Advice

Hi,

Inspired by my friend Alan, who's got some insane moves, and thanks to a rockin' wedding for Shannon and Colin Fleming. I want to leave you with this piece of advice for the weekend.

When you are at a wedding, don't forget to dance.

Everyone is doing it anyway, so who cares if you look like a fool...might as well get some excercise.

Happy Thursday! (Friday for me because I am flying to Nebraska this weekend with my wife for another wedding...look for me on the dancefloor.)


Conor

Connections

Hi,

October is always one of my favorite months of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love summer and always will because of the hot weather and summer activities in general, but October has a lot of things going for it also. To start, my wife Stephanie's birthday is on the 25th and my Aunt Mary Ann (an avid reader of this blog) has a birthday on the 2nd. Also, the weather has cooled down a touch and going for a run in the afternoon is great. We can't forget Halloween, which is always awesome. The list goes on for a while but there is another one thing that I find important about October, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In recent years, this has become much more evident as you see signs in grocery stores (I donate at least a dollar every time!) as well as on TV and even now in the NFL, with the introduction of pink accessories like gloves and hats to wear on the sideline. This is important because it gives many people a chance to reflect on a family or friend who has had to deal with this awful disease. According to the American Cancer Society a woman's chances of getting breast cancer in her lifetime are a little less than 1 in 8 and the chances of a woman dying from breast cancer is 1 in 35. I am not going to inundate you with a ton of stats on this but I just wanted to be clear that you definitely know someone who has been affected by this disease. Sadly, my mother was 1 of the 35 who did not survive her bout with cancer. I miss her all of the time. The first year after her passing was insanely hard. Every holiday, birthday, or event was the first without her present. Now that's it has been almost 5 years, the scar is still very much there but I am able to go through these events and smile thinking about her rather than having a breakdown. While I still have those breakdowns on big occasions or just a random day, they are few and far between and I think my mom would prefer it that way. She wants me to smile when I think of her, and I do. That brings me to the comic above.

After college when I moved home for a bit I used get up in the morning and read the paper with my parents. My mom and I both loved the comic Get Fuzzy. It hasn't been as good in recent years but back then, it just cracked us both up every day. If we didn't see eachother in the morning before I headed to work I would come home later that day and say, "Man, did you read Get Fuzzy today!? It was so good." Then we would have a 2 min exchange. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal...but it was OUR deal. It was one small little thing that connected my mom and me. I loved it, and I still love it. Now, every time I read that comic, I wonder if she would like it, and it makes me think of her every single day. This one in particular she would've loved. She thought Bucky Katt was hysterical, and everytime he would get up to something (in this case, dressing up as a bat by putting a pot with wings on his head) she would point out the picture and say "Look how funny he looks!" Second to last panel, Bucky is standing there with the pot on his head, tongue out, just looking guilty. That's the shot.

I had other little things with my mom that we'd share but this was definitely one of the tops. Nowawdays, I am starting to find little connections with my son Noah such as watching music videos together in the morning or playing the Uke for him. I love these little moments and one day I will be able to tell him about these things that we did.

Happy October!

"While We Wait"

Conor

Facebook and Advertising

Hi,

I came across this comic the other day and I thought enough of it to share on my neglected blog:

In case you aren't part of Facebook (seriously?) I will give you a quick update. About a week ago Facebook was flooded with status's from people freaking out about new costs for the service. Hundreds of thousands of people regurgitated rumors that they had heard citing all sorts of new pricing. One claimed a flat fee of $9.99 per month, while others claimed different levels of subscription, i.e. Gold Memebers $20 a month and Silver Members $15 a month. I could go on about the different scenarios but I think you get the idea. I just thought it was interesting that all this craziness started, considering that right there on the front page of Facebook is a statement that says, "It's Free and always will be."

Yes, I realize people, and websites in this case, can go back on what they've promised. However, this will never be the case with Facebook and here is why:

If Facebook started charging money for its services, they would lose me as a frequenter of their website. I like Facebook and I utilize its tools when I can, including super sweet status updates that amaze my friends and make them think I am cool. However, I am not so crazy about it that I am willing to spend more than a penny to have access to it on a daily basis. Just by losing me (1 infinitesimal portion of their vast network,) they lose access to any/all future information that I am going to provide them with. Forget your current info, they already have that, no turning back, the internet has it FOREVER. Like any person though, my tastes change and I could start listening to a new band or claim in a status update that I "Just went into Bed Bath and Beyond for the first time and it was AMAAAAZING!) Facebook uses these keywords and sure enough, the next day, I would have a recommendation on the side bar to buy the new song from a band or some great deal on soap at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Facebook loses that opportunity to advertise to me and suddenly maybe BB and B doesn't want to spend quite as much on advertising because now one less person is seeing their ad.

This all ties back to the ad. Facebook doesn't need to sell TO you, you are already in, they need to sell YOU. Your value isn't in the $9.99 a month that they would charge, it's in the millions of dollars in ad revenue that you provide. You are the product. Don't get mad, be happy that you are being shopped around like some prize to be won. Advertisers want your eyes on their product, and darnit, you are going to give it to them by ignoring what they have to say and playing Farmville instead.

Conor

Caitlin's Blog

Hi,

My sister Caitlin has just started an Arts and Crafts and baking type blog. You should definitely check it out. 3 posts in and she is already way better than me.

http://teaspoonsf.wordpress.com/


Conor

Random Thoughts

Hi,

Today I woke up at 7 am and I went downstairs and I had to get my bowl and have my cereal and then I was like "It's Wednesday, Wednesday gotta down on Wednesday," I was pumped!

Don't get confused. Rebecca Black likes Friday...I like Wednesday.

Heyo Rebecca!







Wednesday means Tomato Soup day at the Great Impasta in Danville (known from here on out as TGI.) Seriously, I don't get that excited, but sometimes when I am at work trying to decide what I want for lunch, I perk up a little when I realize that the soup du jour at TGI will be the bomb DOT com.

Onward...I was standing in line waiting for my delicious Tomato Soup when some of the loose change fell out of my hand and clanked to the floor. I looked down only to notice 1 penny sitting there. I looked at it for a second, grabbed my soup (it was ready!) and walked out of the place. Look, I can hear you right now, "Conor, this is the most BORING STORY IN THE WORLD, I hate you for subjecting me to this torture!"

Well here comes the exciting part. Whenever I drop a penny, I always leave it on the ground. I'm blowing your mind right now amiright?? Anyway, I've seen it first hand that people really like finding pennies on the ground. I mean it's just a stinking penny why do people get so worked up? But who am I to judge? For my own reasons, I get ecstatic/nostalgic/thoughtful when I find one on the ground. I won't go into details but those of you who know me best, know the reason. Who am I to take away a chance for someone to get a little excited when they find Abe sitting heads up?

That's it...my huge post for the day. I dropped some change and then rambled on my blog. I will just end it with this.

Mom, you rock.




Conor

New Listing

Hi,

The Dunn and Son Team have a new listing at 858 El Cerro Blvd. in Danville, CA.

Open House on Sunday April 3rd from 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. Check out photos and 360 Panoramic's here!

www.858ElCerro.com

HGTV Obsessed

Hi,

Recently, Steph and I have been watching an inordinate amount of Home and Garden Television. Believe me, we both realize that our "Coolness Factor" has just gone through the roof. Seriously who wants to hang with us this weekend? We can go on a run way too early, count calories, and then watch some sweet episodes of Income Property. Yes, we have the life.

Before I go into the myriad of reasons that I love some of the shows, I am going to give a quick shout out to my celebrity love interest Sandra Rinomato. Hi Sandra! You rock!







More on her later...









I am going to break 3 shows down and tell you why you should start watching them immediately.

HOUSE HUNTERS






The Premise: A look at the process of buying a home and the decisions and sacrifices to be made along the way. The show will always have the buyers look at 3 different houses and in the end pick one of the houses that they like the best.

Why I love it: You get to see the buyer's work through what is most important to them in a house. They always start with all these "must have's." As they go through the process they start to realize that if they want the perfect house that doesn't need any remodeling, they will probably have to pay more and/or sacrifice on location of the property. These are all problems that buyers and real estate agents actually deal with. By the end of the show, the buyers really figure out what is most important to them. Also, they always show a clip of "4 months later," so that you get to see what they've done with the house since they've moved in. That is always interesting to me.

Why I don't love it: Viewers might assume that these people only saw 3 houses when in fact there was weeks before where they went through many houses, narrowed it down to 3 and then recorded those trips on camera. I realize that the network needs a formula and this one definitely works but I would prefer that they point out all the work the agent has done to get to the narrowing down phase. I'm an agent though, I am biased.

Other thoughts: I like the fact that they use local agents. It's a chance for the agents to get their name out there and you get to see the different styles that the agents have in their selling.

Ridiculousness factor: PEOPLE ARE BUYING 3 STORY MANSIONS FOR $50,000 in the middle of Nowhere, Midwest America. $50,000 gets you a fencepost in The Bay Area. Every time I watch the show I tell Steph that we are moving.


PROPERTY VIRGINS






The Premise: Sandra Rinomato is a Real Estate agent (who works for Coldwell Banker, Boo Yeah!) in Toronto,ON Canada. She travels all around Canada and the US, helping people buy their first homes.

Why I love it: They also go with the 3 house formula, only on this show, they don't always make it to the third house. This one focuses more on the negotiation aspect and the buyer's realizing what they are getting into. This show is very similar to House Hunters but there is usually a bit more sticker shock to the clients. They want to live right next to downtown and transportation and they want to have a perfect kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. They slowly figure out that they might not be able to have ALL of these things on their first go 'round. I love how she points out locations that aren't what they first wanted, but they come to realize it's actually a great fit.

Why I don't love it: This is a small thing because I really do love this show but...Apparently Sandra knows every single small neighborhood in every city she goes to. AMAZING. Her knowledge of all the neighborhoods is really great and obviously a product of working with local agents in that specific area. I wish she would point out the work she's done with those agents and the benefit of having a a local agent help you buy so that they can point out these small neighborhoods that you might not have known about. Like I said, it's a small thing and something I would prefer to see only because I am an agent, but it's something.

Ridiculousness factor: Sandra Rinomato is awesome. I love the way she does business, I love the advice that she gives to her clients, and she's got "Business Woman Hot" going for her, which is nice.


INCOME PROPERTY






The Premise: Scott McGillivray helps a homeowner or homeowners get ready to lease out a unit that they have within their home.

Why I love it: This show combines fixing up a part of the house with the end result of leasing it out. It shows you a way to lower your mortgage payment just by having a tenant. You get to see awesome before and after shots of the place after they've totally re-designed it and fixed it up.

Why I don't love it: They always start the show talking about how the owners of the home are struggling financially and they really need to fix up this basement apartment so that they can start making money. Then he lays out the options and they are all like $20,000 renovations! Where is the owner getting this money if they are having so much trouble scraping by? Ahh well, the world may never know.

Ridiculousness factor: Steph recorded like 5 episodes yesterday because they had a marathon. I've already watched 4 of them. This is my current favorite and I love it.




Final Thoughts: These reviews are opinion only, but in my opinion you should take them as the most important things you've ever read. Or you could just keep watching "2 and Half Men", "Jersey Shore" or "American Idol." How many people was I able to offend in that last sentence?

Conor