Despite having less to choose from, renters are often pickier than buyers. Why? Perhaps because they will be living in the house or condo as it is. Buyers may be changing the flooring, or painting, or tearing out walls. They can make it theirs - renters are lucky if they can paint.

Generally renters are picky about the property, but perhaps they should be picky about owners as well. I think the renters should vet the owners just as the owners vet the tenants. What's the owner's credit rating? Is he current on his mortgage of the rental property? Has he filed for bankruptcy? The tenant could find himself out on the street, so he, too, should be doing due diligence.

Step aside, Seattle, and let me tell you about the role that Pinellas County, Florida, plays in enjoying coffee:

Terry Davis, of Ambex in Clearwater, is the third largest builder of coffee roasters in the US - machines that cost from $3,500 to $150,000. Whether it's St Petersburg, Oregon, or China - you're likely to find one of Terry's coffee roasters.

There are then about two dozen small coffee roasters in Tampa Bay, including Kahwa.

Then there's the matter of coffee filters. Enter Melitta cone filters. Melitta has been here in Pinellas County for 15 years.

You like flavorings in your cup or in the beans?  Monin's Flavors, in France since 1912, is also in Clearwater, with labs and tastings. The bottles of flavorings you see on the shelves in your local coffee shops, and that you smell in the beans, may well come from Pinellas County, Florida.

It's worth reading the entire coffee article and seeing the photos that were published this morning in Bay, a bi-monthly magazine published by the St Petersburg Times. To go directly to the article, after you've clicked to Bay, go to Page 49.

We attended a VIP reception this week at Signature Place, the architecturally striking new condo in downtown St. Petersburg. This was a chance for a couple of hundred people to view the furnished models, and check out the common areas, enjoying food stations scattered throughout.It started with flutes of champagne in the elevator.

When we went outside into the 6th floor Sky Garden, we were impressed at the staging here at the end. The artificial turf never needs mowing or watering and you won't be bothered by noisy lawnmowers. We thought it was nice to stage this picnic.

After the music started and we were enjoying samples from Mise en Place, we looked over and saw that the staging had even included models! The people hitting golf balls on the putting green were obviously guests at the reception, but these two sunbathers certainly looked like staging!

Signature Place will start closing on sales later this month.

You've heard me brag about the Fujitsu Scansnap before and I like the new S1500 better even than the older ones.

Today was a great example - I bought a new 16 GB flash drive to take with me to Costa Rica later this month. You never know when you'll want the details on what you bought, instructions, warranty and the receipt. Where did you buy it and how much? (well, maybe you don't care when it's a flash drive, but you sure do when it's a computer or a camera).

So - I put the opened cardboard instructions/warranty from the box, which had information on both sides of the two panels, stuck it into my Scansnap along with the receipt - obviously different sizes, but also oddball sizes and different paper/cardboard weights - and Voila! one button and an instant later all was scanned and ready for me to tell it where to save the .pdf file.  I love my Scansnap!

What's a petition on Twitter?  A Twitition.

After spending hours on hold and online with AT&T today to complain that they wouldn't give me a $199 upgrade on the new iPhone 3GS until next March (they really need to allow upgrades as fast as Apple makes them on the iPhone), Tami pointed out to me that

there's a petition on Twitter, a Twitition that

"we the undersigned petition AT&T to offer reasonable iPhone 3GS upgrade prices.  AT&T should give existing customers the same rate for the new iPhone 3Gs that they do for new customers. New customers or not, another 2-year contract is being made."

In 1 day 11 hours there have been 4,956 signatures so far!  Sign it using your Twitter account.

This morning our paper had a long and interesting article from Charles Duhigg, business reporter for the NY Times. He wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine on all the data mining done by/for credit card companies. So, for example, someone who charges felt pads for chair legs or a carbon monoxide detector is far more likely to pay his credit card bill than someone who charges a chrome skull car accessory.

Avoiding for the moment the privacy or ethics issues ...

Wouldn't this data also work to determine who's most likely to pay their mortgage payments? Could doing this lower the interest rate and payments for those most likely to pay their bills?

In Florida we frequently see a Vanishing Edge pool or an Infinity Edge pool. You often see them in locations where beyond the pool edge you just see water, whether a lake beyond, or open ocean. Sometimes, when there is a traditional light pool surface, the edge intrudes, even though it's not very wide.

Here, in this pool in Costa Rica, you have a dark pool surface, which gives the impression of a natural lagoon rather than a modern pool. This one is well done, and from this edge it looks as though you might fall off with the water, dropping hundreds of feet to the ocean below.

Not to worry - there's a safe pool wall that will keep you enclosed.

Pool design and tropical landscaping can certainly create ambiance, though.

Along the road from San Jose, Costa Rica, to the Jaco and Esterillos areas on the Pacific Coast, we always stop about half-way at a delightful Costa Rican restaurant for a cold drink and snack.

There's the restaurant with hot and cold foods, and tables on a covered patio;

there's the produce and grocery section;

and there's the handicrafts section, with hats, handbags, and hanging chairs like this one.

The scene was so colorful I thought it was worth the photo.

I've had a Verizon aircard for a few years, one that fits into a PCMCIA slot in my computer, and I love the flexibility of having broadband access wherever there's cell phone reception, instead of having to depend on a wireless network.

Recently I bought a netbook, which I really like, but haven't used as much as I could because it has built-in wireless but not a PCMCIA slot for my Aircard. In the Vinoy lobby there isn't any free wireless, so the netbook isn't much use there. Ah, well, everything has disadvantages.

Last week Tami wanted to borrow my Aircard to use on our new laptop, because she was making a Facebook presentation that required an active connection.  Fine.  Well - not so fine. After checking with both Dell and Verizon to find out why it wouldn't work (good instructor, Tami checked ahead of time) and discovered that it needed a shorter PCMCIA card. 

In the process of ordering that, I discovered that there is a Verizon USB Aircard, in fact it's a Novatel USB760 card, the latest EVDO technology modem, which Verizon would send me for free - if I added another 2 years to my contract.  I like the service, so said OK. You can buy it online for $49.99.

The neat thing about it is that I now use this on ALL my mobile laptops - my old small Dell, the new netbook with 8.5 hour battery, the new Dell laptop with all the goodies, and any other machines laying around. It's smaller to carry, and I like that it fits in a USB slot toward the back on my computers, since I found the PCMCIA slot near the front annoying.

Sometimes we have to be forced out of complacency to get the newest and best.

There's lots to like at the new Signature Place condominiums in downtown St Petersburg Florida. Their garden - on the 6th floor, not on the roof - has a pool and putting green, but on a nice sunny day lounge chairs like this are inviting places.

If you're inside working out in the gym, you can look forward to a post-workout dip in the pool, followed by relaxing here.

Note that all the "grass" is artificial turf. No brown lawns here, and no noisy lawnmowers on an early morning. The bushes and trees are live, though.

Signature Place, 3 years under construction, will start closing on units the latter half of June 2009.

Contact The Simms Team if you'd like buyer representation for a condo in Signature Place.