...AND WE'VE GOT TICKETS TO TONIGHT'S SHOW @ THE GLASS HOUSE!

they're back... sort of

Table of Condiments
(That Periodically Go Bad)

A total of 19,145 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That's the lowest number for any month in DataQuick's records, which go back to 1988. It was 25.2 percent lower than December's 25,585 and 41.0 percent lower than 32,425 for January last year.

The median price paid for a home last month was $383,000, down 4.7 percent from $402,000 for the month before, and down 17.1 percent from $462,000 for January a year ago. The median peaked last March/April/May at $484,000.

Much of the drop in median is due shifts in the types of homes selling, and how those homes are financed. Last month 17.6 percent of the state's financed home purchases were purchased with "jumbo" loans over $417,000. A year ago it was 36.2 percent.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,743. That was down from $1,878 in December, and down from $2,155 for January a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, mortgage payments are 18.2 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 29.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.

In reading the last paragraph one could be easy fooled into thinking that home prices have dropped 30%, and that buying a home now is more affordable than it's been in 20+ years. In fact, the paragraph preceeding the last qualifies this drop in mortgage payments as a shift in the types of homes that are being purchased. Don't be fooled my friends, there is still a lot of blood to be shed. The homes we desire have not seen this magnatude of depreciation... yet.

Full Story

National Story (much worse sounding)

... what a mess.

By Roger Showley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
11:29 a.m. February 12, 2008
San Diego County median home prices dipped $1,000 from December to January to a four-year-low of $429,000, DataQuick Information Systems reported Tuesday. Sales activity of 1,826 transactions was the second lowest for any month on record.

The overall median was down 17.1 percent from the peak set in November 2005 of $517,500, while the monthly sales count was off 72.4 percent from the monthly peak of 6,605 set in August 2003.

Steep declines were concentrated in the resale house category, whose median dropped $19,500 from December to $451,500, the lowest since February 2004, and down 16.4 percent from the year-ago level of $540,000. The 995 sales recorded in January were the lowest since DataQuick began keeping records in 1988.

Resale condos also showed a decline. The median price stood at $300,000, compared with $311,000 in December and $380,000 a year ago, a 30 percent slide. Sales totaled 443, down from 521 in December and 633 a year ago.

source

... but their menu sign should have been my first clue.

...and then, EXPLORE.

Thanks to my mother for the link!

...Lisa

I blame you because I know that you enjoy a good bagel with lots of lox the morning after a night of drinking. That’s why I bought two and half pounds of smoked salmon in the first place. You see, I was at Costco the Sunday before New Year’s Eve when, while minding my own business I was accosted by a blue-haired devil of a woman. She was serving a platter of oh-so tempting bite-sized morsels and wouldn’t take no for an answer. With you and Lisa coming to town the next day, I thought that I’d impress (you) and surprise (lisa) with my extra large, extra tasty, chub of smoked salmon.

Fast forward to the Saturday following New Year’s Eve.

Imagine my surprise when, six days later, while searching for the feta cheese in the back of the fridge I found a humongous unopened package containing two and a half pounds of smoked salmon on the bottom shelf, lurking there in plain sight.

That was four days ago. And so it is, that my mission in life ever since has been to make sure that not a single bite of this salmon goes to waste. I was raised to always finish my food, no matter how big the plate in front of me, and to have love and respect for the environment. You pair these two values together and what you get is ME, on a mission, to ensure that this salmon did not die in vain. The unfortunate part of my circumstance is that neither of my roommates, nor my girlfriend, care for smoked salmon. When approached with the proposition of helping me in my mission, Maria turned her head and scrunched her nose upwards as if I had just licked the backside of a skunk and was coming in for a kiss.

I am happy to report that as of tonight I have only one remaining segment of what was surely once a gigantic fish that swam the frigid Alaskan waters as generations of men passed through. (I have since segmented the fish into 10 individually wrapped pieces in an attempt to fool my psyche of the massive task before me.)

If somebody were to ask, I would liken my accomplishment to that of Cool Hand Luke on his 45th egg. The end is near, and if could taste anything other than smoked salmon, surely it would be victory.

We need not revisit the pictures from this devastating and traumatizing incident. But if you're perverse, go ahead: pervert click here

So here we go again. I probably wouldn't have signed up for this year's race - espeically since I haven't been able to get any motivation in my training much lately - but there's a group of 5 of us from work that decided we'd all get jiggy with it if it were a group effort.

And there you have it - that was the first and last time I will ever write the word 'jiggy'. Ever.

...Anyway, there's not much more to be said, except - if you're gonna be in North County on the 20th, you better stop by to say HI.

You'll know how to spot me - I'll be the guy wearing no shirt, in the bear suit.

...and for any/all cheerleaders that stop by to say HI, the first round of pankcakes after the race are on ME!

(Pictures of the Cheerleaders 2 Years Ago!)

The approach to two of my favorite runs @ Mammoth Mtn...

Wipe Out Chutes

Drop Out Chutes

… that after we parted ways in ’98 from our home at 37 E Speedway, I continued to live with the Big Brown Cow for years to follow. In fact, I kept that couch –at least at the very end, what was left of it – up until the day I moved to San Diego. For five years I cared for and loved that couch as if it were one of my very own. I moved it to and fro, arranging, rearranging, and rearranging it again to match it with a countless number of different yard sale furnishings offered by many a roommate – though, no matter the house, the décor, or the roommate, the Big Brown Cow always succeeded in capturing center stage of the livingroom. I moved Brown Cow to and fro, from at least five different homes through the course of my tenure at the UA. We shared some good times, and bad ones as well.

I took this picture in June of ’02 as I finished loading my U-Haul to make the trek to SD. Had I enough room in my small 14-ft U-Haul BelieveYouMe it would have made the trip. Alas, I did not, and so, it did not. I was sad to see it go, but as I left it there in the alley way off of E. Adams Ave. & N. Mountain Ave. I couldn’t help but think of all the great times we had on that couch – starting way back in 7th grade when I’d ride my bike up the hill in the heat of the summer with Altar, Lee, Luong, Sean and crew to hang out all afternoon with ‘the girls’ while Brenda’s parents were away at work – and I knew that it was not a sad departure, but a happy one, because goddammit that couch had lived a good couch life.