Your Friendly Phoenix Mortgage Broker: The Inside Scoop

(This post was originally written by Karen George, wife of Michael.)

Yep.  This is my 100th post.  I had intended upon writing a mortgage-related post today, but another ActiveRainer told me that I should acknowledge the 100th post "blogging milestone".  (I figured I would put Mark Twain's picture up as he once famously opined about statistics himself.)

I also realized that in the past month, I've been asked to write a MeMe twice and it had completely slipped my mind, until today.  A MeMe should be appropriate for my 100th post, right?

Scott Parsons "tagged" me and so did Marchel Peterson.  To both of you:  I am so, so sorry that this has taken me so long.  I really am.

From what I understand, I am just supposed to write five things about myself, so here goes:

1.  I have been married to my husband for 6 years and almost exactly 2 months.  I met Michael when I was getting my undergraduate degree.  I was a freshman and eighteen years old at the time.  We were both in business school, but Michael had also attended culinary school.  He won me over with his pots-and-pans skills.  Of course, I never did learn how to cook.

2.  I got into the mortgage business by mistake.  I had a totally different career path in mind.  For those of you that read my blog, you won't be surprised to know that I was anticipating a computer-related career.  Work opportunities were few when I needed work most, so I thought I would do something that (I had heard) paid well.  Now, I couldn't imagine doing anything else but brokering home loans.

3.  I am in the process of starting a non-profit.  I have a corporation called SOMAD, Inc. and it stands for "Save Our Mothers and Daughters."  It is a breast cancer charity and is incorporated as a non-profit.  Setting up the corporation was the easy part, but actually getting our official non-profit go-ahead from the IRS is taking quite a bit longer.  I certainly anticipate being up and running by the beginning of fiscal '08.  (Fingers crossed!)

4.  I was born-and-raised just outside of Detroit, MI -- in a tiny little house in a tiny little suburb called Sterling Heights.  I graduated high school in 1993.  My name was Karen Blodgett back then.  (I thought I would throw that in, just in case one of my old classmates Google's "Karen Blodgett"- they just might find this post!)

5.  I'm half-Greek (the good half) and my middle name is Olga.  I used to avoid telling people my middle name at all costs.  I was really embarrassed about it.  When people would ask, I would respond that the "O stands for Omnipotent."  Now, Olga's actually become my nickname.  My husband and all of my friends tend to refer to me as "Olga."  It was my (recently passed) Grandmother's name and she was a wonderful lady.  I'm happy to take her name, even if people do crinkle their noses at "Olga."