Credit!

So, having recently exercised my credit score to purchase a car, I thought I'd take the time to make sure the old credit report is in order. My cautionary tale: The car dealer initially offered me interest rates in the high 6% to low 7% range, which I thought was way too high. I told them I wouldn't accept anything above 5.5%. They came back almost immediately with rates below 5% and said the reason was my Equifax credit score (which they originally checked) was much lower than my other two scores (which they later used to get the lower rate).

As I suspected, the lower Equifax score was due to that damn hospital in North Carolina that delayed treatment for the worst food poisoning of my life because the admissions woman could not fit my entire DC address into the character limits of the patient information database. She finally got tired of my continuous puking into the bowl they had provided for this purpose, and clearly cut some corners to fit my address in. I never got a bill, they referred it to a collection agency that obviously didn't try too hard to contact me since my phone number is still the same. After discovering it on my credit report two years ago, I promptly paid the debt. And yet there it sits on my credit report making a relatively big difference in my ability to get a good loan.

When I last cleaned up my report two years ago, it was a tedious process. But government saves the day! The feds have since passed laws to make credit reports more accessible and to make closing accounts much easier. So, 20 minutes and some basic information about my current debts later, I just printed (well, actually CutePDF-ed) credit reports from all three major companies via this website.

The Equifax report is particularly useful because it describes how different elements of the report contribute to a credit score (and therefore how to avoid low scores). From one of the reports I also found this FTC brochure with more detailed information on managing credit reports (government strikes again!). I found the TransUnion report to be most helpful in cleaning up old accounts--it provides the full account number and phone number of the company holding the account.

My next project: a Target charge card my mom opened in both our names in 1998--still open.

Great find

My internet addiction led me from a recent post on Sarah's blog to this incredibly interesting site: Action Squad: Minneapolis Urban Adventurers. This group practices urban exploration, which wikipedia defines as "examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of human civilization" including abandoned buildings, utility and transit tunnels, and sewers and storm drains. Judging from their website, Action Squad focuses on brewery caves, steam tunnels, and condemned historic buildings. The website carefully describes each "mission" in text and pictures. It's really impressive. And they cite Indian Jones and Goonies as their sources of inspiration, so how could they go wrong?

Oh, and for those of you keeping track, the legislature has moved on from regulating animal chiropractic care to the most important business of regulating beer keg purchase and receipt by scrap metal dealers.

Nerdy internet sample platter

For all the language arts nerds out there, check out Freerice.com, a site that donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Programme for every correct answer to a vocabulary quiz. Thanks to KT for this great find--timely given the problem with rising rice prices. In response to a skeptical friend of Kate's, I verified there is a link to the site from the UN World Food Programme, so looks legit despite sounding pretty weird. I donated 220 grains on my first try (lost on hoosegow, which means "jail") and my highest vocab level so far is 44. I will certainly devote some quality time tonight to beating those records.

For all the economics-, news junkie-, or general-purpose nerds, I think you'll enjoy this Marketplace segment on the coming economic stimulus payments. What's really incredible is that they got former labor secretary Robert Reich to comment for the story.

Wine-Buyer Freedom Day

Have any plans for August 31st? Join me!

A provision in the current state House budget balancing bill would allow liquor stores within a certain distance from the Xcel Energy Center to open for business on the Sunday during the Republican National Convention. (Bars could also remain open until 4am the whole week).

If this provision passes, I hope you will join me in a most triumphant purchase of wine on the Lord's day. I might buy some tequila too, for good measure. Because, really, why the fuck can't we buy liquor on Sundays? Should we have imposed the smoking ban on every day except Monday?

Economics

So I'm wishing I'd paid more attention in my 1.5 semesters of macroeconomics--because that's where all the action is right now. It sure would be an interesting time to work at the Fed. For the nerds and/or procrastinators out there (which pretty much encompasses all of you), All Things Considered had a great segment this afternoon on the basics of the Bear Stearns collapse.

And on the microeconomics front, Marketplace had a good segment on Islamic bonds today also. In a nutshell, Islamic law forbids earning interest when one loans money. So a whole industry has developed to work around this most inconvenient of laws. The issue has been at the forefront for me recently because I'm doing taxes at a building almost entirely populated by people who are Somali (almost all Muslim) or Oromo (many of whom are Muslim). Because the IRS says I have to, I dutifully ask each person if he or she earns interest from any sources--which usually elicits a look of horror. This week a guy actually looked scared when I asked, and then got all defensive and said his bank started giving him interest unbidden so he of course called immediately to cancel the account. Um, don't worry buddy, I'm not going to report you to the Islamic courts. But anyway, the bottom line is I feel like an ass every time I ask.

Not quite right

Today antiwar groups held a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda to mark five years of war. For over an hour they read the names of each coalition troop killed in Iraq. As I sat in committee down the hall, I could hear the gong sound between each name. Leaving committee, I was struck by the accompanying visual display--a circle of combat boots and civilian shoes standing empty.

...And then I caught sight of a video feed from another committee on one of the TVs scattered around the capitol for lobbyists to follow floor action. What bill was the committee considering? Senate File 3165: Animal chiropractic care requirements established.

On Michael Vartan

I heart Michael Vartan. He's hot, he speaks French, and he's a kickass spy (okay, so the last one is just in the dreamworld where he exists for me). Given my love for Michael Vartan, I was very sad when I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel Live once (which I taped just to see MV, oh yes) and learned he is kind of a ditz. He made Kimmel look like a good conversationalist. It was so bad that I had to rewatch two seasons of Alias to get MV back to the dreamworld state of hotness that I rely on.

The whole incident reminded me of my last crush gone bad. I'm not a crush kind of girl, and I don't get them really ever. But somehow during college I developed a very girlish crush on a guy I knew vaguely--he was a friend my roommate's friends and when some of us started playing four-square in front of Kagin after lunch he joined in once or twice.

At the Alma if you didn't start drinking by at least 2pm on Saturdays you were woefully behind. Not being much of an afternoon drinker, I often got roped into driving drunk people around on Saturday nights--being the only one sober enough to even consider operating machinery.

This is how I came to be driving the object of my crush to a famous (although apparently hard to find) skinny-dipping spot in Minneapolis. He rode in the passenger seat, with a bunch of his drunk-ass friends in the back. Perfect opportunity, right? Not so much--within minutes I realized he was completely uninteresting and unhot. Conversation was painful, which made the 40 minutes of driving around to find the skinny-dipping spot (don't worry, he "totally knew where it was") highly annoying. Needless to say, that was the end of the crush.