MattPie

I was thinking about it some more last night, and other people have alluded to it, but when you get approved for a mortgage they'll approve you for, frankly, a lot more than you can comfortably afford. I forget what the formula is but there's no way I could live comfortably if I had maxxed out my mortgage. Think of it like the NHL salary cap and you're Florida with an internal budget and not the Rangers (or Sabres these days) spending to the limit. It doesn't seem like you'd do that, but I figured it should be said.

I don't think Crockpots go that high.

I'm fairly sure I do too. Wife handles it though, and so far just the IRA stuff.

That was my thought too.

I don't want to argue too much since it really depends on the specifics of each situation, but if I had continued to rent (granted, a two-bed apartment and not a house), I'd still be paying $300-400 less per month than my mortgage. Over 9 years, that's a lot a money, especially if I had just taken my down payment and invested it in an index fund or something. And as I mentioned, if I sold today I *might* get my down payment back (my house's value has declined at least 10%, and for awhile it was closer to 20%). And I did make extra payments early on to try to get ahead. As for rates, mine is in the mid-4% range from 2010, the earlier rate was a little higher (maybe 6%, nowhere near teens). That was in the heart of the housing bubble where banks were practically giving money away. I'm not saying don't buy a house, I'm saying be wary. There's a confluence of stuff that made my decision pretty questionable, although it seemed like a good idea at the time. As it is, if I ran the numbers I'd bet the house is one of the worst decisions I've made financially. The only other thing that comes close is buying a motorcycle. My house started depreciating a couple years after I bought it, my bad luck (or lack of foresight). It's still worth less than I paid. My property and school taxes are more than my parents' place in Elma, so I don't want to hear about how bad NYS taxes are, either. Between PA state and local income taxes, I'm pretty close to NYS income tax too. (I'm checking out now, I'm getting too ranty) Your second paragraph is spot on. Maybe if you look at just the mortgage+ vs. rent, you come out OK. But once you add in all the maintenance and improvements it starts to get dicey. Maybe some of that comes back when you sell, but something like the lawn is just a cost. And like tires on a car, you're never going to recoup the cost; you can only lose value if the lawn needs work when you're selling.

In my experience, the first thing to know is: YOU ARE GOING TO SPEND MORE MONEY PER MONTH TO OWN THAN RENT. Some of that money comes back with tax breaks, but I still feel like I'm paying out way more than I way when I was renting. Partly with the mortgage itself, but also the other bills and costs that you're shielded from in a rental (trash collection, water, HOA fees, lawn maintenance, &c.). Long term, like 10-15 years, I think you start to get ahead (although I've owned my house 9 years and a don't feel like I'm ahead at all) but that's assuming your house stays stable in value or increases. Until recently my mortgage balance and home value tracked pretty well such that I'd just barely be able to pay off my mortgage if I sold my house. And I considered myself fortunate that I wasn't "underwater" at any point so I wouldn't have to pay into selling my house like the people I bought from. But if I sold today, I'd get roughly my down payment back (last I checked). All the money I paid into capital and interest (and property taxes, and fees)? Gone. I don't want to be completely negative, I have a nice house that meets most of my needs. And I bought at a ridiculously bad time. But do your homework and be prepared to live in that place for a LONG time in case the market dictates that selling your house would be cost-prohibitive.

Can he kick extra points? No, and I thought the same thing when Moulson's was called too. :blink:

Are you arguing that the media plays-up "white guy on anyone else violence" or the media doesn't care about a black man shooting up a park in the city?

http://zap2it.com/2015/09/kevin-smith-mallrats-2-shooting-location/

I wonder if she'll be in Mall Rats 2, which is shooting a mall near MattPieTown. If they put up a fake "Casual Male" store front, I'm so getting a picture.

I'll agree with the SSD comment. My work laptop and the laptop I just bought for my wife are in the same neighborhood in terms of RAM and CPU, but my work machine feels a bunch faster with SSD even though it has software-based encryption software installed. I want to upgrade the wife's machine to SSD but she won't green-light the money yet. :) That being said, CPU and screen (and sometimes RAM) aren't really upgradable, but I can put an SSD in for $80 right now. When I bought this machine, I decided to maximize the pieces I can't change and accept that I may need to upgrade later. (Dell Inspiron 13, 2-in-1 with 1080p screen, 8GB RAM, and a Core i5. Bit out of your budget when I bought it at nearly $700, but that was earlier this year).

With 3-4 goals being scored per game, total, if you take one away from a team that's 33-50% of that teams expected goal production for the game. That's probably more of the issue than "momentum".

I have a 6-pack of it; I'm sure it's a nice example of the style (yellow lager) it's not my cup of tea.

I was walking around in 35 degrees today barefoot in PJ pants and a t-shirt to bring in the mail and trash cans. I'm guessing I'll never learn. :) That being said, I seem to be more immune to the cold than some people for some reason. It honestly hurts my wife when it's cold out; for me it's mildly unpleasant for the first 10-15 minutes. I guess the extra weight is good for something.

Didn't Samsom mention that he prefers Samson to Sam? It's Baba O'Reilly, so that frees up the name for Matt Rhino Ellis.

This seems like it'd be a perfect photo that photoshop in some guitars and be a rocking guitar solo.

Probably not really to joke about, but: In post-Soviet Russia, Turkey Shoots You. And, Turkey is always a bit skittish this time of year.

That can't be right, Gentlemen prefer Blondes.

Take the picture in front of something very Swedish, if you can! I was thinking that for the 6 on 4 at the end. A few games back they were praising Reinhart on how well he tracks the play while in front of the net, I can't figure the logic of not putting him there in that situation. Just as a note in case this happens again, Verizon phones (and I assume tablets) get NFL Mobile for free. That only covers games that are on locally to your area, though (I think, I should really check that). It worked reasonably well to have the Bills on my phone, but I wasn't really watching the game so much as listening and getting other things done in the meantime. McKee used to have plastic shields over the laces on his skates, I'm not sure there's a rule to be made there unless there are rules about the dimensions of a skate.

When it's the Boston Globe writing this about the Pats, and the comments generally agree, you know it's mess.

Anonymous is skilled at infiltrating computer systems, and seem to have found some ISIS plans already. The only issue is Anonymous seems to forget they're not the only game in town. They tend to bash around with a lot of skill but not thinking about the long-game. So they find a bunch of plans and what to do they do? "HEY WE FOUND SOME PLANS!" For all we know, the CIA/MI5/KGB were already quietly in those systems (if Anonymous found and hacked them in a couple days, they're not very secure). I'm not suggesting they knew about the Paris attacks or anything, but now the bad guys migrate to somewhere new or start using more secure systems which hinders everyone. Sometimes, it's better to know where the bad guys are and what they're up to rather than making a big show about stopping them immediately.

If only we had Miler back. Or Hazek. Re Ullmark interview: BY THE SHOVEL OF ULLMARK I'm not sure if it's the translation, but I love the phrase "lure the defenseman into the stands".

Just think of it like saying "medium rare".

If you really want to punish, call a challenge cause that takes longer. Yep. I thought it included the possibility of a suspension too, but I don't think that's actually the case.

I don't get your English. :)