Checklist Queen Needs A WordPress Plugin

Posted on August 23, 2010
Filed Under Daily Grind Day Job, Dizmang Properties, Real Estate & Property Management, wordpress | 2 Comments

One thing I pride myself on are my checklists and forms.  I use them everyday at work.  In fact, there is even a checklist for using the checklist.  Because my job in real estate and property management is sooo detailed, I find that it’s pretty handy just to have a sheet of items that I need to do ready to go.  I don’t want to miss anything.

But I’m not just talking about to do lists.  These are actual step-by-step checklists and forms that could get anyone started in the landlording game.  I started to put these forms into a book format and even shopped a few publishers.  But overall, I couldn’t see the book being a New York Times Bestseller, and packaging them all together would make the book itself kinda of expensive.  I don’t want to worry about marketing the whole book and justifying the hefty price tag.  I just want to present it one form at a time.  I want to blog about the one form and how great it is and then get my property management groupie following (yes, there is such a thing) to want the individual form.  They should be able to purchase it a la carte or just download it for free.  Afterall, I am all about sharing information in an open source world.

My idea is to post these checklists on my company web site and allow information-hungry landlords to search for them and download them for their own personal use.  These checklists will include (but certainly not be limited to) inspection forms, applications and lease agreements, final walk through checklists, lease signing checklists, etc.  Most of them will probably be free, but a few of the bigger, more intense premium checklists will be for purchase.  I don’t plan on becoming a millionaire off of these forms and checklists, but to make enough money to buy a large Panera Hazelnut coffee is enough to make my day.

The problem I’m running into now is finding a WordPress plugin to help organize the numerous checklists and present them for download.  I’ve got the WP-Download Manager plugin and it is not shiny or pretty. It is just okay, at best.  Next, I need to find a plugin that will allow me to sell the forms or checklists.  I need something that easy to work with and will handle providing the download links to the end user.  Any suggestions?

I’m reaching out to you, my peeps here.  Whether or not to you are a Property Manager Groupie.  What WordPress plugins do you suggest to make this idea come together?  What would you like to see?

And for those of you that are Property Manager Groupies… I suggest you seek help.  Just as I am.

Dirt

Posted on August 22, 2010
Filed Under Personal | Leave a Comment

What’s a blog without a little personal stuff mixed in? That’s why you keep coming back here to read this, right?  Humor me and say it is so.  No doubt there are some of you looking for dirt on me, so I will make it easy for you and itemize my list of dirt:

1) Yes, my company is hiring for a property manager. Know of anyone?  Actually, we are tying down some loose ends and hopefully will have someone in the position this week.  It’s started a little rocky, but it can’t be anymore rocky than we already have.  I’m pretty sure it will all be smooth sailing now.

2) The local JDRF Ozarks chapter is still going strong, despite opposition from a similar local organization. We hired our first staff person and raised $75,000 at our second annual Walk To Cure Diabetes back in May 2010. This has been a huge dream of mine to see this thru since 2007 and it feels good to see this come to fruition.

3) I’m on the hunt to buy my husband a new car. I’m trying to do it on the down low and surprise him with it sometime in early fall. He deserves it and works hard, and he’s been driving a piece for a long time now. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read this blog, and if so, then the cat’s out of the bag. Good thing you came here looking for dirt babe. :)

4) I’m finishing up my last quarter of the year as the 2010 Missouri state chair of the REALTOR Magazine Young Professionals Network. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Overall, I think that YPN is a great organization nationally, but it is lacking just that…organization. Although we have had some fantastic events, I just wish that there was more direction coming down from the top. It’s also really hard to shake that “all-we-do-is-party” image. Oh well, you know me…always the perfectionist. YPN will get there and I know that the Missouri chapter has a strong leadership coming in behind me for 2011.

5) Yes, I got involved with a online travel company (loosely tied in with my real estate business) of where I am heading up and implementing their social media division and incorporating their Twitter feed with Facebook Connect and blogging. I have learned so much and I really enjoy it, but it is just one more iron in the fire.  However, let me know if you’re looking for a blogging job.

6) My last A1c lab test in early August was over 9%. For those of you not familiar with type 1 diabetes, let me put this layman’s terms: “it’s bad.” It’s back on the Omnipod and Dexcom 24/7 for me. What’s worse is that my Mom was in town during my appointment and accompanied me to see the doc. Ouch, not a good time to get crappy test results back. At 32 years old, I all of the sudden felt like I was 12 with her there. Nonetheless, she was extremely cool and didn’t crucify me for it. It’s my own fault and I know it. I will fix it.

7) Higher sugars probably contributed to my 14 pound weight loss. Then again so did running on the treadmill 3-4 times per week. I think I gained it all back (and then some) though last week while on vacation.

8.) I’m going to be an Aunt again! I’m so excited that my brother and his wife are expecting a little girl this Christmas. I’ve already bought her first tiara and stilettos! I am so excited for a little girl in the family!

So there you have it… The dirt. Whether you were looking for it or not.

Aloha

Posted on August 19, 2010
Filed Under Personal, Real Estate & Property Management, Training & Education (More Day Job Stuff), seminars | 1 Comment

*Editor’s Note: This post was supposed to publish on August 13, 2010 once an internet connection could be found after landing. However, the idiot author of this blog placed the post in draft status rather than publish status.  So… internet connection or not, it did not get published in a timely manner.  For full reading enjoyment, we suggest that you pretend like you are reading it from last week.  The idiot author would like to formally apologize to her readers for this big, fat publish fail.

Recently I have been a maniac pressure cooker ready to blow.  But this pressure cooker is simmering down with a long overdue Kauai beach vacation this week.  Which is also giving me a lot of time to think and re-group and as I cash-in in this 2009 year-end bonus from The Donald.

In my attempt to disconnect from work, I find myself not starting off well with the five-hour flight from LAX. I am still a little frazzled and I can’t quite wind down.  So of course, with my super Macbook Pro, I am using the 300 hour battery life to it’s full potential by knocking out several pending work projects.  These projects include the work on our National Association of REALTORS® annual conference presentation keynote.  I’m slowly easing myself away from Microsoft Powerpoint, because

So, I am switching everything to Apple Keynote.  You know me, I do heart Apple, and we’ll see how it goes.  Either way, it’s buh-bye bullet points.

I am now getting a little restless with working on the presentation (believe me, it’s not easy setting up office in flight), so I am going to move on to writing our lead RRP course for Missouri Real Estate Commission continuing education credit.  I’ve still got a little over two hours before we land.  However, writing about lead based paint doesn’t excite me, but this is a good thing because I am getting distracted with thoughts of the beach…. Eh, nevermind.  Work will be there when I get back.

Bad Diabetes Vacation

Posted on August 17, 2010
Filed Under Juvenile Diabetes, Personal, dexcom continuous glucose monitor, omnipod insulin pump | 4 Comments

My beautiful Hawaii trip didn’t let me take a break from my type 1 diabetes this past week. Although the trip itself was fantastic, sugar-wise it was rough. And not just in the way of roller coaster sugar readings due to the five hour time difference. (Note to self: remember to change time on insulin pump and adjust basal rates accordingly before you get there…not three days in.)

There were a few embarrassing moments where the Omnipod insulin pump on my arm did not fit in while wearing a bikini or a cute strapless sun dress. I had a tiny freakout moment on the beach one day when I heard the hushed voices of “what the heck is on her arm?!” coming from other beach-goers behind me. Full on panic set in (I’m kinda prone to anxiety attacks) and I wanted to leave. I was so wanted to quit diabetes!! This panic attack was hard to recover from, even with the endless support of the hubs.  However, I slowly got over it until this photo was taken.

'Pod On The Beach

I had tweeted this pic out because I loved the view, the moment with Ty, and the cool capture using the Hipstamatic app. But in my mind, the unfortunate downside of this photo was the Omnipod on my arm that was staring right back at me annoying me and taunting me like it had done all day. And like a rush, the frustrations I had dealt with over the last few days with T1D got to me again. So in my tweet, I vented something along the lines of “cute photo with the exception of the ‘pod on my arm.”  In my mind, I figured I would just expose it up front, rather than worrying about the hushed whispers of 1,900 Twitter followers and 700 Facebook friends.

What surprised me the most was how supportive my non-D friends were in their comments. However, the “Diabetes Online Community” or DOC gave me a total different reaction.

I got comments from the DOC along the lines of “when did you decide not to be a diabetic anymore?” or “why do you care?” and I was called out on Twitter by members of the DOC stating things like “diabetes doesn’t define you.”  Uhh, let me be clear, I never said that “D” defined me.  It was a comment that I made that could have easily been replaced with “I wish I would have tied my hair back.”  Why the heck would people (of my own kind), who know and understand this disease because they live with it, not let me vent about it?

I will let this go, but seriously people… I thought we were in this together, where is the love?

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!>

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