40 YEARS of QUALITY TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Two weeks ago Andrew and I were the tour guides for a local manufacturer offering a transfer to six people from out of state. Our job was to make sure they would learn how our community operated, the highlights socially and educational wise and of course about housing. As we wound our three hour bus tour throughout Licking County, one of the stops on our tour that received the most smiles and questions was the campus of The Central Ohio Technical College and The Ohio State University at Newark. (the second favorite feature was the Ice Arena on Sharon Valley Rd.)

Happy 40th to COTC, continue the good work and growth along with OSU@N.

Thank you to Steve Layman for posting this video.

Reagan made Americans beleive in themselves

"What I would really like to do is to go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again."--Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan did this well for many Americans. For several years in my life, everyone was interested to listen what the President had to say, watch his mannerisms, humbleness, gratitude, humility and of course, what he was wearing.

President Reagan made you feel good about yourself and our country. He words were listened to because he could deliver them in a manner that accomplished his goals. His smile you trusted, most everyone felt like they were in good hands, not just in our country, but around the world.

I don't have a paperweight on my desk with a nifty statement, but if I did it would be the one on his desk in the Oval Office: "There is no limit to what a man can do, or where he can go, if he doesn't mind who gets the credit."

Happy 100th Birthday next month Mr. President, hope Marilyn does not sing it to you.

Read more about President Reagan: here, here & here.

Tennessee School Requires iPads

"We're sure the kids have no problems with the school's proposition. But it's up to the faculty to learn how to use the iPad-or else the students will become the teachers in this case."

Click here to read Time's complete article.

One more article to read:
Emanuel Booted From Chicago Ballot

Groundhog takes a preview peak.....

The Licking County Chamber of Commerce's Groundhog takes a preview peak for next week's forecast at the Chamber's Groundhog Breakfast with featured speaker being OSU President Gordon Gee. Though they are expecting 700 guest, tickets are still available by contacting the Chamber.

FIND OUT WHAT THE HOMES NEAR YOUR ADDRESS HAVE SOLD FOR AND WHAT THE SELLERS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ARE ASKING FOR THEIR HOMES.

www.allaboutmyhomevalue.com

If you know of someone considering selling their home, no matter where they live in the USA please pass this web site along to them.

Canoeing through a McDonald's

A visual of the Australian flood disaster and one way to slow down the consumption of Happy Meals.

Thank you to VALET for passing this along. Good luck to our friends in Australia.

NEVER TO OLD TO LEARN NEW TRICKS

One of Licking County's most successful commercial real estate investors and prominent commercial real estate broker after almost forty years in the business has set a new goal for this year.

Steve Layman attended two seminars in November during a local real estate convention instructed by Sean Carpenter. During the next month Sean, Coldwell Banker King Thompson's corporate trainer was offering a series of courses, designed to pump agents up to do business in 2011. Steve asked if he could attend one of the classes. I believe this makes him a Sean groupie, nothing to be embarrassed about because I consider myself as one to.

The photos above shows you Steve's plan of blocking out times during the day and week for prospecting, making calls to past clients, contacting and updating sellers, for appointments and also reserving time for his family. He keeps his daily record of his progress on another page. Outstanding to take on a new habit when what you have been doing over the years works well. Steve is set for the challenge, exercising his want to improve himself.

I have one issue with his weekly chart, no open house scheduled on Sunday. Commercial guys: I always wonder what they do on Sundays.

I WANT ONE: BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK

At the end of everyday, I have a large cloth bag that my change goes into. The Playbook is coming out within the next month and I will have enough saved to buy my Blackberry Playbook. Click here to see all the details, like using your Blackberry phone's wifi to connect to the internet.

Blackbeard's Sword, Found!

It's likely Edward Teach didn't need much to scare his enemies. After all, the notorious pirate better known as Blackbeard boasted a thick mass of facial hair so intimidating that it got immortalized in history.

He also numbered among the first corsairs to fly a black flag with bones on it. And, according to some accounts, he had a habit of lighting fuses beneath his hat, a halo of smoke giving the bristly sea dog a decidedly demonic aspect.

Click her for article on TIME.com

Click here for Jack Sparrow's pirate action.

NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME

The quote of the month
by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe

thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another,

and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time

to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

10,000 a Day for the Next 19 Years: Retiring Boomers

The first Baby Boomer officially hit 65 on January 1, 2011.

The 65th birthday of Baby Boomers has been the most-awaited date for marketers, salespeople and politicians for the last decade. Considering Boomers represent nearly 1 in 4 people in America, there’s good reason to keep an eye on Boomers in the marketplace. Especially because the generation, as a whole, is still the richest in history, even withstanding the recent recession.

We know a lot about Boomers – so much so that figuring them into your sales and marketing plan should be a piece of cake. Consider, just for starters:

*There are nearly 79 million Baby Boomers in America (Pew Research)
*Boomer households earn an average of $62,300 of income (New York Life Co.)
*Male Boomers expect to live to 79 years of age; females to 83 years old
*79% of Americans over 55 own their own home
*Most Boomers don’t believe old age begins until 72 years of age

Simply put: That’s a lot of people earning a lot of money and planning to spend it for nearly the next twelve years of active retirement.

Thanks to Steve Layman for passing along this information. Read the complete article here, a must read if you are in sales or a boomer.

HOW SHAQ FOUND A HOME

"I live in a small town called Sudbury. I signed kind of late, so I really didn't have a chance to find a house, so I went on Google and put 'big house outside of Boston,' and I found this big 10-acre farmhouse..."

This clip of Shaq and Dave Letterman just shows you why we make sure our listings are very prevalent on the internet!

Thank you to Sean Carpetner and David Meerman Scott

Nicholas Bate: Year Of Transformation

YearOfTransformation: 4 of 100

Hang Out With The Best.

Who you spend your time with, what you listen to, what you read...all influence your thinking and your beliefs which in turn drive your behaviours. Spend time with the best; start by setting up a learning team: three people as dedicated to you in creating the Life they desire who commit to meeting for 1h every month. And at that meeting each brings about 10 minutes of ideas which become about 10 minutes of further discussion. In return for that they get two fresh perspectives on two other topics from the other team members. Use that leaning team to be the basis of real network, not just a list of names whose faces cannot be remembered.

Click here to find #1 -#3, follow Nicholas Bate everyday to make 2011 a better year.

A Vroom of His Own

It is all about goals: "but it was classic automobiles that Ralph Lauren pined for

when he was growing up, and it’s classic automobiles

that he now collects and stores at D.A.D."

With its stainless-steel counters, halogen lights, and museum-style installations, D.A.D. Garage looks nothing like an everyday, oil-stained garage. Of course not—it belongs to Ralph Lauren, who owns 60 or so of the rarest, most valuable cars in the world, including a 1938 Bugatti coupe, a 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia roadster, and the world’s only 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK “Count Trossi” roadster, all in ideal condition and all driven by the designer himself. The author plugs into the lifelong fantasy behind Lauren’s collection.

Click here to view 19 photos of the D.A.D. Garage's contents.

Click here to read Vanity Fair's complete article and find out what D.A.D. stands for.