This is great....sad news...but great video. Watch just past the 40 second mark...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The best way to spend a Sunday afternoon
Sometimes in life the things that make you happiest are really pretty simple....
This is, hands down, the best way to spend a Sunday (or any other) afternoon!
This is, hands down, the best way to spend a Sunday (or any other) afternoon!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Good news for Austin Real Estate...
Many of you have asked about the rumored "due on sale" green upgrades that our mayor has proposed.
The idea behind his proposal is admirable. The implementation is critical. Austin Board of REALTORS® has a group working to help make sure that the final outcome is positive both for the environment AND for folks buying and selling homes here in town.
The text below is from a recent mailing and I wanted to share it with you....
Central Texas REALTORS® enjoyed an important first round success on the City of Austin Point of Sale issue.
Wednesday, September 10th marked the final meeting of the City of Austin’s Energy Efficiency & Retrofit Task Force. The 28-member body overwhelmingly opposed mandatory retrofits for existing homes and was unanimously in favor of a program that closely resembles a proposal made by the Austin Board of REALTORS® in May. It includes required energy audits, disclosure of audit findings and general education. It excludes any mandatory upgrades or retrofits.
This is a marked digression from programs the task force was crafting before the REALTOR® alternative was offered, which a recent economic impact study by AgResearch showed would have cost Austin’s economy $80 million. We applaud the work of the members of the task force and look forward to working with the City of Austin to create a successful voluntary program. The report will see several boards and commissions for review before going to City Council for a final vote later this Fall. Stay tuned for more about how you can tell the Austin City Council that you, like the majority of the task force and 70% of the Austin community, believe in education and incentives to achieve our energy savings goals.
The idea behind his proposal is admirable. The implementation is critical. Austin Board of REALTORS® has a group working to help make sure that the final outcome is positive both for the environment AND for folks buying and selling homes here in town.
The text below is from a recent mailing and I wanted to share it with you....
Central Texas REALTORS® enjoyed an important first round success on the City of Austin Point of Sale issue.
Wednesday, September 10th marked the final meeting of the City of Austin’s Energy Efficiency & Retrofit Task Force. The 28-member body overwhelmingly opposed mandatory retrofits for existing homes and was unanimously in favor of a program that closely resembles a proposal made by the Austin Board of REALTORS® in May. It includes required energy audits, disclosure of audit findings and general education. It excludes any mandatory upgrades or retrofits.
This is a marked digression from programs the task force was crafting before the REALTOR® alternative was offered, which a recent economic impact study by AgResearch showed would have cost Austin’s economy $80 million. We applaud the work of the members of the task force and look forward to working with the City of Austin to create a successful voluntary program. The report will see several boards and commissions for review before going to City Council for a final vote later this Fall. Stay tuned for more about how you can tell the Austin City Council that you, like the majority of the task force and 70% of the Austin community, believe in education and incentives to achieve our energy savings goals.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Do you ever wonder....
Why people do some of the things they do?
Now I'm not going to get into politics and wonder WHERE these people come from or WHAT ON EARTH they're thinking... :)
So one thing I've noticed a lot lately has to do with agents sending faxes. Now, in real estate, there's a lot of paperwork. Multiple page contracts back and forth with signatures and initials and changes and all that. It used to be that I always wondered why, by the time we got the stinkin contracts completed, they were about 1/4 the size they started.
In a recent class I learned that if you have someone tell you that the fax you just sent them is small, you can fix it by selecting the "fine" or "better" setting on the fax machine. This normally only needs to be done on home machines or those that are not designed for very high use. More robust machines automatically send the fax full size even at their lowest resolution.
So I'm over that....I understand WHY, and can help people fix the problem on their end, assuming they're willing to take my feedback in the way in which it is intended...which doesn't always happen. ;)
My new question is...WHY do people send faxes upside down? Now this is just a step above sending it with the wrong side up. As in, faxing 20 pages of the BACK of what you intended to send. I'm talking about taking the stack of paper, and putting it in the machine upside down. So that when we receive the fax electronically, each and every page comes up on our computer screen...you guessed it...upside down. ??? WHY?
Here's my solution. Let's ALL switch to an electronic signature system - no more faxing back and forth, loosing resolution each time. Let's jump on the green wave and eliminate the paper waste and go completely electronic. It's legal. It's inexpensive. It's easy to archive. And you just can't sent the stuff upside down.
Are ya with me???
Now I'm not going to get into politics and wonder WHERE these people come from or WHAT ON EARTH they're thinking... :)
So one thing I've noticed a lot lately has to do with agents sending faxes. Now, in real estate, there's a lot of paperwork. Multiple page contracts back and forth with signatures and initials and changes and all that. It used to be that I always wondered why, by the time we got the stinkin contracts completed, they were about 1/4 the size they started.
In a recent class I learned that if you have someone tell you that the fax you just sent them is small, you can fix it by selecting the "fine" or "better" setting on the fax machine. This normally only needs to be done on home machines or those that are not designed for very high use. More robust machines automatically send the fax full size even at their lowest resolution.
So I'm over that....I understand WHY, and can help people fix the problem on their end, assuming they're willing to take my feedback in the way in which it is intended...which doesn't always happen. ;)
My new question is...WHY do people send faxes upside down? Now this is just a step above sending it with the wrong side up. As in, faxing 20 pages of the BACK of what you intended to send. I'm talking about taking the stack of paper, and putting it in the machine upside down. So that when we receive the fax electronically, each and every page comes up on our computer screen...you guessed it...upside down. ??? WHY?
Here's my solution. Let's ALL switch to an electronic signature system - no more faxing back and forth, loosing resolution each time. Let's jump on the green wave and eliminate the paper waste and go completely electronic. It's legal. It's inexpensive. It's easy to archive. And you just can't sent the stuff upside down.
Are ya with me???
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Learning lessons....
Have you ever noticed that after we leave "school"....we REALLY start to learn stuff?
It also seems like those lessons are often painful or costly. Or both.
What's that about?
Now, thankfully I'm not thinking about this because I've recently learned something. Actually my recent learning has been fairly cheap and painless! I like that. I'm thinking about a client. This person decided to work with someone that was recommended to them by a friend/relative/etc. Things seemed to be ok....until just yesterday. We learned that there was a financial issue that really can't be corrected at this point. It really sucks. It's not a HUGE deal...but it's the principle of the thing.
I'm doing my best to try and fix this issue that has been given to us. It looks like we're getting close to making it right - but I'm not sure we're going to get there 100%.
All you can do is your best....right??
It also seems like those lessons are often painful or costly. Or both.
What's that about?
Now, thankfully I'm not thinking about this because I've recently learned something. Actually my recent learning has been fairly cheap and painless! I like that. I'm thinking about a client. This person decided to work with someone that was recommended to them by a friend/relative/etc. Things seemed to be ok....until just yesterday. We learned that there was a financial issue that really can't be corrected at this point. It really sucks. It's not a HUGE deal...but it's the principle of the thing.
I'm doing my best to try and fix this issue that has been given to us. It looks like we're getting close to making it right - but I'm not sure we're going to get there 100%.
All you can do is your best....right??
Friday, September 5, 2008
S^TC
Friends over for dinner tonight...Matt and Claire. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and a "Claire Salad"....we've never quite figured out what Claire does when she makes salads, but they're always so amazingly good I can't even describe it.
ANYWAY. After dinner we ended up watching the Stand Up To Cancer special. I cried the whole time it was on. Apparently I still have some pent up _something_ from my own two bouts with cancer. Although I beat it, there's always that question in my head - if I have a sore throat, or a headache, or my arm hurts, or whatever....there's that little voice inside the wonders if I have cancer again.
Now it's not like every day I'm leaving in fear. Every day I DO make conscious decisions about what I eat/breath/put on my skin/ etc in terms of what it could potential mean to my future health. Do other people do that too???
It's amazing how many people are touched by the big C. I don't talk politics much so I won't even go into how much money we aren't spending on cancer research because it's diverted other places.
www.standup2cancer.org
Think about donating. Even a few bucks can make a difference. Do it for the people you love, and the people that love you. Let's end this!
ANYWAY. After dinner we ended up watching the Stand Up To Cancer special. I cried the whole time it was on. Apparently I still have some pent up _something_ from my own two bouts with cancer. Although I beat it, there's always that question in my head - if I have a sore throat, or a headache, or my arm hurts, or whatever....there's that little voice inside the wonders if I have cancer again.
Now it's not like every day I'm leaving in fear. Every day I DO make conscious decisions about what I eat/breath/put on my skin/ etc in terms of what it could potential mean to my future health. Do other people do that too???
It's amazing how many people are touched by the big C. I don't talk politics much so I won't even go into how much money we aren't spending on cancer research because it's diverted other places.
www.standup2cancer.org
Think about donating. Even a few bucks can make a difference. Do it for the people you love, and the people that love you. Let's end this!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Changes in the air...change IS in the air....
It's funny.....when you have a lot of things rolling through your own brain, you are slow to pick up on the changes around you. In the past several weeks I've had some fairly weighty issues rolling around my head.....and as I'm trying to sort through them I've missed a few things...
This morning as I'm checking emails and planning the day, Grady is curled up beside me looking as cute as ever. I looked outside and realized that not only is it getting a bit darker a bit earlier, but it's getting just a little more late in the morning before the sun really kicks in.
Go with me on the train of thought here.....darker earlier.....lighter later....fall coming......COOLER TEMPS!?!?!? Keep your fingers crossed!
This morning as I'm checking emails and planning the day, Grady is curled up beside me looking as cute as ever. I looked outside and realized that not only is it getting a bit darker a bit earlier, but it's getting just a little more late in the morning before the sun really kicks in.
Go with me on the train of thought here.....darker earlier.....lighter later....fall coming......COOLER TEMPS!?!?!? Keep your fingers crossed!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Why you shouldn't buy a ford...
Aside from the American car companies being slow to respond to the changing automobile market and failing to produce fuel efficient cars, or even interesting and exciting cars, here's the best reason NOT to buy a Ford.
Have you heard one of their commercials lately? Great deals huh. Here's the problem. The volume on the commercials is so incredibly high and out of control obnoxious that even my 90% deaf dad can hear them.
Seriously Ford - what the @)(#$*&$?????? Do you really think the best way to sell a car is to have your commercials twice as loud as all the rest so they literally scare people in their own living rooms?
Have you heard one of their commercials lately? Great deals huh. Here's the problem. The volume on the commercials is so incredibly high and out of control obnoxious that even my 90% deaf dad can hear them.
Seriously Ford - what the @)(#$*&$?????? Do you really think the best way to sell a car is to have your commercials twice as loud as all the rest so they literally scare people in their own living rooms?
Sunday, August 3, 2008
It's just hot.....
I'm a heat weenie. Yes I admit it. It's not really that big of a deal, except for high electric bills.
Then there's the week of 100+ degree heat. I mean come on - enough is enough.
All week I've been thinking I'm just a big weenie - until tonight we were watching the news and apparently three people have died in Texas along - with several more across the midwest. How crazy is that?
Then there's the week of 100+ degree heat. I mean come on - enough is enough.
All week I've been thinking I'm just a big weenie - until tonight we were watching the news and apparently three people have died in Texas along - with several more across the midwest. How crazy is that?
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