Kaulapi World

First snowfall of the year in the district, and I’m in full study mode for this next round of finals. Got a paper out of the way a couple of weeks ago, then its two big staple exams, and then I have a 4 day break before the last elective course is up. After that its another smaller paper, and some administrative matters which would wrap up the semester. Its crazy enough that I planned ahead to take some annual leave this week, ironically it ended up that my job had a crunch this week as well.

Crazy to think how busy life gets right around the holidays, when most people are thinking about winter vacations and shopping for Xmas presents. I’m usually camped out in coffee shops and libraries. I suppose its been like that for almost a collective decade now. Its become second nature really, the one year when I didn’t have to go anywhere or study anything I felt kind of lazy.

Pleasant distractions/breaks from studying has been the ongoing successes of my college and pro football teams. Hawaii went undefeated in the regular season and is set up to go to the Sugar Bowl to face Georgia, who had case to be playing for a national title. Wisconsin is on its way to the Outback Bowl to face Tennessee. On the pro side Green Bay lost a battle with Dallas, but is still in the hunt for the NFC playoffs at 10-2. Finally New England has had a couple of close games but is still undefeated at 12-0. I suspect that the rest of the games will be tough, even the winless Miami and almost Winless New York. Everyone is saying how Pittsburgh will be the hardest game, and it should be a cakewalk after that I’m not so sure, after seeing how the Baltimore and Philly brought their A game on to face the Pats. Its a strange feeling really, being in a bar and hearing just about everyone cheer against your team, even though they aren’t Baltimore fans.

One thing for certain, its looking like both pro teams will be in the playoffs, and both college teams are in New Year’s day bowls – which makes for good football distractions for the winter, and the first month or so of the next semester.

Finished up my Corporations exam tonight, and I’m officially done for the summer now. As usual, I’m not sure how to gauge how I did. If its anything like how I did this past year, then I’ll be pretty happy with the results whenever they come in. I have to say that this is one of those classes that I think I got a lot out of regardless of how it turns out on paper. In all honesty I never thought I would find a class on corporate law as interesting as I did, I think part of it was the professor, but also the content of the course kept me pretty engaged in the material all these hot summer nights.

On the flip side it was pretty hanging tough through the last couple months or so, it was really like my spring semester didn’t end and carried on through the summer. looking back I realize that I have gone through the equivalent of 1 and 3/4 of law school, which would make me unofficially a 2.75 L going into the fall semester. not too bad considering this is my third year of night school, at this rate I may have the option of getting out a semester early, finishing 3.5 years total while working full time. It was really non stop, going for about 2 and a half years, I’m surprised I haven’t lost my mind just yet.

I’d like to think that I may finally be getting a real hang of things, at least the surprises and volume of material doesn’t seem as crazy, I’m able to read things quickly and get to the bottom line pretty quickly. All skills that might come in handy one day for sure. One thing for sure, It’ll be nice not having to rush out to catch a train at everyday during rush hour to head up to class, or lugging my laptop and textbooks everywhere I go. I’ll enjoy it for about a month before the next semester starts up again.

Earthbox update, I set up a flickr account to post some of the pictures. The humidity and heat are doing the plants well, the goya is now climbing up the net mesh and tomato plant stalk. I ended up saving some seeds from the chinese bitter mellon in place of the cilantro. we’ll see if that one sprouts as easily as the okinawan goya.

Linkes 7/5/07 – 7/16/07 (Law school notes edition)
Greatest boom ever, or just another bubble?
7 Sacred Pools of Oheo on Maui.
Web Back Machine – blogs and websites engraved in e-stone.
$12B a month. nuff said.
Talk about lowering the security clearance standards.

Update on the earth box project, some hits and misses. The tomato plant has shot up and appears to be doing very well, there are some flowers forming and maybe even the start of tomato or two starting to form. Both Thai basil plants are doing ok, one of the Italian basil is doing very well, shooting up like the tomato, but the other one is droopy and appears to be being attacked by some small bugs. Meanwhile the cilantro croaked pretty quickly. Of course the one that I’m paying the most attention to lately is the bittermellon which has sprouted above the soil and is climbing up. The past couple of days have been pretty mild, but I’m sure the heat and humidity coming next week should do it good.

So far its been a fun little project, little or no effort on the part of the amateur grower, the concept of the earth box as being idiot-proof has been pretty true so far. I realize that this started a bit late in the summer, but we’ll just see how far it goes. With this crazy weather I figure we’ll try to keep the box going outside until October or so since it stays pretty hot in DC for a while. That is unless there’s some freak snowstorm in September, but this isn’t Wisconsin so I don’t think that’ll happen.

A couple of days ago for the 4th I came across this citizenship test online and took it really quickly just for the hell of it. Although only got one wrong, and even that one was because I got tripped up on substantive and procedural due process rights (7th, 15th) some of them I think would be pretty hard. Hana got 4 wrong, but even she knew the significance of the various phrases, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. I wonder how many Americans, both naturalized and natural born would fare on this test. I also wonder how many hard core, anti-immigration advocates would do on this test, and what would that say about their cherished citizenship that they exclusively hold for themselves. Part of what I’ve been picking up on all the immigration bill debate is that the opponents of immigration reform aren’t being sincere when they say that they want “legal” immigration” and are only opposed to “legal immigration.” Behind all of the rhetoric is this darker motive of striving to keep a certain ethnic, religious, and political makeup.

Racism is alive and well in America, and the immigration bill debate is just another example of how the similar . In some ways its tricker nowadays when racism is buried under political arguments hidden under a legal argument. I suppose you can advocate that racism and prejudice has a legal precedence. It definitely has long track record in our history as a nation.

Linkes 7/2007
Smart Money tips when to buy stuff by day of the week
Creepy letters to investment company
Contractors outnumber troops mercs
Ajono communal brew
Housing post on suburbs
Ramen Blog all kinds of noodles
Advice to Realtors on how to sell stuff in the new market
False sense of security in a home?
Myth of Home Ownership and what it means for us
Costs of mortgaged suburbia 3 trillion?
Daily Show Dick’s move
All we need are frickin laser beams
Whole Foods or Whole Paycheck?

Mid June in the district and the heat is on, literally. One thing I haven’t quite gotten used to is the extreme heat that comes around this time of year. Today coming back from class was brutal since for some reason some genius decided to turn off the air conditioning in the building with heat indexes of 100. At 9pm it was still about 90, or 96 or so with the heat index. Another part of summer in DC is the torrential rainshowers that come hand and hand with all that humidity in the air. Last Thursday it was pouring so bad there were rivers in the streets. Fortunately the drain outside my door is working well, no flooded basement apartment yet, knock on wood.

Linkes for June 11-19
Love Thy Neighbor bombs, with apologies to Stanislaw Lem
Colleges revolt against U.S. News Rankings – Law schools to follow?
Secrecy in today’s world
National Bitter Melon Council AKA Goya
Cosumerist blog updated frequently
Top ten Copyright myths

Today marks another 3 years transition for me, this one marking my official transition to a productive member of the full-time work force from a life as a full time student, not so gainfully employed, if you include tutoring and graduate assistantships. Pretty amazing how much things have changed from 3 years ago I was a freshly minted graduate, ready to work, ready to learn, ready to try and make a difference no matter how small or insignificant in the greater scheme of things.

Time flies when you’re busy, thats for sure.

June is here and another summer in the district – number 4 to be precise. In annual fashion I should mention that this entry marks another year of this web-journal, not much for reflection in terms of entries, other than the mirror site over at Webomatica that I have been updating and tinkering with when I have spare time. I’ve been keeping up with this log-journal of sorts since 2000, although the current version only links back to June 2004 since it was getting pretty cluttered.

I’m enjoying my summer corporations class, its an area that I never really thought I’d find an interest in, being that my interests have been outside the corporate and financial world. On the other hand I seem to have an interest in crunching numbers and quantitative analysis, something that might prove to be worth looking into after I finish this degree program. I think my revisiting of this area it goes with the idea that there is a distinction between profitable businesses that provide quality goods and services and compete fairly in the market and corrupt businesses that lobby for corporate welfare and political influence. Somewhere in the mix lawyers can play an influential (good or bad) role in all of this.

Riding the train home last night after class, thinking about a million things as usual at the end of the day, I noticed from my reflection that I was of scowling out the window. Looking away quickly I thought I saw a familiar face across the train car, but I couldn’t place a name to the face to go up and say hello. After I got off at my stop and was walking home I realized that it might’ve been one of the random linkes that I came across a while back and happened to bookmark because of the interesting entry about Korean-Brazilian cultural identity. To a certain extent reading these online journals and blogs even in passing gives you a sort of sense that you might actually know someone, even a complete stranger that you have never spoken to before. I think in some part what appeals to me about certain blogs as a reader is the bluntness in observations on life experiences. This is in contrast to the more polished, over-edited sites, especially those that are hell bent on promoting the author or trying to sell some kind of a product. After all, since when did anyone make money by just reflecting on life?

Another twist in my daily grind of a schedule is that I’m on call for the next two weeks to report for Jury duty – basically it means that every day at 5:00pm I have to call an automated line to see if I have to report, with the chance of being selected for a trial to last an indefinite period of time. I was given a pass for Monday, but had to report today at noon downtown, being the dutiful government employee I decided to report for work in the morning and then rushed out in time to make the reporting period. After a few hours of milling around in the waiting period (Also reading a few cases) we were told that the civil trial we were summoned for was canceled, BUT still are to follow the on-call status.

While I was waiting I saw the huge mess of media camped outside the courthouse, and eventually the long procession of Ford Explorers and police escorts for the Scooter Libby sentencing hearing. It kind of reminded me what city I live in and what kind of things go down in the center of politics and power deals. I seem to forget this from time to time. Also this morning reported in the post was that the military commissions in Gitmo have hit a snag because of conflicts in the charges with the recent military commissions act of 2006. Maybe the DC court of appeals will have to begin hearing cases again after all. Speaking of trials that might be fun to sit in on, either as a juror or as a member of the general public: the notorious DC pants trial of 2007.

Chicago was fun, good seeing my brother who is settled on the south side, working on the side and playing underground and classical music. It was good to get out of DC for a weekend and see another city for a change. It brought back some memories of visiting the windy city back in college, inadvertently retracing my steps here and there. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel on Michigan avenue, it was a quirky hotel with a big picture of prince next to the elevators and art deco style furniture. I was able to find a zipcar parked within walking distance of the hotel, and we drove up to Patty’s wedding up in N. Ill. It was a very nice ceremony, a good balance overall. Lots of observations and reflections on this point in life I’m at, mostly how old we’re all becoming and growing up.

Linkes 6/2007
Pre-columbusPolynesian voyagers to Chile proof by chicken DNA.
Leeches and Leeches that file lawsuits

It’s looking like a busy summer alright, already looking forward to the Chicago trip to go to Patty’s wedding, visit the kid brother, and meet up with my folks all in a short weekend. After that I’ll be hunkering down on the books for my corporations class this summer, keeping going with the law training. I’m hoping that with just one class to focus on I’ll be better position to pull of a decent enough performance as an add on for the last semester, build more experience and push on through to the 3rd year. Juggling 4 courses and working full time was pretty challenging.

First day of summer session was today, first impressions of a course are always memorable being that you don’t really know what to expect at first. So far I’m finding some interesting side observations on the readings so far which comes to somewhat of a surprise as that this course isn’t one that at first thought comes to mind as one that I would be interested off the back. I think its the public policy training and all the economic theory that I’ve crammed into my brain that gives me an interest in this area, one things for sure, I’m not going to be closing off any possible interests that might develop through this course of study.

Having some interesting dreams. The theme lately has been that I keep finding secret tunnels and doors in my apartment that lead to hidden rooms, corridors and exits that I never imagined possible. At times I’m able to peal away the concrete foundation and walls with my hands to reveal another passageway. The spooky thing is that some of the rooms I’ve been in before in previous dreams, and they are over the top extravagant, like a luxury hotel room overseeing a cliff with wall to wall, ceiling to floor windows. In stumbling on these rooms I kid myself in not realizing that this was here all this time, and I had been confining myself to only a handful of small rooms.

I think there is some symbolic references to what is going on in my personal life and perceptions, especially in the past month or so, persons of whom I am very protective of in some difficult times. I’ve noticed that I’m not anxious at all in these dreams though, in fact I’m more thrilled at the prospect of finding rooms and passageways that I’ve overlooked, or been too busy to notice before. It seems like every time I look there is someplace new to explore, and each time I feel strangely at peace.

Linkes 5/21/2007
9mm violence on the rise in Honolulu
Ron Paul Can’t say that, can he? Sure, why not?
Foreign Policy of Freedom – Bomb or Subsidize
Why China must be scapegoated
Ron Paul – SC debates party crasher
Live Science – top 10s geek style
Torture – its ok now?
DC demographics shifts, compared on a national scale.

For the several months now I’ve been following the coverage of several housing related blogs and informational websites that present a very compelling list of arguments why it might be a very bad idea to buy real estate in the current market conditions. Although many of them are focusing on the San Francisco bay area, I think the rationale can be applied to other metro areas that have seen exponential rises in housing prices since 2000. I think the authors have to have laid out very well reasoned yet painfully simple economic analysis which I have yet to see sufficient evidence on the other side to present a compelling case. One author addresses just about every sales pitch that has been thrown around by real estate agents and mortgage brokers about why everyone should be buying a house, and its always a good time to buy.

Anyone who has taken a high school class in economics, or even glanced at an Econ 101 book should be able to understand why many of the pro-housing advocates in this current market make no sense at all in their sales pitches. Unfortunately emotion and fear of market exclusion is a very effective tool at getting people to stop using their heads and make very poor financial decisions that could haunt them for the rest of their lives. In many ways I liken the current state of the real estate industry a lot like the diamond industry, the luxury sports car industry, selling overpriced, over-marketed consumer goods that are suck up a substantial amount of the average person’s disposable income, guaranteed to depreciate in value, and ultimately amount to nothing more than another meaningless status symbol when it really should be something more practical: a roof over your head and land to maintain and maybe pass on to your heirs one day.

The subprime stock implosion and mainstream media coverage of toxic/exotic loans that sound a lot like credit cards with their low introductory rates that double or quadruple after a couple of years is all troubling. Especially since a lot of these loans were apparently given to all being given to people who normally could not qualify for a standard, fixed rate loan. They were banking on the fact that their houses would appreciate at 25%, 50% a year or something, and they would eventually sell it for a profit, or refinance the mortgage and take more cash out on the equity. Unfortunately now that the real estate market is tanking, it looks like it’ll just get worse as more and more mortgages reset to the higher rates, and more foreclosures go through. In the next couple of years there might be a lot of broke homeless people with bad credit finding it hard to find someplace to even rent.

I think that everyone who is thinking about buying a house or condo should at least read and digest the wealth of information available online before taking the debt plunge. The housing market is so out of whack right now that it could be financially fatal to buy in the current inflated market conditions.

Housing Blog Linkes:
The Bubble Meter
Housing Panic
Marin Bubble
Hawaii Real Estate bubble
DC housing blues

Thought I’d devote a post or two on the ongoing housing bubble in the DC metro area that I’ve been keeping an eye on for the past year or so. I’ve been noticing at how ridiculously inflated the asking prices and tax assessments are for properties around the area that aren’t even close to what they should be. I’m no building contractor or structural expert appraiser, but there’s simply no way in hell these houses are worth as much as they are asking for. Like any other economic good or service, the market is determined for how much a prospective customer is willing to fork over for ownership. Unfortunately, I think the current housing situation is a prime example of how impulsive and stupid the American consumer is, following the herd into the illusion of home ownership as a means of lucrative investment, and status symbol.

I think the market is tanking, slowly but surely right now. There seem to be a lot more houses popping up for sale around my neighborhood, in fact there are right now 3 properties for sale on the street I currently live on, one of which sat on the market for about 6 months without any buyers, was taken off the market, and put back on again. the other two just went for sale end of 2006. A quick search of tax records lists the 2008 Assessments for the properties on my street:

$739,530
$752,150
$684,490
$726,730
$722,730 (For sale?)
$752,150 (For sale?)
$722,180 (For sale?)

Most of these houses are painfully small for the assessed price, granted they are in a really nice neighborhood and close to the metro, still you really have to be an idiot to be willing to pay that much money for such a small and relatively run down property. Especially when a further search in tax records reveals that these properties sold for about half or even a third as much just 4 years ago. Crazy. Of course there are some people who like to say that we all should’ve bought back in 2003 or 2004 before the market took off. this means nothing, since relying on hindsight (and luck) is such a bullshit point to make.

Unfortunately our society is brainwashed into making financial decisions driven by fear of exclusion or being perceived as being behind the curve of the joneses. I heard a lot over the past couple of years from people that made a lot less money than me that I was in danger of being priced out of the market if I didn’t buy soon, that I was putting to waste the my good credit and not taking advantage of the shiny mortgage that my professional salary would qualify me for.

Now that it seems like real estate is now a depreciating investment, and foreclosures are running rampant nationally due to predatory and fraudulent loans, I’m glad that I stuck to my guns in saying that “there no fucking way that tiny 3 bd house on the corner is worth $1.4M.” and “theres no way you can convince me that going that much into debt is worth it.”

Linkes 3/8/07
More conspiracy theories, but it Can’t happen here.
War game theory in economic terms, Raptors in Okinawa.
The system works? who’s complaining?
I like the free books part
Even spooks are turning green turning green, Job outlook not good in 2007

Busy past two weeks, things have been moving at work, a welcome change of pace, things were getting bogged down in the process of how things get done, but otherwise business as usual I suppose. Got snowed in on Wednesday, trucked the hill in my snow boots to go to the store which was an adventure with all the unplowed snow still on the ground.

Linkes 2/4/07 – 2/17/07
Mistrial in Watada court-marshal, free speech and the military
One of the reasons why living in Hawaii costs so much
Badgers Badgers Everywhere
Medical Aid in Cambodia
Secret contracts tend to cost a lot
63% now antiwar hopefully in time for round II?
24 Fiction and the TV generation and real life.
Can’t happen here? too late.
War on America waged from from within hiding behind the extremist myth?
With us or against us
Cody’s Books closing in Berkeley
Hawaii market refixing refixing? Kaka’ako apartments