Cold War Kid by Jack Boardman

 When my family first moved to our tri-plex on Ashland Avenue, the Korean War was still going on. My first friend in the new neighborhood was Johnny who lived on the corner of Ashland Avenue and Oxford Street.

One day in 1953 while playing in Johnny's back yard we heard the approach of a jet airplane, and in those days it had to be military as the first commercial jet airliner was five years away. The jet had straight wings; Johnny, with all the assurance of a five-year-old declared: "Thunderjet." A short time later another jet passed overhead, this one with sweptback wings and Johnny looked up briefly and declared with similar assurance: "Sabrejet." I accepted both declarations as fact. 

That was also my first exposure to the "Cold War." I had not yet experienced my first "duck & cover" drill in school mostly because I had yet to experience school. I knew nothing of Nikita Khrushchev, Chairman Mao, the Red Horde, Nike missile bases, bomb shelters, Conelrad or Civil Defense.

That all changed when I entered kindergarten, beginning with the first duck and cover drills there began the fear of "Atomic War" Those feelings were reinforced by the domestic propaganda of those days, TV shows, posters, comic books and movies.

That fear was always there somewhere in the back of my mind during the remaining years of the fifties. But we had other things in our young lives that kept such fears largely at bay; pretending to be cowboys of the old west, alley baseball, playing house (ugh) with my daycare mother's daughters on rainy days, or that favorite game "I'm bored and there's nothing to do."

In 1961 my subliminal concern about "Atomic War" evaporated after my social studies teacher told us that we probably wouldn't survive until adulthood as we would all be vaporized by an H-bomb. I decided that was probably true so I'd best enjoy my remaining days. It didn't do much for my grade point average but freed me to enjoy my teen years without that nagging fear in the back of my brain.

While G. Sax was writing his post about Skyways I think I was in the skyway, and thinking about writing a post about it.  I live by downtown and the offices of Saint Paul Home Realty are in the beautiful historic Gilbert Building on Wacouta street downtown.  The skyways offer miles of warm . . almost too warm . . indoor walking in the winter.  I sometimes use them just to go for a walk, which is what I did on Tuesday during the lunch hour.

This is the entryway to the 6th street sky-way just outside of Dayton's, which I am supposed to call Macy's because that is the name of the store now, but because I have lived in St. Paul my entire life I can still call it Dayton's.

There is a Popcorn stand in the lobby just outside of Eco Labs (Osborne Building), the popcorn is what I had for lunch that day.  I like to call it a box lunch.

I walked through the tunnels that connect the library to the rest of the skyway system and through the Xcel center and down to the court house and beyond. There are elevators but I get a much better workout climbing the stairs. The easiest way for me to get to the skyway from home is to walk down exchange street and cut through the parking ramp in the Xcel center and then go up to the skyway level. I can walk to the office but it takes about a half hour by skyway.

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.  In 2006 on a Friday I wrote a post about The Boardman Group.  Teams are very popular in Real Estate but most are made of people and that causes all kinds of problems for me, so my team is made up of electronic devices, and I call it The Boardman Group.   It makes for an interesting holiday party because instead of passing out year end bonuses and drinks I give them fresh batteries and maybe a good cleaning.  My team is fairly large but these are the key members.

Meet Miles

Today most of the members of the team I had in 2006 have retired.  The only member who still remains is Miles my trusty, infallible GPS.  Miles has been all over town with me and around the country.  Always there telling me where to go and how to get there.  I paid about twice as much for him as most people pay for a GPS these days but he is worth every penny of it and best of all he doesn't need batteries, I just plug him in and go.  I still argue with Miles but usually end up doing what he suggests.

Meet Berry

I had to replace Berry the blackberry several years ago. In fact I think I am on my 4th device.  I  wear them out and as I recall Berry had to be replaced because I wore out the keyboard. I understand why they are called crackberry's.  Today I use a Blackberry Bold on a 3G network. The dang thing does it all, and has some killer applications, including the ability to make phone calls.  Kind of old fashioned I know but I still call people and they call me. Now I can poke them on facebook while we are talking all on the same device. 

Donna Dell the laptop had to be replaced.  She was a good laptop, probably the best that I ever owned and I miss her.  She was replaced by an HP laptop a few years back.  She didn't have the built in web cam and her screen was smaller.  I have not given the HP a name, to be honest it just doesn't have much personality and will probably need to be replaced next year.  I have not gotten too attached so it won't be hard. 

I still have the Canon Elph camera, it still works but I have not used it in years.  It was replaced a couple of years ago by a Panasonic Lumix, but my weapon of choice is my Canon Digital Rebel.  For the last two years most of the photos on this blog have been taken with a Rebel.  People ask me what kind of camera I use.  It is true that with the right camera every photo comes out perfectly, and I take about 10,000 a year.  I had to buy a 1TB hard drive just for photos.  Interior and architectural photography have become a passion.  I like to make my listings look as artistic and appealing as possible.  I guess they call it marketing.   It isn't hard to take pictures that really stand out on our MLS, but it is a lot of fun. 

Meet Nettie

Last year I added a new member to the team, a Net Book.  She has been a real work horse.  Small and light with a battery that lasts all day.  Not powerful enough to process my enormous photos but great for the internet and for writing blog posts.  I can tether her to Berry on those rare occasions when I don't have internet access and need it.  Nettie goes everywhere with me and is great for travel.  I store most of her data in the cloud, and she is backed up over the internet after each use. Nettie also has a PC version of the kindle software on her that I really like.

My team is fairly low maintenance and easy to work with. They don't ask for raises or call in sick. They all work hard but they can be replaced if that changes and they are all tax deductions.    I don't have a photo of myself on my business card like other Realtor's have but if I did it would have to be a picture of the team.

A couple of days go I was looking at a house with some buyers. It was a nice house but we were all kind of put off by the olive green living room walls.  The house is empty and most of the rooms are painted in dark earth tones. I was imagining how my dark red leather love seat would look in that living room. 

The olive green walls were done in a semi gloss paint which is difficult to paint over especially when using a lighter color.

Most people can see beyond the paint colors in the rooms but in the back of their minds they are thinking about how they will need to paint before they can move in or are wondering if they can live with the olive green walls and the red sofa for a few weeks or months until they have time to paint. In my own home I have a guest room that is painted mostly red. I love it but I would change the color if I were to put my house on the market.  I would paint it real estate beige.  It is a wonderful color for rooms especially rooms in historic homes.  White is just too sterile, and almost screams apartment and those first time home buyers are probably sick to death of white walls by now.

Real estate beige is like white though it comes in many shades. Use a light shade, and don't use a semi gloss paint.   I recently used real estate beige myself on a room that I had not decided what to do with.  It had to be painted because I couldn't stand looking at it anymore and I had repaired the lath and plaster walls.  It is now a bedroom and the color looks wonderful with anything that I put in that room.  

We call it real estate beige because it is often recommended by Realtors and builders use it in the model homes. Trust me beige makes a home much more salable than olive green does and it is worth the investment.

by G. Sax (@gsax)

"You take the skyway, high above the busy little one-way."

– "Skyway," The Replacements

The skyway system in downtown Saint Paul almost literally connects every building in a 9 x 6 block radius.

To feel the true spirit of skyway culture, check out a weekday lunch rush. You'll find busy downtowners eating hurriedly in well-dressed packs, picking up dry cleaning, dropping off print jobs, depositing money, trying on new cross-trainers, getting in a quick workout…

The weekends are a different story. The second-story pathways are ghost on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, which is a damn shame. I suppose I may be shining an optimistic light on my teen past when I say it was much more lively in the skyways 25 years ago.

Yes, pockets of the central business district were certainly livelier, like Saint Paul Center and Galtier Plaza.

Saint Paul Center—made up of Town Square with its signature park area and Town Court with its signature fountain and World Tradeliness—was a shining example of urban renewal and excess. Galtier Plaza was always a bit of a stretch, but it was a nice destination through the skyways to Lowertown to get a stuffed toy gorilla, a frozen yogurt, or a ticket to a John Hughes movie.

And in between those anchors of commerce, the skyway system was a playground and could continue to be so for creative teens today. The comic book shops and fat slices of Sbarro's pizza may be gone, but the skyways are still a good setting for a game of tag with a group of friends. Set rules like no going outside and no going above the 2nd floor, and do your best to avoid the security guards.

I'm not condoning anything criminal, mind you. But I credit Saint Paul's skyways for honing my urban curiosity, and they're there for exploration. I still know my way around them better than I know downtown street names.

The next time you want to get from Crowne Plaza to Galtier Plaza without making a wrong turn, follow me.

Xcel energy has been sending this little report to my home with charts and graphs and average energy costs.  It seems that we use 30% more energy than what the report calls our energy conscious neighbors.

I resent the implication that my neighbors are more energy conscious than I am. Ha!  We all use our homes differently and energy costs are impacted by many things.  I have a home office, and I start work while it is still dark out.  I run printers, and computers, lights and a bunch of electronic equipment.  My neighbors drive to work every morning and some don't even bother turning on the coffee pot, they grab a cup at the coffee shop on their way to work. 

That doesn't mean that I am not energy conscious.  I  turn off lights and turn my printers off when I am not using them and the computers too.  All of the appliances have high energy efficiency ratings as does most of my office equipment. The furnace though is another story . . .

Don't get me wrong I like the report that they send it makes me conscious of energy use and costs. It is possible to call excel energy to get the average monthly utility costs for a home.  The number is 1-800-895-4999, and it is useful information for home buyers but keep in mind that we don't all use our homes the same way.  A family or four will use more energy that a single person and a geek Realtor with a home office, and who has to use two monitors at all times, will use more energy than her energy conscious neighbors.

We usually don't get to buy our dream house the first time out and for some of us we never buy it because a 3000 square foot Victorian on Summit avenue just isn't practical for us. 

First time homes buyers in particular like to ask how many homes they will need to look at before they find the right one.   Please don't ask because I don't know.  Everyone is different.  What I do know is that when you find that home you will know it.  You will love it.  If you don't feel that way about it, don't buy it. 

Chances are anyone who purchases a home this year and finances most of the cost will need to live in that home for at least five years, probably longer.  It will cost more than the 8K first time home buyers tax credit to sell it sooner.  Take advantage of the tax credit if you can but don't feel pressured to buy a home for the tax credit unless it is the right home.