FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

2nd Annual Luau Fundraiser for Ygnacio Valley High School Music Boosters                                                                     

 

Walnut Creek, CA –               Saturday October 3, 2009    5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

                                          Shadelands Ranch Historical Museum

 

 

The Ygnacio Valley Instrumental Music Boosters will be holding their Luau again this year at the Shadelands Ranch Historical Museum on Ygnacio Valley Boulevard.  This fundraiser benefits both the students and the school’s music program.

 

There will be a Hawaiian themed buffet of Kalua pork, grilled chicken, white rice, macaroni and green salads, fruit and dessert.  The Tiki bar will be serving festive Hawaiian beverages.  Entertainment will consist of dancers, singers and musicians.

 

This event was well attended last year and the public is encouraged to purchase their tickets early.  Tickets can be purchased from any YVHS music student or by using Paypal on www.yvmusic.org.  Tickets are $25.00 for adults and $15.00 for students K-12.

 

The Ygnacio Valley Music Program is under the direction of Mr. Steven Accatino.  Mr. Accatino

has been recognized by the Music Educators National Conference in their national certification program. His bands have performed for five U.S. Presidents. In addition, he has been awarded the Order of the Phoenix by the Western International Band Clinic and is included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and in Who’s Who in America.  Mr. Accatino has twice conducted at Carnegie Hall in New York City: The Young Artists Symphony in June, 1997, and the Ygnacio Valley Wind Ensemble in May, 2001. The YVHS Marching Band will be participating in two parades in New Orleans in February 2010.

 

 

Contacts:

 

Margi Mutio

Ygnacio Valley Instrumental Music Boosters

Co-Vice President

margimutio@yahoo.com

925-360-1306

 

Megan Mueller

Ygnacio Valley Instrumental Music Boosters

Co-Vice President

Megan912mueller@gmail.com

925-639-1065

I’ll meet you halfway…

How many times have you said or heard that? 

Have last minute docs that need to be signed and the client is at work?  How often has that happened?
Can they meet you halfway?
So where is halfway?
And when we decide where that point is, where do you want to meet?
The side of the road isn’t the right option.
Want to have coffee?
How about a little Pizza & Beer?

So many questions! How do you figure it all out?

Fear not! 

I have the website to quickly answer all your questions. 

It’s called meetways.com and it’ll not only calculate where that middle ground is but also show you the available coffee shops, pizza parlors or whatever you specify.

Here’s a real life case in point.

My friend and fellow car guy Lane Bailey found some cool car parts online.  The seller didn’t want to ship.  Lane had a small problem.  He lives in Lilburn, GA and the parts were in Livermore, CA.  That 2,456 mile trip is a little too far for some greasy car parts.  Lane knew I lived close so he asked if I could pick up the parts.  Using meetways.com I quickly came up with 4 coffee shops near the halfway point where “Mr. I’m afraid of Fedex” can meet me.

Now, if these parts are too big to ship – I can always make the drive and meet Lane halfway. 

“Hey Lane!  How about a little Pizza and Beer in Walsh, CO? – I know the perfect spot!”

Try Meetways – it’ll make you look like a star!

Are you following me on Twitter?

My New Position

YES!

I have taken a New Position.

If you know me, you know I am passionate about two things:

1. Social Media and
2. Technology.

I have contended for years that Real Estate Professionals were the greatest people to walk the Earth.

So when a V.L.H.T.O.C. * approached me and asked if I would like to teach Technology to Real Estate Pro’s my answer might have been a little quick.

How Quick?

Let’s just say…

• It was so quick it couldn’t have been measured in nanoseconds.
• Top Fuel Eliminators? They don’t have the reaction time I had.
• F/A-18 Pilots? Too slow. They might as well have been flying a Cessna.
• The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa? Feels more like a moped.

We live in interesting times.
More now than ever before a successful agent has to be on top of their game.
They need to properly leverage the technology and tools available to their advantage.
My job is to help those agents become more successful, to thrive, and to excel.
I’m looking forward to the new challenge.

* stands for “very large, highly tech oriented company”

Are you following me on Twitter?

Poverty at Agent Genius

Wow!

Consider this somewhat of a Re Blog.  Maybe not so much Re Blog but more of an “Wow YOU guys ROCK!”

Yesterday was Blog Action Day.  I was a participant and wrote a post.  The topic was Poverty and my post took on a more personal flavor.  Last night, I headed over to my Feed Reader to catch up on the world.

I read quite a few posts yesterday and was very impressed in how the Real Estate community embraced the project, but nothing impressed me as much as the collection of posts on AG.

---

Let’s start with “Fighting Poverty- Rocky Turner“

I’ve been quietly following the efforts of Mothers Fighting For Others for quite some time now. This is a Full Time effort for Rocky.

---

Tom Vanderwell is someone I’ve known online. He’s a lender and a very smart one at that. Talk about an eye opening experience, check out his post “Going out on a limb

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Ginger Wilcox – I’ve had the pleasure of dining with this excellent Agent. We’ve connected at various seminars and conventions. I had no idea she was so involved in caring for those less fortunate. Ginger, thank you for all you do!

---

Craig Barrett – another surprising individual!

Craig’s attack on Poverty is his Local Food Bank.

Being a Food Bank Volunteer myself – I say great job Craig!

---

Drew Meyers – One of Zillow’s big guys.
Drew’s passion? Microfinancing

Have you heard of it? It can change the world!

---

Gina Kay Landis – I could list the ways she’s involved but my laptop doesn’t have that much ink. Just go to the post and read it yourself.  I particularly liked the idea of helping with the marketing for non-profits.  Who better than a real estate agent.  They know marketing right?

---

Finally, a huge tip of the hat to Agent Genius, Benn and Lani, for collecting these great people!
Agent Genius – YOU ROCK!

Blog Action Day 08: Poverty, it’s personal

under the freeway,
originally uploaded by zappowbang.

Today is Blog Action Day. It’s one day a year when thousands of bloggers around the world write about one singular topic.

This year the topic is poverty. That seemed simple enough. So I sat down and started to write.

Poverty happens in third world countries far away.

Poverty happens here in the US as well.

Poverty happens to that guy who sits on the freeway exit and asks for change. (Well I think Poverty happens to that guy. I have also heard rumors it’s a sham and he’s pulling in hundreds of dollars a day.)

Then I also came to realize Poverty is very much closer to home. My Home.

You see, I have this brother. He’s been in and out of rehab, jail, hospitals, you name it. The family has tried to help him, taken him in, set him on the right path and so on. Nothing worked. He rejected everything and anything (as is often the case).  The cause and the reasons don’t matter to this topic.

I haven’t talked to him in over 10 years. That silence has been by choice. My choice.

I drive by him 3 times a week as he stands outside a halfway house with others waiting to get a bite to eat and take a shower. He doesn’t notice me and doesn’t want to.    I’m ok with that.

Recently I learned from a friend that my he’s living under a freeway. He’s warm, he’s dry, but the stark realization that I know one of “those people” rings hollow in my soul.

On the positive side, this thing called Blog Action Day has brought those thoughts to the head of the line. Although I know my brother wouldn’t accept anything from me directly, I find myself thinking about how I can help that halfway house, or any program that reaches out to help.

Each year we spend a day at the local food bank sorting cans as part of the Mueller Family holiday season ritual. While those same cans I sorted might eventually find their way to my brother, my involvement is once a year. That’s it.

What happens the other 364 days?

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo

Here’s just a couple of answers.

You can donate to the Global Fund via: http://www.change.org/blogactionday
That’s simple , straight forward, easy to do.

Shop for anything using aGoodCause
They offer a revolutionary shopping concept to fight poverty.
When you purchase from more than 5,000 online shops you’ll be automatically making a donation to a charity of your choice.
http://www.agoodcause.com/content/view/429/146/

The answers are not easy.

Talking about it certainly is not easy.

It turns out, nothing is easy with Poverty.

You can follow the world’s posts today at http://blogactionday.org/

Related articles by Zemanta

• Blog Action Day 2008 – Poverty
• What Are You Doing for Blog Action Day?
• Announcing Blog Action Day 2008
• Change.org Launches Social Action Blog Network

Social Media Boxscore

Is there a Social Media Boxscore?

If there was, what would it look like?

Baseball has it’s Boxscore. You know… Runs, Hits and Errors.

* technically speaking, this is a Line Score.

Social Media isn’t about keeping track.  It’s not about how many points, how many followers. how many friends, or how many links you have.  It’s about making connections.  It’s about relationships.  It’s not about the numbers.

OK, now to get off the Soapbox…

But what would a Social Media Boxscore look like?  What numbers would it track?  What platforms would it include?

To the real estate professional I think it would have to include ActiveRain, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn at the bare minimum.  There are quite a few other networks many RE Pro’s are on like Flickr, Seesmic, RealSeekr, FriendFeed, Naymz, Inman, Trulia, Zillow, MyBlogLog, and RealTown  – just to name a few.  (how’s that for a linkfest?  my big list is here)

Given my top 4, what would the boxscore list?  Points, Followers, Friends, Links?  That would be my first answer. 

If so, my Social Media Boxscore would currently look something like this:

Network	Score
ActiveRain	143,812 Points
Twitter	521 Followers
Facebook	549 Friends
LinkedIn	255 Connections

But that score above…  Is it real?  Does it matter?  At ActiveRain I have made countless friends and relationships.  They don’t show in the stats.  Yet, these are much more valuable to me than points. 

I follow many more on twitter than I have followers.  There are 25 or so Twits that I can say I really connect with.  The same thing with Facebook and LinkedIn. 

The value of any Social Media Network is in the real connections and real relationships it creates.  For me, the most valuable of those relationships started online but were cemented in person.  That means getting offline and getting face to face. 

Social Media is just the start point

That’s it.  Just a start point.  To make the most of social media connection you really need to take it to the next step.  I’ll cite a couple of recent examples.  ReBarCamp and then Inman Connect in San Francisco provided 4 days of excellent face to face.  I can’t tell you how many people I “connected” with in the halls, at the presentations, and at the parties.

September 19th I’ll be at REBlogWorld in Vegas. If you are reading this, allow me to make a couple of assumptions.  You are in Real Estate, you are online, you read blogs and maybe write a blog, and I’ll be seeing you there.  Am I right?  Bigger than REBlogWorld is BlogWorld.  This will be a huge opportunity to branch outside of the RE sector. 

There will be a REBarCamp in Houston in October and an Inman Connect January 2009 in New York City.  There are plenty of opportunities to get out away from the online social networks and cement real relationships.  Log off.

12 Seconds in Video

Is 12 seconds enough for you to say what you need to?

Time is everything.  Is it worthy or a waste of yours?

 

A 12 Second Limerick on 12seconds.tv

That’s a very valid question. What do you think?

R U Bullet Proof?

I read yesterday in a local blog (www.CLAYCORD.com) that a WAMU branch close to me is installing Bullet Proof Glass to protect their tellers.

The WAMU closest to me Oak Grove road and Citrus has a very open design of individual stations and no long teller counters.

With this “customer friendly design” I see no possibility of a shield.

Unless they want to install a Cone of Silence.

Hey, that might work!

Coincidentally, many years ago my wife was working at Great Western (a very large Savings and Loan as a teller) when a gunman jumped over the counter and went down the line with a “collection bag“.

Numerous shots were fired above her head.  Luckily nobody was hurt.

Great Western was bought and became WAMU shortly afterward.

She left when our daughter was born.

While I like the welcoming feel of sitting down with my personal bank representative, I also realize they need to be protected. I can’t help but think that in the coming months and years desperate activity will only increase and not decrease.

My Path of Sadness

This morning I started up the computer, fired up Twhirl, started to open the Google Feed Reader, and prepare for a radio interview on a morning show.

One little tweet caught my attention first:

I didn’t know who (Pinky379) she was talking about.

Currently I follow 750 or so on Twitter and this name wasn’t one of them.

I headed to Flickr to see what my friends had uploaded recently.

One of the first images I saw was one from Dale Chumbley

They say that Social Media is all about connections.  Dale just helped me connect who Pinky379 was.  Sheila Lublin is Bill Lublin’s wife.  Bill and I met in San Francisco recently.  Before that we connected on a strange video thread on Seesmic.

How could you not connect with someone like this?

http://api.seesmic.com/#/video/Lpll1QaA5d/watch

Going back to my feed reader, I found this post in my “Suggested Reading” folder.

It was written by Benn at AgentGenius

Our Friend Bill Lublin Loses His Wife Today, and Ag Loses a Wonderful Friend

Social Media is indeed all about connecting.

Bill and I did.  I now feel his loss, his sadness.

Services for Sheila will be held on Friday August 8, at 10:00am ET at:
Goldstein’s Rosenberg Rafael Sacks Funeral Homes
310 Second Street Pike
South Hampton, PA 18966

Other posts in memory of Sheila:

• Agent Genius
• Jack Boardman – Our Saint Paul
• Sarah Cooper – The Putnam Scoop
• Dale Chumbley
• Jeremy Hart – NRV Living
• Paula Henry – Indy Real Estate Talk
• Mike Mueller – Social Media.ist
• Matt Rathbun – The Agent Trainer
• Jay Thompson- The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Be careful who you add

Being new to Flickr I have been playing a game of catchup.

I’ve been adding new contacts. I just added Larry Cragun.

My mistake.

Larry doesn’t know me. Even though I’ve been reading Larry for the longest time, it’s a one way relationship.

Larry saw that I had added him and was “uninspired“.

I just “un-Contact”ed Larry. I’ll probably start “un-reading” his excellent blog. That’s a shame.

Social media is all about connecting. That connection is a two way street. I didn’t realize I was on a one way street.

Moral of the Story: Don’t assume just because you know someone, they know you.