patrick.net

@rp,

:lol: Not sure. Mr. X has already hosted twice, so I'm guessing somebody else will have to volunteer to host next time. Perhaps someone who lives in L.A. or Orange County and has ample yard space (and understanding neighbors).

good effort -- love the t-shirts! maybe patrick.net could start an online shop selling them to fund the site and more blog parties...

actually, a 'girls of patrick.net' calendar might sell even better... ;) always a good fund-raising idea...

Consumer confidence and spending has been down here for quite some time, largely due to excessively high housing payments. Guess the bankers and boomers just don't spend all that money they've sucked from others on the high street, more likely to be in Monaco or at the Mercedes dealership...

Well it sure looks like a good time was had by all!

No insider trading or explosives in my weekend. Managed to make it down to the OR State Fair and had the opportunity to speak with many of the various vendors and strictly from an anecdotal stand point, things are slow. VERY slow! Typically state fair over the last several years has morphed into the "State HOME Show" with everything from aluminum siding to booth after booth of everything from Gutter Guard (TM) to free drawings for a central vac. sys. and of course hot tobs as far as the eye can see! The noteworthy absence of these guys was most pleasant b/c I tend to think kids would rather see more giant pigs and cotton candy and less window caulking systems. Just a guess.

Here was an interesting entry. www.eco-fueler.net/rs1029. 70 mpg AND 0 to 60 in 5.9 seconds? Not bad.

Ahhh be wary of Mrs-X's sangria, and what ever you do, DON'T EAT THE FRUIT. BTW Mrs Cote' was also very attractive, good work Senor Cote'. The little Cote' forturately enough looks like Mom, and is very sweet also. Much to my dismay the little Cote' behaved herself perfectly, strike two in my quest to remain anklebiter free.

Oh and Athena, (who is hot!, but we won't let it leak out as she's also smart), makes a lethal blueberry cobbler. MMMMMM cobbler.

When do we have the NorCal party?

I am sure BayAreans have a lot of notes to compare and talk about...

Athena,

Santa Monica & beach sounds wonderful. Surfer-X can even bring his board with him! If I end up with enough room at my new pathetic rental (moving next month), that's also a possibility.

Looks like it was a blast. Someone should host a party up here in the BA!

Back to the mundane, here's an AP release on the OFHEO 2nd quarter numbers:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060905/home_prices.html?.v=4

"Home Prices Show Sharp Slowdown in 2Q"

National sales down, median price up only 1.17% Q1 to Q2, blah blah blah. The interesting thing I found was how negative the spin was. A housing slowdown seems to be pretty near conventional wisdom now.

There have been a lot of requests to get a better shot of the T-shirts. Let me try here:

RC,

I definitely agree. Again, my point is the MSM spin, which is decidedly turned negative. Another example, from that rah-rah cheerleader, the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/opinion/05tue2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Go Boomers!

**********

It Was Fun While It Lasted

Published: September 5, 2006
With economic signals flashing that the housing boom is over, speculation has now turned to how deep the slump will be and how long it will last, with predictions ranging from a smooth descent to a tooth-rattling plunge. Come what may, conventional wisdom holds that as long as you don’t plan to sell your house any time soon, you’ll be OK. The downturn is unlikely to wipe out all of your accumulated gains — the thinking goes — so you can cash in later.

Or can you?

The downturn in housing is overlapping with the retirement of the baby boom generation, which starts officially in 2008, when the first of 77 million boomers become eligible for Social Security. Most of them are homeowners, and many of them will presumably want to sell their homes, extracting some cash for retirement in the process. Theoretically, that implies a glut of houses for sale, which would surely mitigate an upturn in prices, and could drive them ever lower. The result would be less housing wealth for everyone and less to live on for those who had planned to retire on the house.

Still, no one can be sure what will happen. Economists agree that the retirement of the baby boom generation will influence housing prices, but differ over how powerful the effect will be. But one thing is reasonably certain. The question would not be such a burning one if Americans, especially those near retirement, had adequate savings to see them through. Even before the personal savings rate went negative last year, Americans were meager savers.

The housing bust may be what it takes to reverse that. Even a shift from profligacy to thrift would not be entirely good news, however. For an economy based on consumption, the change to less free-spending ways could be excruciating.

The house party is over, but we don’t yet know how bad the hangover is going to be.

The MSM is on a roll today!

Now the housing downturn is causing increased unemployment, a prediction many RE bears predicted a year or two ago:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/05/news/economy/challenger_layoff.reut/index.htm

"August job cuts soar from six-year low"

"Report shows housing market's cooling has a major effect as U.S. layoffs increase by 76 percent."

Just saw this on the last thread. Methinks this may need to be turned into a T-shirt.:

Muggy Says:

All your equity are belong to us

Oddly enough, HARM struck the exact same pose in both pictures. HARM, is that your rendition of “Blue Steel”? (a Zoolander reference for those wondering if I’m still hung over from the long weekend).

Ok, got it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196229/quotes
No, not intentional, but I guess I know my good side. ;-)

LILLL, thanks.

If we get enough interest in them (and Patrick's approval), I may end up doing a Cafe Press type of thing. Patrick.net shirts, hats, mugs anyone?

"her sib turning 13 has all the earmarks of being the future dictator of a small latin american country."

Not that there's anything wrong with the future dictator of a small Latin American country, so long as your last name is not Bonaparte.

“I caught so much grief for blogging too much at home so now I blog at work.”

And the back of the T-shirt:

"But I work from home."

@RC,

I have *no idea* what you're talking about. :roll:

Peter P, nice one!