Shirley's San Antonio Real Estate Blog: December 2009

How are You Preparing for Santa?

www.weather.com

We have been having some cool weather here in San Antonio.  Right now at 3:00 p.m. it is 52 degrees.  I checked on the weather at the North Pole where Santa lives and the temperature at 3:00 p.m. is minus 25 degrees but it feels like minus 48 degrees!  Brrr, that sounds cold!

I wonder if Santa is checking on the temperature in San Antonio.  I hope he doesn't think it is too hot down here.  I suppose he can take off his jacket if it's too hot but then he would be out of uniform and it might look kind of funny. 

I'll leave a big glass of Texas Sweet Iced Tea out for him along with cookies so he can relax and cool off before continuing on his important mission of making children happy.

 

 

 

        

 

 

                    

SRES DEswg w tag

As an SRES® designee, I have received additional education on such topics as tax laws, probate, estate planning, equity conversion strategies, and can offer you information on current market trends as well as valuable resources regarding real estate transactions.


34 commentsShirley Parks, REALTOR® - SRES • December 15 2009 03:22PM

Overwhelmed? Need Some Help?

Have you ever found a very good thing but didn’t really want to share it? Did you just want to keep it for yourself?

Well, I have found a really good thing that I really don’t want to share but I think Ellen Pfeiffer of Generations Concierge Services deserves a shout out!

Several months ago I realized that I was overwhelmed with responsibilities.  It was taking a toll and I decided I needed help. I am the caregiver for one of my daughters and although she lives in her own apartment, it is my responsibility to take her grocery shopping once a week and to regularly clean her apartment.

The manager of the apartment complex where my daughter lives recommended one of their cleaning ladies so I now have a dependable lady who comes in about every two weeks to clean. I also located a wonderful concierge service that takes her shopping once a week. The concierge service is Generations Concierge and Ellen Pfeiffer is the owner. Her website states:

“Do you feel stressed out and overworked? Feel as if there are never enough hours in the day? Do you need an affordable way to gain the time you need for yourself to spend the time doing the things that are really important in life?? Let Generations Concierge be your personal assistant. We can shop, run errands, take your car to be serviced, take you to an appointment; to name a few examples.

Our mission is to make your life easier. At Generations Concierge, we believe that quality service does make a difference, and we will always strive to provide quality in all that we do. We are affordable, dependable and easy to use."

Recently the San Antonio Express News ran a story about Ellen. You can read it here: Need Some Help? 

Here is a link to the Generations Concierge website where you will find more information and a list of all the services offered. www.generationsconcierge.com

Ellen is more than just an errand person. She provides a professional and personalized service. She takes an interest in my daughter, gives her useful information, makes helpful suggestions, loans her books, and provides stimulating conversation. 

Now I can spend more quality time with my daughter without constantly worrying about getting things done.  I am happier and my daughter is happier, too... thanks Ellen!

 

        

 

 

                    

SRES DEswg w tag

As an SRES® designee, I have received additional education on such topics as tax laws, probate, estate planning, equity conversion strategies, and can offer you information on current market trends as well as valuable resources regarding real estate transactions.


12 commentsShirley Parks, REALTOR® - SRES • December 13 2009 06:19PM

My Motorola Droid Does!

I read Kathleen's post yesterday and then this morning my husband starting talking about this new phone that he couldn't remember the name of.  "Droid?" I said.  Yep, that's it.  It's supposed to be pretty awesome so we may get one....

Via Kathleen Cooper, JCKC Realty, Broker, SRES, REALTOR®:

 MY MOTOROLA DROID DOES!

Right before our trip to Florida for Thanksgiving, I decided to upgrade my phone at Verizon after having a Blackberry Curve over a year.  I was in the store getting a Netbook for our trip, and that's when I first set eyes on the Motorola Droid.

I was a little reluctant to give up my trusty Blackberry that had grown attached to me like glue.  I asked my sales rep tons of questions and probably spent a good 45 minutes in the store playing with this new Motorola Droid phone, pondering whether or not I could give up the trusted name-brand Blackberry for another Motorola phone.  After owning a Motorola once before, I swore I'd never own another.  That old phone was a piece of junk, every problem that could go wrong, did go wrong with it. 

The sales rep at the Verizon store in Sturbridge did a great job answering my questions and concerns.  He explained that the Droid isn't a phone, it's a computer with an application to access a phone on it.  It is an intelligent piece of equipment. 

After owning this phone for several weeks and really spending hours playing with it and getting to know it, I figured I'd share with you some of my favorite apps for business, fun and entertainment.  All of these can be found in the Market on your phone and all are free!

Here's My List of What My Droid Does:

  • ShopSavvy- This app allows you to scan in bar-codes at a store on most popular items and performs a search to find where the lowest advertised price is in other local stores and online.  Tried it out on a Kung Fu Panda dvd we had lying around, works great!
  • iMusic - Great app to download all of your favorite music for free.
  • Swift - For Twitter, this app is very user friendly and helps me stay connected to my Twitter account on my phone.  Was sad to have to give up my TinyTwitter on my Blackberry, but this app is just as good, if not better.
  • Bloo - A great Facebook app to help you stay connected on Facebook.  It is a little more user friendly than the mobile Facebook already on your phone, so I like to use a little combination of both.
  • Handcent - A great sms messaging app that you can customize and adjust settings for your text messages.  You can set different LED colors to flash for different contacts and set it to pop open a bubble when you get a new text.  Much better than the original messaging app on the phone.
  • DroidLight - A great flashlight app that helps shed some light on those dark situations.  Best flashlight app I have seen for the droid, uses your built in flash for light rather than just the screen. 
  • Toggle Settings- Convenient app that allows you with one click to easily change all of the settings on your phone such as silent mode, bluetooth, ringer volume, etc.
  • Advanced Task Killer - Helps kill all of those applications running in the background that you're not using so you don't drain your battery life too fast. 
  • FlyScreen - When enabled, you can set your phone to show news, weather and recent Tweets when your phone is in locked mode.
  • YouMail- Great voicemail app that lets you listen to your voicemails on your phone without having to call voicemail.  You can also get text transcripts and emails of your voicemails.
  • Gmote - Turns your Droid into a remote for your computer.
  • Droid Coupons- You can lookup and email yourself coupons for many local restaurants and stores.
  • Mabilo Ringtones- Download tons of hot new songs for ringtones for free!
  • Where's My Droid - If you lose your phone and it's on silent mode, you can text a specified message to your phone that will make it start ringing so you can find it.
  • Google Sky Maps - If you like astronomy, this is a really cool app that allows you to find and name the stars in the sky.

So far so good with this cool little phone.  Can't beat a touchscreen AND a keyboard option!  This is a lean, mean social networking machine with the bonus of phone capabilities built in.  Check it out!

Sleepless in Sturbridge

 

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SRES DEswg w tag

As an SRES® designee, I have received additional education on such topics as tax laws, probate, estate planning, equity conversion strategies, and can offer you information on current market trends as well as valuable resources regarding real estate transactions.


8 commentsShirley Parks, REALTOR® - SRES • December 11 2009 12:41PM

San Antonio Musical Events

San Antonio Musical Events ~ December 4 - 7

 

  • Dec 4 Handel's Messiah University United Methodist Church 
  • Dec 5 The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute to the Beatles Laurie Auditorium 
  • Dec 5 Handel's Messiah Coker United Methodist Church 
  • Dec 5 Sweet Plantain Jo Long Theatre 
  • Dec 6 Handel's Messiah Byron P Steele II High School 
  • Dec 7 Kelly Clarkson with special guests Eric Hutchinson and Parachute American Bank Center Arena

Tickets available at www.Ticketmaster.com

 

        

 

 

                    

SRES DEswg w tag

As an SRES® designee, I have received additional education on such topics as tax laws, probate, estate planning, equity conversion strategies, and can offer you information on current market trends as well as valuable resources regarding real estate transactions.


6 commentsShirley Parks, REALTOR® - SRES • December 01 2009 04:07PM