Looking Out From the Garage

It is NO secret around here that I am a Car Guy.  I guess that would be why I am THE Garage Guy, too.  For the last 4+ years one thing I have had NO problem being transparent about is my love of things automotive.  Here on this blog, as well as my blog, LaneBailey.com, and my website, GarageHomesUSA.com, I have written numerous posts about cars, garages and cool tools. 

Recently, I started a blog solely targeted to other car lovers.  It is called CoolCaroftheDay.com.  And because I seem to be a glutton for punishment, I also created a network of supporting sites:

• Cool Car of the Day on FaceBook
• Cool Car of the Day on YouTube
• Cool Car of the Day on Twitter
• CoolCaroftheDay.mobi on Posterous

Blogging here on Active Rain and meeting so many influential and successful bloggers has taught me a LOT about creating content and delivering it. I've tried to take some of that knowledge in a new direction. 

I still enjoy blogging about real estate... but I have also written around 2000 posts.  I have 1780 posts here in the Rain, and there are around 1600 on LaneBailey.com... there is certainly a lot of crossover between my blogs.  I am slowing down a bit on real estate.  I have trimmed back from 7 days a week on LaneBailey.com down to 3 days a week. 

The new blog has been up around a month.  There have already been some really cool cars... and there are more coming. 

Road Atlanta preview

I'd love for you to check it out...

But don't worry, everything is fine.  I've been blogging on my regular site, LaneBailey.com... and sometimes on LaneBailey.info, which is more about social media.  I just haven't had much time to spend here commenting or posting special content for my A|R Blog.  I'm going to change that a bit...  I'll bring some of my content from the other sites, as well as some specific content for here...  Obviously, the points aren't my main concern anymore. 

There are a lot of things going on... Social Media Breakfast Atlanta (not getting as much of my time as I think it needs), reBarCamp Atlanta, my Junior Achievement volunteer time (and check out the kids in those links...), Cub Scouts (I'm a Den Leader and active in Pack Leadership), building a Jeep from the ground up and life... oh, and selling some real estate. 

One of the things that has pulled me back to post on Active Rain is the incredible community.  I have had calls from several folks I "know" through the site.  Some that I have never met, and others that I likely wouldn't have met had it not been for AR.  It is great to know that I am part of such a wonderful community.  And it is even better to know that others have noticed my absence and even taken a moment to worry about me. 

I'm fine...  And thank you.  Thank you very much. 

BTW, I am working on a couple of other projects which may find their way onto Active Rain in the not too distant future, but I can't release any details on those yet. 

And for those coming ot REtechSouth at the end of March, I will be there.  I'm going to be hanging out and enjoying the opportunity to learn some new skills and reconnect with some of my Active Rain peeps... I hardly get to see some folks. 

I also my be involved with Xplode - Destin, FL, which is part of a series of real estate technology events outside of the Atlanta market.  I'll have to see what happens with that... but Matt Fagioli and I are talking. 

Geez... I almost forgot that my 4wd club is hosting a blood drive at the end of May.  We want YOUR blood.  We want to retake the #1 spot for 1 day blood drives with LifeSouth.  We were #1 for a couple of years, and then got kicked all of the way to #3.  Our little 40 member family club had to take a back seat to a 2,000 member church congregation and a 1500 member alumni group.  We want our title back...  ;^ )

Life is busy, but I haven't forgotten about my Active Rain friends, and I will spend a bit more time here.

What can be more fun than an Airshow?  And Dobbins Air Reserve Base has been holding one for years (missing a couple of years... but not many).  And the stars of the show are the Blue Angels.

The 2010 was on 16th July.  It was a great time, with the Blue Angels, Canadian Snowbirds and several other aerobatic groups and individuals.  There were also a LOT of display aircraft onsite, including this C-5a Galaxy.

As the show was winding down (actually over, but the bus lines were WAY crowded), we were walking around and managed to catch the nose being lowered.  I couldn't help but think that the plane was smiling at the kids (and the kids were definitely smiling back).

Despite the heat and lack of shade and the long day, the kids were still enthralled by the planes.  Walking through the transports was a big thrill for them.  Sitting in ANY of the planes was a big thrill for them.  And the big one also loved the noise made by the jet fighters.

Image via Wikipedia

When I was a kid, a guy I knew in the Air Force called it "the Sound of Freedom."  I told my older son, and he took that euphemism and ran with it.

BTW, Fat Albert, the Blue Angels support plane, puts on a heck of a show, too.  That C-130 transport has some capabilities... and the pilot has some serious skills.

If you get the chance to make a Blue Angels show (anywhere), take it.  Plan on having some fun.

Related articles

• On wings of Blue Angels, toy journeys from one heart to another (cnn.com)

Image by richtpt via Flickr

The new year is always a time we make resolutions.  They are all but inevitable...

• Lose weight
• Quit smoking
• Eat better
• Spend more time with the kids
• Get a better job
• Finally go on a vacation

You get the idea...  But those are all introverted.

What about doing something completely different... volunteer!

There are a LOT of kids that need great role models.  Junior Achievement, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Church Youth Groups... again, you get the idea.  Give a little money and a lot of time.  It isn't tough, and you can bet that the kids will really appreciate it.  YOU have experiences that they would love to learn about...

Related articles

• What's Your New Years Resolution? (socyberty.com)
• Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions (socyberty.com)
• New Year's Resolutions... What's Yours? Get Specific! (chicagonow.com)
• Resolutions: Why Bother? (psychologytoday.com)
• New Goals! New Year's Resolutions Time Is Coming! (realgoalgetter.com)
• Resolutions for the New Year (xemion.com)

Volunteer at LaneBailey.com

Image via Wikipedia

Two years ago this week, I posted up my predictions for the next year.  That year would be 2009.  I got a few right, and got a few wrong.  I was just looking back and I was surprised by them... some were pretty bold.

Here is the original post...

Here is a quick rundown of how I did...

1. Right
2. Rightish
3. Hit that one
4. Kind of right...
5. Not so good on that one
6. That one was good
7. Nailed that one
8. Not so much
9. Got that one pretty right
10. Hit that one out of the park...

Image via Wikipedia

On my "bonus predictions"...

• Red Wings, yes.  Bruins, no.
• Islanders, yes.  Thrashers... pretty close.
• Chrysler... bought by Fiat.
• Saturn, closed.  Hummer, sold.
• Toyota had a loss for the year.
• How's that Global Warming working out?

Related articles

• Wayback Wednesday... Optimist of Pessimist? (lanebailey.com)
• Wayback Wednesday... Is NOW the Time to Buy? (lanebailey.com)

2009 Predictions on LaneBailey.com

Image via Wikipedia

For Christmas, I thought I would talk a little bit about gifts... and one that you might consider giving.  Give a kid a Junior Achievement experience.  For free...

Yes, I said FREE...

Sure, you can donate some cash to Junior Achievement, but what the kids REALLY need is adults that will come in to the classrooms and deliver the material.  Seriously... this takes an hour a week (plus commute time), or just one day if you do the "JA in a Day" program.

There are programs for kids from Kindergarten up through High School.  They cover topics ranging from where goods come from to business ethics.  For the last two school years I have been presenting a program to 5th graders.  It is an amazing amount of fun. And despite what you may hear, the kids are incredibly engaged and curious.  We talk about entrepreneurship and how businesses play to their strengths... and how businesses interact with each other.

We have talked about everything from Henry Ford to Phineas & Ferb.  The secret seems to be to find things that the kids can identify with (cartoons and cars work for me...) and then use those to bring the lessons home.

But there is another cool secret...  The kids will LOVE having you in the class because you are different. You aren't the adults that they see every other day of the school year...

Sure, JA could use a monetary donation, but what the kids REALLY need is you.  Business people, entrepreneurs, creative folks.  The kids need you to introduce them to business, and show them how people like you make their lives better every single day.

Related articles

• Parents Can Help Delaware Schools by Volunteering with Junior Achievement, Time Says (eon.businesswire.com)
• New National Poll: Risk and Failure Top Deterrents for Aspiring Teen Entrepreneurs (prweb.com)

I guess we could call this Twitter Thursday...

I think that a lot of times we forget that the "Founding Fathers" were real people.  they were also hanging out on the edge of technology for their time. 

Thomas Jefferson could have REALLY used a Kindle.  The guy was a reading machine.  Not to mention that he was a genius...

George Washington was a gifted leader and he wasn't afraid to employ battlefield technology as he found it.  He recognized that the training that his soldiers could get from Baron von Steuben was beyond what he could provide... and the battle style of Francis Marion could add power to his army. 

What can one say about Ben Franklin?  He was a technology freak!  Printing was probably what he was most known for, but his Pony Express concept rocked.  Letters could be posted and replied to in the same day.  The modern post office doesn't touch what he was doing between Boston and Philadelphia in 1776...  Ofc ourse, there are numerous inventions and technologies he employed.  He would be an iPad guy... 

All of them were into communications, and I would bet that they would be sporting iPhones and Androids if they were alive today. 

As I study our founding fathers, I get more and more impressed with them. 

We'll skip over the inaccuracies in the tweets (Washington didn't actually wear a wig, apparently), and focus on the guys. 

Can you see the founders of this country sitting around a table in a pub, knocking back a few beers and coming up with the ideas that would eventually form the basis of this country? 

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday, I wrote a post about Coach-Built cars of the 1920s and 1930s.  As I was wring about those cars, and the Coach-Builder catalogs that grew out of them... and the mass-produced cars, I started thinking about the comparison with homes in the US.  And there is an interesting comparison.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, my grandparents had a wonderful lake property in northern Michigan.  It was on Black Lake.  It had been in the family (mostly) for generations.  When I was very young, it had a couple of one room cabins that had been built in the 1930s.  There was no running water or indoor plumbing.

But then, in the early 70s, my grandparents had a double wide mobile home put on the lot.  It wasn't a palace, but it was WAY nicer than the little cabins in replaced.  And it cost MUCH less than having a "regular" home built on the lot.

Image via Wikipedia

There is a stigma with manufactured housing, though.  It isn't just "some people", either.  Some lenders won't finance a manufactured home.  Others have a much higher rate.

And those are kind of like mass-produced cars... built on an assembly line... using components that are often tailored specifically for them. Constructions is actually VERY streamlined.  The parts fit, so it is largely a matter of assembling all of the pre-made components.  It is efficient... less waste... less time... even less energy.

On the other end of the scale are custom homes.  There are a couple of flavors, but for the purposes of this discussion, we'll lump any home built completely on-site as being custom built.  That would be the vast majority of homes.  And it is a terribly inefficient process.  Just think about it...

• 
  

  Image via Wikipedia
  

  coordinating dozens of contractors to come out at just the right time

• coordinating multiple inspections of the property... at just the right time.
• while there are efforts made at maximizing the usage of the purchased materials, building one house at a time can't utilize materials as well as mapping them out for multiple builds.
• engineering for one home, or even a small run of similar homes, can't be as rigorous as it can be for a mass-produced run.
• same with design...

Honestly, I'm not really a cheerleader for pre-manufactured housing... but I can see some writing on a distant wall.  At some point, the efficiencies of manufactured or component housing will outrun the deficiencies. Lowering the cost and speeding the build-time, along with increasing the energy efficiency, space utilization and material efficiency will move in front of tradition.

Image via Wikipedia

Already, in various places around the world, component housing is picking up steam.  And I think it is only a matter of time until the idea catches on here.  In effect, a buyer could choose from the components that they want to make up a home... plug in various parts of the plan... add an extra bedroom, media room or garage space as the home is being designed... plug and play.  The various parts would be assembled in a factory, and then shipped to the location.  At that point, the house would basically be joined together.  (Have you ever seen a Bruster's Ice Cream Shop or Nathan's Hot Dog store being installed?  They come on a truck and the property goes from being a parking lot and a pad to having a building in a day).

Another option is that similar to the log home kit model.  Most log homes are built from kits.  The vendor literally builds the shell at the mill, makes all of the adjustments to the structure, then disassembles and ships the parts... numbered like a puzzle... to be built on the site.  That might be an intermediate step...

As I said... it is only a matter of time... but that could be a generation away.

Related articles

• The New Pricey Prefabs (blogs.forbes.com)
• Glass, the newest material for extra-sturdy homes (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Mobile-Home Makers Try To Stitch Together a Rebound (online.wsj.com)
• UFPI Increases Sales by 5% in 3rd Quarter 2010 Despite Weak Economy (eon.businesswire.com)

from LaneBailey.com

Image via Wikipedia

Honestly, Thanksgiving is one of my least favorite holidays. I love the idea behind it, and can fully support being thankful for all of the wonderful things in my life… but I think that is something that we should remember daily, not just remember because there is a meal connected to it.

And about the meal… I’d rather have Japanese… A little sushi and some hibachi. Steak, shrimp, fried rice and a couple of tuna rolls with wasabi… Or maybe a juicy steak… Southwestern Pasta with chicken?

Turkey, dressing, cranberry (canberry?) sauce, pecan pie, pumpkin pie… I don’t care. In fact, one of the best Thanksgivings ever for me involved pizza.

A few guys I worked with that were single, or single for the weekend with family out of town, all got together and ordered pizza. We watched a few movies, played some video games and just hung out. For that day, we were family. We cracked jokes about ourselves and our spousal equivalents…

Another of my best Thanksgivings was with my grandmother after she got to the point of not wanting to cook. We got a big bucket from the Colonel the day before and just heated everything up. Prep took about 20 minutes and clean-up about 5. The rest oft he time was about the family. We mostly just hung out and enjoyed each other’s company. My grandmother told embarrassing stories about ancestors…

The point is…

This isn’t a day about food… That is just a distraction. It isn’t even a day about “thanks”… we should do that every day. It is a day about being with people we care about and enjoying the time we have together.

We actually celebrated twice this year.  This afternoon will be with my wife's family, and earlier in the week we met up with my mother and step-father in Myrtle Beach, SC.  There was a lot of food a couple of days ago, and there will be a lot of food later today, but when it is all said and don, we will get together, play, laugh and “be together”…

Happy Thanksgiving. Don’t stress about the bird. If it caught fire and smoked everyone out of the house, it would make a great story in a few years…

from LaneBailey.com

And I need some help...  Actually, I need LOTS of help. 

I have entered the Carolina Real Estate Blog Brawl.  It is being sponsored by my friends in Raliegh that sponsor rebarcamp - Raleigh.  I was able to go up for their camp last year, which was a great event.  And this year they bumped up the ante a bit with their Blog Brawl. 

So... what I need from you...  Votes.  I just need your votes.  It will only take a moment.  Jump on over to the Carolina RE Blog Brawl post and check off the boxes next to my name.  I am in Section 4, Group 1.  The voting for this round closes on Saturday, August 14th at 5:00pm. 

There are a lot of fine folks in the brawl.  Take a moment to check out some of the great posts...  If I make it past this round, it will be really tough.  I have a lot of friends in the contest...  

I'm curious what types of posts they will be looking for in future rounds... 

By the way, the blog I am competing with is built on WordPress, currently running 3.0.  The theme is from RocketTheme.  It is kind of tweaked... and likely getting ready to change...  It's just that time of the year. 

Here is the link again... just in case you missed it. 

Also, the two posts we are being judged on this week are hyper-local  and humorish.