I only have one full day left in this country and threw this rambling, boring explanation together as to why. Ain’t got time to explain it to everyone who asks!
The final thing I was told by the Immigration officer who kicked me out was that it had to do with me not having a ticket to leave within the first 90-day visitor stamp I was issued in September… but as you’ll see, there’s a whole lot of other disturbing and confusing stuff going on, too.
A lot of my new Irish friends have expressed vitriolic anger and indignation on my behalf. I find this amazingly kind and sweet! But let’s not repeat the same actions the officers took and take things out of context… I am not an Irish citizen. I’m just some asshole American who wants to spend my money here. The officers are there to protect Irish citizens, not their economy. And then there is Paris, remember. If I were them, I might lean toward “better safe than sorry”, too, if my ass were on the line.
Side note: So glad I spent a grand and waited 2 months for Panasonic to fix and send me my brand new fucking camera which required me to buy a 2nd video editing software and resulted in the worst quality video I’ve ever made. Fuck you, Panasonic. So hard.
In September, I reached my tolerance limit for sexism at the office and peaced-out. For years, I tried to determine whether the disrespect was just the regular kind or because I had lady parts. Finally, enough evidence amassed to tell me, “no, when people regularly neglect to invite you to important meetings where your expertise is vital, don’t make eye contact when talking about technical subjects, don’t ask for your technical assistance when you are the assigned matter expert, and when high-ranking employees vocally make distinctions about candidates and audiences because of their gender, it’s your vagina that’s getting in the way”.
I still find it hard to understand, as I was treated with so much more respect earlier in my career, when I obviously had less experience and knowledge, and fewer stories of technical Goliaths slain.
I’ve had a lot of time to think here, though, alone and jobless in the woods of Ireland. Maybe there is an extra 13% of effort I could have put in beyond the 110% I expended each day refraining from stabbing myself in the eyes. Below is an instructional video with 5 things I now realize I could have done differently to earn more respect. Hopefully it can help female engineers currently struggling. Please share if you know any.
If none of that advice appeals to you, and you think bailing is your best option, make sure you’re paying as little as possible in interest on your student loans while you still have great credit! CLICK HERE to be referred for student loan refinancing with the best companies I’ve found.
When I refinanced my private and federal student loans this year, I saved over $1,000 per year! That’s all cash that would have been handed over for just interest payments – not money paying down what I owe. If you’re paying more than you need to in interest, you’re throwing your cash money dollars down the crapper. It pays to investigate whether you can get better rates!
What follows is a detailed review of 2 really great places to refinance: SOFI and Darien Rowayton Bank. I refinanced through both. You’ll also find a chart to easily get a rough estimate on how much money you could save next year. All info is current as of 11/8/15.
If you’d rather skip the following info and go right to starting the refinancing process, please go HERE to be referred by me to either company and possibly earn me a finder’s fee!
I first refinanced private loans with horrendous interest rates through SOFI. One of the loans charged over 9% interest annually before I switched over! At the time, my goal besides saving money was to pay off my loans faster. By the way, the shorter the repayment term (the faster you pay it off) the lower the rate you will generally be charged in interest.
I hemmed and hawed over picking a rate, and called up SOFI’s customer service about it. I was told I could refinance at any time, so if I chose to go to a longer repayment term later, no worries. (That ended up not being exactly true, by the way.) If you remove my decision-making time, the total refinancing paperwork and disbursement time was about a month. That’s really good!
The interest rate they ended up offering after all the paper pushing on their end was 4.055% variable APR for the 10-year term. After a 0.25% discount for setting up automatic payments, the rate became 3.805% variable APR. This was for a loan of over $11,000 to pay off multiple loans, with the average rate for the whole ball being something over 7% fixed APR. So, I looked at that and was able to roughly say, hey I’m probably saving at least 3% next year on a >$10,000 loan, so that means I’m saving at least 0.03x$10,000 = $300. That’s $300 more in my pocket versus the bank’s pocket over the next 12 months, while paying about the same monthly amount. Winning.
One of the reasons I stalled on deciding a repayment term, was I thought one’s salary would impact the rate offered more than credit score, and my salary needed to increase dramatically anyways. After I received my final offer package from SOFI, my hunch about how income would affect rates seemed to be confirmed. I found out I had SHOCKINGLY good credit: 833 FICO! It was especially surprising considering how hard the Great Recession had screwed me years ago. Yet, somehow, I wasn’t even offered the mid-range of rates for that repayment term – it was higher than the middle of the range. I talked with other SOFI customers at a mixer they through in Chicago, and some of them shared my hypothesis. I can’t say for sure how much income is weighed vs. credit score, but it’s something to keep in mind.
For an idea of how good an 833 FICO score is, here is the chart included in my offer package from SOFI in April 2015:
FICO Chart Reported in My SOFI Loan Approval Packet – April 2015
Several months later, I decided I wanted to change strategies. Instead of paying off my loans as fast as possible, I wanted to push out my payment term as far into eternity as possible, thereby lowering my monthly commitment. You know, in case I decided to quit my job and live off my savings in a foreign country or something. I still had about a $400 monthly ball chained to my leg, and that’s almost a month’s worth of rent in some places!
I tried to go back to SOFI and push my 10-year term out to a 20-year term, because the process had gone so smoothly. For whatever reason, when I tried to refinance the same loan again, they no longer offered me a 20-year term as an option. That’s when I turned to Darien Rowayton Bank, or DRB.
The rates were better than what SOFI offered, as I’d read many other people experienced, but be forewarned: they have more demand than they can handle, and it could take a very long time to process. It took about 2 months for my first loan to be refinanced, and their online application process is a confusing mess. I got several “oops” emails from the automated system saying I needed to submit things I had already submitted weeks ago. BUT, those rates! And once you set everything up, it should be smooth sailing afterward. So, if you can deal with a bit of annoyance and some extra time to get things started, it’s totally worth it.
This time, I got my hellish Sallie Mae loans – the bulk of my student loan debt, about $30,000 – repacked into something much friendlier. Sallie had me by the apples for over $260 each month and charged over 6% interest. I asked DRB to give me a ridiculously long 20-YEAR variable rate loan for the whole shebang. They offered a 4.03% variable interest rate with the same 0.25% deduction if you do automatic payments, so 3.78%. My monthly payments are now about $180/month for this chunk. DRB bases their rate on the 3-month LIBOR (as opposed to SOFI’s one-month), and it’s capped at 10%. There is an extra bit of complication with DRB here, as you need to open a checking account with DRB for automatic payments, but that part of the process went relatively smoothly. The DRB checking account can automatically deduct from another personal checking account you hold with another bank a few days before your loan is due and then make your payment automatically and on time.
With DRB, I saved around 2.7% APR on about $30,000. So, that’s 0.027x$30,000, or over $800 that will be going to my bottom line instead of the bank’s over the next year. Of course, as the principal gets paid down, I’ll be paying less in loan interest anyways, but this still serves as a good rough idea. Plus, who are we kidding, I was barely making a dent in my Sallie Mae loans anyways.
The credit score DRB found for me through TransUnion in August 2015 was 810. This was lower than the 833 SOFI found for me, but still very good. I’m not sure if the difference stemmed from different credit checking sources or just the fact that the SOFI refinancing required a pull on my credit score, or both. Otherwise, my financial picture was exactly the same, if not a little better, as I had more cash in savings in August. Whatever the case, if one company turns you down or gives you terms you don’t love, it may be a good idea to try out the other. Here is the very different credit score chart included in my package from DRB:
FICO Chart From My DRB Loan Packet – August 2015
After I found out DRB would still offer me a 20-year loan term, and at great rates, I refinanced my SOFI loan through DRB, as well.
After all my playing around with the loans, my final savings in interest payments was over 1,000 bucks per year, and my monthly payments went from around $400 to $250.
So how much money can you put back in your pocket? Well first, here are the rate ranges and terms offered by SOFI and DRB as retrieved online 11/8/2015.
SOFI Rates and Terms, pulled 11/8/2015 from THIS LINK:
If your current rates are higher than these, you can subtract your current rate by something in the stated ranges and see roughly what you could save in a year. So, for example, if you wanted to refinance a loan for $30,000, and you expect to still owe about $25,000 worth of it in 12 months, you can use the $25,000 column under “TOTAL AMT. of SAMPLE LOAN” below. Then, you can see what lower APR’s could save you in cash for a year. Say that $30,000 loan is sitting in Sallie Mae’s hands with 7% APR fixed rate. If you want to see what going to a 5-year fixed rate loan at SOFI could save you, subtract 7% APR by something in the range listed in the charts above. If you assume you’d get a 5% APR with SOFI, that means the difference in APR is 7%-5% = 2.0% Difference in APR.
So, take that $25,000 column, follow it down to the “2.0% per yr.” Difference in APR row, and you get a super rough estimate of $500 savings for you over the next year. If you want a more precise estimate, the refinancing companies have calculators as you’re going through the process, but this should give you an idea if it’s worth your time in the first place. And remember, you’ll be saving over the life of your loan, not just over the next year! …But you’ll (hopefully) be saving less as time goes on because you’ll owe less.
Annual Savings Estimate from Student Loan Refinancing
If you’re ready to look into refinancing with either SOFI or DRB or both, please let me refer you. If you follow through with the refinancing, you could score me a referral bonus, and I would appreciate it very much!
For SOFI, you canCLICK HERE and get started right away.
For DRB, you can CLICK HERE and fill out the form. I’ll manually refer you and DRB will contact you from there.
Some caveats:
You need Amaziballs Credit
You need either a specific degree (DRB) or to be a graduate of a preferred university (SOFI)
As of info posted today (11/8/2015), the minimum amount you can refinance is $5,000 through DRB or $10,000 through SOFI
The rates and terms posted here are subject to change
Good luck and feel free to ask any questions about student loan refinancing!
With plenty of time and unprecedented levels of freedom at my disposal, I decided to paint myself every color in arms’ reach.
If sitting along the River Liffey for the afternoon was done to please my inner child, I did this to please my inner teenager. 19-year-old me is SO PSYCHED we could finally do this! Gray, corporate environments are so stifling and lame. Now, I finally don’t have to play by their rules for the first time in my adult life!
If your student loans are as stifling as corporate culture and the payments are too high for you to entertain doing anything else with your time, look into refinancing! There are some great companies out there now which may not have existed last time you thought about it. To be referred to SOFI or DRB by me and possibly earn me some cash, please go here:
Are they like England and drive on the left side of the road? Yes.
Is it true it’s hard to get automatic transmission rental cars? Yes.
Are there roundabout things? Yes.
Those are the basic points most Americans are curious about when imaging driving a car in Ireland. Yet it doesn’t even come close to giving an idea of what it’s like. Here’s a video where I take you along on a whiskey-seeking adventure with me to give you a better feel.
For the full effect, though, you’re really going to need to come visit me. Maybe if you refinance your student loans you can save over $1,000/year cash money like I did and be able to do so! SOFI has excellent terms and rates, and DRB has even more excellenter options.
Prints are now available for purchase of a slightly fantastical watercolor painting of the River Avonmore.
After trekking through the woods in completely inappropriate footwear, I stumbled upon the banks of the Avonmore. The word “Avonmore” stems from Irish words meaning, “big river”, and it’s no wonder why those who view images of the river frequently refer to it as a lake by mistake.
Standing there, I felt as though the branches of the tree to my left flowed wistfully out to the tree on my right. She looked like a woman’s scarf unraveling in the wind. The tree to my right also reached and longed to cross over, but he did so rigidly. He was inhibited by his masculine form.
River Avonmore, the Original Photograph
I decided to give the two lovers a little help in my reenactment of the snapshot of their dance. The woman received an array of colors and even more sway to her branches. The man received a deep, ruddy hue and his skeleton became the grasping hand in my imagination. The rest I left to its ordinary splendor.
“Lovers on River Avonmore” — Finished Piece Available for Sale
If you wish to purchase a print of this piece, they are available through the link to the distributor above. The majority of the cost goes to the distributor for production and shipment of the prints, with a smaller portion going to yours truly. They show the most expensive options first, but if you’re looking for least expensive, go to “FINE ART PRINTS” at the bottom, right side of the page. Click “buy now”, then on the next page that opens, change the “paper type” to anything other than “hahnemuehle rag 308”. The “luster photo” and “glossy photo” options are the least expensive, but I would recommend at least the “fine art matte” for this piece.
Life is different now that I no longer trudge into a freezing cubesicle every weekday, and instead awake to views of an Irish mountainside. For one thing, I grew out a beard.
Becoming Old Man of the Mountain Means You Stop Tweezing
For another thing, I’m paying WAY LESS in student loans after I refinanced through DRB. Whether you want to become an old hermit too, or you’re just paying too much in student loans, it makes sense to look into student loan refinancing. You might be eligible for lower interest rates, meaning more cash toward actually paying down your loan or lower payments, and/or better repayment terms which change how much you owe each month. DRB (Darien Rowayton Bank) offers the best rates and widest range of payment plans I’ve personally seen, second to SOFI.
If you’re interested in refinancing please sent me a message via the CONTACT tab at the top with your name and e-mail address and let me know! I can then refer you to DRB and possibly earn some cash from them for doing so — meaning at no cost to you, you’ll be funding a way for me to leave the mountain and have a pint of Guinness with real, live people. AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT SO VERY MUCH!
Or, if you know people who are also choking on student loans, please share this article or the video below! You’ll be doing us both a big favor.
For more insight on my new life, watch the Old Man of the Mountain take you through his day:
In my last post, I highlighted some of the most interesting points of a recent trip to Kettering University, my alma mater. One of those had to do with a poster session going on, and in particular, a poster on creating biodiesel. I found it mind blowing – but mostly because of a shocking side note. I’m going to share it with you here, because you won’t see it if you just read the poster, named: “Transesterification of Virgin Michigan Soybean Oil to produce Biodiesel using Supercritical Methanol”.
Kettering University Poster Session – Transesterification of Virgin Michigan Soybean Oil to produce Biodiesel using Supercritical Methanol
In a nutshell, to get biodiesel fuel, you react some methanol with soybean oil and help it along by introducing heat and pressure. These guys: Jason Davis, Jonathan Wenzel, Endel Maricq, Michael Stogsdill and Ali Zand; messed around with trying to find sweet spots in the variables that would yield the most biodiesel. They also played with not needing to add extra, nasty chemicals to do this.
What they didn’t expect to see was when they used oil from Michigan soy beans found in their back yard, versus oil from beans grown in other parts of the US (those where biodiesel typically comes from), they got substantially more fuel in the end. AND THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHY.
These weren’t a different varietal of soybean, as far as I could gather – if that’s even a thing. These weren’t like Merlot soybeans compared with Boxed Franzia soybeans. For all known factors, these beans were identical aside from their birthplace. Yet, there is something on a very real, physical, chemical way that is remarkably different about them, which no one understands. This suggests strongly that there are variables we don’t even know exist.
So, remember Michigan soybeans. Remember Michigan soybeans when you scoff at people who worry about pesticides or GMO salmon or GMO corn or really anything that hasn’t been fully understood by us humans. By the way, things that haven’t been fully understood by us humans include EVERYTHING.
Drugs are formulated, produced and prescribed by professional professionals with side effects we don’t even know about until 20 years later. Pesticides are similarly used without fully understanding their effects. Genes are screwed with in food and, “it’s safe, don’t worry bout it,” but it can only be considered safe to the extent of the knowledge we have on the intricate inner workings of biological systems. Remember, we don’t understand soybeans. Soybeans. We don’t understand jack.
That’s really half the foundation of all science: We Fully Understand Nothing. My high school physics teacher roped me into loving physics from the first day of class when he issued a warning. He said, “you all need to understand that everything I’m about to teach you could be wrong. And one of you could be the person who makes the discovery that proves it.” Perhaps more surprising is the other half of the foundation of science: that there is a common faith among all mankind that there is a rhyme and a reason and formula to all we observe despite that lack of knowledge. But first, the nothing part. That’s not to say the knowledge we have garnered is worthless, but that room must be left in your mind always to consider there may be MORE to the story. There is so much more to the story! Check the oxymoron of scientific hubris at the door when considering all things, and first remember our lack of full knowledge and full understanding in all things. It’s only scientific.
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Kettering University’s 2015 homecoming festivities along with the celebration of the Physics Department’s 20th anniversary. As a physics alumna, I felt especially compelled to visit this year. I didn’t see all of ya’ll there, however, so here is a rundown of what you missed.
FLINT HAS CRAFT BEER AND COCKTAILS
I attended the pub crawl and bus tour that was one of the many activities available over the 3 days and it was surprisingly awesome! While some (all) of us were a little disappointed not to pick up a dollar-pitcher of moldy PBR from Churchill’s, or survive a trip to the bathroom at Rubes, our more sophisticated, adulty palates appreciated the change. We went to 3 different places where we had highly decent bar food, interesting craft cocktails and excellent beers, including 501 Bar and Grill at Saginaw and E. 1st Street pictured here:
Cocktails at 501 Bar and Grill, Flint, MI
GRILL CLUB!
This club did not exist when I attended the university, but I THOROUGHLY APPROVE. Our tour guide explained there are grills. There is meat. Students show up and eat the meat. All these key features combine to make it one of the most active clubs on campus. Yes. Yes to all of this. Can I still join?
BJ’s LOUNGE SERVES BEER
Ok, this one is a little misleading. Yes, BJ’s serves beer now, but it’s only granted 4 single-day licenses or so per year which are only used for alumni events. Still, my buddy and I were compelled to drink a Labatt when we had lunch at BJ’s JUST BECAUSE WE COULD. And it was everything we dreamed it would be. The food wasn’t bad either especially when compared with that slop Ernie would feed us that had us camping out in the restrooms. Remember that?
By the way, BJ’s has been completely revamped and it’s awesome. They regularly serve food and there are games and great study areas with screens that connect to your laptop. It’s great. I’m so damn jealous.
Beers! At Kettering University’s BJ’s Lounge
WOMEN’S BATHROOM!
As Kettering University was once General Motors Institute, a place where people with man parts went to study, it’s always been a bit difficult to locate the nearest ladies’ room. That was especially so near the library and by the physics labs. It was actually noticed finally and something was done about it! If you’re a former female Kettering student, I know you can share my excitement:
New and Gorgeous Ladies Room at Kettering University AB
NO ONE GOT SHOT
My fellow alum and I stayed in downtown Flint, near where the bar crawl began and ended up walking, like without a car and everything…through Flint…at night…and no one died! We actually didn’t feel afraid. Really! At one point a crack addict did approach us and pestered us for… well, not really sure what she wanted. There was no attacking or other crimes committed, however. This was probably the most seriously amazing and weird feeling part of the weekend.
THE STUDENTS ARE STILL SMART AND AMAZIBALLS
Below is one of the fantastic posters from a session held during the weekend. I’ll probably write more detail about this specific poster later… We got to meet several students and they are still sharp and driven and that signature Kettering weird that’s the endearing kind of weird. It’s good to see not everything changed.
Kettering University Poster Session
THE PRESIDENT IS NOT A DB
The new president, Dr. McMahan has gotten a reputation as a savior of sorts, and I can see why. Around when I graduated around 2006/2007, it was looking like Kettering was getting ready to close its doors forever. Lots and lots of changes have happened since then which are very difficult to grasp, even still. The vibe is different. The staff and faculty have hope. Building is happening, funding is pouring in, and more building yet is planned. The concrete desert where GM used to have it’s plant will be a beautiful park, thank you very much Mary Barra. More housing. More places for students to want to be on campus. More restaurants.
Most surprising, however, may have been my own reaction to hearing Dr. McMahan speak. In prior years, I remember a talk by the president to be always accompanied by groaning and eye rolls from the student body. This guy is different. This president very actively communicates with all the people on campus and it is apparent that he genuinely has a passion for turning things around and growing the university into a vision of all it could be. I think he is one of the most inspiring examples of leadership I’ve ever witnessed and the results of that leadership are already beginning to bear fruit. In short, the president is not a DB.
NO, GLEN AND I ARE NOT DATING
Just in case I missed someone who meant to ask us how we met but didn’t have a chance, no, fellow alum who joined me, Glen and I are not dating or married or otherwise coupled up. Some of the people we met for the first time were actually assuming I never attended the university and was tagging along, but that’s understandable… I guess. Anyways, just thought I should put that out there. He’s lovely though, everybody. And single…like me!
….plus so many more changes that need to be experienced to be understood. If you have the urge, give in to it and pay the university a visit. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised, too.
As part of my unending quest to delve into scary, murky, untested waters and bring back pearls for ya’ll, I bring you: how to fry a fucking egg.
Another unendingness is my frustration about people who say they want to do things and give themselves an excuse before they even try.
“Oh, that must be nice being able to go to study in Europe. I wish I could. You must be rich.”
Ahhh… no. I’m broke as fuck. They’re called student loans. But hopefully this experience will pay off in ways I can’t even fathom yet, allowing me to not be broke as fuck forever.
“Oh wow, you have a bachelor’s degree? It must be nice to be that smart. I could never do something like that.”
Ugh…I know some people who would disagree with you. Besides, it wasn’t my smarts that got me through college. It was a helluva lot of coffee and perseverance and Ramen and coffee. Did I mention student loans already?
“Wow, that’s really pretty. You’re so talented. I can’t do creative things.”
I bet you’re full of shit, and I bet I can prove it to you. Now let’s make a sandcastle, bitch!
“I’ll never…”
Well that, I agree with. If you say you’ll never… you’ll never.
But never say never! Especially when it comes to frying the perfect over-medium egg…(which I can do phenomenally well with my rich-talents-smarts)…because we’re gonna do it together, below. No really, though. I make a bom-ass fried egg. Do kids still say “bom ass”? Anyways, here, with love:
