Friday, January 18, 2008

Jason Garrett stays with the Cowboys

Jason Garrett helped the Cowboys break several records and after interviewing and being offered Head Coaching job elsewhere, decided to remain with the Cowboys as the Assistant Head Coach.

This position comes at a price of about $3.5 million! Almost as much as the Head Coach.

Personally, I really like Jason Garrett. I loved him when he played for the Cowboys. I hated it when Jason got the Cowboys through the Playoffs and then they allowed Aikman to play the final game. Yes, Aikman was the starter and he was coming back from an injury, but he was out for a lot of games, and Jason deserved to play. I was very disappointed when he left the Cowboys.

I was very excited when he returned. However, to go after a Head Coaching job after just 3 years in a coaching position is a little premature. I think he needs a little more experience before taking on that job.

He did say that he definitely wants to be a Head Coach at some time, but that his home is in Dallas for now. Good choice, Jason!

Here's more on the story.

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NAR's Changes to Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice

I am on the Texas (TAR) Professional Standards Committee and I was just emailed the changes that were adopted for 2008 from NAR, and I kinda chuckled. I'm not sure if others have read the changes, but this really caught my eye.

Article 12 used to say, "REALTORS® shall be careful at all times to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public..."

The revised Article says, "REALTORS® shall be honest and truthful in their real estate communications and shall present a true picture in their advetising, marketing, and other representations..."

What caught your eye? What caught my eye is what should have caught your eye too since I bolded the words, that we went from having to be "careful" to having to be "honest and truthful". When I see that, it shows that there were so many REALTORS® not being "careful" and they had to actually be told to be "honest and truthful." How sad is that.

I would think the two went hand in hand. If you're not being honest and truthful, you're definitely not being careful. And if you're being careful about not being caught being honest and truthful, then you're not very ethical which blows the entire Code of Ethics out of the water.

What do others think about this change, and have you witnessed reasons for this change? I would love to hear about your experiences with other agents who violated the original article making a need to change the verbiage (no names are needed in case they are members of this forum).

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Friday, January 04, 2008

North Texas HOV Lanes- How Do I Get On?

Did you read my previous blog about how unhappy I was about the new HOV lanes that have opened on 75 Central Expressway through Richardson TX?

Even though I'm very unhappy with the way they did the lanes, others will need to know how to access the lanes. You would think that you could just drive and be in the left lane and wait for the openings, as this is how it is on all of our other highways and freeways. However, you would be wrong!!

For the main entrances into the HOV lane, you must actually exit off 75 Central Expressway and follow the signs. Huh? Does this even make sense? Sounds silly to me. Oh, and don't forget that there's even a different route during rush hour traffic in the mornings and evenings. RIDICULOUS!!

Anyway, here's a link to the graphics that will better explain what I'm talking about. Anyone from the area think these HOV lanes make sense?

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North Texas HOV Lanes Now Open

The main North and South Highway through North Dallas, Central Expressway (Highway 75), finally opened the well anticipated HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicles). The lanes go for 14 miles from Highway 635 north through Allen and into McKinney.

You would think the HOV lanes would be a good thing. On the surface, they're fabulous. However, Donna not happy!! When Donna not happy, everyone will hear about it!! Plus, no one in Richardson should be happy because we got the short end of the HOV stick!

Here is part of what I wrote to my HOA president:

"I was wondering if you knew who we would contact at the city of Richardson about the new HOV lanes on 75. This is ridiculous that there is no place in Richardson where it allows us, their own residents, to get in and/or out of the HOV lanes. Since there is no way on while going south, we can't even take advantage of the new HOV lanes going up the high-five to 635. Going up north, we can't get in the HOV lane because there is no way out of it until Parker in Plano. I thinks it's very ridiculous as we all sat through the pains of the construction for all those months and we can't even utilize the improvement, and that's a bad word because it doesn't improve anything for me or anyone else in Richardson."

I actually did get a response back from my HOA president in which he forwarded me the response from the city manager:

"We have had a few other inquiries on this, so we will be posting an explanation on the City's website. It is not there yet, so I am trying to get the timing. I'll get back to you soon with a date. Directing Donna and your residents to the website explanation is probably the best first step.

As you may recall from our Council briefings on this, we did not like the lack of an opening in Richardson, but TXDOT insisted that they start the HOV in the current configuration. They have agreed to revisit our request for access after the current configuration has been open for a few months. What it should do, even in the current configuration, is reduce the congestion on the main lanes. This is not ideal, but it is in place and will hopefully have a positive impact for Richardson travelers as well as regional travelers. We will certainly keep working the issue."


Donna NOT happy!! We sat through all this contruction. We waited for the highly anticipated opening for months!! And now they tell us that we can't use the lanes. If you also disagree with this, please let the City Manager for Richardson TX know so we can make some changes. You can send all your concerns to Pamela Schmidt at pamela.schmidt@cor.gov.

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

I'm Back- Sorry for Being Gone

Sorry for not posting in a long time. I didn't realize I completely missed November and December, I was posting updates on Alyssa Nicole on my other blog that is devoted only to her.

Anyway, she has arrived. She will be 7 weeks on Friday (born November 16) and she's wonderful!




I never had a maternity leave, since I've been working a lot, but I have also taken some much needed time to be with her.

In the future, I'll be posting updates about her on the other blog, but I'll also post milestones on this one for my loyal readers.



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Richardson TX Police Force Gets a 4-Legged Addition

The Richardson TX Police Station has added a 4-legged addition of an 80 pound, 3 year old, German Shepherd, named Macho. The name Macho actually came from his native home in Germany.

Macho has traveled more than I have! He started his training in Germany, like I did (not training, but I was born there), and then he journeyed to Indiana. From Indiana, he trained in Allen TX for a while and now is on the Richardson TX Police Force.

Macho is even bilingual. He is spoken to in English, but his commands are given in German.

Let's here it for our newest Police Officer!

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Richardson TX gets a New Fire Station #2

As part of the 2006 Bond money that was voted on May 13, 2006, Firestation #2 is getting a face lift. Actually, an actual facelift cost more than tearing down the old building and rebuilding something new, so that's what is going to happen.

The demolition is going to start this month and the rebuilding will being in March. It is supposed to be complete by January 2009. Many changes are taking place. It will become a co-ed facility as it currently does not have seperate sections for men and women.

It will also become a Green facility which is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The landscaping will be not take much water to maintain and they'll also store up rain water.

The old facility was a 1 story building with only 5000 sqft. The new facility will be 2 stories and 9000 sqft.

This is a much needed update to the area!

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