Thomas Kitty Cattacus; Royalty

Thomas was looking very regal up on his throne, so Lilah and I were scrambling for a camera. No worries, he's a true star: willing to wait as long as it took for someone to snap his photo. Here's four of the better ones that I took a moment to spruce up in Picasa. Miss everyone!

I like Ben Stein

How Not to Ruin Your Life
by Ben Stein
Finance Home Standards of Life in the Future: Think Grim

Standards of Life in the Future: Think Grim
by Ben Stein
Monday, March 6, 2006

I've had a couple of bad experiences recently that sharpened my worry about what life will be like for retirees in the future -- I fear that a catastrophe of declining standards of life is heading our way.

I'm thinking about how bad it has gotten in terms of how customers are treated. A few days ago, I called the saleswoman at an auto dealer who sold me my last car a few years ago. I asked her to come over and show me the newest model of my car and told her if I liked it, I would buy it on the spot.

"Sorry," she said. "Too busy."

"Really? Are you selling that many Cadillacs?"

"Well, I'm not really selling any, but a lot of people are looking and wasting my time," she said.

"But you know I'm a qualified buyer who has bought from you before," I protested.

"Maybe I'll fax you some stats," she said helpfully. I never got them.

How Much Worse for the Masses?

Today, I was supposed to have a nice comfy seat on United Airlines. Full-fare first class. When I got to the gate, the agent said my seat had been changed to one up against the bulkhead, and there was no way she could move me. No apology, not even looking me in the eyes.

On the plane, no flight attendant would help until an older one, from the days when United actually had some self-respect, asked a young man to change with me. He did, and I was happy. But meanwhile, the flight attendant who did help me told me I was the only full-fare first-class passenger in the cabin, and still no one had wanted to help me until she came along.

My point is how terrible service is -- even at the higher end in 2006 -- and then to add this chilling thought: If this is how bad it is at the high end now, can you imagine how awful it'll be for everyone in 2020? When all vestiges of service are gone? When no one speaks English? When all customers are just ciphers?

Look at it this way: Think of the most crowded freeway you're on every day. Imagine what it'll be like in 10 years. That's what hospitals will be like -- if they're not that way right now.


Retiree Vulnerability
To make the situation worse, retirees and those who will soon retire are far from financial safety. I recently calculated that the Baby Boomers need to have saved -- on average -- $400,000 per household to even start to come up with what they need to live on. Instead, they have saved about $50,000 per household if they have a rental home and about $110,000 if they own their home.

So, what will they do when they retire? What will it be like to cut pills in half, to have to sell your home and move into a trailer, to be faced with unaffordable repairs for your car?

Try this experiment: Imagine you have to slash your spending by half. What goes first? Restaurant meals -- fine. Vacations -- fine. New clothes -- fine. But that won't even come close to cutting spending in half for most people.

The sad fact is that retirees will suffer. And for the leading edge of the Boomers is: It's too late. Many of them cannot escape a drastic ratcheting down in income and lifestyle. A crisis akin to the Great Depression is racing our way: A ruinous drop in standards of life.

Shoring Up Your Retirement Savings
What will it be like to live in the horrible new dog-eat-dog world, with no one caring whether you live or die -- and have no money? What will it be like on that crowded freeway? You don't want to find out.

How do we get to high ground? I suggest -- unless you're already on track to have 15 times what you need to live on at retirement socked away by age 65 -- taking 20 percent of your paycheck if you possibly can, putting it in the Fidelity Fund or the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund until you're 55, then putting half of it into the Fidelity Total Bond Fund or Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund.

Maybe if you have a few bucks extra, buy the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF or the iShares Russell 2000 Value Index for developing market or small-cap exposure. But for heaven's sake, do it now.

When you get to 65, put half of it into a fixed or variable annuity -- chosen so you know what every dime in expenses goes for and without buying anything you don't need or understand -- and then know you won't totally run out of money ever. Or do something else with a reputable financial planner.

But be very scared -- and start doing something about it now. Tomorrow is too late. Do it now.

The Old Lummus Church

This is where Charlie used to preach in Port Townsend. I've done a little movie magic to the photo to try and spice up a photo taken in the late afternoon where the light was fading. 

Pics from Christmas with the Lummus'

 

Pictures

Been a long long time since I posted any family photos. Here is an assortment of pictures from various times and places.

A Resounding Victory!

I was a little nervous sitting in the Bremerton City Council Chambers as a member of the audience. I kept trying to focus on what I was going to say, when I should say it, if I should be aggressive in my approach or more diplomatic at the risk of losing the voice of anger.

The meeting started with the pledge of allegiance, a rousing prayer, and then some niceties about how well we’ve maintained our budget over fiscal year 05. There was a pat on the back for Mayor Bozeman from the Realty commission and an Emergency Action Response bill from the fire department that was unanimously passed. Then it was on to the reason that the meeting room was filled with people: Wendy Priest. Since I don’t have very many nice things to say about her proposal, I’ll just give you the straight scoop from the The Kitsap Sun

Bremerton

Six seconds of silence in a Bremerton City Council meeting killed a request to reconsider condominium heights in a Bremerton neighborhood.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Councilwoman Wendy Priest moved to reconsider the council’s Nov. 30 decision to set height limits at 60 feet and send the height question back to the Planning Commission. Some residents hoped the height limit would be changed to 40 feet.

Priest said she had thought no standards would be set in stone without a Sub Area Plan process first.

City Clerk Paula Johnston asked for a second.

About 30 people were in the first-floor meeting chambers at the Norm Dicks Government Center. Many were there to address Priest’s request.

Johnston’s question, however, was greeted by silence from Priest’s five fellow council members present at the meeting.

"This motion dies for lack of a second," Johnston said. Without a motion, there was nothing left to discuss.

Height standards for condominiums in a neighborhood north of the government center will remain at 60 feet.

"It’s sort of a letdown," said Annie Barrus, a Highland Avenue resident who doesn’t want to see condos that high on her street.

Even the apparent winners in the council’s silence were only marginally pleased. "I’m happy with the result," said Curtis Lending, one of five partners planning to develop their Highland Avenue properties. "I wish people who had wanted to speak had an opportunity to do so. I don’t agree with them, but they came to speak."

Wednesday’s council action would appear to put a period on a planning question that Chris Hugo, the city’s community development director, said has been awaiting an answer for four years.
Prior to the council’s adoption of the 60-foot standard, height limits in the neighborhood were 120 feet going back to 1985. No one raised a fuss, however, until it became clear someone was actually going to build something.

"I think it’s one of those things that kind of goes under the radar screen unless it directly affects you," said Priest, who lives on Highland.

The street is filled mostly with single-family homes, the bulk of which were built before 1930. Some of the houses need work, but a large chunk of the neighborhood is well cared for. Residents have said they moved there specifically to live in older homes.

No one will be allowed to submit a development application until April 13. In November, the council enacted, then twice extended, a development moratorium until city staff can come up with design standards.

Lending and his partners have insisted that whatever they build will improve the neighborhood and help in Bremerton’s revitalization.

I'm glad this is over and put to rest. It's 15 minutes less lying awake at night wondering what other things can go wrong with our project. It's a huge step toward actually getting approval to start to think about maybe beginning to initiate a plan to proceed with the launch of our project.

Wendy Priest. Let me state that I think Wendy did exactly what she should have done to represent the people in the community that are concerned with these issues that affect their homes and lives the same as these issues affect me and mine. Just because I'm on the other side of the fence doesn't mean she's a bad person. My only true problem with Wendy was that I felt her interests were a little too self-serving, and that she was attempting to speak on my behalf without ever having really spoken to me in person. She lives three blocks from me and was directly speaking for my home and property, but she never once knocked on my door, never called, never put a letter in my mailbox to explain what she was representing and why. But, that is only my opinion and in truth I would like to give her a well deserved well done for not caving into pressure from big business interests and actually addressing her constituents issues. Well done. Now, the next time you take it upon yourself to address what I can and can't do with my home, I'd appreciate a heads up first.

That about wraps it up. From here we'll be approaching the city planning department to discuss a construction plan and then it's wait to finish the design to send said designs off to the city for permits. It's A LOT longer process than if I had chosen to remodel or build on some nice piece of barren land a hundred miles from anywhere. But, then it wouldn't be nearly as fun, either!

:j

Do-What-Say-What-Huh?

In December, a 75-unit apartment house opened in Seattle, funded by grants from the local, state and federal governments, as free housing for what the city considers its most incorrigible drunks, on the theory that keeping an eye on them would be less costly than leaving them free to cause mischief and overuse emergency rooms.

Ah, the power of reason.

I wonder if I could convince someone to give me a 20% pay increase to avoid my being tempted to cheat on the taxes that cut into my yearly gross income. Think of all the money we could save on IRS auditors!

Yeah, didn't think so.