An interesting take on things....

Times are certainly changing. Yesterday I was working on my newsletter and added some information on the local market statistics. It's ugly. Higher number of listings, more days on market, prices beginning to fall. We have 6+ months supply in nearly every category - and over a years supply in homes over 350,000. Ouch.

So last night I headed to Pok-e-Joes to pick up bbq for dinner. I was originally headed to Rudy's but at the last minute changed my mind - so I ended up taking the back road up past Toys R Us, Second Looks, and an assortment of other stores and resturaunts. You know what I noticed? There wasn't hardly anybody out shopping or eating. I'm talking almost like a ghost town. 10 people in Pok-e-Joes and 5 of them employees. Maybe a dozen cars in the parking lot.

Is it just me, or are times changing?

On the way home I heard a great song that I really liked - All Summer Long by Kid Rock.



When I got home I hopped on iTunes to download it - only couldn't find it? When I did a google search I learned that Kid Rock doesn't do iTunes, or any other pay service. You can download his music for free and he encourages it. With a little more reserach, I found this interesting Kid Rock PSA - Steal Everything. Certainly gives us something to think about....

08's first hurricane

Well.....that was easy! Not so much for South Padre and some of the rest of the Texas Gulf Coast - but hurricane Dolly wasn't all that. In fact, she was nice enough to bring some much needed rain to the area....so I'm gonna send her a Starbucks gift card as thanks when I find the address. :)

Seriously though...we needed rain really bad and thankfully we got a bit. Now we'll be green again for a few days - and humid as heck. Gotta make some money for Austin Energy, right?

Not much new to report. Dinner with friends on the farm this weekend... Low key weekend at home other than that. A bike ride maybe? Who knows......

Dinner with friends

Funny how easy it is to forget to write about fun stuff in your blog! Over the 4th Rick and I went to visit his sister and brother in law in Wisconsin. We had a fantastic time! Although flying has lost it's glamor, once we actually arrived at the Appleton, WI airport we had tons of fun. Ricks sister, Dawn, and her husband Mike, are very fun, kind, cool people. We spent a night in their beautiful Victorian farm house, then headed to their lake house for the remainder of our stay. It worked out great since Rick's mom, brother, sister in-law and their two kids stayed on the farm.

Being back in the midwest was refreshing in many ways. Back "home" if you will. That and the temps were in the mid 70's compared to our 100+ degree days!

So tonight Rick and I had our friends Woody and Martin over for dinner. BBQ'd chicken breasts on the grill, summer squash and zucchini with asiago cheese and a great salad with Claire's famous dressing. YUM.

Neither Woody nor Martin had played any of the new gaming systems....Rick and I have way too many toys so we shared. We started with a few games of guitar hero on the PS3, then moved to mariocart on the wii. Good times.

Baby Grady is crashed out on the couch next to me as Rick and Woody are playing mario cart...check out the cute pics.... ;)

Fun conversations...

Recently I had the opportunity to reconnect with someone from my home town. Diane, the mother of a friend I used to work a the local health center with, is perhaps the top real estate agent in Boone, IA where I grew up.

As my parents and are are discussing (negotiating? debating?) their potential move to Austin, we're at the point where we need a good idea of what they can get for their house. Like many people, this is their largest asset, and it is scary for them to consider selling it.

So after talking with a few friends in the area I decided Diane was the best person to call. She and I had a fantastic conversation, it was very cool to reconnect and learn just a bit about what's been going on with her for the past 10 years since I left Iowa.

Here's my challenge to you: think about someone from your past, and give them a call. You'll enjoy the outcome!