Wait until the next time the Powerball lottery gets to one of those outrageous dollar amounts and I guaranty that you’ll hear those conversations going on all around you.

For those of us who graduated college or graduate school with inordinate amounts of student loan debt and have successfully completed or been engaged in a repayment plan, we have a slightly different version of daydreaming. The truth is that this small cohort of student loan borrowers doesn’t sit around and wonder what it would be like to have millions of dollars to play with; instead we sit around and daydream about what it would be like to have all of those student loan payments that we sent off to play with instead.

This isn’t one of those entries where I’m going to bore you with intricate financial statistics or complex equations talking about the amount of money that I lose everyday to interest expenses on my student loans ($3.32). Instead of all of that stuff, I’m going to eyeball a round number to indicate how much I think I’ve spent on student loan principal payments, interest payments, origination fees, transfer fees, and consolidation fees. I’m going to suggest that this estimated round number is between $135,000 and $145,000.

What this range doesn’t calculate is what I might have gained if I would have had the opportunity to invest these funds, but that’s another post for another day.

Those of us who willingly took on exorbitant amounts of student loan debt with the full knowledge that we would be saddled with a repayment obligation that we always intended to meet (lots of qualifiers in the beginning of this sentence…) get a bittersweet feeling when we sit around and think of what we could have done with years and years of student loan payments (which are usually over-payments each month). This past weekend, several of my college buddies stayed over at my place after a group of us went out to the bar. The next day when a few of us were sitting around and talking about different things, the topic of student loan payments came up and it got me back to this familiar form of daydreaming: What would I have done with all of those payments if I didn’t have these student loans?

Immediately, three things come to mind.

First, I would have a substantial savings structure including more equity investments (stocks), fixed investments (government-backed bonds and certificates of deposits), and liquid savings (regular savings account). Granted, I have different levels of these savings structures in place right now, but I’d definitely have more and more varied types of these savings accounts if I had all of that student loan money back.

Second, I would have a more secure housing situation. Now this one is a little bit trickier than just something as simple as, “I would have purchased a house by now.” The area of New Jersey where I live (the northern Jersey Shore area) does not produce reasonable real estate prices right now. Sure, I could have used some of those funds to purchase a home, but the amount, type, and location of the home that I would be able to purchase would not be as much, the type of, or in the area where I’d want to live – so I wouldn’t do it. Plus, the time period when I would have been buying a home would have put me right in the group where the value of the home would be declining quicker than the amount of the outstanding loan principal. So… I wouldn’t have purchased a home.

Instead, I would have set aside a substantial amount of money (around $20,000 to $30,000) to be my “housing reserve fund.” I would still budget my monthly rent from my monthly cash flow, but I would have these funds available in the event that I had to vacate my current place, that I wanted to move, or that I just needed funds for housing-related costs. That housing reserve fund would have provided me with the type of long-term stability that most renters don’t have the benefit of enjoying.

Third and finally, I would have either purchased or been in the final stages of building a vacation home. I know, I know – this one seems crazy. I get it. There are folks at my office who call me Mr. Austerity because of my strong discipline to strict rules and regulations when it comes to the financial aspects of our company. In other words, I hate spending the company’s money even if the company wants their money spent! And I’m a stickler for following a strict set of rules in the office because I think companies need structure and if they have that structure already in place, then they should follow it.

So… the idea of me taking some of this money and purchase a vacation home may seem somewhat insane. I assure you, though, it’s not crazy at all. In fact, there are a lot of reasons why I’d either be savings towards buying a vacation home or I would have already purchased one. Among those reasons are the fact that I would buy a home somewhere in or near the Poconos – where the real estate and property taxes are much, much cheaper than in New Jersey. Plus, there are a lot of beautiful areas in that part of Pennsylvania where you can have a wonderful home with gorgeous, wildlife views. Don’t get me wrong – I love living on the Jersey Shore, but I also really enjoy the peaceful feeling of being surrounded by nature.

I’d also be looking to get that vacation home to host group gatherings. In other words, it would be a nice place where my family could gather for events and holidays, where I could host barbeques and parties for my family and friends, and where I could host other events (planning sessions for my team at my company, annual strategy sessions for some of the nonprofit fundraising work that I do, etc). With respect to regular usage, I’m lucky that my company allows me to work from home on Fridays, so I would probably spend most weekends (weather permitting) up in the vacation home, especially during the summer months when the traffic down the shore is incredibly annoying.

The distance between my office and the general area of the Poconos is about an hour, which is a little bit longer than my daily commute so the distance isn’t a big deal at all. I could easily leave my office on a Thursday afternoon at 4:00pm, head to the vacation home for the weekend, and be there by 5:00pm. Then, I could just as easily leave the Poconos and get back to the office on Monday morning. In the event that I opted to do something like this, then I would probably move out of my current area of the state and, instead, move somewhere a little bit closer to my office. Not too close, though – I’d still like to be within close proximity of the northern Jersey Shore area due to attending Monmouth University basketball games, teaching at the local college, and attending other events in the Long Branch/Asbury Park area. My new apartment wouldn’t have to be too big or costly, either. A standard efficiency arrangement would be fine given that I’d have most of my nice stuff (like high-end electronics) up in the Poconos.

In short, I think I could definitely make that type of living scenario work out. And I’ve given it a lot of thought so I’m sure I’ve thought through most of the difficulties. Oh, and I wouldn’t worry abo-

Hey! Wake-up!

Those are just the daydreams from someone in my situation. You know, someone who has pushed more than $135,000 into student loans over a 6 year period; someone whose 12-month budget shows a whole lot of additional money getting pushed into student loan payments to finish these things off. And here’s the kicker of the whole situation: I might be 12 months away from being free of these students loans, but that doesn’t mean the financial daydreams you read above would be kicked into high gear. Not at all.

Instead, once my student loans are paid off I can then just begin to think about budgeting to start saving to meet just one of those daydreams.

And that is a splash of ice cold reality in the face of some fun daydreaming, don’t you think?

The Manhattan Skyline Before the September 11th Terrorist Attacks

The first thing I remember is my Mom waking me up by calling me on the phone. I was only living in the fraternity house for a few weeks and school only just started the week prior. I didn’t have class until a little bit later that day so I was sleeping in. Anyway, I didn’t have a cell phone yet so my Mom called me on my house line (I was the only one in the fraternity house with a house line – more on that later) and wanted to know if I was watching the news. I said no, but flipped on the television to see what she was talking about. I hopped from MSNBC (my channel of choice back then) to CNN and finally to FOX News to see what was going on. And what I saw was pretty amazing – one of the buildings that comprised the Twin Towers was burning… and pretty high up, too!

I asked my Mom what was going on and she said a plane flew into one of the towers. We talked for a few minutes and then hung up. I kept laying in bed watching the television wondering if they were going to show a replay of the plane going into the building. And as I laid there watching the television screen, it looked like I got what I was looking for because I saw a plane fly directly into one of the buildings. Except, as I was watching the television I focused in a little bit more and noticed that there was already a building burning – this must have been a second plane! It was shocking to see that happen on live television. Absolutely, utterly shocking to witness.

Now, I don’t want to go through a minute-by-minute recap of that day, but needless to say that within an hour or so the entire fraternity house was awake and all classes had been canceled on campus. But unlike other days off from school, the guys didn’t rush out to get some food and drink to enjoy the day – we were all glued to the large screen television in the living room waiting to see what would happen next. Right after the plane flew into the Pentagon, I remember thinking and saying out loud that the airspace over the Pentagon was restricted and no one could get over it in the first place (I was wrong). I remember flipping through all of the channels on the dial and, remarkably, every single channel on the dial was either broadcasting news coverage of the terrorist attacks or on standby with a message of condolence related to the attacks. And folks, when I say that every channel was covering the attacks or on standby – I mean every channel on the dial. Every single one. It was truly a moment in television history, for sure.

One of the guys who lived in our house was a volunteer fireman. Somewhere around midday – after both towers had fallen – he jumped in his car and went to New York City to help with recovery efforts. When he came back later that night not only were we all still glued to the television, but he had the World Trade Center dust on his fireman boots and gear. It was unbelievable.

Another one of my vibrant memories of that entire situation was how poorly one of my professors handled the situation. I don’t know if I’ve ever written about this particular professor, but he was straight out of the 1940’s university setting – down the ultra elitist attitude and tweed elbow patches on his jacket. Anyway, what I remembered about this first class back on campus (the day following the attacks) was that this professor opened the class by saying, “Notwithstanding the events of yesterday morning, we are here for a different reason. So, let’s open our books to chapter one and begin reading about Cain and Abel.”

I was amazed at how cold and callous that professor was that night – especially considering that he was talking to a room filled with scared, horrified college students. This was a British Literature class where, over the course of the ensuing semester, we talked about traditional literary themes like good versus evil and the loss of innocence. Looking back, I shake my head at the lost opportunity that this professor let slip through his fingers. Here he had a chance to not just talk about these themes, but to show real world examples of these themes occurring all around us.

Anyway, the guys I lived with and I stayed up all night watching coverage of the cleanup and recovery efforts in New York City. We had news coverage on all day, every day. Everyone – including me – started caring a lot more about politics and who was trying to do what in our political leadership. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of the guys I lived with as well as the students on campus either became Republicans or began voting Republican. It was the general feeling of the nation and that feeling was alive and well on Monmouth University’s campus.

It was a scary and yet fascinating time to be a college student.

And it was only ten years ago. On the one hand, it feels like September 11th happened yesterday. But on the other hand, the world has changed so much since then. It makes me wonder where we’ll be in another ten years. Hopefully, terrorism will continue to decline over the next ten years and we can – as a global society – begin working towards a stronger world peace. No, not the hippie version of world peace where we’re all holding hands and singing Kumbaya. Instead, I hope we can move towards a real, workable peace that serves to advance the human race as a whole.

Moving in that direction seemed impossible ten years ago. But today it seems like a totally reasonable expectation for the future. What an amazing ten years…

For example, aside from throwing out a lot of garbage that was accumulating in the car, I was able to take some t-shirts that I had been piling up in the trunk. The t-shirts were piling up there because I honestly had no where else to put them! Anyway, as I write this post the t-shirts are all out of the dryer after having been washed earlier today. Some of them are on the “charity” pile and some other ones are on the “keep these” pile. By the way, the “charity” pile of clothes is getting bigger and bigger!

Professionally, I’ve advanced nearly every deal that I’m working on which is definitely a function of the fact that this week is spring break for my undergraduate students and thus they aren’t around for me to have to teach.

I’ve been moving a bunch of my online projects forward, which I’m always happy about. As a part of this process, I’ve been able to detach some folks from Usable Web Solutions, LLC (i.e. let them know that they need to find a new “web guy”) and I’ve been able to send payment letters to other clients.

On a more personal level, I ran out of one of my prescriptions the other day and I managed to get it refilled (even though there were no more refills left) through the services offered by my pharmacy. This was a much easier process than I imagined it would be and I’m extremely happy that this worked out so easily. You know how much of a pain in the ass it can be to work around the pharmacy and the doctor’s office beating each other up… No thank you.

Oh, and after my car had the windshield replaced earlier today, I took it over to the inspection station and it passed inspection. So… I won’t be going back there for at least two more years, thankfully!

I also spent some time today doing some short-term (two month) financial planning to address some upcoming expenses that I have to deal with. Among these expenses are paying for the windshield replacement, paying for a flight to Nashville in April, and paying for my 2010 membership to the local CSA farm. By my calculations, I’ll be able to continue my $1,000+ biweekly payments on my one student loan and pay for all of these other items in full by April 15th.

And speaking of April 15th, I spent a few minutes today finalizing my taxes so I think that they’re ready to finally send into the IRS. I should be getting a decent return back this year, although still below what H&R Block suggests are the averages for people of my age and income level (not fair!).

As you can see, I’ve been pretty busy. However, before this coming Monday hits, I have to complete a grant application for a client that I’m working with on the side; begin, write, edit, and finalize a 10 page paper and presentation package for the class that I’m taking; prepare lesson plans for my class for the coming week; go to Pennsylvania for a wake this weekend; and review some material for the foundation where I serve as a Trustee.

All in a weekend’s work!

The biggest pain in the ass in the next few days will be going to the doctor this Friday. The doctor is going to be upset with me because I was supposed to lose ten pounds since the last time I saw him (early November 2009) and, instead, I think that I’ll either break even or maybe gain 3 – 5 pounds. Not good. However, I don’t have too much time to worry about that until after next Monday – which is good since that’s probably when my blood test results will be coming in.

Lots to do in the next few days. Don’t be surprised if I miss a day here and there updating the blog. Thanks!

“ATLANTIC CITY UNCONVENTIONAL”
DEF: BEING OUT OF THE ORDINARY

Atlantic City new jersey by the sea,….the ideal place to see and be.
a great resort to spend your vacation or visit for a day, easy to reach and only a short trip, away.

come by auto,bus, rail or sea, centrally located between New York and Pa.

Make Atlantic city deluxe hotels and casinos your second home and destination don’t think twice before you book your hotel reservation. You will love the luxurious accommodations.

enjoy the casinos, shopping, restaurants and all other attractions and activities you will find along the board walk, beach, marina or the bay. Welcoming hotel staffs will help make your day.

Enjoy the home of first generation shopping malls and outlets, golf, water sports events and world class entertainment and activities so, let luck be your lady tonight

Come roll the dice, to add some spice. Forget all your woes, worries And troubles,….as your champagne flows and bubbles.

Dine tonight at a world class restaurant, later, attend a show, Where famous stars perform nightly, while stage lights glow and Shine brightly.

catch the nightlife and entertainment at our caberets, clubs, lounges and casinos and don’t forget that championship fight.

allow atlantic city, the jewel of the new jersey shore to be your perfect host 24/7 for all your entertainment,leisure, enjoyment, business, pleasure and conventions needs.

Atlantic city, new jersey by the sea.

copyright revised 2009 joseph p.martino american writer, poet (1937~) millburn, n.j.

Have a great day!

In no way do I suggest that JerseySmarts.com is engaging in such reporting. In fact, I would agree that I provide my personal point of view in all, if not most, of the entries on this blog. In providing that point of view, though, I do try to counter any biases that I find in the topic, should such a counter be relevant.

Anyway, the purpose of this entry is to announce a Citizen Journalism Conference at Monmouth University one week from today, November 18, 2009. Complete details are below.

CITIZEN JOURNALISM – COUNTERING THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Citizens’ Campaign and Monmouth University are co-hosting a conference on November 18 to discuss the current state of local reporting in our new media environment, including how hyperlocal websites provide a means for stepped up local coverage and opportunities for citizen journalists to report from the frontlines.

The “Citizen Journalism: Countering the Culture of Corruption” morning panel will discuss the cuts in local news room staff and its impact on the quality of local government coverage, and how new online tools make it possible for journalists and citizen activists to report what is happening in city hall and throughout the community.

Speaking on the first panel will be Michael Delli Carpini, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; Richard Benfield, former editorial writer of the Bergen Record and New York Times; Ted Mann, Founder of InJersey.com and Digital Development Director for Gannett New Jersey; and Michael Shapiro, CEO and Editor of www.TheAlternativePress.com.

The day will also feature a “Citizen Journalism” certification course for beginning bloggers & citizen activists who want to submit their own local news stories to online publications; and an afternoon “Meet & Greet” panel for journalism students and activists to talk and network with online news site editors.

The Conference will be held at Wilson Hall at Monmouth University from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited, so please reserve your seat today by emailing heather@jointhecampaign.com.

The Citizens’ Campaign is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting and encouraging civic engagement. To learn more about the Citizens’ Campaign, log onto www.JoinTheCampaign.com.

November 18, 2009
11 am – 2pm

Monmouth University
Wilson Hall 400 Cedar Ave.
West Long Branch, NJ

11 am – 11:30: Registration & Refreshments

11:30 am: Opening Remarks by Harry Pozycki & Round Table Discussion:
The New Media Climate: How the internet is transforming modern day journalism and its impact on local government & politics

12:30 pm: Becoming a Citizen Journalist

1:00 – 2:00 pm: Meet the New Media Innovators.

Registration
This event is free and open to the public. To register, email Heather@JoinTheCampaign.com

This should be a great event and I hope that my fellow bloggers in the New Jersey area will plan to attend the conference. I’m hoping to get over there myself, schedule permitting. If you DO attend the conference, please consider sending a report on what was talked about and some of your thoughts.

Every time a customer purchases products with the ShopRite Partners In Caring shelf tag, they support the brands that support the fight against hunger. At ShopRite, customers are not just filling a grocery bag; they are helping to fill empty bowls for thousands of hungry families in your community.

ShopRite Partners In Caring is the Recipient of the Following Awards – among others:

• Good Neighbor Award – Food Marketing Institute (FMI)
• Retailer of the Year Award – America’s Second Harvest/Feeding America
• Outstanding Achievement Award – Hudson Valley Food Bank
• Crystal Toque Award – Philadelphia and South Jersey
• Outstanding Spirit Award – Monmouth and Ocean County Food Bank
• Connecticut Food Bank – Bill Liddell Award
• Corporate Excellence Award – Food Bank for New York City

Companies that have joined ShopRite in the fight against hunger are marked in stores with the ShopRite Partners In Caring shelf label. By choosing these products, ShopRite customers support manufacturers who contribute to the program.

Each of the 217 ShopRite stores in the six states that ShopRite serves (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland) selects qualified local organizations to benefit from the program. These local food charities use their designated funds to acquire supplies at a food bank.

Today, the ShopRite Partners In Caring program supports 23 regional food banks and more than 1,400 charitable agencies with food or meal components. With a $2 million annual donation, more than $20 million has been donated since 1999 in the fight against hunger.

For more on the program, visit www.ShopRitePartnersInCaring.org.

Then I had to run and do some last minute errands like paying the rent and heading to the bank before I head off to my co-worker’s house for a BBQ today. And what a beautiful day it is for a BBQ! Seriously, the rest of you who aren’t located on the Jersey Shore would be jealous to see how beautiful it is along the coast today.

From the BBQ I’ll be heading north to my family’s house in Roxbury so I can see my Grandmother and Aunt who are visiting from Pennsylvania. I haven’t seen them in a while so I look forward to spending some time with them. And the reason that they’re visiting is because my cousin is getting married tomorrow!

So tomorrow I’ll be spending all day doing wedding and family stuff. Looking forward to it. Hey – it’s supposed to be a wonderful weekend in terms of the weather so go out there and enjoy it!

For some perspective – I haven’t really had a chance to read too many books since I started teaching part-time. It’s just tough to read the material for the course, prepare the PowerPoints and handouts for the course, and keep-up with some of my freelance reading choices. However, since class officially ended, I returned from my Miami trip, and the Christmas season came to an end I’ve had some free time to begin reading my own choices again. It took me less than a week to rip through The Last Kingdom – it’s a hard book to put down!

This historical fiction is a story about Uhtred, son of Uhtred, who was also son of Uhtred, etc. His land is usurped from him by his uncle and he is taken captive by the marauding Danes at the tender age of 10. This story is set during the late 800’s AD when England was being ransacked by what we would call “Vikings” today. Cornwell sticks to historical facts when he calls them Danes instead of Vikings since during the time of the story “to vike” was a verb and not a noun. Anyway, Uhtred is taken captive as a young boy as his father dies in battle defending their family’s land.

The Danes raise him and one Dane in particular, Ragnar, essentially adopts Uhtred as his own. This affords Uhtred a great deal of protection and a great source of knowledge on many topics – the most important of which is combat. As he grows up, he begins raiding English territories with the Danish fighters. Remember, now, Uhtred is an Englishman…yet he still goes ahead and raids his homeland’s territories.

Cornwell moves the story along at the perfect pace and the reader is shown Uhtred’s thoughts as he moves through the various stages of becoming a man in a war-torn land. His inner conflict is very well written; Uhtred’s inner discussions regarding with whether or not he should be fighting with the Danes or with the English is particularly well done. Ultimately, he goes back to his people though there are various reasons that lead him to that end. Uhtred, though, begins to believe that he ends up fighting for the English because of fate.

The concept of fate and whether or not a man has free will is explored at different points of the story. Uhtred is first a young by being taught the ways of Catholicism through the local priests (in spite of his family’s history being intertwined with the pagan gods). The Danes worship Thor and his set of gods and Uhtred begins to follow and believe in that religion. The compelling argument that changes his mind is the usefulness of one God versus many gods. In other words, Ragnar and the Danes ask how the Catholic God could be worth worshiping if he does not bring victory to his followers. For the young Uhtred, he sees the simplistic logic in this argument and agrees.

One of the best parts of the religious overtones in this book is how, later in the book, Uhtred is forced to wonder about some of the basic teachings of his pagan faith. Once the English begin to fight back and win battles against the Danish warriors, Uhtred wonders if the pagan religion is really the better of the two? Are the three spinners – who the Danes believe write the story of the world and thus assign everyone their fate – really spinning their webs? Or is the one God of Catholicism really mightier than the aggregated power of the pagan gods? Personally, I enjoyed this little bit of give and take that was more subliminal than written.

The novel has a great climatic scene where a great Danish warrior is defeated by the hand of Uhtred. This is one of the best written battle scenes that I’ve ever read. It seems as though describing the motions and situations of the shield walls and various battles are second nature to Cornwell. This is a testament to his comfort level when writing this historical fiction.

If it’s not obvious by this point, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of The Last Kingdom. This is the first in “The Saxon Novels” series by Cornwell. I’ve already gone out and purchased two more Cornwell books – the next in the Saxon Novels and the first in a different series. Go out and grab a copy if you can; Christmas may be over, but this book still makes a great gift!