cold winter that broke records and a summer that is shattering all sorts of records that I am ready for a place that is just in between those two extremes. I used to live in a place like that but moved because I honestly missed the seasons. Well, I did miss them but I don’t need these extremes to enjoy the weather.

I know it is summer and we need to expect a bit of heat, but it has been seriously ridiculous here! We have had several days of around 41 Celsius. It has been really hot! I was thinking that it is a bit funny, cause I remember complaining about the cold just a little while ago, and now we are getting ridiculously hot days, I often feel like I will melt if I stay outside too much.

I can get more done if I listen to music. If I don’t I often sit there staring at the screen trying to find a muse, motivation or a kick in the pants to get me doing things. Music can hold us back but it is most useful in moving us forward. Music is associated with our lives, those times that we are listening to it, and when we hear the same song again, it takes us back. Heck,  there are even several songs talking about it. Good music  can move you without a physical change or a memory attached to it. That is, if you remain open to new things and trying different activities as you get older.  It also helps us get things done sometimes. I have several friends, and myself as well, who work faster and are more productive when there is good music playing in the background. It can be turned down low, but a certain background noise really helps things move along for me when I am trying to write or do research or study for school. Actually, the studying for school is when the music is fairly low because having the study background noise helps me focus.

See, I told you I’d be talking about music again. Just been on my mind a bunch. Thinking about what it does for a person. I find that music can be very motivating sometimes and relaxing others. Depending on the music you are listening to, your mood may change with it. I think that is often the purpose of music, to help us feel more alive or in tune. And yes that was a pun. It does kind of lead in from what I was saying yesterday, about how many people seem to get locked into a certain type of music, mainly because it is nostalgic.

Music is really enjoyable. Listening to it will even calm a beast. I will probably talk about music tomorrow too. I am thinking of making this a media week. By media I am referring to music, art, movies, things like that. Anyway, for today we have gone with music. I might even carry it over to tomorrow. There are a lot of opinions on music, well on all art, and music is art. Opinions often depend on background, culture and general upbringing. Many people seem to be most interested in music that they remember from childhood and a bit on up. I wonder if being stuck always on the same songs and in the same era of music means stagnation? Stagnation in the mind perhaps. I know lots of people who only like the music that was made during a particular year when they were growing up. I was thinking that is because of the memories.

There is an idea I am trying to connect to after getting into talking about music and people’s likes and dislikes; the thought that many people use music to recall a specific feeling. Perhaps it’s not that simple but it still seems like a good thought. Let me explain a bit. If you get stuck in relieving the songs of your past does that mean you are no longer making new memories? At least not like you did before? Why would a person stop, I wonder. I have heard many people say that the music of today is nothing like it was. I wonder if that is because the music of then reminds them of what they might consider their glory days, or the best times of their lives. If they started living and doing other things, I wonder if they would feel that the music of today is as good as that of times past?

This post is mostly about not much. I am just letting my thoughts meander, almost like talking to myself, trying to bring forth that wisdom, those wonderful words that move me, from within. I apologize if I spoiled it for you, if you were wanting things to unfold in a slow but mysterious way. I will try that at a later time, I promise. Although I will not promise when, meaning could be next week or could be next year. I am sometimes like that. You get used to it, I did anyway. I have been trying to get a chance to write more but it seems to fall by the way side. I am writing now. As you can see by the words I have written so far. Real life certainly keeps us busy, even when we would just love a short break, maybe a holiday or two. 

Well, the words seem to be flowing now, more or less. I am currently burning a cd for a trip, I mean a physical movement of myself to another place not a mental trip. Just thought I should clarify as there were a couple of meaning there. At least there were a couple that I could see right after I wrote it. It’s alright though, if you were thinking the same thing, remember great minds think alike! Speaking of trips, don’t know about you but I am ready to stay home for a bit. I have been out almost everyday for a week or so and gone most every weekend. I think it is almost time for a nice relaxing, what do they call them? Oh, yes, a staycation. That really sounds funny, but I think I could certainly go for one right now.

I spend time thinking about what I would enjoy as far as places to go and things to see. It is always fun to just relax and imagine what it would be like if you were living someplace else. Property and travel are two things that aren’t very far from my mind at the moment. It is important to enjoy where you are but it doesn’t hurt to keep your imagination active and keep dreams flowing. Dreams are what often motivate us to move from where we are.

I figured I would just let my imagination wander free for a bit, and, no need to ask, I will share where those thoughts are running. I was thinking about properties, especially after the last post and talking to my friend. Of course keeping an eye on those houses helped keep my mind on property and housing too.  One of the things that I am really interested in is international real estate, the idea of an exotic second home somewhere, well, exotic just delights my senses. I would seriously love a place in Greece, although it would have to be on one of the smaller out of the way, less terrorized islands. Someplace where the locals were friendly and the climate enjoyable. Greece, France, the Netherlands have been on my mind. Very different climates, but that is the point. Having a chance to change where you were depending upon your mood and not just subject to the vagaries of the seasons. I have thought of places on various islands also; thought about Philippines Real Estate and considering real estate in the Dominican Republic but I am not sure about that, unless I had private transportation. I would really have to consider some mountainous areas as well, just for balance. Something to think about anyway.

Every seller really wants a fast house sale. My friend does, but she just got notice from the city that her property value has decreased again and right now she can’t sell it with out going more in the hole financially. She was also talking about all the repairs that currently need to be done and how she can’t afford those at the moment; and saying that any buyer would require all that stuff be fixed prior to sale. That kind of makes things hard for her at the moment, she would like to look into UK property but right now keeps saying that she can’t see past her current house. I was thinking I should tell her to read property blogs and forums, post some questions and see if she can benefit from the general experience and knowledge of others there. She could even just do a Yahoo question for Yahoo answers, but she is not all that comfortable with computers. She uses them a lot and likes them but doesn’t really know about all the stuff on the internet. I should probably send her some links or something and see if they might help.

I have mentioned before that I am interested, would like to, want to, will be, buying a house, but flipping that thought I want to go over some stuff I just talked about with a friend.  I was at her house the other day and she was thinking about selling her house, well, actually has been thinking about it. The problems with that are quite a few. With properties the way they are, still mostly down, it really sucks if you want to sell right now. It’s nice if you are a buyer, though. Trying to sell in this market can be painful, and what she ended up figuring out is that right now it would hurt her more to sell than to keep the house. She is somewhat stuck at the moment.

I have been keeping an eye on the stock market and it certainly seems to change. That is good news, because that means that it is in motion, both positive and negative. Those are both intrinsic to the use of any stock market. To be honest, and keep in mind I am not a guru though I attempt to pay attention to investment news, some might even call me naïve, but to me it seems like things are picking up and for some investors going quite well. The investment news recently has, just from casual glances, appeared somewhat upbeat. Just from what has been reported in the different markets around the world there certainly seems to be a lot of opportunity. Of course there is also risk involved, but that is a given when you are dealing with stocks, bonds and equities. If you want some off the cuff advice from an absolute non professional, not currently investing, but looking into it, market wanna be dabbler. I knew you were interested!

I think long term it might be good to invest in agriculture or any type of bio-science, I would also be looking into tech because the chances are good that our society’s are going to require it to maintain, grow and thrive. If you want to see your savings grow, then I think investing in the markets is a bit like hitting the casinos. You must have some sort of strategy before you even show up. Know what money you have and what you plan on doing with it. Know your resources. Decide on how much you are going to invest, or gamble in the market, and stick to it. Invest that amount, and if you lose it, step back and look at why you did, look at the factors that were present, the causes for the stock or stocks you picked to drop. Then use that knowledge to attempt to pick a better stock next time, when you again, have some money free to invest. Of course, if things go the other way and your savings improve, investing in offshore banking might be the way to go. That’s a bit of a joke, a small attempt at humor.

If an ISP choose to go with a usage type of rate structure then hopefully any company that didn’t would have many new users. I know that if I had the choice of a company who charges on usage and one who charges the regular way, I would boycott, swear at and work against the company that tried to charge by usage. A 2mb leased line provider is nice for some, but not if their where other charges involved depending upon usage. I wonder how that would affect those who provided hosting service.

I hope broadband providers do not embrace the pay as you go idea for internet bandwidth usage with open arms. The practice in the states seems to be gaining traction, and in Europe I am not entirely sure what the current status is, they may already be on that sort of sliding usage rate scale. The basic idea behind it is that for those who play online games or those who download a lot of things, they would be charged at a higher rate do to their usage of the bandwidth. It really doesn’t make much sense to me, the only thing it really has going for it is the greed factor, and that only works if you are one of those who would benefit financially by that type of rate change. In other words, those who work for a broadband company could see benefit, of course it probably would only be the ones who ran things, not those who actually did things. If they did that would it be the same for the home user and their ISP? What about business broadband providers, how would businesses deal with that kind of bill increase, especially in these times? One would hope, that just like the current credit card issues, that people would have an alternate choice for their service.

I now have accounts in my business name and am down to just needing to move on to the part of the business that fills those accounts up. It took a while and quite a bit of searching for me to decide on a bank to go with. Credit unions are usually much better than regular banks, at least for their member/customers. Most of the banks recently have issues, plus many of the card givers definitely have issues. They are a few that are still good deals, but you seem to have to look for them. However, a credit union, on the other hand is normally a good deal. After looking around at different banks I went ahead and settled on a credit union, because of their stability and because they are less inclined to screw you just on general principles like many of the banks and credit providers are currently trying to do. I thought of an offshore bank account but I think you already need quite a bit in an account before they will consider you for something like that.

I wonder if banks look at credit ratings to decide whether to offer you an offshore account or not? Even if you just went overseas with an account it might turn out for the better for you. That does of course depend on what country you choose and what, in general, their currency trades at. The only other factor I would think to be very important is stability. Will the place you are investing retain the rights it currently allows for non-citizens or will those be taken at the whim of those running that country? It makes a difference, trust me. The main difference being whether you get to keep your money or not, and how safe you feel trading in that currency and what your bank account size is.

 I came across a couple houses, not at real estate forums but physically. Alright, I didn’t just ‘come across’ them, I have been keeping an eye on them.  One  house has neighbors on only two sides with the other sides covered by a big stone wall and a street. The backyard from what I can see is also a lot bigger than the backyard of the first house. The inside, from the brochure, looked pretty good as well. The only problem I am seeing is that the prices are still a bit high, I think the owners for both were hoping for a quick house sale but the price on the second house has dropped a couple of times recently, so hoping it gets down into the range I am interested in. Then might have to seriously consider it, and I am trying to keep up with general property news. There are of course more things that would have to be taken into consideration, but overall just from what I have seen by walking around both places and the brochures they have I am finding that the second house is more to my liking. Mainly because of the location and the wall, it gives a bit more of a feeling of privacy.

Property prices are more and less good now, still high in some areas, but the houses look pretty good, and the location is nice. They are both in housing developments which I don’t like very much, but they do have redeeming features. The really big thing is that they are both corner lots. The one is fairly big; it has four or five bedrooms and a very nice open kitchen plan. The backyard is nothing to really speak of but inside looks quite nice, at least from the brochure. The house also has a couple of fire places, which is really nice as it can get fairly cold here. The other house is in a better location, I think. However, it is not as big as the other.