Need Help Looking for an Apartment?

Hey there friends. You know, a few years back, when my wife and I married, we struggled to find a place to call our own. We were newlyweds with kids and we needed to find a place to call our own. We did what most people do while they're searching for a place, we stayed with family. Staying with family has it's perks, but let's face it, there is no place like a place to call your own. During our search, we went through online listings, we drove around looking for "for rent" signs, we even went as far as to pay for an "exclusive" list of available apartments. It was a HUGE pain. I would not want my friends to go through the hell that is apartment hunting without useful and proficient tools.

Good thing we live in a time where technology is there to aid us. This is why the iPhone's latest application is a godsend to those that are in the hunt. MyNewPlace is a is a great app that lists over 6 million apartments and rental homes across the US. You can easily filter searches to specify for exactly what you need. You can find MyNewPlace in the iPhone app store and because it's absolutely free, you won't need to waste time and money on "exclusive" lists when the the MyNewPlace app is updated frequently. One of the great features of the app, and my personal favorite, is the option to search for listings based on your phone's GPS. This is great because for those that have been on the search for a place to rent have more than likely experienced the following scenario:

You drive through a beautiful neighborhood, your significant other LOVES the area, but you have not the slightest of clues as to where there is a place to rent since you're driving aimlessly hoping to run into a "For Rent" sign. You drive off feeling pretty bummed out that you couldn't find anything after driving around for up to an hour.

Don't let that happen to you! With the MyNewPlace, the above could have been easily averted by searching through your phones GPS. It would readily display the locations that were for rent and instead of driving around wasting time, you'd actually be checking out the places to see if they suit your needs.

Apartment and home hunters need to get this free application. Do not let the renting game damper your hopes of finding a good home. You can find all the information you need in regards to the application at http://www.mynewplace.com/iphone .

Later.

Fighting with Bank of America

Hey there. I am on the phone, on hold, with Bank of America. We recently got a loan modification done on our mortgage to reduce the amount. We were happy when it was slashed considerably. We signed the docs and sent them back. Soon after, we received a second set of documents and that slashed the first offer even more. We were confused, at that point. Can this super low offer really be our loan payment? I started calling BofA. I spoke to 2 different representatives that clearly said that the second offer would override the first. I had them repeat that to assure that I was hearing correctly and again, I received the "second set of documents will override the first." My wife and I were thrilled at point. We started to plan out the rest of the year, with dreams of her not having to work with with this great windfall that we were blessed to receive. We even received a check by BofA saying that we overpaid in escrow fees so even more joy came over us. Until last week, that is.

We receive our statement and it says that our payment is what the original loan documents stated and not what we were told over the phone. Not cool, Bank of America, not cool and at. Now, I'm on the phone trying to get to the bottom of it. Personally, I am none too happy that Countrywide busted and BofA bought it out. I've had some awful experiences with BofA. Many years ago we had a checking and savings account with BofA. It was not something that we wanted to do but considering that there were everywhere, we went ahead and open the accounts. On top of all the fees that were assessed, even after doing the "automatic savings" thing that supposedly made your accounts, free, we had issues with them. The straw that broke the camel's back was the moment that some one by the name of "Ruth" created a check, that's right, created a check with her name and her address on it and cashed it against our account. I don't remember the exact amount of the check but I want to say that it was close to $1K. I was furious. I called and complained to BofA how my name is clearly not Ruth and the address on the check is clearly not mine and yet, they cashed this check. On top of that, they gave me a hard time. Them bastards gave me a hard time! They didn't give me my money back "the next day", as their fraud commercials stated at the time, and I had to call them everyday for a full week just to get them to admit fault and give me my money back. Of course, because I was out so much money and it was unexpectedly gone, we started accumulating overdraft fees that again, BofA said were my fault and not theirs. I fought for those to be reversed too since I told them that they cashed a check that was not issued by me and therefore I should not be held accountable for the fees. After all the yelling and all the screaming I did to supervisors and directors, I finally got the money back into my account. I immediately withdrew our money from both saving and checking accounts and vowed never to bank with them again. I bash them every chance I get, and with more than good reason, and to my surprise, others usually share their horror stories as well.

Now, it turns out that they need to research as to why my documents are not matching... Typical BofA bullshit, if you ask me. I am not happy and if I need to pay more than what my documents say, I'm going to be raising some hell. Later.

FYI... I did this whole post while I was on hold... Bastards!

The Importance of Spelling

Hey there. Good thing we live in a world of spell check, no? We all make mistakes when it comes to writing and typing. Most of us brush it off as nothing since we can easily click on spell check and BAM! Insta-fix. Kids in school can't do that. They still use pencil and paper and below is the reason why we need to continue to show them that spelling is important. lmao Enjoy.

A Weekend for the Baby

Hey there. We are tired. I mean, like, dead tired. We dedicated this weekend to the baby. As in, we went to go get stuff for the baby and we started to make room for the baby at home. Saturday morning, we went to a swap meet to look for the baby's dresser. My wife and I already had a specific one in mind, one that has 4 or 5 drawers and then right next to it, a little closet where we can hang baby clothes. We got one for when our youngest was a baby but the difference is that there was a large drawer on the bottom so that you can put in blankets. We don't want one with the drawer on the bottom. We've notice that a swap meet is usually the place where you can order one. We have not seen them anywhere else. It so happens that the last place we visited at the swap meet is where we found it. We ordered it and we went home to rest... for about an hour or so. Then we took off to get the baby stroller. We already knew what we wanted. There was absolutely no doubt about it. We picked it up and shopped around for some baby stuffs for a baby shower scheduled for Sunday. We soon got home and I jumped online to check Email, since I was waiting for an answer on when we can pick up a loft bed that we planned on buying. I got the ok for Sunday morning at 9ish.

Come Sunday morning, my compadre and I went to Brentwood (pretty damn close to UCLA) to pick it up. Since I took our car, the loft bed did not fit in the trunk. Good thing I took twine and we strapped the mattress and the large pieces of the bed on the roof of the car. It took us awhile because we wanted to make sure it strapped well... but also because I literally had a huge ball of twine. So we spent some time untangling the damn thing. Once I dropped him off and went home, we did a complete overhaul of our boy's room. His old bed was taken down and moved over to the girls' room so that our little one can have a big girl's bed. The loft bed was then assembled in our boy's room. We got him a loft bed so that we can place his dresser underneath it and create more space for the baby. His room now has enough space for the crib and another dresser, which is exactly what we needed.

We spent all morning and most of the afternoon on that mission. Once done, we showered and then took off to my uncle and aunt's baby shower. They had a pool and the kids wanted to get in. It was close to 5 and I didn't really want the kids to get in since they didn't have any extra clothes. My mother found the kids some clothes to wear and before I knew it, they were in the pool having fun. My wife and I kinda just sat there since we were tired. We tried not too move too much since we were busting our butts off at home. I was this close (makes that finger gesture) of saying that we should not go to the baby shower. Once the presents and all were done, we went home. Too tired to really stay much longer. We're now in bed, my wife sprawled across the bed, while I type this post up and get ready for my online work. I don't think I'll be up too late tonight (I usually go to bed close to midnight) since I'm feeling a little extra tired tonight. I'll catch you guy tomorrow. Later!

XBOX 360 Busted.... For Now

Hey there. Stupid Xbox... It's acting stupid and now I can't get it to work. I don't know if it's permanently screwed up or if it's just acting stubborn with me. I'll continue to work on it and if I can't get it to work... looks like I'll be sending to the local Xbox "fix it" shop. UGH!!!!

Metallman's Reverie: 100,000 Page Views!!!

WHOO HOO!!!! Today, July 17th, 2009 marks the day that this site has reached 100,000 page views! ALRIGHT! That's pretty bad ass, if you ask me. I'm pretty sure that if the site is up long enough, it would have reached the 100K mark so the real question is how long it took to get there. Well, according to my stat tracker thingy, it too me 477 days to get there. What is that? About a year and 3 months? Is that good? Don't matter anymore. I've reach a milestone and now, I'm shooting for 1 million page views! Later!