For you Homes for Heroes affiliates in the Twin Cities area pay attention. There is some serious coinage being thrown around by Minneapolis and St. Paul first time home buyers. A federal program called Take Credit is providing $8 million in federal tax credits. First time home buyers need to purchase a home in Minneapolis or St. Paul before December 1 in order to get an $8,000 tax deduction. According to the article only 130 first time buyers will be able to take advantage of this program. To get the details on the Take Credit program do the obligatory click here and read more.
To sweeten the pot and make it more interesting, the City of St. Paul’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority has just voted on a first time home buyers program. They are putting up $500,000 for 33 first time “Hero” home buyers that want to live in St. Paul. Veterans, Police, Firefighters etc. will be able to get up to $15,000 in a zero percent loan to use towards down pay or principal reduction. In fact, no payments are necessary until you sell the home or no longer use it as a primary residence. Even bigger news is that if the buyer lives in the home for 10 years the loan will be retired.
Spread the word, the tax credits and the 33 loans will not last long. This HRA program combined with the benefits of the Homes for Heroes program will surely make home ownership for our heroes an easier reality. This program will launch later this month, so get moving and get some heroes into homes.
Since Homes for Heroes started doing Bio’s on our affiliates, we have asked the affiliate to provide some background information for us. With that info we would put together a post and put it out there. Reading this affiliates bio, there was not much more we needed to do. In his own words, Homes for Heroes, would like to introduce you to Mikal Knotek.
In 2006, the economy was beginning to unravel. The mortgage industry was the stone that broke the camels back with fraud and poor lending practices acting as the heaviest weight. I saw misinformed loan officers through out the industry using poor judgment and taking advantage of unknowing clients.
In 2007 I re-evaluated my business plan and included room to give back. I wanted to give back because the greedy side of our industry had taken so much. I wanted to change public perception and bring confidence back to my clients. It was important for them to know that Bell Mortgage was one of the good guys in the industry
I searched for several months to find an organization to align myself with that would take advantage of my skills in the finance industry. I knew right away after speaking with David Cohen and Ruth Johnson (Homes for Heroes) that Homes for Heroes would be the perfect fit.
The HFH philosophy is easy, do what’s best for our heroes. Homes for Heroes unites a whole industry on behalf of the Hero. No other program that I have seen does this. Becoming a Homes for Heroes affiliate has given me the opportunity to say thank you to the people who give everything of themselves every day.
MIkal Knotek
Mikal Knotek has been a successful mortgage professional, manager, technology entrepreneur, and industry consultant.
Mikal entered the mortgage industry in 1991 after the purchase of his first home. Learning the business from the ground up, he quickly moved his way up the ladder and became a leading roll in production. In 1997 he co-founded The Harrison-Knotek Group with his residential business partner, Kathy Harrison. In 1998 they moved their group to Bell Mortgage and helped evolve Bell into one of the area’s premier residential mortgage lenders. His residential origination’s exceed 300 million dollars over the past 15 years.
While still in the mortgage industry, Mikal founded Audit Technologies, a lender based audit and consulting firm. His keen industry insight gave new light to how lenders manage their service portfolio.
Audit Technologies and Mikal’s growing residential mortgage business led to the founding of Clear View Software, Inc. in 2001. Mikal used his industry knowledge and technical background to develop ground breaking industry technology that moved data to and from consumers and lenders with the highest level of speed and security. His company was later purchased by a leading Minnesota lender. Mikal’s extensive technical insight keeps Bell Mortgage at the forefront of industry changes and improvements.
In addition to Mikal’s residential originations, he is also co-founder of the Bell Mortgage Commercial Lending Group and oversees its day to day operations.
Every month or so we at the Homes for Heroes office try and have a pot luck lunch. It was always a success, and in some ways it still is. People stopped eating my offering when one asked why my “stews” were so tasty. I gave them the recipe. Two cans of cream of mushroom soup and all the left overs I find in the office fridge. Everyone started for the bathrooms and my boss asked me to see her in her office.
She wanted to know why I was trying to poison everybody at the pot luck. What? How could being frugal be considered poisoning someone? I let my boss know that the food in the fridge was slated for the weekly garbage dump and….. “Exactly!” She proclaims. I look at her incredulously and simply state. “A ninja knows what bad food is and my meals are far from being bad.” I also point out that our society’s perception of spoiled food is terribly misguided.
Pick off the green pieces, mix in soup and Voila! Lunch.
“Mister if you know what is good for you, you will stop cleaning out the fridge for pot luck lunches.” I start to object but there is a twitch in her eye that makes me pause. An Ninja knows when a battle is lost. I nod my head and shuffle out of her office knowing that I may have lost the battle but not the war. I go to my desk and start doing a little research.
I plunk down at my desk and type in “food expiration”. There was some interesting points. Did you know that all food expiration dates are voluntary? There is not federal law requiring that information be put on labels. Well it is required on baby formula and some baby foods. But other than that expiration dates are a courtesy of the food manufacturers.
The other thing that I found at WebMD’s site was a comprehensive description of all those “use before”, “best if used” and all those other freshness dates. This new information has brought some relief to my family. I have a big can of Parmesan cheese that was “packed” on November 3, 2002 and we still use it on spaghetti nights. Now I have proof that there is “nothing” wrong with it.
Here is a quick break down of what all those dates mean. For more detailed information you can visit WebMD.
The “sell by” date is telling the stores when the manufacturers would like the item pulled off the shelves. Which is fine, it is more of a quality move by food manufacturers. So if you have something in the house that is past the sell by date, don’t panic, odds are it is still okay.
This next one has cost me a lot of money. The kids will see the date and through the offending package away. It is the “best if used by (or before)” date. This date has absolutely nothing to do with spoilage. This is a manufacturers quality move. If McDonalds used this they would have a twenty minute date stamped on each order of fries they send out the drive through window. Have you ever gone through the drive through and noticed that the fries you eat while pulling out of the parking lot taste a heck of a lot better than they do by time you get home? You still eat those fries though don’t you? So keep that in mind the next time you find something in the fridge that is past the “best if used by” date.
“Use by” date is very similar. This would tell someone when the product will be at its peak freshness. It does not mean that if you eat it a week after that date you will die a horrible death.
There is a couple more date descriptions on the site, but these have done my household the most damage. I have posted these descriptions on the fridge in hopes that I can undo the brain washing my kids have learned.
Tonight, we are having the last of the Christmas ham in a fantastic Ham and Potato soup. They always eat it and never question how fresh the products are. I should probably keep it to myself that I only make soups to mask those old refrigerator smells of 2 week old left overs. We won’t EVER discuss my chili….
I do think that by understanding what these dates will really help the family food budget. You don’t have to through out the milk when the date is passed. Smell it. If it smells bad then I suppose you can through it out, but not before. Another thing to keep in mind. Eggs will last up to 5 weeks past the sell by date in the fridge. These economic times will soon require a more frugal look when we through out that loaf of bread or lunch meat.
And Art does not appreciate copy cats. Gufaw, Gufaw! Couldn’t resist. Ninja’s find humor in most things not associated with the way of the Ninja.
Yesterday at Homes for Heroes I was practicing the ninja art of not moving. This ancient technique is very similar to the resting stone. If you sit still long enough people stop seeing you. Anyway I was disturbed by someone laughing out loud. It really wasn’t a laugh, more of a snort. I break my training and swiftly place myself behind the snorting colleague. The result was immediate. She had stopped snorting/laughing, rolled her eyes and clicked the replay button of what had caused her outburst. Ninja’s are very effective at non-verbal communications.
There on her console was a video of a Police Officer that had committed a crime. There is nothing funny about crime fighters participating in crime. Yet as the story unfolded I found relief to know that Mrs. Justice ensured the scales would remain balanced.
This brought back a memory of a comedy skit done on a late night television show. The skit is funny but I am not sure which is funnier. Real life or this skit below.
I have watched both about 60 times and giggle at both each time. But in the end I think real life triumphs as being more funny. Who agrees? Let me know.
Questioning what is funny. How many of you are familiar with the term “British Humor”? This next story is a good example of that. If this had happened here in the United States I think there would be a large amount of hollerin and yellin. But for you out there with a dark British sense of humor, this should give you a laugh.
Yesterday I hinted at some strife taking place between me and one of my offspring. Let me just put it out there for all to see. My eldest possesses 24 years on this planet and he and his lovely wife are expecting their first carbon dioxide producing human. This is a great joy and blessing to our family and especially to me. For I am Ninja.
It has been a long tradition that a Ninja cannot train his offspring in the ways of Ninja. It is for the safety of the family. So my son was trained as a pirate. He is a good pirate, however, grandchildren are perfect candidates to learn the ways of the Ninja.
I expressed this point to my son fully expecting him to be honored that I would train his child in the ways of the Ninja. His reaction is the source of my strife. He told me that his child would be taught the life of a pirate.
I am providing a couple of videos in hopes of persuading my son and his wife that being a Ninja is a much better life than that of a pirate. You watch and decide. This decision must be made before the blessed child arrives. There is to be no time wasted in the ways of the Ninja.
This first video shows one of the first things a Ninja must learn. That your legs are your ally.
It is also important to train ones muscles in the fluid and graceful ways of Ninja.
Both of these I am sure have convinced you readers that this new creature must be taught the way of the Ninja. I will keep you updated as time goes on.
I think we have ninjas in our office. Homes for Heroes is a small office and we all know each other pretty well. So it is hard for me to believe that one of them is a ninja. But I have no other explanation. This morning I arrive at my desk and turn on my computer. I get up and mosey on over to the the new kitchen and pour my self a cup of coffee. The kitchen is only 4 feet away and in complete view of my desk. When I return to my desk, I set down my mug of brew and turn on my monitor. The monitor comes on but “no video present” is all it says. I am the first one in so I know that no one could have turned off my computer. I push the power button on again and get up to see if there is any one lurking in the shadows. I see no one but I feel a breeze across my face and turn back to the desk. The computer has been turned off again.
If that is how it is going to be, I say out loud, then let the duel begin. I myself have studied the ways of the Ninja and am not afraid to stare at the face of death. I quickly make my self unseen and change into my ninja outfit. Using ninja stealth, I reach my desk undetected and take a position underneath it. With a ninja masters grace I turn on the computer. I watch the power button for 3 full minutes, waiting to catch the office ninja in the act.
My plan is simple. When the office ninja reaches over to turn off my computer I will secretly sprinkle onto his hand my special ninja detection dust. I will let the ninja come out of disguise and resume his or her role as office worker. I will then make my way around the office and with my ninja trained eye sight, I will detect which office worker is the ninja.
Nothing, no sign of office ninja trying to turn my computer off. I may not have discovered who the office ninja is, but I did foil his/her attempt to turn off my computer again. I relax and come out of my hiding spot to take a look at my monitor. As my head rises over the desk top I am immediately distracted. My boss is standing there with hands on hips asking me, “just what in the h#$@ are you doing?”
I gain my composure as I notice that the computer is still not on. I explain to my boss that there is a rogue ninja in our midst and I was just trying expose and keep him/her from turning off my computer. She listens, then bends down and plugs my computer into a power source. There is your ninja, she says as she walks back to her office. Darn! Office ninja won’t trick me again, I think to myself as I reach over and successfully turn on my computer.
Who gets nervous when you are being followed by a police officer? Let’s say you are driving down the road minding your own business. You glance up in your mirror just in time to see a police car pull in behind you. If you are like me, you go into a an immediate and chaotic panic. I check my speed, I make sure I not only use my turn signals when I make a lane change, I use hand signals. I don’t dare look over to my passenger for fear it will be reason to be pulled over. Heck, I get so nervous I signal when my car wanders close to the line on the road.
I mention this because I read this article. Police in Florida are pulling over drivers to give them tickets for driving well. The tickets are gift certificates to the local pizza joint. My first reaction was positive, thinking this is a great way to stir up public support for the police. Then I started to think about it. How would you feel if you came to a complete stop, the take your turn passing through a 4-way stop, only to be pulled over by the cop behind you. I do not think I would be in a calm and relaxed state wondering why I was being pulled over. I know I would be very agitated and quite possibly let out a string of obscenities when police officer arrived at my door. I might even say “screw it” and take off, justifying the bold action by my faith in my innocence.
I would be on the news in a high speed chase, my blood pressure rising with every mile driven. Soon the old ticker starts to sputter and I pull over hoping for a quick ride to the emergency room. As the car stops, 934 police rush the car, jerk me out and slam me to the ground. As I protest my innocence and my urgent medical needs, one officer bends down and hands me a slip of paper. “Sir I just wanted to give you this certificate for a free pizza. You did a complete stop back at the 4-way and I just wanted to thank you for your safe driving.
I take the offering and thank the officer as the light fades from my vision………..
If you are a person that has a hard time living for short periods with out TV, pay attention. In this blog I will show you the technology to use house hold products to keep your TV running during a power outage. I tried it at the Homes for Heroes office, it worked, but I have been forbidden to ever do it again. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is my only defense. Read on to see why they had such a hard time with my project.
Most of this weeks blogs has been dealing with space saving and recycling. I am going to continue with this topic today and perhaps some more next week. I must confess, I started this tongue and cheek and that will continue, but there is a whole world of simple things that can be done that I find myself amazed at. Easy things we can all do that does not take a lot of skill. I know my wife has had her fill of this stuff. Especially when I start rummaging through the kitchen looking for stuff to make our next table lamp with. I got the idea from GreenProphet
.
Don't throw that doll away sweety, daddy is making a lamp!
Don’t you think one of these would look neat in the living room? So far I have a couple pieces tupperware, an old rolling pin and a rusty flour sifter. My wife is glad I have “reduced” clutter in the kitchen but as I sit at the kitchen table stacking this stuff she gives me the look that says there will be no “recycling” of that crap in her house.
This next item falls into the “reduce” category. Take a look and guess what it is. If you think you walk with it, you are on the right track. Is it an artsy pedometer? Nope. Is it road line painter? Nope. I will give you a hint. Music. Is it an MP3 player? Nope, but close. Tired of hearing me guess for you? Okay. It is a portable battery charger for your iPod. As you stroll down the office hall you never have to worry about your iPod losing power. Would it work for a cell phone? Good question, not sure. Do you want me to find out? Yeah I’m not that interested either. I am not going to walk god knows how far to charge my iPod or cell phone. But if you are seriously into the carbon foot print thing, this is a must have item.
15 songs to the mile is pretty good mileage.
Need extra storage in your basement? This next idea is something that when I saw it I said “duh!” Why didn’t I think of that? This is a great idea and I have implemented it down in my work shop.
Those wine boxes work perfect for this. Not that I drink that much wine.
This next idea I love but my spouse is not sold on it yet. All those old and out dated suit cases that are sitting up in the attic are potential medicine cabinets or kitchen cabinets. I don’t think it will work with the newer canvas type bags. Maybe in a teens room. Heck, if you do it right, it could double as both cabinet and suitcase. I will let you know how my endeavors work out.
From the bathroom to the plane with no packing!
How many out there have young kids? Do you hate coming up with ways to keep them busy for more than 10 minutes. Well, I think you will like this next “reuse” project. Just give the kids the instructions and materials and tell them not to come back in until after lunch is finished. Be sure not to give them any snacks before hand. Hunger is a mighty motivator. Yes I am talking about having your kids make a solar oven to cook lunch in. All they need is an old pizza box, aluminum foil, black construction paper, plastic wrap and something to cook. I tried this with the Homes for Heroes staff. I told them lunch was on me and they were all excited, but when a couple of hours had past and the hot dogs were still not quite done. Like I said, it will keep the kids busy for a long time. Time enough to sneak in a bath…. For full instructions check out the step by step instructions here.
Cook eggs faster than the sidewalk with this nifty oven.
Now is the time you have all been waiting for, how to keep your TV running when there the power is out. I had to segue to it. What segue you ask? Ready?
Speaking of baths, if you have an old bath tub, wiring, some metal plates and about 30 gallons of tomato soup, you have everything you need to keep your TV running during power outages. Hats off to the inventor. Try to put yourself in this inventors mind as he/she was thinking this up. “Mmmmmm, what can I do to “reuse” this bathtub and how do I get rid of these cases of tomato soup?” It actually works and now you can see why my comrades did not appreciate me lugging an old bath tub into the office and filling it up with tomato soup. Though, one person did pick up the game controller and play pac man. To see more of this fine piece of work visit this site.
Just think, you can play games and never have to leave the room for a snack.
One other thing to keep in mind is that if you are sprayed with a skunk you can shut the TV off for just a little while. I think that is enough and Monday I should have some more interesting stories and stuff for you to look at.
I think the cold is getting to me. -20F when I got up this morning. What the heck happened to Al Gore and his prediction of boiling oceans. Which we could use right about now. I had to plug the car in last night as to keep the oil from turning to a gelatinous stew. We woke up to a warm engine that started right up but had a tire dislike the cold temps and showed us by deflating itself. We were late getting to the Homes for Heroes office because the valve stem stubbornly refused air.
As you all know I am new to this blogging thing, only been doing it about a month now. It has been a learning process and I think I am getting the hang of it. However, there has been one thing that I have been trying to figure out from the beginning. How to embed a YouTube video into the blog. I can easily link YouTube, but from the onset I wanted to have the video right there. The problem, I found, was trying to get it to work with my service provider, WordPress. If you added an embedded video as one would normally, the blog became a ruined mess of digital pixels and data. Well I finally got it. Want to know how I came to this new knowledge? The Google. Just ask it a question and it provides something like 22 billion answers. All I had to do was check a box.
So todays blog will be practicing this newly added tool to Todd’s arsenal of great blogging tools. To date I have learned how to add pictures, hyper link, bold characters, start paragraphs and many more. I am excited so let’s get started.
Remember the other day I was questioning the full moons impact on animal behavior? You all doubted the existence of werewolves, but had to accept that perhaps the moon might be key to odd behavior. I have a couple of videos that may offer some visual insight into this phenomenon.
Here is a dog pulling another dog to safety.
Did it work? Cool. Here a brave dog saves a total stranger. That we have heard of before, but this vid has a little bit of a twist. There is a 1200 pound bull trying to gore a bullfighter. Watch how the dog takes command of this large and angry creature.
How many of you are pet owners? To be more specific, dog owners? Here is a simple test to see if you should trade the poor pup in. I have never been a fan of small dogs and this video hasn’t changed that.
Okay, Okay. I have had my fun but I still have to show you one more piece. This pet owner should be heading to the patent office right now and start purchasing infomercial time. I see a market for this. Exorcise your dog while at work? For four easy installments of $49.99 you never have to worry about your dogs health again. I also see paper delivery people drooling over the super deluxe model.
I think I am confident enough where I can take a rest, unless you want more? I see. Well from time to time in the future I will add some videos to the blog and they will be entertaining and you will all laugh and cry with the best of us.
No, I did not forget the $800 dollars in change. I will get to that soon enough, are you really that interested in what $800 in coins weighs?
I am starting to see reports that housing sales are on the increase. Here in the Twin Cities sales for 2008 were up considerably over 2007. That means that prices will start to reflect the reduction of product on the market. You know that whole supply and demand thing. Get a hold of your Homes for Heroes affiliate and see how they can put, oh say, $2500 bucks in your pocket at closing. That kind of money gets rid of that duck print wall paper in the kitchen or puts a whirlpool tub in the master bath. Get moving people.
Posted by homesforheroes 
is a small office and we all know each other pretty well. So it is hard for me to believe that one of them is a ninja. But I have no other explanation. This morning I arrive at my desk and turn on my computer. I get up and mosey on over to the the new kitchen and pour my self a cup of coffee. The kitchen is only 4 feet away and in complete view of my desk. When I return to my desk, I set down my mug of brew and turn on my monitor. The monitor comes on but “no video present” is all it says. I am the first one in so I know that no one could have turned off my computer. I push the power button on again and get up to see if there is any one lurking in the shadows. I see no one but I feel a breeze across my face and turn back to the desk. The computer has been turned off again.
office because the valve stem stubbornly refused air.
