May 3, 2007

The hurrier I go …

My kitchen is clean. My floors were, but that never lasts.There’s only one load of laundry that needs to be washed, the dark load with my work uniforms in it. The guest bath is scrubbed and shiny, but mine is still needing attention. The bills are all paid, except for an insurance bill I can’t find. That means it’s in my office somewhere. The office is a mess. I had the filing caught up briefly, but, like keeping the floors clean, staying up to date on filing is a never-ending task. I have a stack of payments to log into my books and get ready for deposit. There are various bits and pieces scattered around the office. Industry magazines, training updates and promotional materials brought home from the post office but not touched since. Reference books not re-shelved. Paid bills not logged and filed away.

The guest room is where I’ve been gathering up the results of recent shopping trips. Gifts that are deplorably late. I think I have the boxes I need now, and I remembered to buy the good packaging tape, so I need to sort that mess out and get it out of here. Some DVDs and a book for my brother will go in the box with Sis’s stuff, since he’s still staying at her place. She’s also getting DVDs and two books, along with some girly things. She’s easier to shop for than our brother. I finally have everything for my son and his girlfriend but can’t list that stuff here because they read my blog. Two of my friends are getting gift boxes, too. Mostly Hawaii stuff - Kona coffee, tropical teas and macadamia nuts, coffee mugs and a few other souvenir-ish things. A hula girl whose grass skirt is actually a keyboard duster, some engraved pens and some scented soaps and candles.

The rest of the house still has cluttery problems too, of course, but the office and guest room are the worst. So … the plan for tomorrow: get all of the gifts that need wrapping wrapped. Sort, box and label all of the boxes. That will take a couple of hours, so when I’m done I’ll tackle the filing. Getting it caught up will give me room on my work table to start clutter-sorting. That will probably take the rest of the day. I’ll be taking client calls and answering emails and faxes throughout the day and those take priority over other tasks. The day will probably end with a lot of clutter still in the office, but if the filing and gift boxes are finished I’ll be satisfied.

I’m determined. I awake determined most mornings, of course, but now I’ve put it out there so I’m committed to progress. Wish me luck.

Technorati Tags: clutter, housework, gifts, family, chores, office chores, work

May 2, 2007

Decorating vacation rentals

I did another Wiakiki condo inspection yesterday. I’ve inspected hundreds of these places over the years. The scheduling can be tricky because many of them are being used as vacation rentals and are continuously occupied, even when they’re being marketed and while they’re in escrow. My inspection has to be worked in between guests, though every now and then someone screws up and I have to inspect an occupied condo. I did that recently and it was kind of fun because the tourists took pictures of me doing my thing. I guess they wanted photos to help them remember every minute of their Hawaiian vacation. I can just imagine the slide show they’ll make their neighbors watch when they get home. “And did you know that they even send people around to make sure you don’t have termites in your suite?”

While the views are spectacular, it’s always struck me a little oddly how many of these places look exactly like any place you would rent on the mainland. I wonder if the tourists find that a little disappointing. How much trouble would it be to add some aloha print bedspreads and maybe some framed art from Studio RTA Furniture to give the places a little local flavor? It wouldn’t cost any more than the bland stuff they’re using and would be good selling point on their promotional websites. If you were searching for a place to rent for a Hawiian vacation, wouldn’t you find a place that looked like it was in Hawaii a little more appealing than one that looked like a hotel room in Anytown, USA?

Technorati Tags: furniture, art, Hawaii, photos, vacations, work

Would you wait in line?

Tickets for the Broadway production of The Lion King went on sale in Honolulu last Saturday. It’s been all over the news since people started lining up on Friday, with pictures of people camping out at the ticket office featured in the newspaper and on every local TV channel. Now it’s news because early sales broke some previously established records, with 19,000 tickets being sold the first day.

I’ve never participated in one of those marathon ticket waits and I’m wondering what motivates people to do it. Have you ever camped out on a side walk in order to be get theater or concert tickets? What would it take to make you do it, and how long would you be willing to wait? And if you have done it, answer me this: do people steal your place in line when you have to go to the bathroom? Is there an established protocol for such things? It would be a total bummer if you had to go tothe back of the line evey time nature called!

Technorati Tags: tickets, event tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets, waiting in line

April 29, 2007

Smorty

I love what I do for a living. I’ve loved it for twenty-seven years, which is a sly way of saying that I’m getting old. It’s harder and harder on my body to carry around a ladder or crawl in a tight space under a house. I know that I won’t be doing those things much longer, so I’ve been looking for other income sources.

One thing I’ve found that works well and that I enjoy is to blog for money. A new place I’ve found where I can get paid to blog is Smorty. They’re a very easy company to work for. Sign up for the service, go to your menu to see who wants people to advertise on blogs and write your post. It’s that easy. Submit your post and you get paid.

I’ve been doing blog advertising for about five months now. I’ve checked out a lot of services where you can get paid for blogging. Some of them are slow to pay and make impossible demands. Smorty is straight-forward to deal with, sets reasonable fees for each post and pays promptly. Their system efficiently connects advertisers to bloggers, so there’s a steady flow of opportunities to write about. If you’ve been thinking about getting paid to blog (and you know you have,) check out Smorty. They sponsored this post so I could share the news with you.

Technorati Tags: blog advertising, blogging, get paid to blog, make money online, Smorty