What to say?

Wow, it's been some time since I've posted here. All in all, there is not a ton to really say, which is probably why I've not posted any updates. Life has just plain been too hectic. My biggest current concern is that I just cannot find the time and the motivation to get all of the work done that we need to get done in order to sell our townhome, and I can't afford to pay someone to do it either without eating up equity. I've got a ton going on at work and it's just going to get worse as we get closer to going live with our Exchange migration summer of next year. I just don't see how I'm going to get everything accomplished both personally and professionally at the same time. I can't neglect the job, so nothing gets done at home as a result. What little time I do have at home, I use to recuperate from work, to keep my marriage somewhat healthy, and to not be a stranger to my own children. Seems I have no time left once these tasks are accomplished.

Over the past few weeks I've used my leisure time to read for the most part. Authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, who are bestselling fiction writers, originally caught my interest way back when the co-wrote the book "Relic" together, which was made into a movie a few years ago now. They have since written a number of bestselling fiction novels, and I've been busy reading them over the past few weeks, mostly on my train rides back and forth to work, which last about an hour in each direction. For those not familiar, you can learn more about this pair of authors here if you so desire. I've always enjoyed writers that provide a good mix of mystery, action, research, drama, horror, and sci-fi all in one novel. These guys fit the bill at least in my view. Most of the books these two gentlemen co-wrote center around one Special Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast, a brilliant FBI agent with a penchent for solving complex serial and usually unsolvable murders, complete with his own skeletons in his family closet which intertwine into the storylines through the books. To date I've read Relic, Cabinet of Curiosities, Brimstone, Dance of Death, the Book of the Dead, and am currently reading Still Life with Crows. While some of the titles sound somewhat dismal on the surface, and do share a surface relationship with the theme of the book, what I like the most is the depth of character development that the writers are capable of throughout the storylines, and the good versus evil overtones.

Outside of my reading, we are both busy day to day with our full time professions, children's school activities including homework on a weeknightly basis, and the assundry household tasks associated with living in today's society.

In so far as the new home goes, we are still waiting on options pricing back from the builder for hardwood flooring for the second floor bedrooms and hallway. We need this piece of the puzzle before we can finalize the price of our new home and the options we wish to install into it.

On the economic front, the Fed dropped the federal funds rate by 50 basis points in September, so I remain steadfast in keeping up on my economic trend reading in an effort to best understand how to move forward with the timing of our new home build process. If this is the beginning of a new Fed easing cycle for interest rates due to the increasingly likely event of a housing led recession here in the U.S., then I'm better off waiting for as long as I can to close on the new home, as the federal funds rates is likely to drop another 50-100 basis points over the next twelve months, possibly to a 3-handle rate. This would translate into considerable interest savings on a home loan. Predicting the future is always, well, unpredictable, but we can learn from the past by analyzing it in hopes of semi-accurately predicting future economic circumstances, at least in so far as the direction of interest rates for the Federal Reserve is concerned. I for one believe we are likely to see 3-handle federal funds rates by summer of next year, given we are still a good ways away from seeing the end of the subprime mortgage problems and the fallout that we're starting to see in the banking and investment sector due to write-downs of the value of securities that hold subprime debts. Economic news is mixed at present, across various industries, so of course, the future is uncertain. Perhaps it's my pessimistic worldview, but I'm betting downside more than upside given everything I'm reading, which if I'm right, will translate into lower rates. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm due to meet with some contractors to quote me on work that needs to be done in our existing townhome, in hopes that the rates are reasonable and that the timelines to get the work done are acceptable. Given the slowdowns in housing construction, I'm betting I can get fairly good deals on labor pricing, hopefully good enough that we can afford them and not overburden ourselves by trying to get the work done all by our lonesome over the next few months.

Best Regards,

HitchHiker