About Calhoun County, MI

Normally at this time of year Michigan looks like this picture below. However, this year we have had suprisingly very little snow. This picture I took in December of 2011, and normally we expect our February and March to pretty much be like this. However, we are having a mind winter in the North this year, as perhaps many of my fellow AR bloggers have probably written about. I wonder what kind of summer we can expect if this continues? Perhaps there will be a bumper crop of mosquitos!

I was out photographing houses yesterday in a rural area, and trying to locate a house for a client. I finally found it after having some difficulty locating the address numbers.

Here is the address of the home I needed to photograph. Originally I missed seeing it because it was on the mailbox, and the numbers were not clear. When I went through the photos later, I thought I would share this. It looks like a touch of Americana to me. What do you think?

I have been pondering for a few days on what my first blog post of 2012 should be about. You know that point where you reach sort of a 'writers block' tangled with a anticipation of writing something timely and important? I mean what will 2012 be about? It is essentially a story that is just beginning, and like all new years it has its beginning and end and a whole lot in between.

Should my first blog post be about the last year? Or should it be about the new year? Should it be about goals, or accomplishments? Hmmm... This has been my puzzle for the least few days, and here it is already January 3rd and I have not written a thing!

Don't we have so much to look forward to in 2012? Think about it! There is a big election ahead of us, and then there is that 'end of the Mayan Calendar end of the World thing' to look forward to as well... I can hardly wait. That is all I am saying about that. However, those are all slated towards the end of the year in November and December. What about all the months before that?

How many home runs will be hit before then? How about how many touch downs? How about the Stanley Cup play offs, and the Super Bowl? What about the NBA finals, and the World Series? What about all those customers I have yet to meet, and the ones I am working with right now, when they later become homeowners?

How many chocolate chip cookies will everyone who reads this blog consume in 2012? What about bottles of wine? Or home cooked meals? What about all those great movies that have yet to be released, and all those novels that have yet to be read? Or those photos yet untaken?

How many great moments lie ahead? How many great blog posts will I write, and how many great ones will I read which I wish I had written?

How many videos on Youtube are not even filmed yet, but will go viral this year? Think about it! So much lies ahead, it is hard to look back! There are snowy days, and rainy days and days filled with sunshine and bliss.

There are good times and there are bad times, and all the other times in between. There are people that will be born, and others that will pass on, and all this will happen in 2012 too!

Charles Dickens once wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

So much to write about in my first blog post of 2012. So much to look forward to in both excitement and trepidation. I wish everyone a very exciting year, and may you have the lions share of all the good things that are to happen this year! (Okay, I am clicking 'post to blog' now! Onward and upward!)

My wife and I have lived in Michigan for over a decade, and have been caught on the road in many a blizzard and bad weather conditions.  Having to live in this environment you learn a special kind of patience and skill in winter driving that is just not taught in driving school. 

It is hard to explain, but it is more that just defensive driving.  It is more of a cross between defensive, and offensive driving, as you learn to not only be responsible for your own vehicle, you learn to watch carefully for what the other guy is doing in these conditions as well, and stay on the offense.

Today with the wonders of the internet, you can see all kinds of amazing things.  I sometimes go onto Youtube and just explore the latest videos.  Today, after a little snow fall in Battle Creek, Michigan over the weekend, I came across this video that has gotten over a million views. 

If you have ever driven in a snow storm, or lived in the northern part of the world, you probably have seen or experienced a lot of snow related incidents on the road.  This one is a video of a dash cam, presumably from a police officer in europe somewhere where he narrowly escapes a massive collision with a tractor trailer. 

Watch, learn from this lesson, and be safe out there this holiday season everyone!

As we approach the end of 2011, and arrive at the holidays I find myself looking back at how fast time flies once again. This year as a Realtor was probably my busiest of all. I was not only busy with my own clients and sales, but I also served as the President for the local Battle Creek Area Association of Realtors (BCAAR).

My duties as President were fun, and offered a chance to make some progressive changes for my board. During my term as President, I helped establish a social media presence for the association that was not present before. I established a Facebook business page, which can now be found at: Facebook.com/BCAAR. I started a BCAAR twitter account, which is @BCAARinfo and I also established out own YouTube Channel which can be found at: BCAARfilms.

I was also actively involved in the local city government representing BCAAR, and helping to re-draft and pass a new rental housing ordinance to replace the one prior that was causing problems with resale of property and upsetting landlords. I also represented BCAAR at both the State and National conventions.

In my own business I investigated and learned skills to create videos, and established my own YouTube channel: MichaelDelaware1. I have currently over 100 videos now, and I am creating more every week. Some are educational, and some are for my listings, some just about the community, and others just for fun.

I had the honor this year of being included in two separate magazine articles for the Council of Residential Specialists magazine 'Residential Specialist'. I also was interviewed for articles in several State level publications about issues concerning real estate in Michigan as a result of my exposure on my Active Rain blog.

For health reasons, I took upon myself to seriously lose weight this year. I started dieting in May and have continued throughout the year, adding in an exercise routine as well. The result was that I lost a total of 65 lbs, and came down several clothing sizes. Needless to say this has added a whole new dimension to my life, and greatly impacted the way I feel about myself, as well as giving me increased energy.

I continue to remain involved in my community, including being a Big Brother with the local Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. I also have volunteered in many fund raising programs for BCAAR to raise funds for charities in the community.

I also expanded my skills to being able to sell life insurance, in addition to real estate. Having originally completing my life insurance license in 2010, and not doing much with it, I decided to switch companies this year and now represent Farm Bureau Insurance in my area as a Life Insurance agent. I will probably be doing more on social media promoting myself on this line in the coming year.

So professionally and personally, it has been an interesting and challenging year for me. I look forward to 2012 and all the expected changes that forthcoming. One can never know what to expect during an election year, and so it definitely should be interesting. In June of this past year, while attending a funeral service for a dear brother-in-law, my nephew who was speaking about his father said to the audience that his father taught him that life was a 'series of moments' and the more moments you can create, the happier you will have lived. To me that is one of the most profound truths I have ever heard uttered by anyone.

Reflecting on all the great moments I had this past year, I consider them all to be treasures. Even the bad ones make for great stories later. So with moving forward, and living my life for the moments, I must say that one of the greatest daily moments in my life is the time I spend with the most amazing woman I have ever had to pleasure to be around. My wife. Each and every day is a wonderful moment, and I wake up each morning looking forward to the ones we will create that day together.

I wish all my friends on Active Rain a wonderful series of moments in the coming holidays, and may you all have many, many of those magical ones you will treasure for years to come.