realweenie

T no Fake GS

So sorry to disappoint but I am not the fake Greg Swann.  I have received a couple of emails suggesting that I might be.  If you think about it a bit you will know that I am telling the truth.

I may have the imagination required to pull such a stunt but I really don't have time, or the desire.  If I did have the time  I would rather be the fake Joe Ferrara  , Jim Cronin or maybe Joel Burslem.  Not sure I could be the fake Todd Carpenter.  Could we handle two Todd Carpenters?  Should I give it a try?  Nah

Run Damion, Run

Taken from the site referenced in orange in the above graphic:

" IReference.org used to be a blog portal for local area blogs. After some time, I got tired of dealing with it and decided to turn it into a funny reference blog.

As the site grows you will be able to search for different things that I find interesting and have put a funny twist on or simply some useless information that you may find funny or interesting.

Comments are closed."

If your site is getting traffic, it is becasue several of us are watching it. 

Just For Fun

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

The Weenie Gets a Make Over

Yah I know it is kind of like putting lipstick on a pig but I thought with a little tweaking I could spruce the place up a bit.

This weapon of mass destruction  cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand got off to a bad start.  It started as a joke and shortly after it was discovered, it was deleted, only to be hastily recreated.  It won an award before is was 48 hours old,   and a follow-up post from Greg  the all knowing.  Within the first week of it's existence the weenie got some attention from Inman news, see bloggers go meta, and casualties of blog war,  Inman later bought the blog, or maybe it was just an April fools joke.

I never finished setting this bad blog up.  So I decided to do a little work.  It now has more categories, some pages that will appear in the next week or two, and a second sidebar.  I was never happy with the banner, I think when I deleted the origional blog, I  lost the final graphic I had for the weenie, so I made a new one.

I have added some blogs to the blog roll and plan to add more. The weenie has been badly neglected. In 2008 I am going to write on the weenie more often and as always welcome the contributions of others.  The blog will focus on some of the great uses of technology in business and on the best practices for bloggers. The Real Estate Weenie will also continue to poke fun at the real estate industry and highlight some of the worst practices in both blogging and in business.

Like most blogs what you find on the weenie is opinion.   The major difference between this blog and the others out there is that this blog reflects my opinions. 

This Comment Answers My Questions

I found this comment on the Sellsius blog, and it answers some questions for me.  I have often wondered why one real estate blogger cares about what another real estate blogger does.

If the re-blogger sees himself as the guardian of a flock of re-bloggers, or potential re-bloggers then I guess it would make sense that he would express an opinion, in an attempt to lead the unwashed masses into the holiness of proper blogging.

Jonathan Dalton, responded to the comment much better than I could have:

Yes I must confess, I am as independent as the day is long. An outside the box thinker who values the finer things in life like freedom and of course humor. I am not a follower, and have always hated being told what to do. 

I have made many mistakes, and I am thinking I will be making more of them as I go.  That is one of the great joys of  being a grown up, I have the freedom to make my own decisions.   I get to experiment, learn, grow and even make mistakes.

The leader of the flock, is all knowing.  He knows how you will behave as individuals or as a group.  I am not so sure that I would take such a remarkable ability and use it to help real estate bloggers find their way.  Maybe such a gift could be used to give our country a strategic advantage against terrorism, or if I were a candidate in the next presidential election I might want to pay someone with such an ability to tell me how voters will behave on election day so that I could campaign more effectively.  It is a shame to waste such vast talent, and intellect on real estate blogging.

Greg, what am I going to do next?  I hope you know, becasue I never have a clue.

Business Goals

Wow!  isn't that a riveting title for a blog post.  I am thinking people will see that in their reader and just come flocking on over. It is that time of year again.  The business plan for 2008 is done. After all how can we ever achieve our goals with out a plan?   As part of my planning process I review last years goals.  Lucky for me I wrote a blog post about it so I have them handy for reveiw:

Business Goals

Goals should be stated in positive terms and start with phrases like I will.  In my case that won't work because I am kind of a work in progress.  I am going to focus on three things that I won't do this year:

1. When I get ticked off at one of my neighbors I will not have a for sale sign put in front of their house.  I will use my words instead of my sign vendors to settle all future disputes.
2. I will not answer my email while I am driving if I have clients in the car even though it has been an effective way to narrow down the number of homes they want to see.
3. I will only put my electronic lock box on a sellers door after they sign a contract with me.

Personal Goals

I can use positive terms because personal goals are just different:

1. I be will kinder to myself but continue treating others with the utmost disrespect as I so often do.
2. Every Wednesday from 1:00 to 2:00 PM I will be nice, and kind and good and deport myself like the lady that I was raised to be, no f-ingheimers from me no sir!
3. I will only write the truth, the honest truth on my blog even if I have to make it up.
   

My goal planning is easy for 2008.  I was unable to reach most of the goals listed above so I will try a again.  Do you have some lofty goals for 2008 that you would like to share?

Graphic from Gapingvoid

It can be rough out there

This just in from GE:

ActiveKEY Agent Safety Alert feature to be released in 2008

GE Security is adding an alert feature to the Supra ActiveKEY. At no additional charge, Supra ActiveKEY users will soon be able to send an alert message to their designated contact list directly from their key with the push of a button. The alert will usually request a call back to the agent's cell phone and will include the address for the last known lockbox they opened.

"Agent safety has always been a primary concern for us," says Jeff Antrican, VP of Real Estate Sales for GE Security. "We continually strive to enhance the security of our system for both the home seller and the real estate agent. This feature represents a major milestone in that regard. Peace of mind for agents and their families are benefits that only a fully wireless system can provide."

Agents are raving about the ActiveKEY and its automatic renewals and real-time showing notifications. Adding the alert function to the list of ActiveKEY features is generating even more positive comments, like this one from Suzy Stone of the Washington D.C. metro area. "Safety is always a key concern and this new feature will provide another tool and another level of protection while out with our clients. Our business has the potential for all of us to be targets, especially women. Having another tool for calling for help is a monumental step for GE Security to take for its clients."

Following the 2008 launch, all Supra ActiveKEY users will receive this new feature by automatic wireless upgrade or by download, all at no additional charge. Watch for more information on this exciting new feature.

This system won't be of much value here in the Twin Cities with so many agents refusing to use electronic lock boxes.  They don't use them much at all in Minneapolis.  I guess it is the thought that counts and if it saves one life somewhere in the US it is a valuable service. 

Stop Thief

If you are a real estate or mortgage blogger please check this site to see if it has any of your content on it:
ireference(dot)org

Looks like there was a problem with some "previous blog hosts"  Gee I hope I didn't cause any problems. :)

If any readers out there are getting the impression that I hate plagerism you are correct.  Vendors are always trying to sell me something.  Here is an idea for a great new product.  Splogs use my feed to draw content off of my blog and populate their own blogs with it.  The RSS feed makes content theft easier that ever before.  I can go into "uncommon uses" in feedburner and see where my content is going.  I would love it if I could just click a button and disconnect the feed.

I could change my feed so that it just feeds an excerpt but I don't want to.  Feed excerpts are annoying and I will lose subscribers if I go that route.

How to Have fun with a thief

Just for fun I changed some file names and uploaded some new pictures.  The blog that is stealing my content is proudly displaying this as part of a post.  My own blog still has the real pictures, I just changed the file names.  Hate to give a thief traffic but take a peek:  http://ireference.org/real-estate/minnesota/20071206/sculptures/

This one was fun too:  http://ireference.org/real-estate/minnesota/20071209/writers-block/

Have a great day and don't even think about taking my stuff. :)

Keeping up with the times

No I am not talking about the newspaper, newspapers really are five years ago.   I am talking about life in the web 2.0 world, on the planet earth, I think.

You see Facebook is so six months ago but it is still cool so I use it.  Digg is very three months ago and I don’t use it so much any more.   Zolve is kind of last week but I really have not gotten up and running on it.  There was a new one this week that I signed up for and have friends on but I don’t remember the name of it and already lost my password. 

Linkedin is kind of on again and off again but for right now I use it because it is cool enough.  I can’t remember if Naymz was this month or last, and I can’t remember my password either.

I know some of my top friends on Facebook.  I googled their names and now I know who they are.  I do really love my friends so I am not complaining.  I am not sure what to do with all of the sheep that have been thrown at me but at least when I get super poked I feel loved even if I don’t know the perp, who is probably just a top friend.

I really should be on utterz all day long but the problem is that I just don’t have anything to say.  I know that it isn’t about having something to say and I should talk anyway but I really don’t want to.  I spend all day on the phone as it is, but just the same what will people think?  They may mistake me for a web 1.0 agent or just think that I am not very cool.  (Have you noticed that the people who do the most talking also do the least listening?)

Twitter is very a few months ago, but it is cool again so I use it every chance I get.   Twitbin was very popular last week, but this week I really should be using spaz.AIR if I want to keep up with the cool kids who may think less of me than they already do it I don’t load it on my computer soon.  Spaz is sitting on my desktop because I am kind of waiting to see what I should be doing next week.  No one will notice that I kind of missed a step and I’ll still be cool.  People follow me on Twitter unaware of where I am going and where they will end up if they follow me. (Insert maniacal laugh here)

Today I have been invited to join Cre8buzz, which I guess is beta but it will give me buzz.  According to the note I got about it,  I need buzz.  Used to be I couldn’t work if I had a buzz.  By the end of the week, everyone I know in the re-bloggoshere will send an invite. I feel the love and bask in it’s warmth.  crebuzz is so next week.

Thats all for now.  Thanks for listening I feel so much better. I am going to take the pills the nice doctor gave me and I know I will be feeling better soon. . . . oh I had to log off to do it but I sold some real estate this week.  I am such a dweeb. I realized I did not have to miss any of the action.  I have facebook, twitter, IM, email, SMS, and of course email on my BlackBerry. (I really wish it came in Pink, which is the new orange, or is it red?) Hate to admit it, but I am not cool enough yet for an iphone.  I should consider buying a jitterbug, but they are sooooo 2018, no one gets how cool they are yet.