Red Clay Media - The Right Partner For Mortgage Lenders.

It is the time of the year where celebrations are in order but i cannot help sympathizing with the plight of the people who were affected by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. Defaults on mortgage loans in the US are at their highest in years and the damage to homeowners is extremely severe. There are already more than 1 million foreclosures in 2007 and many more people are facing the prospect of losing their homes, and are going through painful bankruptcies when they should be enjoying and celebrating the festive season.

Other than home owners, an estimated 110 mortgage lenders have collapsed, with US investment firm Bear Stearns and Northern Rock in UK becoming the poster boys of the crisis in sub-prime mortgages, and the troubles have spread beyond sub-prime mortgages to so-called Alt-A mortgages.

With the spectacular collapse of so many mortgage lenders and the expected contraction in the mortgage market, it seems only prudent that mortgage lenders should adopt currently available marketing intelligence services such as those offered by Red Clay Media, who generates premium mortgage leads of people who can actually afford to take out a mortgage.

Red Clay Media provides a range of solutions, specifically targeted at mortgage lenders, from acquiring exclusive mortgage leads, live transfer mortgage leads to online mortgage lead generation. With exclusive mortgage leads, all the leads come pre-qualified and are ready to buy, with all the screening work done by Red Clay Media. Their online mortgage leads can help mortgage lenders set up multiple internet marketing campaigns to drive leads directly to their sites. Together with their network of websites that generate quality leads for refinance, debt consolidation and new home loans, mortgage lenders can lower their cost per funded loans by as much as 40 per cent.

Rather than adopting aggressive marketing campaigns that push financial products and homes at people who actually cannot afford them and contributing to defaults and foreclosures, using targeted marketing intelligence services and exclusive mortgage leads generation offered by Red Clay Media is the way to go for mortgage lenders.

The Magic Of Poetry.

A bit of spring cleaning done over the last week, in view of the coming festive seasons, turned up something unexpected. Lying inside an old, dusty and out-of-shape box in my store room was a scrapbook containing poems which I had written a lifetime ago, when I was a boy.

Looking through them brought back memories of a time long gone. The places and neighbourhoods that I grew up in - changed beyond recognition by modernisation, and the childhood friends that, for one reason or another, have drifted apart and lost contact with. It reminded me of what it was like to be a child - innocent, naive, full of hope and optimism and also, the regret of passing into adulthood. How I missed those simple childhood days!

Days spent flying kites and playing marbles, hunting for fighting spiders, catching fish and grasshoppers and the wonder of puppy love for the girl with the twin pleated long hair. So, what is it about poetry that, through a few simple sentences, is able to evoke such feelings?

Poetry, meaning "I create" in ancient Greek, is a human language art form and is a powerful way of expressing feelings and ideas. Like art, the beauty and magic of poetry lies in the eye of the beholder and is subjected to different interpretations. It is intangible, an act of self-discovery and defines deep feelings and emotions. It is intense, captures distilled perceptions and is personal and unique to its author.

Poetry has the ability to take us on a journey, to places we have never been before. It is everywhere - in nature, in the moment we look into the eyes of those we love, in the depth of one's soul, in our memories and in the flashes of our childhood.

Poetry is there for you to contemplate - "It is as it is."

Mother
Once,
my tears
were dried
by you
but no
longer.

Once,
i loved you
but no
more.

Yet,
my mind
is full
of you.

Not,
as a
mother
but a
long lost
friend.
- My Den (circa1971)

Emptiness
Night time is overtaking me
as daylight falls behind.
My life is slowly losing
the sparkle and shine.

A life filled with promises
and empty bottles of wine.
This loneliness is beginning to

encloak me,
I've lost all sense of time.

Self-pity overwhelms me,
I've begun to lose my mind.
While death is overtaking me
and daylight falls behind.
- My Den (circa 1976)

"A poem begins with a lump in the throat, a home-sickness or a love-sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where the emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words." - American poet Robert Frost

*For more poetry of startling originality :
- The Eye Of A Poet by Billy Collins
- Each Happiness Ringed By Lions by Jane Hirshfield
- View With A Grain Of Sand by Wislawa Szymborska
- The Best Poems Of The English Language by Harold Bloom

*Related post : The Joy Of Writing.

Shopping With Coupon Chief.

With the festive season round the corner, it is the time of the year to shop for presents for my family. Unlike previous years, where much time was wasted hunting for the best bargains at brick-and-mortar stores, i am going to do my shopping this year with online retailers and what better way to do it than with CouponChief.com, an industry-leading provider of online coupons and discount codes to major internet retailers.

Not only do i avoid the crushing holiday madness, shopping with Coupon Chief can result in massive savings with discount of up to 50% for selected retailers. With just a click of the mouse, everything i need is right there - from searching by store or categories to recently added coupons. And with their extensive list of online retailers from BestBuy, Staples, Target to Dell, this is the best time for me to take advantage of their discount coupons and get that Enid Blyton book from Amazon.com that my daughter has been asking for and a new desktop at Dell for myself.

So, if you are shopping online, make sure you check out Coupon Chief for all your online shopping needs and save by using their discount coupons.

J.K.Rowling Under Attack.

Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling has come under attack by Christian evangelicals in the United States ever since she outed master wizard Albus Dumbledore as gay. Apparently this happened after she had told a New York audience recently that Potter's head teacher was in love with rival wizard Gelert Grindelwald.

Matters seem to have heated up with talk shows in the US Bible belt in the south and websites condemning and reviling her. Newspaper letter columns have also been filled with complaints. Roberta Combs, president of Christian Coalition of America, said :"It is disappointing that the author have to make one of the characters gay. It's not a good example for our children, who really like the books and the movies. I think it encourages homosexuality."

Calling for a ban on her books, Jack M. Roper on TV evangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, said : "Harry Potter is one hero who has captured the innocent hearts of many children. When such a hero uses evil as a problem-solving tool, we need to be warned. Over time, the child can be adapted to the dark world of witchcraft and not even know that it is dangerous."

Even those who supported this "outing" have not been spared. Melissa Anelli, of The Leaky Cauldron website, said : "My inbox is full of people who wish to let me know that I'm scum for supporting this outing, that J.K. Rowling should go back to the devil who spawned her, etc. It's really disgusting. We're trying to simply ignore it."

There are now fears that the backlash may affect profits at Warner Bros, which has two new Potter movies to make and a DVD on sale this Christmas.

The controversy reminded me of what author Anne Rice went through with her novel - "Memnoch The Devil" but it does leaves me wondering why Rowling would out Dumbledore as a gay, now that the series is truly over? More hype for her series? I very much doubt so as she definitely does not needs it.

I found the manner of the "outing" troubling though, as it is apparently an answer to a young fan question about Dumbledore's love life at a reading of her last book. Besides it being totally unnecessary, stating that Dumbledore is gay hardly seems an appropriate answer to a young child and with the series central themes of love, bravery, courage and loyalty, there really wasn't a need to muddy the waters with issues of sexual orientation, especially with it's popularity with children worldwide.

*Related posts :
- Turmoil In The Kingdom of The Golden Compass
- Tales of Beedle The Bard
- What Is J.K. Rowling Working On Next?
- Life After Harry Potter

Organizing My Garage With CarGuyGarage.com

With the festive season round the corner, it is the time of the year to carry out spring cleaning of my house. While i will probably have no problems with the rest of the house, i have a massive headache when i saw the state of my garage. Overflowing with my kids' discarded toys, gardening equipment, tools, old comics and books from my youth, i could hardly squeeze into the room and it makes me determined to get one of those garage cabinets available at CarGuyGarage.com.

With the extensive range of garage storage cabinets at CarGuyGarage.com, from the stylish Ultimate series, aluminum, stainless steel to heavy duty diamond plated cabinets, it will be great to have a storage solution for organizing my old and untidy garage and together with their attractive garage flooring tiles, transform it into a stylish and functional room for my family and friends.