Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.

Today I received the best form letter ever. I’m thinking about getting it framed because things like this never happen. It was completely unexpected in the sense that I have never heard of this. Read the full letter below.

Dear NTHEA Borrower:

North Texas Higher Education Authority (NTHEA) is a non-profit student loan secondary market. Because of our non-profit status we are able to offer our student loan borrowers benefits that other agencies / lenders may not. One of these benefits is rewarding student loan borrowers by forgiving the remaining balance on their student loan(s).

We are pleased to inform you that the remaining balance on your student loan(s) owned by NTHEA and serviced by Nelnet, Inc. have been forgiven. Your loan(s) are now considered paid in full and will be reported as such to all appropriate parties.

Because this forgiven amount is less than $600.00 you do not have to report this amount as income to the federal government, and you will not be receiving a form 1099 from us.

NTHEA thanks you for your business. If you have future student loan needs we encourage you to choose an NTHEA lending partner.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-366-4372 or metro 817-461-2333.

Sincerely,

North Texas Higher Education Authority
www.nthea.com

This means I am completely without debt of any sort, which has not been true since I started college almost exactly ten years ago. That’s quite an anniversary present. Thank you, student loan gods. I only had the equivalent of two payments left, but this is a very welcome surprise. I had been doubling and tripling up my payments so much that my next loan payment was not due until June of 2010. The funny part is I just started snowballing on the student loans as soon as they had online payments. Before that I just waited for my statement each month. What’s my secret? I made it a habit to pay a little more each time I thought about it, even if it was only $25. That adds up.

What does this mean for you? Pay off your student loans ahead of time and you’ll pay less in interest and maybe even get a little parting gift at the end of it all.

Josalyn came down for the weekend and it was relaxing. We were able to visit with a few of our friends, something that never seems to happen enough but is always beneficial. Saturday night we went over to Mike’s, who was in town from San Mateo for the game conference. I used to work with him over at Origin Systems / EA before they closed the studio and shipped everyone out to California. It was great to see him again and I enjoyed meeting his friends from Austin. It’s nice to go to a party where people nerd out and have intelligent conversation about topics like the differences between the various Protestant denominations without it descending to close-mindedness or polemics about faith or the lack thereof. I’ve reached a point where I can respect political or religious differences without judgment for the most part. I just try to listen what people have to say, and if I find myself in disagreement I try not to make an issue of it since everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how ridiculous.

It just so happens that two of Mike’s female friends attended seminary, one as a Presbyterian and one as a Baptist. I learned a lot about the Presbyterian belief system, which is very different from my experience being raised as a Baptist. They actually do communion and have creeds, which is something you don’t hear about in Baptist church, not to mention the fact that the Baptists do not have female ministers. The party was the perfect opportunity for my well-worn Baptist joke: “Question: Why do you take two Baptists with you when you go fishing? Answer: If you take one he’ll drink all the beer.” If you don’t get it I can explain. All in all, it was a lot of fun even though we just sat around the kitchen table and talked.

Sunday we called Sab and woke up the hungover Courtney and Phillip for lunch. We ended up going out for coffee afterward and talked until four or five in the afternoon. It was very nice. I’ve noticed that I’m in a lot better mood if I spend time hanging out with people and talking. We humans, as social creatures, have a need to rub our brains like stones against the brains of others.

On my way to Ninfa’s to meet Sabby for lunch a large bird appeared in the road before me. At first I thought it was a roadrunner, but then as I approached it turned out to be a pheasant. Yes, a pheasant crossing the access road of 183 continuing on to walk the barren gravel wasteland under the eight lanes of 183. As I made the turnaround, I stopped to watch him on the other side where he almost got hit by one of those trucks with the wood chipper on the back. I don’t know if he made it across. Where did he come from? I don’t know, but I don’t think wild pheasants live in the Austin city limits, not to mention in the business parks infesting central austin. How do I know it was a “he”? Simple. Female pheasants like females of most bird species are brownish and inconspicuous. It reminded me of the time a rooster decided to roost in our yard.

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I left Austin for the weekend on a weird note. Consider the following:

• While checking my oil at Exxon a couple of bums at the bus stop in front of Randall’s got into a fist fight. From a distance it appeared that the shirtless one was defending the honor of the obese woman who normally panhandles with the sign that testifies to her hunger, which I always find ironic since she has clearly not missed a meal. I smiled to myself thinking it was a mutual drunken slugfest, however a guy from the Taco Bell ran across the road with a golf club to rescue one of the dingy bums, who appeared to be on the defensive. Then I felt bad for laughing since the golf club guy had clearly interpreted the situation in a more sympathetic fashion. Maybe instead of a mutual slugfest it was in fact a case of one homeless guy getting his butt kicked by another who was just jealous about the obese woman? I will never know the details. As I left three of Austin’s finest rolled up to buttonhole the shirtless guy.
• Not five minutes later I was rolling down 183 at 80 mph. I spotted a pigeon, which appeared to be slowing down to land in my lane, the middle lane. I thought, it won’t land because it will see all these cars approaching. Nope. I tried to change into the left lane without swerving since it’s easy to lose control at those speeds, however I smacked the pigeon with a thunk on the right headlight. In the rear view, I saw a puff of feathers and the dead pigeon roll off to the next lane. Dang.

I spend so much time alone now that I’m getting used to my own company again. With my girlfriend living in Dallas, I spend most of my time at home scraping around in my burrow like the rats of Nimh, or Bilbo Baggins. Remember that kid who used to sit alone in his room with his sci-fi novels and dusty juvenilia? I am still that kid, only now I am heavier and hair sprouts from my face like rust.

Spending time alone has its down side. Sometimes I am the inhabitant of some cozy desert island mapping out my circumscribed existence in ragged breeches and a hat made out of a coconut husk. Only when I see others do I realize how long I’ve been marooned. Otherwise I just go about my business, folding clothes, reading library books, and drinking black tea with the sugar packets I nicked from Exxon.

• I appreciate the concise nature of lists
• Went home for lunch and ended up watching The Tyra Banks Show. It’s good as far as these things go, but why? The show works because Tyra Banks is likable and personable. She is genuine, which is strange currency for a model. During the show this guy got down on one knee and proposed to his staffer girlfriend after the revealing of her new makeover look. My eyes started welling up in response. This was followed by an immediate feeling of foolishness, and, to a lesser degree, a welcome sense that I have not grown too hard-hearted. Compared to Tyra’s cheerful ease, Oprah seems to be going through the motions.
• Here’s a strategy I want to employ based on my lunch experience: when I go out for dinner I should immediately save one half of my food to take home. This will have two benefits. One, I will have something for lunch without spending extra money, and two, I will not eat more than I need. What do you think?
• Allnetic Working Timer is the best program I’ve seen to keep track of how much time you spend on specific projects or tasks. When you’re tracking a project and go idle at the computer it even asks if you want to count the time since you went idle. If you freelance or you just need to track time for tasks or projects you need to get this. Right now I’m keeping track under the task “slacking off”. Since I track all the time I spend I can get some idea of how productive I am during the work day, which is not so good today.
• Thursday is the new Friday.