We've all been in a movie theater, business meeting, fancy restaurant or even taking a test in school when someone's cell phone rings... and they answer it! I can't think of anything more frustrating than the ringer of a cell phone or shouting a conversation into a phone in an inopportune moment.

Restaurant owners, movie theaters and even schools are so frustrated with the problem that they buy illegal cell phone jammers for their establishments. Not only are they risking thousands of dollars in fines and a year in jail but they put every person in range of the jammer in danger of not being able to make an emergency call if necessary. The jammers also extend well past their intended area and disrupt emergency service’s communication. As a parent, I would be upset to hear that my child’s school was implementing such a dangerous device to combat the problem.

Soon there will be a safe, legal and elegant alternative: Zone of Silence. Zone of Silence is not a cell phone jammer and does not disrupt the cell phone signals in any way. Instead, it sets up a zone of a configurable size that communicates with software on the phone to limit functionality. A zone can be configured to control one or more of the following:

• Inbound calls
• Outbound calls
• Inbound text
• Outbound text
• Ringer volume
• Maximum screen brightness
• Whether or not the camera can take a picture
• And more!

911 emergency calls are always allowed.

The device can be configured to allow certain cell phone and numbers to not be restricted. Further, it can be configured to allow incoming calls from a certain number to a certain number. For example, a school can put in the student’s cell phone number and link it to their parents’ cell phone numbers so that the parents and students can still call and/or text eachother even if calls and texts are being blocked.

ZoS is safe because it allows 911 calls at any time without any intervention from the owner of the ZoS Device or the cell phone owner. It can also be turned off remotely by ZoS in the event of a natural or other disaster.

ZoS is legal because it doesn’t block or broadcast on regulated frequencies. It communicates with the phones over wi-fi and Bluetooth; both part of an unregulated spectrum.

ZoS is elegant because it allows such granular control of the phone functionalities and allows the ZoS Device owner to designate unrestricted phones. Unlike a cell phone jammer, it notifies the recipient that they have missed a call or text so that they walk outside the zone to return it.

The possible uses of Zone of Silence are endless! Schools can block inbound and outbound calls and text messages for students while allowing the teacher’s phone to be unrestricted. Theaters can block all calls, set the ringer to vibrate mode, allow text messages but set the maximum screen brightness to 50% so that the phone doesn’t annoy the other paying customers. Restaurants can block all calls and all text messages so that the patron will be notified of the missed call or text and they can walk outside the zone to return it. High security buildings can use ZoS Devices to block everything including the camera. Gyms can even install the ZoS Devices inside their locker rooms to stop the camera from taking pictures while still allowing all other features to function normally,

As Zone of Silence says: Own your zone.

Visit Zone of Silence to read more and fill out information on the Contact Us page to stay informed of progress.

AIG is going to pay out $165 million in bonus after 1) taking $170 billion tax payers dollars and 2) losing $61.7 billion in 2008 Q4, the largest in corporate history.  People should be angry about this!  It's appauling for a company to lose money and pay bonuses at the same time.  How do I get a contractual obligation that if my company loses $61.7 billion a quater that I get a bonus?  This is just another example of corporate greed putting themselves before anyone else.

I think the Obama administration should stop payment on the checks and put a retroactive law in place saying that any company talking bailout money is not allowed to pay cash bonuses to their employees or executives until over dollar is paid back.  Since tax payers as a whole own 80% of the company, we should all be allowed to cast a vote for the board and CEO to get rid of these crooks!

It's my birthday so I don't have anything to rant about today.  Cherish drove WAY out of her comfort zone to get me two growlers of the best beer I've ever had, Fire Cheif Red, and she got my a couple really nice presents.  I had a great lunch at the "Belly Buster Deli" and I'm finishing a glass of my beer now.  I figured I would take today to post a picture I took of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.  A couple days ago someone from Puerta Vallarta city hall asked to use the picture in a marketing campaign so I wrote them and said yes, no charge as long as I was credited and got a copy of whatever they did.  I never heard back so I guess our economy is so bad that free is too much (OK, I had to throw in a little rant.  After all, the world isn't made of puppies and unicorns.)

And now for the picture.  Click for a larger version.

 

Bravo! Bravo!

After the Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway fiasco, I was reluctant to give another food chain a try.  But, a friend sent me a link to a free mini-pizza at Pasta Bravo (a Southern California chain).  I filled out the form, joined their club and was emailed a coupon for a free mini-pizza.  Last night Cherish and I went there and were beyond pleased with the offer - I actually felt a little guilty about getting the free food.  This was the East Bluff location, 2 doors down from the Quiznos.  Not only did they give us the free mini-pizza with a smile but the gentleman that served us was friendly, personable and funny.  He had great customer service and made sure we enjoyed our food.  Any company would want him working for them.  I've only been to Pasta Bravo once before but I can promise you know that I will be back.

Pasta Bravo should be proud of the promotion and even prouder of their employee, Facundo.

I got the email yesterday for a free Quizno's sub.  Apparently they are trying to give 1 million away for free.  I signed up, my friends signed up, and my family signed up.  I didn't bring lunch in to work today because I was looking forward to a free sub and (paid) chips and a drink.  Three of us guys at work went to Quizno's in Newport Beach at East Bluffs and were greeted by the manager saying he can't afford to honor the coupon.  He said he could give us a free drink but not a sub.  I've had Quizno's once in my life and didn't care for it because it was too salty - I figured a free sub would give them a second chance to redeem their food and it might have made a future customer out of me.  Instead, we walked next door to Carl's Jr.

I talked to a friend of mine, Scott (honorable mention here: Why Wikipedia is worthless), who took his family to get a free sub and the place turned him away because they had "hit their free sub quota."

Quizno's website has a tracker about how many free subs they have given away.  It should say how many email addresses they have collected with the false hopes of a free sandwhich.  I feel bad for the owners of the restaurants because their corporate office wouldn't subsidize their promotion and didn't think about their store owners going out of business to honor the free subs. 

To Quizno's marketing team: Please add back 8 to your counter because these "free subs" aren't worth the tree we've killed printing them or the carbon emissions our cars have emitted to get there!

 

Want to read another complaint about Quizno's Million Emails Collected And No Subs Given in perfect Iambic pentameter?  Check out Neil's Blog. - just kidding about Iambic pentamter, it's actually haiku.

You can read about my saga with the Wells Fargo Loan Modification department, and you you can read about how angy I am about my tax dollars going to bailout people while I continue to suffer over here.  But, how many of you are happy that you have a 30 year fixed mortgage?  I remember signing escrow papers on our current house and the lady had to do a quadruple take to see that we had a 30 year fixed.  She said she couldn't remember the last time she saw one.  That made me feel good that my parents taught me fiscal responsibility. 

I don't have to watch the news to see the financial crisis the country is in, I only have to turn to my friends that the mortgage companies have screwed.  Or the dozen people I have layed off in the last 12 months, or all my friends sending their resumes out.  I get angrier and angrier by the day about how everyone is hurting.  I feel bad that I still have a job and I have a fixed mortgage that I can afford (for now).  I'm not the one that got burned - or am I?  My last blog about my experience with the Wells Fargo Loan Modification department has generated quite a stir with at least 40 views a day and multiple emails from people in the same boat.  I started to write a new blog about the new economics and another rant about how I'm unable to take advantage of the low interest rates but was side tracked during my research.  I thought of an interesting situation: what if we had bought our current house and previous house with an interest only loan?  

Our first house was a modest 1000 sq. ft. in Southern California.  Interest rates were falling and prices of houses were climbing.  We looked at a house in a neigborhood we liked but decided to wait a few months and save more money for the down payment.  7 months later, the same houses had appreciated $70,000 - not even close to what we had saved (my losses started before I even bought a house!).  We quickly bought a great house in a great neighborhood while we could still afford one.  We had a 30 year fixed mortgage and refied after two years to bring our rate down to 5.325%, wow!  We lived there for about 4 years and then moved across town to a bigger house.  The previous house had appreciated by 100% so we had a good down payment for the new house.  Again, we went in to a 30 year fixed but interest rates were up and we locked in at 6.325%.  In the 7 years we've been paying a mortgage, I calculated that we have paid (hold on to your seat here) $208,000 in principal and interest!  Then I went back to look at the rates we could have got if we went interest only and calculated that we would have paid (only) $128,000!  This means that we have paid $80,000 more by paying principal at a higher rate than an interest only at a lower rate.  That $80,000 is real money, not paper money, not funny math but, actual money that came out of our checking account.

To add salt to the $80,000 wound, since our current house has depreciated enough that we are now upside down, we would have the EXACT same equity in our house if we had been paying interest only.  AND the banks and government would be trying to bail us out right now.  They would be helping us get a better interest rate.

I've never felt worse about my "fiscally responsible" 30 year mortgage until today.  How about the government help those who helped themselves?  All I want is to drop my interest rate to 5% and not have someone laugh at me when I say I have a high rate at 6.325%.  I'm not asking for the bank to lower my principal.

Tell me, why should I stay in my house?  The toughest choice is the right choice here.  If I were unemotional, I would walk away from my house and let the bank take it over.  In about 3 years my credit would be back up and I could buy something new at half of what they cost now.  That's the right move and I don't think I can do it.  We've poured too much time and work to make this house our home.  We're emotionally attached.  But, another year of our house declining and the government and banks pushing me aside and I will be pushed to walk away.  I won't be the only one doing it either.  Watch the economy collapse in to a dark abyss as the fiscally responsible people get fed up and walk away.

A friend of mine, Neil, has a yearly tradition of taking his family to the OC Fair and takingsome pictures in a photobooth.  They are never serious shots, just fun goofing around, contorted faces, pulling hair, devil horn, toungue in someone's ear type stuff.  It's a really cool idea that I'm going to do when our little girl is born.  Now, Neil has taken it to the next level and created his own "photobooth" for family holidays.  He then creates his own photobooth style strips out of pictures he's taken with the digital camera.  This year, he set up a "photobooth" at his Christmas party and it was a hit.  Read his blog post on how to create a photobooth style strip out of multiple images.  You can bet you'll see this at my next party!  If you like his idea, leave him a note.

Update 8/4/2009:
Mortgage Modifications Moving At A Snails Pace. What a surprise! But, the real story isn't being reported... why isn't anyone reporting that Wells Fargo is hurting people's credit and taking away homes by telling everyone they won't help until they are late on payments? And then, after your credit has tanked, they deny a modification!

Interest rates are the lowest in four years, foreclosures continue to skyrocket, banks continue to crumple, taxes continue to go up and I want some help.  I have a fixed 30 year mortgage with Wells Fargo at 6.375%.  I have never missed or been late for a single payment in the 3 years we've had them.  Same story for the four years in our last house with a different loan.  I'm a wet dream for a bank in this economy.  With all the bad in their portfolio they need me.  Armed with that argument I called Wells Fargo this morning. 

 

After about 15 minutes on hold they took my information and a few hours later a local refinance specialist called me back.  I explained I was looking for a lower rate at with the same 30 year fixed and he told me he could get me a 0 point loan for 5.25%!  I was skeptical since he hadn't actually asked for my account number so I said: "Does that mean we qualify for a conforming loan".  He asked what my principal was and aftwerwards he said "oh, that changes it."  He did some quick looking up and came back with "It's the same rate with the special conforming (under 729k but over 417k), 0 points for 5.5%."  I nicely pointed out that that is actually a quarter point higher and he sort of shrugged it off.  Testing my luck I asked, "Do I have to have 20% equity in the house for that rate?" to which he replied "Yes."  Oops, another strike against him - as with everyone else, I don't have 20% equity anymore.  When we bought the house we put 26% down; zillow now says the house is worth $10,000 less than we owe on the house.  So, I personally have lost over $200,000 in the past 2.5 years and haven't asked the bank for anything.  Armed with yet another piece of this puzzle, I asked the salesman what my options are.  None, nada, zip.  Wells Fargo will not help me out.  He did give me another number to talk to the Loan Modification department.

Fast forward a few hours to the rude people in the Loan Modification department...

I talked with a lady there and started out saying that my interest rate was high and I wanted them to lower it.  She laughed at me and said "did you say it was 'high'".  Assuming she was high (in another sense) I said, "Yes, it's high.  Your bank offered me 5.25% this morning for 0 points but I don't qualify because I don't have enough equity in the house anymore."  She told me there was nothing they could do since I was a good customer.  Seriously!?  "There is nothing we can do because you are a good customer."  What the hell is wrong with the corporate world?  She said I would have to be deliquent on my payments in order to qualify for them to modify my interest rate.  She made it very clear that I have to continue to be a good customer and make my payments on time but that because of that, they can't help me out.

Wells Fargo would rather me walk away from them than help me with a lower payment.  And there isn't a person in the world that cares about my "plight."  Someone from Wells Fargo, please tell me why you want to get rid of a good loan on your sheets because you don't want to give me even a 6% loan?

The Brett Jones experiment has been going swimmingly.  I went from not being listed to the 5th result searching for my name on Google.  I'm impressed!  Now the real test will see if I can slink back down to obscurity.

 

 

 

"It works like this: if you use Flickr, go to the sixth page of your photostream and pick the sixth picture there, then post it to your blog."

 This picture was taken on the Road to Hana in Maui.