To all Team in Training participants: Green Box Homes is a long time friend of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in San Diego and has participated with LLS for many years on many levels. Now we will be helping Team in Training athletes with fund raising.  For any real estate client you're responsible for sending to us, we are donating 15% of our side's commission upon close of escrow to your campaign.  At closing, will mail a check to the director of LLS in San Diego for your fund raising, who is aware of our program and ready to see it implemented!  If your current program is completed, we can send it to LLS on behalf of a future campaign for you. Returning as an alumni...

The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles was located in the mid-Wilshire district, built in 1921 and demolished in 2005, a couple months after my rare and secret opportunity to get inside to take photos. The property was perfect for celebrity fueled L.A. with the Academy Awards held in the ballroom from 1930 - 1943. Presidents and movie stars visited. But this post isn't about the beginning of the Ambassador,or even its heyday, it's about the end. On June 5, 1968, shortly after his acceptance speech as the Democratic candidate for president, Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the kitchen after leaving the podium in the ballroom.  Having read everything I could read about that night, I...

I have a feeling the end of Kodachrome will pass with relative quietness, which is not acceptable.  Films ending in the word "chrome" signified the finished product was a positive image.  The film was technically called "color reversal film."  Think Fujichrome or Kodachrome. Once developed, each little positive image was typically put into a cardboard sleeve and became a 35mm slide.  Kodachrome was/is famous for its warm yellows and oranges. Fujichrome for its crisp blues and greens. As a photographer who shot both, I used to keep them straight by the colors of their box....Kodak's orange and yellow boxes were warm, Fuji's green and blue boxes were cool.  Sometimes I tried to figure out...

Looking for an environmentally friendly holiday present or simple thank you that requires no wrapping and comes in a recyclable tube? You may want to consider a favorite Minnesota company of mine, Mail-A-Tree.  For less than ten bucks including shipping, this business will ship to anyone a tree seedling that is ready for the ground and is from you.  If you receive this tree as a gift (or can't resist buying a few for yourself) and are in the colder, freezing climates, have no fear! December/January is a dormant growing time of year for these trees and your seedling can be kept in the fridge with a bit of occasional checking.  The website has more details. Buy now. Plant in the...

Kerry was in New York City this week and was able to shoot a few quick videos for the blog. There are two new videos, bottom right, that were shot at the site of the World Trade Center with construction under way. The third video is of the former Burlington Coat Factory, site of the future Islamic Cultural Center.  Please feel free to view all three in the bottom right by scrolling through the videos on file and clicking once, or double click the box to open up a new YouTube window. And as soon as Kerry gets over the bug he caught while traveling, he will create a guest blog post on his findings and what's going on in downtown Manhattan. Feel better soon, Kerry! Here's a link to...

The Hotel Solamar in San Diego is now certified to the industry-recognized Green Seal standard, having earned a Silver ranking. This is extremely exciting for hotel visitors to San Diego! This Gaslamp downtown hotel has passed rigorous testing ~ from the kitchen, to your guest bathroom, from the care and attention to towels and sheets, to the recycling for guests, to the waste water, to the plants.  Even the housekeeping cleaning products used throughout the hotel are green.  They're thinking "green" when it comes to your hotel stay, although you may not had considered it yet.  The environment thanks the Hotel Solamar. Even if you Google around for discounted rates, the Green...

A great American has died. Robbins Barstow died at 91 years of age in Hartsford, CT on November 7th of congestive heart failure. Don't know him? That's too bad.  I didn't know him personally either.  Although employed throughout his career as the director of professional development of the Connecticut Education Association (the teacher's union), his passion was as a home movie maker, documenting every aspect of his family's life for decades.  Thankfully, home movies are cool again, and old home movies have a special place in this country. Not just for their cringe-factor, but for showing us ordinary people doing everyday things in American history. Mr. Barstow rises above the ranks of...

Today was a very special day for me. I was invited to be in the procession to and attend the memorial service of a gentleman I used to work for in my stock market employment days.  The service was for him and his wife, who had died six months earlier.  They were married 70 years and both died at age 90. I will protect their privacy and refrain from naming them.  This man was one of the nicest people who ever was 'my boss,' and I was very grateful for what he taught me about commodities in particular, but also how he passed along the details of a strong work ethic. All I had to do was watch him every day.  If I was there at 6:30 AM, he was already there, working, charting!  That's early!...