C Tann-Starr

The Outside Blog Minion Report

ClubChaosAgents.com

Finnigan's Wake

REBar Camp

Ad hoc can be a good thing. It was a pleasure to see so many of the people living in my computer in the same room enjoying the lovely spread and playing Pass the Nikon. It was my first REBar Camp and I am glad I participated in PA. I have a lot of family there and Susan Mangigian is always a lovely person to visit. I am going to enjoy studying for my broker's exam hanging out with my PA bay-bays. They know how to have mad fun. I am determined to hook 'em up with some of my family members. Gotta get more of the Tann Clan into real estate (LOL).

The bloggers dinner was a smashing success. I may have to do a Gigglefest Social Media event over at Finnigan's. The food is excellent. The pub has a very charming atmosphere and downtown in Central Philly there's a lot of interesting construction and national monuments. I will have to post another post to share some REBar Camp photographs as well as some of the sites I enjoyed while wandering dear Uncle William's stomping ground.

Maybe I can get my retired Chef of an Uncle to take us on a foodie paradise tour and do some restaurant reviews. Of course that would require the high-jacking of Mangiggly the I-Talian and several PA co-horts. There are two from Allentown on the top of my list. Don't make me come over there (LOL).You can not hide Jenn, Sardi. You two have got to come up for some air. Unlike Sheldon, I will not photoshop you in, I will come get you, even if it means making a bogus real estate appointment to drag you both out of hiding (LMAO). Wont that bit of fun make for an interesting blog post, eh? I'll have to get Mandycap to make the phone call. She is the Queen of Pranks. Ask Richard Weisser. ;-)

Here's a little eye candy from our hangout at the pub. Can you name these bloggers? I always love running into Jeff B and Inez. I am star struck when around those two. Helpful Hannah is a hoot. Marget Woda is funny as hell. Who knew I'd be cracking up all night? Got lots of pictures... wonder what I'll do with 'em... (LOL)

P.S. A friendly word of advice: Never give your camera to bloggers full of beer. You'll be erasing very interesting shots off your simm card for days (LMAO). I'm off to Manhattan. Margaret Rome is in town. We're going to go play in the Rain and do the Book Expo at the Javits Center. Looking forward to writing a review of her book and maybe doing an interview by the Seaport for lunch with my buddy Cindy. ;-)

The Outside Blog Minion Report

ClubChaosAgents.com

Carolyn Tann-Starr

http://www.bigapplecircus.org/

From May 16th until May 31 the Big Apple Circus will be performing in Queens County, NY. The little minions had a blast with Mike and I. I haven't been to the circus in a long time and it was quite a treat. If you can't make the dates, their next gig will be close by. The show will be migrating to Long Island from June 5th to July 5th. That should give you plenty of time to take the kids (or borrow a few if you think you need an excuse to go because someone had the nerve to insinuate you may be a wee bit too old - LOL).

Wanna buy tickets? Click this link.

Accessibility information can be found here. You do not have to leave a loved one's wheel chair at home. There are services for people with mobility impairments and they even have an FM assistive system in the Big Top for the hearing impaired. Braille is available for the blind so they will have an idea regarding what they are listening to and sign language interpreters can be arranged if you make arrangements in advance. Don't forget to tell the ticket takers you reserved a headset for a hearing impaired loved one.

No excuse. Go have some fun. Pack a picnic for later. Scope the neighborhood restaurants. Lots of foodie paradise spots to choose from when you run up and down Union Turnpike. BTW, we had BBQ with the neighbors in the park so feel free to pack your cooler and the grill for the ones who don't want the Big Top. They can deliver it and meet up with you when the show is over. (Big Hint: text them during the 15 minute intermission so they know to start heading over with those ribs, hot-dogs and hamburgers - LOL) Make it an all day affair. Sunshine and giggling is good for the soul. :-)

Here's a little minion eye candy. Enjoy. :-)

http://rebarcamp.com/philadelphia/2009/04/pre-barcamp-beer-with-bloggers/

I don't drink but I'm thinking I should be the designated driver and drag a couple of peeps to go hang out over here (LOL). You have to admit this is going to be fun. I could use some fun. How about you? ;-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/realtorkimwood/3452570046/

Here's a picture of the Quiet Man's Club where the bloggers will be hanging out. Very cool bit of old world graphics. I think I want to go just for the eye candy and giggles. How can there not be giggles? Mangiggly the I-talian is in PA with a host of other stellar bloggers. I'm thinking of high-jacking Sheldon Neal for the ride down. Gotta call Josef Katz and see what he's doing. Maybe I can high-jack him as well. Can only fit four. Bummer. I may have to upgrade my ride (LOL).

So much to do and soooo little time. Translated: I'll have to dump the car seats and clean the M&Ms out, not to mention pick a replacement laptop. Might be some gummy bears in the shape of Nemo and Cars around too. Hmm... when is the last tine my car has seen the car wash? Can't remember (LOL). I know I've been busy but dang... it really has been a while. Daddy usually does it but he's been busy too.

Minions. Ya gotta love 'em. They leave their DNA, food and toys everywhere. :-D

http://rebarcamp.com/philadelphia/rsvp/

BTW, REBAR Camp may be running out of space and tee-shirts (LOL). Here's where you need to be. RSVP people. I have soooo gotta pick up a laptop and resume my blogging schedule. Seriously... I can't imagine doing this event without my blog toys. Posting live would be so much more fun than waiting to get back home.

Maybe I should put my Hyundai in the shop and get her tuned up for a double road trip. A hotel room is a tempting prospect but I gotta get back. I have hot pre-approved buyers expecting late night e-mails. Besides, Daddy wants to make sure Mommy is okay because I usually do sleepovers on the weekends at friends and relatives. In 20+ years I've never gotten a hotel room without the hubby.

This may be a first (LOL). ;-)

http://agentgenius.com/real-estate-law-marketing/nar-code-of-ethics-rules-for-social-media-realtors-and-associations/

Be careful of the Internet Speech Police. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade without stubbing your toe on one. I love the reminder that we should be telling the truth on our blog posts. We should. What I'm curious about is how far is NAR willing to go when people say something that is true but some other competitor doesn't like. We already have libel, slander and defamation laws. Be careful when you want to impose too much of your association free speech rules on individual people. They may stake out Constitutional challenges because they view it as anti-competitive...

If it sucks it sucks. I should be able to say that and not get kicked out of a dues paying organization because I happen to be a blunt person. If I am not in the mood to make my speech flowery then I wont. You can't make me. No one can. I'm just saying there is more to life and reality than the everything is coming up roses or be quiet crowd. Blunt people should not be penalized because a serial liar can make it sound like something you want to hear. I'm sorry some of you don't believe that tact and diplomacy can breed lies. Some people use it as a shield to justify why they didn't/don't tell the truth. At least you know where you stand with me, good or bad. I have a big mouth. :-)

People are entitled to a good and bad review point of view. Opinions are subjective and the moment you start trying to make it a violation to express yourself you open up a can of worms you can't close. Bloggers don't just write about "the facts," they also write about their impressions, feelings, likes, dislikes and can be just as relevant or irreverent as the mainstream Press. I dare you to pick up a single newspaper and not find something subjective in it. If two people are in a room there will always be two opinions. Why not just say don't violate the libel, slander and defamation laws or there will be consequences. Period. Bet you can kill several paragraphs with that sum and summary statement. What ever you do, I'm behind you because I like being a Realtor and I like NAR. I will, however, say exactly what I mean. That's what bloggers do.

http://agentgenius.com/real-estate-news-events/politics-beats-agents-in-dc-mibor-blocks-change-nar-committee-agrees/

As a NAR member I have to say shit or get off the pot. Don't committee this to death, FIX IT! We brokers rely upon search engines so the consumer has choices and can find us. They usually don't ask for me by name, they tend to put in key words looking for what they want and the search engines make it possible for them to find us and our listings.

A seller expects other consumers to find their home, that's why they hire us. Since only brokers have access to the MLS, don't you think it is counter productive to hinder our ability to market homes to the actual people who buy them by maximizing our search engine optimization?

Most MLS members expect other members to market all available properties to all of our clients. That's why we join and covet the access and bust our bloggers butts to get licensed. IDX is the name of the game and most MLS services have a individualized policy that all members can market the inventory. Yup, we are tasked with protecting that information, however, it appears to be the height of stupidity to make it illegal for the search engines to index what we go out of our way to promote and advertise to the whole world. The Internet is Global. If a MLS or NAR makes it difficult for members to advertise their listings and to be found via the search engines, those policies make it impossible for us to compete against the big dogs like Realtor.com on a level playing field. I want multiple licenses, so I have multiple MLS rules I have to follow which may eventually result in several IDX databases flowing through one site. Do you see where I am going with this? This issue has to be addressed as quickly as possible because multiple state licensees may be in a hell of a bind if you don't get hip with the current technology available. I may want to be the next version of Realtor.com but I can't if you restrict my ability to have my IDX site indexed by search engines or if one state's MLS rules conflict with another, screwing my website up.

We pay way too many fees to allow that to continue to happen as we try and grow our business models... Realtor.com is optional not mandatory. I have never gotten a single lead from the site because if you don't pay them they do not put your contact information on your own listings that the MLS automatically sends over to the site. Hmm... I have to wonder if knocking Google or a Broker with a really cool IDX site smells of anti-competition in favor of the big dog or competitors at the expense of the wee folk getting creative with the freebee marketing. That is a subjective thought of no basis other than theoretical speculation. Don't sue me for thinking out loud (LOL).

BTW, I am not the only one wondering this. Once we find out something is going on (or not happening) we start talking amongst ourselves, asking questions and the blog posts begin. So here I am putting my two cents into the pot because I don't want to speculate, am asking losts of questions because I want to know why this happened and why it wasn't fixed sooner.

I am amazed NAR sent this to committee when one line adjusted could have benefited the entire real estate community. Updates should be debated, yes, I agree, but how much debate is up to NAR because NAR controls the rules. I thought from what I read at Inman it would have been a no brainer. Ooops. I was wrong.

NAR, in my humble opinion, you need to update your IDX digital rights management so we can compete effectively with the current technology at hand and not go broke doing inefficient coding modifications to our websites that serves no purpose other than to destroy our search engine optimization when the competition whines. I do not see Realtor.com having to do this but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. The search engine is free to index that mega site. BTW, I'm a buyers broker. Are you telling me I can never promote a listing agent's property to my buyers on my site if a competitor whines after putting it in the MLS? If I can print the info on a flier and hand it out or mail it why can't my search engine get people back to my site?

Search engine indexing is not scraping and my MLS gives us all access to every property and the right to use limited information to market the inventory to clients and prospects. I guess every MLS is different so I guess my question is what are you going to do to give all members a level playing field regarding IDX sites, especially if I cross state lines with multiple licenses?

Tell me what I missed here... I am sooooo gonna be watching for an answer to this.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4349&tag=nl.e550

This quote got me thinking about my ADA clients and my learning disabled kids:

"We know that there exists a kill-switch for the text-to-speech feature that allows publishers to disable the feature for specific titles. While this feature protects the publisher’s ability to control how content is distributed, it sucks for people who really wanted this feature. If there’s one kill-switch, it’s likely that Amazon, and publishers, have other kill-switches at their disposal. Personally, I’d be uncomfortable with so many players having the ability to remotely tinker with my Kindle."

I was actually considering getting one for the boys to help teach them how to read. My kids are computer crazy so I thought this might make a very useful gift. The idea that they have embedded remote kill switches to a device that I pay for which could disable my content after I pay for it puts my knickers in a knot. Seriously.

Digital Rights Management is an important topic and I applaud efforts to protect those right, however, mico-managing my content after I pay for it: thumbs down. If there is a speech feature, I should be able to use it when I want to. A publisher doesn't want the text-to-speech feature on Kindle because they're selling audio books in competition? WTF? Are they trying to kill Kindle? Inquiring minds want to know because if they don't like it then dont make the title available on Kindle at all. I for one like text-to-speech features. It helps me teach my kids...that's why I want to buy them one.

Are they (those same publishers) going to invade my computer's text-to-speech capabilities next? I'm just saying...

Update: Here's what we're considering purchasing: Kindle DX