Archive for the 'People and Places' Category
Welcome Starbucks
May 31st, 2007 category: North Fork Neighborhoods, People and Places, Real Estate News, Real Estate Philosophy, Southold Real Estate1 Comment »
I had my first- in -forever Starbucks Mocha yesterday. At the Featherhill shopping center located in Southold, Long Island, New York, a store has just opened.
While the local community generally eschews the presence of visibly large chains and franchises, my favorite mocha flew under the radar somehow. As a small business owner, I can understand concerns about having large chains and franchises come into town- in addition to disturbing the delicate balance of charming, local venues with potentially garish looking entities that include a drive thru, it poses a genuine risk to the continued sustenance of local companies, not to mention the unique aspect of different shops with different local styles. As an area that experiences a high volume of summer traffic, disturbing the balance is a natural concern.
Interestingly, little is noted about the presence of another huge franchise entity, the Cendant Corporation. Having created a separate company that deals only in real estate, Realogy is the owner of several “local” companies, including Century 21, Corcoran, Sothebys International (Daniel Gale), and both ERA and Coldwell Banker. Quite a handful of New York real estate opportunities.
Agway is a large company, but that doesn’t detract from the wonderful store operated in Southold. The McDonalds in Mattituck gets frequent visitors that have a penchant for occasional fast food. While national drugstores are making an appearance, the Southold Pharmacy serves all of my needs, but perhaps I’ll visit the newly constructed CVS,also located in Mattituck (except, I’m always lured into the Love Lane shops, and find it hard to leave)…and what would we do without King Cullen in Cutchogue, when variety is sought? Large, and neccessary, at least to me.
Will I choose Starbucks over a local coffee provider? Yes, and no. If I want a fabulous mocha, Starbucks has my taste buds to a tee. A chain store rarely offers what the local businesses have to offer, and Starbucks doesn’t change that. It just offers a quality choice when the mocha craving hits-until now, it’s been a treat that’s been missing. That said, absolutely nothing can replace the quality breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and pastries offered in Southold- and I always order orange juice with them anyway.
I lived without Starbucks; I think that my quality of day to day would be compromised without our locally owned breakfast contingent. Another great place to stop, over coffee, and discuss your real estate needs: serving experience in real estate to Riverhead, Jamesport, Aquebogue, Peconic, Laurel, Mattituck, Southold, Cutchogue, Greenport, East Marion, and Orient!
The True Story of The Patton Prayer – Memorial Day 2007
May 28th, 2007 category: People and Places, Real Estate PhilosophyNo Comments »
The True Story of The Patton Prayer
by Msgr. James H. O’Neill
(From the Review of the News 6 October 1971)
Many conflicting and some untrue stories have been printed about General George S. Patton and the Third Army Prayer. Some have had the tinge of blasphemy and disrespect for the Deity. Even in “War As I Knew It” by General Patton, the footnote on the Prayer by Colonel Paul D. Harkins, Patton’s Deputy Chief of Staff, while containing the elements of a funny story about the General and his Chaplain, is not the true account of the prayer Incident or its sequence.
As the Chief Chaplain of the Third Army throughout the five campaigns on the Staff of General Patton, I should have some knowledge of the event because at the direction of General Patton I composed the now world famous Prayer, and wrote Training Letter No. 5, which constitutes an integral, but untold part, of the prayer story. These Incidents, narrated in sequence, should serve to enhance the memory of the man himself, and cause him to be enshrined by generations to come as one of the greatest of our soldiers. He had all the traits of military leadership, fortified by genuine trust in God, intense love of country, and high faith In the American soldier.
He had no use for half-measures. He wrote this line a few days before his death: “Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself and to American tradition.” He was true to the principles of his religion, Episcopalian, and was regular in Church attendance and practices, unless duty made his presence Impossible.
The incident of the now famous Patton Prayer commenced with a telephone call to the Third Army Chaplain on the morning of December 8, 1944, when the Third Army Headquarters were located in the Caserne Molifor in Nancy, France: “This is General Patton; do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war.” My reply was that I know where to look for such a prayer, that I would locate, and report within the hour. As I hung up the telephone receiver, about eleven in the morning, I looked out on the steadily falling rain, “immoderate” I would call it — the same rain that had plagued Patton’s Army throughout the Moselle and Saar Campaigns from September until now, December 8. The few prayer books at hand contained no formal prayer on weather that might prove acceptable to the Army Commander. Keeping his immediate objective in mind, I typed an original and an improved copy on a 5″ x 3″ filing card:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.
(This article appeared as a government document in 1950. At the time it appeared in the Review of the News, Msgr. O’Neill was a retired Brigadier General living in Pueblo, Colorado.)
How Yahoo is Like The Yankees Buying Roger Clemens.
May 7th, 2007 category: People and Places, Real Estate News, Real Estate PhilosophyNo Comments »
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow…
We have been getting calls all week from Yahoo, pitching me their curve ball “exclusive” 1 of 10 Realtor package ad campaign. Relentlessly. Daily. Computably. By using simple deduction, I easily figured that it was a call based on the direct result of our blogging and Jim’s training. It’s pretty simple. Let’s look at it in the frame work of before & after.
Before Options Realty started blogging, the site was stagnant because of our ignorance. Our web designers and hosting services certainly didn’t provide us with any direction, instruction, or creative support. All they wanted was the money.
That may sound harsh, but “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”. Wasting money only goes so far with me. One thing has led to another over these past few months, and I have to say how much this bloggin’ thang’ has helped the business and our effectiveness as Realtors. I have really come to grasp the value and appreciation of hard work and good people, like family and friends, getting behind this blog to garnish positive and productive results. And so, our oak tree grows…
