So Grayson turned six years of age just recently. Of course he had to have all his friends involved with his birthday celebration. Jennifer decided to hold his birthday at Chuckie Cheeses. She did a little research and the party costs seemed reasonable. I was happy she arranged all the plans. As usual I just showed up with a video camera in hand and ready to have some fun with Grayson. Most of the day Grayson was smiling from ear to ear and he did a pretty good job of thanking everyone for making it out. Chuckie himself came out to celebrate the birthday with Grayson and he seemed to enjoy having a quick "Chatt" with the mouse. For those of you who missed his birthday 2009 celebration we are sorry you missed it and hopefully next year we will see you? I put together a TWO videos so you could see the highlights of the birthday BASH. I guess it is Fall already so be sure to make Fall a great season.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Grayson going to First Grade at AMI Elementary
Well it's official. Grayson started First grade just two weeks ago. Grayson has Ms. Waite as his First Grade teacher. Many of his friends are in class with him. Gabriel who is in the picture to the left as well as Arada have played and had fun together for a few years now. Dillon who makes the fabulous three, Gabriel, Dillon and Grayson was placed in another class.As of late we have been working with Grayson on his reading. Math tends to come easier however it's amazing how fast he is learning words. Just this evening I helped him with some math problems. As he counted on his fingers I began to wonder if there was any way to slow down time. What a wonderful time in life.
A few weeks ago I watched Grayson getting on the school bus for the first time. He really wants to ride the bus and be with his friends. He gets on the school bus at 7:20 AM and arrives at school around 8:00 AM. School starts at 8:30 AM so he normally goes into the cafeteria to have his breakfast with friends. Now anyone who has been to the island knows that we live less than 5 minutes to the Elementary School. I explained to Grayson..."Now you understand that you can sleep in quite a bit more. We could leave our house at 8:15 AM and have you at school in plenty of time. Or, you can get up alot earlier and get driven 1/2 way to school to your bus stop at 7:20 AM and
you can spend almost an hour on a bus riding around." Grayson's response, "yah, I think I want to take the bus." Ok.Today we took Grayson to the dentist. His adult teeth are coming in but the baby teeth don't want to leave. Our dentist said it is getting pretty crowded in there and in three months they would take matters into their own hands if some teeth don't start coming out. Dentist warned us, "looks like braces." Nooooooooo, please don't use the six letter word!
Due to the dentist appointment Grayson missed lunch so we took him out today. I asked him, "What is your favorite class?" He replied, "Daddy, I like P.E the best then music then art." This is of course after I asked him a few times with absolutely no reply and Jennifer coached me that I had to say his name, get his attention, then ask the question. Now of course I am staring right at him across a small 2' table. How can he miss my questions? So I asked him, "What are you thinking about?" No answer again, "Grayson, what are you thinking about?" - nothin. Well Jennifer was quick to say "Like father, like son." Oh boy... Where can you go with that?
The picture to the left is Geanna and Grayson. The significance of this picture is they sit right next to each other in first grade. Check out the video below of Grayson's second day of first grade. More importantly it was Grayson's first ever school bus ride. Take a look below and share a milestone with the Chatt family.....
Monday, September 7, 2009
What if ..... The "Green" movement
I get excited when folks talk about the "green" movement for a number of reasons. General Electric (GE) has aligned themselves very well to support "Green" and I own a bunch of their stock from my early GE corporate days. They have been working on industrial gas turbines (IGT), turbines for wind power, more efficient locomotives, lighting options, etc. On top of all that, PCC ticker symbol PCP supports the entire product series of wind power and IGT's. The Chatt family has a TON of stock for PCC. Yeeeaaaah, good stuff.....
Ha, ha, ha while this is true it's not quite my first reason I get excited. Ok, maybe my th
ird or fourth reason but NOT the biggest reason. The biggest reason I think we all get excited... we all want our children to have a better life than ourselves and unless the environment does not play a factor in your world, we need to be concerned for our children! Sure, some politicians sargue nothing has changed, others say watch out. It seems as though 80+% of the "experts" agree that the polar ice cap as well as our planet seems to be getting warmer. Not good.
So what are you doing to help our environment? Recycling? Using your own coffee cup at work instead of a styrafoam cup? There are lots of little things we all can do. In the past year the Chatt's purchased an electric low speed vehicle. It goes about 25 mph and is perfect for the island. It most resembles a golf cart and for a family of three it provides a great transportation alternative. Just plug it in and it costs about $300 per year in electric power consumption.
On our vacation to Upstate NY and Ohio, Mike
and Renee were nice enough to invite us over to their gorgeous home in Upstate NY. Mike has been working on some very interesting projects in the past few years. He has quite a bit of land and has set up his own solar panels as well as wind turbine. He has started the process of pulling his family off the "grid." Mike has even written his own computer program to tell him when his batteries are full. He flicks a switch and whala, he is running off nature. How cool is that? Sure, Mike is an electrical engineer and this stuff comes easy but prices for solar panels are getting lower and lower every year. Thank's Mike for doing more than your part to be sure our children's children can enjoy the outdoors.
So where does the title come in to this blog? What if....?
So what if we don't change our consumption patterns? Many say our ice cap will continue to melt and therefore raise the ocean's level. There is a wonderful website that shows what if scenarios
based on a water rise.
So what does our paradise look like in Florida when the water rises 3 M? Take a look at the Anna Maria Island link. Looks normal however I am sure a 3M rise would mean several roads need to be elevated AND many homes will need to be ripped down making way for a non living ground level.
So what does AMI look like if our water table rises 5 M? Take a look at what could be, Anna Maria, FL flooded in water. It shows a dramatically different picture where our Electric vehicle will most likely not be operational in such an environment. A boat will be more practical.
I don't think we will ever see this day because New York City as well as areas that affect alot more people than our small paradise will be affected prior to AMI. But we should be concerned, we all have to do our part to conserve. What are you doing to conserve our natural resources?
Ha, ha, ha while this is true it's not quite my first reason I get excited. Ok, maybe my th
ird or fourth reason but NOT the biggest reason. The biggest reason I think we all get excited... we all want our children to have a better life than ourselves and unless the environment does not play a factor in your world, we need to be concerned for our children! Sure, some politicians sargue nothing has changed, others say watch out. It seems as though 80+% of the "experts" agree that the polar ice cap as well as our planet seems to be getting warmer. Not good.So what are you doing to help our environment? Recycling? Using your own coffee cup at work instead of a styrafoam cup? There are lots of little things we all can do. In the past year the Chatt's purchased an electric low speed vehicle. It goes about 25 mph and is perfect for the island. It most resembles a golf cart and for a family of three it provides a great transportation alternative. Just plug it in and it costs about $300 per year in electric power consumption.
On our vacation to Upstate NY and Ohio, Mike
and Renee were nice enough to invite us over to their gorgeous home in Upstate NY. Mike has been working on some very interesting projects in the past few years. He has quite a bit of land and has set up his own solar panels as well as wind turbine. He has started the process of pulling his family off the "grid." Mike has even written his own computer program to tell him when his batteries are full. He flicks a switch and whala, he is running off nature. How cool is that? Sure, Mike is an electrical engineer and this stuff comes easy but prices for solar panels are getting lower and lower every year. Thank's Mike for doing more than your part to be sure our children's children can enjoy the outdoors.So where does the title come in to this blog? What if....?
So what if we don't change our consumption patterns? Many say our ice cap will continue to melt and therefore raise the ocean's level. There is a wonderful website that shows what if scenarios
based on a water rise.So what does our paradise look like in Florida when the water rises 3 M? Take a look at the Anna Maria Island link. Looks normal however I am sure a 3M rise would mean several roads need to be elevated AND many homes will need to be ripped down making way for a non living ground level.
So what does AMI look like if our water table rises 5 M? Take a look at what could be, Anna Maria, FL flooded in water. It shows a dramatically different picture where our Electric vehicle will most likely not be operational in such an environment. A boat will be more practical.
I don't think we will ever see this day because New York City as well as areas that affect alot more people than our small paradise will be affected prior to AMI. But we should be concerned, we all have to do our part to conserve. What are you doing to conserve our natural resources?
Saturday, September 5, 2009
I am very lucky to have a great team
Behind every great organization is a fantastic team. Island Real Estate is no exception to that rule. We are lucky to have a great team that cares about our customers. They all make my life easier and I am very lucky to have such a great team.
The photo below shows the Pine Avenue Restoration ribbon cutting in late 2008. The group is a phenomenal support team between Island Real Estate and the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce. The island is lucky to have such a wonderful support system.
The next photo shows our New Years 2009 celebration in the office. Grape Juice is the only thing we drink and when the rental team is involved we always have a ton of fun. Island Real Estate is lucky to have their help.
The below picture shows our Rental Summer 2009 celebration at the Tampa Bay Rays game. We all had a good time with all you could eat and plenty of tickets for the team and their family. Great fun!
The below shot is at the entrance to the Tampa Bay Rays game. It's about 1/4 of the team but it was a great shot to get. We somehow met up walking into the game and Kacey was smart enough to bring her camera. Great stuff!
The photo below shows the Pine Avenue Restoration ribbon cutting in late 2008. The group is a phenomenal support team between Island Real Estate and the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce. The island is lucky to have such a wonderful support system.
The next photo shows our New Years 2009 celebration in the office. Grape Juice is the only thing we drink and when the rental team is involved we always have a ton of fun. Island Real Estate is lucky to have their help.
The below picture shows our Rental Summer 2009 celebration at the Tampa Bay Rays game. We all had a good time with all you could eat and plenty of tickets for the team and their family. Great fun!
The below shot is at the entrance to the Tampa Bay Rays game. It's about 1/4 of the team but it was a great shot to get. We somehow met up walking into the game and Kacey was smart enough to bring her camera. Great stuff!
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