Leaving Davies Hall after a marvelous Beethoven and Sibelius symphony, we walked around the back of the Opera house (building on right) and enjoyed the gorgeous City Hall shining through a light fog! (Another little snapshot with my Blackberry)

Yesterday I enjoyed every minute of a fantastic GRI Class, taught by Jerry Kidd.  Topic: Technology Application in Real Estate.

In 8 short--yes, short--hours he covered:

• Technology tools for Realtors--what they are and how we use them--hardware and software, including scanners, portable printers, firewalls, transaction management platforms, online fax services, contact managers;

• Setting up a mobile office--importance of having one, how to organize and carry it, how to safeguard data, how to get connected virtually anywhere

• Smart phones--how to choose the right one for you

• Blogging (yes, he did mention Active Rain as a good platform)

• Podcasting

• Social networking

• Email marketing

• Search engine optimization

I gathered a wealth of information, and now the challenge is get my head to stop spinning with the myriad of ideas that are careening around, and focus on implementing just one or two new ideas. (Gotta hurry up, since San Francisco Rain Camp is less than 3 weeks away, and I'll be inundated with another set of ideas.

Look for more information in a few days, but for now, I recommend you go to Jerry's web site and get to know him, sign up for his e-letter, and learn lots.

And if you have the opportunity to take GRI Course 107--whether you plan to take the entire series or already have--jump at it! This is right up our alley.

 

 

 

 

Long Ridge Open Space Preserve, San Mateo County, CA, taken 10/25/09

In today's newsletter from an excellent mortgage banker, Caroline Wolf, of Princeton Capital, came these tips on creating passwords. I hadn't thought about using an acronym, but it seems like a great idea. Thought I'd pass them along to you:

4 Simple Steps to Memorable, Yet Unique Passwords

Good passwords come down to two things: (1) they're easy for you to remember and (2) they're hard for others to break. Here's a sure-fire tip that can help you achieve both!

1. Think up a phrase. Instead of a common word or family member's name, think up a unique phrase that only you know. For example, you may think up something off the wall such as "I Like Short Hair Too."
2. Make it an acronym. In our example, "I Like Short Hair Too" would become ILSHT.
3. Add Complexity. Remember those substitutes you're not supposed to use with common dictionary words? Well, you CAN use them with your acronym. For example, "I Like Short Hair Too" can become "1 Like $hort Hair 2" which makes: 1L$H2. You can also use upper and lower letters to make it 1L$h2. The point is to be creative, but in a way that you can easily remember it.
4. Make it unique. A password is only really unique if you use it for one account and one account only. So you can't just use 1L$h2 for every account. And, in reality it's still too short. Here's the key to the whole process: Mix in additional letters and numbers that are unique to each account. For example, if you're logging into a "gmail account" you can use the "gm" and "@cct" (for acct) to make: 1L$h2gM@cct. Then, for a Netflix account, you may use: 1L$h2Nf@cct. That way, you're passwords will be hard for others to guess and unique to each account, but also easy for you to remember!

Of course, these are just examples. You'll want to be creative and think up your own acronym and ways to add unique characters for each account. And then keep that little secret to yourself so no one will be able to guess your account passwords.

 

Poison oak brings beautiful color to our northern California coastal range mountains. Who says California doesn't have changing foliage? Just a snap from my Blackberry today while out on a short hike.

Last week my husband and I escaped for 3 days to the Sierras for a much-needed break, and came back energized, happy and raring to go. This is what works for us. What's your secret?

This afternoon I received this email in my inbox, purportedly from the Internal Revenue Service:

 

From:         Internal Revenue Service

Subject:     Notice of Underreported Income

Taxpayer ID: lottie-00000174073547US
Tax Type: INCOME TAX
Issue: Unreported/Underreported Income (Fraud Application)

Please review your tax statement on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website (click on the link below):

review tax statement for taxpayer id: lottie-00000174073547US (this was a clickable link)

Internal Revenue Service

 

Be sure NOT to open something like this -- The IRS does not send out emails like this!!!!

 

 

 

Yesterday I attended another Senior Roundtable meeting, and came away feeling so fortunate to have this resource available. And happy that fellow Active Rainer Skip Frenzel introduced me to this group.

On a monthly basis professionals who work with Seniors in some capacity or other meet to network, share information and learn from a featured speaker and each other. I've met professional organizers, lawyers specializing in Seniors issues, accountants, representatives from mobility companies, a designer of clothing created for disabled or elderly persons -- a wealth of services that can be of benefit to my Senior clients.

I'm developing a great list of service providers to help my clients when they don't know where to look for solutions to a problem.

If you have a similar group in your area, check it out. You'll be glad you did.

I guess because bad news sells, newspapers often "report" doom and gloom stories about real estate.

How refreshing to read in the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week that our town, San Carlos, has fared quite well these last couple of years.

As report by the Merc, median price of a single-family home here has dropped 10% in the past year, while the condo/townhouse dip was 9%.

Real estate is, indeed, local.