Chase Bank and the "You're Not Credit WOrthy" Judgement
Over the past 3 years, Anne and I have had some very revealing experiences that have taught us a lot about what the big banks are really about. Probably the single most startling experience occurred when was purchased our Edmonds home back in 2016.
When I look at how banks treat their customers, I'm always mindful of what happened in 2008, when the people of the United States (AKA, their customes) had to bail out the big banks for ripping off said customers with their irresponsible sub-prime lending practices, on which they made trillions of dollars. The banks were gambling at a roulette table in the casino of the US Treasury, which had kindly passed out "you can't lose" cards to everyone by allowing their bets to be insured.
Here we are in 2016. We owned our home in Woodinville, and the home we were buying in Edmonds was going to require months of remodeling (years as it turned out). We decided to take out a mortgage on the Edmonds house, something we had not done for some time. We were not looking for a bridge loan mind you - we were looking to keep our assets balanced and not too real-estate heavy. This would also give us the flexibility to sell the Woodinville house at an opportune time in the heating-up market coming on at that time.
We frankly did not think twice about getting a loan, we simply assumed that between assets and income we would qualify. Perhaps I've given away the story.
Anee filled out the application at the bank. She worked with a loan officer that somehow seemed to act inexperienced and brusque, something Anne would not normally have commented on to me, being a positive person herself. Keep in mind that we were considered "private" clients at Chase (a program they had pushed on us quite heavily).
Within a couple of hours Anne called me to report that we had been summarily dismissed from consideration for a loan and were not "credit worthy".
Huh?
I called the loan officer to get an explanation of what I assumed was a misunderstanding. She explained that the primary reason we were not credit worthy was because we had not borrowed money in more than 10 years. No, our monthly credit card charges do not count because we paid them off every month.
First Note To self. Banks are only interested in you if you are paying them interest. They prefer customers that are paying their usury interest rates on credit card debt over people that pay their bill every month. Bear in mind that on average banks charge merchants 2% or more of the credit card charges you make every month on your card. That is a lot of money,
I mentioned in my first post in this series that it was uncomfortable to relate some of the details of this story, as it is TMI. But the story doesn't make sense if you don't know that Anne and I have perfect credit scores (over 800), have paid off 4 mortgages together, and at the time of the application had no debt whatsoever as well as a decent portfolio of assets. We felt we represented essentially zero risk to the bank, especially since the mortgage was only for half of the value of the property.
At the same time we were seekling this loan, a family friend who is a single-income household with no assets and a lot of credit card debt secured a mortgage with an absolute minimum down payment.
Second Note to Self.: Banks are not interested in simply being paid back their loan with the contracted interest. They are far more interested in making loans to customers that are far more likely to miss payments, incur late fees and penalties, refinance, and hopefully forfeit their equity through foreclosure.
we met with the loan officer one more time, more from incredulity than anything else. In that meeting she stuck to all her previous guns, but added that the fact that we had a large line of credit at another bank was hurting us as well. "What line of credit?" I asked. Anne reminded me that Bank of America had, without our asking, given us a line of credit several years before. We had never used it and it had no balance on it, yet the loan officer was acting as if it was 100% used in her calculations of our debt ratio, which in my mind was absurd. I said, "No problem! We can cancel the line of credit we've never used". She still indicated we would not be credit worthy for her previously stated reasons.
We had no choice but to walk away shaking our heads. As we had already committed to purchasing the new home, we were extremely fortunate to be in a position to complete the purchase without the financing. Owning two primary residence homes at the same time is a very uncomfortable position to be in.
Third Note to Self: Being a "private client" at Chase doesn't mean squat, as my story will continue to show.
Our "team" at Chase was very indifferent to this entire scenario, and seemed unconcerned with the way we were treated by the loan department. We certainly made up our minds during the process that were were clearly with the wrong bank. Part of what surprised me throughout the process was how our deposits at the bank (IRA's, cash, etc.) did not seem to make any difference in the process.
In days of yore, customer funds on deposit were very important to banks, and determined how much money they had to provide financing to other customers. Over the years, this has really disappeared as banks can leverage fewer and fewer total dollars on deposit to greater and greater amounts of money lent to the bank by the US Treasury - at 0% interest now for many years. At the same time, banks can get away with more and more malfeasance toward their customers, a situation recently made worse by the current administration as consumer protections are being dismantled.
Fourth Note To Self: The customers service motivations of major banks to keep depositors happy and to encourage as much capital on deposit no longer seems to be a driver for the banks.
So what's on the other side of this picture - what could the bank be thinking? Well, the most obvious is that I'm not retired 2 years later. This was not my intent at this time in 2016. Did the banks actuarial and data profile on me (Lord knows what information they have on all of us) show them the likelihood of my retirement? Certainly, it is reasonable to assume that the banks will use all of the data available to them to forecast the future of those seeking financial services...but what result are they interested in? Do they want good customers that are likely to pay off their loans without incident (and also without extra fees and penalties), or do they want customers likely to incur those extra charges? Perhaps also the bank had access to the records that showed our history of paying off mortgages, and the "profit picture" of those early payoffs were not of interest to them. They may also have elt we were just trying for a "bridge" loan, which was not the case.
...
After this had all happened, a very close friend related that virtually the same thing had happened to him and his wife, by Chase, when attempting to establish home financing pre-approval. He'd been with Chase for many years, with a comparable financial picture - but my friend is 20 years my junior, and in the heart of his career. My friend moved all of his business elsewhere.
As a result of this and soon-to-follow incidences at Chase that I'll be blogging about, Anne and I also resolved to move our business elsewhere.
So why am I telling this story, revealing too much information? Because I think something is wrong in the system, and I'm interested in knowing how many others have had a similar experience. Of those few that get through this entire story, many will simply feel that I'm made because I didn't get a loan - which is certainly true. Others will feel that I should stop whining because I "really didn't need the loan". I would say that's not the case, and somewhat beside the point that we should have been able to.
Above all, I feel that the banks are benefitting from free financing by the American taxpayers and their children and grandchildren, while at the same time chipping away steadily at what they should be offering those same taxpayers and customers.
Whew.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Friday, February 2, 2018
Serving the IT Underbelly of Alaska, Part 2: Edna
I've only related a couple of stories regarding my first year in the IT industry at Computerland of Anchorage, and there's more I'll write about that over time. For the second part of this particular tale, I'll skip forward a year in my career to my second "IT" job, which was at the Radio Shack Computer Center in Anchorage, circa 1983 or so.
The Computer Center featured, of course, Tandy/Radio Shack systems. While not as technically advanced as the newer systems coming out, I had an early "thing" for the TRS-90 systems because they were the first systems I'd seen available to consumers, in my local Radio Shack as a teen. I'd dreamed of owning one for years. The first personal computer I owned was a TRS-80 Color Computer. It wasn't the greatest, but it had a nice processor to learn on and some interesting capabilities.
Working at the Center was not the same as Computerland; we did not have the marquee brands and I missed selling Apples and IBM's. Still, The TRS-80 product line was more complete and had more mature software offerings, especially in small systems accounting software.
One day, an older lady cam into the store. She introduced herself as Edna, and said she was looking for a complete system for accounting and job costing . We sat down and were soon deep in conversation.
I recognized Edna - not personally, but as one of a breed of touch, no-nonsense business people - and businesswomen - I'd met and worked with in Alaska since the first summer I'd spent there at 16. Edna was very direct, no-nonsense, knowledgeable and firm - but polite and enjoyable as well.
She told me that she had a club downtown and was expanding to a second club south of town, and that she needed a good system to track construction costs, pay bills and payroll for the new club. Interestingly, she was not interested in training, though she said she'd never used a computer before.
"If I don't figure it out myself my daughter will help me," she said. I got the idea Edna would figure it out herself.
Edna was, however, interested in me personally delivering the system and setting it up. "I want to see everything working when you're done", she stated.
I sold Edna a very fully configured TRS-80 Model IV system, complete with hard drive, tope of the line printer, ultra high speed 1200 baud modem, accounting and office software. She gave me her business card, which only had an address on it, and we arrnaged a delivery time. She bought the computer personally rather than through her business, which was certainly fine.
When the appointed day rolled around, I loaded up my car and headed to the address on the card, toward the downtown area.
Upon arrival, I had to do a double-take. Yep, that's the address...right across from the Sheraton.
Edna's "club" was the Great Alaska Bush Company, and Edna was Edna Cox, founder an famous proprietor, as my father told me when I related the story to him later. "you don't know who Edna Cox is?" I can hear my very-well-connected-Alaska-lawyer Dad saying.
The Great Alaska Bush Company was and probably still is the most famous strip club in Alaska, practically an institution and world famous tourist attraction. While I can't say I'd never stepped foot in the place (a future blog subject featuring Fortune Systems), I had not frequented the establishment. I took my first load of Edna's new computer in through the front door. The club was open, but it was morning and there were no customers there.
I informed the bartender that I was looking for Edna's office. He directed me downstairs, where I noted to prominent signs: "No Admittance" and "Dressing Rooms".
Edna's office was about the size of a large walk-in closet, and was situated literally in the middle of the dancer's dressing room. . The dressing room was quickly filling up with the performers, arriving for the first shift of the day and the busy lunch crowd.
Gentle reader, you may perhaps have never been to an establishment such as the GABC, but if you have then you'll recall the - er...- open frankness with which the performers pursue their profession. This is nothing compared to their no-hoods-barred directness in the dressing area. I was the subject of interest for perhaps 10 seconds until they figured out I was delivering something to Edna. After that, it was like being surrounded by two dozen big sisters in various stages of undress, makeup, bickering squabbles, and bawdy anecdotes that would have been downright humiliating for the the poor customers from the previous evening who were the subject of much derision. I blushed on their behalf.
For the two hours that it took me to do what would normally have been 1/2 hour of setup, I learned more than I ever wanted to about the behind-the-scenes life of those performers, and have spent a good deal of the balance of my existence trying to forget some it. Truth to tell, however, they all seemed like good people, starting with Edna, and I was on a first name basis with many by the time I left.
Edna was very successful with her computer system and I only talked with her a couple of time after delivery. She was also very successful with her second "club". and I would say that's the most interesting delivery I ever made in 30 years of IT.
Happy Memo Day
I've only related a couple of stories regarding my first year in the IT industry at Computerland of Anchorage, and there's more I'll write about that over time. For the second part of this particular tale, I'll skip forward a year in my career to my second "IT" job, which was at the Radio Shack Computer Center in Anchorage, circa 1983 or so.
The Computer Center featured, of course, Tandy/Radio Shack systems. While not as technically advanced as the newer systems coming out, I had an early "thing" for the TRS-90 systems because they were the first systems I'd seen available to consumers, in my local Radio Shack as a teen. I'd dreamed of owning one for years. The first personal computer I owned was a TRS-80 Color Computer. It wasn't the greatest, but it had a nice processor to learn on and some interesting capabilities.
Working at the Center was not the same as Computerland; we did not have the marquee brands and I missed selling Apples and IBM's. Still, The TRS-80 product line was more complete and had more mature software offerings, especially in small systems accounting software.
One day, an older lady cam into the store. She introduced herself as Edna, and said she was looking for a complete system for accounting and job costing . We sat down and were soon deep in conversation.
I recognized Edna - not personally, but as one of a breed of touch, no-nonsense business people - and businesswomen - I'd met and worked with in Alaska since the first summer I'd spent there at 16. Edna was very direct, no-nonsense, knowledgeable and firm - but polite and enjoyable as well.
She told me that she had a club downtown and was expanding to a second club south of town, and that she needed a good system to track construction costs, pay bills and payroll for the new club. Interestingly, she was not interested in training, though she said she'd never used a computer before.
"If I don't figure it out myself my daughter will help me," she said. I got the idea Edna would figure it out herself.
Edna was, however, interested in me personally delivering the system and setting it up. "I want to see everything working when you're done", she stated.
I sold Edna a very fully configured TRS-80 Model IV system, complete with hard drive, tope of the line printer, ultra high speed 1200 baud modem, accounting and office software. She gave me her business card, which only had an address on it, and we arrnaged a delivery time. She bought the computer personally rather than through her business, which was certainly fine.
When the appointed day rolled around, I loaded up my car and headed to the address on the card, toward the downtown area.
Upon arrival, I had to do a double-take. Yep, that's the address...right across from the Sheraton.
Edna's "club" was the Great Alaska Bush Company, and Edna was Edna Cox, founder an famous proprietor, as my father told me when I related the story to him later. "you don't know who Edna Cox is?" I can hear my very-well-connected-Alaska-lawyer Dad saying.
The Great Alaska Bush Company was and probably still is the most famous strip club in Alaska, practically an institution and world famous tourist attraction. While I can't say I'd never stepped foot in the place (a future blog subject featuring Fortune Systems), I had not frequented the establishment. I took my first load of Edna's new computer in through the front door. The club was open, but it was morning and there were no customers there.
I informed the bartender that I was looking for Edna's office. He directed me downstairs, where I noted to prominent signs: "No Admittance" and "Dressing Rooms".
Edna's office was about the size of a large walk-in closet, and was situated literally in the middle of the dancer's dressing room. . The dressing room was quickly filling up with the performers, arriving for the first shift of the day and the busy lunch crowd.
Gentle reader, you may perhaps have never been to an establishment such as the GABC, but if you have then you'll recall the - er...- open frankness with which the performers pursue their profession. This is nothing compared to their no-hoods-barred directness in the dressing area. I was the subject of interest for perhaps 10 seconds until they figured out I was delivering something to Edna. After that, it was like being surrounded by two dozen big sisters in various stages of undress, makeup, bickering squabbles, and bawdy anecdotes that would have been downright humiliating for the the poor customers from the previous evening who were the subject of much derision. I blushed on their behalf.
For the two hours that it took me to do what would normally have been 1/2 hour of setup, I learned more than I ever wanted to about the behind-the-scenes life of those performers, and have spent a good deal of the balance of my existence trying to forget some it. Truth to tell, however, they all seemed like good people, starting with Edna, and I was on a first name basis with many by the time I left.
Edna was very successful with her computer system and I only talked with her a couple of time after delivery. She was also very successful with her second "club". and I would say that's the most interesting delivery I ever made in 30 years of IT.
Happy Memo Day
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Chase Bank and the Final Fraudulent Straw
I am beginning this tale at the end. Before I am done it will have several chapters to tell this sad and confusing story of the big banking systems here in America, and one family's journey through it.
Those chapters are:
Chase Bank and the Half Percent Return
Chase Bank and the You're-not-credit -worthy Judgement
Chase Bank and the Missing Data
Chase Bank and the Locked-Out Safety Deposit Box
I'm relating this epic tale because I have some real concerns about what it means, and I've found that our strange experiences are not unique to us. Often these types of things happen and continue to happen because we the people simply don't compare notes.
There are aspects of this story that will be hard to relate without "too much information", but I'll dance around that as best I can.
As I said, we start with the final chapter of this saga, wherein we have finally had enough and are actively ending our relationship with Chase - no small feat these days, as our daily financial lives become quite intertwined with the financial institutions we do business with over time.
This story begins as these stories often do simply enough on Wednesday last when Anne noticed a couple of strange transactions in her daily inspection of our online banking. The transactions appeared to be payments of our Chase credit cards - but there were three of them in a row, on consecutive days. She probably had not noticed the first one (as it looked normal). In spotting three such "account transfers" to credit cards in a row, averaging about $1000 each, she also noticed the last four digits of the credit card number did not actually match any of our credit cards.
We contacted our bank, who sent us along to their fraud department. We are "private clients" with Chase, which frankly does not mean much - but in this particular case, it did mean a higher level of service.
The fraud representative was clearly new on the job, which manifested itself in his communication with us. We made our way through this. He was not there to explain how this happened, he was just there to get a claim filed and an investigation started, which he did. He also told us we needed to close our account immediately and start a new one.
What?
Yes, that was his advice. As a first step, he recommended that we freeze our current checking account (the one with the fake transfers), so that money could go in but nothing could go out. We did so.
The next day, we went to our local branch. In researching all of this, we had first assumed that our account id and passwords had been hacked. In looking closer, we had come to believe that we ourselves could not have created the transactions we were seeing - you can't pay a credit card that isn't in your profile. Our local bankers validated this point. They agreed that neither we NOR they as tellers and bankers could have created the transactions we were seeing on our account.
This confirmed my suspicion - WE were not hacked; Chase was hacked. The transactions we were seeing, 3 of them totaling over $3,000, were not created through online banking as they indicated. There were no records of logins at those times; and no way to create them. That means they were created by back-end processes or in the banks databases themselves, either through a hack or a gross error in their systems. I know something about complex computerized transaction systems, and this was obvious to me.
After everything we'd experienced with Chase over the years, this was indeed the last straw. we started moving our account immediately. To be fair, Chase refunded the money to our account within 12 hours, and our local branch provided the finest service we'd every had (our Woodinville branch was awful). Still, we could not escape the feeling that our money was not safe.
The next day, I talked with a family member and found our that on the exact same days, they also had fraudulent transactions on their account. They were of a different type (they were told that someone had obtained "pictures of their checks", but a greater amount - $6,000. Unfortunately they were not private clients and their money could take up to 60 days to be refunded. Is this a coincidence? Or did Chase get hit hard last week?
It is a
The reader may feel this is an overreaction; and taken by itself it may be. It is a HUGE amount of work to close accounts and inform all of your trading partners that you have new accounts to deposit into, and re-set your bill-pay profiles. It has taken us days so far and is not complete yet.
I'd like to end with some good advice for avoiding this yourself, but what would that be?
- Check your account EVERY SINGLE DAY.
- Have good password management - DO'T use the same ID's and passwords for different accounts (I know how tough this is).
- Have cash on hand. Something like this could clean out your account and it can take months to get your money back.
- Do your best to have a secure home network. If you use contractors to install your network, don't leave the passwords in their hands. This includes the audio video guys you hired to set up your new home media system that you gave those passwords to.
The overall pattern of banking behavior that i'll relate in the rest of this Chase tale has me very concerned. You be the judge; more to come.
Happy State of the Union Day!
I am beginning this tale at the end. Before I am done it will have several chapters to tell this sad and confusing story of the big banking systems here in America, and one family's journey through it.
Those chapters are:
Chase Bank and the Half Percent Return
Chase Bank and the You're-not-credit -worthy Judgement
Chase Bank and the Missing Data
Chase Bank and the Locked-Out Safety Deposit Box
I'm relating this epic tale because I have some real concerns about what it means, and I've found that our strange experiences are not unique to us. Often these types of things happen and continue to happen because we the people simply don't compare notes.
There are aspects of this story that will be hard to relate without "too much information", but I'll dance around that as best I can.
As I said, we start with the final chapter of this saga, wherein we have finally had enough and are actively ending our relationship with Chase - no small feat these days, as our daily financial lives become quite intertwined with the financial institutions we do business with over time.
This story begins as these stories often do simply enough on Wednesday last when Anne noticed a couple of strange transactions in her daily inspection of our online banking. The transactions appeared to be payments of our Chase credit cards - but there were three of them in a row, on consecutive days. She probably had not noticed the first one (as it looked normal). In spotting three such "account transfers" to credit cards in a row, averaging about $1000 each, she also noticed the last four digits of the credit card number did not actually match any of our credit cards.
We contacted our bank, who sent us along to their fraud department. We are "private clients" with Chase, which frankly does not mean much - but in this particular case, it did mean a higher level of service.
The fraud representative was clearly new on the job, which manifested itself in his communication with us. We made our way through this. He was not there to explain how this happened, he was just there to get a claim filed and an investigation started, which he did. He also told us we needed to close our account immediately and start a new one.
What?
Yes, that was his advice. As a first step, he recommended that we freeze our current checking account (the one with the fake transfers), so that money could go in but nothing could go out. We did so.
The next day, we went to our local branch. In researching all of this, we had first assumed that our account id and passwords had been hacked. In looking closer, we had come to believe that we ourselves could not have created the transactions we were seeing - you can't pay a credit card that isn't in your profile. Our local bankers validated this point. They agreed that neither we NOR they as tellers and bankers could have created the transactions we were seeing on our account.
This confirmed my suspicion - WE were not hacked; Chase was hacked. The transactions we were seeing, 3 of them totaling over $3,000, were not created through online banking as they indicated. There were no records of logins at those times; and no way to create them. That means they were created by back-end processes or in the banks databases themselves, either through a hack or a gross error in their systems. I know something about complex computerized transaction systems, and this was obvious to me.
After everything we'd experienced with Chase over the years, this was indeed the last straw. we started moving our account immediately. To be fair, Chase refunded the money to our account within 12 hours, and our local branch provided the finest service we'd every had (our Woodinville branch was awful). Still, we could not escape the feeling that our money was not safe.
The next day, I talked with a family member and found our that on the exact same days, they also had fraudulent transactions on their account. They were of a different type (they were told that someone had obtained "pictures of their checks", but a greater amount - $6,000. Unfortunately they were not private clients and their money could take up to 60 days to be refunded. Is this a coincidence? Or did Chase get hit hard last week?
It is a
The reader may feel this is an overreaction; and taken by itself it may be. It is a HUGE amount of work to close accounts and inform all of your trading partners that you have new accounts to deposit into, and re-set your bill-pay profiles. It has taken us days so far and is not complete yet.
I'd like to end with some good advice for avoiding this yourself, but what would that be?
- Check your account EVERY SINGLE DAY.
- Have good password management - DO'T use the same ID's and passwords for different accounts (I know how tough this is).
- Have cash on hand. Something like this could clean out your account and it can take months to get your money back.
- Do your best to have a secure home network. If you use contractors to install your network, don't leave the passwords in their hands. This includes the audio video guys you hired to set up your new home media system that you gave those passwords to.
The overall pattern of banking behavior that i'll relate in the rest of this Chase tale has me very concerned. You be the judge; more to come.
Happy State of the Union Day!
Friday, January 19, 2018
Gigi's Fried Pies
Growing up, Christmas meant one really important thing to me: Going to Gigi's for Christmas.
Gigi (pronounced with a hard "G" in both cases) was our name for my maternal grandmother. From where I sit, she was the best grandmother in the history of grandmothers. Her house smelled like great food and pure love, with a fine undercurrent of great coffee made on the stove with a percolating coffee pot.
Whatever was happening in our world, the touchstone, at least once a year, was traveling to Gigi's for a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration.
One thing that Christmas Eve at Gig's also meant: Gigl's homemade fried pies. We couldn't get enough of these amazing treats, but usually got into plenty of trouble trying our best to do so. This was only a minor problem, since Gigi could crank them out an an unbelievable rate, and always made plenty and to spare. This I did not learn until later; she cooked them before we all arrived, and her labors went unseen. She poured her love for her family into such things, and the comfort and hospitality of her home. She was never more happy when we were all there and together. Even without the lens of childhood adoration, I can see her as an incredibly giving person.
My grandmother and her fried pies were very symbolic of family and holidays to me. As she got on in life, I realized that she and her pies were one of the most important of our traditions (of which there were not enough). I made up my mind to learn from her how to make her friend pies.
She came over one day just before Christmas around 1996 or so, toting the ingredients and her special, broken-in-for-fifty-years electric frying pan. I (thankfully) recorded her teaching me the trade. It's a good thing - because she'd been doing it so long that there was no recipe. The ingredients were "About this much flour" and "A pinch of salt" and "a dash of vanilla", and "sugar to taste".
One thing that must be done the day before the fry fest is the fruit compote - traditionally, apple and apricot. These are made from dried fruit. (An interesting not - it used to be no problem to find dried apples in any store - now it's very difficult to find them. I had to buy the last four packages from Amazon this year.)
I turned the video into a DVD, which is one of my most prized heirlooms. Every year, we pull it out and watch her teach us again how to bring her back to us for an evening, to feel her surround us and help us make her famous fried pies. My sons got into the act when they were young, and they pitch right in every year - in fact, they're really in charge of the production now, and better at it than I ever was. Gary and his fiancee Haley ran the show this year, with Greg in London.
We don't come close to the quality and consistency (or production level) of Th eMaster, but everyone enjoys the pies just the same. We don't think overlong on the ingredients - Lard, buttermilk, etc...for one night a year, damn the torpedoes. It feels good to watch the family enjoying her pies and thinking of her.
It will do until I see her again.
Growing up, Christmas meant one really important thing to me: Going to Gigi's for Christmas.
Gigi (pronounced with a hard "G" in both cases) was our name for my maternal grandmother. From where I sit, she was the best grandmother in the history of grandmothers. Her house smelled like great food and pure love, with a fine undercurrent of great coffee made on the stove with a percolating coffee pot.
Whatever was happening in our world, the touchstone, at least once a year, was traveling to Gigi's for a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration.
One thing that Christmas Eve at Gig's also meant: Gigl's homemade fried pies. We couldn't get enough of these amazing treats, but usually got into plenty of trouble trying our best to do so. This was only a minor problem, since Gigi could crank them out an an unbelievable rate, and always made plenty and to spare. This I did not learn until later; she cooked them before we all arrived, and her labors went unseen. She poured her love for her family into such things, and the comfort and hospitality of her home. She was never more happy when we were all there and together. Even without the lens of childhood adoration, I can see her as an incredibly giving person.
My grandmother and her fried pies were very symbolic of family and holidays to me. As she got on in life, I realized that she and her pies were one of the most important of our traditions (of which there were not enough). I made up my mind to learn from her how to make her friend pies.
She came over one day just before Christmas around 1996 or so, toting the ingredients and her special, broken-in-for-fifty-years electric frying pan. I (thankfully) recorded her teaching me the trade. It's a good thing - because she'd been doing it so long that there was no recipe. The ingredients were "About this much flour" and "A pinch of salt" and "a dash of vanilla", and "sugar to taste".
One thing that must be done the day before the fry fest is the fruit compote - traditionally, apple and apricot. These are made from dried fruit. (An interesting not - it used to be no problem to find dried apples in any store - now it's very difficult to find them. I had to buy the last four packages from Amazon this year.)
I turned the video into a DVD, which is one of my most prized heirlooms. Every year, we pull it out and watch her teach us again how to bring her back to us for an evening, to feel her surround us and help us make her famous fried pies. My sons got into the act when they were young, and they pitch right in every year - in fact, they're really in charge of the production now, and better at it than I ever was. Gary and his fiancee Haley ran the show this year, with Greg in London.
We don't come close to the quality and consistency (or production level) of Th eMaster, but everyone enjoys the pies just the same. We don't think overlong on the ingredients - Lard, buttermilk, etc...for one night a year, damn the torpedoes. It feels good to watch the family enjoying her pies and thinking of her.
It will do until I see her again.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Movie Review - "The Post"
Anne and I ventured to our small theater here in Edmonds this weekend to see a very timely and relevant film for our times, "The Post".
Without being political (hopefully instead being constitutional), it is easy to feel these days that the foundations of our democracy are under a lot of negative pressure. Our institutions seem at risk. While those foundations are historically strong, they are also delicate and balanced. Nowhere is this more evident today than in the seemingly every-present assault on the media, or "the press" as it was called by our founding fathers and in the context of this movie, which takes place in the early 1970's.
The right to free speech and a free press, guaranteed by our Constitution and its amendments, are right up there with the right to worship freely, bear arms, and our pursuit of happiness. It's all a package.
It is somewhat reassuring to remember through The Post that the press has been under attack before, many times. The comparisons to today's climate are no accident, given the filmmaker (Steven Spielberg) and some of the key actors (Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep). There's no doubt they wanted to serve up a good helping of history to help us remember how incredibly necessary our free press is, and what a significant part of the checks and balances our system needs today.
The movie tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg and th Pentagon Papers, a study commissioned basically by the military (Robert MacNamara) on the conduct and prospects of the Vietnam War. The real story of the movie, however, is the attack the New York Times was under from the White House, which was essentially attempting to quash news stories they didn't like. The issues were before the courts up to and including the Supreme Court.
While the attacks were not as blatant and frequent and there was no Twitter at the time, the press was under serious and fundamental threat of being controlled by the presidency and the courts. Today's attacks of "fake news" (just this morning the president tweeted that the reports on the accidental missile launch threat in Hawaii was "fake news", but underneath it all is the same fundamental desire to discredit the media in order to be able to stop it and control it - and we Americans can't allow that to happen.
Admittedly, today's media is somehow harder to defend than the stalwarts of our constitutional rights The Post portrays. Ben Bradlee, the legendary editor of the Washington Post in those days, cuts quite a different figure than the average cable news anchor of today.
Our media, in its incredible diversity and in-your-face presence, can be difficult for anyone to take. Anne and I really never watched cable news until the 2016 election cycle - and it has been a shock to see how "news" has evolved into 24/7 repetition of the two or three stories of the moment - and the degree to which key outlets are either gleefully attacking or blindly defending the white house. Water cooler gossip is treated as "Fact" from "anonymous sources"; barely verified "facts" from questionable-at-best but at least identified sources are treated as gospel. As musch as the decorum and integrity of the Presidency itself, Journalistic integrity has taken many torpedoes broadside and is taking on water.
Todays "news" has also broken some of the fundamental tenets of journalism, especially in making themselves a part of the story. Today's "panels" team-analyzing a given situation are usually journalists being interviewed by like-minded journalists. On CNN today, one journalist whose show is about the media actually said that the anchors that were themselves speaking their opinions were being the "leaders", and one of this fellow journalists "guests" went further to say that they were doing the work of God. To me, that's just as dicey as "fake news".
For all its warts, the press of 2018 needs protection just as much as the press of 1971 did. When our elected officials are unable or refuse to hold our leaders accountable, it is often the press that must fulfill this role. Today's technology has created new and fundamentally impactful vehicles for direct communication to the masses, and these foundational institutions have not figured it out yet. We must hope that they will, and more than that we must actively participate in the process by supporting responsible journalists as well as responsible leadership.
How do we actively participate? We let our President know when his behavior is unacceptable (Tweet him! Telegram! VOTE!). We do the same thing when the media's behavior is unacceptable (Tweet it! Send email to them! DON't WATCH). We communicate with our elected officials. The time for standing with our hands in our pockets has to end.
If you're noticed this "review" is a thinly disguised civics statement, I'm afraid you are right.
The Post is well worth seeing with great performances and a story worth revisiting. I actually did not recognize Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee. This is probably due to my eyesight, but I think he did a terrific job. At the end of the movie, the entire audience gave an extended ovation - I think we were all touched by this timely and relevant lesson.
The performance of Bob Odenkirk can't be overlooked. While a bit of a Jimmy transplant from Better Call Saul, it is gritty and real and very enjoyable.
My friends, it is a great time to recall those values that have made us special fo our 250+ years, and for us to be Americans first.
Anne and I ventured to our small theater here in Edmonds this weekend to see a very timely and relevant film for our times, "The Post".
Without being political (hopefully instead being constitutional), it is easy to feel these days that the foundations of our democracy are under a lot of negative pressure. Our institutions seem at risk. While those foundations are historically strong, they are also delicate and balanced. Nowhere is this more evident today than in the seemingly every-present assault on the media, or "the press" as it was called by our founding fathers and in the context of this movie, which takes place in the early 1970's.
The right to free speech and a free press, guaranteed by our Constitution and its amendments, are right up there with the right to worship freely, bear arms, and our pursuit of happiness. It's all a package.
It is somewhat reassuring to remember through The Post that the press has been under attack before, many times. The comparisons to today's climate are no accident, given the filmmaker (Steven Spielberg) and some of the key actors (Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep). There's no doubt they wanted to serve up a good helping of history to help us remember how incredibly necessary our free press is, and what a significant part of the checks and balances our system needs today.
The movie tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg and th Pentagon Papers, a study commissioned basically by the military (Robert MacNamara) on the conduct and prospects of the Vietnam War. The real story of the movie, however, is the attack the New York Times was under from the White House, which was essentially attempting to quash news stories they didn't like. The issues were before the courts up to and including the Supreme Court.
While the attacks were not as blatant and frequent and there was no Twitter at the time, the press was under serious and fundamental threat of being controlled by the presidency and the courts. Today's attacks of "fake news" (just this morning the president tweeted that the reports on the accidental missile launch threat in Hawaii was "fake news", but underneath it all is the same fundamental desire to discredit the media in order to be able to stop it and control it - and we Americans can't allow that to happen.
Admittedly, today's media is somehow harder to defend than the stalwarts of our constitutional rights The Post portrays. Ben Bradlee, the legendary editor of the Washington Post in those days, cuts quite a different figure than the average cable news anchor of today.
Our media, in its incredible diversity and in-your-face presence, can be difficult for anyone to take. Anne and I really never watched cable news until the 2016 election cycle - and it has been a shock to see how "news" has evolved into 24/7 repetition of the two or three stories of the moment - and the degree to which key outlets are either gleefully attacking or blindly defending the white house. Water cooler gossip is treated as "Fact" from "anonymous sources"; barely verified "facts" from questionable-at-best but at least identified sources are treated as gospel. As musch as the decorum and integrity of the Presidency itself, Journalistic integrity has taken many torpedoes broadside and is taking on water.
Todays "news" has also broken some of the fundamental tenets of journalism, especially in making themselves a part of the story. Today's "panels" team-analyzing a given situation are usually journalists being interviewed by like-minded journalists. On CNN today, one journalist whose show is about the media actually said that the anchors that were themselves speaking their opinions were being the "leaders", and one of this fellow journalists "guests" went further to say that they were doing the work of God. To me, that's just as dicey as "fake news".
For all its warts, the press of 2018 needs protection just as much as the press of 1971 did. When our elected officials are unable or refuse to hold our leaders accountable, it is often the press that must fulfill this role. Today's technology has created new and fundamentally impactful vehicles for direct communication to the masses, and these foundational institutions have not figured it out yet. We must hope that they will, and more than that we must actively participate in the process by supporting responsible journalists as well as responsible leadership.
How do we actively participate? We let our President know when his behavior is unacceptable (Tweet him! Telegram! VOTE!). We do the same thing when the media's behavior is unacceptable (Tweet it! Send email to them! DON't WATCH). We communicate with our elected officials. The time for standing with our hands in our pockets has to end.
If you're noticed this "review" is a thinly disguised civics statement, I'm afraid you are right.
The Post is well worth seeing with great performances and a story worth revisiting. I actually did not recognize Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee. This is probably due to my eyesight, but I think he did a terrific job. At the end of the movie, the entire audience gave an extended ovation - I think we were all touched by this timely and relevant lesson.
The performance of Bob Odenkirk can't be overlooked. While a bit of a Jimmy transplant from Better Call Saul, it is gritty and real and very enjoyable.
My friends, it is a great time to recall those values that have made us special fo our 250+ years, and for us to be Americans first.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Serving the IT Underbelly of Alaska, Part 1
By the time I started working at Computerland of Anchorage in 1982, Alaska had begun to transform from the wild days of the Pipeline boom - but there were still some interesting things that went on in our biggest state, and I had some eye opening interactions in my first few months and years selling and installing computer systems across the state.
An interesting part of the city of Anchorage was an area around Spenard Road. Interestingly, the first law firm my father worked for was located in the heart of Spenard, in a small office right next to a large Chinese restaurant which was a fixture of the area. Another well known and highly visible type of business in Spenard were the...ahem....brothels, still doing (so I heard) a brisk business as Anchorage moved into the new era.
One day in my first few weeks at the store, a very nice lady came in looking for a system to help run her business. Still sopping wet behind the ears, I sat down with her to find out what her needs were.
"I want to track information about our customers," she said.
I asked her what type of information.
"Basic things like name, phone number address," she stated. "Amount of bilings and what dates the customer makes purchases."
"That's easy," I informed her confidently. I was already visualizing accounting software or a small custom database.
"And you know, preferences," she added with a sidelong glance.
"Preferences"? I asked. In reality, much of this conversation is about the cornerstones of modern customer profiling and segmentation, but I was hearing some of these requirements for the first time.
"Yes you know...what a customer likes, which...er...reps they like to work with," she stated, warming up. "It's really important for us to match customer needs with our service representatives."
"Sure", I said, taking notes as we talked.
"We have more requirement that is really important," she stated flatly. I asked her what that was.
"we have to be able to destroy the information on a moment's notice," she said.
"Destroy....?"
"Yes, instantly."
Now, i had not been in the business long but this was certainly the first time such a requirement had been a part of a conversation. While still new, I was not oblivious. The storage medium of the day was 5.25" floppy disks, and it was frankly hard to keep the data from NOT being erased a good deal of the time. I opened my mouth to inquire further on this driving requirement, but I took another look at her business card. While the name of her...firm....did not stand out obviously, the address made the conversation click.
Spenard Road.
Through my career, I feel I can say that I have not and would not do anything immoral or illegal. I would also say I'm not judgmental. The feeling that I had at that moment was a feeling I would get many hundreds of times in the years to come. Warm and fuzzy and confident, because I knew I had a good solution for her business and that I had a sales a-comin.
I recommended a pot-belly stove to go a long with her new IBM PC, with secondary solutions including a shredder and a big magnet.
In this case I did not offer on-site delivery services.
As often happened over the years, this happy customer sent many more businesses from Spenard my way - certainly not hundreds, but quite a few.
All in a day's work.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Retirement Status on "Official" Day 1
While I've been talking about retirement over the last month, it did not officially start until today - January 2nd, 2018.
The first question asked by anyone when you tell them you're retiring is: "What are you going to do with your time?" - usually followed by dire warnings related to Sudden Retiree Dirt Nap Syndrome, Sudden Underfoot Dependency Syndrome (SUDS) and other such too-much-free-time related maladies.
This is a more than fair question for workaholics that know nothing other than their hard-driving careers and believe me something I've thought a lot about.
Going in, I've had four major pillars of act brain-stimulating activities planned for retired live.
1) Time with my wife and family, including travel. Grandkids (no pressure boys).
2) Health and exercise (a major priority).
3) Music and my home studio.
4) A return to tournament chess (after 11+ years of not playing), and support of chess i our state.
I'll add a fifth pillar, which does not mean lowest priority: My continued involvement as a member of the Board of Directors of Connectwise. This is not really a retirement-oriented activity, but is also not a day to day position.
These are certain.y not the only activities I intent to partake in, just the "founding lineup" if you will.
I've had the last few weeks to tee these up and get into position. . So here's the status so far.
1) Family, time with Anne, travel - A+
Launching in December is obviously a great time on the family front, and we kicked off with some travel. Anne and I are learning this new lifestyle dance, and so far so good. We started off with nice travel to Mexico and plan a first quarter trip as well. had some GREAT time with youngest son Gary and his fiancee Haley. The fiancee part happened somewhat recently as well - some progress toward grandkids. Greg is working in Europe so we miss him a lot, the only dark cloud on this front.
2) Health and Exercise - B+
I'm pretty happy on this front. Have been swimming 3-4 times per week for the last 3 weeks. This involves walking to the gym (20 minutes there, 20 minutes back). Overall, a solid 1.25 hours of exercise per day. I'd already reported getting my blood sugar under control - and I lan to keep it there. Need to augment the exercise, and it's almost impossible not to backslide on the carbs during the holidays.
3) Music and the Studio - A+
Have been having a great time here with friends and at least one singing group I'm recording. Have discovered an awesome program called RockSmith Remastered that is a great learning and performance tool. My level of interest and enthusiasm is very high on this front.
4) Chess - C+
I've had a very interesting time with this one. I've played in two tournaments so far, and my skill level is not what it was to put it mildly. There have been a lot of changes in competitive chess over the years. I can best summarize these changes by stating that tournament chess has been everrun by twelve year old girls named Sophie, who are preternaturally good for their age and height. I've struggled to maintain an even record against them. The good folks here in Washinton that run the chess play indicate that well over 80% of the players are very young (under 13) so one must simply deal with this startling change. To be sure, it is nothing but positive to see these young people - and especially the young females - having interest in prowess in the game of kings. It is simply a little difficulty for a Fischer-era middle aged individual to have his arse kicked by the Sophies.
And, the skill deterioration is no fun either. Working on it.
IT's also been a busy few weeks for the board.
Ok, you are rightly thinking: "Sure, it's easy to stay busy for your first few weeks". You're right. But at this point, I feel good about being able to keep the energy on these pillars and to expand them. But I'll blog honest on it.
The State of the Retirement is Strong.
Happy 2018 to you!
While I've been talking about retirement over the last month, it did not officially start until today - January 2nd, 2018.
The first question asked by anyone when you tell them you're retiring is: "What are you going to do with your time?" - usually followed by dire warnings related to Sudden Retiree Dirt Nap Syndrome, Sudden Underfoot Dependency Syndrome (SUDS) and other such too-much-free-time related maladies.
This is a more than fair question for workaholics that know nothing other than their hard-driving careers and believe me something I've thought a lot about.
Going in, I've had four major pillars of act brain-stimulating activities planned for retired live.
1) Time with my wife and family, including travel. Grandkids (no pressure boys).
2) Health and exercise (a major priority).
3) Music and my home studio.
4) A return to tournament chess (after 11+ years of not playing), and support of chess i our state.
I'll add a fifth pillar, which does not mean lowest priority: My continued involvement as a member of the Board of Directors of Connectwise. This is not really a retirement-oriented activity, but is also not a day to day position.
These are certain.y not the only activities I intent to partake in, just the "founding lineup" if you will.
I've had the last few weeks to tee these up and get into position. . So here's the status so far.
1) Family, time with Anne, travel - A+
Launching in December is obviously a great time on the family front, and we kicked off with some travel. Anne and I are learning this new lifestyle dance, and so far so good. We started off with nice travel to Mexico and plan a first quarter trip as well. had some GREAT time with youngest son Gary and his fiancee Haley. The fiancee part happened somewhat recently as well - some progress toward grandkids. Greg is working in Europe so we miss him a lot, the only dark cloud on this front.
2) Health and Exercise - B+
I'm pretty happy on this front. Have been swimming 3-4 times per week for the last 3 weeks. This involves walking to the gym (20 minutes there, 20 minutes back). Overall, a solid 1.25 hours of exercise per day. I'd already reported getting my blood sugar under control - and I lan to keep it there. Need to augment the exercise, and it's almost impossible not to backslide on the carbs during the holidays.
3) Music and the Studio - A+
Have been having a great time here with friends and at least one singing group I'm recording. Have discovered an awesome program called RockSmith Remastered that is a great learning and performance tool. My level of interest and enthusiasm is very high on this front.
4) Chess - C+
I've had a very interesting time with this one. I've played in two tournaments so far, and my skill level is not what it was to put it mildly. There have been a lot of changes in competitive chess over the years. I can best summarize these changes by stating that tournament chess has been everrun by twelve year old girls named Sophie, who are preternaturally good for their age and height. I've struggled to maintain an even record against them. The good folks here in Washinton that run the chess play indicate that well over 80% of the players are very young (under 13) so one must simply deal with this startling change. To be sure, it is nothing but positive to see these young people - and especially the young females - having interest in prowess in the game of kings. It is simply a little difficulty for a Fischer-era middle aged individual to have his arse kicked by the Sophies.
And, the skill deterioration is no fun either. Working on it.
IT's also been a busy few weeks for the board.
Ok, you are rightly thinking: "Sure, it's easy to stay busy for your first few weeks". You're right. But at this point, I feel good about being able to keep the energy on these pillars and to expand them. But I'll blog honest on it.
The State of the Retirement is Strong.
Happy 2018 to you!
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