Club Chaos Agents - All Things Hollish, Wacked, and Jacked

I have been attending many of the Pine Bush Central School District Board of Education meetings and and budget forums recently in an effort to support the continuation of high quality educational programs for our District.  As I pointed out at the first forum I attended, the reputation of our schools will directly affect each and every one of us in the communities that make up the District. Whether we have children in the system or not our property values and future saleability of our homes and other real estate is influenced by how desirable the schools are to prospective home buyers and businesses who are considering a move to our community.  

As a parent I am hoping that our children will receive the kind of educational opportunities that will excite them and keep them motivated.  I also pointed out that we need to work together to find creative solutions so we can maintain programs and minimize impact on our schools.  It is no secret that I value the Music Programs we offer here and I was very happy to see that the proposed budget kept the Music Programs that might have been eliminated.

That having been said I think that we need to acknowledge that we are in financial crisis and need to get real about it.  I, myself, am trying hard to make a living in a year that so many have lost so much.  I work as an Associate Real Estate Broker here in Pine Bush.  I do not get a regular paycheck, I work on a commission only self employed basis.  On March 10, 2010 received my first commission check of this year for a rental placement of $220.00.  I have paid out over $2500.00 so far this year for the privilege of keeping my Realtor standing , continuing education, and business expenses which, if you do the math, puts me way in the red. Most of the other Real Estate Agents I speak with have similar stories to tell. Many of us have had deal after deal fall due to mortgage and appraisal issues, buyers loss of job, or other problems that home sellers and buyers are facing in this economy. My commissions are my main contribution to my family budget.  I have some steep expenses with one in college and two high school students.  We are trying to do the best we can.

Many of the people in our communities are facing trying times from forces beyond their control.  I am lucky that my husband who works in construction is still working but many of our friends and relatives are not.  Some have been out of work for a year or more now. Retirees who were secure in their investments in stock markets and funds lost so much.  The very homes that they live in whose paid up walls were what they believed to be a secure investment in the future have lost value and now they face a future with less.  Families are losing wage earners as one or both parents take pay cuts or lose jobs all together.  It is reality.  

I applaud the work that the Administration has done to pare down the budget.  I am so pleased that they have found a way to save programing and minimize the tax increase but it is still a tax increase.  I think we still have some work to do to find those creative solutions that will allow us to move forward with great programs and little or no increases.  

I find, as I review the projecting 2010-2011 budget, that the first item on the Increases is contractual pay increases. These are increases across the board to administrators, educators, and support staff. Might I suggest that the unions and individuals who have these hard won contracts agree that they will freeze wages where they are in order to save TWO MILLION Dollars.  I do understand that this affects your family.  I do understand that to accept such a freeze you will be sacrificing a lot.  But we can lower the tax increase even further and save some of the programs and positions that are being considered for cut. These very positions that teachers and staff stood up to defend in prior forums and Board meetings.  Please consider giving a little to save a lot.

I know that this may not make me as popular around the schools but understand that I love our teachers and the school staff.  I am trying to save more of your jobs while asking each of you to give a little bit.  This does not even ask you to take a cut it asks you to not take an increase.  It asks you to think outside the box as you plan for next year and order your supplies and materials.  I hope that you will hear my plea and follow through by offering to forgo increases in favor of the future of our children and this community.    

I urge the Board of Education to take a tough stand in negotiations of all contracts this year, not only in salary and benefit areas but in contracts for goods and services.  Can we do it better and cheaper by changing the way we do things?  YES WE CAN!    

Well there you are ActiveRain!  I have been in a state since I was without power last week.  It seems the hurriered I go the more piles of things to do I find.  I promise to get back to regular ActiveRaintivity soon.

Just wanted to share the number of points that greeted me when I signed in for a peek this morning 288,888.  I think maybe that's a lucky number.  Now where is that lottery scratch off???

Here I am back in the modern world.  Yes I have been living without electricity at home for the better part of four days and it is soooo nice to turn on a switch and see that amazing little light bulb create illumination.  

I don't even mind so much that I accidentally deleted a whole page of comments from my log this morning, sorry if your's was on the list I really only meant to delete the one from the spammer. I did lose a few points in the process but I will get back on track as soon as I catch up on the house full of laundry and everything else that has been waiting for Ben Franklin's discovery to be restored to me.

Hope you all survived without my posts on things To Do in Orange County this weekend, there wasn't much doing in my part of the county anyway.  Here are some pictures of how were spent the evenings in the living room with the wood stove cranking out heat.  

We weren't totally in the dark.  
The glow you see on my daughters' faces is the light from the cell phones in their hands.

I did save my food from the fridge by burying it in coolers in the two feet of snow in the back yard.  Oh yes fun was had by all this weekend. I will never take electricity and it's importance to our lives for granted again.  Have a great week.   

Well here it comes again New York.  They are predicting a lot of snow for tomorrow afternoon and night.  The snow is going to be wet snow which is soggy and heavy.  We know what soggy heavy snow can do don't we?

Be careful when shoveling

Expect that we may have power outages throughout the area so get prepared.  

Watch the snow build up on roofs especially flat roofs.

Don't drive if you don't have to.

Do you have a Carbon Monoxide Detector in your house or apartment?  Well if you live in New York you better get one.  Today, February 22,2010, is the day the Amanda's Law takes effect.  This State Law was passed in July and requires every dwelling in New York State to have a working Carbon Monoxide Detector installed.  They can be hard wired or plug in units with battery back up.  The plug in units are easy to find in stores and installation is merely plugging them into an outlet and maintaining batteries to back up the system.  They are like having your own little security system complete with a bouncer to sound the alarm in case of danger.

This law came about through the efforts of Amanda Hanson's parents after her tragic death in January of 2009.  Amanda was only 16 and on a sleep over at a friends house when a faulty boiler emitted the odorless, colorless gas that took her life.  There was not Carbon Monoxide Detector in that house.

As part of the transfer of title and closing on homes in New York sellers have been required for quite a while to certify that Carbon Monoxide Detectors were present in the house they were selling.  Now it is required that all dwellings have and maintain these units.  

Well I am off to check out my house and the rental units I have to insure they all have working units.  I suggest you all do the same.

If you or anyone you know is thinking of buying or selling a home I would be glad to help.  If they are in the Greater Hudson Valley I can act as their agent.  If they are anywhere else in the state or country I can find a great agent for them where they are or want to be.  

Today is my ActiveRainIversary.  I have been reading, learning, laughing, crying, sharing, and writing on ActiveRain for two years now.  I have learned so much from the great Real Estate Professionals who grace this forum.  I have formed relationships with people across the country and beyond who I count on as close friends.  I have released my "inner writer" and I am improving all the time.  I even got to go to Camp in NYC and plan to head for another Camp Session in Washington DC this spring.

If you are just starting out and are afraid to make that first post, I urge you to read and comment then take the plunge.  I stuck my toe in the water with this quiet piece.  As I went along I learned how to attract readers and get comments.  I started to get subscribers and associates.  I found ways to get my blog in front of consumers.  This weekend I celebrated my 160th subscriber and I will soon be reaching the 300,000 point milestone.  You can do this.

So thanks to ActiveRain, the staff, the wonderful bloggers, and the Internet presence that comes from a forum with such a large membership I celebrate you all while I take one minute of the next ActiveRain year to celebrate me.  

These are but a few of the things to do on this Sunday in Orange County New York. For more events see the Orange County Tourism Site. The Greater Hudson Valley is a great place to live or to have a weekend place.  If you would like to start a search for a permanent residence or vacation home in the area I would love to help you.  Working with an experienced buyer's agent can help you to choose what is best for you.  I work in Orange, Ulster, or Sullivan County NY and I would love to be your Buyer's Agent. If you are looking elsewhere I would love to find someone in your chosen location to help you.  Give me a call  or send an email today.

The Greater Hudson Valley is a great place to live or to have a weekend place.  If you would like to start a search for a permanent residence or vacation home in the area I would love to help you.  Working with an experienced buyer's agent can help you to choose what is best for you.  I work in Orange, Ulster, or Sullivan County NY and I would love to be your Buyer's Agent. If you are looking elsewhere I would love to find someone in your chosen location to help you.  Give me a call  or send an email today.

Here it is Friday once again.  I have had a week of busy.  I took a required course to maintain my Realtor status.  I participated in a discussion on Leadership at our local board.  I made a presentation to a local Historical Society as part of Real Estate Solutions Community Heritage Initiative.  I listed a rental, put signs up on a land listing, set up some tours for perspective home buyers, and yesterday I had a nice call from a young woman in New Jersey who wanted to know about Buyer Representation (thanks ActiveRain for providing the vehicle for my blog to go out and find future clients). In addition to being a Realtor I was a taxi driver, a medical assistant, an accountant, a secretary, a friend, a therapist, a cheerleader, a friend, and so much more.  Life is busy and full, too full sometimes.  

Friday is here and the weeks almost done.  Time to take a breath and have some fun.  Here's hoping your week kept you busy enough to avoid financial woes, slow enough to take time for you, and content enough with your life choices to be having a good time while you run through the days.