Otter Limits

I graduated high school in 1990. I was not the best student. Not a valedictorian candidate by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I barely paid attention in most classes.

However, in August of that year, I started taking college courses.

I started college pursuing a degree in computer science. That only lasted 2 semesters though. Most of my courses in those 2 semesters were general education (English, history, etc..) but I took an introductory course in computer science that 2nd semester and decided that computer science was not my bag.

So I switched my degree to political science/pre-law. Law school. That sounds like a good idea. About 2 semesters later, I took the LSAT (the law school entrance exam) to see how I would do on it once I actually had to take it.

So I did really bad on that test. REALLY bad. Okay. Law school, probably not such a great idea. But I had already taken all of these political science classes so I decided to just stick with that.

Until 1993. My general lack of funds forced me to drop out of college at which point I decided to join the military.

While in the service, I spent almost the entire time traveling. So taking college courses was kind of just not feasible. I did, however, manage to knock out one class in College Biology during my time in the service.

So I got out in 1999 and spent some time in Florida. While there, I enrolled in some courses at Florida State University. However, I left Florida before the classes started.

I ended up in Oklahoma City for a short time during which I took a course at the local community college in audio engineering. Not sure why. Looking back that was kind of a waste of time.

So anyway, since then I have not taken any more classes (unless you count a couple of Bible classes I took via correspondence, not degree seeking classes, so I don’t count them).

I keep attempting to go back to school but one way or another life just always seems to get in the way.

So, after close to 20 years since I started college, I have quite a few credits which include the course I originally took, the course I took while in the service, and the training I did in the service that actually counts toward college credit (mostly electronics theory and that sort of stuff). In fact, I have almost enough to get some sort of a degree. Just not sure what in.

I could have a two year degree but there is one class I am lacking in that keeps me from getting a two year. A math class. Yes, all that stands before me and an associates degree is a college algebra course. Which I have been avoiding for….well, almost 20 years. You see, math is not my thing. I am just not good at it.

When I first started college, I was going to take that class and get it out of the way but when I enrolled in it the admissions folks told me I was to take a math assessment in order to get into the class. So I took that test and they told me that because of my score I could not take that class unless I took 2 other “pre-requisite” math courses. Well crap, I don’t want to take the ONE math class. Why would I want to take 2 more!!!

So there you have it. That is why I do not have a college degree. I do not have a 2 year because I refuse to take a math class. And I do not have a bachelors because I can’t seem to get myself back into school.

Perhaps one day I will get back and finish off my degree. The questions are, however. What do I get my degree in and at this point, is it really necessary? Does it really matter if I have a degree or not?

Who knows? I sure don’t.

Anybody have any other college stories they would like to tell?

This is a list of my 7 favorite blogs…and this is in order of preference:

1. Oklahoma Lefty
2. Scott’s Blog
3. Jesica’s Journey
4. Red Stater
5. Brad Neese At Large
6. Christarchy
7. Not Always Right

At some other point I think I might do a list of my least favorite blogs.

Sorry, best title I could come up with.

I have not blogged about this situation but have mentioned it privately in bits and pieces to a few people. I have not posted because before I really thought it was not the world’s business about my financial situation. And it is a subject that is a sore spot for me to talk about. So I decided it was time to go ahead and let everyone in on the “big secret” about my previous housing situation.

First, I was not one of those people that applied for a home loan knowing they could not afford it. I had a really good job with a company I had been working with for quite a while and at that point had no intention of ever leaving the company.

We were living in a rental in Northwest Oklahoma City at the time. It was not a bad place but the utilities were crazy because the house was not well insulated. Besides, we had recently moved to Oklahoma with the intention of owning a home. So we went looking. We found one we liked. We applied for the loan and we were approved for it.

We never had any problems paying our mortgage payments. I made more than enough money to pay it.

But here is where the problems began….

I started having some problems with my company. Mostly with mid-management. Little things like them promising something and never following through with them, outright lies, and a general lack of respect. Almost the entire time I was there, I honestly felt like an outsider. Like I was the one from Washington that did not fit into their Oklahoma City world.

But after several months of jumping back and forth in my mind between leaving the company and sticking it out, I decided to give them one last chance to redeem themselves and give me a reason to stay.

I applied for a promotion that I was, quite frankly, more than qualified for. Definitely more qualified than anyone else in the department. There were 4 openings. Certainly the job was mine. I went through the application process, the testing process and 2 separate interviews.

A few days after the 2nd interview I got a call from one of the managers who told me that I did not get the promotion. I was pretty irate to say the least. Come the next day at work I am a little more than surprised to find out that out of the 4 people that did get selected, I personally trained 3 of them!

So that was it, I was done. End of story. Goodbye [name of company]. In retrospect I should have stayed anyway. But I didn’t. Big mistake. You live and learn I guess.

I had another job waiting in the wings though. However, it did not start for another month. Okay, here is a problem. I won’t be able to pay the mortgage that month. This was November 2007 by the way.

So I did what I THOUGHT was the responsible thing to do. I called my mortgage company which I will call Company X instead of their actual name so I don’t end up getting sued for libel. I called them up and explained the situation. They told me not to worry about it and put my mind at ease. They would just extend the loan out. No big deal. They do it all the time. They will just send me some paperwork to sign and return to them and once we got back on our feet we could just call them up and have them start up the loan again. Sound easy right? Wrong!!

December comes and still no paperwork. I did get a statement which included late fees though. So I called back. “We have no record of that conversation.” What?!? “No problem, we will get that paperwork started for you. Send it back signed and the loan would essentially be put on hold.” Here is how they explained it to me:

I could do one of two things. A forbearance, which means whatever amount the loan was overdue, they would add to the loan and make my payments higher. Or I could do a loan modification. Which means they add the amount the loan was overdue to the loan and the payments would stay the same but the time period would be extended. I chose the loan modification.

January comes. No paperwork. Got another statement.

February comes. No paperwork. Another statement.

I call again. I can pay my payments now folks. Heck, I was able to start paying them again in January. I am told not to mail any payments until I have gotten the paperwork. I tell them I don’t have it. Where is it? “It’s in process.” In process? I need to pay my bill. Get on it. Fine. I will wait. *sigh*

March comes. Paperwork arrives….for a forbearance, not a loan modification. I call again. This is not what I agreed to. “Okay, we will send out the correct paperwork.” The guy on the phone does let me make a payment though.

Next month, I get a foreclosure notice but no new paperwork! And come to find out that they did not accept my payment. I call them and ask what is up. They can’t take a payment until the paperwork has been processed because at this point they will not accept a partial payment.Arggh!!!

May comes. Paperwork arrives. I look it over. It is for a loan modification. Good. But they want me to pay over 3 grand in late fees, legal fees and other fees. Whoah there, what?!?

Another call to Company X. “The rep that you originally spoke to told you there would be fees involved in a loan modification.” Oh no she didn’t. I would remember something like that. “It’s right here in her notes.” Well, those notes lie. I would remember that. Oh, and the legal fees are being assessed because we started foreclosure proceedings.

What?!? Why did you start foreclosure proceedings? I have been talking with your company about this situation since November. And I have been trying to make payments since January but told I could not until the paperwork that I never got until MAY is finished.

“Well, we can continue on with this loan modification and end the foreclosure proceedings but you will still have to pay all the fees.”

I don’t have 3 grand on me right now. Their answer……”Well sir, that is not my problem.” Dead silence.

Somehow, I miraculously come up with the money and send them a cashiers check.

However………

On another note, my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June 2006 and we have also been dealing with that. She had just ended one round of chemotherapy and was told they would have to start another round. At this point we are all stressing out and exhausted with life. Between dealing with Company X and the thought of losing our house and dealing with cancer that won’t go away and on top of this we were having problems with our daughter’s school so we pulled her out and started homeschooling her. And…all this stress is affecting my work which is adding to the stress itself.

So we begin to think long and hard about our options. We are seriously considering moving back home to Seattle. There is a better support system there. But we don’t have the money to move. But if we still had the money we sent to Company X we would. Can the bank do a stop payment on a cashiers check?

We go to the bank. The decision is made. If we can get that money back, we will move back home. If we can not, we stay in the house and try to move on with our lives. The bank says they will issue a stop payment. That is it. We move.

I call Company X and inquire about our options to keep from the house being foreclosed on. They tell me they can do a deed in lieu of something. Basically we turn the house completely over to the mortgage company. All I have to do is sign some paperwork turning the house over to them and it is done. No foreclosure on our record.

That paperwork never showed up. But I did receive a noticed about a sheriff’s sale on our house and about a month later a document advising us of who bid on the house and who now owns it.

So our home was foreclosed on.

A lot of this I blame on myself.

I never should have called them in the first place. I could have just been a month behind in payments and made it up somewhere. But I thought I was being responsible.

I never should have quit my job. I could have just hung on and dealt with a crappy work situation. But I was really irritated at the time and really unhappy with where my future with the company was headed.

And maybe I should have just gave them their money and stayed in Oklahoma. We could have made do with where we were at. It would have been hard but we could have done it. But we were really unhappy there. Dealing with cancer without any kind of support system except ourselves was really getting to us.

Psychologically and spiritually it was a good move for us. We are still dealing with cancer (3 years later) but it is easier to deal with here. Life in general is good here in Washington.

The downside is that we will now ever own a house again and our credit it completely shot.

And that is the story of the Great Housing Battle with Company X.

So think what you want about me. Call me irresponsible. More often than not I will probably agree with you.

That is all I have to say about it so I will end the tirade here.

This post is an update of sorts to one of the very first posts on this blog. It was originally written in March 2005.

Anyone who knows me personally, or has read any of my stuff knows that music plays a big part in my life. Way back when I first wrote the post, I had just recently left the band I was currently playing with (a band which by the way I am back together with) and it got me to thinking where have I been (musically) in my life.

So tonight I thought I would update that history a bit and instead of just updating the original post, I would re-post it on its own here.

Enjoy!

1990

This year, a friend of mine (Von) and I formed our first band. I think we started it right after graduating high school but we might have still been in, I can’t really remember correctly.
This band was originally called Hate Machine. We decided to change the name for 2 reasons. (1) There was an album called Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails that we did not want to be associated with; and (2) There was another local band that went by the name Hate Party and did not want to sound like we were copying those guys.
So after several ideas and failed suggestions, we went with the name ABF which was the name of a fictional dance club in a book about a punk rock vampire.
The name originally did stand for something, as ABF was actually the acronym for this dance club in the book. However, over the years progressed in this band, it came to stand for other things as well.
When we first started the band, I was singing and playing guitar. Well, let me rephrase, I was, attempting to play the guitar. You see when we started the band we did not have a clear cut idea of who would do what because neither of us actually played an instrument (unless you count Von having been in high school marching band). I happened to own an electric guitar although I did not know how to play it. So I figured out somewhat how to play while Von was singing and attempting, like me, to play the drums.

For the most part 1990 was an uneventful year for this band except that we spent a lot of time writing songs.

1991

This is the year things really started to take off for the band, mostly because we got a little more serious about actually having a band. Von switched to full time vocals and we hired a drummer (Josh). At this point we never got around to hiring a bass player and played our first show in the living room of a friend’s house. Josh was actually only around long enough to play this first show.

Also after this show, ABF was put on a brief hiatus while I joined another local punk rock band called Goon Squad for a short time as their 2nd guitar player. This band was in all respects, the aforementioned Hate Party but with a different singer (and me as 2nd guitarist).
This band did not last long. Probably long enough for 2 or 3 shows.

After leaving this band, me and Von hired a bass player (Brian) and drummer (Chad) for ABF.
Shortly after beginning rehearsals with this band, Brian and I switched instruments as his suggestion. The problem was, I was still not worth a crap as a guitarist and had absolutely no control and kept breaking strings. He suggested we switch because it was harder to break bass strings.
This lineup only lasted long enough to release one E.P. and do one “official” live show. We did, however, have several “open practices” in the garage we were practicing in.
At some point in time, Brian left the band for unknown reasons.

Also in this year, I started another band with another friend of mine (Sonny). It was a huge departure from ABF in that it had a more “heavy metal” feel to it. It was called The Punished. In this band, I sang and played bass and Sonny played guitar. The drummer position was filled by several different people. We never actually did any shows in this band and it only last a few months. I don’t remember really being all that into it.

1992

ABF went through 2 totally different lineups this year.
In the first one, Brian was replaced by an old school chum of ours (Dennis). He played with us a few times until Chad decided to leave and form another band with Brian.
This left us in a bit of a pickle because we had a really huge show coming up for us and needed a drummer quickly. Someone that could pick up the music just as quickly. Dennis suggested his former college roommate (Skosh). He came in and started practicing with us and essentially did what we needed him for.
He probably would have continued being in the band but the problem was that he and Dennis both started getting in the habit of skipping practices so we let them both go.

The second lineup consisted of Frank on guitar. How we found him I honestly can’t remember but I do remember him joining the band had something to do with the fact that he really liked the band Bad Religion. The drummer position this year sort of revolved for a while. In fact, I think while Frank was with us, we went through 3 drummers. Sort of the Spinal Tap of punk rock, except our drummers didn’t blow up.

1993

Strange year for ABF this one was. For some reason which I can’t remember, I ended up switching back to guitar. We played quite a few shows in the first half of the year but we had so many different drummers and bass players this year that I don’t remember them all.
I am still quite shocked that the band stayed together at all this year. In fact, in September of that year, I left college and joined the military, thus ending the band for the rest of the year.

1994

When I returned from boot camp and technical school, I oddly enough ended up getting stationed in the same place I had just left the military for. Very strange. It worked out though for a while.
ABF never really got off the ground after I returned though and I ended up joining a band called The Crackbabies, but only as a singer.
Another friend of mine (Jay) and I had been talking about music late one night while drinking. He mentioned that he was trying to get some sort of band off the ground with him playing drums and his 2 friends, Mike the bass player and Bob the guitar player. So he suggested I come sing for them. So I did.
Some really cool shows were played with this band and there were some very interested tapes released of this band including one of a live show at a club called Alcatraz. I had a lot of fun with it and was actually a bit sad when we stopped playing, mostly because Bob had decided to focus more on his schoolwork as he decided to go back full-time.

So with The Crackbabies gone, I invited Jay to come play for a newly resurrected lineup of ABF. Another friend of mine (Charles) came in and began playing bass for us (Charles actually ended up becoming another “core” member of the group, besides Von and I, as he stayed with the band until its eventual demise). So with this lineup we did a few shows and a live tape was released.

1995

The Von/Me/Charles/Jay continued at the beginning of this year and remained that way almost the entire year.
Toward the end of the year however I learned that I was being transferred to Alaska. So, we decided to record and release another album (which ended up becoming an ep instead) before I left. Unfortunately, Jay left us shortly before we began recording it. We brought in a temporary replacement (Dan) to finish the album for us.
Thus began another extended hiatus for ABF.

1996-1998

The first few months of being in Alaska were very trying. I did not really hang out with very many people because I was still trying to get my bearings.
Early 1996 I became acquainted with a guitar player (Cameron) who was into all the same types of music I was into. And he was also into beer. So we became fast friends.
He knew a guy that played drums (Chris) so we started jamming and started my first and only Alaska punk band.
Originally the band was called Astro Zombies (we were both big Misfits fans) but soon found out there was already a band with that name so we started thinking of other names and eventually came up with Ice Station Zebra.
The lineup for this band was me played bass and singing, Cameron playing guitar, and Chris playing drums.
Eventually, another friend of ours (Dave) came in and started playing bass leaving me to being just a singer again.
The drummer Chris actually did not stick around for very long after Dave showed up. Actually, I think he might have been transferred somewhere else but I can’t remember. After he left, we ended up using a drum machine for recordings and I don’t remember what we did for live shows. I do remember we did quite a few though
During the course of this band’s lifetime, we had 2 bass players (besides myself). There was Dave and another Chris who had recently moved to the Alaskan frontier.
This band’s life came to an end because I left Alaska and left the military itself.

1998

After returning home from Alaska, Von, Charles and I started another lineup of ABF with a friend of Charles (Jason) on drums.
After practicing for a while with this lineup, Von started missing practices and eventually ended up leaving the band altogether. I took over singing duties after he left. For the first show we did after his departure, we actually got an old friend (Jay) to fill in on guitar for me because I had still not gotten used to playing the guitar parts and singing at the same time. That one show did turn out to be a really good show and we almost thought about keeping Jay permanently. I am not really sure why we did not go with that plan.

1999-2001

At the beginning of 1999 (and ultimately until the demise of this band) remained as me, Charles and Jason.

This year, we went into an actual studio and recorded some really promising material. However, due to reasons that I would rather not get into here, the masters for those recordings were destroyed thus those songs never saw the light of day.

In 2000, in addition to playing with ABF, I started playing bass for a bar band that played some country, some old rock n roll (Beatles, Stones, Motown, etc..). It was a lot of fun and I don’t remember why I quit playing for the band. We did a ton of shows that year and even made some decent money doing it.

Also in 2000, I moved into a house with Von (we were still friends even though he was no longer in the band) with a bunch of other people and we had started discussing ideas to start another band. Nothing really got off the ground though. I don’t think the other guys were all that serious about it.

Mostly we just practiced and kept writing and only ended up doing maybe 2 or 3 more shows during this whole time period.

The end of this band came when my interest with the band (and sadly my interest in playing) became dulled and I also had decided to leave Oklahoma and move to Seattle. So, after 11 years, ABF was finally a band no more.

2002-2003

These years were very not interested year for me musically.

It became apparent to me the other day while in a monthly review session with my supervisor. Everyone at work seems to think I am some sort of computer geek.

I just read a post over at Dave’s” blog about another fellow blogger who is looking for a label to describe his political philosophy. This post is not a reaction against his blog. I can certainly understand the need to define one’s self. But it got me thinking about labels in general.

What good to labels really do? Has anything good really ever come out of labeling something?

Of course, not all labels are bad. Sometimes they can be a good thing. Coke or Pepsi. If these didn’t have labels, how would we know what we are drinking? No one wants to accidentally drink the wrong one.

Or in foods. I know in my case I want to be able to see something that says sugar free. Others want to see labels that say no fat. Or fat free. or low carbs. or no carbs. There is nothing wrong with that.

But what about things like upper middle class. or lower middle class. or middle upper class. or upper lower class. These labels are stupid! You either have money or you do not have money. That is simple. There is no need to label someone to distinguish how broke we are or how well off we are.

Think back to high school for instance. Everyone had some sort of label. jock. prep. nerd. stoner. skater. hoodlum.

Remember the problems these labels caused? Some people were included in their own special groups. Others were outcasts to everyone. Some were placed on pedestals. Others were looked down upon. It is things like this that in my opinion causes things like what happened at Columbine years ago.

And look at religion. Religion absolutely has too many labels. And what good has it done? Almost the entire span of human existence has been riddled by war over the God question.

Don’t get me wrong. A person should have some sort of beliefs. I am not excluded from this list. But the labels really do more harm than good.

This is especially the case with Christianity. Even the label “Christian’ itself has become something rotten to the taste. Too many divisions. Too much infighting. Too much hatred. All because of labels.

And think of politics. Almost as bad in the labeling area as religion. Everyone fighting over who is right and who is wrong. Democrats hate Republicans. Liberals hate conservatives. “Left” Democrats hate “centrist” Democrats. “Right-wing” Republicans hate “moderate” Republicans.

No one can just sit down and talk over their views and come to a compromise and realize that it takes more than one type of person and their ideas to make things work? Your “side” or your label, does not have to be the one that is right at all costs.

But why all the labels? Just call yourself an American. A concerned American. I can go even further with this and say that calling yourself an American is giving yourself a label. So how about a concerned citizen? Or a concerned human being?

Lose the labels people. Be yourself. Try to get along with others. Learn to compromise. We will all be better off that way, don’t you think?

I thought I would post this to let all 3 of my readers know that I have not fell off the face of the earth. You know, just in case you have been wondering why I have not been blogging lately.

The reason I have not been blogging unfortunately is nothing as noble as being too busy with life to get on the computer or anything like that.

I just simply have not had much to say so I have bothered with blogging.

I could probably keep on doing my “Once Upon a Time in America…” posts so maybe I will start that up again just to have something to post or perhaps I will do another NHL update since I have not done one of those in a while.

Other than that, nothing has inspired me to write?

Any ideas?

I only titled this post this way because it is in a way related to my previous posts Why I Vote The Way I Do and Son of Why I Vote This Way.

In those posts I explained why I do not vote based on particular issues and what I do base my voting decisions on.

In particular I discussed why I do not base my voting decisions, for example, on a candidates stance on abortion. I said that I feel that this is a moral issue and not a legislative or criminal issue.

So I have actually been doing a bit of reading lately on the abortion issue because I have been feeling a certain poking at my soul (so to speak) over it.

Anyway, I was reading this article today and came across some interesting quotes that I wanted to share.

In the article, Charles Caput (the current Archbishop of Denver Colorado) while talking to a congregation in Dublin, Ireland states to not:

“give in to those who say ‘religion is divisive, or intellectually backward, or that it has no proper place in the public square.

This wrong thinking is now so common that any religiously grounded political action can be portrayed as crossing the border between Church and state affairs.”

I can see where he is going with this line of thinking. There is this idea going around that if any time a person (with any religious background and in any sort of position of power) tries to use his own personal morals to decide on a particular issue, then he is crossing the line and they start screaming separation of Church and state.  

I get this questions every so often. Why Otter Limits? What is the deal with otters?

So I thought I would explain this once and for all. Pay attention, I will not explain it again.

Otter is a nickname that I have had since the early 90s.

Without getting too terribly detailed, here is how the nickname came out:

Once night I was hanging out with some a crowd of folks, some friends, some just people I met that night and we were engaged in some sort of discussion. If I remember it correctly, it was mildly political in nature.

Anyway, we were all fairly intoxicated at the time and at some point during the conversation i went off on some sort of a rant about why I thought that otters would one day take over the world.

There was no logic to it obviously. Just the ramblings of someone whose was not quite right in the head at the time.

Apparently though, this was a memorable rant because the next time I ran into a couple of the folks from that night, I was greeted with, “Hey, it’s the Otter dude!”

The name stuck.

So there you have it.

Have you ever noticed how there are a lot of people in the blogosphere that don’t have anything positive to say about anything?

Whether they are responding or commenting to a particular post of someone else’s or they are posting something on their own blog, there is nothing positive in any of their
rhetoric. It’s all negative.

It is kind of sad on a number of levels:

First, it would appear to me that these people essentially have no hope. No hope in our leaders, no hope in the future, no hope for themselves, nothing. None at all.

Secondly, the negativity that spews from their words and attitudes can often does spread to others. This negativity is like a virus that can infect virtually anyone.

Lastly, and there is no way to say this except to be blunt, it pisses people off. It makes other not want to be involved in any kind of discussion about anything whatsoever and if they do decide to get involved in a discussion they too, going back to that negativity spreads ideas, end up pissing
people off.

Honestly, I don’t think these people really intend to be negative or set out to make others angry. It just comes that way naturally I guess.

However, I don’t think that the old cliche about not saying anything if you don’t have anything nice to say could apply in this situation. However, the thing is, we all know the world has its
problems. We all know the system isn’t perfect. We know there are things that need to change. But to be reminded of whatever failings they have chosen to speak of on that particular
day, can get really old.

That was it.