Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
The presumption exists that you can read at all.
That may be a large assumption.
Blog Roll
|
Friday, March 19, 2004
- - - - - You Might Be A Blueneck If... - - - - -
...You've never had an RC Cola.
- - - - - Connectivity Issues - - - - -
For the last two weeks, we've been having periodic difficulties with the DSL connection. I'll try to point my browser at a site, and what I get is the Internet Explorer message that says the page isn't available, and why don't I try again later?
At this point, I suspect the ActionTec DSL modem/router/switch. It's brandy-new, supplied to us by the local phone company. Doing a power down/up sequence usually restores our connection. So, I'm going to dig out the stuff we had before the Great Move - Speedstream DSL modem, and LinkSys router/switch.
(And now the connection is back, 10 minutes later, without the power cycle thing. Grrrrr)
- - - - - Time Waster - - - - -
Got too much time on your hands? This guy sure does!
(Tip o'the hat to Connie, who also has too much time on her hands!)
- - - - - Timing is Everything - - - - -
Looks like we bailed out of Silicon Valley just in time.
The dot-com bubble burst all over the place back in 2000-2001. But the real estate market in Silicon Valley has been whacko for a long time.
'Way back in the late 70's, real estate prices in the SF Bay area started to take off. Seeing a 25% annual appreciation rate on real estate was common-place. The first house I bought cost $42,000. Three years later, it was sold for $95,000, and no, I didn't get the gain, my Darling Ex did.
I've been saying for years that real estate in San Jose is 'way over valued, and listen up dudes, the sky is going to fall. And except for a very short time in the early '90's, I've been wrong.
During all that time, there have been people with good jobs, sometimes two of them, who have been able to come up with the scratch to get into a joint, and then got raises and bonuses enough to not only hang on to them, but to improve them, sell them, and then buy a nicer place.
The dot-com implosion did a lot of those folks in. They had to sell up and get out. IT services jobs, once one of the most prevalent and highly paid white-collar jobs in Silicon Valley, have basically evaporated. When my job went bye-bye, there was NOTHING to be had, except for a four-month gig running around the Western US upgrading software and hardware.
Eventually, Mrs. OWW bid and acquired a job with the LDC (Large Defense Company) she works for, and we relocated. She's still getting California rate of pay, so we're doing quite well in Georgia. When we sold our townhouse in San Jose, we made a pretty good nickel - enough for a really good down on a nice house here in SE Georgia.
Not everyone is so fortunate.
Now, Dan Gillmor is talking about the Fabulous SF Bay Real Estate Bubble (HERE), and is doing what I've been doing for the last twenty years - "Dude. The sky is going to fall, and boy is it gonna hurt!"
In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, home prices are increasingly out of whack with the rest of America, though the bubble is widespread. Why are prices still going up here, when there's no job growth -- quite the opposite -- and tech companies are filling new positions in India and China?
Because it's a bubble.
|
|
