Belleville, ON

I get warnings about Internet threats on a regular basis and I'm sure you do as well. Some are genuine, but many of them are sent by well-intentioned family and freinds who are trying to protect me who have been drawn into forwarding and promoting a hoax.

So how do you sort out which threat messages are real and which ones are hoaxes before you hit that "Forward" button?

First, go to this website -

http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/hoaxes.jsp

The folks at Symantec are usually on top of both the new virus/ phishing threats and those messages that contain hoaxes. If you enter part of the title from the message you have received into the search function there and the message you received comes up, with a full description of a hoax, please DO NOT FORWARD THE MESSAGE. That only makes it easier for hoaxes to propogate, and it may even be an embarrassment when you get a message back from someone you forwarded it to, telling you that you too were drawn into a hoax.

Still not sure?

Try this .. go to Google search and enter the title of the email you are wondering about, then add "+ hoax". There are a number of other great sites out on the Internet that also keep tabs on hoaxes, and it might be that you will find a description of one that you are dealing with there. Hoaxes tend to be long-lived, and I have sometimes had to tell people that something they thought was a genuine threat started as a hoax more than 5 years ago.

If you try both of the techniques above and see no evidence of a hoax - start forwarding!

I have lived through a very interesting period of time. When I was youngster I used to save a carrot for the milkman's horse, and rush out to give him a treat as the milkman delivered to our house. Now, my Blackberry alerts me anytime one of my email accounts receives a new message.

My personal life carries parts of the old and new everywhere I look. I spend a fair bit of my time doing webwork on the sites I have created for my listings, but then I head our into our livingroom and throw more wood on the fire to banish the cold of a Canadian winter from our home.

As I do this, and identify myself with humans who have burned wood for 10000 years or more, but I find myself doing a quick check for environmental concerns. Environmental is a word that only came into usage part way through my lifetime, and only came to the forefront of our concerns in the past few years.

Old wood heat ... new concerns.

So, is the flame hot enough to reduce particulate emissions? Check.

Are we only using recycled products (slabwood) so that no trees are being cut to heat our home? Check.

Are we only releasing carbon into the atmosphere that would be released anyway if this wood was left to rot on the forest floor? Check.

I am grateful for being born when I was, for seeing so many changes in our transition to our new society. I am grateful for my connection with a past of 61 years ago, and I am also grateful for the chance to help create a better future for my grandkids born in the last couple of years.

This is an amazing time to be alive.

I just came to real estate last April after trying a period of retirement. Frankly, spending that much time in jogging suits wasn't my idea of how to live, so, despite all the warnings about how difficult it is to get started, and how awful the market is supposed to be right now, I took the plung and the result is ...

... I'm lovin' it!

At the very top of my list of reasons why I love real estate, I would have to put "the stories".

Real estate is not retail. We are not selling houses (only the owner of a property can sell it... we just help them do it) - we are selling a service, and that service is one that helps people as they make some of the most important decisions in their lives.

I am constantly amazed at the diversity of situations in which our services are required and the richness of the experience of helping people make their life changes. Long before I started this career, a friend of mine who was a real estate agent told me, "Bob, you need to understand that many real estate sales are for sad reasons - loss of employment, marriage breakdowns, old age and disability ..."

She was right. But the truth is that all of life is about the stories we live, and, just as a photograph would be meaningless if it was all light, there is both light and darkness in everyone's life story. When could there be a better time to help clients than when our services are most needed?

So, I value the opportunity to get to know my clients, and to listen to any part of their stories that they might want to share with me. It helps me to understand my role, and how I can serve them better.

Hello everyone and welcome to my first post in my first blog in my first social-networking encounter!

Let's just make it easy and start by introducing myself and paste in my profile. Enjoy - or not :)

Ken.

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I am currently the owner of Quinte Technical Services, a computer service, training, support and consulting firm in Belleville, Ontario.

My background, including over 31 years in technology design, leadership and consulting has enabled me to take on many new and interesting projects and challenges. Tech industry downturn (restructuring I was told - there are a lot of nice and not-so-nice terms for it!) led me moving to Belleville about 4 years ago to what I thought might be semi-retirement. Wrong!

Starting my own business was the most intelligent and mind-freeing decision I have ever made. OK, so it takes a few years to get into the black but it is growing steadily yet still giving me time to plan ahead for new business opportunities.

This bring us to virtual tours. I have been experimenting quite a bit with panoramic photography over the last five years, and have gone so far as to have a custom pano-bracket machined for me and lashed together an indexer. Taking the photos was the easy part. Adjusting lens correction parameters for proper stitching and struggling with various pieces of free software to put together a web presentation almost made me give up - several times. I actually published a virtual tour for a real-estate agent who was a customer of mine, but there was definitely no money to be made there considering all the time I spent.

All that is about to change since signing up as a full-service dealer with RealTourVision. I did a lot of research before even contacting them, so I was extremely confident in their product, support, market position and technology. Jason LaVanture, Vice President of RealTourVision and partner in BlueLaVaMedia responded in early March with enthusiasm. Remember what I mentioned about not being in the black yet? The RealTourVision technology & partnering choice was a no-brainer, the investment decision was difficult so I had to take the time (8 months ;-) to figure out it was the only choice. I have thank Jason for being persistant.

What is the current status? Well I am waiting for my package from RealTourVision to arrive in the mail, absorbing thousands of pages of documentation and marketing material, and planning my virtual tour website. I'll keep you posted on the blog in the upcoming weeks.

The Lion's Park on Station Street in Belleville, Ontario is testament to how well nature and mankind can work together to create a place of halcyon peace and beauty.
It encompasses part of the Riverfront Trail and a visit there will stimulate so many of your senses, you'll want to visit again and again.

The park has a different and more lush feel this year

than last, due to the immense amount of rain we've been experiencing this summer.
This year, unlike last, the river is rushing rapidly downstream.
Last year many sections were completely dry.

To see the difference between last year and this, make sure and view the pictures at the bottom of this post which show the same view of the Moira River taken in August '07 and August '08.

Poet Hannah Moore once wrote "all the peace which springs, from the large aggregate of little things" and nothing is a more fitting description of Belleville's beautiful Lion's Park which rests serenely on the shores of the Moira River in Belleville.

The park was built by the Lion's Club of Belleville as a part of the beautification of the Moira River Riverfront Trail that meanders through Belleville.

There are quiet benches hidden in peaceful corners amongst the gardens where a visitor may take in the surrounding beauty while listening to the sounds of the river as it makes it's way towards the Bay of Quinte.

A beautiful pergola is the centrepiece of the park.
Vibrant gardens surrounding it lend privacy and a peaceful feeling to those who stop to rest on one of the strategically placed benches to be found within the courtyard.

Built into the banks of the old Moira River, the site lends itself to beautiful, terraced, limestone rock gardens and many levels.

Wayne Wallans memorial at Belleville Lion's Park.































The pedestrian bridge connects the south and north sides of the Moira River and is well used by bikers, rollerbladers, walkers and runners.

Fishermen/women also love to try their hand at fishing from the bridge.













The gardens and walkways overflow with a myriad of flowers and beautiful trees to delight your senses.
An Ontario native wildflower, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea), is widely known for it's medicinal uses in boosting the immune system.

Colourful Daylillies, one of my favourite perennials for northern gardening, may be found sprinkled here and there amongst the walkway gardens.

A lone Red Hot Poker (Torch Lily) catches the eye in all it's glory.

Stately White Coneflowers lend their unique beauty to the cacaphony of riotous colour.

Pink Hydrangeas quietly ask you to pause for awhile.

Friends take respite from the day on sun-baked limestone in the Moira River.

A waterfront park would not be complete without a gull standing watch over all the comings and goings.

The inner courtyard of the Lion's Park pergola. Pinnacle Street Bridge over the Moira River in the distance.

The Moira River is once again mighty with the abundant rains we've been experiencing this summer. Compare this photo, taken recently (August '08) with the one below taken the same time last year when we were in a drought situation.

The Moira River in August 2007. A lack of rain saw the river almost completely dry up. Quite a difference from the extensive rainfall we've been experiencing in 2008.

The Lion's Park in Belleville can be found by taking the Highway 62 south exit off the trans-Canada (Hwy 401) into Belleville. Travel south along Hwy 62, which is known as North Front Street where it runs through Belleville, and take a left onto Station Street after you go over the Moira River bridge. The Lion's Park can be seen just past Meyer's historic mill on your left.

Enjoy your visit!

©2008JoSmith