north shore: I Voted!
- 11/27/11 10:40 AM
Okay, this morning, I performed the most sacred of our civic duties. I voted. And now I'm on my way to Starbucks, who's offered a free cup of Joe (no, not Joe the Plumber) for all those who've voted.
My daughter called me early this morning to remind me of the importance of voting... (and since I live in the Chicago area, the sound byte that resonates in my ear is "Vote Early, Vote Often"!).
I could hear, in her voice, her excitement, her fervor for the process. She was excited, she was invigorated. My wife is off work, this afternoon, … (51 comments)
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north shore: can someone turn up the volume on that amp?... I'm not getting any feedback!
- 04/01/09 01:05 AM
" Hi, this is Alan May... I'm calling because you showed my listing at 1234 Sherman Avenue yesterday, and I'm wondering if you have any feedback you can share with me. "
Hey folks, I don't make those calls to annoy you. I don't make those calls for my health. I make those calls because I'm truly interested in the feedback of your potential buyer, and I'm also interested in the buyer's agent's opinion as well. You're not going to hurt my feelings... it's not my personal property, and any feedback you give me is going to help me convince … (11 comments)
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north shore: seventy percent complete
- 03/20/09 01:51 AM
As lenders tighten their restrictions on getting loans, we're beginning to see a return to fiscal responsibility in lending. This is a good thing, right?
Okay, here's my current beef.
The rules say, that Fannie Mae will not purchase loans that were made on new developments (new construction or gut rehabs), where the development (or the legal phase, if the paperwork's been properly submitted) isn't at least 70% sold and/or complete.
I have a client who's purchased a condo in a 36 unit development. He will be unit #8 that is sold... but until 70% of the units are either finished … (11 comments)
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north shore: the long and lonely alley
- 03/20/09 01:21 AM
Barack Obama (the 44th President of the United States of America) appeared, last night, on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. An interesting method of "bringing his message to the people".
He didn't play saxophone, nor did he wear dark glasses.
The very first sitting President to appear on any late night talk show. Just a couple of buddies talking about sports (Bowling) and the world.
Apparently the bowling alley that Harry Truman had installed in the White House hasn't helped Barack's game much.. he's averaging 129. He made a self-deprecating joke about his lack of bowling skill, and everyone laughed... … (9 comments)
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north shore: Southwest airlines gets a good "rap".
- 03/19/09 03:09 AM
For those of you who've flown Southwest Airlines before, you know they don't do things quite traditionally. Typically, when the flight attendants stand up at the beginning of the flight to give you instructions, they'll go "off script" a little.
Once when flying, they told us that this was a no-smoking flight, and anyone caught smoking would be asked to sit in the designated smoking area... "out on the wing".
On this particular flight, the flight attendant, Robert, asked the passengers to begin clapping hands to a simple straight-foward beet, and then began "rapping" out the flight instructions... he enthusiastically rapped:
… (22 comments)
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north shore: Nitroglycerin, Guerrillas and Tarantulas, oh my!
- 03/18/09 04:44 AM
A friend of mine used to be in the real estate business. In fact, he was, at one time, a top producer in our office.
Under the best of times, Real Estate can be a demanding mistress, but with our recent downturn, this long-time agent began really feeling the pressure, and it showed. His health deteriorated rapidly, and soon he was admitted to the hospital where they confirmed that he had serious bleeding ulcers.
The doctors told him that he needed to reduce his stress level, and relax. Being a Realtor, he of course had difficulty doing that, since he had … (16 comments)
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north shore: National Corndog Day - a natural extension of March Madness
- 03/18/09 01:54 AM
Ladies and Gentlemen of the rain... it's my privilege to let you know that March 21st, is National Corndog Day. Yeah, I didn't know there was such a thing either. But apparently it's been going on for the past 16 years, as this will be the 17th Annual Celebration of National Corndog day in the United States.
According to Wikipedia: A corn dog, pogo or corny dog is a frankfurter coated in cornbread batter and deep fried in hot oil, although some are baked. Almost all corn dogs are served on wooden sticks, though some early versions were stickless. (aren't you … (13 comments)
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north shore: Doctor's Stories
- 03/13/09 01:37 AM
REAL WORLD DOCTOR'S STORIES:
1. A man comes into the ER and yells... 'My wife's going to have her baby in the cab!' I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the woman''s dress and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs,and I was in the wrong one.Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Francisco2. At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. 'Big breaths,'...I instructed. 'Yes, they used to be,'. . . replied the patient.Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, … (18 comments)
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north shore: Give this man a well-deserved round of applause! Someone you should know.
- 03/12/09 12:52 PM
Meetings like this are taking place in large corporations all over the country. But this is the first time I've heard one end with this result. Paul Levy is the man in charge of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. As with many large corporations and hospitals, they're feeling the financial crunch, and the board is pressing management to think about layoffs to balance the budget.
And whom are they thinking about laying off?... do you suppose they want to begin at the top, with the bloated salaries of upper management.... no, no, no... of course not.
Paul Levy called … (18 comments)
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north shore: On this day in history!
- 03/12/09 03:47 AM
March 12, 1912...(97 years ago) Juliette Gordon Lowe founded the American Girl Guides in Savannah Georgia, which was later to become the Girl Scouts of America.
The original troop was made up of 18 girls who were registered as members. Margaret "Daisy" Gordon, Juliettes niece, was the first registered member of the troop. Girl Guides changed their name to The Girl Scouts of America the following year.
As part of the movement, Juliette wanted to bring girls from all different backgrounds into the outdoors. Teaching then self-reliance, and resourcefulness. She encouraged girls to reach for more than traditional homemaking roles, and … (11 comments)
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north shore: Lincoln / Kennedy... and their Johnsons.
- 03/10/09 07:33 AM
I know that these interesting factoids have made their way around the internet before... but I haven't seen it brought up in quite a few years. So I thought I'd allow them to resurface.... I've always like this weird collection of stuff. Let's call it Amazing Oddities, shall we?
Over the years, many people have talked about the many similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy's assassination, and the potential "Universal Conspiracy" that they might represent. I don't see that deep meaning in them, rather I find them to be mildly interesting and worth a second glance.
SO HERE WE GO:
Abraham Lincoln … (15 comments)
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north shore: ... and that's when the fight began... once more.
- 02/18/09 03:45 AM
This is the continuation of my series intended to bring humour to the active rain community.
Jokes that are, above all, clean (just in case you want to relate them to a client)
Easy to remember, (recognizing that our Realtor demographic is aging... just a tiny bit... and memory is the second thing to go... I don't remember what the first thing is).
And they need to be funny... so many of the jokes we hear are NOT funny..
Another in my series of "that's when the fight began..."
After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply … (8 comments)
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north shore: ... and that's when the fight began... yet again...
- 02/17/09 07:04 AM
This is the continuation of my series intended to bring humour to the active rain community.
Jokes that are, above all, clean (just in case you want to relate them to a client)
Easy to remember, (recognizing that our Realtor demographic is aging... just a tiny bit... and memory is the second thing to go... I don't remember what the first thing is).
And they need to be funny... so many of the jokes we hear are NOT funny...
Another in my series of "that's when the fight began..."
When I got home last night,
my wife … (12 comments)
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north shore: Kittens. Inspired by "Kittens".
- 02/17/09 03:30 AM
With all the bad news in the world.... terrorists, war, bad economy, rising prices, rising unemployment... we are in dire need of something cute and cuddly. Aren't you tired of it all too?
Alan to the rescue. Here is a book, a really, really good book, narrated by a little girl who has a vivid and innocent imagination. Personally, I have other books I'd love to hear her narrate. We have a small window of opportunity until she learns how to read.
Enjoy
bow wow, chicka, bow wow.... (where did she hear THAT?) … (23 comments)
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north shore: Resident's Day
- 02/16/09 06:36 AM
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today is Residents Day. A day dedicated to people who live anywhere. If you live in a condo, you're a resident. If you live in a single-family house, you're a resident. If you live in trailer, double-wide or even on a boat, you're a resident.
Some communities require that you receive your snail mail at your location to be considered a resident, and most states require that you live there at least 6 months to be able to claim being a resident long enough to get "in-state" tuition at a state school.
But all of the above are … (11 comments)
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north shore: ... and that's when the fight began, anew...
- 02/16/09 05:10 AM
This is the continuation of my series intended to bring humour to the active rain community.
Jokes that are, above all, clean (just in case you want to relate them to a client)
Easy to remember, (recognizing that our Realtor demographic is aging... just a tiny bit... and memory is the second thing to go... I don't remember what the first thing is).
And they need to be funny... so many of the jokes we hear are NOT funny...
Another in my series of "that's when the fight began..."
My wife was hinting about
what she wanted for our … (4 comments)
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north shore: ... and that's when the fight began...
- 02/16/09 01:32 AM
I've had a couple of inquries from people wondering when I'm going to run another "joke" post, it's been a while since I ran one... so here we go:
This is the continuation of my series intended to bring humour to the active rain community.
Jokes that are, above all, clean (just in case you want to relate them to a client)
Easy to remember, (recognizing that our Realtor demographic is aging... just a tiny bit... and memory is the second thing to go... I don't remember what the first thing is).
And they need to be funny... so many of … (7 comments)
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north shore: Obama & Lincoln are just "cupcakes"
- 02/15/09 01:38 AM
Zilly Rosen, a pastry artist in Buffalo, New York (whose mother lives right here in Evanston), took her cupcakes to Washington this weekend, constructing side-by-side portraits of Barack Obama & Abraham Lincoln using more than 5,600 cupcakes. Yes, cupcakes!
But the edible exhibit, was on display Saturday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in honor of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, had a very short shelf life.
Just before 5 p.m., after only a five-hour display period, the cupcakes began flying off the ground as hungry spectators devoured the mural from the outside in. Within minutes nearly all of Lincoln’s face was gone. … (27 comments)
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north shore: Happy Valentine's Day
- 02/14/09 02:42 AM
Living and working in the Chicago area, you knew I wasn't going to post some sappy Valentine's Day Greeting. I had to talk about the St. Valentine's Day massacre of 1929 in Chicago.
The morning of February 14, 1929 St. Valentine's Day, six members of the "Bugs" Moran gang and Dr. Reinhardt H. Schwimmer were lined up against the rear inside wall of the garage of the SMC Cartage Company (2122 North Clark Street) in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago's North Side. They were then shot and killed by the men, possibly members of Capone's gang, possibly "outside talent", … (31 comments)
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north shore: Everything's Amazing, But Nobody's Happy...What's Up With That?
- 02/13/09 03:34 AM
Craig Rutman just posted this, and it's so spot-on, that I was inspired to do my very first Re-Blog!! Make sure you play the video (that's right VIDEO on your COMPUTER!!!). I looked it up, and the guy on the video is a comedian named Louis CK (CK, really?).... but hey, that's what it says.
With all the doom and gloom out there, there's still so much to be thankful for.
Technology has made our lives so much easier...
Despite the love/ hate relationships everyone of us has with our computers!
Cell phones have made it incredibly … (13 comments)
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Okay, this morning, I performed the most sacred of our civic duties. I voted. And now I'm on my way to Starbucks, who's offered a free cup of Joe (no, not Joe the Plumber) for all those who've voted.
;)
;)
;)
