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Negotiate Lender Closing Costs

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It may be a difficult battle you face when you negotiate with your lender to reduce their closing costs.  Previously I had thought it was just almost impossible, but after reading this article in REALTOR magazine, I’m thinking otherwise,

Simply ask the lender which fees are negotiable and which are fixed to find out where there’s wiggle room. Questions such as “Who is getting paid this fee, and why am I being asked to pay it?” can start the conversation, experts say.

“It’s not a time to be polite,” says Kathleen Day, a spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending. “You have to have a strong stomach and a stiff spine and not bow to pressure from the other side of the table to close the deal.”

I maintain that having a stiff spine would be extremely important and that it will not at all be simple.  It will be like finding water in a desert.  If you are able to negotiate with your lender to knock some of their fees off the closing costs, please share your story with us.

Photo by Alex Proimos via flickr creative commons.

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Site Milestones-1000 Posts!

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This is the 1000th post at Shaktronics.  Amazingly enough, I’ve been blogging here since August 1, 2007.  Man, time flies when you’re having fun, right?  Seriously.  Any milestone is an incredible feat, but 1000 posts on the Internet?  That’s pretty amazing considering the short lifespan of your average blog.

Of course, I owe it all to the wonderful folks at Shak Media, who keep me gainfully employed and engaged in acts of bloggery for them at this wonderful little slice of the internet.  They’ve been most kind and indulgent, and I can only hope I’ve earned my keep here.  So long as they keep the lights on, I imagine I’ll be here for thousands more posts on the future.  Or should that read, posts ABOUT the future?  Haha, see what I did there?

I also have to thank you, the reader.  I appreciate every click, every post, and every comment.  As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, so don’t hesitate to leave comments.  Unless they end up in the spam file, they’re all read and responded to.  Cheers to you all, thanks for coming and tell your friends.

Image:  Pulse of Vegas Harrah’s Blog

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Apple Wants To Screw Up Your iPhone

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Writes fixin’ genius Kyle of ifixit in a blog post you should read:

Apple is switching to a new type of tamper-resistant screw across their product line. It is not a standard Torx, and there are no readily available screwdrivers that can remove it. They chose this ‘Pentalobe’ fastener specifically because it was new, guaranteeing repair tools would be both rare and expensive. The iPhone 4 originally shipped with Phillips screws, but Apple has transitioned completely to this new security screw. Shame on them.

This screw head clearly has one purpose: to keep you out. Otherwise, Apple would use it throughout each device. Instead, they only use it at the bulwark–on the outside case of your iPhone and MacBook Air, and protecting the battery on the MacBook Pro–so they can keep you out of your own hardware.

That’s bad enough on its own, but Apple’s latest policy will make your blood boil: If you take your iPhone 4 into Apple for any kind of service, they will sabotage it by replacing your Phillips screws with the new tamper-resistant screws! We’ve spoken with the Apple Store geniuses tasked with carrying out this policy, and they are ashamed of the practice.

Now, I’m not exactly the most handy or patient person in the world when it comes to prying open my devices and fixing things myself, but I’ve done it before.  I’ve installed new HDs, I’ve added RAM, and most importantly, I crack open the case every now and then and give it a thorough dusting to prevent problems like these from developing.  I guess Apple would rather have me pay $50 for one of their goons to use a $10 pentalobe screwdriver to do it for me.  No thanks.

If you’re not just crafty but super-crafty, MAKEZine says you can build your own pentalobe screwhead (or any other proprietary screwdriver).

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Merry Christmas, Tuba Style

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It’s a tradition unlike any other.  In 1902, William J. Bell was born on Christmas.  A few short years later, he became one of the premier tuba players in the world, making the jump from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to John Philip Souza’s band, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and later the New York Philharmonic.  To say this guy was the best tuba player ever is an understatement, given that he worked with both Sousa and Toscanini.  Every year, in his honor and to celebrate the season, tuba players around the world congregate and play Christmas songs on tuba, euphonium, and tuba-related instruments.

This celebration of Bell, Christmas, and the tuba is called Tubachristmas.  It’s been a musical tradition since 1974.  Wherever there are four tuba players, there can be Tubachristmas.  Let’s listen to a little Christmas music in the tuba style, shall we?

I’m not a tuba player, and I definitely am not a singer of carols, but I can definitely get with the spirit.  On behalf of all of us at the Shak Media family, I hope that you and yours have a Merry Christmas (or your winter holiday of choice) and a Happy New Year.

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Why I Love My Dog

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This post touched me because I’m secretly making a list for *ahem* some people for Christmas.  I started it last year and it’s similar to this post, Why I Love My Dog by Riding in Cars with Ducks:

At the moment, Cooper is laying on top of one of my feet, and staring at me as if to say, “you could be scratching my ears.” He does that often. Although sometimes the stare means, “you could be rubbing my belly,” or “I’m hungry.” It’s hard to tell. But usually, it’s one of those three things. And the thing is, most of the time, I’ll stop what I’m doing and scratch his ears, rub his belly, or feed him.

Aw. I love dogs.

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I Can Say Girls Cry. A Lot.

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It has never ever bothered me to see boys cry.  That someone has that sensitivity in their heart to shed a tear over a life altering and life touching moment.  But to just cry to get your way… I don’t even like to see that in girls!  I believe The Bumper Crop has the right take on it,

Lately, our six year old has been crying a lot. As parents we try to discern when his heart is hurting and when he is being manipulative; when we listen and when we tell him to man up. Many times tears flow as a result of not getting his way. This is not an appropriate time to cry, we tell him. Sometimes we see tears in order to exaggerate an offense against him. Stop crying, we say.

I do like parents who step up and parent.  Kudos to this family who does it right.

Photo by mcclave from flickr creative commons.

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Puppy Likes Horse Presents

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I don’t know where to begin … complimenting Shane on his brilliance in keeping Sturm calm during bath-time or grossing out over the dog eating poop.  The whole dog-likes-poop thing is why we have a barrier to keep our pups out of the kitty litter.

The worst is the bad breath after!

I started to meander over to the barn but he met me half way, chewing something.  Naively I hoped it was perhaps a barn mouse or maybe even a bit of hay Manny had shared with me.  No, it wasn’t a trophy from his hunting expedition, nor a gift from a friend, it was horse poop.

Yuck. Horse poop!

I think a toothbrush would have been a good alternative!

Photo by Scott Robinson via flickr creative commons.

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Christmast Lights Video Game: Snowball Blaster

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Last year, Ric Turner scored a huge viral video hit with his rhythm game Christmas lights display, Christmas Lights Hero.  This year, Turner is back again with a new interactive Christmas display.  Rather than returning to the rhythm genre, Turner is taking his talents to the arcade sphere, replicating those old life-sized motorcycle and car-steering games with Snowball Blaster, an interactive Christmas lights game.

The story of the game is simple:  you’re trying to save Christmas by hopping on Santa’s training sleigh and beating the snowball attacks of Abdominal Snowman against Santa and his cousin Frothy the Snowman.  If you successfully beat the challenge of the snowballs, you get a victory light show.  The only problem is nobody’s beaten the game yet!

Snowball Blaster features a staggering 128 channels of Light-o-Rama.  The game music and narration broadcasts on a FM channel to avoid annoying the neighbors (and to help provide entertainment for passing cars).  It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?

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