Presenting The Seattle Housing Fund, Inc. Program

General Information

The Seattle Housing Fund, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) as designated by the Department of the Treasury. Founded in 1996, our mission is to build a local pool of funds that is flexible and self-sustaining in order to provide the financial resources necessary to help low and moderate income families and individuals become successful homeowners and to assist nonprofit and for-profit developers in increasing the supply of decent and affordable housing in Seattle.

(Pictured at right: Loretta Owens, Executive Director, and David Thibodeau, Board Chair.)

The Seattle Housing Fund is supported by a variety of public and private resources including investments from financial institutions and corporations, grants from local, state, and federal government, and foundations. NHF has funding commitments and earnings of $18 million.

NHF Programs Seattle Housing-
FRONT DOOR: provides a free hour of counseling, evaluation of credit report, and referral to various homebuyer assistance programs for anyone who wants to become a home owner;
DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: helps low and moderate income families become home owners by providing downpayment and closing cost loans; assistance will be provided on a graduated basis depending on household income;
DEVELOPMENT LOAN PROGRAM: provides low interest loans and other incentives for the development of affordable housing by not-for-profit and for-profit developers.

Since September 1996, NHF has provided the following assistance:
FRONT DOOR: over 3,700 individuals and families have received initial homeownership counseling;
DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: more than 1,100 families assisted in purchasing a home;
DEVELOPMENT LOAN PROGRAM: 541 affordable housing units rehabilitated or constructed using partial funding from NHF.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

OFFICERS:
David M. Thibodeau, President
Councilman Melvin Black, Vice President
David H. Gould, Jr., Vice President
Gerald F. Nicely, Secretary-Treasurer

MEMBERS
Dr. Calvin O. Atchison
Margaret Behm
Lisa Campbell
Bob Carpenter
Rick Chase
Councilman Chris Ferrell
C. Elaine Hancock
Rita James
Herb Shayne
Renata Soto
Eugene TeSelle
Steve Turner

What to do at Night in Phoenix

UPDATE 12/21/12 - http://phoenixshorttermhousing.com/

Phoenix is a growing city that works hard and needs plenty to do to unwind. Some days are simply too damn hot to go outside, so this is a city that has a lot going on once the sun goes down.

Whether you’re visiting or staying in Phoenix, you’ll find plenty going on after dark. Whatever your taste, whatever your style, we have something for you.

Old Town Whiskey

If you like your whiskey, or want to get to know the drink a little better, there is no other place to visit than Old Town Whiskey. The collection of over 100 different types of the fiery brown liquid is more than enough to keep even the most ardent whiskey fan happy for days.

Sun Devil Cellar and Pub

If you prefer wine to whiskey, the Sun Devil Cellar and Pub has the best cellar in town. This is a stylish, intimate space, full of soft furnishings and piano music. A great place to enjoy a mature wine or a cheeky chardonnay.

Four Peaks Hop Knot

The Hop Knot in Four Peaks is a winner of a number of beer-making awards, which means this venue is a must-visit for any red-blooded male. The local beers have to be tasted to be believed and there are enough national and international drinks to keep even the most traveled beer connoisseur happy.

Stand Up Live

Stand Up Live is perfect for if you need a little laughter in your life. A stand-up venue in more ways than one, this is the perfect place to see local comedians and national names at their best in a relaxed environment.

Time Out Lounge

If you prefer a beer and the game, the Time Out Lounge is the place to be. It has a good atmosphere, a great jukebox and plenty of viewing screens to watch the game. There is no attitude, no pretense and no problems at the Time Out, making it the perfect venue for indulging passions, football and beer!

Shin Bay

The ShinBay Japanese restaurant is a new kid in town but has already made a name for itself thanks to great food and a real buzz. If you prefer cuisine to bars, this place is a must visit. The food is almost too beautiful to eat.

Distrito

Distrito is where people who know and love food come to eat. Housed inside the Saguaro Hotel, the cuisine in Mexican-inspired with a modern twist and is amazing to see, smell and taste.

Lux Central

If you prefer more relaxed dining, then Lux Central is perfect. It’s a “scene” venue with a nice atmosphere and none of the pretensions of fine dining. The food is good, the venue cool and the cocktails are amazing.

Those are just a few venues that are worth a try when the sun goes down. Each was won acclaim both locally and often nationally for the quality of their produce and the service. You’re just as likely to find locals here are tourists, which is as good a recommendation as there could be.

new vid

CSS, Tips & Tricks

Check your blog’s rank at Popuri (Hattip: Daniel Blake Saltman)


popuri logo In the past couple of weeks I’ve been telling you what it takes to get your blog ranked and how the big 3 ranking sights work. There are a couple more but they are not really as important as the big 3. Today I’m gonna tell you a little about where to go to check your ranking.

Popuri is my favorite one because you can check all of the different ranks in one place. They also make it extremely simple to put a widget on your blog listing your ranking. I’ve put the one for this site at the bottom of this post. You just go to the website, put in your blogs URL, and voila. Your ranks appear. You can see the ranks for this site below. This site is so new that our ranking is pretty low but I’m sure it will grow with time. Right on the main page you will see your Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Compete Rank, Quantcast Rank, Google BackLinks, Yahoo BackLinks, Live Search BackLinks, Technorati Links, del.icio.us Bookmarks, and Bloglines subscribers. As a matter of fact I just discovered Compete and Quantcast ranking. Not real sure what they are but I will research them between now and next week for you.

My Popularity (by popuri.us)

popuri, Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Compete Rank, Quantcast Rank, Google BackLinks, Yahoo BackLinks, Live Search BackLinks, Technorati Links, del.icio.us Bookmarks, Bloglines
Blogging Tools 3 Comments »



The stats for the stataholics are PR4, Alexa rank of 4,278,362 and a Technorati Authority 135.
Great Blogs 2 Comments »
Paid Blogging: A List of Companies


 Today’s post on paid blogging is a list of companies that offer paid blogging options. Each has its own unique way of doing things, and some may work better for you than others. I’ve found that by trying them, I favor some over others. Everybody has a different feel or experience with a company, so poke around the sites, read the terms of service and learn more about them. I have not worked with every company listed, but I have worked with most of them (11 out of 14). You may find you like one company better than others, and you may end up working with many of them, or choose that they aren’t working for you. Some offer more work than others, and some are more selective in assigning work. With multiple companies comes multiple opportunities, so be sure to explore all your options.

If you would like to add one to the list that isn’t here, feel free to leave it in the comments. Next week, I’ll be doing another review on a specific paid blogging site. For now I’ll leave you with this list of companies. Happy exploring!

1.  PayPerPost
2.  Blogitive
3.  Blogsvertise
4.  Review Me
5.  Sponsored Reviews
6.  Loud Launch
7.  PayU2Blog
8.  Smorty
9.  Blogging Ads
10. CreamAid
11. BlogToProfit
12. V7N
13. Dewitts Media
14. Linky Love Army

Happy Blogging, Deb
Paid Blogging 6 Comments »
CSS Design part 3b: Images in DIVs

This is a pretty easy lesson in what to do with DIVs and images. It is all about how you want to place your elements within the page. DIVs are always broken up into layers. Each layer can be displayed in a certain order to make a page look the way you expect it to. Let’s say, for instance, that you have a picture that you want overlain by the text. You can do that with the z-index tag. This tag tells the internet how to display the layers of your page.

Let’s play around with this. I am going to take this picture:
 Which constitutes this code being placed between the body tags:

<div id=”image”>
<img src=”http://test.blogulalmighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/testtitle.gif”>
</div>

and create some text to go over it. In this case, I am going to use the words “Bloggers R Us”.

<div id=”pictext”>
<h3>Bloggers R Us</h3>
</div>

The code that goes between the style tags looks like this:

div#image {
position:absolute;
left:350px;
top:20px;
}

div#pictext{
position:absolute;
left:350px;
top:20px;
}

This renders a page that looks like:

test 3

Now we are going to take control over where the text shows up. The code between the style tags now changes to look like this:

div#image {
position:absolute;
left:350px;
top:20px;
z-index:2;
}

div#pictext{
position:absolute;
left:350px;
top:20px;
z-index:1;
}

You will notice that the text has disappeared now. It is actually BEHIND the picture. Switch the z-index numbers and see what happens now. The text shows up again. The z-index works up from the bottom. The first layer is the background and it builds up like a tower from there. The higher the number, the higher the precedence in order on the screen.

I was going to talk about the relative attribute, but I will save that for next week. Don’t forget to check out the code we have worked with on the test page. Ctrl-U to see the code.

Happy coding!

REMEMBERING THOMAS JEFFERSON ON NEW YEAR’S EVE

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”   -Thomas Jefferson

What would he say if he were here today?

A lot of numbers get tossed around when the conversation turns to the bailout and the ultimate tax payer bill for the excesses of the aggressively deregulated, greed-is-good, free-market ideology of the past 40 years.  None of them are as startling and disconcerting as that claimed recently in an article from Bloomberg:

“The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago. The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.”

Think about that.  Can you even wrap your brain around those figures?

And the banking industry recipients of TARP funds, loans, and loan guarantees have responded to recent requests for some accounting of their employment of these funds with comments ranging from “we don’t keep track of that,” to “we’re not going to tell you.” Nice.

Then there is Bernard Madoff, former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange and crown prince of greed, whose own sons apparently tipped off investigators and brought down a financial empire with tentacles reaching around the globe.

What have we learned from all this?  I’m not sure yet.  But if there is one lesson that I hope we can all take away from this–from homeowners who gambled on housing to the Bernard Madoffs of Wall Street–it is that greed is in all of us, and it is not good.

Here’s to 2009 and to hope for wisdom, humility, and hope.  I wish you a prosperous new year.

Basic Automotive Repair: Checking Fluids

Article By: Daniel Saltman
Keeping your car ready for anything is all part and parcel of car ownership. There are some who ignore such things and those who keep an eye on them. Ideally, we

would like you to be one of the latter. Checking engine fluids is the most basic automotive repair tasks there is, and the easiest. We shall discuss it further here.

Much like our bodies, a car runs on fluids. It uses gas, water, oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid and screen wash. We are all used to checking the gas, but not everyone is familiar with checking the others. That’s a shame because it only takes ten minutes and is a simple, but important part of auto maintenance.

First up, we should check the engine oil. This fluid is essential to allows the engine to run freely, stay cool and keep the motor free from dirt and particulates. If there isn’t enough oil, all these things are compromised, shortening the life of the engine and making it run inefficiently.

Fluids should only be checked when the engine is switched off and cold. This is for safety and accuracy. When heated, some of these fluids expand and circulate around the engine, meaning any readings you take won’t be accurate.

Look to the front of it for a small loop, often colored yellow, which should be the dipstick. Pull it out, wipe it down and put it back. Remove it once more and check the oil level. There should be two marks near the bottom called Min and Max. The point at which the oil stops should ideally be between the two.

If the level is nearer Min than Max, add some oil through the filler cap on the engine. Take care to use the right type of oil for your engine and pour carefully. Your manual will tell you which type of oil is best.

Next check the water. It isn’t just water, it is a mixture of coolant and water to keep the engine cool and to prevent it freezing when the weather turns cold. Most cars have a water overflow bottle, which saves you having to open the radiator. This too will have Min and Max markings on the side. Ensure the level is somewhere between the two.

Transmission fluid is present in both kinds of gearbox, but only checkable in an auto. There should be a dipstick similar to engine oil near the back of the engine on the passenger side. It should be labeled transmission fluid. If it isn’t check the manual. This too should have Min and Max.

Checking the brake fluid is exactly the same. You don’t have to open the bottle, you can just look on the side. You should also be able to see if the fluid is dirty through the bottle. If it looks cloudy or dark, it’s time for a change. Unless you know how to do it, take it to your auto repair shop.
Screen wash is exactly the same. Use the overflow bottle to ensure you have enough screen wash for when the road gets dirty.

Corporate Furnished Housing Spells Home Away from Home

There is nothing more hectic than corporate life. The corporate jungle doesn’t take any prisoners. You have to be on your toes to stay ahead of the game at all times. Your livelihood depends on it as well as your worth as a working individual. However, there are times when a person has to stop and take a breather every once and a while. Your employers do not expect you to work without giving you some reprieve from the daily grind. There are ways through which you can take your family for a well-earned vacation and work at the same time.

Corporate housing rentals are what you should be looking out for. Properties such as these are mostly meant for business people and can be rented out for a short term. These can include condos, houses and apartments. What you choose depends on your company’s budget as well as your own preferences. 

Business travelers usually choose these types of accommodations because on the amount of money they save. An expensive hotel room does not have the same luxuries as a rented house. Another thing furnished housing rentals provide to patrons is a level of comfort that is unparalleled by any other hospitality industry.


Moreover, they also provide you with quieter areas to work as compared to the noisy office buzz. Renting out furnished apartments to employees is also an ideal choice for companies especially if they plan on setting up a temporary office somewhere other than where they are currently located. Visiting executive managers or business partners are also accommodated within fully furnished housing accommodations in order to make their stay as comfortable as possible.

Corporate housing companies usually have a wide range of units to choose from. They include big houses, luxurious town homes and even lavish condos with many rooms and bathrooms. You would do well to choose one that suits you and your company’s tastes   the most. Your aim should also be to choose a dwelling that won’t interfere with your work.

There are also separate furnished apartment Denver companies that only cater to businesspersons. This means that the units they rent out will have all the office equipment you might need. In other words, you won’t need to go to a store in an unfamiliar area to buy any equipment and supplies. Such services also throw in LCD screens or projectors for business meetings. Other perks such as housecleaning and chauffeur services might also be included in the rental fee. The corporate housing industry is booming so you will be sure to find plenty that will vie for your undivided attention. In other words, there will be a lot of promising prospects for you and your company to choose from. The important thing is for you to get away from your work routine, take advantage of your newfound privacyand surroundings. You will get twice as much work done and relax at the same time. After all, you deserve it.