Awake

-Are you a God?
- they asked the Buddha.
- No.
- Are you an angel, then?
- No.
- A saint?
- No.
- Then what are you?
-
I am AWAKE.



Einstein

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure of
the universe"-Albert Einstein-


Om Mani Padme Hum

Matthew 25:40

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 7 1-6


1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Working At My Last Job Is Over, Starting The Next Soon

I gave notice at my last job, to go to another company, where they won't make a liar out of me, intentionally or unintentionally. I was working as a loan officer for a company that's represented on TV, providing reverse mortgages to senior citizens. I'm not going to mention company names, let's just say we weren't represented by the Fonz or Mr. Hart.
Going through training to get licensed was tough and took a long time but was very satisfying. I admit I was very proud for having accomplished it.
The problems started when talking to the seniors who called looking for loans. So many were desperate it broke your heart. I was told you need a thick skin to do this job. I talked to one woman early on who was desperate, but so broke she couldn't come up with the counseling and appraisal fees, so she was unable to get the loan that might have saved her from living hand to mouth. Two others were widows whose husbands had passed and they'd gone through the money left them one way or another, and wanted the loans to help get by, both spent money they didn't have to qualify, but the process dragged, it can take 90 days or longer, but we were told not to say that, one started in Sept. and was still dragging on when I left mid-December, the other started in Oct. and while approved wouldn't close until Jan. She the second one, was trying to pay off her mortgage and get some money to fix her car, and provide Christmas for her grand kids, one grandson was going into the service in Dec. The day I left I had an email that they needed more info from the appraiser, and a couple days later I heard that her appraisal came in lower than anticipated meaning cash out to her was probably cut in half or less, meaning even if it closed in Dec. no Christmas. It breaks your heart, it really does. I came to the realization that I wasn't cutting it, I was telling some people not to get the loan, others I was having to disqualify, others I was forced to make excuses to, for in some cases the company's incompetence,  in other cases for theirs even when they had no control like with the appraisal. Another guy, had spent all his money taking care of his parents, both of whom had Alzheimer's, another's wife was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and he was taking 1-2000 out of savings each month, both were hoping the loans would help them build their reserves back up. Another was a lady who was also running out of money, having only enough to go another 10 or 11 months and wanted the loan to carry her until her Teachers annuity kicked in in two years. There was also a wonderful Christian lady in So. Carolina who I talked to a lot, she and  her husband were going to use the loan to fix up their house. All of these and others were dragging on and on.
I finally got fed up and applied for another job, but then my manager and the company gave me additional training, and it worked, I really appreciated and appreciate, their concern, and help, honestly they were great. But after things got better, they started tailing off again, and it got so it was all I could do to go in and take calls. I'd lost faith in myself, the company and product, thinking it was just another phone room, selling a product that was supposed to help but instead hurt. Part of that was two people that called in to get loans, both of whom had been active in the mortgage business one way or another, and both of whom read me the riot act after seeing the cost, saying that our costs were outrageous, one told me that if I could honestly sell a loan with those costs... The other had fees of about 7000. when I talked to them but when the notary did the initial signing the fees had jumped to about 11,000. on a loan of around 130,000. He was incensed. I called around and talked to several companies and found their interest rates were 2.25-2.5% We were charging 3.0-3.5% This was on adj. rate loans. Fixed were the same thing, high.
Well, I feel better....

Lee Murray

Sunday, December 15, 2013

A Catch - 22 Or Just A Bad Idea

Watching TV there was a commercial about some do-gooder. It showed him planting seeds and saying his function is growing organic people. He shows them how to plant seeds and garden I guess. But what leapt out was his comment they go to school, and they go to college.
I agree we all need to learn, but it's pretty much proven that schools in this country don't really do the job at any level. We spend untold thousands per student to produce nothing, either drop outs who staff the low end, or robots who know just enough to work in offices and the few factories left. As in the past most could go as far as grade school and survive as well as they do now without the horrendous expense.
Let's talk about college, I know of a couple of PH.d.'s who are living on the street homeless, I've read that others with advanced degrees are serving burgers at McDonalds and Burger King, or working in jobs that have nothing to do with their major. Better educated, to some extent, robots essentially. College is a complete waste of money for most, who build up thousands in student loans, rarely get the better jobs, as there simply aren't that many to be had, and spend the rest of their poor lives trying to pay off the student loans.
The only ones that profit are the over paid and in many cases under educated teachers, the schools and those who run them, also over paid, and the banks who provide college students with horrendously expensive student loans.  My opinion...

Lee Murray

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Julia Roberts Gets Old

Just watching TV and happened to see Julia Roberts in a Macy's commercial for some probably over-priced perfume that stinks to high heaven, but the thing that leapt out is how old she looks, and that she should avoid at all cost being photographed or videoed from the rear, and showing the world that fat ass.  Just my opinion.

Lee Murray

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Greed Is Good---And Now It's Legal paraphrase Gordon Gekko

In the 80's Michael Douglas created the entity Gordon Gekko, bringing him to life in the movie Wall Street. Since then many of the tenets of Gekko came to life in the "real" world as people adopted them for themselves, leading to among other things the real estate bubble and Obummer's infamous bailout. Now Gekko is back, in Wall street - Money Never Sleeps, and he is the same man but more astute after spending time in prison. I think the speech to the students in the beginning is perhaps the best part of the movie, it's where he says I once said greed is good....now it's legal.  Watch the clip...

Lee Murray