By popular demand, I’ve updated my Christmas list. I’ll try to think of more stuff to add.
Baker’s first birthday
Fixing my Droid 3 global keyboard
Recently the keyboard on my Droid 3 has been misbehaving. I finally took a little bit of time to clean it out with some alcohol and compressed air. Works like a charm!
Of course, then I took a little time to play with voice recognition. I may not use the keyboard again. I did this entire post using voice recognition and did not touch the keyboard other than to make a few punctuation corrections. I also used the new word press Android app — it’s a little buggy, but seems to work okay for the most part.
On the home stretch!
After a week or so of work, we’re getting a lot closer to being finished with the big jobs in the garage. The floor is looking pretty good; we still have the last section to do but that should only take a day. Lisa will be the first to get to park on the new floor this afternoon when she gets home from work.
The epoxy paint seems pretty tough! I slid the deep freeze across the floor to get it back where it belongs. It’s usually a pretty big PITA to move around, because there are no slides or even feet on the bottom – just bumps in the sheet metal on the bottom. It left a trail of light gray that just wiped -ff — I think it was just concrete dust from previous moves, maybe with a little appliance paint. No damage to the floor, other than knocking off a few of the decorative flakes. After a quick swipe with a damp rag, you can’t tell where the drag marks were. I don’t know if I mentioned it in my previous posts, but after MUCH research I decided to just go with the Rust-Oleum epoxy garage floor paint. It was readily available (Home Depot had it on the shelf) and not as expensive as the other options I was looking at — which means, if it starts coming up in a few years I haven’t spent $2500 on the floor like one of my neighbors. Yes, his does look better and he had other people do the work… but hey, I’ll spend some time and effort to move a decimal point! I figure I have spent well under $400 on this, including the grinder rental and painting supplies.
I wanted to have a utility sink installed, but the quote from the plumber to do just the bare minimum work so I could do all of the actual installation and drywall work… well, it was simply insane. I guess we’ll run a hose from the laundry room when we need water out there.
Why, yes… this IS my first rodeo!
Lisa and I took Lauren, Holly and Burke to the River City Roundup rodeo last night. It was the first time any of us had been to a real rodeo… a good time was had by all! The two little ones got cowboy hats. We saw the animals in their pens for 4H judging; the little ones were pretty jazzed to get to see and touch the sheep, goats, and cows. They also got to see some pigs (mainly tiny little piglets) and barnyard fowl — ducks, a goose, chickens and a rooster.   I didn’t get many pictures because riding herd on the kids kept us hopping. They enjoyed the rodeo events, as did Lisa and I. It’s pretty fast paced, not much time to get bored waiting for the next event! I think the two little ones will be naturals for mutton busting in a few years. That was hilarious, and it looked like the kids were having a blast! On the way out, Lauren pulled a loose tooth — another first for her, she’s never pulled one of her own before.
The garage madness continues
The past few days have been a lot of work. Friday afternoon I rented a diamond grinder from Honeyman Rent-All and spent several hours grinding the floor. I had to completely empty everything out of the garage into the driveway and yard. Of course it all had to go back inside when I finished around 1 AM.
The diamond grinder was pretty easy to use. It’s a little noisy, but not bad enough to get the neighbors complaining. The hose connects directly to it to keep water flowing to keep the heat and dust down. I was able to do all of the grinding, rinsing and squeegee-ing in about 4-5 hours.
Saturday I rinsed the floor and used the citric acid from the Rust-Oleum epoxy paint kit. Probably unnecessary, but I had no other pressing need for two bags of citric acid. It also cleaned up the inch or so that the grinder couldn’t get right up against the wall. Then I spent another hour or two rinsing the floor, followed by the squeegee. After the second round I used the shop vacuum to get it as dry as possible. It’s looking pretty darned good right now, so Sunday will be painting day. I have prepped both sides, but the third bay will have to wait. I simply can’t empty everything out of the whole garage for a week.
Garage clearing
I’ve been working on the garage for a few weeks now. Phase 1 was to empty out the third stall, pitch what I could, get rid of some old shelves and organize. The results, while not perfect, were quite satisfying! I was able to move the workbench over to the third stall, meaning I can walk around the back of the truck now to get to it. There’s enough room to actually use the workbench. Alli & Tom got the old wooden toy shelves we built back in 1984, and Andrew & Liz got the old steel cabinet from Grandma & Grandpa Foss’ place. There is still some work to be done, but it’s a lot more organized and less of a disaster area.
Phase 2 — I’ve been cleaning out and de-cluttering Lisa’s side of the garage. Last night I emptied everything out, vacuumed, degreased, and washed out that side. It’s looking pretty good. I’ll probably do the same to my side some time this week. I also replaced the bottom seal on the double door, and will be sealing up other air leaks over the coming weeks. I’d like to make the entire garage as weather-tight as I can, so that we can keep it reasonably warm in the winter and reasonably cool in the summer.
Phase 3 will likely be etching and epoxy coating the floor, one or two stalls at a time. I’d love to be able to mop out the garage during the winter. Toward that end (and others) I’d also really like to get a utility sink/wash tub out there. It would make it so much easier for filling buckets, washing cars, mopping floors and washing up after working on dirty stuff. I’m hoping to find that there is easy access to the plumbing connections needed for that, without hanging the sink somewhere inconvenient.
I figure we’ve got a ton of space out there, it would really be nice to be able to use it all! I only wish I had taken the time to paint the walls and maybe even the ceiling during the first round. What I really need is a big storage unit for a month or two, so I can move all the junk out of there for a few weeks and do it all without having to work around ladders, lawn tools, power tools, cabinets, bikes, and all the other stuff out there. Needing to have everything back in the garage every night is a severely limiting factor.
I’ve been slacking off!
Well, at least with my blog posts. I never seem to remember to update his thing when I should. Let’s see… in the past few months I have not blogged about…
- Lisa and I took the club 172 up to Norfolk for dinner. Unfortunately, we ended up having to call for Pete to come get us due to a minor nose gear malfunction. A couple of days later that was fixed, and I flew the plane home.
- We had a very nice vacation out in Breckenridge. Gil and Nina were nice enough to let us use their condo. We did some sightseeing, got rained on while riding a ski lift, went to Ikea in Denver, took a nice horseback ride, and generally had a really nice week. We got to have dinner with various Jaworskis on the way home. And… the truck averaged over 20 MPG for the entire trip. Not too shabby!
- Lisa and I went to the EAA Chapter 80 picnic down in Plattsmouth. We had a pretty good time; good food, good people. I got a ride in an RV-7, and I have to admit… I’m hooked. What a sweet flying airplane. Fast, light on the controls, it almost feels like there’s no limit to what you can do. I think the -9 or -9a would be about perfect for long trips.
- I managed to get the third garage bay cleared out enough to use part of it for work space. It’s not done by a long shot, but it’s a start. I got the workbench moved out from in front of the truck, so I can get to the far side without having to go through the “garage hallway” – meaning the back seat of the truck. I’m almost done refinishing the old stool Dad made for me back in the mid 1960s when I needed a higher chair to sit at the table. Holly seemed to like it quite a bit, so I think it’s going over to Andrew’s place when it’s finished.
- The kit business has been keeping me fairly busy. I’m trying to kill off one kit and introduce two or three more. It’s taking a lot of work.
Well, that just about catches it up, I guess. I’ll try to post more here… not that I expect anyone actually reads it!
Busybusybusybusybusy
More stuff going on than I can keep track of. Prioritizing things becomes a real challenge.
- Work (my day job)
- HamGadgets – getting orders processed, assembling keyers, etc. I try to keep up but sometimes get a few days behind. I’m trying to get ahead of things, but it’s tough.
- New product development for Hamgadgets. I have two new products in the works and need to start two more.
- Flying. I joined Skyhawk Flying Club, so I’ve now got access to three new airplanes (one of which is a basic trainer). I’m also flying with a new instructor, and it’s going really well.
- Private pilot knowledge test study. I really do need to take the knowledge test (used to be the “written” test, but now it’s all computerized) ASAP. I just need another few hours of study.
- I’m writing a Dummies book (no, nothing that would interest you).
- Taking care of the yard, the house, etc.
- Finishing up a couple of projects, including some register covers for Allison & Tom
There are probably things I’m missing…Â I just don’t have time to write any more right now.
Conventional wisdom is not always right
Let’s take a quick look at 401(k) loans. Some people are not aware of this, but if you have a 401(k) retirement account you can borrow money from yourself. You can take out a loan from your own retirement account for pretty much any reason. The rules about how much you can borrow and how soon it needs to be paid back are a little different for mortgages on your primary residence, but let’s stick with the more usual case for now.
You can borrow up to half of the value of your 401(k), or a maximum of $50,000. Interest rates are fixed and generally pretty low, and the loan term cannot exceed five years. The loan must be repaid by payroll deduction, and this leads to the first potential “gotcha”… if you leave your job or get laid off, the entire loan balance is due and payable within 90 days. If you can’t pay it off in 90 days, it’s treated as an early withdrawal from your 401(k) and there are some pretty unpleasant tax implications — not to mention the money doesn’t go back into your retirement account as it should. So, in general you really only want to consider a 401(k) loan if your employment situation is stable, and/or if you have the cash reserve or other assets (like a stock brokerage account) you could liquidate to pay the loan off within a couple of months if you have to. If you decide to change jobs while you have an outstanding 401(k) loan, you’ll need to figure out how to take care of that because loan repayments have to be deducted from your current employer’s payroll.
So, the convention wisdom, the advice you will usually hear, is that 401(k) loans are a bad, bad idea. All kinds of analysis and predictions of financial doom are easy to find, and all seem to make some basic assumptions. The most consistent assumptions seem to be that you’re desperate for the money, and that while repaying the loan you’re not going to be contributing to your retirement plan. That of course means you lose any employer matching funds. A lot of the advice I’ve read also assumes you’re making some kind of mad return on your 401(k) investments — something which just has not held true lately, though the days of 10%-plus returns may return before long. If you don’t meet those assumptions, though, you can make it into a pretty good deal.
Let’s assume you have a couple of car loans, which you’re paying on schedule. Let’s also assume that you have about $40K between the two, and are paying around 5.99% as seems to be about average now. Your two car payments add up to a little over $900 per month, and all the interest is of course going to your lender. Now let’s assume you could:
- Drop $300 a month off your payments
- Get a lower interest rate
- Get the car loan balances off your credit report
- Show both loans as paid in full
- Have clear title to your vehicles
- Give yourself all of the interest on the loans from now on
Sounds pretty good, right? Enter the 401(k) loan. This can work out very well, assuming you don’t stop contributing to your retirement plan while you’re paying off the loan. Keep contributing what you have been; certainly enough to at least get your employer’s full matching contributions. All of the monthly principle and interest on your loan goes directly back into your 401(k). The interest rate is usually lower that what you’re already paying on your car loans — and what do you care what the interest rate is, anyway? In fact, a higher interest rate can work in your favor! It’s all going into your own retirement account.
If your 401(k) investments are doing significantly better than the interest rate on your loan then, yes, you’re losing a little bit of investment income that you might otherwise have. It may or may not equal or exceed the money you’re paying your lender in the form of interest. Your individual rate of return can tell you that; if it’s more than the rate you’re paying on your car loan and what you’d pay on the 401(k) loan, you may want to think about whether the other aspects make it worthwhile or not. And, yes, there is a little risk of things going south if you lose your job and can’t pay off the full amount of the loan. Even that’s not a crushing blow, though — you still have unencumbered title to your vehicle(s), and there is no adverse credit report information, no collection agency. You simply pay the tax penalty on an early withdrawal from your 401(k).
So the next time you’re looking at financing a car or other major purchase, you might want to do a little research. See if a 401(k) loan is a good idea for you or not. Don’t blindly take anyone’s advice — mine included — without doing your own research and running the numbers.