This years YMCA fundraiser has a theme of "Carnivale Flavors of South America" , The event will be held poolside at the Campo Family Center on November 21st 2009.
The event will feature wines from Chile, Argentina and other South American countries, as well as delicious food from a selection of local restaurants.
A variety of sponsorships and ticket packages are available for businesses and organizations interested in supporting Corks & Forks: Viva Carnivale!
All proceeds will benefit the YMCA's Building Strong Kids Campaign, which helps make YMCA participation possible for children and families in the Brandon area regardless of their financial circumstances.
For tickets or sponsorship information, call Mags Oldman at 813-684-1371, ext. 208.
About the Author: Rick Frissellis a licensed real estate agent withDiamond Dwellings Realty- Florida. Rick's office is in Brandon, Florida which serves eastern Hillborough County. Rick Frissell can be reached at rick@diamonddwellings.com or 813-653-1241.
If you are interested in a career in real estate or associating with Diamond Dwellings Realty, please contact Rick! All calls and inquiries will be held in the strictest confidence.
Kevin Church of the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department has announced that they are seeking applications for five Lifeguards spots at Lithia Springs Park located at 3932 Lithia Springs Road Lithia, FL.
Candidates must be at least 16 yoa and have a current Red Cross Lifeguard cetificate.The pay starts at $9 per hour and a background check must be performed.
The job will be between Memorial Day and Labor Day and possibly beyond.
If you haven't been to Lithia Springs Park, it is a real florida beauty. Even if you are not interested in the job, check it out during the summer months.
To learn more about the park and the position go to: www.hillsboroughcounty.org then click on Parks and Trails and then Regional Parks.
At times I feel torn between playing cupid (helping you find a house to fall in love with) and your accountant (finding a house that you can afford). Buying a home is both a matter of the heart and the pocketbook. One really does not outweigh the other. As your real estate agent, I'll help you find a happy balance between the two.
First, you'll benefit from the wealth of experience I bring successfully negotiating and closing deals in the Tampa Bay Area real estate market. I'll help you find the house and the neighborhood that will meet your emotional and financial needs for today and tomorrow.
Next, I'll do everything I can to take the stress out of your home buying experience. There are hundreds of details that go into each real estate transaction, let me handle those for you. And let me help you find a lender, inspector, appraiser and all the other service providers that make for a smooth and worry-free transaction.
Whether you are a first-time buyer or a "real estate veteran", I'm ready, willing and able to answer all your questions about the current real estate market and the home-buying experience. You'll get honest answers to all of your questions.
About the Author:Rick Frissell is a Florida licensed real estate agent with Diamond Dwellings Realty- Florida. Rick's office is in Brandon, Florida which serves eastern Hillborough County. Rick Frissell can be reached at rick@diamonddwellings.com or 813-653-1241.
Remember the times we would all sit in a stadium and somebody would start the WAVE?
At first one, two or three people would take the risk of starting a small wave. Then foolishly they would turn to those behind them and encourage the others to join in. This would be repeated until the next section would join in. Then the next section and the next section and the next section. Until finally there would be one full revolution around the stadium. The next revolution more would join and the next reveloution even more. And soon you would have the WAVE.
Well, I am somewhat new to social internet marketing and for that matter web 2.0. I have hours and hours of Twittering, Facebook and web site tinkering. I often wonder ... "What will it look like when I get there?" Another question I ask is ... "How will I know?"
The video I have included is from the web site Born Again American. The site allows for song writers, mucisians and, well, Americans to contributute. You will see that you have the ability to remix the song and theme. Go to the web site link if you would like to see more on how this web site is a tremendous example of social interent marketing at work.
I viewed this video and saw the talent, creativity and love we have in America. It just made me feel good. I hope you do as well.
If you were wondering, I was behind the wheel of the Lincoln Towncar for 57.5 hours over a span of 4 and a half days. The average time driving the client per day was 2 hours. The rest of the time is waiting.
The restrictions were greater than I thought they would be. You have to be 2 to 5 minutes within range of when you are called by the client. That gives them enough time to call down for their driver (me) and take the elevator to the lobby.
I had no surprises and if I had any disappointments it would only be that use of my lap top was more restricted than I thought it would be. WiFi was never available and so blogging as the day would pass was not realistic.
Looking Back
The city of Tampa should be proud of itself. I believe we really impressed our visitors. You could actually see people were enjoying themselves. Our downtown is fresh. Channel Side was wildly popular and Ybor City was a great draw. On one of my runs at midnight, we drove pass the exit for Hard Rock. There were cars lined up back to and on I 4.
If you were a visitor to Tampa this week and you did not have fun, it was your own fault.
The Super Bowl Committee put together venues for all ages and preferences. Concerts were very popular.
The security was prevalent and effective, but not restrictive. Unless you are a trouble maker, then I suspect you would not have liked the security. The police department showed more courtesy than I think I have ever seen. At times, while I was sitting in my car in front of the Marriott, I would see drivers do really dumb things. Not once did I see a police officer become belligerent.
If you are curious as to how I did ...
The team owner that I was dedicated to for the weekend treated me wonderfully. I don't know whether I had any expectations of what it would be like to be driving around our city with a billionaire, but it was no different than if I had just met somebody for the first time at a business meeting and after three days together you have relaxed and enjoyable conversations.
I was tipped $300 and my driver pay will end up somewhere around $1500. But, the experience will last a lot longer than the money quite frankly.
Would I do it again? Possibly. Next year is in Miami. I am thinking of asking the owner to request me for next year as well.
So could I get you to comment?
I would love to hear from you. Our blog visitor count went up 5 times normal for this series. I know that many of you followed along the way.
We have done blogs on special events and places to visit. We will continue to put relevant real estate blogs on here.
But, what would you like to see? Would you like to see more of these job impersonations such as the chauffeur? More restaurant reviews?
We are getting ready to launch foreclosure reviews of particular properties as they first come on the market. What questions would you like answered regarding those properties? What would you like to know most about a foreclosed property?
I want to thank all of my readers. I received phone calls from several of you expressing your interest in the blog. Thank you for those phone calls.
So this is the last blog of the Super Bowl Chauffeur driving you crazy.
There have been a lot of news and opinions about how the economy is effecting the Super Bowl.
One of my favorite radio programs is on at 7:55 AM on channel 970, Earl Pitts, great american hero.
Earl has a way of bringing complex issues to where I can understand them.
As Earl would say "Take the economy and how it is effecting the Super Bowl." Now I can't begin to espouse the wisdom of Earl Pitts as well as he does, but as the Super Bowl Chauffeur, I have some Earl Pitts views.
This mornings Tampa Tribune ran an article interviewing the "little people" and what they thought about all the rich and famous coming to Tampa to party and "spend their money."
Debate continues about income distribution and whether to increase taxes on the rich and pass it down to the middle class. Conservatives argue that it is the rich that provide jobs for the middle class.
Here is what I can tell you as the Super Bowl Chauffeur. As we were driving yesterday, my team owner's wife told a friend in the car that the NFL had canceled one of their two owner parties. The friend asked why, and the owner's wife speculated that they felt it would not be in good taste to have two parties with economic conditions as they are.
Add this Tribune article earlier to the mix. It reported that private air reservations for corporate planes were dramatically off. Corporations were coming, but on commercial flights instead.
Also reported were fewer employee award trips and dealer/distributor trips.
So we might say, oh poor souls, they can't party as much and they have to fly like the rest of us.
Here is what it has been like in the street with all of my fellow $7.50 hourly (my pay not including gratuity) wage earners.
By Wednesday of this week 50% of all of the drivers had been laid off. On Friday, another 50 drivers laid off. On Saturday, another 30 drivers laid off.
At the private airports that have no corporate jets arriving, the men and women that refuel the jets are out of work hours and tips. Extra staffing was not needed because of the low reservation count. Overtime hours for the air traffic controllers vaporized.
Waitresses and waiters assigned for the second owner's party were canceled.
I don't have a degree in economics, but I can see what is going on in the street, literally, because of the rich not spending money. It is not because they don't have it to spend. It is just considered "poor taste" to spend it.
As my friend Earl Pitts would say, "Wake up America!"
I will be submitting as many posts as I can today, but it is shaping up to be a busy day for the Super Bowl Chauffeur.
Let me first begin by digressing. Yesterday was my second day as the driver for the wife of one of the owner's for a NFL team.
So what is it like to be plugged in to a super rich person that has come to town for the Super Bowl? Well, it is just as if I were driving for any of you that read this if you were here on vacation. You may question that, but in my two days with this lady and her friends, I have seen nothing but down to earth people on vacation.
We went to the mall to buy a sweater because it was cooler in Tampa than expected. A birthday present for a friend was purchased while there. Friends going out to see the sites. Of all of the places that they could visit, Bush Gardens, Channel Side, Orlando mega monster mouse ... they chose Lowry Park Zoo. And, they were impressed.
Now, for today. It is now 2:18 PM as I am writing at this moment. The build up during the week is now about to erupt into what we usually expect on Super Sunday.
Earlier this morning I was asked to "stage" at the NFL HQ hotel Marriott Waterside. The valet and hotel traffic managers who have been working hard and long have a noticeable increase in seriousness as everything begins to move. Fans are milling about and buses that will carry the coaches and support staff to the stadium are in place for their cargo to be loaded.
The police have been surprisingly patient and courteous. But security, which has been in the background, is now very visible. Dogs are sniffing ... and not for a place for them to park their thoughts.
Downtown traffic is nearly non existent. I have spent two full days in downtown and the mob has been huge. This morning, you could hardly tell there was an event in town except for all of the Pittsburgh jerseys.
And to that point, I would bet (and I am being conservative) that for every obvious Arizona fan there are 100 Pittsburgh fans. And the bars are aware of it as well. Every food and beverage location I have seen have banners stretched across their building shouting "GO STEELERS!" I have yet to see a Cardinals banner.
So picture this. Pretend the Steelers were really the Redskins. Who would the other team mascot be? That mascot does not exist in the NFL. It would be Custer and his 198 soldiers.
I can almost imagine what it would be like, after seeing the Steeler fans in Tampa, for General Custer. The Cardinals are going to enter the stadium and they will look up as if they are in Little Big Horn. And surrounding them will be thousands and thousands of Steeler fans with their yellow/gold and black war paint all over their faces. Instead of tomahawks, their hands will be moving in a frenzy with Steeler towels.
Well, I won't be able to see that. Chauffeurs stay out in the parking lot. But, good news! They are putting on a tail gate party for the chauffeurs during the first half of the game. Food, ice tea (alcohol would not be looked upon favorably for chauffeurs) and a giant screen TV. We were told that we would need to be back at our cars following the half time show.
I hope to have another post before the game. The balance of my posts will be via Twitter. I will get as many Twitpics out to you as time permits. You can follow me @RickFrissell
Until then, this is the Super Bowl Chauffeur driving you crazy!
Day 1 as a chauffeur is all about training. Would you believe there are over a hundred Power Point cells for training. Thank goodness the real estate exam was easier. (Just kidding)
Some rules are obvious, such as, no smoking in the car. Now I have never smoked so that is no big deal. But, would you believe we are not to offer our hand for hand shake to greet our client? The reasoning: There is an increasing concern about the spreading of germs and we are to never put our clients in an embarrassing position of refusing or not wanting to shake our hand.
Dress attire. Now that was an interesting exercise we went through. Our email and phone communications made a big deal of bringing our black suit and white shirt (they provide the tie as part of the standard uniform.) Many of the people got the message to wear their suit. I couldn't believe how many different suits there could be that are black. The inspection consisted of making sure the suit was solid black. No pin stripes or patterns of any type were permitted. But that was it. I'm looking around the room and some of these suits look like they have been slept in for days. Maybe they're the professional chauffeurs. White is not always white either. There is gray white as in worn out. But, those were the exception for sure. There were hundreds of drivers and I would say 95% or more looked great.
There was one major snafu for the day. There were four sperate training classes for the day and I was in session 3. After an afternoon of training, they discover, suddenly , that there are not enough cars to assign to every driver. On the surface that would seem solvable and it is. But not until the next day. Well, they instructed us to be dropped off because there was not enough parking for our personal cars and we would be getting a car anyway. So now there are probably 50 people without transportation home and the day is over. I got a car! As I was leaving, quickly I might add, staff was on the phone making shuttle arrangements for the shorted drivers.
Day 2, today as I write this, is a little confusing. We are supposed to be ready for airport shuttle runs, but there was conflicting information as to whether we will actually be dispatched today. So, I will let you know. Remember, you can follow me on Twitter @RickFrissell
I guess I mentioned that everything was a little unorganized during the Training Day. Well it spilled over to me.
At the training class we were told we needed a long sleeve white shirt. I don't own a long sleeve white shirt. I prefer light blue for my dress shirts. So I run to the local department store to buy a shirt, five minutes before closing.
"Good evening shoppers, thank you for shopping at Steinmart. We will be closing in 5 minutes. Please bring your purchases to check out." Yipes, I just arrived.
Okay okay, let's find the size and get out of here. Rush rush, white shirt - check, 17 inch collar - check, 34 inch length - check ... go, go, go, let's get to check out. All done in less than 3 minutes!!
So I get up yesterday morning with a full schedule. I have to write a blog, answer my real estate emails, check new listings for my clients and iron my white "long sleeve" shirt.
So why do they fold new shirts with a hundred straight pins? It must mean something when you can buy a shirt faster than you can open the package. But, I am running behind so I have to get going. The steam iron is now cooking, sending a spiral of steam from it's nose and hissing at me as a cobra ready to go. I always follow the same order. Press the collar, nice and crisp. Now the sleeves. The sleeves. The sleeves ... oh no! The sleeves have french cuffs! I can't use this shirt!
Thinking fast, I remember about the commercials of how Men's Warehouse saves people that are in a jam. I bought my black suit (also required and also something I did not own) from Men's Warehouse. I will take my new Men's Warehouse black suit still wrapped by them and buy a white shirt there. I can also have them press it (after all this is an emergency and it's their advertisement, not mine) and I can get dressed right there in the changing room. Well, that plan worked and the day is back on track.
Except. Except that my Nextel phone they gave me does not have a signal. Now Nextel is no Men's Warehouse. My family has been down that route when we bought two Nextel phones for my wife and son. Same problem, no service coverage. No sympathy. No help. No refund.
Let's Get This Show on the Road
I get to "Command Center." No kidding, this is set up military style. We even use military time and we have a field van called "Mobile Operations Center" or MOC. I let Command Center know that my Nextel won't work in Valrico (and likely a lot of the rest of the area) and they take it to check it out. Well, it wasn't the usual Nextel signal problem. It was a "not working" Nextel phone. Now how is one able to tell the difference? Anyway, the "not working" part is fixed. The signal part is a problem related to where my house is located and I am not going to move.
At 1:30 PM I get a contact from dispatch for a pick up at the airport, at 1950. That is 7:50 PM. "Stand by and we will be contacting you with instructions."
Six hours of stand by? That's okay, I wanted this gig.
Another part of the training the day before is that we be "in the cell phone parking lot 20 minutes ahead of arrival." I am there an hour ahead. Thirty minutes to go and my personal cell phone rings. It is dispatch. They had called my home and my wife gave them my cell phone number. This time the Nextel problem was the operator, me ! They had told us to keep the volume down so as not to disturb our clients. But, they did not tell us to mute it. They had been trying to reach me for an hour and were not getting a response from me. Okay, un-mute.
Well my client arrives on time and I am taking one of the broadcast booth announcers from NBC. Now I am not allowed to mention names, but there are only three, so you guess.
VERY nice people! We are driving to the Harbour Island Westin. I grew up in Tampa. Been to downtown Tampa probably thousands of times and in thousands and thousands of times I have only gone the wrong way on a one way street once. Now let's make that two.
What a headline: "NBC Super Bowl announcer did not make the game and is in the hospital after a head on collision by a local Realtor pretending to be a chauffeur at the Super Bowl."
Well, thankfully there was no oncoming traffic, no accident and no tip. I would not have accepted one after I could feel the death grip on the back of my Lincoln Towncar luxury leather seat by the announcers wife. What does it mean when you stop the car and your clients run? They did not teach us THAT in chauffeur school.
So my second day as a chauffeur and my first day of driving was over. Tired, embarrassed and down, I went home and thought of the less stressful days of real estate.
Rick Frissell~ Realtor
About the Author: Rick Frissell is a licensedreal estate agent with Diamond Dwellings Realty- Florida. Rick's office is in Brandon, Florida which serves eastern Hillborough County. Rick Frissell can be reached atrick@diamonddwellings.comor813-653-1241.
If you are interested in a career in real estate or associating with Diamond Dwellings Realty, please contact Rick! All calls and inquiries will be held in the strictest confidence.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Kevin Church of the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department has announced that they are seeking applications for five Lifeguards spots at Lithia Springs Park located at 3932 Lithia Springs Road Lithia, FL.
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