Friday, March 27, 2009

Loaning Money To Friends

If you want to wreck a friendship either borrow money from or loan money to a friend. I learned this the hard way on two separate occasions. A friend asks to borrow money from you because a bank won't loan them the money. Banks are in business to loan money, at interest, so they can pay dividends to their stockholders, build nice buildings and pay their employees hefty salaries. If a bank won't loan someone money it's because they don't believe the person is a good credit risk or stated another way, "they don't think they will get their money back!" DUH!

So when a friend comes to you for money you have two options:

1) Give them the money without expecting them to repay you, because they probably won't pay you back.

2) Tell them no and the reason is that you don't want to ruin your friendship by loaning them money.

Now repeat after me, "I am not a bank, and I don't loan money to friends."

Now if you think I'm joking about this read this next part. I was "Steve's" best man when he got married. A few months later he called and asked to borrow $700 for three weeks until a real estate deal closed. I loaned him the money and three weeks later the real estate deal didn't close. I would call him up and I continually got a sad story about why he couldn't pay.

I did a little digging and over a dinner conversation with another friend I learned that "Steve" had borrowed money from her and a number of other people. Well this only served to make me more determined to get the money repaid to me and others!

I began calling him on a regular schedule and nothing was happening. I discovered his wife didn't know about his creative borrowing habits and so I brought her into the "loop" and that was the catalyst to get things moving! I finally got repaid but it took two years and ruined our friendship. I have not heard from him once since then and that was three years ago.

I haven't had any other friends request to borrow money but I now have my reply, "Sorry, I don't loan money to friends."

PS - NEVER co-sign a loan for anyone, under any circumstances, ever!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Shade Tree Mechanic

The radiator on my truck has been slowly deteriorating and I made the decision to replace the radiator. First, I took it to my local repair shop and they pressure tested the radiator to confirm that it indeed needed to be replaced. They quoted me $507 to do the repair. I thanked them for the quote and decided I needed to do a bit of research before I let them do the work. I called a local radiator supply and discovered that I could purchase the radiator for less than $200, the repair shop wanted $350. I then got a second quote for installation only from a second shop which was $150. I then went online and watched a how to video on replacing your radiator. It seemed straightforward so I enlisted the help of my friend Larry Rice and we decided to tackle it ourselves.

We met yesterday morning to do the work. We removed the radiator, took it to the radiator supply where we purchased the new radiator and verified that it matched the one from my truck. We stopped by Autozone and purchased some antifreeze and transmission fluid and returned to my garage where we installed the new radiator.

The only mishap was a pair of needle nose pliers that slipped into a crevice in my engine compartment that we failed to fish out and they became a permanent resident of my engine compartment.

I drove the truck to work and noticed a small amount of fluid on the pavement under my truck later in the day. Thus, I have a little follow up work to figure out which hose or fitting is not quite tight enough. Judging by the color of the fluid I think it is a loose fitting for the transmission line. But, overall a successful shade tree repair and a net savings of just under $200 after paying my friend for his time and effort to help me.

I have nothing against using a repair shop and I'm willing to pay a bit more for the expertise and convenience that a repair shop offers but I was turned off by the attempt to gouge me an additional $150 for the radiator. The job took us three hours to complete and that included one hour going to get the radiator and half an hour trying to recover the pliers.

Watching the how to video on the Internet was invaluable and made the job much easier because I knew what to expect and what to look for during the actual repair. I learned that the radiator also cools the transmission fluid, in my truck, which came as a surprise to me.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Tofu Adventure

I've been reading this book about eating foods that are appropriate or healthy for my blood type. First of all I was pretty bummed to lean that the majority of the foods I have been eating are not healthy for my blood type. This goes beyond the obvious "unhealthy" foods such as greasy cheeseburgers and the like. I found that the best diet for my blood type is a "Vegetarian" diet. I was neither impressed nor happy to learn this. I love, really LOVE, red meat and the number one thing about blood type A people is that red meat is not to be consumed at all! Talk about bummed; no more rib eyes, pot roasts, bacon, sausage, BBQ, or Nathan's Hot Dogs, and no more hamburgers or anything that has hamburger.

So I'm trying to see how all of this is going to work. My wife and I share the same blood type, so this makes it a bit easier right out of the gate. After a couple of days we attended a basketball game - try to find something on their menu that is healthy for a type A... We ended up with chicken tenders, fries and a beer. Well at least chicken is allowed (not fried)... So we ate the food and man did I feel miserable afterward - I think it was a combination of our bodies adjusting to the new diet and rejecting the breading, grease, potatoes and beer. My weight was up two pounds overnight from this adventure!

Saturday, I headed off to the grocery store in search of Tofu and soy milk (dairy is not on the menu so no milk, cheese, butter, or ice cream. I guessed that tofu would be in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, it wasn't. I was looking at some recommended flour and right down the shelf voila' there is the tofu in a nice little carton. I got the tofu, some squash, baby portobello mushrooms and took all this stuff home. Lunch became those ingredients and a carrot, garlic, and an onion sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with soy sauce and sea salt. It was actually tasty and we enjoyed our lunch. I have to admit that I was very skeptical of the whole tofu thing but combined with the other ingredients and the seasoning worked fine for us.

Sunday, I baked a chicken in the oven (beer can chicken recipe) - the beer was a cheat and the spice rub was probably not the best choice either... But the chicken turned out well and we enjoyed it and will have leftovers tonight with some fresh steamed veggies.

The major adjustments thus far have been significantly reducing red meat and dairy products; reprogramming my mind to think about a healthier diet and focusing on the foods that are recommended like peanuts!

This morning I awoke without my normal body aches - fluke or new benefit from the diet?