Sez me: “Bill Gates stole this facial expression from me and I want it back!”
Category: Casual Friday (page 18 of 25)
tangled commitments
and juggled obligations
clatter on the floor
My entry: “Because I happen to like Argyle socks, that’s why!”
Teri suggested this, but it’s one I’ve always loved, too. Leslie Gore looking all of 19 years old, taking down You don’t own me in less than two minutes:
Here’s a Don Dilego cover of The Kinks’ I’m not like everybody else. This was the B side to Sunny Afternoon and I wore the grooves right off that 45.
I’m a fifteen year cancer survivor- does that make you feel pity? Don’t you dare- not even for a moment! I am not telling you this to manipulate your feelings or thoughts, and I don’t want or need your warm fuzzies. I’m telling you this because surviving cancer makes you a believer in the power of truth. When I was told I had cancer, it came on the heels of a 3 year stretch where my husband Jamie and I changed jobs, had 2 kids, and lost 5 close friends and family members to various diseases and sudden or accidental deaths. Jamie had just finished fighting a serious health problem of his own and at that point in our lives, we were in full battle mode. Hearing the diagnosis of cancer is immediately clarifying. If there is any doubt about what is important in your life, cancer will instantly put those priorities in order. There is extraordinary power in that truth. You are told the truth about the disease, the truth about your options, the truth about your prognosis. A cancer diagnosis is not an easy thing to hear, but once you hear all the facts, and only once you hear the facts, can you begin to fight.
At the time of diagnosis, your first thought might be that your life is completely out of your control- but it isn’t. Once you understand that you do have some control, now you can map out a battle plan. There were times when it was tempting to boo hoo to people, and I’m sure I gave that a try. Who doesn’t want some strokes when they are feeling sorry for themself? I was fortunate enough to have family and friends around me that refused to hear it.
Chris Johnson’s post made me think. I’ve never been entirely comfortable spending much time in the RE.net, but lately it seems that a big reason for being online for many of us is simply to get validation from other real estate professionals. Have we become addicted to posting pablum for the warm fuzzies? Have Realtors, not one of Read more
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I read all the works of Herman Hesse. Some of them over, and over again. Siddhartha stuck a deep chord.
Siddhartha, after living three years as an ascetic, emerges from the forest and meets a beautiful woman. In order to obtain worldly items to please woman, Siddhartha seeks employment with a merchant. The merchant asks Siddhartha “What have you learned that you can give?” Siddhartha replies “I can think, I can wait, I can fast.”
The merchant asks Siddhartha, “What good is fasting?”
Siddhartha responds “If, for instance, Siddhartha has not learned to fast, he would have had to seek some kind of work today, either with you, or elsewhere, for hunger would have driven him. But as it is, Siddhartha can wait calmly. He is not impatient, he is not in need, he can ward off hunger for a long time and laugh at it. Therefore, fasting is useful, sir.”
I can think. I can wait. I can fast. Those three short sentences became a mantra.
I can think. I can offer ideas, I can create solutions. I can wait. I can hunker down and stay the course. I can fast. One look at my waistline could convince you not to take this answer in the literal sense. But I can indeed wait calmly, in a position of strength, unencumbered by impatience or urgency.
I can remember repeating “I can think, I can wait, I can fast” to prospective employers a few times on job interviews back in those long ago days, to be met with blank, but polite, stares.
Fast forward a few decades. I write a post on Bloodhound blog exploring ideas about re-inventing a small real estate brokerage in the Web 2.0 World. People correctly point out that I need to assess what I can give a prospective agent.
I visualize myself sitting across from a new agent, conducting an interview. The agent is asking “so, what do you offer?” I ponder E&O, desk fees, commission splits, niche marketing, contact systems, lead generation, vertical searches. Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my.
But after all these years, I have come full circle. What else can I give Read more
…it’s really bad…
That’s what I woke up to this morning. Windy, cold and spitting rain. I had a home inspection in the nearby foothills and I had to sit through a brief brown-out — a cloud of dust so thick I couldn’t see to drive. The Russian Thistle were on the march — that’s Tumbleweed to you. In all, a brisk and challenging morning.
Is that what you can expect for BloodhoundBlog Unchained, if you’re coming to town this weekend? Not hardly. Sunny and not too terribly hot — for the Phoenix natives. Bring your swim suit. Should be clear and dry — what I think of as Chamber of Commerce weather. The conditions you’ll see this weekend have been selling homes by the dozens in this Valley since 1948.
Technorati Tags: blogging, BloodhoundBlog Unchained, real estate, real estate marketing
I have two Unchained games, if you’re interested in playing.
First: We say a lot of interesting things around here. In the comments, list your favorite BloodhoundBlog quotes. They can come from a post or a comment — serious, comical, whimsical or true Black Pearls. I’ll take those quotes and make a slide show for interstitial display, as it were.
Second: Pick out your favorites from the Unchained Melodies. Embed in the comments or post the YouTube link. I’ll snag a bunch of those to use also, especially on Sunday morning during registration.
And just because I’m in a Sunday morning frame of mind — and because I don’t do business that don’t make me smile — here’s a reprise of Treetop Flyer by Stephen Stills:
I finally commenced a project I have been contemplating for some time: I started printing out pages of property description text from various Bloodhound Realty single property web sites to put into a three ring binder, so I can refer to them for inspiration on those days that I struggle to come up with something interesting to write in a property’s listing remarks.
Following Bloodhound Realty for the past couple years, I am always amazed at, and envious of, the quantity and quality of rhapsodic text produced on a regular ongoing basis by the Bloodhound crew.
In that spirit I offer Friday’s Listing Remarks Haiku:
A poem. By Cheryl Johnson.
this is a nice house
two bedrooms one bath fenced yard
call for lockbox code
I’ve been sitting on Tim Waits tour dates for about a week. I’m glad I did, because the itinerary has been substantially revised from the original announcement. In the new line-up, Phoenix will come first, with two dates at the historic Orpheum Theatre.
Here are all the dates announced so far:
- Orpheum, Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 9:00 PM, Phoenix
- Orpheum, Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 9:00 PM, Phoenix
- Plaza Theatre, Friday, June 20, 2008, 9:00 PM, El Paso
- Jones Hall, Sunday, June 22, 2008, 9:00 PM, Houston
- Palladium, Monday, June 23, 2008, 9:00 PM, Dallas
- Brady Theatre, Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 9:00 PM, Tulsa
- Fox Theatre, Thursday, June 26, 2008, 9:00 PM, St Louis
- Ohio Theatre, Saturday, June 28, 2008, 9:00 PM, Columbus
- Civic Theatre, Sunday, June 29, 2008, 9:00 PM, Knoxville
- Moran Theatre, Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 9:00 PM, Jacksonville
- Saenger Theatre, Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 9:00 PM, Mobile
- Alabama Theatre, Thursday, July 3, 2008, 9:00 PM, Birmingham
- Fox Theatre, Saturday, July 5, 2008, 9:00 PM, Atlanta
There will be a European leg to the tour, as well, but I haven’t seen any dates for that yet.
And: What does Tom Waits have to do with real estate? If for nothing else, he commands our attention with this perfectly apposite observation: “The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.”
Later this month, REALTOR.com will be announcing that many of the Premium Services for agents (services that Premium Subscribers pay for) will soon be available to all REALTORS®. Services like multiple pictures, for instance, will be available on all listings. This will provide sellers with better exposure of their property.
This change is actually a major philosophical shift for the largest, most popular real estate site on the web. Essentially, they will be turning premium services into the new standard services and then developing new premium services. If successful, the pace of innovation at REALTOR.com should pick up and the site may be morphed from a member nuisance, to a member service. It is too soon to tell if this change will help REALTOR.com keep up with newer sites like Zillow and Trulia, but this is a positive start to a much needed change.
A poem. By Cheryl Johnson.
rival words compete
and clamor for attention
silence falls unheard
Haiku is a traditional poetic form with origins in 15th century Japan.
Yeah. Well.
There are always heavy duty posts on Bloodhound and I do my best to keep up. Lately, I’ve been percolating my own brand of seriousness. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about: Web 2.0 is different for girls. I’ve been pondering this for quite awhile, and last week it dawned on me that I might not be the best person to address that issue as I don’t think like a girl. Want proof? I’m here, aren’t I? Bloodhound isn’t the most girly place to hang, but that’s fine. Here’s the thing: it’s Friday, and it is Spring in Dayton. We’ve had a long, grey, and gloomy Winter, but it’s been 70 for the last few days, and the sky is blue and the sun is shining, and the mere fact that I’m making note of that will tell you exactly how cloudy it’s been around here.
Still, I have been doing some research on my serious topic of gender differences and apparently, I’m not the only one who has been thinking about this.
How about a BlogHer Study that says women might trust blogs more that traditional media.
The survey, conducted with Compass Partners LLC, illustrates several surprising new trends in social media, specifically that 36.2 million women write and read blogs every week and approximately half consider blogs a “highly reliable” or “very reliable” source of information and advice about everything from products to presidential candidates. Fully 24 percent of women surveyed say they now watch less television because they are blogging instead.
The implications for marketing real estate in a blog format could fill a blog post or two- if only it was miserable outside.
Want proof that girls might looking at this whole Web 2.0 thing differently than boys? Men are from video games, women are from soc nets. h/t @BradCoy
For those under 30, women and men are just as likely to be members of social networks. Sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Flixster are extraordinarily popular. But we found that young women are much more active on these sites then young men. And for people above 30, men – especially married men – Read more
by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
I was in Oceanside, CA, Saturday afternoon. My daughter is in the cast of The Wizard of Oz at the Star Theater. I watched her debut Friday night so I expected to while away Saturday at the beach or surfing the internet at Jitters Coffee Pub.
An interesting sign caught my eye. That sign and Mike Farmer’s proclamation that “real estate is dead” (he read it everywhere) got my contrarian mind whirring. The mere appearance of this sign affirmed my reason to join the Dan Melson recovery camp Searchlight Crusade.
N.B- Dan’s one of the sharpest out here; it sucks that he’s in my backyard.
Then, I read this.
…I’m just gonna recommend neg-am ARMs. Ask Mel Gibson why.