I found Hellotxt - Twitter x ....

I always wondered how everyone else managed to update all their social network pages so often and so frequently, surely Guy Kawasaki doesnt't have that kind of time when he is making his millions...what about the thousands of others...? "How do they do it," I asked...I surely do not have that kind of time...and then I found Hellotxt...www.hellotxt.com. I found it on twitter...life is good. I am in on the secret. Check it out.

Freaky accident - how many of those 100 things to do...I have not completed yet!?

Can you believe that Dave Freeman who recommended surfing naked (with sharks?) at night in Australia died after falling over in his California home and hitting his head today!?!? How freaky! This fall surely cut his adventures short - he was 47. During his life, he managed to complete half of the trips that he recommended in is book “100 Things To Do Before You Die.” Today, I had lunch with a lady who wanted to do something crazy before her 50th birthday, and so she trained and participated in a 5-day long bike ride to fight cancer from Madison to Chicago..she has never done anything like that before and couldn't believe her own willpower. I liked that story.

I personally follow a book "1000 places to see before you die"...although I pick my own places...it always surprises me when I ask someone "where do you want to travel, what do you want to see or do next?" and they say, I don't know...I am sure Dave Freeman would be surprised...I say make a list and go for it...freaky accidents happen every day...

PalmettoSky Video Produced Air Company's Second Air Retreat Video in Mexico

Rehava Opening New Location

Rehava is definitely stirring some emotions in Charleston. Here is the latest article:

Alternative real estate firm ventures downtown
By Katy Stech (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Monday, August 25, 2008
Looking past a not-so-hospitable welcome to the Charleston real estate community, the newly formed Rehava Real Estate Store is expanding to downtown Charleston.
The alternative brokerage firm, which stirred controversy by offering buyer rebates after a change in state law allowed them, plans to open an office at 48 Society St. The company opened its first store this year on International Boulevard at the entrance to Tanger Outlet Center.
The office will be run by Danny Sillivant, a longtime agent at John Liberatos Real Estate Co. It will start off with three agents.
Rehava, which was founded by real estate agent and broker Steve deGuzman, promises to give buyer rebates and a flat listing rate to customers.
The amount of the rebate varies with the price of a home and the agreed-upon commission payout to agents. A typical rebate of 1.5 percent could result in thousands of dollars in savings in the Charleston area, where the median home price is about $210,000.
For example, on a standard 6 percent commission on a $200,000 home, the agents representing the buyer and seller typically would split the $12,000 payout. Under that scenario, Rehava said, it would pay half of its hypothetical $6,000 share as a rebate.
While the concept could save buyers money, agents who are protective of their standard 3 percent commission haven't been supportive.
After one South of Broad homeowner heard about Rehava, he contacted the company to list his home, deGuzman said. But the homeowner changed his mind after some agents threatened to avoid showing the home, deGuzman said.
DeGuzman said he still hopes to break into the market by relying on the Internet. Since many buyers begin their home search online, he said, his listings will still get the attention they deserve.
"If you have a client that wants to see our house and a broker tells them that they don't want to show it, good luck," he said.
Rehava, which formally opened in late May, has sold five homes, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. It also has 17 properties listed on the association's Multiple Listing Service.

Zonta Celebrating 89 Years

I am the vice president of the Zonta Club of Charleston. My husband still thinks that we are involved in space explorations....thanks to our sort of funny sounding name: Zontians...Well, what is Zonta? Zonta is by invitation only, it is a global organization of professionals and executives working together to enhance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. We have more than 33,000 member in 65 countries. Being a member of Zonta is a priveladge, famous Emilia Erhard was one of the first members soon after the organization was established in the US in 1919.

Zonta works locally and internationally to enhance the status of women. Locally, we work with young ladies at Florence Crittenton. Internationally, Zonta sponsors and funds educational, health and service programs in countries such as Rwanda (Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV), in Guatemala and El Salvador (Safe Cities for Women), in Liberia (Reduction of Obstetric Fistula). Over the years, Zonta established educational centers in Sri Lanka, after tsunami, and in war-thorn Afganistan, and HIV preventions programs in sub-Saharan Africa.

Celebrating 89 Years in 2008, Zonta International continues to be on the front lines of the fight for women's equal rights through local and global projects that promote economic self-sufficiency, political equality, access to education and health, and the prevention of violence against women. Each year, Zontians dedicate hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and millions of dollars.

www.zonta.org

Learning about America's Great Loop

So I have been learning about America’s Great Loop. Two months ago, I’ve had no idea that such a thing existed; today, not only I am becoming an expert, but I started myself dreaming about completing it one day. The Great Loop is on the list of things to do of every boater that knows about it. One usually starts with innocently reading a book called “Honey, let’s get a boat….” There is not much more I can add to that title. Then, years of research take over your life, later you search and find the right boat, start taking short trips, fall in-love with living on the water and cruising…. Did I mention that somewhere at the very beginning you join the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA) because no one can do the Great Loop alone. Tons of information is needed, even more tips and advices…and AGLCA, or I should say members of the AGLCA, have all the answers one needs. And then, of you go chasing the eternal summer, as it is the main purpose of living on the water for a year or more.
The Great Loop is the continuous waterway that encompasses the eastern portion of North America – including the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, the Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland. It is considered one of the safest long distance cruising routes in the world. To travel all or a portion of the Great Loop or any of its magnificent side trips is truly an adventure of a lifetime.

The saga for most begins in the early spring in southeastern Florida. From the sunny state, the Loopers journey north following the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway along the southeastern seaboard of the United States all the way into Chesapeake Bay, along the way discovering charming barrier islands along the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas, mysterious river channels and estuaries, using bicycles to explore state parks and cities. From the crab rich Chesapeake, Loopers head to Montreal in Canada, exploring historic towns of immense charm and cruise by sights such as the Statue of Liberty on the way. The St. Lawrence River carries them into the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes, although uncertain and treacherous, are a dreamland of vacation cottages, picturesque waterways, granite islands, farmland and woods. Boaters must be brave and adventures to take on the Great Lakes. Once they reach Chicago, it is down South again via the Mississippi River and Tenn-Tom Waterway, and then eventually into Mobile, Alabama and the rich and warm Gulf of Mexico. To close the Great Loop, cruisers have to go around the Southern tip of Florida back to the same point where they started. Many choose to spend warm winter months exploring the amazing Okeechobee River and Lake, and tropical Key West before it all ends, and they close the loop in the Southeastern Florida.

Get Xobni

My friend David Wooten who is in with the tech world told me about Xobni...Inbox spelled backwards...good one, Microsoft. I watched the "how to" video on the WSJ website and was very impressed. This product is really created for people like me - I don't store junk in my house, but my inbox contains thousands of emails, I can say about myself that I am an email-junkie. I cannot live and work without my old emails...they are my best friends, they help me think and function.

So here is some info about Xobni:
It is the Outlook plug-in that saves you time finding email conversations, contacts and attachments. After a quick install, you'll see the new Xobni toolbar appear in Outlook - and suddenly information will become much easier to find. When a new email arrives, the sender's full communication history appears in the Xobni sidebar, including past conversations, attachments and contact details. Xobni also includes a blazing fast email search tool.

www.xobni.com/learnmore/

Google Yourself Before You Apply for a Job

According to Star Tribune Minneapolis, seventy-seven percent of recruiters report using search engines to find background data on candidates. Of that number, 35 percent eliminated a candidate because of what they found on-line. And please note that it is not always just professional background information that they are after. I think this number is really astonishing, considering that only a decade ago, the only way how to learn about a potential candidate was to pick up a phone and call listed referrals. Is really everyone on Google now? Does it really mean that before you even meet your interviewer, he or she already made their mind about what kind of person you are...hey, but they found it on the Internet, it must be true.

What does it mean for anyone who is looking for a job? Are we going to have google ghosts who will not be employable because a more skilled candidate in the field of social media will snatch every great job out there- kind of like credit ghosts that cannot get a car loan or a credit card? So far, I only heard about examples of people who didn't get a job based on a bad review "given" by Google. But how is one to build a goodle credit - I mean a good google credit...I guess I would start with a personal website that is professional and linked with as many reputable sites as possible. But wait, I am not the only one posting stuff on-line...

What if someone chooses to harm a person by posting terrible untrue facts on their blog? We all watch the Hills and the Gossip Girl...we learn our lessons... There is not much one can do about that...is there? Or maybe it forces us to be really, really good citizens, constantly living in fear that someone may post a lie about us...well, I don't know, I didn't really even think about this until I learned about those statistics...because it goes even further...concern friends google potential boyfriends of a friend, mothers google husbands to be of their daughters, clients google vendors, etc.

I feel like we are spending so much time on-line, managing and creating our on-line credit/identity, meeting new friends, doing damage control that sometimes we forget that we are real and some people do not care about our facebook, twitter or any other profile.

Anyway, in the meantime, I will keep on building my google credit, just in case...one never knows...