Prosper loan

My friend signed up with Prosper and has a loan to be funded. Click Here to bid on it
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Prosper

I joined Prosper in March and have been lending money since then. Initially I thought the interest rates that people were paying were high and wasn't sure why anyone would borrow through Prosper. But when I began to compare these rates to the alternatives (credit cards, payday loans, etc.) I believe it actually can be a great deal for a borrower who has a few extremely high interest loans to pay off.

There are definitely risks. The company has only been doing these loans for about 1 1/2 years. Also I am concerned a little bit about people defaulting on loans a year or two down the road. It seems like people are more likely to be current on payments soon after they get the loan, but it might not be as big of a priority later on. To mitigate these concerns a bit I only invest a small portion of my income in Prosper loans on a regular basis. I've also tried to spread my risk by balancing loans with high interest and poor credit scores with ones with lower interest and great credit scores.

If you are looking for returns greater than 10% (my average so far is 16%) and want to potentially help other people out, you might want to check out Prosper.
And if you are looking to borrow money, this might be worth checking out as well.
Click here to join:

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Pyramid Triathlon

Pyramid Lake Triathlon pics

After our camping plans fell through for the weekend, I signed up for the triathlon. The course was fast and fun. The race started pretty close to on time. I normally would have a map of the GPS points recorded by my Forerunner 305 but I realized halfway through the swim that I forgot to put it. I guess I'll have to do it again next year :) I like races about this long because they don't leave me hurting for days afterward. I got 2st in my division and 8th overall (age groups, overall).
Jim and I went kayaking toward Warrior Point after the race, forgoing the free BBQ up the street from the race. And I even got in a bike ride with Megan in the afternoon.
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Family Reunion

Although the original plan was to go to the Black Hills, SD for our 7th biannual family reunion, we ended up moving the reunion to Canby, MN so we could be close to my grandma. Friday was our play day, filled with go carts, the water park, arcade games and museum in Watertown, SD. Once we arrived in Canby that afternoon, it seemed like the feeding never stopped. There was tons of great food (bars and hot dish, notably) the whole weekend. I ran about 29 miles throughout the weekend in Canby. Running really puts the size of town into perspective. By my house, I run 1/2 mile to get to a 4 mile loop that goes around our neighborhood. In Canby, starting from my grandma's house, I'd run 1 mile in any direction and I'd be 1/2 mile out of town. Sunday's run toward SD was very picturesque.
I'm glad we were able to see Grandma a few times. She even remembered the balloon races when they came out for Rebecca being born.
Speaking of births, Megan's sister had her baby on Friday, July 27 while we were out of town. So now I'm an uncle to Landan Ryan Olsen.
Kent gave us a tour of their farm and the Berkes' farm on Saturday. I was really impressed by their new house and all of the energy efficiencies they have put in. The in floor heating is really cool.
Dan kindly took us to the airport in Sioux Falls on Sunday so we were able to have a nice visit with him. Megan and I couldn't wait to get home and see Ashley, Ryan and Landan but United tested our patience by delaying our flight and causing us to miss our connection. Luckily they were still awake when we arrived home so we were able to see all three on Sunday night. I'm so exited to be an uncle
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