Metaphysx.com

I’ve been a homeowner for about 4 years now. Prior to this, I had always rented apartments.

I can remember back to apartment living. It wasn’t so bad, especially my last one down at Latimer Woods in Bloomington. It was a simple 1-BR with a den, a garage and a wood fireplace.

The three main reasons I moved: 1. I was tired of living in Bloomington, 2. as I planned to return to consulting/working-for-myself in a few years, I wanted to live somewhere easily accessible to Bloomington, Columbus and Indianapolis (the three largest cities in the area), and 3. I was at a stage in my life where I wanted a lot of privacy and therefore wanted to live in the country. Oh, and I suppose a fourth reason was that I had been convinced by everyone that, since I had the means, I should stop throwing away my money and instead pursue the American Dream of buying a house.

Lately I’ve been thinking about moving again, and just assumed that I would again buy. But last night I read Renting Makes More Financial Sense Than Homeownership.

I’m going to have to crunch some numbers, but it makes sense.

I mean, ‘owning’ a home doesn’t mean you don’t have payments to make unless you truly ‘own’ it. Otherwise, you have mortgage payments. The difference between those mortgage payments and rent is basically that buy making mortgage payments you are building equity. While some may live in their house long enough to actually pay it off, I gather most will instead get enough equity such that they can sell it and buy something bigger/nicer. In that sense, you’re making payments every month just as a renter does.

The other difference is to look at buying a home as an investment with the intention of turning a profit. The thing as, according the linked article, despite the housing boom which is now slowing, home selling prices have barely kept up with inflation. So if you buy a house then sell it 5 years later for say $30k more than you paid, on paper it looks like you made a substantial profit. But if you subtract from that the costs of maintenance, repairs, insurance and property taxes, then account for inflation, it seems to me that you barely break even.

And then to look at ‘value’ beyond financial returns, I look around this house and see that it’s way too big. I don’t even have enough furniture to fill it, and two rooms I don’t even use. Further, I have acres of lawn that I never set foot on except to mow the grass.

Anyway, like I said, I’ve got to do some serious number crunching, but some of those lofts up on the canal in Indy look really nice!

First, I didn’t get the oil and filter changed this morning like I’d planned. Instead, I got the bike out and rode about 30 minutes without much trouble. What I noticed is that once she’s warmed up, I can’t put the choke/enricher in all the way. When I do, I run into the coughing/sputtering problems. But if I leave it out about 1/4″, she runs beautifully. So that tells me she’s running lean. I’m hoping now it’s just a matter of cleaning the carbs.

But since she was running well, I filled her up with a fresh tank of Premium and headed to Bloomington. I love riding 46 from Nashville to Bloomington because it’s a bit twisty and has a few hills, so there are some opportunities to gun the throttle coming out of a curve. Then again, it’s heavily travelled and today I rode behind a car driven by a woman obviously not as aggressive as me. So, it was a slow, leisurely ride.

I made it to the Harley shop to buy some oil and a new filter. I was surprised by how busy they were, and was wondering if perhaps there was an ‘event’ going on that I wasn’t aware of. Anyway… I got my oil and filter, but forgot to check for some K&N air filter cleaner/recharger or look at new glasses and gloves. On the way into the store I spotted my dream Dyna-Glide… and I couldn’t really focus my mind on much else. Now I regret not asking for a test-ride.

After that, I rode up to Charles’ new house, which was mostly highway-riding and not a lot of fun. After hanging there for a bit, I rode home.

So, now that I know she runs well, I’m really, really torn. I love riding, and plan to do a lot of it this summer. But I have a buyer, and there’s a bike I think I’d like better. I kept thinking all day today that I need to call that potential buyer and tell him I’m not selling. But right now I’m thinking I should go ahead and sell and get the glider instead.

Today, though a bit chilly, the sun was shining. With nothing better to do, I decided I would try to get the motorcycle running.

As I had tried a few weeks ago and only got the clicking sound from the starter, I knew the battery was probably shot. I hooked it up to a trickle charger, but it wouldn’t hold enough charge to turn the engine over more than a few times. So… I got a new battery and finally installed it today.

So now the thing would turn over, but still wouldn’t run. I thought I would try the easiest thing first, so I drove to the nearest Harley shop (nearly 40 minutes away) and picked up a set of sparkplugs. I got home and installed them… and after fighting with her a bit, she finally pissed, moaned, sputtered then fired up.

I let her run for awhile to burn off some of the bad gas that might have been stuck in the fuel lines left-over from winter. Then I suited up and took a quick spin down the road and back.

She definitely needs some attention. She coughs and sputters and won’t maintain constant RPM in any gear at any speed. There’s also substantial backfiring. But I suppose it’s good to catch it now, as it was really too cold to ride today. Hopefully I’ll get her tuned before the nice weather comes.

Who’s up for a ride?

I have a few suspicions.  First, because I removed much of the floorboards/trim around the house while laying new flooring and haven’t put it all back, I’ve possibly created/opened some ‘entry ways’. Second, it got really warm for a few weeks, then suddenly got really cold, possibly giving him a desperate need to come inside.  Third, it’s possible that he’s always wanted to come in, but the smell of a predator/carnivore (ie, Berkeley) kept him from doing so. But now with Berk gone, he felt safer.

Anyway… the other night I noticed I have a new roommate: a little mouse.

As I hate the thought of killing the little guy, I did some research and found this idea for a more humane mousetrap.  Instead of using a big bucket or trash can, I used a little coffee can.  I baited the trap with a Frito-brand corn chip topped with a little peanut butter.  And as I have no evidence he’s getting up onto counters or anything, I used the ‘ramp version’.

The next morning… well… he fell for it!  I found the toilet paper tube inside the can and the peanut-butter smothered corn chip gone.   But aside from that, the can was empty.  This guy, apparently, can jump out of coffee cans.

So last night I tried a slight variation. I used a large Rubbermaid Tote and a box to support the ramp.

I fell asleep on the couch watching “Children of Dune” (which I’ve found a sure way to cure insomnia).  About 5am I was startled by the trap being sprung. I heard the drop and the scraping of little feet. I wasn’t about to get up to check, because I was sure I got him.  I went back to sleep with a big smile on my face.

But when I did get up and checked on him… the tube was there in the tote but the mouse was nowhere to be found.  Did he jump out of THAT?  It’s hard to imagine.  Perhaps he’s some strange spider-mouse and managed to climb out?  I thought maybe he might be too fat to fit into the tube and was accidently pushing it in while going for the Frito.  But that can’t be, because again, the Frito was gone!

Tonight, I think, will be the final battle.  Stay tuned!