Veteran’s Day: From the Mind of a 10-year old

We’re a little off-topic today, being Veteran’s Day, but there will be plenty of days to get back to Clark County’s real estate adventures.

Let’s not have today become the forgotten holiday. Too many people died face down in the mud so we could live our lives in freedom.  Sure, there are days when we may be frustrated with work or our government leaders or other complexities of life; but we live in a country where we have freedoms that billions of others world-wide only long for.  When you think of that, it provides more meaning to the day.  This morning, as our family discussed the reality of what today meant, especially to our kids (besides a mid-week day out of school), my ten year old shared this poem he had written.

V – Victorious soldiers leave the war;

E – Eleventh Day, Hour, and Month;

T – Together, America stands;

E – Even in Iraq;

R – Ready we are, again and again;

A – Another soldier home, hooray, hooray;

N – No more war to come near;

S – So long, war, so long.

It is imperative that we share the stories of the sacrifices of those who have gone before us with those who come after us.  When I think about it, I realize my ability to write this blog, to speak my mind, to even live as I choose, is an indirect result of the sacrifices made by those before me who stood firm in support of our country and our freedoms.

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

John F. Kennedy

For myself, and for those who come after me, to all you Veterans, THANK YOU.

Are You Ready for Some (REAL) Football?

Let the debate rage… Pac 10 or SEC?  UW or WSU?  Seahawks or Dolphins… um, Dolphins?  Never mind that last one.

Regardless of your preference, as far as I’m concerned, you can keep ‘em all.  The real game of football, the one played by those who simply love the game, the school, and the community… well that game starts now.

For the High School players with dreams of a playoff run as well as the small tykes who live with the simple goal of seeing how muddy they can get, football starts in earnest this weekend.

So get out there Friday night and support your local high school team.  Or better yet, grab a front-row seat to the way sports of all levels should be played and catch a local Clark County Youth Football game at one of the local stadiums on Saturday.

You’ll find yourself reflecting back on all that was good about sports and envisioning all that can be good about them again.

For more information on local schedules:

Skyview schedule
River schedule
Bay schedule
Fort schedule
Evergreen schedule
Mt. View schedule
Heritage schedule
Union schedule
Battle Ground schedule
Prairie schedule
Camas schedule
Washougal schedule
Ridgefield schedule
La Center schedule
Hockinson
Woodland schedule

There… that should keep you busy this fall!

76 Days That Went by Faster Than a Usain Bolt Sprint

Clark County Kids are Back to School.

It seems like only 76 days, 10 hours and 34 minutes ago (who’s counting?) that kids were making the mad dash from their classrooms, into the outstretched arms of summer’s calling.

Yet looking at it now, this summer seemed to pass faster than a Usain Bolt sprint to a medal stand.

And while it may have only seemed like all of the approximately 74,000 Clark County school kids spent most of the summer playing in your specific neighborhood, as of today it’s likely a little quieter… as most, if not all, of these kids should be back in school.

I know it should go with out saying, but I’ll say it  anyhow.  With all those kids filling the school crosswalks and milling around the bus stops throughout Vancouver and Clark County, let’s take it a little slower in our mad rush around town.

While they may not admit it, the kids actually like getting to school, and your cautious driving around our school zones and bus stops will help them get there in one piece.

By the way, did you know there’s only 286 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes until summer vacation!  Let the countdown begin.

Clark County, Olympic Ties and How to Actually See Them

Yes, we all know that the Olympics are starting today.  Not like that’s a breaking news story. And here in Clark County, we even have some of our own participating.

But since all the action is happening half-way across the world, unless you keep (my kind of) night-owl hours, you will miss most of the fun.  Of course, NBC seemingly owns has broadcast rights to the Olympics, and you can see lots of programming there… but what if you tire of their announcers or angle?  You are out of luck, right?

Not necessarily.

Thanks to the wonder that is Internet technology, there are now loads of other ways to watch the Olympics. Here is a list of websites that offer various Olympic coverage.

Enjoy, be sure to cheer on our local and native Clark County participants, and look forward to Vancouver hosting our own Winter Olympics two short years from now.

Oh, wait, that’s the OTHER Vancouver.  (I was wondering how they were going to do the Giant Slalom on St. Helens…)

Back in the Saddle…

As I mentioned in my last post, I had tons of ideas that had to be left on the back-burner while I dealt with more pressing matters. Now, with a couple of days back in the saddle, I can point to the release of a couple of minor updated features to the blog.

As you notice, there are a couple of new links on the side bar.  One links to the new Clark County PhotoBlog, an idea I had last fall that I could just never find time to implement. It is still in the so-underdevelopment stage, but I have a boatload of images to tag and post.  The other links to the new Clark County Neighborhoods Blog.   Also resurrected from the “idea” files from days gone past, the ‘Hood blog will be about things really, really local (the buzzword, if you’re so inclined, is “hyper-local”).

With both blogs we will really be looking for contributions from our readers.  Especially the neighborhoods blog, as news, notes and activities in and around Clark County are sometimes best presented by those close to the action.

There are about 174 175 176 other ideas I am determined that I will eventually get to.  So, if nothing else, it should be entertaining to watch the trial and error process of my endeavors here.  And just think, all without an admission charge.

As far as our main blog, it will still be about house, home and real estate in and around Clark County, plus many of my aimless meanderings into other topics.  But these new sites will allow for an additional fun and focus about what makes Clark County a special place to be.

Thanks for allowing me to take you there.

Cooperate With Those Who Have Both Know-How and Bail Money

“Cooperate with those who have both know-how and bail money.”

Those entertaining words of wisdom came from my Dad. Mind you, I hope he expected me to work well with the former, and I hope he didn’t really think I’d need the latter. Either way, I’m not totally sure, as he didn’t tell me directly. I found it scribbled on one of the hundreds of scraps of paper that contained poems, notes, editorials on life and other random musings he felt he needed to write down and that I have gone through over the past two months.

As most of you know, real estate is my full-time gig, but one I may have seemingly been working at part-time recently. Especially in the area of my activity in social networking. I understand that a large part of my chosen profession necessitates a connection to clients, prospects and industry peers via social networking. But to really do social networking right, well, you have to actually feel social. Sometimes, life, you know, “real life”, (not twitter or myspace or your blog), makes it where you just aren’t social. Interestingly enough, some of those non-social times are when you most may need to be social or to interact with others.

I haven’t posted in over three months, and I haven’t really been involved on twitter in almost four months. That “real” life thing kinda took over. So, if you are wondering if you could ever stop your twitter or facebook or friendfeed or other social media addiction Cold Turkey, it can be done. I just don’t recommend my way of doing so.

See, this year my wife and I celebrated the first Father’s Day of the rest of our lives. What I mean by that is that over the course of the past three months both of our fathers went into the hospital, succumbed to fatal illness and passed away. Within five weeks of each other. As one of the counselors said with a huge degree of understatement, “the world is a different place without your father.”

After some closure (it’s never really “closed”, is it…) of the services and Father’s Day, we are now picking up the pieces and getting back to work. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all those who helped get us through these very trying times. We are also indebted to the great clients (they are now friends, really) who have stuck with us during this time as we diligently tried (but, with painful candor, sometimes failed) to maintain the level of service we are committed to providing.

I am dusting off the blog (and boy was it dusty) and adding some long-awaited features. Same with the website. I am updating twhirl so I can get back to twitter. I am even going back into facebook and friendfeed to get my (on-line) social life back in order. Social networking has its place… but don’t forget to enjoy real life while you can.

And remember, always cooperate with those that have both know-how and bail money.

There, but for the Grace of God, go I…

Locally, we had our little brush with the force of nature recently. We were fortunate. There are thousands who are not so lucky.

Fellow bloggers and just all around good human beings, the folks at AgentGenius and RErevealed have put together a program to help those recently devastated by the wicked twisters that wreaked havoc on America’s southern heartland.

They have asked for our help. If you think about how lucky we were in withstanding our recent tornado, you can only imagine how tough it is for those who weren’t so blessed.

While this site can not post donation links for these assistance efforts, you can go directly to any of these sites and help, any way you can.

AgentGenius
RErevealed
Phoenix Real Estate Guy

They would do the same for us.

That Time of Year Again… Open Season on Christmas Trees

In the Canton household, its NEVER too early to start Christmas. And I very specifically DON’T mean the shopping season, that – for me anyway – always starts the day of Christmas Eve. No, I mean the start of the celebration of the Season. The feeling, the atmosphere, the ambiance that starts with our annual “Trek to Get the Tree.”

Now this is an event we start planning for around, say, Labor Day. Measurements must be made of the room, furniture must be rearranged, plans must be well thought out, this all takes months of planning…. and in the end we put everything in the same place every year.

Anyway, as customary in our family as Midnight Mass and too many presents at Grandma’s, the Trek takes us to Thornton’s Tree Farm, in search of trees that Paul Bunyan has deemed too big to tackle. If we can easily see the top of the tree, it just won’t work for the kids. Very precise criteria has been developed to insure we have chosen wisely. For instance, if after cutting the tree down, having dad (that would be me) lug it back to the truck, unload it at home, and set it up, if he can still get out of bed pain-free the next morning, the tree was too small.

Thornton’s is a wonderful place. Especially since they let me back after that unfortunate chainsaw incident (kidding!). With a gift shop and hay rides and a petting area, its loads of fun… oh did I mention they also have trees?

Enjoy a little tour of the place and share in our Annual Trek.

[Sorry, the video didn't make it through our move, it really WAS fun, and we'll post another next year, thanks for dropping by.]

NAR-BASH 2007: An Upclose Look from Afar

Today at the 2007 National Association of Realty Brokers, Agents and SalesHelp (NAR-BASH) convention in Las Vegas, the association released it’s new state-of-the-art OS/Communication and Mapping bundle. (Seen below).

Dubbed Agent 0.94, and portrayed as the next Killer app for Re-la-ters, the association stated that this package of products and services could single-handedly pull the industry out of the ’80’s. Asked why they were going to such great expense on behalf of agents, one official simply stated “Membership has it’s privileges.” Although it is uncertain whether they had checked on the availability or trademark associated with that phrase prior to its use.

“We believe this product, in conjunction with the upgraded glossy-cover MLS book, will continue to allow the agent of tomorrow to be the gatekeeper of information associated with local real estate, and further allow them to be the judge, jury and executioner in the buying or selling process.”

(Ed. Note: For some reason, I was asked to strike that last part, but alas it was too late.)

As part of the Agent 0.94 Initiative, the association is also providing training on a wide-range of professional and technology tools, including:

• “How to Get the Most out of Your Polaroid”
• “Color Coding Index Cards: the Next Big Contact Management Tool” and
• “That New-Fangled Web-thing: Ten Reasons to Avoid it Like the Plague”

Word on the street is that there are additional plans and programs to come from the association. However, when asked, one official said it was too early to tell if they could recoup any of the “investments” the association had made at local establishments over the past couple of days.

(Ed. Note: At least we can be confident that our recent dues increases are being used wisely, as I was told that the association had recently handed over a huge amount of money “to the house”, which I can only assume is some classified housing down-payment assistance program which will assuredly benefit each of us in our local markets.)

Until next time, that’s the story from here, approximately 1,038 miles outside the convention center, and as close to a real understanding of the association as any other association member.

If You Build It…

“Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come… for reasons they can’t even fathom.  Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”  Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) to Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in “Field of Dreams”.

Like Ray Kinsella’s feeling towards his cornfield-turned-baseball diamond in “Field of Dreams”, I launched this blog with a leap of faith and a dose of apprehension.  While I didn’t plow under my crops and I only hear those pesky voices from the fields on certain days, it’s still an undertaking of uncertainty.

Will they come?  And who are they anyhow?

I’m not a big fan of doing things “half-baked”.  So as I contemplated launching a blog, I was concerned about the commitment of time and the creation of content.   Could I find time to write? Would there be anything to write about?  And even if I satisfied those concerns… would I have an audience?  Fortunately, after talking to my high-profile focus group (that would be my mother, my wife and my sister), I am guaranteed at least two readers, (my sister is still undecided).  With the comfort of that safety net, I dove head first into the project.

Then the light bulb went on.  It was then that I realized, with hundreds of transaction sides over the past ten years, there was an absolute potpourri of tales and tidbits to type about.  Something to be gleaned from every purchase.  A lesson to be learned from every sale.  Something of benefit for others from others.  Experiences, and not all good, mind you, which can – really should – be shared.  No gory details.  Nothing personal about people.  And the names will be changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike.  But experiences, nonetheless.  A chance to “learn from history, lest we be doomed to repeat it”, kind of thing.

The wheels were spinning now.  In addition to real-life experiences, there were market trends to be analyzed, evaluated and discussed.  There was news and events to be translated to help normal people (those without the warped perspective that a license and a title can give some folks) find a better grasp of the complexities and idiosyncrasies of the real estate industry.  There were simple, fun and entertaining things going on in our hectic everyday lives that might be of benefit to share.  I was really on a roll.

At least for now I was content to know I had content. As for time, we’ll just have to see how that one works out over, well, the course of time.

So thankfully, for now, Terrance Mann was right.  You came, as evidenced by the fact that you are reading this.  I hope you will come again and again.  Stop by often. Join in with a comment.  Become part of the audience, or better yet, the community.  It sure will take some of the pressure off my mother and my wife.