Opinions Archives - Page 16 of 30

Refinancing a mortgage with SunTrust

*** Update September 9, 2010 ***

Heh, it was just pointed out to me that I never actually included the *amount* I was refinancing… that would make the numbers below a lot more useful if you want to compare your situation. I was refinancing $125,000.

*** End Update September 9, 2010 ***

You would think that something as straightforward as a mortgage refinance would be difficult to cock up. Heck, they (mortgage brokers in general) been doling out mortgages for years without even checking if folks can pay them back.

So, back in early January I contacted my mortgage company (SunTrust) and dealt with George Connolly to get a good faith estimate for my refi. I also contacted Lending Tree and they put me in touch with exactly one person so that ended up being the extent of my “competitive bidding”.

It eventually came down to two identical mortgage offers at 4.5% for 15 years with a difference in the closing costs boiling down to a discount that I would get for working for my current employer if I went with SunTrust.

Ultimately, I chose the SunTrust option, partly because they were a bit less expensive on the closing costs, but also because I had other business with them.

Things didn’t bode well when I received my “official” package from them that had a “Good Faith Estimate” for closing costs fully $1,000 higher than what we’d agreed upon. George assured me that they would be working off of the Excel spreadsheet version.

Also of concern was the fact that the $350 appraisal fee was not listed on the Good Faith estimate originally and George used appraisal fee and application fee interchangeably.

I suppose I should have bailed at that point, but now that I was into the process for $350 (appraisal paid up front) I was kind of committed.

Originally we were supposed to close the deal February 3. According to George 2-3 weeks is all this normally takes at the outside. Come February 2 I got a call from him that the folks holding my Home Equity Line of Credit still had not made a decision regarding “subordination”. This, I am told, is where they agree that it will not be a problem for them to be 2nd in line for my house should I default. Since this is already the case with my existing mortgage it should be a no brainer.

I was told that the subordination folks are really backed up as so many folks are trying to refinance , taking advantage of the good rates now.

So we pushed off the close until February 10, 2009 (today). I got a call from George yesterday evening that the subordination decision *still* hadn’t been received.

I called the subordination group myself today and found that the paperwork had not even been faxed to them until nearly 4 pm on the 4th of February. As of today they’re only just dealing with requests received from the 2nd of February.

I am *pissed*. Not only was the subordination stuff not even *initiated* by the time of my first attempt at closing but they didn’t even come clean until I told them I knew exactly what had happened.

At this point I’ll be VERY lucky if this thing can close for Friday – that also assumes that I can find time out of my work day to make my way to the lawyer’s office to do the closing. Time I had already arranged for… twice … to make it to the earlier closing appointments.

I’ve had to pass on a great hardwood flooring estimate (with a closeout price on a flooring we were really happy with) because I did not have the refi in hand. I’m so glad I did not go forward immediately or I’d now be in trouble.

As it is, I purchased some furniture expecting the refi would be settled by the time the credit card statement came due. But, since things are all bolluxed up I can expect to see the proceeds of my refi *maybe* a week from Thursday (3 day recession period plus weekend and bank holiday Monday). Two and a half weeks after the originally expected close date.

This brings me to a general peeve I have about real estate and mortgages. Why does everything have to be so convoluted? Don’t these people do this stuff EVERY SINGLE DAY as part of their job? How can they all be so bad at it? Is there anybody out there who HASN’T had to scramble like a madman at the last minute EVERY time they have bought a piece of property?

Heck, over and above my current situation, apparently I’m the only one who’s ever read the initial paperwork that they send out to be signed. One of the forms, 4506-T “Request for Transcript of Tax Return” they sent pretty much blank and instructed me to sign it and send it back. They were miffed when I pointed out that the form itself even says “DO NOT SIGN this form if a third party requires you to complete form 4506, and lines 6 and 9 are blank.”. Essentially you are just giving out blanket access to ALL your tax information. Then they insisted Michelle had to sign it when I added her name to the form in accordance with the instructions ON THE FORM that she needed to be there if I file a joint return. The form even stipulates that only the one signature is required… *sigh*.

Geez. Anyway, I’ve got a call in to George’s manager, Barry Butler.I’ve asked him to expedite this refi. But nobody’s accountable for anything. I called him at 4 pm, it’s now 5:30 so I suppose it’s a safe bet that he’s not going to bother returning my call either.

Thankfully I don’t spend more than I’ve got so, with some creative juggling I should be able to cover the shortfall without having to cash out any assets that will lead to irretrievable losses (I think). But this whole situation could very well have impacted my credit rating (by carrying a balance on my card) and has definitely wasted time and effort on my part, both in chasing around the loan entities to figure out what is happening and in trying to secure a reputable contractor and a reasonable deal for the renovations we’re about to embark upon.

What do you think, should the folks who stand to gain from this refi (closing costs out the whazoo) be culpable for ANYTHING?

BTW, my closing costs for reference:
801. Loan Origination Fee            $937.50
804. Application fee                 $350.00
808. Tax Service Fee                 $78.00
809. Processing                      $300.00
810. GA Residential Per Loan Fee     $6.50
811. Flood Cert                      $11.50
1103. Title Exam                     $125.00
1105. Document Review                $275.00
1107. Attorney’s Fees                $199.00
1108. Title Insurance (lender)      $250.00
1201. Recording Fees                 $50.00
1203. GA Intangible Tax             $375.00
1304. Other (discount for employer) $(250.00)
Total Estimated Closing Costs        $2,707.50

Note this doesn’t include the appraisal fee of $350
So I’m paying $3,057.50 (if this is even the final real tally) for the privilege of having my refi mismanaged.

** Update Feb 11, 2009 **

To his credit, Barry *did* call me later yesterday evening and left me his email address. So I sent off a note to him and George outlining my concerns. There is little they can do to right this SNAFU ’cause it seems that they have little or no pull with the Line of Credit folks but we’ll see if they at least can keep the rest of the process on track and maybe see to it that my closing costs don’t inflate when I’m in the lawyer’s office.

** Update Feb 15, 2009 **

I exchanged several emails with George on Friday. I cannot tell whether the Home Equity folks gave a decision on the subordination or not. But I *do* know that nothing happened.
Man, it’s just so nice to know that your lender really doesn’t give a crap.
I’ve spent the last hour or so researching Credit Unions but those seem to be quite the mixed bag. Generally, their published mortgage rates are pretty high, they don’t seem to have much in the way of connectivity (I like to pull my financial information down to my computer) and, of course they seem pretty limited on locations where you can withdraw your money. Anybody out there with a credit union that they can speak for?

Loose lips can get you arrested or, why you shouldn’t talk to the police

I can’t say that I’m the paranoid type, but this seems like good, common sense information that can help you protect your own interests. Professor Duane’s video has the most useful information for how to protect yourself in your interactions with law enforcement, while Officer Bruch’s information is more background to support Professor Duane’s contentions.

One refrain we hear, especially since 9/11 is that law enforcement needs to be made easier so that criminals can be caught more easily and more quickly.

Think for a minute, however, that some aspects of law enforcement – especially those that pertain to information gathering – really need to be, and to remain, difficult. That difficulty actually provides protection to you as a citizen from abuses that can be visited upon you by malicious, overzealous or just plain incompetent people within the investigation agencies.

The requirement to get a judge (and other third parties) to agree that there is just cause before your personal records are subpoenaed or that your phone conversations or email correspondence is monitored prevents your rights from being arbitrarily trampled upon by individuals. I suppose you can’t do much if there are systemic rights abuse issues, but that kind of situation may be correctable.

I never want to see the day when my data can be mined for potential threats and action taken against me because information gathered about me, for no other reason than that it’s available out there, can be distilled into a profile that is then used against me… oh… wait… please, we need to fix this 🙁

LendingTree.com

I’m on the market to refinance my home. I already had intentions of letting my current mortgage holder participate (my bank) but I wanted to get some other quotes too to ensure that I was getting a reasonable loan rate (and those closing costs!).

Anyway I signed up with lendingtree.com to get a few more quotes. “They’ll be competing for your business” is the way the jingle goes I think. Anyway, they *did* put me in touch with ONE lender who was very competitive. But I was a little surprised to only get the ONE. I live just North of Atlanta and there is a bank on pretty much any corner that doesn’t have a Starbucks or a church parked on it. So why only the one?

Just thought I’d through that out there.

Hmmm… Evolution in action?

Here is a case of a child that was recently born with 6 functioning fingers on each hand and 6 functioning toes on each foot.

Wow, imagine an era where we couldn’t “correct” such mutations. In an environment where we depended more on physical dexterity or tactile ability who knows if a population of folks with this ready-to-go alteration wouldn’t become the victors in the local Darwinian struggle.

Of course, in a not too recent era, all the religious folks would get together and burn this little one for being an aberration, a witch or for just being different and hence, terrifying… My interpretation of part of the religious (s)creed: If it ain’t already known, it must be bad. 🙁

25 Things about me – Because I was asked…

I was “tagged” in facebook and thought this list would be a nice addition on my personal blog as well.

1. I have been on crutches on at least 3 separate occasions in my life. Twice for reasonable things, once ’cause I was being an idiot

2. I have exercised rigorously pretty much all of my life, but it doesn’t really show unless you’re looking for it

3. I used to love summer school when I was in high school. I never could quite get the hang of mornings. I’d finish summer school before I’d normally have woken up anyway so no vacation time was lost for me…

4. I absolutely believe that you need to cultivate some bad habits to let off steam. You do not need to feel guilty about these, just don’t overdo them.

5. I spent a year attending one-on-one bible study when I was in University. We went through the entire New Testament. There were still a lot of unresolved questions after that.

6. I am an atheist. I don’t hate your god, I just don’t subscribe to any aspect of his/her/its existence. More properly I call myself a freethinker so as not to define myself within a context that is not relevant to me. Current conceptions of god are too small, too petty and completely overshadowed by the amazing natural universe for me to even consider otherwise.

7. I love bicycling. When I take a day off work in the summer I nearly always make time to take my roadbike out for 20 or 25 miles. I have cycled the Cabot trail on a tandem bicycle with my (now) wife, Michelle.

8. I dislike crowds and crowded places. I like the theory of large groups of people WAY more than I like the actuality. My favorite time is spent with maybe a half dozen friend talking over pleasant food and good drink.

9. I have never been to a rock concert (corollary to #8).

10. I am now a cat person. I was not until Michelle introduced me to cats. I intensely dislike dogs. There are some individual canines that I appreciate, but none of them can take me in a fight…

11. When I was younger I had 23 allergies, I could eat almost nothing, pets had to be fish or reptiles.

12. One of the hardest goals I have ever achieved was getting my private pilot’s certificate. Not having anybody who flies in my family made it very difficult to assess the effort and to understand the culture. Plus the arcane meteorology symbols and charts are ridiculously difficult to master. I consider myself a competent pilot (read – not a hazard to myself or others) but I recognize that I will be learning about flying for the rest of my life.

13. I have only stolen once in my life, it was an Aero bar (mmmm… chocolaty bubbles) and I was probably about 4 or 5. My mother made me take it back to the store and apologize.

14. I have not been bored since I was in grade school. I think I even remember that last time. I have too many hobbies and interests to wallow in morose self pity and I don’t have much patience for those who do.

15. My undergraduate degree is in Human Biology with a minor in computer science. I also had sufficient courses to minor in Philosophy but made computer science my “official” minor when I realized how good I was at it.

16. I tried smoking a cigarette ‘way back in grade school. One puff was enough to show me that this was not a habit for me.

17. I don’t drink coffee. In high school I started to cultivate a taste for coffee. But I was drinking it pretty much 1/2 coffee and 1/2 milk and sugar. I decided that, if I’m going to indulge in coffee, I needed to enjoy it on its own merits and should have it black. My first cup of black coffee went down, then came back up again in fairly short order. I realized that there weren’t any really compelling reasons to drink the brew and moved on.

18. I love sweets, but I mostly refuse to cultivate new tastes in desserts. I like enough junk foods that I do not need to cultivate any greater repertoire than I have now.

19. Due to #11 above my taste in food can be quite bland. I have become more and more adventurous in non-junk foods in my adult life. I never had Mexican food until I moved to America when I was 31 years old.

20. I much more enjoy a book or movie when I know how much of it is left. I will read a few chapters of a book and get rid of it if I don’t find it appealing. I usually am in the middle of 2 or 3 substantial books at any given time.

21. The things that bother me most about other people are the traits that I do not like about myself.

22. I am passionate about excellence. I respect people who exhibit it, regardless of what they are doing. I strive for it in what I do and would that I could achieve it more often.

23. I am a sucker for any movie involving immortality. The idea of spanning lifetimes to see the evolution of civilization into the future intrigues me. Also, the exploration of the price that almost certainly would need to be paid fascinates me.

24. I would love to live in California for about 5 years, Las Vegas too. I like it warm and I think those places offer interesting opportunities both from a work and from a personal growth point of view.

25. I like to know. I watch the needle go into my arm when I give blood or get a shot. I want to know exactly what the dentist is going to do. I cannot abide censorship and I have no tolerance for folks who want to “protect me”. My imagination can be worse than most realities (when you think about painful situations). Reality is very important to me, it grounds me and it gives relevance to the world around me.

There you have it, 25 things about me. Your turn!

Linksys PLE200 (PLK200??) Powerline Ethernet Adapter and wireless mouse?

After the disaster that was the Netgear Powerline Ethernet Adapters I was trepidatious about the technology. But, when I returned the Netgear adapters I went ahead and picked up the (much more expensive) Linksys PLK200 powerline adapters. Hmm… the box (and price) say PLK200 but the adapters themselves indicate that they are PLE200…

*sigh* looks like another trip back to Fry’s.

But the adapters still work really well. Trying Speakeasy’s test gets me 4-5 Mbytes throughput which is miles ahead of the Netgear adapters. Even letting them sit overnight (to get nice and hot) they didn’t get NEARLY as warm as the Netgear units. After I threw a Linksys 5 port switch onto them the throughput was still fine. So I’ve managed to network most of my new media center to the web. Even watched part of a “Coupling” episode via Netflix’s streaming technology.

Coincidentally, my wireless mouse has not been a happy camper for the past couple of days. It tracks along just fine but left-clicking (and even right-clicking) is just not… definite. Sometimes the click works sometimes not. I replaced the batteries a week or so ago and the mouse dialog indicates that battery and signal are fine so… I swapped out my own wireless mouse for Michelle’s USB wireless mouse to see if it was to do with my mouse itself. Nope, it does exactly the same thing.

Then, to make sure it’s not the computer running amok I grabbed the usb wired mouse from my server in the back room and… it works perfectly.

The only thing I can think that would generate EM radiation that might affect my wireless mouse seems to be these new powerline adapters. I unplugged the one closest to my mouse and it didn’t help at all but I realized a few minutes ago that I probably needed to remove both to be absolutely sure.

You don’t suppose it could be my Linksys 5 port switch?

MetroPCS phone for Michelle or why limited competition and walled gardens suck

I’ve had a Sprint account since about 2001. They weren’t bad and they weren’t great and the plan was only modestly expensive (about $52/month).

This gave us a very basic 500 anytime minutes each month for two phones with 50 roaming minutes and the usual long distance, etc.

I don’t need my own phone anymore as I use my company provided phone (Blackberry) nowadays. I found it really inconvenient to carry two phones and, since my cell phone number really doesn’t matter since I use GrandCentral, I can be phone agnostic.

So I did some research to get a phone for Michelle. What I wanted was for her to have all the phone features she’s used to plus text messaging and web access.

Sprint, like the other big carriers, charges a ridiculous amount for unlimited text messaging, $20/month.

My brother just got back from about 6 months in the UK and he was telling me exactly how reasonable cellular phones are over there which served to galvanize me even further.

I stumbled on to MetroPCS quite by accident. I was going to check out a T-Mobile shop and ended up in the wrong strip plaza. So I asked them what they had.

For the same $52 per month ($45 plus all those useless taxes) Michelle gets unlimited minutes, unlimited text, unlimited picture messages (take a picture and send to anybody), unlimited web and the usual long distance in the US. Another plus was, with a prepaid card, she can now call Canada for 2 cents a minute. Sprint would charge about 60 cents a minute to Canada. We have a calling card that she was using that gets that down to 7 cents a minute (from TTI National).

When I called Sprint to cancel my account after porting Michelle’s phone over to the new service they made the usual pitch to try to retain me (Boy, I think I’m going to tell the IVR system that I want to cancel my account EVERY time I call a business, no waiting to speak to a representative at all!). But the guy kept missing the point entirely as he kept offering me more expensive plans that didn’t even come close to the MetroPCS offering.

Now, as with anything in life, nothing is 100% perfect. What we lose in going with MetroPCS that we had with Sprint is a) we simply CANNOT use the MetroPCS phone at all in Canada, and b) there is some question about how well the phone will work outside of a metropolitan area.

For item a) above, the cost of using the Sprint phone in Canada was prohibitive enough that we used them sparingly. Michelle is ALWAYS with someone who has a local cell phone anyway so she just used theirs in the past to make a quick call. So there isn’t much lost there.

For item b) if we keep some extra cash on her MetroPCS account then she can always call from those “roam” areas if she needs to. Again, she’s seldom in those areas without me and my phone goes anywhere. So there is little or no expense to be had there. And if it’s an emergency, all modern cellphones can work in all systems regardless for calling 911 unless you’re just simply in a truly dead area and then it doesn’t matter what plan you’re using.

So, we had to search for a plan and a company that came closer to treating us like something other than a sponge to be squeezed for every penny we could pay. I have a very low opinion of all of our cellular providers since they have always been so adversarial rather than a consumer-partner. They need to realize that there is a LOT of money to be made even at a fair cost for services and that customer loyalty must be earned by treating the customer… um, fairly.

Even Verizon, widely considered one of the best for service and coverage (and the one I use for my work phone) I discounted because I’m still ticked at them for disabling the GPS in my blackberry – a feature intrinsic to the phone with no impact on the cellular network – so they could indulge in the blatant money grab of coercing their customers to pay a monthly fee for Verizon’s own flavor of navigation software.

And ALL of the big companies seem to take a perverse glee in massively overcharging for international long distance services. With the increase in cell phone usage, there has been a marked DEcrease in available pay phones or other alternatives for making such calls. So they use the Hotel model of the captive customer to nail you hard against the wall for such “luxuries”.
Also, text messaging has gotten *more*, not *less* expensive over the past few years. Not bad for a form of communication that is built into the infrastructure and is of absolutely no cost for the cellular companies. Every data signal going to and from your phone carries the space for SMS messaging whether you are sending messages or not.

I’m not saying that these things should be provided for free, but there is a reason that pretty much everybody hates their cell phone provider. They are viewed, not as a great service and a good value, but as an adversary who will absolutely crush you if you misstep. Ask any parent who didn’t have an unlimited texting plan when their kids discovered SMS…

Where are the editors?

Being a netizen, I’m used to the rather poor grammar and spelling that pervades the blogosphere. Folks are often more interested in the speed of getting their content out rather than the formatting of that content. Even though, ironically, it may turn out that all that “rushed content” may be the most permanent legacy of anything that folks today are producing. These people are not necessarily all that well schooled in written expression and content may absolutely be the focus of their efforts.

I accept that the English language is changing (evolving?) on an almost daily basis and, for the most part, I see this as a good thing. One of the greatest strengths of this language is its ability to grow and diversify in an unstructured and yet amazingly universally understood manner.

But I do take exception to news outlets being similarly sloppy with their written products. These are professionals, or at least the articles are published by supposed professionals whose job it is to make the form of the message every bit as relevant as the content. Presentation, in all aspects of life is important. Poorly crafted messages, in my opinion, degrade the perceived intelligence / care / thoughtfulness of the writer regardless of the reality of the situation.

I was reading this article this morning, and while I found the content compelling – it’s a situation we may all face some day – I couldn’t help but being struck by the fact that there had been very little care taken to proofread it before publishing it on a reputable site (WSBTV’s website). I found incorrect homonyms, missing possessive apostrophes and missing words. All perfectly acceptable in an amateur posting which is exactly what this isn’t.

You may call me nit-picky but I do feel it crucial that professional publishers set an example of what the current epitome of writing should look like. Folks producing their own content can use this to gauge the professionalism of their own work. They can choose to strive for such excellence in their expression or not, but I think it important that the examples continue to be produced by those who are supposedly trained in the art of writing…

Closet Cleaning

If you’ll recall, due to some changes in my lifestyle, I’ve lost a bit of weight recently (about 22 lbs so far). As a result I’ve found that many of my clothes no longer fit very well.

Also, my closet has been mysteriously filling up over the past decade or so and was sorely in need of a review. Michelle and I tackled the closet on Christmas day. We went and hauled everything out with the rule that only used / useful items go back in.

I can’t believe I didn’t think to take pictures until the closet was empty, but I *did* take some shots of all of the stuff that was in the closet once I had it all spread over the bedroom.

My first thought, on surveying the mountain of clothes was “How does someone who seldom sets foot in a store and NEVER buys clothes amass so many shirts, pants and associated stuff?”.

It turns out that Michelle has been diligently purchasing updated and properly sized clothes for me all these years and just putting them into the rotation. I am completely blown away by the number of shirts that I have. Nearly 4 years ago I posted a mini-poll asking people how many shirts they have, I now have AT LEAST 25% more shirts than back then (now about 110). That doesn’t even count t-shirts in my drawers for exercising and just schlepping around.

The local goodwill should be happy. Nearly all of the clothes that I’m about to take over to them are pristine. They’re simply way to big for me now.

Ironically, some of the clothes I’m keeping are ones that were too small for me but I hadn’t reviewed my closet to discard them. Thankfully, men’s fashions are such that pretty much anything I wore a decade a go can still be worn today. 🙂

I now have:

about a dozen Office shirts
another dozen Office / casual shirts (can wear to office on “Jeans” day or similar)
about a dozen leisure / sports shirts (golf, cycling)
half a dozen pair of jeans
nearly a dozen office pants
nearly a dozen blazers

all of which actually fit me and are in good shape.

I also have left exactly one dozen pair of shoes / sandals / boots.

Gone are the sweaters and hoodies that I’ve received over the years from well meaning relatives and software vendors. Also, I finally parted with many of the shirts from my triathlon and running days. They’ve been worn many, many times while exercising and, while comfortable, were just plumb worn out.

I also bid farewell, finally, to my venerable Rebel Swimming hoodie that I picked up back in high school over a quarter of a century ago.

Some things I won’t be using for a while (if ever) still remain. I have summer and winter trench coats that are in perfect condition, I also have three dozen ties that are still absolutely fine (we got rid of the worn and silly ones). The cane still remains, hopefully it won’t be needed for another half century or so but it’s still perfectly fine.

It’s a good feeling to move into the new year with that closet tidied up.

Click Here to see all the pictures

Maybe you’ll feel better about the junk you’ve got hanging around
when you see how much stuff I had to go through in clearing out my
stuff.

Oh, is anybody out there interested in a Canada Life 150 Year celebration towel/bag thingy? It’s a towel with an attached pouch into which the towel folds (see left). Let me know.

The garage is the next big task. Things have been accumulating on my workbench for years now as I’ve simply had far more things that I want to do than time to do it and stuff just accumulates when you don’t deal with it.

Ritter’s Restaurant in Marietta

Ritter’s is an excellent restaurant that has great food but seems a bit confused about its identity. I sent the following letter to them after receiving one of their emails again offering that theirs is the place to bring the whole family.

I am pretty sure that I am not alone in wishing for more adult-ambience in my dining choices. It used to be that you simply went to a pricier restaurant and you could get what I’m looking for. However, it seems too many people have more money than propriety these days and don’t seem to understand that, once the food is eaten, their kids are simply bored stiff waiting for the old people to finish yakking and drinking. The only thing to do is to start making a fuss or playing.

I wish I could just advocate for more common sense / consideration, but these parents obviously lack those capacities. Maybe by expressing some concern to the restaurant owners we can sway them into encouraging a certain atmosphere or, at the very least, they can guide their staff to perhaps group different kinds of parties to different parts of the restaurant?
Maybe couples are generally seated over there, larger parties over there, and maybe families over there?

Anyway, here’s the email I sent:

Hi There,

Just a bit of feedback from a confused customer.

First, let me say that I love the food. Ritter’s offerings are always top notch. My favorite is the Filet Mignon which is always cooked perfectly.

And the martinis are excellent as well.

The décor and layout of Ritter’s is also very appealing, not too dark, not too flashy, exactly what I want for a pleasant night out.

Now my confusion, from my perspective Ritter’s is a fine dining establishment. A little upscale and perfect for a quiet, pleasant night out with my wife.

But it seems that the ads that are sent out are always trying to position Ritter’s as a family place where folks can bring the kids.

It seems to me that the “Paper Mill Grill” is a bit rowdier and caters more toward children (louder ambience, more rustic décor).

If I were looking to take the kids someplace I think maybe it would be Paper Mill Grill or maybe I would just recognize that, once fed, they get bored easily and I need to take them someplace with lots to keep them occupied while the adults finish their meals.

Once the decision is made to head out for an enjoyable evening sans kids, I find myself looking for places that cater to an adult-to-adult atmosphere.

But the message I get from Ritter’s is very mixed. One of the last times I ate there, the Maitre’De decided it was a good idea to alternate couples’ tables with family tables. The adults at the family tables were clearly embarrassed as they could tell how their little one’s activities were impinging on the couples while the couples were obviously not super thrilled that their quiet night out was now just another “finish eating and let’s go” experience.

I thought you might appreciate a perspective from one of your patron’s point of view.

Marc

Am I completely out to lunch on this?