Wanna Dance?

Tony - The Providence Dancing Cop



Wish the police in California were this friendly?

Find Local Speed Traps in Your Area

Here is a nifty little site that we can all benefit from. It's from the National Motorist Association, and is call Speed Trap.org

There you can look up your local area and find speed trap locations. Locations are sent in by motorists. You can also submit known speed trap areas that are not already listed.

This is not meant to condone speeding, however often police officers can be rather ridiculous in attempts to meet their quota or need to fill city revenue funds.

Drive carefully, be safe, and have a wonderful holiday.

A Little Santa Claus Trivia

A NASA Physicist was interviewed as part of a TV documentary on the history of Christmas traditions. In the interview he was questioned on the practicality of Santa visiting all the children of the world in one night. He had quite an interesting answer using scientific data to explain his claim.

If Santa started at 7:00 pm at the date line, which is mid Pacific Ocean, and traveled east he could maintain the 7:00 pm time zone as he traveled around the world. This would be taking advantage of the time difference going backward as he traveled in that direction. A simple example would be traveling from New York to Los Angeles gains the traveler 3 hours. Of course Santa is traveling much faster than a plane. He described Santa's speed as much faster than the Space Shuttle.

With traveling the world and still arriving at 7:00 pm at the original time zone, Santa would then continue again and be able to use the rest of the hours of the evening, which started at 7:00 pm, for delivery. The total amount of hours that Santa would have available to him, in one evening, would be 34.

Back to speed of travel. The NASA physicist indicated that given an average of two children per household around the world, we can assume that Santa would have to deliver to 1.8 billion children in those 34 hours. Given the amount of time and children, this would mean Santa would have to deliver to 7000 households per second. This figure did not take into account the "naughty" that were crossed off the drop off list or Santa's ratio of naughty to nice. The physicist said nothing about time for cookies. I guess the speed of travel accounts for Santa maintaining his weight.

The documentary also looked into the use of reindeer for travel. An interesting tidbit was found there as well. I think we all understood that the reindeer were males as they have male names. Interestingly enough, male reindeer lose their antlers yearly. During the winter months males do not have antlers. All the reindeer pictures show reindeer with antlers. Therefore, Santa clearly used women drivers! You go girls! Just supports that old saying....if you want something done right, send in a woman. This was not an intentional pitch for Hillary Clinton.

Happy Holidays!

Foreclosure Relief

In further researching the number that Bush was recommending borrowers call, 888-955-HOPE, I found that they are a non-profit agency that offers credit counseling and options to those facing foreclosure. The organization is called Homeownership Preservation Foundation. They are located at 8400 Normandale Lake Blvd. Suite 250, Minneapolis, MN 55437. They are not related to the government and no government money is used in this process. Several lenders do sponsor them through grants, one of them being Countrywide.

They have 24 hour counseling available at 888-955-HOPE; also on the web at http://www.995hope.org. They also have online counseling available when you visit their website. If you choose the online counseling, you are re-directed to a CCCS Atlanta site that is partnered with 888-995-HOPE. Their site states that they are approved by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): and the HUD approved counseling agencies' purpose is to help families understand the home purchasing process, how to get budgeting and credit problems fixed, and how to avoid predatory lending practices. Their counselors have received specialized training in the mortgage industry and are provided with certification with either the AFCPE or NFCC. You can investigate both of these last agencies at http://www.afcpe.org and http://www.nfcc.org

President Bush Announces Foreclosure Relief Proposal

Finally, after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks of addressing the foreclosure dilemma throughout the United States, with California being one of the hardest hit states, it looks like the current administration might be ready to address this issue.

This was announced today through the Associated Press. The proposal, addressing sub prime borrowers, may provide them with an interest rate freeze of up to five years. Home loans that increased their interest rates before January 1, 2007 and folks that bought way over their financial head even without sub prime programs will not be eligible. Folks that are eligible obtained their loans between January 1, 2005 and July 1, 2007. Bush indicated that 1.2 million people could be eligible for help, however only a fraction of those will be eligible for a rate freeze. Others would get help in refinancing with their lenders or moving into a home loan secured by the Federal Housing Administration. Finally, any help will only come to those that ask for assistance.

Bush urged folks to contact a hot line number 1-888-995-HOPE. It is projected that this will provide relief to about 300,000 families. This is a voluntary private sector arrangement that involves no government money.


Right now, nearly one million homes are in foreclosure. President Bush states that if this increases, this could have dire consequences on our economy. Ya think? Bush has been widely criticized as moving too slowly on this issue.


Per the Ventura County Star, first quarter foreclosure sales in 2006 for Ventura County were 62. For the same period in 2007, foreclosure sales rose to 548. That is a increase of 784%. In Los Angeles County, foreclosure sales increased this first quarter at a rate of 675%. Santa
Barbara saw an increase of 768%.


Too bad this was not addressed when folks were being offered these impossible home loan programs. Countrywide is one of the current lenders offering to re-negotiate interest rates with borrowers, but as this author understands, this is only once the borrowers have entered foreclosure and not all borrowers will qualify for this assistance.


If you either have or are going to face these types of rate increases over the next two years, it would be wise to be proactive and start looking for any available options and watch government statements. Letters of concern to local representatives, congress persons, and senators will help keep the focus on this serious issue that so many are facing. Checking out the above hot line number for further information may be helpful as well.

UN Conference on Climate Change - Al Gore's Petition

In nine days Al Gore is going to address the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. At his urging, I've signed an important petition showing I support his important call for a visionary treaty to address the climate crisis. I hope you will too.

The world's elected leaders must take the steps necessary to solve global warming. It's not too late. We have the opportunity now to improve the Earth's future for our children, and their children. If we don't act, we will only have ourselves to blame.

Please consider signing the petition for a Global Treaty here.

Ever Feel Frustrated With a Bank?

Here is something to help you put things into perspective. This is a post I found today on "The Savvy Boomer". The title is "If We Treated Banks The Way Banks Treat Us". In this day of PIN numbers, voice menus, last four of your social, and on and on, this is a real chuckle. I am sure we all feel frustrated at times, and we appreciate the need for security and service. But, sometimes dealing with banks, services, utilities, credit cards, etc, just makes me want to scream.

When I read the following Savvy Boomer's post, I just had a chuckle and wanted to pass it on to my clients. Read and vicariously enjoy!

"Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement that, I admit, has only been in place for eight years.

You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $50 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I have noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, prerecorded faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will, heretofore and hereafter, no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. You will be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.

Please find attached an application for Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation income, debts, assets and liabilities must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/ she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further.
Press buttons as follows:
1. To make an appointment to see me.
2. To query a missing payment.
3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated at a later date to the Authorized Contact.
8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
9. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call. Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever-so slightly less prosperous New Year?

YOUR CUSTOMER FOR 8 YEARS"

Happy Holidays!

Notary Public Service

My Mobile Notary offers full notary public service throughout this holiday season at our regular rates. We DO NOT charge holiday rates.

If we are not involved in family activities, holiday shopping, or egg nog, we will be available and at your service:

24 Hours - Monday through Saturday and Sunday.

Happy Holidays!