Send This to Five Friends

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A public service announcement.

Leonardo DiCaprio, will i. am, Tobey Maguire, and Forest Whitaker have created public service announcements to encourage American youth to register to vote. The non-partisan PSAs, produced by DiCaprios Appian Way, were created to engage and inspire young people to register and vote and participate in the upcoming election. Celebrities appearing in the PSAs include: Amy Adams, will.i.am, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Connolly, Courteney Cox, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Jonah Hill, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Kiedis, Ashton Kutcher, Adam Levine, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Ethan Suplee, Kyra Sedgwick, Michelle Trachtenberg, Usher, and Forest Whitaker.

If the embed won’t work (was having trouble with it), here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtHwWReGU0

Advice to Home Buyers

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A never-published sidebar.

In July, while I was working on the eleventh edition of Quicken 2009: The Official Guide for Quicken Press, I wrote the following sidebar for Chapter 13. But by the time I had completed it I realized that it was probably not a good addition to the book for various liability reasons. So I pulled it out and wrote this post, dating it to appear after the Quicken book was published.

I need to stress that the only thing I’m advising here is for people to be conservative when borrowing money. I don’t want to see the U.S. economy getting any worse, and I certainly don’t want to hear stories about people — especially people with families — losing their homes. Consider my advice and take it with a grain of salt. While there’s no reward without risk, there’s also a lesser chance of loss without it.

Here’s my unpublished sidebar:

Mortgage Options: What Does This Mean To You?

I’m not a financial advisor and I don’t feel comfortable giving financial advice. But here’s one piece of advice I feel I must give in this eleventh edition of my Quicken book: Don’t make unrealistic assumptions.

The mortgage crisis that’s currently going on in this country is due, in part, to unrealistic assumptions made by borrowers. Some people assumed that the home they were buying would quickly rise in value so it would be worth far more than they were paying in just a year or two. They reasoned that they could always sell it at profit if they had trouble making mortgage payments. Other people assumed that rates would continue to stay low or even go lower, so payments on their adjustable rate mortgages would stay the same or be reduced. And most people probably assumed that the economy would stay strong, fuel prices wouldn’t rise, and they’d stay employed.

Hindsight is 20-20. As we saw, the worst combination of economic changes recently hit the U.S. The “housing bubble” burst and home values declined. Soon, many people’s mortgages — some for 90% or 100% of the home’s purchase price! — exceeded the value of their homes. Some homes could only be sold at a loss, with the seller still in debt on a home he no longer owned. Interest rates rose and adjustable rate mortgages rose with them. The cost of living increased, making it difficult for many people to cover their living expenses and pay their mortgage. A rash of layoffs throughout the country left many people unemployed. It was the perfect storm.

When I advise readers not to make assumptions, I’m warning those of you considering a home purchase not to make the same mistakes that other home buyers made over the few years before the housing bubble burst. They assumed best case scenario and they were proven very wrong. It may be better to assume the worst case scenario. If housing values remain flat or decline, mortgage rates rise, the cost of living continues to rise, or you lose your job, can you still afford the home you’ve selected with the mortgage deal you’ve chosen? If not, perhaps you need to find a better deal or choose a more affordable home.

Be smart — not sorry.

Writing Tips

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Some wisdom from the trenches.

My meeting the other day with a wannabe writer made me realize that there are a lot of people out there who want to write but simply don’t have a clue about many of the basics. So I thought I’d start a new series of articles here. The idea is to share some of my insight with the folks who understand that they don’t know everything and that they can learn from other writers.

I realize that this sounds sarcastic, but I think it’s pretty close to the mark. So many wannabe writers simply don’t understand the basics of writing — or writing for a living. They have this glamorized idea of what it’s like to be a writer. They think it’s easy. And while it may be easy for them to write, it isn’t easy for most folks to make a living as a writer.

And that’s what it all comes down to. As a commenter here said, writers write. But if you can’t get paid for your writing, you’ll probably have to work a “real” job to earn a living. And that might not have enough time to write. So the goal of anyone who wants to be a writer should be to get paid for writing. Then they’ll have plenty of time to write.

My goal in this series is to not only provide tips to help you be a better writer, but to help wannabe writers or new writers understand how they can make a living as a writer and what that living might be like.

I’ve already written a number of posts that you might find helpful if you’re interested in learning more about being a writer. I’ve listed the ones that I think are best here:

I learned two things in the hour it took me to compile this list:

  • The list is a lot longer than I expected it to be. I wrote a lot about writing since I began blogging nearly 5 years ago. This list doesn’t include all the posts in the Writing category, either.
  • Before writing Saturday’s post, I hadn’t written anything worthwhile about writing since February 2008.

I urge you to read any of the posts listed above that you think you might find interesting. Comment on them, too. Your comments will help me develop ideas for new posts about related topics.

In the meantime, I’ll use the “Writing Tips” title for a bunch of short new posts that cover some of the basics. I promise not to be too chatty.

Tips for Flying at Lake Powell: Points of Interest

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The third of a four-part series about flying at Lake Powell.

Although Lake Powell is simply a beautiful place to overfly, it does have a few specific points of interest that you may want to check out from the air. I’ll cover them in this part of my series, beginning with the downlake points and moving uplake as far as the tour planes go on their standard tours.

To help you locate these places, I’ve included several maps, each of which has letters corresponding to their descriptions here. This first map is for the downlake points; the map you’ll find a bit farther down in this article is for the points that are farther uplake.

LakePowellPoints1.jpg

Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe BendThe first point isn’t even on the lake. Horseshoe Bend (A) is a horseshoe-shaped curve in the river a few miles downstream from the dam. It’s often photographed from the viewpoint at the outside “top” of the bend, which you can walk to from a parking area right off Route 89. Here’s a photo I took today from the overlook.

From the air, however, Horseshoe Bend takes on a completely different look, since you can see all of it at once. There’s an excellent photo of Horseshoe Bend from the air, taken by Mike Reyfman, in Part II of this series.

Keep in mind that this is one of the points visited by the tour planes. They’re normally flying a right hand turn around the bend at about 5500 feet, so be listening for them if you overfly.

Glen Canyon Dam

Glen Canyon DamThe Glen Canyon Dam (B) is the dam that keeps all the water in the lake. It’s accompanied by a bridge a few hundred feet downstream that crosses Glen Canyon. From the air, you can get good views of both.

Again, remember that the tour planes are also showing off this area. They tend to fly past between 4800 and 5500 feet, right after climbing out from the airport.

Wahweap Marina

Just past the dam, to the northwest, is the Wahweap area of the lake. It’s off the main channel and is home to the Wahweap Resort and Marina (C), currently managed by Aramark Services for the National Park Service. It includes a marina with slips and buoys, a tour boat dock, a rental boat dock, a resort hotel with two pools, and a campground. You can’t miss it.

The tour planes fly in the vicinity, usually at 5500 feet.

Navajo Canyon

Navajo Canyon (D) is an extremely long lake canyon that winds its way to the south. Outlined in white by the “bathtub ring” water line, it makes a fine subject for aerial photography early in the morning and late in the day. What sets it apart from other long side canyons on the lake is its width — it remains quite wide for miles. There’s also a huge sand dune against one canyon wall that’s a popular houseboat overnight spot.

The tour planes overfly this canyon, descending from 5000 feet (or higher) as they return to the airport.

Tower Butte

Tower Butte (E) is the iconic symbol of Lake Powell that you’ll see on various logos, etc. throughout Page. I don’t think it’s anything special, other than the fact that its top would make an excellent (but illegal) landing zone for a helicopter. It’s not even that close to the lake. But at sunset, it makes a good foreground subject for the illuminated cliffs and buttes behind it.

And if you’re flying low-level (think helicopter or ultralight) you might be able to spot some of the ancient ruins along the base of the butte — although I haven’t been able to find them lately.

This is a reporting point for the tour planes, which begin their descent for the airport right around here. Uplake beyond this point, the tour planes are on the uplake frequency (122.75).

Gunsight Butte

Gunsight Butte from Romana Mesa
Gunsight (F) is a large rock formation that resembles a gun sight. It’s just uplake from Romana Mesa, which is one of the tour plane reporting points. Beyond the butte is beautiful Padre Bay, which has some interesting history and is popular with houseboats.

This photo was taken from the top of Romana Mesa on one of my 4WD outings. In it, distant Navajo mountain is lined up in the “sight” of Gunsight Butte.

Gregory Butte

Gregory ButteGregory Butte (G) stands out in my mind primarily because of its photogenic qualities. If you’re flying uplake early in the day and take a photo up Last Chance Canyon with Gregory Butte in the foreground…well, you get the photo you see here. It’s one of my favorite views of the lake. This shot was taken by my husband on one of our first helicopter trips to the lake together. The water level is a bit higher right now. If it rises some more, Gregory will become an island.

This is another tour plane reporting point, as they fly downriver at 5000 or 6000 feet.

LakePowellPoints2.jpg

Rock Creek

The mouth of Rock Creek (H) is also an extremely photogenic viewpoint. Whether you’re looking up Rock Creek’s three separate canyons or up Lake Powell itself, the view from the air at this point is magnificent. I usually see it from around 4800 feet, which is admittedly low — remember, I’m doing photo flights — but it’s also good from above.

This is one of the turnaround points for tours, so expect a lot of tour plane traffic here. Listen in on 122.75. Traffic coming downlake will be at 5000 or 6000 feet. Traffic turning downlake here will be descending in a right hand turn from 5500 to 5000 feet.

Dangling Rope Marina

Out in the middle of nowhere, on the north side of the lake, tucked into a canyon, you’ll find Dangling Rope Marina (I). This is an important fuel and supply stop for boaters on the lake. What’s odd about it, however, is that it’s only accessible by water. There’s no road in or out of this place. Supplies are brought in on barges and garbage is taken out on the same barges.

Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow BridgeEveryone wants to see Rainbow Bridge (J) from the air. Everyone, that is, except those who know better.

The truth of the matter is, Rainbow Bridge is much better seen from the ground. The trouble is, it’s tucked into a relatively deep canyon that aircraft simply cannot get into safely. From a moving aircraft, you just get a glimpse of the bridge. And if you go too early or too late in the day, the whole thing is in shadow. Not the best experience.

If you’re serious about seeing Rainbow Bridge, get on a boat and take the 2-hour ride from Page to see it from the ground. You won’t regret it.

The Tour Points

Those are the basic downlake points of interest from the air. There are others, but I’ll let you discover them for yourself. As you’ll see when you overfly the lake, the entire lake is magnificent from the air. If it’s your first time visiting, you’ll be too awed to bother tracking down specific places to see. Just take it all in and enjoy.

In the final part of this series, I’ll tell you about some of the interesting points beyond Rainbow Bridge. If you’re flying in the area and aren’t on a schedule, you might want to check them out as well.

BE a Writer

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It’s a lot more than just taking a few courses in college.

The other day, I met a 20-year-old guy named Doug. (Not his real name, of course, but it will do.) Actually, he introduced himself to me. He’d heard I was a writer and wanted to meet me. He thought I wrote novels and when I explained that I wrote computer how-to books, he seemed disappointed. He told me he was going to school to be a writer. He wanted to write fiction.

I asked Doug what he’d written so far and his response disappointed me: “Nothing,” he said. “I’m only 20.” He then went on to tell me that he was still learning how to write. That’s why he was studying it in school. So far, he’d learned that stories had “a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

Wow.

To understand my take on this poor misguided soul, you need to understand that I’ve always wanted to be a writer. And I began writing when I was about 13.

I didn’t always want to write computer how-to books. Computers — well, the desktop kind, anyway — didn’t exist when I was a kid. I wanted to write fiction, just like Doug does. But I didn’t have any illusions about going to school to be a writer. (At 13, I didn’t expect to attend college when I finished high school.) So I started writing on my own. Practice makes perfect, right?

Years later, after following a career path that didn’t interest me and paying my dues, I found success writing computer how-to books. I didn’t go to college to become a writer. All I had was two semesters of creative writing. (I was able to skip English 101 and 102 because of my ability to write an essay that proved I didn’t need these basic English courses.) But I had years of practice — and am still practicing here.

So when I met a 20-year-old who wanted to be a writer, I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t writing. After all, how can you be a writer if you don’t write?

I was disappointed and, in all honesty, a bit disgusted with Doug’s lack of insight and drive on his chosen career. (At 20, I already had my BBA and a full-time job.) But I didn’t want to be rude, so I thought I’d venture a suggestion. Doug was working at a part-time job that had a lot of down time — time he wasn’t particularly busy with job duties. I suggested that he spend his down time people watching. “Keep a journal,” I suggested. “Jot down bits and pieces of the character traits you see and conversations you overhear. You might be able to draw on these real-life characters when you develop your own fictional characters.”

As you might imagine, he didn’t seem very interested. And that’s when I decided to stop wasting my time.

What’s strange about all this is that I’ve been invited to speak to my local high school’s journalism class about writing. I’m not a journalist, but I’m pretty sure that the kids taking this course have writing interests besides journalism. I plan to share with them some of the “secrets to success” for being a writer. I think they’ll be surprised by what I’ve got to say.

I guess what I’m thinking about all this is: if you’re 20 years old and you need to take a college course to learn that a piece of fiction has a beginning, a middle, and an end, you’re probably not going to be much of a writer.

To be a writer, you need to be a writer. The only way to do that is to write.