So one thing I didn't consider when I was moving was a lack on internet access. Hence the silence from my fabulous blog. But it's pretty slow... people must think it's a holiday or something, so I've got some time at work.
Unfortunately I've missed all the good stuff... Halloween, Thanksgiving... elections, the end of viability of auto makers in the united states.... but that time has passed. So I am going to focus on better things. The good news is I have lots of time to think about what that focus will be... still thinking...
Alright here we go. As you may or may not be aware, my parents had a mishap with their washer and to make a long story short had to replace carpet/kitchen/paint on two floors of the house. This happened back in August and Parents do have insurance but because my mom is... well... Mom, she took the opportunity to remodel, so the main area upstairs now has Brazilian Walnut floors, toasty marshmallow walls, and best of all granite counter tops (They remind me of a billboard that I saw in Spokane everytime I go to parents and I laugh and Laugh and think of Beckee... its a beautiful thing...). As I said, the washing maching blew up in August and the remodel still isn't finished, though the upstairs has been (mostly) reclaimed.
What is the downside to all of this decadence? Christmas in the Johnson home is cancelled. Right down to the Christmas tree, there isn't even a baby train out on those granite counter tops, no stockings hung on the mantle with... I'd say care, but that would be misleading any year. So after 31 years of Great Grinchy Tricks...
my Dad finally scored his ultimate victory.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
What I love best about being single...
You may think that this is absolutely sick (and I might agree with you) but I love moving. Barring that stint at my parents house, I have moved at least once a year for the 8 years that I have been considered an adult (I actually average more than that but its a tangent we can avoid).
Obviously I am getting ready to move again or it wouldn't be coming up now, so I guess the first thing I should say is:
Hey guess what, I'm moving .687 miles north of my present location!
When: In two weeks
Why: Because my lease is up ... and I can... and I hate my landlord
That having been said, back to the point, I love moving... it's not like when I was a kid and we had to pack up all of the stuff and it took weeks and you had boxes and boxes that were labeled "miscellaneous crap," (I'm pretty sure those boxes are still sitting in the storage room at Parent's house) and there were things you just hoped would get "lost" but you couldn't actually throw away...
Ok, ok... maybe it isn't my favorite thing about being single, but it's definately in my top ten.
So in the spirit of David Letterman:
Top Ten reasons why Moving yearly while Single doesn't suck.
10. If you don't have a place to put it, there's always your parent's basement
9. Its like Christmas, you find things you didn't remember having, (usually discovered at your parent's house...).
8. Your hot guy friends do most/all heavy lifting, though there may be some later baking exchange obligation... depending on what they hold out for
7. All the miscellaneous crap that has accumulated over the past year can actually be thrown away.
6. You never have to clean windows
5. One more year in the same place and you might plant a garden
4. This go around: Love Sac
3. Hardcore furniture rearrangement.
2. There really isn't that much to move (most of your stuff is in Parent's basement already)
1. Answering the question Where does one hang the 20x14 muscle cars/mansion poster in another house full of girls?
Obviously I am getting ready to move again or it wouldn't be coming up now, so I guess the first thing I should say is:
Hey guess what, I'm moving .687 miles north of my present location!
When: In two weeks
Why: Because my lease is up ... and I can... and I hate my landlord
That having been said, back to the point, I love moving... it's not like when I was a kid and we had to pack up all of the stuff and it took weeks and you had boxes and boxes that were labeled "miscellaneous crap," (I'm pretty sure those boxes are still sitting in the storage room at Parent's house) and there were things you just hoped would get "lost" but you couldn't actually throw away...
Ok, ok... maybe it isn't my favorite thing about being single, but it's definately in my top ten.
So in the spirit of David Letterman:
Top Ten reasons why Moving yearly while Single doesn't suck.
10. If you don't have a place to put it, there's always your parent's basement
9. Its like Christmas, you find things you didn't remember having, (usually discovered at your parent's house...).
8. Your hot guy friends do most/all heavy lifting, though there may be some later baking exchange obligation... depending on what they hold out for
7. All the miscellaneous crap that has accumulated over the past year can actually be thrown away.
6. You never have to clean windows
5. One more year in the same place and you might plant a garden
4. This go around: Love Sac
3. Hardcore furniture rearrangement.
2. There really isn't that much to move (most of your stuff is in Parent's basement already)
1. Answering the question Where does one hang the 20x14 muscle cars/mansion poster in another house full of girls?
Monday, September 29, 2008
This is going to be a little bit of everywhere...
700 Billion Dollar Bailout. Where does the 700 billion dollar number come from, is this like Colin Powell's "overwhelming force" method, pick a number that no person outside the government can fathom and go with it? Were there any numbers run? I don't know, but I'm guessing not, my theory is that someone in the room said let's just make it a really big number and we might not use all of it, but then we'll at least have it... I do the same thing when I go shopping at the outlet malls.
I am inclined to accept this bail out as a necessary evil. Though I must admit I am a little excited to see the Republicans show a some backbone and vote the bill down in the house today, I love gridlock.
For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the past week, let me provide a brief explanation of the crisis, the credit market is currently frozen. Let's say I have a house (an obvious hypothetical, but I like to pretend sometimes) and I stop making payments, the banks will sieze the property, multipy this by a couple hundred houses, and perhaps the bank can't sell the properties. What happens to this bank? Well, maybe nothing, but it's possible that this bank could fail or that doesn't have enough liquid assets to continue lending money. Let's suppose our hypothetical bank is not able to loan out any more money, and you have a small business who generally take out loans to run your business, the bank doesn't have money to lend so you try the one down the street... this bank is having a similar problem with illiquid assets so there is no one to lend you money. Your business fails, you lose your house, as do your employees... the banks don't really want the property, you can see where I am going with this. Its simplified, but that's where we are banks have illiquid assets and are not lending, freezing the credit markets, which is ultimately bad for small business owners, and small business owners make the world go round. This is what the government is trying to fix... on a larger more complicated scale.
What is an illiquid asset? Simply put, an illiquid asset is something that cannot be sold, and generally they are illiquid for a reason. A 700 billion government buyout of illiquid asset should raise at least one eyebrow. That is not to say that the illiquid asset is a worthless asset the $5,000,000 house sitting vacant on the east bench may not be sold easily but it is certainly not worthless.
While I would rather see the private sector step up and get the ball rolling again, it could be argued that effects of the current credit debacle are so far reaching that the financial sector cannot function. Or that the strain on the financial sector would ultimately put a devastating strain on the average american. I'm pretty sure the government recently seized (that's right seized) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just a few weeks ago for that very reason. It was either government take over or both companies would fail.
So we the tax payers of this great nation are already it largest mortgage lenders. I am not sure where the public outcry was, but I will take a bailout versus the takeover of the banking industry. I, like Thomas Jefferson, draw the line at national bank. With banks failing left and right it is difficult to say with any degree of confidence that the private sector can shoulder the credit situation as it now stands. I would say that the opposite is true. It is clear that the private sector can't handle it, when companies like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual cease to exist, it's at least cause to pause. Lets just hope we're not setting an awful precidence. Wide spread bank failure is bad for everyone.
While I have to agree with the ultimate need for the bailout, and I agree that it needs to be free from golden parachutes (except those literal ones, jumping from a plane at 30,000 feet), taxpayers need to be protected, the fact that there were so many nay votes on both sides of the aisle gives me reason to be concerned. Party leaders can point fingers at each other all they want I don't think Republicans are so petty that they would vote against something because Pelosi is tactless... and Democrats aren't going to withhold their vote because their presidential candidate didn't suspend his campaign to fly back to Washington... I'm sure there are legitimate concerns about a bill that basically throws another zero on the end of the national debt, that was hammered out at 3:00 in the morning the night before. I realize everyone is in a hurry to get home to campaign but I feel like my government is working for me rather than failing me but giving this bill the attention it deserves. 700 billion dollars is not something that you throw around the office for a weekend, and then send it on its way. Give a couple days... I'll say until Thursday, the Whips just need to resolve some concerns, right?
I am inclined to accept this bail out as a necessary evil. Though I must admit I am a little excited to see the Republicans show a some backbone and vote the bill down in the house today, I love gridlock.
For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the past week, let me provide a brief explanation of the crisis, the credit market is currently frozen. Let's say I have a house (an obvious hypothetical, but I like to pretend sometimes) and I stop making payments, the banks will sieze the property, multipy this by a couple hundred houses, and perhaps the bank can't sell the properties. What happens to this bank? Well, maybe nothing, but it's possible that this bank could fail or that doesn't have enough liquid assets to continue lending money. Let's suppose our hypothetical bank is not able to loan out any more money, and you have a small business who generally take out loans to run your business, the bank doesn't have money to lend so you try the one down the street... this bank is having a similar problem with illiquid assets so there is no one to lend you money. Your business fails, you lose your house, as do your employees... the banks don't really want the property, you can see where I am going with this. Its simplified, but that's where we are banks have illiquid assets and are not lending, freezing the credit markets, which is ultimately bad for small business owners, and small business owners make the world go round. This is what the government is trying to fix... on a larger more complicated scale.
What is an illiquid asset? Simply put, an illiquid asset is something that cannot be sold, and generally they are illiquid for a reason. A 700 billion government buyout of illiquid asset should raise at least one eyebrow. That is not to say that the illiquid asset is a worthless asset the $5,000,000 house sitting vacant on the east bench may not be sold easily but it is certainly not worthless.
While I would rather see the private sector step up and get the ball rolling again, it could be argued that effects of the current credit debacle are so far reaching that the financial sector cannot function. Or that the strain on the financial sector would ultimately put a devastating strain on the average american. I'm pretty sure the government recently seized (that's right seized) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just a few weeks ago for that very reason. It was either government take over or both companies would fail.
So we the tax payers of this great nation are already it largest mortgage lenders. I am not sure where the public outcry was, but I will take a bailout versus the takeover of the banking industry. I, like Thomas Jefferson, draw the line at national bank. With banks failing left and right it is difficult to say with any degree of confidence that the private sector can shoulder the credit situation as it now stands. I would say that the opposite is true. It is clear that the private sector can't handle it, when companies like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual cease to exist, it's at least cause to pause. Lets just hope we're not setting an awful precidence. Wide spread bank failure is bad for everyone.
While I have to agree with the ultimate need for the bailout, and I agree that it needs to be free from golden parachutes (except those literal ones, jumping from a plane at 30,000 feet), taxpayers need to be protected, the fact that there were so many nay votes on both sides of the aisle gives me reason to be concerned. Party leaders can point fingers at each other all they want I don't think Republicans are so petty that they would vote against something because Pelosi is tactless... and Democrats aren't going to withhold their vote because their presidential candidate didn't suspend his campaign to fly back to Washington... I'm sure there are legitimate concerns about a bill that basically throws another zero on the end of the national debt, that was hammered out at 3:00 in the morning the night before. I realize everyone is in a hurry to get home to campaign but I feel like my government is working for me rather than failing me but giving this bill the attention it deserves. 700 billion dollars is not something that you throw around the office for a weekend, and then send it on its way. Give a couple days... I'll say until Thursday, the Whips just need to resolve some concerns, right?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Google Images Tagging
I feel like I'm back in elementary school playing kissing tag with Coleman Ellis at recess... tagged again. Except this time it isn't a hot blonde kid, its Beckee. So it's not really like recess at all...
My first name: Stefanie
Anyway, I couldn't sleep and I already wrote a novel on Sarah's blog... so here we go. . . . . What you do is put the answer to the question in a Google Image search and pick a picture from the first 3 pages of results.
My first name: Stefanie
This is Stefanie Powers from Heart to Heart... the similarity is spelling is not a coincidence.
(I was just glad she showed up by the 3rd page, I always thought I had a stripper name... now I know it's true)
(I was just glad she showed up by the 3rd page, I always thought I had a stripper name... now I know it's true)My Middle Name: Anne
"I can't help flying up on the wings of anticipation. It's as glorious as soaring through a sunset... almost pays for the thud."
My Last Name: Johnson
Tom Johnson (not my baby brother) Imaginary Music. No. 65, "Syncopated Texture"
My Age: 26
A place I would like to visit: St. Thomas
My favorite vacation spot: Southern California
My College Major: Social Science Composite Secondary Education ... would anyone like to pick a peck of snideberries in my snideberry patch?
Where did you grow up: South Jordan -- which is the closest to being translated since it has (almost) two temples. Provo hates us. 
Past Pet: Checkers, the dates are a little off, but you get the idea.
First Job: Officially: Payson Fruit Growers... and that is all the IRS ever need know.
My Favorite Treat: Strawberry Shortcake - I feel that two pictures are necessary as I had to get to page three before I actually saw any treats... but haven't you ever wondered what it's like to live in a cake made of strawberries?
My Favorite Food: Wontons -- so good, but so time consuming.
Bad Habit: Procrastination
My mood right now: distracted
Tagged: Sarah and Lindsey consider yourselves "It."
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Tagged???
Alright Sarah, you got me. 6 random things about me
1. I have broken all ten toes at least once, but not at once.
2. Tragically, I can't eat chocolate, cheese, or MSG (among other things)
3. I own over 100 pairs of shoes
4. Graduated from college with a degree in history, work in finance.
5. I'm named after my Dad, my Mom, a Brother, a Great Aunt, and an Uncle.
6. I can still sing all the words to the Gummi Bears Theme Song.
And I will tag... Beckee and Andrea.
1. I have broken all ten toes at least once, but not at once.
2. Tragically, I can't eat chocolate, cheese, or MSG (among other things)
3. I own over 100 pairs of shoes
4. Graduated from college with a degree in history, work in finance.
5. I'm named after my Dad, my Mom, a Brother, a Great Aunt, and an Uncle.
6. I can still sing all the words to the Gummi Bears Theme Song.
And I will tag... Beckee and Andrea.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Randomness
Well, I always suspected that I was irresistable, now it's official. You may or may not remember Jason from Blogs past. And I know what you're thinking "Stefanie, you haven't had anything to say about him for months! I thought we were done with him."
I would agree with you on all counts, right up until Tuesday when I was on my way to institute. Jodi's phone rang so she answers it, not knowing that she would have to play twenty questions to figure out who it was that she was talking to. So apparently Jason (the Australian) is back in town as of this Monday. And he was in his car on the way over to my house while he was calling Jodi, who is in the car with me.
Now this begs two question: why is Jason calling Jodi? And do I need to get one of those peepholes for my door?
I'm not too worried about it, really he's like a plastic sixpack holder to my Exxon Valdez oil spill. But it's kind of annoying when I was pretty sure I took care of this back in April.
So my current plan of action is inaction, but I am interested in additional feedback.
Let's keep in mind that I decidedly do not have any interest in entertaining any further pursuit. I may be willing to still be friends but know that to me that really means just friends with no benefits attached whatsoever, and maybe not even friends. And I still have to be nice to him because I can't be a jerk because a lady just won't do that. And in spite of familial opinions that I have been made aware of recently, I am a lady.
I would agree with you on all counts, right up until Tuesday when I was on my way to institute. Jodi's phone rang so she answers it, not knowing that she would have to play twenty questions to figure out who it was that she was talking to. So apparently Jason (the Australian) is back in town as of this Monday. And he was in his car on the way over to my house while he was calling Jodi, who is in the car with me.
Now this begs two question: why is Jason calling Jodi? And do I need to get one of those peepholes for my door?
I'm not too worried about it, really he's like a plastic sixpack holder to my Exxon Valdez oil spill. But it's kind of annoying when I was pretty sure I took care of this back in April.
So my current plan of action is inaction, but I am interested in additional feedback.
Let's keep in mind that I decidedly do not have any interest in entertaining any further pursuit. I may be willing to still be friends but know that to me that really means just friends with no benefits attached whatsoever, and maybe not even friends. And I still have to be nice to him because I can't be a jerk because a lady just won't do that. And in spite of familial opinions that I have been made aware of recently, I am a lady.
Labor Day
Over Labor Day Weekend I went to Omaha, Nebraska for a fun filled weekend. Now I now what you're thinking, "what in the world could possibly be in Nebraska that could ever make you want to go there?" Well... corn for one and there is plenty to be had, beef, there also appeared to be lots of sunflowers
so we can put that some where on the list... but really the coolest two year old alive lives in Nebraska and as an added bonus he comes in a set of four! That's right, Armour, Ender, Solace and the newly arrived Kindle are back in Nebraska, it seems they just can't get enough. And since there really isn't anything better to do, I figured I had better make sure that my place as the fun aunt is firmly established, which means I have to visit.It was a great visit, even if it did mean a car ride with just me and the parents, which can only be described as an adventure, and we'll leave it at that. Wes and Beckee have a very cute house, complete with backyard and basketball court. My favorite feature has got to be all of the mirrors, they are every where. I'm pretty sure that is what sold Beckee on the house. It's also in a great location! right next to a lake with a funny name and nature trails and a park.... you know everything to keep Wes and the kids busy and Beckee at her wits end.
We also went out to the game preserve near Lincoln, we actually saw the wolves as they were being fed, I don't think we saw them the last time I was there. The kids couldn't get close enough. Anyway here are some of the pictures I took, it was a good trip. for more antics visit Beckee's blog :0
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