I was wandering around my favorite blogs and found this entry about the week's winners of the Carnival. 

It amazes me how many of the posts written in one single day, attracted the attention of different people.  I barely remember writing the one chosen by the Carnival in it's top choice of the week.

Someday I'll have to go back and read my own writings.  But I might be tempted to edit them if I go back there.  So I'll just read the best of them on other people's blogs for now :-)

Sincere apologies to those who have been looking here for the results of the Sellsius 101 Challenge Match.  I assumed everyone picked up the results on the various blogs that both started the match and were monitoring the results.  Truth is when the 24 hours was up I was back to business as usual.  I have a way of putting yesterday in its place...behind me.

See links at end of the post for the full scoop on the event as it was taking place.

Results?  Greg whooped me by a mile...except he stopped at 99 and waited for me. We both made it, but I only had 14 minutes or so to spare at midnight on Tuesday.  I was such a die hard about maintaining a good photo ratio that I almost didn't make it.  At post 93, I literally forgot how to post an entry!  Around 42 to 50 I just started cranking them out because I refused to take a brake before getting to 50!  So I pretty much went from midnight on Monday through to 50 posts, 14 hours or so, without a break.

Would I do it again?  Yes.  But I'd train ahead of time, physical training for stamina.  I'd take lots of vitamins during training.  I will not disregard photos, but Real Town promised to work on that so it is easier by next year, well before that actually.  Real Town's support was tremendous during the event.  They beefed up and modified the comment feature.  They turned my header into a "Go Home" link.  Anytime I was spotting difficulty both during and after the event, Hector and the gang over at Real Town Blogs came running to make software changes as needed. 

One of Greg's posts talked about my platform being...well I'm not going to repeat it.  Others have tried to persuade me to leave Real Town from time to time as well.  But as RCG saw when they recently had to change hosts and were being treated badly, having a great and responsive team behind you is priceless!!  And, in fact, Real Town is priceless...it's free.  But I use them because they are good friends, I've known them a very long time and I wouldn't be blogging without them. 

Would I shame myself by showing I'm disloyal to get a new little button or a fancy dancy whatever!  NO!  The grass is always greener, as they say.  Sticking by people who stick by you is just how it is.  I'm from an age and culture where loyalty is primo and this world today where everyone races to the next hot place is shameful!  Shameful, I say :-)  I also plugged Grow A Brain for the same reason. 

Real Town is not just a "blog platform".  Those guys are like family to me, and have been since 1998 when I joined their real estate form "Real Talk".  They host my email and my company email.  They are the kind of guys you want watching your back.  They host the e-Pro Program for all Realtors to get their technology designation.  They serve the real estate industry well.  And most importantly, they didn't treat me like dirt when I decided to drop the Realtor designation for awhile during the DOJ suit and in memory of Lois Hekker who died while fighting the good fight. 

Here are some links to the news that traveled before, during and after the contest. 

Jon over at Property Monger's blow by blow was hysterical  I think his workout was harder than ours because he was reading both and commenting on each and every post!  His being in a different time zone, he had to take a break after Round 3 oops, I mean after Round 4 and came back with an Ode to Ardell the next morning.  I was so in awe of Jon's work, back in the beginning when I was physically and mentally capable of watching the goings on, that I dedicated post 25, 50, 75 and 100 to John with some spicy broads.

In the beginning, I was following Greg and smiled at his griping where I think he was cursing me for talking him into doing this, and followed him up to his happy babble.  But then I started losing it before the post 50 break.  Joe over at Sellsius commented on everyone one of my and Greg's posts, so he got his workout for starting this whole thing :-)  Rudy and Joe put up this music video for me while Greg was waiting for me to either croak or finish, but I didn't see it until the dust settled.  I didn't have time to peek around at anything from 80 on.  Poor Dustin Luther was writing at home to relieve me, not knowing the rules had changed to one blogger only.  He utilized them on RCG the next day.  There were several posts like Marlow's that dubbed Greg and I the King and Queen of blogging.  There are several follow up pieces and Greg is still going back and reading his own LOL and editing them.  I'm leaving mine as is so people can see the stress building.  And OH, I didn't know I had a spell checker until post 53 or so.  Yup, all my blogging to date and on Rain City Guide is sans spellchecker for the most part.

Only one crabby dissenter in the whole bunch, and a fellow Real Town Blogger at that.  But then Maureen never seems to miss an opportunity to kick me in the shins :-)  She even titled the post "not a fan" and dragged poor Greg into the doghouse with me.  But she seems to like the Sellsius guys. Oh well, you can't please all of the people all of the time.  The Blogging Community is a great place...for the most part.

I think that's enough from me on this topic until next year.  You can see lots on the Sellsius Blog and Bloodhound blog beyond what I've linked to, and other sites as well.  It was a well covered even and I look forward to doing it again next year.

We Can Change the World

Re A Range the World

It's dying....to get better

Choose one thing you would like to improve.

Don't fight change...make change.

101 and one for good measure, with 14 minutes to spare.

It's time for the builders to come up with more high tech, healthy cooking options.

Check out this super heated steam oven from Sharp

Jon over at Property Monger was looking into buying one of those condos on Lake Washington Blvd. here in Kirkland that hang out over and stick up from the water.

We had heard that the pilings might be in need of repair, so Jon, I found you this home inspector who will go down into the water in her wetsuit and examine those pilings for you.  But she isn't cheap.

Let me know and we'll schedule a day and time.

August Snow House.  I've always liked houses with turrets, and porches and different roof shapes and heights.

This is one of my favorites.

And we thought our half lots were tall and skinny!  The lot looks big enough. 

Wonder why the odd configuration?

Well that's definitely one of the most unusual homes I've ever seen.  How do you suppose you get up there?

What we really do, on the best of days, is help people achieve their personal best.  Get their home in the best of shape and staging it to look its best so they can achieve the best price possible.

We can't always get them what they wanted for their house, but we can help them achieve their personal best.

Same with buyers, we can't always help them get their dream home if it doesn't exist where they want to live, or if they can't afford it.  But we can help them achieve their personal best of the options available in the market place.

On a good day...it's a great career.

These you can actually build yourself

But they are "for the birds"!