saw a post from someone that had reached their 10th anniversary blog. It prompted a short visit down memory lane to my first post, back in January of 2002. Clearly I was enamored with the whole phenomenon, because I wrote three posts over the course of that first day. In the 7 years since, I've written less than 600 posts. That's a pretty meager output, but helps keep my fan(s) from suffering Pulp Overload. Always leave 'em thirsting for more.

Anyhow, I've got a SallyPants in her REM sleep next to me, and four overpriced, poop-laden creatures strewn across the bed absorbing heat from the electric blanket and preparing to destroy my peace and quiet in the pre-dawn hours. But I digress -- I need to put this news to print. I know Sally will kill me for posting this, but it's just too exciting to not share. She & I met on the 1st of January 2003, and six years later something wonderful has happened;

We agree on something political.

Just typing that, I hear the faintest wisp of angelic voices joining in a harmony somewhere. In such dark days, joy can come from the most surprising corners. Hope and change indeed are flowing through the land. She's promised to kill me if I mention this to anyone... So I mention it the only place I can safely assume no one will read it... my blog.

Boy do I feel better. Better... or Bittersweet? The irony (and what she and I see eye-to-EyePulp on) is that we've had our dilapidated church for over 3 years, worked on it steadily, made progress, never missed a payment, and paid for all renovations out of pocket, and so far over 8 banks have turned us down for a home loan. We carry no debt, no car payments, no school loans, and don't have any credit cards. We've got collateral, a respectable amount of savings, and a clean credit report. But we can't get a home loan because we own a non-standard property.

What gets Ms. Sally's goat is that soon, our tax money (or our children & grand children's tax burden) will become the mechanism used to make sure people who can't afford the house they're in are able to stay in the house they can't afford. No one will give us a loan, but apparently our money is good enough to make sure all the braniacs who signed up for ARMs or simply bit off more than they could chew financially can still live in that awesome pad they just love soooo much. So instead of people paying their loans, the government will re-negotiate with the banks, and "help" people stay in their homes. The banks will get their money - paid by the government, who will get it from me via raised taxes, or via Chinese loans (which our kids & their kids will be paying for) or from the basement of the Whitehouse, where they'll simply print the money. The third option will come out of my pocket too, as the inflation caused by polluting the money supply with a large infusion of monopoly money will decrease the value of the US dollar. Any money I've saved will suddenly be worth less. For once in my life I've managed to escape the paycheck-to-paycheck approach to money management - I'd like to think I didn't waste my time.

I do believe we're heading into the tunnel. I don't think Obama caused it, but I think his his heavy hand is going to make it a lot longer before we see the light of day again.