Monday, September 10, 2012

new on bodies track

Some (all thirteen) of you may remember a while back when we caved and actually paid for an mp3. In fact, like nine mp3s! Yes, we went ahead and purchased a full EP's worth of music.

Read about what a smart move that was right HERE.

Good news though, On Bodies is back with a new song, and promises of another EP this winter!

Put simply, this band can do no wrong. There are a couple reasons for this. Obviously the first reason is because the songs are great. The second is because the songs are generally short - it's hard to fuck up when you've only got a minute or two per song.

This new jam, Keep Calm and Carrion, continues the fast, furious hardcore with clever wordsmithery, and then tops it off with a nice little breakdown at the end.

Listen NOW, and check out this sick little HTML embed trick I just learned:


Friday, September 7, 2012

the loan officer

Jumping back to real life seriousness and our new life of home ownership, I want to talk about our experiences with the loan officer we used, Lisa Stelter Graf at RCU.

We chose her because an overwhelming majority of her reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Her financial institution, RCU, also does a majority of the loans in the Eau Claire area. That, and she got us approved at the rate we were looking for haha.

Still living in Michigan, we were working with her long distance, and it couldn't have been easier. From the quoting of rates, to getting the approval, to the paperwork, to helping facilitate the closing, she was on the ball, and there were virtually no hiccups.

Initially she seemed kind of aloof, but I soon realized that success in her industry isn't achieved by hounding and selling and hounding some more. Instead, her recipe seems to be letting her track record speak for itself, being a resource when needed, and injecting herself into the conversation only when necessary.

Upon meeting her in person, shortly before the offer on the house was made, our right choice in mortgage provider was confirmed. Since, RCU has been nothing shorty of fantastic to work with. As my review of the realtor was longer and much more in depth, our experience with Lisa was that much more streamlined, and I think that's reflected here.

Overall, the process of securing a lender and an approved application was easy. The wealth of information on the internet, while informative, can serve to confuse the typical American home buyer. The main thing you should do is take your time, read everything, take your time, and read everything.

If at any point anybody you're dealing with tells you not to worry about it or that you can read it later, you have the wrong person involved. Because at the end of the day, everybody you deal with when buying a home, or really doing anything, wants you to do it with them.

Now, whether they want to capture your business as soon as possible with less than savory intentions or they want to capture your business in a reasonable time frame with you walking away happy to recommend them to a friend is the thing. Lisa Stelter Graf is the latter.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

what a nice station wagon you have

An actual writer drafted a very subtle (in his own words) tribute to the fine folks here at this website.

Take a peek right here. Click the link, read the article, vote in the poll, ROFL, and then share with your friends, plz.

Nice little write up of Ford's newest model, including a non-emasculating Euro-wagon version. Note the delicate prose used in commendation of Heck Yeah Man, Incorporated under the clever guise of an article about cars. For a website about cars.

Clever indeed.