Pauline Kraav

My friends were good to me for Christmas. I received a Tivo! For those of you who don't recognize the name, you are missing out!

Tivo is a subscription service which is used with a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). Tivo learns from my TV watching and recording. Tivo makes suggestions based on programs I have selected to record. Tivo records shows, as space allows, based on your preferences.

Before Tivo I was recording every airing of Jim Cramer's Mad Money. With Tivo I'm recording the first 15 minutes of the 5p airing.

I'm now watching TV intelligently. However, I'm doing it from 10:30p - 12:30a M - F. That part isn't so intelligent!

One wonders what this has to do with real estate. I believe everything we can learn about the world around us and the markets we live in every day, makes us a better agent for our clients.

Hope everybody's 2009 is going well!

As a new agent I'm not sure I picked the best time to start in this career! Any comments y'all might have would be welcome?

The legislators we elected keep throwing us curve balls. How are we to know what our client's chances are from day to day??

I picked a fine time to subscribe to cable television. MidContinent Communications has moved into the West Fargo market at our City Commission's request. Many years ago, about 15, we had Harmon Communications. They were amazing. Big city possibilities with small town service. Can you imagine $13, including tax, for 35 channels? Then CableOne bought them and everything went to heck in a handbasket! I had an antenna and amplifier installed in my attic and refused to pay another cable bill.

Then Qwest got crazy and I used CableOne.net for my ISP. But now MidContinent Communications is here, in West Fargo, to save the day. I now have a DVR and a gazillion channels, or so it seems.

Imagine my surprise when I discover there is a world outside the West Fargo area.

Using that DVR to the best of my ability allows me to watch Jim Cramer all day on Saturday. Yes, I choose to sit on my couch and watch 5 hours of Mad Money all in one sitting. The downside of so much information is that my small little world has gone ass over teakettle.

Hence, my questioning if this was a good time for me to get into this business?