Information Overload!
I am officially overloaded! Here is what has me so verklempt:
I read a post at The Real Estate Tomato about Twitter called People Really Do Want You to Tweet About Your Cat. It mentioned this foreign concept called Whuffies, which is a reputation-based currency in Cory Doctorow’s novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Now it’s a good novel in itself, and worth the read. But the whole concept has me rethinking my attitude on self-publication online. Maybe it’s not something I want to get into by myself, but maybe like Seth Godin, I would rather people read my books than buy them.
And then the previously mentioned post got me to rediscover my Twitter account, and now I’m trying to keep up with that, along with several other online tools that I’ve read about from the Real Estate Connect San Francisco Conference 2008 (it seems that my entire RSS Feed attended). MyBlogLog is slow in getting started, and may not even be for me, but I’m trying to give that some attention as well.
I’ve made more progress with the SEO aspect of my latest job, but haven’t been able to work on another job at all, yet. That isn’t only frustrating, but panicking.
And to top it all off, I have three marketing books at home, and I was just distracted long enough to buy two more off of Amazon - one about real estate, and one about web sites. I can’t wait - and yet, when am I going to be able to make the time to read them?
It’s this amazing mix of excitement, horror and anticipation. Wow.
Did I mention my feed has 78 unread items?
Filed under Internet, Marketing, real estate | Comment (0)Daily Goal
My daily goal for today:
- Get all postcards in my queue out for proofing before 5 p.m. today
Once again, I’ve completed Initial Goals 2, 3 and 5. I did not complete #4 yesterday.
Update: goal accomplished.
Filed under Business, Goals, Marketing | Comment (0)Lurkers Anonymous
My inclination is not to jump into a conversation, but to lurk by and listen. On message boards, when I was frequenting them regularly, I would regularly sit and listen, only putting in my 2¢ when I felt comfortable that I wouldn’t be ridiculed or ignored by the people around me.
But lately, I’m trying to force myself out of that habit.
Online, at least.
Yesterday, I tweeted (also a new experience) to two people I didn’t know. Today, I am going to put myself in a position where I must interact, or risk being removed from a community.
I feel for a natural introvert, this is quite a step in a positive direction. Wish me luck!
Filed under Internet | Comment (0)Daily Goal
- Clean off the surface of my desk at work. Again.
And I have updates about my Initial Goals - numbers 2, 3 and 5 have been accomplished for today!
Update @ 8:30 p.m.: And my goal for today - accomplished!
Daily Goal 7/30/2008 - Clean off the surface of my desk
First-time Homebuyer Help
As a first-time homebuyer myself, this article at Inman is incredibly important and valuable to me. It seems that using an IRA to buy a home has many rules attached to it, but one of them is that first-time home buyers may use up to $10,000 for closing costs. One would still owe taxes on this withdrawl, of course, but it wouldn’t be subject to any penalties.
The more I think about it, it is kind of a double edged sword. I’ve set aside money in my IRA before, but I’m not able to scrape together a down payment at this point. And now I don’t even have to try. Great, I can buy a house! Damn - I’m not being forced to learn to save money, either.
Apparently, this withdrawl is also subject to the whims of the IRS as well. I don’t understand completely, but it seems that advice from an IRS professional does not stand up in court!
“The court ruled that when IRS employees give incorrect interpretations of the law, the IRS is not bound by that advice.
“In fact, the IRS is not generally bound by the language of its own publications.”
Urk! The article instructs us to speak to a tax professional, but that may not be any guarantee either. But knowing that the option is there to look in to when my husband and I are ready to buy…well, that’s just awesome.
Filed under real estate | Comments (2)
