Week two is almost over, and I wanted to check in with everyone on what's been going on at my Live in Los Gatos! blog. There's been some progress.
Writing is something I truly enjoy doing, and my biggest challenge is being brief. (Yes, I have been to the Blarney Stone in County Cork, Ireland, but I did not kiss it. I seem to have inherited enough of that genetically, as my mom's people hailed from that very county.) My posts are still too long, I know, but I am working on the concept of writing concisely. So you will find there were a couple of shorter posts in week 2 than week 1. Still room for improvement....
The formatting of the Los Gatos blog still bothers me - frankly, I think it's ugly - but the header remains on the "to do" list while some other stuff on the formatting realm has been done. This week I two widgets to my blog: Meebo and My Blog Log. (Both by myself, no less.) The template I use is all html on Real Town, so I spent quite a bit of time fussing with these to get them positioned correctly. I am enjoying both of them and would encourage other bloggers to use them too.
On the financial front of the contest, my son, Brian Handy, the 17 year old high tech and video game whiz (who's got a published review of a video game - not that I would ever brag), is now on retainer for $10 a week. Yes, that is cheap. As I mentioned in an earlier post on Live in Los Gatos, Brian is building his own computer and he's borrowed some money from Bank of Dad and Mom to buy parts. He asked me if he could be on retainer for the rest of the contest so he knows that by the end, the debt will be cleared. I'm sure I'm getting the better end of the deal, but hey, I'm not going to turn him down. (Btw the orange ski cap he's sporting in the pic is not a fashion statement - it's to keep the computer components clean.)
Google does not seem to know that "Live in Los Gatos" exists and that is definitely something to fix. Pinging doesn't seem to do any good. I am trying to get some traffic and publicity for my site, thinking that might help. One of our local papers, the Los Gatos Observer, will be doing some sort of piece on the blog in the near future. Can't wait!
Frances Flynn Thorsen is my wonderful mentor for Project Blogger, but she and I did not actually connect much this week. Between business, family and other stuff and some technical challenges (emails going to spam filters, poor cell reception, other problems), it was another week of phone tag. Fran had assured me before we began that this is a marathon and not a sprint. I admit to being a nervous apprentice (not being used to quite the scale of attention this is getting me/my blog), though I am slowly coming out of that. This morning we actually had our first phone conversation in a couple of weeks and she's filled me in on some of the neat strategies she has up her sleeve. I am very, very excited about the ability to improve my blog with Fran's help - and that of Real Town!
Meanwhile, the spring market has fully kicked in here in Silicon Valley. So like the rest of you, I'm also going on listing presentations, meeting new buyers, trying to negotiate sales and contingency removals and all the rest of it. Today I have a listing presentation in the morning (time to get ready!) and an open house of a new listing in the afternoon. Tomorrow it's church in the morning, open house in the afternoon. Monday I'm meeting with new buyers and I suspect will be fielding multiple offers on my one active listing. (Yes, only one listing. Last year agents here sold an average of 4-5 homes and 39% sold NO homes. Our numbers are different than most of the U.S. But then, so are our sales prices. But that's another blog post, and I think I'm not being concise again....)
So, between work, family, blogging, and everything else, I'm pretty swamped. Didn't Mark Twain say that he'd be briefer if he had no time?? Me too. And that is no Blarney!!
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