Five Minutes For Memorial Day

 Posted by at 9:09 am
May 262010
 

When I drove out of town the other day I got to wave to a couple of friends who were installing our flags on the the electric poles along Main Street. The day the flags go up is a special day for me and I love coming home later in the day to see those flags flying. So thanks to Jeff and Gary for the work–and to the many others who made the flags possible with donations and support.

I have occasionally speculated that Memorial Day could just be considered a day of thanks. But I’m not going to lobby for that because I do think it should be about remembering–it’s the remembering that makes us thankful. Watching Jeff and Gary reminded me of ”helping” my Dad get ready for the day many years ago. There were trips to the cemetery to plant flowers and place flags… a special day then, too. I guess the rituals were enough for a five year old to understand something special because I don’t remember many words. The speeches after the parades are long gone. But I do remember a crisp uniform and a somewhat strange combination of pride, sadness, and happiness as we went about the day. 

I’m glad I still experience that combination of feelings every year. Many things have changed but some have not. If you need some words to help with the memories, pride, and appreciation spend five minutes watching this video.

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Riding a Dead Horse (Just for Fun)

 Posted by at 5:22 am
Mar 292010
 

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that “When you discover you are riding a dead horse the best strategy is to dismount.” Modern business circles have a whole range of more “advanced” strategies. I thought I’d share them because sometimes in real estate we find ourselves riding dead horses.

  1. Buy a stronger whip.
  2. Change riders.
  3. Threaten the horse.
  4. Appoint a committee to study the horse.
  5. Visit other countries to see how they ride dead horses.
  6. Lower the standards so dead horses can compete.
  7. Reclassify the horse as “living impaired.”
  8. Hire outside contractors to ride the horse.
  9. Harness several dead horses together to increase speed.
  10. Provide additinal funding and training to improve the dead horse’s performance.
  11. Do a study to determine if lighter riders would improve the horse’s performance.
  12. Declare that because the dead horse does not need to be fed it is less costly and contributes substantially to the bottom line.
  13. Rewrite the performance requirements for all dead horses.
  14. Pomote the dead horse.

It is unfortunate this is not my original work because I’d love to take credit. By the way, I’m told this rings true in government as well.

 Just for Fun, Real Estate Business  No Responses »

My Dad’s Better Than Yours!

 Posted by at 8:25 am
Dec 212009
 

Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging of how great their fathers are. The first one says: “Well, my father runs the fastest. He can fire an arrow, and start to run, I tell you, he gets there before the arrow.”

The second one says: “Ha! You think that’s fast! My father is a hunter. He can shoot his gun and be there before the bullet.”

The third one listens to the other two and shakes his head. He then says: “You two don’t know anything about fast. My father is a real estate agent. He stops working at 4:30 and he is home by 3:45!”

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Riding The Real Estate Rollercoster

 Posted by at 9:04 am
Oct 082009
 

Friend and colleague Jack Falvey recently shared a great sales tip comparing selling to getting on a roller coaster. I think he’ll forgive me if I borrow his comparison so we can talk about buying and selling property.

A real estate transaction pretty much follows a predetermined track—although it may not always seem that way! Once you climb in the car, you are going to go follow the tracks.

What sometimes “gets us” are the ups and downs as we travel. In life and real estate they do level out and eventually we drift (some would say “screech”) to a stop at the end  (in real estate that’s called “closing”).  Sometimes the ups and downs are funny. Sometimes they are downright scary.

I often tell clients that we have a rule while we are working together: “You are not allowed to panic until after you’ve talked to me.”  More often than not, things look a lot scarier than they are—it’s really not that far down–or up.  My role is, in part, to make it possible for you to enjoy the ride. I do my best to help push you up the hills and help you keep perspective.

Jack suggests sales people should “let go and scream a lot.” I’ve pondered that comparison. I suppose if you enjoy terror and screaming that’s okay. I’d prefer you not scream at me, though. I’ll be sorta busy making sure we stay on track and everything levels out. You can sit in the front seat where you get the best view and the most excitement.  Enjoy the ride.  Don’t panic. We’ll get there safely!

(In the interest of honesty, I’ll admit that I might scream later when I’m alone.)

 Buying Real Estate, Just for Fun, Selling Real Estate  No Responses »

Teknawlogie in Maine Isn’t Flawless

 Posted by at 9:21 am
Aug 172009
 

Computer RepairThere’s an email about teknawlogie in Maine that makes its way around the email circle regularly explaining such mysteries as how “log on” means making the stove hotter… an upgrade is a steep hill… a server is a waitress… oh, and that waitress… Dot Matrix? She’s Dan Matrix’s wife.

Unfortunately, technology isn’t always funny.  This week it’s taken some extra effort to find the humor as a series of “weird things” have taken place and given me fits. I’m pretty sure you aren’t interested in the details.  (If anyone is intimately familiar with Outlook and Business Contact Manager, I’ll be happy to share.)

The net result is some “lost data” that I’m still trying to recover.  I’m a little concerned that I may have lost some Mooseprint subscribers. (Mooseprint is the print edition of this blog).  I’m quite sure nothing was affected here or with the subscription feature to this blog itself.

The plan is to reconstruct as much as possible and send out a Mooseprint in September.  In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you sent me your contact information just in case!

 This is one of those situations I could have a lot of fun with… but I’ve found sometimes I confuse people. When a new class is formed, I typically collect email addresses so we can stay in touch during the course. I used to send out a first email that said, “Let me know if you don’t get this…” I did find it confused some people.  (I actually did get an email once… “but if I don’t get it how will I know you sent it?” I hope that was an attempt to be funny as well!)

Conversely, I can’t exactly contact you for your information if I don’t have your information to contact you!

Are we confused yet? While I work through this please be a little patient… and if you want to send an email or give me a call with your address and phone number(s) that will help a lot.

Oh, one more tecknawlogie term…  I’ve been a cursor lately. A cursor is somebody who swears a lot.

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