Throughout most of my life, I have loved to wear jewelry.  There is always at least one piece in my collection that you can use to accessorize your outfit, and I have enjoyed turning myself into a masterpiece everyday.

But now that I am getting older, I don’t find myself using nearly as many pieces as I used to.  As such, most of my jewelry just sits in their boxes collecting dust which to me seems sad.  Because of this, I have decided to sell my gold jewelry that I no longer use so that someone else can make it a part of their lives.

When I was looking at the library for different ways that I could be selling the gold jewelry, I came across a couple of books that showed you how to sell stuff online.  Now, I am not too comfortable with computers (I just bought my first one two years ago), so I thought that I would discuss this opportunity with my son to see what he thought.

After discussing selling online with him, I decided that finding someone locally would work better for me.  That way, I wouldn’t have to figure out how to ship the jewelry or how to accept money online.  At my age, I just don’t want to overcomplicate things.

Technorati Tags: sell my gold, selling the gold jewelry

The aerospace industry is a perfect example of a place where what looks perfect on paper doesn’t always work perfectly in practice. In some cases we literally have to go back to the drawing board. Here is how it typically works.

An engineer in one location sits in front of a computer and comes up with a plan. He (or she) uses special CAD software to design and literally draw whatever device he is working on. So if our project is to make a missile, he essentially builds a cyber model of a missile. Then he sends this blueprint to a team that builds an actual mock up.

Another team usually in another part of the country (or world) then prints out the plans and schematics. But often times the plan hits some snags along the way. The people building it find that they have to make some improvisations. Changes to CAD drawings during mockups are then marked, usually just by hand. Using a document imaging service the plans are then sent back to the engineer who revises his work and makes sure everything will work in cyber world. If everything is OK, work on the mockup continues. If not, then sometimes we have to start over again from scratch.

Technorati Tags: CAD software, document imaging service

Storage space is one of those things that you never realize how much you need until you don’t have it.

Case in point: My husband and I have a great little house with a full basement, but not enough closet space.  So our stuff tends to overflow into the basement.  Our basement has become storage — and is therefore not really used for other stuff that we might like to use it for.

We’re looking at another house that we might like to buy that has more square footage and a lot more closet space, but no basement.  I’m not really sure how that will pan out.  Will we find that we have to rent self storage in order to make up for the lack of overflow space that a basement would offer?

It’s hard to say, but this dilemma shows how important storage space is — and how frequently we take it for granted.  In fact, some people base their decisions of where to live on how much storage is available, rather than how much square footage the home provides.  Some apartment complexes even offer additional storage, either accessible off the deck or perhaps a little unit elsewhere in the building, and most modern homes offer a ton more storage than was typical for older homes.

So what’s your storage situation?  Do you have enough room for all your stuff?  Do you constantly have to downsize to keep your storage needs in check?  Or do you rent a self storage unit to satisfy all your storage needs?

Technorati Tags: self storage, self storage unit, storage space

Though most people go through life never finding their calling, thankfully for myself, I figured it out at an early age.  I had a knack for finding great real estate investments and I have owned over one thousand properties through my business.  But I knew deep down in my heart that I wanted to teach someday, and I was finally able to realize my life’s purpose at the young age of forty five.

In fact, after overcoming the nervousness of teaching my first real estate investing training class, I felt the need to do more.  Sure, I was going to be able to help many people out with the classes that I would teach, but I also wanted a more personal connection.  I wanted to have the opportunity to work one on one with some of my students and help to shape them into better investors than they ever thought they could be.

So, I decided to offer my second batch of students the opportunity to participate in a real estate investment coaching program to broaden and hone their skills as investors.  There were only five people that took me up on the offer, and now, just one year later, all but one of them is doing very well in real estate.

Some people ask me if teaching is a lot of work, but since it is my passion, it only seems like fun to me.

Technorati Tags: real estate investing training, real estate investment coaching

Is anyone out there familiar with shuffleboard game rules?  I know just  little bit about it, and I can look on the internet, of course, but it’s so much easier if someone can just briefly explain them to me.  I’d invite you to come over and even demonstrate, but of course, that would be just a little bit too weird. 

I’m also interested in maybe an abbreviated version of the games.  I teach special ed in a high school, and I think that shuffleboard might be a neat addition to our game room there.  The kids love to play games and to work together; in addition, it would give them an opportunity to move around a little in their otherwise pretty sedentary lives.  My kids are mainly cognitively and emotionally impaired.  The physically disabled,though, I think could somehow make this work.

Is there anyone out there who has tried out this game in their special ed department?  I’m also curious to find out if anyone has even tried it out in kind of an intramural venue within the population of regular ed high school students.  Please give me any advice you can think of for implementing this game at my school.

Technorati Tags: intramural, Shuffleboard game rules