I finally found one. A WII, that is. I’ve been wanting to buy a Nintendo WII for quite awhile but haven’t been able to find one. Today I went to a grand opening of a Fred Meyer store and got there just in time to get the last one. I hadn’t intended on going there but heard they were having a grand opening while I was sitting in the barber chair this morning and decided to drop by on the way home.
This thing is incredibly fun. The graphics don’t compare with an Xbox or a Sony PS3, but they don’t need to. Swinging that controller around and seeing my wife and daughter participate and have a good time makes it money well spent. We anticipate having many, many hours of good times with it. I already strained my back getting a little carried away with the controller today. I’ll have to remember to move a little less in the future. :)
On a completely separate note, I find myself watching interest rates a lot more these days. We have a mortgage at 5.75%. The most recent rates I’m seeing have a 30 year fixed down around the 5.15 or so mark. If they get much lower, I may have to consider refinancing. Since we borrowed a little money on a HELOC to buy the lake house property, I wouldn’t mind rolling that in to our main mortgage at a better rate (It’s currently 6.49) and lowering the rate on my main mortgage as well. This is the only debt we have and if we could get it all under 5%, it would be outstanding. We’ll have a lower payment in case we ever have a financial hardship and can pay more than the principal on it while times are good (or should I say normal). I’m sure I’ll be posting about that in the future if rates continue getting more attractive.
And speaking of attractive mortgage rates and real estate. Did you see Jonathon @ Mymoneyblog is closing on a house? He’s got a bunch of posts over there as he has researched the process. If you are thinking of buying, his posts are well worth your time. Check them out!
My daughter and son (6 and 3) both really enjoy it. We have 4 controllers for when friends come over. Though not many of the games we play are very serious, mostly things like Mario Party 8, and I was impressed when we rented Thrillville: Ride the Rails, it’s minigames were pretty well done.
I don’t think I’ll be buying an XBOX360 or PS3 (well, not a PS3 since Sony is evil). I’ve got all the fun in a console that’s trying to stand out rather than just trying to out graphic the competition.
Plus, my daughter kicks the crap out of me in Bowling. It’s not too often an experienced Atari generation person can play with a 6 year old and be on pretty even footing.
Mortgage rates in the past 2 days have gone through the floor. Just applied to refi our 30 year fixed mortgage @5.875% as a 15 year FIXED mortgage @ 3.875% (yes, that’s a three). This will increase our payment by only $150-200 a month (very do-able), allow us to pay off our house by the time DS goes to college & we retire, and helps reduce the sting of any AMT related loss down the road as we’re right now on the cusp of getting nailed there.
Now, the 3.875% is with taking 2 (still deductible) points that have us outlaying about $4600 which is also quite do-able upfront. When we looked at published rates on the website they’re only in the high 4% – 5% so my advice is call your bank this week, and a few other lenders (Citi’s also got kick-butt rates, though not as good as our CU), and ask what the rate would be if you take (and can take) points. These rates won’t last more than a week or so I think b/c they’re breathtakingly low for fixed.
I was able to try out a WII recently and it was fun..my girls, 6 and 4 enjoyed it and wonder if we can get one now…ugh…we enjoyed the sports games which I guess comes with it (?) tried out some other games but not that fun, nothing like playing tennis and boxing.
As for the rate, I am in process of refinancing from my optional ARM (7.85%) to a fixed rate of 5.5%. Initially got 5.75 but then when the rate was cut, was able to get to 5.50 with no points. Happy with that and now have piece of mind and out of the ARM.