Skillz Victory - 2009 Season

Nobody Could Make This Shit Up

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's staffers to speak at ethics lecture for state workers
By Steve Schmadeke
January 6, 2009
Only in Illinois?
As legislators weigh impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich and federal prosecutors prepare to indict him on corruption charges, his acting chief of staff and a deputy governor will be keynote speakers Wednesday at an "Ethics in the Workplace" seminar for some 200 state employees.
The governor's acting chief of staff, Clayton Harris III, is new to his post; his predecessor, John Harris, was arrested the same day as the governor and resigned Dec. 12. Deputy Gov. Dean Martinez started his job a month ago.

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune

The Benefits of a Bad Economy

People who have been following this blog for the past couple of years have read about my difficulties in selling my old house. It stayed on the market for a year and sold for much less than its value, thanks to the economy. When it finally did sell, I was forced to take out a second mortgage to make up the difference between what I thought would happen and the harsh economic reality.

Today, however, I got a taste of the upside of the faltering economy when I checked out the breathtakingly-low interest rates at my bank. I am going to refinance and combine my original mortgage and my second mortgage into one loan. The result: The second mortgage will be gone and I will only pay one monthly bill that is not much more than I pay now. Yowsa!