Whenever I look back, I see that there are several books that ‘changed’ my life. Well, naturally almost all things that I read or experienced ‘changed’ me to some extent. But I guess these books came to me when I was receptive to them, and so they made a greater impact than all the others. So, below are the three that has influenced my personal life and outlook in the past few years.

The first book is titled ‘The Power of Now’, by Eckhart Tolle. You probably see that it’s number one on my Amazon recommendations list – it was that influential in my life. I couldn’t remember how I came upon that book, but I’m so glad I did because I was at the lowest point in my life. At that time, some of the ideas presented were totally foreign to me, and I couldn’t make out the first chapters or so. Luckily, my mode of reading was always to read stuff that interest me the most. So if it’s chapter 12 that looks interesting, that’s what I’m going to read first. So although I skipped the ones that didn’t seem to mean anything to me, I could understand some other chapters, and they made total sense.

The title is kind of new agey, and rightfully so, and it is what it is. Either you’re into that sort of thing, or you’re not. If you are, though, I think he is one of the people out there who’s written about the abstract so clearly, and got his meaning across. The Power of Now introduces you to a concept of living in the Now , the present moment (no surprise, right?), and for me that was the hardest thing to do. At that time, I was either living in the past, or in the future, but never in the Now. Now was crappy, Now was painful, and so obviously I didn’t want to stay there for long. Strangely enough, when I did try to just accept the Now, and try to live with it, to accept it, things suddenly didn’t seem too bleak anymore. Slowly it improves, and before I knew it, Now didn’t suck so much anymore. Not long after that, Now became bearable, tolerable.

Then I came across another awesome book, and for this one, I knew that it was through of reviews in Amazon. I love to read Amazon’s reviews. One is because I can find out what’s good and bad about the book, and two is because the reviewers usually also recommended some other awesome book that is worth reading. ‘Working on Yourself Doesn’t Work’ by Ariel and Shya Kane came to me this way. At first the title totally baffled me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it. I still had some problems in the air, and I thought I needed all the help I could get. That largely means: to read more self improvement books. Working of yourself doesn’t work was like an antithesis of self improvement. And in a way it certainly was. A very good way. If I had thought that I was doing better after The Power of Now, this book totally transitioned me over to the next step.

This book is sort of like the practical application of The Power of Now. With The Power of Now, it’s all such a big concept. The past, the future; so many things can be encompassed in those two times. With Kane’s book, it became totally practical and doable. It basically wiped out all my wishes and desires for wanting the Now to be different that what it was. For example, I no longer wished that my co worker be more this or that, my boss be more this and that, or more importantly, that my life be different than what it was. It reminds me to accept them for what they are and for how they are. Then, after that, I could see things more clearly. I was able to adapt and problem solve whatever problem I was having. This, dear readers, the acceptance of what is, cut so much crap from my life. I am forever grateful to the Kanes for this book.

Then came ‘Love 101‘ by Peter McWilliams. He was one awesome guy; you can see that clearly from his books. If you ever want to love yourself, then this is the one book to read. I, literally, was falling in love with myself, and it was such a wonderful feeling. His basic thing is that we should appreciate ourselves, love our own company, love our own being, and be totally okay with being on our own. I still remember that afternoon after work when I was walking from the carport to my apartment. I could feel the wind blowing, the sun shining through the pine trees, and the blue sky with its clouds, and for no reason at all, I felt so happy and excited to be with me. And then it hit me. I was in love with my self; I was infatuated with my self; I didn’t think anyone out there was good enough to ‘deserve’ me. Loving me was one of the most bizarre feelings I’ve ever experienced. Granted, the infatuation didn’t last long. No infatuation will. But I was left with the knowledge and realization of myself, and the deep sense of responsibility for taking care of me.

I’d say Peter’s book is a great read, especially since you can read it for free, from his website. His other book ‘Life 101′ was great too (also free), I can’t really remember what it was about specifically, but I just remember the feeling that it was a freakin’ awesome book when I read it for the first time (ha..).

Obviously my life is not all roses and jasmines. But I do find that when problems come, by just remembering what I’ve learned from those three books above, my problems decrease in intensity somewhat. So, although I’m kinda done with self improvement, I am forever grateful for the above books. Well, if I’m being nitpicky, those three aren’t about improving, but more about accepting. But whetever, these three books rock. If I ever have kids, I’d be making sure that they have access to these books when they’re starting to grow up…LOL

Happy reading!

You can read Love 101 and Life 101 online for free at Peter’s website here.

I don’t know why, but I love to share how I found out about things. I always believe that one thing will lead to another, and surely, that’s how I found this website. It’s still amazing for me to watch the chain of reactions of how things happen, for this, and everything else.

Well, it started years ago. My friend highly recommended a book by Karen Armstrong, which was a biography of the prophet Muhammad. I didn’t read the book back then, but years later when I did, I liked how Armstrong did it, and I could understand why it was one of the definitive biography on the prophet.

Well, naturally, that led me to look up more work by Armstrong. And I thought it was fascinating that she was an ex-nun. Yes, nun as in Catholic nun. What was better, she actually wrote an autobiography of her life during that period. After about a week waiting for my library to get a copy of that book, I read it cover to cover in one sitting, and I found her life fascinating. That led me to read the ‘sequel‘, which is about her journey after her nun life ended, and that was equally fascinating. I loved her story so much, I was hungry for more of her stuff. That’s how this website came into the picture.

Speaking of Faith had done an interview with Karen Armstrong, and I thought, “Wow, this women is already a legend, sort of like Annemarie Schimmel in the making, and they have an interview with her? That is amazing!” Before that, I didn’t even know if she was still alive. And so to read her words, and hear her voice, gosh, how I love technology. It was a really interesting interview too, you can read the transcript here, or hear the audio here.

Ever since then, Speaking of Faith has become one of my favorite websites, and the host Krista Tippet my role model, sort of.

This website, which is a website for an NPR radio program, housed so many unbelievably interesting interviews that I’ve ever encountered in my life. And to have them archived and organized in one place, is just simply heavenly. Krista has conversations about belief, meaning, ethics, and ideas, and she does it in such an open minded, non-judgmental way, and with genuine interest to understand the others’ point of view. If you are interested in these type of things, and I mean religion, beliefs, science etc, this website will be very resourceful. It’s another candy store for me, and I love it.

Some interviews that I thought were beyond expectations:

• Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin
• Einstein and the Mind of God
• Money and Moral Balance
• Remembering Forward: Krista Tippett on Speaking of Faith

So go ahead and enjoy SoF! And soon, you’ll probably find yourself checking the website every Friday for new interviews or updates.

Happy discovering!

Speaking Of Faith website

Since I wrote about Safina, I remembered other artists that I think the world should know about. One of them i Deep forest, which has been my favorite since I was in high school. It was their Boheme album that got me, this might sound silly, but the whole album truly does sound bohemian! Or maybe, the album defines what I now think as Bohemian. When I listen to this album, I feel like I’m some far away country, or in an autumn forest with lights streaming through the leaves. It’s a magical effect.

My absolute fave song of all time, are Deep Folk Song and Freedom Cry, track 7 and 8 respectively. I don’t know why they split it, because it seamlessly go from 7 to 8 without any pause. And so, by all means and purposes, I count them as one song. Now this is the only song for me that can conjure up the image of a green forest, full with activities and joy, while at the same time have a feeling of peace. Weird, amazing, I want some more, greatest thing since sliced bread. I love this song.

The Comparsa album, although different, is also an amazing one. While Boheme has a definitive European feel to it, Comparsa has an African feel. And if for any reason you’re not excited about that, don’t! It is a great album and you might see Africa in a different after that album. With Comparsa, I feel the hope, the possibilities, and the happiness of starting new countries. I also get a glimpse of what African songs and culture sounds like, and that is a great experience.

My fave song from this album, also one of my all time fave, is last track, Media Luna. It’s actually a duet between a Mexican and an Egyptian singer. Kinda weird, where did Mexico figure in Africa’s goings on. But that song is just too cool for me to worry about that kind of stuff. It is somewhat a romantic song, I looked up the translation for the song, and it’s about love, a woman, etc. But since I don’t know exactly what they’re saying when they sing it, I stay blissfully ignorant.

There is another album that I like, and that is Music Detected. With this album, you can kinda feel that Deep Forest has changed. I wasn’t too thrilled about their style when I got that album, but it grew on me. And sure enough, few times into it, I had a new favorite. This time it is Yuki Song, sung by Beverly Jo Scott. I’m not really sure why that song attracts me, but I figure it’s about the same reason why I like Bjork’s Bachelorette. That song seems to unleash some raw energy that I find just addicting.

In my opinion, Boheme and Comparsa are the pinnacle of Deep Forest’s work. After that, they’re sliding down somewhat. And so, if you ever listen to Boheme or Comparsa, or Music Detected, for the first time, let me give you a tip for the best way to go about it. You must give them your full attention, no disturbance, don’t listen to them while doing something else, don’t multitask! Just sit, and listen. This is a somewhat impractical and silly, but really, as with everything else in life, I believe you have to give your all if you are to ‘get’ ‘catch’ ‘understand’ the real meaning behind it all. Otherwise, you’ll stay at the surface, without ever knowing the true feel of it.

Happy discovering, and till next time!

If you like Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, or Pavarotti, Il Divo, or other types of popera (pop-opera) music, then let me introduce you to someone who is greater that all the above (well, except Pavarotti, maybe).

His name is Alessandro Safina. He’s Italian, I think, well that doesn’t really matter, because he has a voice of an angel. I don’t remember how I ‘discovered’ him, but most likely through browsing Amazon’s reviews of other popera artists.

If you think Bocelli is good, then you’ll be blown off your socks by Safina. And all of his songs are instant hits to your ears. They all sound so good, without periods of getting used to them, they’re not acquired taste. He is that good!

I only regret that he has such a bad PR for the US. Who has ever heard of him? … Yes, exactly my point. But, he is in Moulin Rouge, as a filler. Then he’s in Dae Jang Geum, a korean tv series that hit the world in a storm. But I believe they’re just those two in regards to tv/movie exposure.

He has 4 or 5 albums out, and they’ are all good (my fave is Musica Di Te). And since I want you to start listening to his songs immediately, below is a link to an Imeem playlist that features his newest album. I’m listening to it as I write, and it’s my first time. So far I feel it’s not my favorite, but it’s definitely good. His rendition of Annie’s Song is just precious, I just love it! It sounds like he’s singing it for the first time (perhaps that’s the case), that he’s singing it to a loved one in front of him, and that he really means it because you can hear that he’s very careful with the words. Well, that last bit is probably because English isn’t his first language, but whatever, the effect is amazing.

So without further ado, let me present you Alessandro Safina, the greatest, cutest, living singer, alive today.

Imeem link for the newest Sognami album
(oh if you just want to check it out, but don’t want to register, go to bugmenot.com to get a ‘free’ ‘temporary’ sign on )

YouTube link for “Alessandro Safina” search

Amazon link for his albums

Just for fun, Annie’s Song lyrics:

You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again

Let me give my life to you
Come let me love you
Come love me again

You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

I love to try on new softwares and programs, mostly PC applications and such. That was how I found TechSupportAlert.com’s list of 46+ freewares. Each of them tested, compared and reviewed, with their not-so-free counterparts. Sort of like, comparing OpenOffice with Microsoft Office. But, although I recommend that list highly, which you can get at a cost of an email address, that is not the topic of today’s post. Instead, I’d like to share a new software that I recently found. Someone recommended it at Fool.com’s discussion board, and after reading several posts of how wonderful this software is, I decided to give it a go.

It’s called YNAB. Why NAB? Yes, I do believe it is pronounced that way, but it stands for “You Need A Budget”.

When I got my first job, I started to read financial books. One that stuck with me to this day is one of Suze Orman’s books. I can’t remember the title, but I remember the message well; pay off your debts, contribute the maximum to your 401k, and make a budget. And so I did.

I made my basic budget in excel, putting in all of her advice and rules, and I thought it worked pretty good. I had a basic financial picture, I know how much to spend for each categories, how much to save etc. It was a good start. However, as months passed by, I knew that the system didn’t really work as it should, and that it could have been better. For one, there was no check balancing capabilities, and so, although I knew how much I allocated my groceries to be, I didn’t really know if I stick to that amount.

Then I used Quicken for a while. Except for the kick that I got from importing my bank statements, that software didn’t really do me any good. It was too complicated, very business-like, not so intuitive, and I hate spending time figuring it out.

So when YNAB came, it was such a breath of fresh air! First of all, it has only 4 rules of budgeting. Second of all, although I was confused for the first 10 minutes, on the 11th minute I was adding and entering stuff like a seasoned budgeter. It is so easy to use, and it is fairly customizable.

YNAB teaches you some pretty basic stuff that are quite important. Rule #1, is basically to live from your last month’s income, and not this month. I was surprised that he adopted this technique, because I’ve been doing it, and I know how wonderfully it works. For one, it gives me great freedom in setting up online payments for my regular bills without having to do a big coordination between their due dates and my checking account balance. Having 2 months income in my account assures me that I’ll have enough funds for whatever it is that I set up. This was largely motivated by my strong belief of of doing as little as I can regarding mundane stuff, but I’m happy I’m doing something right.

Rule #2, is to assign a job to every dollar, which means, to know where every dollar is going or being allocated to. This is pretty obvious, but somehow this method again reminds me to pay myself first, instead of paying myself from whatever is left.

Rule #3, is to plan for the rainy days. This is cool, because Suze Orman talks about this too. I believe she calls this, the freedom account. Basically, you ‘plan’ for every possibly rainy days, and contribute to that ‘fund’ monthly. So, for example, if you know that this year your car will need a major maintenance, you’ll start putting in little by little, so by the time that maintenance is needed, you are fully funded for that big ‘rainy’ day expense. Sort of like Christmas account, if you want to call it that way. And that, I believe, is why it’s called freedom account, because it gives you freedom to spend the money and freedom from debt.

Rule #4, is basically to keep yourself accountable. If you overspend on your entertainment budget this month by $100, you’ll automatically be short that amount for next month’s budget. So how to deal with this? Cut back spending, cut back entertainment, don’t dip into the savings account, and work your way back up slowly to regain that $100. I think Jesse (YNAB creator) can explain it better than me on that one.

So, I recommend you to take a look at his website to learn about more about this wonderfully easy and convenient budgeting system. His software is not free, but I consider this purchase as one that is really worth the expense. Fortunately, he has 2 versions. One is the excel version for $20, and the one is a stand alone program for $40. Try for yourself if you think it’s worth it.

www.YouNeedABudget.com

Till next time!

I’ve been living under a rock. And so recently, I discovered how amazing Ron Paul is. He’s a Congressman from Texas, and is running for President for the 2008 election.

Granted, I know almost nothing about politics. I will even concede that I don’t much about anything at all. But, but, but, I’m am totally suckered for Ron Paul. He is the only person who makes politics look fun, honest, and fair. I’ve seen Hillary, I’ve seen Giuliani, and I’ve seen Romney. And none of them sparks any interest in me. Okay, it is possible that Ron Paul is such a good politician that he’s able to lie to all of his supporters, me included. ut I think you should see him for yourself and decide.

I should stop talking about him, because I don’t want to say anything wrong about his positions. Oh wait, I haven’t really told you anything about him. Good. Because now, you’ll have to scour YouTube and websites below to find out about all the wonderful things about him.

Happy discovering!

Ron Paul 2008 — Hope for America (Official Website)

Some YouTube vids:
Ron Paul: A New Hope
Ron Paul : House of Cards
Ron Paul : Stop Dreaming

I have something really funny to share. Read on my readers!

SELFISH, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.

BRIDE, n. A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.

BRUTE, n. See HUSBAND.

CONVENT, n. A place of retirement for woman who wish for leisure to meditate upon the vice of idleness.

Yes, I got those from a dictionary. And it’s aptly titled, “The Devil’s Dictionary”. I must credit Anu Garg from Wordsmith.com for letting me know about this gem, he included a quote from the dictionary on one of his daily newsletters. The guy who wrote the dictionary itself, is called Ambrose Bierce. He’s an American writer, who lived from 1842 – 1914. You can read more about him here at Wikipedia.

OPTIMISM, n. The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. It is held with greatest tenacity by those most accustomed to the mischance of falling into adversity, and is most acceptably expounded with the grin that apes a smile. Being a blind faith, it is inaccessible to the light of disproof — an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.

PAIN, n. An uncomfortable frame of mind that may have a physical basis in something that is being done to the body, or may be purely mental, caused by the good fortune of another.

FUTURE, n. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.

The best part all, this dictionary is available online at project Gutenberg. For free! I hope you’ll enjoy this dictionary, if not for a few good laughs.

DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.

The Devil’s Dictionary link

This is a somber topic, but I hope it will be useful.

I used to work in the foreclosure department in one of the leading mortgage companies for 4 years. I better know a little bit about foreclosure, right? =) In light of the sub-prime crisis that the US is having right now, I thought I’d share some general information that I hope would be helpful to a homeowner, whether you’re in foreclosure or not. I’ve always wanted to give out some information, and here I am doing it.

So, let us start with some terms that are used a lot in foreclosure, because it’s probably a good idea to be familiar with them.

Terms

Foreclosure - a legal process that the bank takes when you stop making your mortgage payment. This process would enable the bank to, in the end, repossess your home. The actual timing and when they would start the process depends on your state laws. Say for example, if you haven’t been making payments for 2 months, then on the 3rd month they could start the process.

Foreclosure sale – an event where your house will be sold in a public auction, which will cause you to lose the house, and the bank or the winning bidder to take repossession of the property. This can be prevented. More on this later.

Foreclosure sale date – the date that the foreclosure auction is scheduled to happen. This date is determined by state law. Some states will have a far away date, 6 months or more, and some have only a few short months.

Reinstatement amount- a dollar figure that is needed to be paid to the bank in order to bring your payments up-to-date. For example, if you haven’t been paying for 4 months, then your reinstatement figure will be 4 months of mortgage payment, plus penalties, plus other fees.

Payoff amount – a dollar figure that is needed to totally pay off your home loan. This usually happens when you refinance or sell your home.

Workout - a term used in reference to the mortgage company helping out borrowers in foreclosure. Workout has many faces. For example, the mortgage company can reduce your interest rates to make your monthly payments lower and more affordable (usually called loan modification), they can draft up a payment plan for you thereby enabling you catch up on your back payments while in addition to paying your normal payment (usually called repayment plan), etc. If you do get into a workout plan, make sure you understand it completely. Ask questions of what will happen if you are unable to meet the plans schedule.

The process

Before you read further, please note that the process below is for a non-judicial foreclosure, which means it is done outside of court. I’m not familiar with the judicial process, so I will only say that roughly 50% of all the states are under the judicial process, and the other half is under the non-judicial process. Judicial foreclosure will also need to mail, post, and publish, but I’m not very knowledgeable about the details. Okay, so lets move on.

Foreclosure process varies from state to state, but generally, items below need to happen before a foreclosure sale can be held.

1. The bank refers your property to their attorney/trustee company. The attorney/trustee company will process the foreclosure for the bank.
2. The attorney/trustee company will record what is called a First Legal document at the county recorder’s office, in the area where the property is. This starts the clock ticking. For some states, the foreclosure sale date can be calculated by adding some number of days to the First Legal date.
3. The attorney/trustee company will send you those First Legal notices, usually by mailing them out. Basically, this is to let you know that they have taken the first step, and you are officially in foreclosure.
4. Some states require that these notices be posted on the property (on your front door, fence, garage etc) where it is visible. So no, the attorney/trustee company is not doing it to humiliate you or add more stress, but to make sure you are aware of what’s going on.
5. Some states require that these notices be published in a local newspaper for a number of times. Again, this is so that you know what is happening in case they did not reach you by mailings and postings. This also informs the general locale, and some real estate investors watch these publications for upcoming foreclosure sale where they can bid on the property.
6. A small number of states require that the owners be personally served. This basically just means that a Sheriff, or a process server, hands out those notices to you in person.
7. Foreclosure sale will be held at the auction venue.
8. You have some number of days before the new owner takes full possession of the house. After that date, they have legal power to evict you from the house.

Okay, I know it sounds horrible. Even I get a bit depressed writing about this. But you can use this knowledge as a tool to prevent the loss. Now you know the general sequence of foreclosure, I suggest you find out the exact timeline for the state that you live in. Call your bank/attorney/trustee company for explanations, or if you want, hit the internet to look up your state’s statutes regarding real estate matters.

What you can do

There are several ways of stopping foreclosure, but they fall under two broad categories.

1. Reinstate you home loan - by being current/ up-to-date on your loan, the foreclosure will be canceled. You can do this in lump sum, or through a workout plan. Important: if you are doing a lump sum, make sure you request this amount from your bank before sending in your payment. They will not accept your fund if it is less than what it’s supposed to be. Insufficient funds can cause more problems because it will be sent back to you; this will cause more delays and more headaches that are not necessary. If and when you send in the reinstatement amount and it has been accepted, your home should be out of foreclosure, proper documents recorded, and any foreclosure sale date will be canceled.
   
   
2. Payoff your loan – if you pay your loan off, automatically the foreclosure is stopped because the house will be all paid for. You can do this in several ways, but two of them are:

• Refinance – by refinancing your loan with a new mortgage company, you would payoff the old loan, and create a new loan. It’s sort of like starting over with a new slate with a new company.
• Sell your house – by selling your house, hopefully you’ll be able to payoff your home loan, and use what’s left to buy a more affordable home. This could be hard for some people for the obvious reasons, but it is one of the ways out of foreclosure.

The above is basically is just the technical side of foreclosure, but almost always there are other sides that need attention as well. What I mean is, this might be a good time to think and evaluate why you’re in foreclosure. It could be because of job loss, the passing of a breadwinner, adjusting interest rates, living beyond your means, increasing debts, divorce, etc. There are many causes behind foreclosure, but I guess the point I’m trying to make is, you must determine whether or not you can still afford to live in your home. If you cannot, then I suggest you sell it and move to a more affordable home (or however way you want to rectify that). If you can afford it, then get that reinstatement funds to the bank as soon as possible before the amount gets larger.

I somewhat understand that we are sometimes live in a state of denial when troubles come upon us. This is how I explain it to myself when I see homeowners put up their properties for sale mere days before the foreclosure sale date, or when they call in and say that they need to buy new expensive pair of jeans for their children and thus cannot afford this month’s payment, or when they made contact with the bank 1-day before the sale and requested possible workout plans.

Again, what I’m stressing is, this is no time to put the problem on the back burner. Things take time, and sadly to say, mortgage companies aren’t known for their efficiency. So it must come upon you to make sure you are on top on the whole process. If you have requested but have not received your reinstatement or payoff figures when they say you would, call them and follow up. Make sure it gets done, speak to a supervisor or manager when necessary. Yes, there is possibility that the bank will accommodate you and draw up a workout plan on last minute, rush out needed figures, or even accepted your payoff after the sale has taken place. But why? Why put the all risks on you when you don’t need to? Why do all that and take years off of your life? It is your house, your home, your property. Nobody will care for it more than you do.

Taking care of things early will also save your hard earned dollars. If you have not realized it by now, foreclosure process costs money. Substantial amount of money. The bank needs to pay the attorney/trustee company for their services, and the mailings, postings, publications and a whole list of other fees as well. And yes, these fees are passed on to you. So, if you are able, it is in your best interest to stop the foreclosure as soon as possible. For example, if they have recorded the First Legal document, but have not progressed to mailings or postings and the rest, then you will be charged only for the recording of the document, and a portion of attorney/trustee fees. I used to see $300 – $500 figure for this (again, each state will vary). Now compare this to a full blown foreclosure fees and costs of $2500 upwards. That is quite a difference. Why lose money when you don’t have to?

As a last note, if you reinstated/payoff your loan after only a few months into the foreclosure, your credit won’t be as bad as if you’ve gone to a foreclosure sale. A better credit helps everyone these days, and I believe to have foreclosure on your credit report is one of the big no-nos after bankruptcy.

Well, so that is it about foreclosure today. I sincerely hope this will help some people and de-mystify the foreclosure process somewhat. It has been 9 months since I last worked there, so there is a chance that what I know has now become outdated. On the very last note, I am not an attorney, and so the above should not be used a substitute for a legal advice, but just a general info so you can have better understanding of what is going on during a foreclosure.

Till next time!

]]> http://rahmisari.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/what-to-do-when-youre-in-foreclosure/feed/ 2 rahmisari http://rahmisari.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/highly-recommended-online-used-books-site/ http://rahmisari.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/highly-recommended-online-used-books-site/#comments Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:43:00 +0000 rahmisari http://rahmisari.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/highly-recommended-online-used-books-site/ ]]>

www.BetterWorld.com

I love books. I think I got it from my dad. He’s a voracious reader, he used to buy books, magazines, newspapers and read read read (much to my mom’s displeasure). So naturally I got that gene too, but really, I only read things that I find interesting (well, who doesn’t?).

That said, I find that a well stocked library, or a well-networked library, is the happiest place on earth. Yes, internet with all its contents is fine and dandy, but there’s still something about holding an actual book and flipping pages that are significant to the whole reading experience.

When some books are just too awesome, and I have the buy buy buy hypnotism activated, I find used books serve just as well as the new ones. Some people prefer pristine, unmarked, untouched books, but I really prefer used ones. For starters, they are cheaper, and most are still in good conditions. On top of that, I actually take delight in the musty smell, highlighted or scribbled comments, faded color of the paper, and overall used and worn look that a book has. They’re like bonus to the experience. Scribbled comments, for example, is just like reading snippets of an Amazon’s book review, without going online! =)

Buying used books online also helps the environment, by reducing the number of trees being cut down, and by reducing gas consumption (Biter’s newsletter that I just received said that, and I quote, “even an overnight air shipping uses 40% less fuel than the average car trip to the store”). What a wonderful way of participating in consumerism!

So, while library is king, buying used books online is queen. And I’ve found one that I really love. It’s BetterWorld.com. Such an inspiring web address, right? Well it is, because every time you buy a book from them, you are participating in the literacy fund. It gets even better. Free shipping on every book within the USA, and $2.97/book worldwide. Still it doesn’t stop there. It has CarbonFree shipping, which roughly means that they will offset the effect of CO2 that’s generated by the shipment. Plus, if you still want the new book smell, it offers both new, and used books on most stocks. It makes me feel better already to know that such a company exist.

I’ve used other sites for getting my new used books. Ebay, Amazon, Half.com, ThriftBooks.com, and I’m sure Alibaba.com can show you others. But if shipping is not free, it’s much better to get it most books from one site so that it’s cost effective. So try BetterWorld.com on your next book buying spree, and see you like it! =)

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