It was sad to hear about the accidents that took place this morning. People have got to learn what happens to roadways when we have these drastic temperature changes. While driving to work this morning, it didn’t take me long to discover how slick the highways were, and then proceeding accordingly.
I’ll never forget hearing a man recently tell his story about what happened to him on a slick highway with poor visibility. I don’t even want to think about his near death experience and the agonizing weeks that followed. After several years of re-constructive surgery, he’s alive, but unable to do the things he once did prior to that near fatal crash. I can’t imagine what lingering thoughts he must still have regarding that wintery day when he decided to take quick trip to Mason City to pick up a few things prior to a holiday.
Everyone must continue to be reminded, and especially the young who’re so glued to their cell phones, how their futures can be permanently altered in split seconds. Just this past year I’ve seen far too many drive right thru intersections without stopping, and even if there be a stop sign or red light in clear view. There was a young lady just about a week ago who drove right thru the stoplight at the corner of 3rd NE and N. Delaware without even looking both ways or slowing down. I could see she was mindlessly busy with her smart phone when she drove past me. This addiction to smart phones is becoming all the more dangerous to our public, and it’s getting worse.
There were only three appointments away from my desk today, which gave me enough time to get the hardwood floors in my office scrubbed free of salty white “cat tracks”. I’m not complaining because I’d rather see them truly clean than have wall to wall fibrous material. Carpet never gets that clean because of all those multi-million strands that are holding disgusting matter and particulates. Someone said today that steam cleaning does the trick with carpet, but I’m certain they’re not completely clean. And of course, once my office floors were dry and shining, there were three random visitors with salty wet snow on their shoes. Three more times I went back over the areas where they walked, stood, and sat. Oh well, that’s the price we must pay during our winter months when having to deal with the salt the City spreads on our streets and then tracked into our businesses.
Early this morning I received an email stating that another one of our Realtor’s decided to make a change in office affiliation. That’s the second one in less than two weeks. It’ll be interesting what takes place in our market this year with those changes because I know very well how a given agent’s office affiliation can re-draw the lines of a given office’s market share in the months a years ahead.
Since becoming a Realtor 37 years ago, and the three office changes I made during those years, I’ll never forget two of those office owners not being civil with me after announcing my decision to leave. Each of them told me during those times that they’d make sure I went out of business more sooner than later. Parting company is always hard without having such mean-spirited wishes of failure placed on an exiting agent’s head. Personally, I wish every agent who decides to switch the best. Don’t you think in the long run it to be a higher road to take?
