Dishwasher Installation Drains Blogging

Posted on July 27, 2010
Filed Under Personal, Random Rant, That Is All | 1 Comment

I have no excuse for not keeping up with this blog, but here’s why it hasn’t been done:

I’ve spent my time online searching on how to uninstall/install a new dishwasher.  Yes, I did it myself.  How’s that for girl power?

My blood sugar levels are through the roof, I haven’t felt well in a while and I spend a lot of time sleeping. (36 out of 52 hours this last weekend alone.)

When I’m not sleeping, I am working.  Did you see the new getpaul web site launch? (It launched quietly at 4am one very early morning this last week.)  We are also working approximately 17 real estate transactions at the moment… plus all the property management and office staffing drama.  However, the staffing problem has been solved and I’m looking forward to announcing the Hoots we hired, once it’s official!

It’s stifling hot.  Yes, temperature-wise, but our A/C went out for 4 days and holding a hot computer on my lap wasn’t any fun.

It’s summer time. I am spending a lot of time with my adorable children. ‘Nuff said.

Took A Chance on eLance

Posted on July 6, 2010
Filed Under Personal, Techy Things | 6 Comments

This is the debut of my new SugarCube logo and I welcome your opinions and thoughts.  The idea was to incorporate the tiara (you have seen my Twitter profile pic, right?) with the SugarCube.  I wasn’t sure of the best way to do this, but here is what we came up with.

The idea came when I decided to take a chance and hired a graphic designer from eLance.com and boy oh boy was I was impressed.  I proposed a budget of $50 bucks and had approximately 10-12 proposals within 15 minutes of placing my request.  I chose a seemingly chic woman by the name of graphicdesignbytara or “T” out of San Diego, CA. This girl was fantastic and so easy to work with.  She made this job seem easy.

So, you’re one of the firsts to see it.  Not sure what I will use it for just yet. However, like I said, I’m open and welcome your opinions.

It Was Foreigner To See Styx In The Sticks

Posted on July 5, 2010
Filed Under Personal | 6 Comments

I really do have Too Much Time On My Hands to come up with a title like that.  But it’s exactly what I did this 4th of July weekend.  I saw Styx (and Kansas and Foreigner) while in the sticks.  The sticks being a resurrected outdoor amphitheater in tiny little Lampe, Missouri.  Good ole Lampe, MO, located on Tablerock Lake with it’s raging population 2,261 people… plus an extra 4 (consisting of my family in our little getaway lake house just around the corner from the amphitheater) each weekend during the summer.

Foreigner concert 7-3-2010 Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater Lampe, MO

No doubt I have a flair for 70′s and 80′s music… okay all music… but Foreigner is probably one of my favorites which is so weird since a lot of their hits were before I was born in early 1978.  I guess this is what I get for having a cool mother (who was also very young) who hauled me around in the car listening to all of these seriously awesome bands.  Yes, these are the sounds of my childhood and I LOVED them!  It was also really nice to see The Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater re-open.

But back to the concert.  It rocked.  Kansas was good, Styx was better, but Foreigner was the best for sure.  With three bands that played, it was a long concert and we were there with our friends so needless to say, we had a good time and a good weekend worth documenting on the blog.

Before the concert with our good friends.

I Like People Pics

Posted on June 25, 2010
Filed Under Personal | 1 Comment

I’ve been doing some blogging for a travel web site. (I know, I really don’t need any more irons in the fire… but I enjoy doing this.)  I’m really liking the business model and the mission statement of this travel site, because they require original material.  You can’t use stock photos in your post and you must use your own original copywriting.  So I started drafting some articles about some recent trips and realized that I didn’t have any good scenery or landmark photos, all I had are people pics.

You see, my Flickr page is busting at the seams with photos.  Now that I think of it… maybe I should say that my 4 gig camera card in my digital camera is busting at the seams with photos to be uploaded to Flickr.  However, while perusing through my Flickr albums, I realized that there are people in almost every photograph.  Scenery may be beautiful, but it’s even prettier when there are smiling faces of your family and friends showing off the good times.  At least in my opinion, that’s true.

Now I guess I have reason enough to do some traveling so that I take scenery pics, I need a vacation anyway.  Like I said… too many irons in the fire.

Cheeeese!

Posted on June 24, 2010
Filed Under Daily Grind Day Job, Dizmang Properties, Real Estate & Property Management, Training & Education (More Day Job Stuff), seminars | Leave a Comment

Smile!  Nothing works me up more than having my photo taken.  Especially when it’s a scheduled photo shoot.  I always get so nervous.  The backstory to this specific photo was that this week The Donald and I had a scheduled appointment to have new head shot photos taken.  The head shots were not taken for my fictitious acting career, but for my real estate career.  You know… for the standard REALTOR® business cards that say “call me for all your real estate needs!”

Actually, the pictures were taken so that the National Association of REALTORS® can update their online speaker directory for the upcoming annual conference and expo in November.  We were selected by NAR to present our “8 Ways To Profitable Property Management” at the conference which will be held in New Orleans November 5-8, 2010.

So while I am pulling together the 8 Ways seminar that I’m thrilled to present, I’m going to list out my 8 Ways This Scheduled Photo Session Sent Me Into a Tizzy that lead up to picture day:

1.  I have an extra baby tooth in the front of my mouth on the top.  Most people can’t tell, but I feel like it looks like a giant snaggle tooth.

2. I never know what to wear, so I always stick with black. Hey, it’s slimming.

3. It never fails, my hair doesn’t lay right on picture day.

4. I have this recurring dream that I’m in the 5th grade and school pics were taken just after gym class when I was all hot and sweaty.  Oh wait, that wasn’t a dream.

5. Double chin phobia.  Need I say more?

6. I desperately need to get out in the sun and get some color. (Hello Hawaii vacation this August!)

7. My nails really need a manicure.  Nevermind, I don’t have time and duh, they don’t show up in the pictures.

8. How can I say “cheese” without feeling cheesy?

Thankfully, the Photogenic Angels were looking over me that day and I actually ended up with a decent shot, snaggle tooth and all.  That, or maybe it was the Photoshop Magic Angels.  Not sure which, let’s just hope that they stick around until November.

Thesis 1.7 Went Blank!

Posted on June 2, 2010
Filed Under Random Rant, Shiny Girl Geek Things, Techy Things, Web 2.0 Consulting Services, Web 2.0 Stuff, wordpress | 3 Comments

<panic!>

I’ve been working on a few different web sites for work the last 30 days and I’ve been doing a lot of the development in WordPress using the Thesis 1.7 theme.  I hit full on panic mode tonight when I was trying to tweak a custom function and added some bad pieces of code unknowingly to the theme footer.  I clicked on my “Big Ass Save Button” (of which I have renamed to a little bit classier version) and went to check on my site and poof! EVERYTHING on the site went blank.  I started breathing into a paper bag as I could not even login to the WordPress backend, like I said EVERYTHING was blank and nothing would load.  O….M….G….

So, if this happens to you, here is how you fix it:

1) Login to your host (cPanel) backend and re-name your Thesis file.  You can find it in your File Manager by clicking on Public HTML > wp-content > themes.

2) Select “Thesis_17″ and rename the file.  I just added four random numbers behind the 17.  This will cause WordPress to reset your site to the default theme allowing you to be able to log back in and getting rid of the kiss of death blank site screens.

3) Once you are logged into the WordPress backend.  Click on “Appearance” > “Editor” on the left hand side of the admin screen.

4) In the top right hand corner, select “Thesis” from the drop down box under “select theme to edit”

5) Click on “custom_functions php” in the right hand column.

6) Find the botched/bad code in the editor window and delete it.

7) Click “Update File” at the bottom.

8) Repeat step 1 above, except this time change your Thesis file name back to the original “Thesis_17″.  Meaning, erase the random numbers you added.

9) You’re almost done… Now go back to “Appearance” > “Themes” and activate your Thesis 1.7 Theme.

10) And now you’re done. Yay!!

I must tell you though, I had help getting to this point by perusing the WordPress support forums on this issue and also by reading this site.

</panic!>

Repeat Performance

Posted on June 1, 2010
Filed Under Daily Grind Day Job, Dizmang Properties, Real Estate & Property Management, Training & Education (More Day Job Stuff), seminars | 7 Comments

I received some exciting news this week that The Donald and I were chosen to present “8 Profitable Ways to Property Management” at the National Association of REALTORS® Annual Conference and Expo! Therefore, we’re headed to New Orleans in November 2010 for a repeat performance. w00t!!

What’s odd is that I’m more excited this year than I was last year. I know what to expect and I know how much fun it was last year so there is no sense in letting my nerves eat me alive and stifle the excitement.

As you probably know, I’m a big fan of the REALTOR® brand and profession and not just because I am one. Every fall, NAR holds their annual conference where 25,000+ REALTORS® embark on a 4 day conference and huge expo trade show. The phrase “birds of a feather flock together” comes to mind when I attend these conventions… [insert sigh of content here]… I digress. Anyway, I’m proud of my profession and really like what I do.

Ok, so now it’s market research time. What kind of questions do you have about managing residential rental property? Or, if you’re a landlord yourself, what kind of advice or tips should I give in my presentation? Throw it out there, let’s see what sticks.

I can already taste the Cafe du Monde coffee and fresh beignets. Like I said… Sooo excited!

Nerdcamp. (Wordcamp Fayetteville Recap)

Posted on May 31, 2010
Filed Under Training & Education (More Day Job Stuff), Web 2.0 Consulting Services, Web 2.0 Stuff | 10 Comments

I’m becoming a WordPress Junkie and have now attended two different Wordcamps within the last 30 days (#wcnash and #wcfay).  This past weekend I spent the day in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The Wordcamps are probably considered Nerdcamps by those that don’t know or understand the WordPress platform for blogging and web site design.  They are a small group of people (50-100 people) that are dedicated to sharing their knowledge and learning more about the functionality of WordPress, who meet to talk techy stuff.

I got to know some great people while in Fayetteville this past weekend.  First, I got to know a fellow #sgftwitterchick, Jenny.  Jenny with a famous phone number.  We had an easy two hour drive across the border and there were no GPS errors like my previous Wordcamp road trip.  Then I met a kindred spirit, an evolved mommy who was absolutely hysterical.  And when I say kindred, I don’t mean in the mommy type way, but in the type 1 way as she told me a heart-wrenching story about how type 1 diabetes affected her life with someone she loved.  In addition to these fun, witty women, I also met Q-tip and his creative friend who let me in on their Google Wave for live blogging the event.  (Q-tip is not what you think, it is an alternative name I gave him to not use his real name on this blog. It is meant in the sincerest form of respect.) I’ve embedded the Wave if you want to read the collaborative group effort conference notes.

But only read it if you’re a nerd like me.

Keeping Busy Because of One Lit Match

Posted on May 25, 2010
Filed Under Daily Grind Day Job, Dizmang Properties, Juvenile Diabetes, Personal, Random Rant, Real Estate & Property Management, Training & Education (More Day Job Stuff), Young Professionals Network (YPN), seminars | 4 Comments

As Smokey The Bear would say, “Only you can prevent forrest fires.”  Uhh, no I can’t because I have tried.  I am speaking of the figurative forrest fire, not the literal ones.  I’ve been known to have too many irons in the fire at one time, but my irons have caught fire and now I’m right in the middle of a huge forrest fire and trying to put it out.  But it’s what I love to do, so here’s the 911, I mean 411 of what’s up.

First, Springfield’s 2nd annual Walk To Cure Diabetes was this past Saturday, May 22, 2010 at Jordan Valley Park.  It was a fantastic day for it and you can see all of the pictures here.  We had just over 500 people there and raised $75,000 for type 1 research.  It was great to have close friends and family come in town for it.  There was even a post on it, written by Scott Strange (who drove down from KC) over at Strangely Diabetic.  Not to mention, Sarah Blacksher wrote about it too.  It was a huge event and I will post on it and my thoughts about it later.

Next on my radar is RE BarCamp St. Louis. June 14th at the Stegton Regency Banquet Center in St. Charles/St. Louis, MO. All my REALTOR® friends getting together to talk tech.  I’m so thankful for outstanding friends like Chris Drayer and Karen Goodman (just to name a few) for their help in getting this off the ground.  You guys surely rock!!

And of course, there are all of the continuing education courses.  It’s a renewal year for Missouri real estate agents and The Donald and I have been teaching classes like crazy. There’s one going on tomorrow.

My new company web site should launch this week (or next).  And who knows whatever happened to that getpaul iPhone app.

Following that is the Dexcom/Omnipod event in Springfield.  This is scheduled for June 24th and was technically supposed to happen this year, but it was put on hold.  Now it’s back and in full force.

And uh, there’s that personal blogging thing.  As usual, the ball gets dropped here too.  It’s dying of smoke inhalation.

Where Does The Time Go?

Posted on May 15, 2010
Filed Under Personal, Random Rant, That Is All | 6 Comments

It is now mandatory that I color my hair every 6-8 weeks to cover the grays coming in.

I’m fighting with gravity and it’s winning.

Power 96.5 Jams radio station gets on my nerves.

I bent down to pick something up off the floor this morning. I got stuck and hurt myself getting back up.

Getting old sucks.

That is all.

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