My better half – 2

After a better-than-expected first half, I decide to take a quick bio break in Bryant Park. That slows me a little. As I climb up towards the park entrance again, my pace is considerably down. We head away from Hermitage Rd, into the easy longer stretch supposedly. I grab more water, a donut and anything to keep me going. Gel and junk food – all are welcome as I meander my 2 miles along to Brook Rd. The road looks longer. I have serious doubts on if I will finish the next 4 miles. I stop for a while to stretch my tired legs. Pickle juice, here I come to the 10th mile.

Pickle juice tastes good, but it doesn’t alleviate much of my cramps. I am mostly walking now, instead of doing a triumphant race to the finish. As we turn on Lombardy St, the destination is suddenly closer. Later I know we are running near the Maggie Walker school after we go under the I95 bridge. I didn’t even know there is another university campus here. I come upon the friendly parkrunner community cheering us on. I am so happy to cross Broad St and get into Grace St, when we see several marathon runners also making the turn.

The last 2 miles are a blur. My eyes on the prize – under 2 hours – is gone. Now my goal is just to finish, without walking if possible. The crowds egg us on in this street. More donuts – who cares about my cavities? I am slightly confused by the half marathon mile markers that always seem to precede the full markers. Then I realise it’s expected since they both end at the same place and the half is 0.1 lesser in decimals than the full. As I head down the 5th St to the river, it’s indeed a magical feeling.

I sort of hope the family will cheer me as I finish my first half. We were debating if I can beat them to the finish. But it would take a miracle. They are missing. I am greeted by the usual crowds not my personal team. I finish 20 minutes more than 2 hours and patiently go thru the crowds to grab my goodies. The kids are well settled. I need a massage now, but we head out to the parking lot. It turned out to be a nice sunny day for running, never mind the chilly start. That ends the story of my successful slow first half marathon.

My better half – 1

In the early days of summer, I suddenly decided I will race a half-marathon. Forever content with not stretching myself, this will be a good pursuit for my lazy bones. Where better than to do it but in our downtown event, also deemed America’s Friendliest Marathon? The whole family is doing the 8k just a little before me. I have never run a race longer than 10k. How time flies! It’s been over 6 years since I ran my first 10k after joining a training team at the Y. My goal was to do it in under 100 minutes then. After initially signing up for runners/walkers wave, I managed to get running all the way. I finished up in under 90 minutes to exceed my goal. Over the last 6 years, all of us have done the 10k at least once. I managed to do it in less than an hour last time I did it. I also added the 8k one year to my cap.

Having been a regular Deep Run Park runner since they started a few years back, I am confident in my running now and aimed to do the half in under 2 hours. An ambitious target indeed for a first-timer! I started well the first month of practice, steadily picking my pace. After our epic Yellowstone trip in August, I had to start again in Sept. I increased my mileage and ran two hours nonstop for the first time. I never looked up any training plan. I just relied on my memory from the 10k training 6 years back. Happy with my progress, I just kept at it. Suddenly one Oct weekend, I hit my knees somewhere and felt a shooting pain whenever I tried to run. Really scared of injuring it any more, I stopped running or stressing myself in any way. Thankfully over the next week or so, it went away. And I just did some 2 mile runs just to warm up. The lady and the son pick up our bibs at the expo the day before.

M-day arrives soon enough. The rain stays away and we had just fallen back to standard time the last Sunday. It’s an early start for the family. We managed to leave home early and I dropped off them for their 7am 8k start. Not finding any cheap parking lots near the finish, I did multiple loops before parking at the most expensive lot -$5 for an hour. Cursing myself for not having parked as we got off I-95 for 7$ whole day near the start, I ran to get my bib from the family. Not the best start! Soon after, they are on their way walking the 8k. I eagerly awaited the start of the half, just enjoying the cold weather and doing some stretches. I got talking with the 2.15 pacer in ‘G’ wave (another concept introduced to me by a fellow park-runner). When I told him I am looking to do it in 2 hours, he recommended I move up a few more waves to ‘D’ and stay closer to the pacer to give me a shot at my goal. This wave got really crowded before it started. Fellow runners are already talking about cramps and I proudly say to myself, what cramps! Maybe for the others, just not for me.

Soon after the hype, we are off. I am doing good pace initially as I keep my eye on the 2.00 pacer flag ahead of me, at least 2-3 minutes. We round off Broad St and realize some of the marathon runners have already passed us, after their later start. We veer off north on Arthur Ashe Blvd and head up over the rail tracks. So far so good, I am still at the same distance behind the pacer. I can hear loud music and I realize it is from another runner. I try to run ahead of him, but he keeps catching up with me. There’s the IAVA stall on our right, just before we head east on Brookland Pkway for our out and back detour. This is the last time I will end up seeing the 2.00 pacer. Determined to keep close with that group, I keep running at my steady pace. The rest of the Hermitage Rd stretch is decent too, but I feel fatigue slowing me down. At the Bryant Park entrance, an anti-Biden man is shouting and encouraging us. As I hit the 10k split, the clock says 1.06 and so I am probably a little over my 2 hours goal. I need to speed up at least 5 minutes if I want to have any chance. I have not taken a break so far. I feel thirsty, hungry, tired, all at the same time!

Welcome, spring – bike ride!

Spring is here, driving out the cold. We had a gorgeous past week, with lows in the high 50s a couple of days. The birds are rightly making a lot of happy noise to break the gloom and enjoy the longer evenings. With abundant daylight now in effect, the kids are also getting out more now, having gracefully borne the bitter cold far longer than usual in our part of the world. The rains in the last couple of days have also brought out the hibernating wildlife. The grasses are growing. Some native plants in our yard are showing signs of life, making us relieved. It is not all green yet though, still mostly brown.

Saturday morning – I cancel my swim session and opt for a bike ride in the wee hours of the dawn about to break. The full moon (apparently the March one is called a worm moon) is still a night away, but it does feel like one early today. I ride southwest, facing the huge moon, glowing in its cold light. For almost 10 minutes, no vehicle passes me, though some do cross me in the opposite direction. As I spot a bunny flashing its cotton-white tail, escaping the roadside when I pedal furiously, my spring day is made. I had just yesterday pranked my kids saying we had the customary spring-bunny-under-our-deck-visitor already, when there was none. Now we should shortly expect one if things are true to the pattern for the few years we have had our home.

The dark is slowly dissipating. Slowly the warm sunlight is faintly taking over the soothing moonlight. I had originally planned to stay on the south side of our 64 highway, but then the sun beckons me to go north and head east indulging in all its rising glory. I risk going on the left lane for a little while before making a left turn. I have to make sure to be visible so the passing cars do see me clearly. I head up a steep hill, a regular feature of the roads here. I stare at the tree of life symbol on a building, wondering what it refers to. I assume it is for a Jewish temple, but there is only an assisted living center on campus. So I really don’t know why it is there. I cross the busiest street of the town and go over the highway overpass.

Typically I stand here and gaze at the fast cars and giant trucks touching 70+, but not today as I want to go home non-stop. Now it is 7 and the morning sun is really nice. Also, many more Saturday morning persons are outside now – a gang of girls running, a couple walking their dogs, among the myriad folks of all colors and costumes. I am now on my home stretch and pedal with a renewed fit, the sun cheering me with its shine. A truck honks me, alerting me as it vrooms past me. In any case, I am not ambling along on the road. I am not a sidewalk hugger, run or ride and try and use the wider road or street as much as I can. I soon reach home, just over an hour enjoying both the setting moon and the rising sun – a special privilege. Best way to prepare for a haircut and the weekend ahead. Yeah, spring break is fast coming up next week taking us to faraway places – first time for 2021.

The corner house life

We are lucky to live in a corner house – yeah the one with streets on at least two sides. In our case, our house faces south west and our community road is to our west. Actually, all the own houses I have lived in are corner houses. So it’s an affinity I have for a lifetime. For a majority of my pre-college life, I lived in one boxed by many shops on the same plot. Yeah, it’s strange to speak of it now. Our Thatha (Grandpa), just like many homeowners in our town, decided to block off all the natural light and build shops on the street side of our home. To hell with zoning laws, just pay a penalty and all is fair. All I had to do is get up on the terrace and there we can see almost 3 streets – the side street that went to our primary school a 5 minute walk away, the main road and the street facing our house. I have so many fond memories of the terrace. Thatha played several games of football with me as a young boy, when I broke a tooth partially and it has stayed with me till now. The whole family played fun games of shuttle, when we had to go down constantly to fetch the feather shuttlecock. Most importantly, I used to just sit on a small slab of concreate and simply gaze at the crowds going about their day. To start with, terrace access used to be rare and we had to use a ladder. With the shops came the stairs. Annual temple festivals with their all-night devotional dances, songs and debates are memorable. The Kothu Parotta (minced roti) mincing sound is so unique when you hear it your mouths start watering! Terrace open-air sleeping on a palm fibre cot – when mosquitoes were not there – is a simple pleasure of life. And when you are a teenager, nowhere better than to ogle at the girls in the neighborhood…

The only home we owned in Chennai also is a corner house on paper. We had painstakingly and enthusiastically participated in the build, choosing several elements. The main road unfortunately was encroached and so was lined by huts and make-shift houses. As years went by, the politicians simply ignored the original layout and encouraged permanent structures of these encroachments to appease their vote banks. Being new to the area and the avoid-any-social-issues-at-all-costs types, we did nothing to win back the main road. No corner home and we ended up stuck in a cul-de-sac. The only seeing we get to do is to see the family in the encroached building, as homes were just being built in the up and coming locality. No watching buses loaded with folks – no cycles shuttling local guys and boys — no motorbike heroes zooming past our home. Also, thankfully no community violence on the streets.

Now again, we live in a huge (for Indian standards, just probably normal for America) plot, with an oak tree grove to boot. I truly cherish the people watching again from the porch, from the deck, from the driveway and from the yard. This time, also chatting up random neighbors walking their dogs, or admiring sleek runners and bikers, as I mow the lawn or rake the leaves or dig the snow. Summer brings out zealous lemonade stands from their kids and cheerful parents. After a couple of years, you notice the regular folks out on the streets, each with their routines and their gangs. The dog parade, the elderly gentleman and his wife picking out trash, the cute kids on their strollers, teenage girls walking to the Dunkin Donuts to grab their drinks, the good Samaritans doling out dollars for any kid with a stand, etc. Though we are a pretty diverse (yes, that word again) community, there are hardly any housing association meets – COVID or not – each family to its own for the most part. Halloween is on the other hand reserved for the cul-de-sac, not for the corner house. Yeah, fast cars watch out for the kids unlike in India! No noisy shops in the neighborhood at all. It becomes very quiet once it is dark. We can tell the moods of the folks from the seasons. And no, I never outgrew ogling at the ladies!

Of bikes and dogs…

Hopefully this can be a mini-series whenever I spot how daily life is very different sometimes.

1. Road etiquette – The other day we were biking on a narrow path through the woods in our neighborhood. We just whizz thru it every time and expect the walkers to get down almost as an afterthought. An old dog lady almost stopped us and advised us bikers have to wait for the dogs and the ladies. I didn’t know it in a year of biking everywhere and just living here for more than a decade now. Of course, I know cars should wait for pedestrians and it makes good sense for faster bikers to yield to walkers. Somehow somewhere, I assumed bikes have the right of way. Some habits are never forgotten, and when I grew up, it was always First Come First Serve. Back then, if I can enter a space first before anyone else, the others have to wait unless they are bigger and scarier. Each one is responsible for himself and cannot expect the car or the lorry to wait for anyone. The sorry walker has to watch out. Anyways, it was a good reminder from the lady – wheels yield to heels.
2. Dog life – Well, the dog lady also shows me dogs are treated better than kids sometimes! All the recent press or surveys about pets instead of kids make me think what is wrong with the first world. I will never stop being scared of them unlike my son who wants to pet every damn dog that walks in the street. We have grown up very differently. Back there, most dogs are street dogs. You have to be a hard core dog lover to grow one. Here, you will be a real jerk if you do not admire one. Even though things are changing, there are not many neighborhood parks there to the extent here. And, we see countless dog parks in the county and even in some communities here. Wow, just one example of how much dogs are pampered. Some day I am pretty sure there will be dogs in our home, but I will not be the one caring for them. It is just a question of when! For me, two kids are enough caring for a lifetime!

My fully digital refi

When I originally applied for a mortgage three years back as a first time home buyer, I was adamant that the lenders also had to service the loan. I have prior experience in India dealing with a floating home loan and hated to deal even with a single company for a home loan. Fixed rates if at all available in India used to be so much more higher and are not for the full term, I believe. I had to pay a fee every few years to reduce the interest rate, even when the market had dropped. The housing finance companies had no incentive for a ‘true’ floating loan. Back here, I checked real low ‘fixed’ rates with a few local companies – a local mortgage lender, a local credit union and the ‘Rocket’ lender (always higher rate, no wonder the annoying ads). I opted for my trusted big bank for over 5 years – the loan officer helped me lock a good rate then. I didn’t negotiate unlike my friend. I didn’t use a mortgage broker or a direct online lender. Though they seemed to have lower rates. I didn’t even check them out as I assumed they won’t service. I got 3.25% over a 15-year term, 80% of home value, with a few points rebate as bonus. Of course, the rates change daily, being the big American market.

2020 – the rates kept dropping down tempting me to apply for a refinance. I kept watching. My term balance was less than 10 years, and now my loan balance was just over 50%. My back-of-the hand calculations never gave me much savings (mostly negative or less than 1k). That is expected, given the high closing costs – which I never understood why for a refinance. Also, there seems to be a difference between new purchases and refinance rates. One of my friends posted about her closing a refi. Again, I checked my last tracked thrift bank lender. I had just applied for a credit card in Sep and I had balances on many of my cards. I was not at all prepared to apply.

I miscalculated my savings using an old balance. I jumped quickly to conclude a refi could now work for me, though the rates have hardly changed. Even after I realized the savings were hardly there, I decided to go forward with it to see how it goes – anything that keeps me busy for a week. With a very high volume of refi applications, even though the 15-year Freddie Mac rates hit a new low in Oct and hovered around the range in Nov, the rates offered to me hardly budged.

My refi criteria are as below and I think I am a shrewd consumer.

• Total interest savings (reduction) considering my accelerated payment schedule – My sole top criterion. All below should fold under this, hehe
• Minimum closing costs, definitely no points. No cost refis are a gimmick. Your loan amount includes the costs and so the interest is higher, whatever little.
• Close pretty soon – 30 days or less
• At least a 0.5% drop in rate. 1% will be ideal. That is 2.25% or less 🙂
• 10 year or lower term. Ideally, match my term balance 92 months
• Don’t care if servicing is same as lending, as now I am familiar with the drill. In any case, the loan will be sold, though it’s serviced by the originating lender. Portfolio lenders or not, low rate is the bottom line.
• Okay with online or direct lenders
• Break even in 2 years or less

I used the 3a calculator to compare my existing mortage to the refi rate I will mostly get, using my likely payment schedule with extra payments. I am glad to see a 2k savings with a 20-month break-even, though my term is increased and I will initially pay more interest. On Election day, I make my first application with the direct lender Beeline, as I am very impressed with their all-digital process. I like the way they connect directly to my bank account and to my payroll provider, with my credentials thanks to the really cool Plaid. I don’t need to send them a single document, even over email. What a relief! I didn’t realize they will require me to unfreeze my credit. So the online process didn’t finish and my app was in limbo. The rate is unknown without a review of my credit history.

In the meantime, I also asked advice from the reputed Wharton professor, who runs the pretty cool mortgage professor site. He responded promptly to my surprise and recommended that I should not wait for the rates to go lower, being in the middle of the election week. I took his advice (yes, I need an expert to prod me). Waiting no more for an ideal 1% rate drop, I apply on Thursday evening to a few more lenders. Thankfully, the election results are not yet known, though it’s close to being called. And yes, there was a drop today. I had reached out to my original mortgage loan office and the big bank could only give me 2.75%. Credible is my second digital choice, though it is a mortgage broker or fancy marketplace. I also used my long-time free monitoring site CreditKarma which referred me to one.

The referred lender calls me first thing in the day on Fri and I get my first real quote over the phone at 2.5%, after checking . He gives me good advice to lock the rate today, as they have already inched up a little today since the election results are going one way only! He also tells most lenders can only close in 2 months most likely in the New Year, thanks to Covid. I tell him I prefer to wait a weekend before I make any big decisions. I go ahead and apply on Credible also. It gives me 2.375% with some credit – a wholesale rate with another big lender. I am happy with the rate, but costs are high and they could take a couple of months to close. Just one short of my dream goal 2.25%. This also matches a local credit union Call FCU and the thrift bank that triggered my decision through their direct mailers to my home. I also push Beeline to get me a loan estimate and they can only offer 2.5%, which seems to be a good rate. Thankfully, I could use Beeline’s price pact, which is good for 3 days. I could not connect with them late Friday as the Credible estimate came after 4pm.

Come Monday – the new President is known and the rates are jumping higher. I called Beeline to negotiate. I would go with them if they will match the rate as they have promised. In fact, the consumer protection bureau recommends we shop around. And Beeline does stand by its pact, woohoo. They will match the 2.375%, no points. I am done with my shopping, lock the rate in 2 days including a weekend and happily sign the electronic disclosures to kick off the proper refi process. One thing I notice is Beeline does have their own title broker and that’s where it seems they might make some money, apart from the streamlined process.

Here’s where I stand – am I shrewd enough?

• 2.375% wholesale rate (0.875% drop), No points, 10 years
• No lender fees, no origination costs, no appraisal costs (low loan amount), other costs also low => low total closing costs
• Hopefully closing by Dec 3 (30 days), hope I am not jinxing it. Not sure if the new refi fee is already added or will be on Dec 1
• No servicing – should I even worry?
• Fully digital process, almost. We need emails and phone calls of course. 100% digital – yeah we can dream.

Just for fun, on Tuesday I request rates from many other lenders and referring companies. It looks like all referring companies use the same few lenders. Even the most popular tree site is just a glorified referring nuisance. None can match the rate I have. And some don’t even have 10 year options. Also, now I dread their umpteen calls. I realize I have done a big mistake and use Google to screen the calls. That is a life saver! They ask too much info even before the quote. Pretty sure my data is being sold now. I must continue to freeze my credit and carefully monitor it to avoid any identity theft problems.

The only other lender that is transparent is Aurora. But their rates are high. Interestingly, their 10 year rate is higher than their 15-year one. They explain that the 10-year rate is not a high-volume transaction and my loan amount is too low to get low rates. Wow, these guys take on more risk to give a low rate! Well, that is the nature of the beast. The market is complex. It’s like the big guys in India will rob the banks of unimaginable amounts in loans and the small guys will be paying high interest rates for comparatively much lesser values. I also like Selfi, but sadly they have not expanded to Virginia yet. Aimloan seems to be good, though 2.5% and it is recommended by the professor.

A couple of days later on Veterans Day, which is a holiday for me and a school day for the kids (it has never happened before), NPR has a morning show talking about mortgages for veterans. They indicate the rates vary widely and gullible borrowers trusting TV ads could end up paying the highest rates. Their recommended lender is Navy FCU. I end up checking the rates again on the CFPB, even though the horse has bolted out of the stable. Though the below chart is for 15-year rates, the mean is 2.375%. And Navy FCU offers a jaw dropping 1.75%. Too bad, its membership is only for armed forces and their refi rates for other bank borrowers is 2.5%. Three offer 2.25% and 5 offer 2%. I will forever wonder who those lenders are, if their 10-year refi rates are that good. Only in a perfect marketplace! The market always wins…

Creature of habit

The more things change, the more I am the same. 9k miles away in America, half a day out in time zones and an entirely different way of life from my home town…

• I work in a mostly Indian company, except it has a US headquarters.
• I eat mostly home made Indian food, except a couple of meals a week.
• I hang out with mostly Tamil families and friends, except a few times a year.

How can I still wonder why this president is elected?!?!

First car

We are thinking overtime about the used car purchase process. There is no point living in America without a car! We have a 3o day deadline to close the deal. We are reading websites  like the Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds to understand what we should be looking at – costs (purchase price, running costs), mileage (gets counted in running costs I hope), comfort, looks, resale value, etc. We have decided that our budget will be between 3000 and 4000. I don’t drive to work. So I estimate that our monthly miles will be under 700 and for the long drives, we can always rent cars. If we need the car for 3-4 years, resale price shouldn’t be big on our priorities. The idea is to get a decent car with low running costs. We have been talking to friends and most of them talk about 3 Japanese cars – Honda/Toyota/Nissan and buying from individuals. For a 3-5 capacity, we would need a compact or mid-size sedan. We have started looking at ads on craigslist and sulekha. What will you recommend us? You have a week to suggest 🙂 I’m looking to tips from SK and Archana.

PS: Jax has written a splendid post on reading for freshers.

Every weekend long

First things first. I can’t drive though I have an Indian car driving licence. In a car-crazy America, that is sin of the first order. My second big mistake is to have left that Indian licence back home so as not to carry many identities. So, I cannot even try to use it here and test some cars 😉 These make my weekends miserably boring and long. I am stuck to my suite and there is no public transport in my suburb on weekends. Damn, it all adds up. I carry a big bias against cabs. I haven’t been to downtown yet. That explains. So, what do I do on weekends? Talk to wife, eat, sleep, watch some stupid Tamil movie I downloaded on a torrent, …

It is strange to realize that I am practically immobile without a car here. I must learn to drive properly and believe that the car is not only for the others.

My colleagues have been nice to drive around me a few weekends. I don’t feel too nice to be at another’s mercy. I am hoping to have some friends visit me here. Another option I have is to rent some bikes (not the motorbikes) and cycle along some good trails around here. Sadly, the rentals equal my daily allowance. I have less than two months to go now and I don’t know if I will be able to see around yet. Why is America so fond of cars? 

My favourite card game…

… is literature, (excellent description here). My schoolmate Hem taught me after his first year at PSG and we got addicted. Ever since in all our vacation breaks, we used to gather at different homes and play this for long stretches of time. It is such a simple and skillful game. In our 10day long NSS camp at a small village on the outskirts of Chennai, we spent all our nights playing this. Some of my Guindy classmates also got addicted to this neat game. On every long trip, a pack of cards is quite handy to play this. Be it my last place of work or my last place of study, this game has got its own fans. Once when we played it on the BOM-IND train, it turned to be a boy-vs-girl messy affair. It calls for fair play though the cheats do all their tricks and make it more lively 🙂  It always reminds me of the good times I have enjoyed with it. Friends, travel and fun, this game is all that and more. When am I going to play it next? Are you game?