Thank goodness I’m getting back to normal with my workload. Those 18 hours of classroom time took a big bite out of my week. I had to keep reminding myself that it was already Thursday.
I turned a little wicked this morning with an Alliant Energy crew when having to meet them at a property. As they hopped one at a time out of their big-boy truck, I took a good look at all of them and said to each, “You’re getting fat, and you also need a good shave!” Boy did I get the looks. One of the older one’s whom I’ve known for some time, was getting a good laugh out of my filterless language. One of them happened to challenge me by saying, “I’m not fat now, but I used to be.” I looked him up and down and said, “How much did you loose?” His answer was only, “I used to be “enough” over 200 lbs.” I patted him on the back and said, “Good for you! Keep working on it!”
I’m normally not so blunt, but it seemed nearly everywhere I drove in the Downtown, there were men working on streets, and I’d say nearly 90% were strikingly overweight and heavily bearded. I said to the Alliant guys, “It appears you’re all die-hard fans of Duck Dynasty.” What really got them thinking was when I said, “Back in my day, nearly everyone went to work looking their best, but now it seems, everyone wants to look their worse.” Can you imagine what they must be seeing in their mirrors each and every morning with with those mangy looking beards staring back at them?
In all my years, I grew and kept a mustache for maybe nine months. I trimmed it nearly every day, and yet often get teased because it came in a striking auburn, and most times the brunt of those verbal jab were, “Where else do you have red hair?” Back in those days I could be easily embarrassed. When I did finally decide to cut it off, I should’ve saved the hair just as a reminder that I really did have a patch or two of strikingly deep red hair. I know if I go digging in my old photos, I’ll find the photo my mother took of me with my mustache that appeared to be one that was pasted on. If I resurrect it, I promise to share it with you all.
Another one of my listings sold today, and unfortunately there were multiple offers on it. Since it was my listing, there’ll be some buyers cursing my name into perpetuity for not getting it. Most people don’t understand that when you ask their agents to have their buyers go highest and best, then that’s what it means, “Highest and Best”. I never share with other buyers what the amounts of those highest and best offers are, because that’s simply not being at all fair. Sometimes when agents challenge me on the process of my presenting multiple offers, I can’t help but wonder how they handle them. Oh well, my form has been tried and true over the years, so I guess I’ll stick with it.
The sale fell apart on my listing located at 929 N. Madison which means I’m all the more on a burn to get it sold. It’s a very well built brick home located on one of Mason City’s prettiest streets. I decided to have a public open house in it this coming Saturday, so if you know anyone who’s looking to buy, please tell them about it because it is priced to sell.
I had a soulful chat with one of my clients today about many of these high school students deciding to go to college for the wrong reasons. Private trade schools are expensive, and far too often they decide to go only because they believe they have to, or possibly due to peer pressures. For whatever the wrong reasons, after about one or two wasted years, those poor high school graduates find themselves saddled with huge Federally funded student loans which oft times go into default due to their inabilities to pay.
I wish all guidance counselors across America would instill in their students that if they don’t believe they’re ready for university academics or trade schooling, they should go and get a normal job and be happy with it for the time being. And if they find calling in whatever jobs they get that didn’t require additional schooling, then they should work at becoming the best. By the way, I’m a great advocate of on the job training. My favorite saying is, “Anybody can be a street sweeper, but to become a stellar street sweeper is worthy of honors.”
The above photo is one of our resident Cooper’s Hawk, and I’ve seen several of them in action when going in for a kill. It’s a bit scary to see how they can take down smaller and faster birds. As with the humans, I believe it’s all about the element of surprise.
Tonight’s one-liner is: There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
