Thrive is Here!

Our second book, Thrive: How Realtors Can Succeed in a Down Market, was delivered yesterday!I wrote a lot of this one, along with Lon Welsh, Mike Welk, and Bruce Gardner.



We did a ton of research on this one, and found some pretty interesting trends in the industry. Let me know if you want a copy!

Top 5 Cities with Recovering Markets

Thanks to Mel Phipps who just posted this on Facebook.

According to the Today Show's Real Estate Expert, Denver is the number 1 recovering city in the United States. Pretty cool, huh?

Their criteria rated things like education level, weather, job growth, thriving downtown, etc. It's pretty cool that our little ville is viewed as the TOP city to watch.

Watch the video here, it's worth the wait.

http://bit.ly/16bVa9

Until next time...

The Power of Twitter

I just read this article on Mashable, a fantastic Social Media blog.

The author, Jennifer Van Grove, wrote about NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino Tweeting from orbit.

Yes. TWEETING from ORBIT. As in circling the Earth. In Space. That orbit.

This, in my opinion, is what Twitter and Social Media is all about. True transparency. I don't know about you guys, but I never really cared about space junk, but the fact that I can read tweets from a dude circling the planet as he writes them is pretty darn cool.

Here's the original article. I'd highly recommend a read through.

One Giant Leap for Twitterkind

Cherio.

Best Places Around: Salvegetti

You know what's a drag? Snobby bicyclists. And being a daily bicycle commuter, I have a right ot complain about this.

It's really annoying to get stuck behind some jerk in a Lance Armstrong jersey going 15 mph in the middle of traffic. I AGREE that bicycles should be treated as traffic. But slow traffic gets honked at, flipped off, and passed. So don't be an a-hole about it.

Anyway, it seems that a lot of my bicycling friends (who just so happen to not ride 4 thousand dollar racing bikes) don't like bike snobs either.

Case in point. Try going to the bike shop on Iliff and Colorado Blvd. You can't miss it, it's right where Iliff does that little jig. Try going in there wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Not a particularly nice day, as I did, or a busy day. Just a regular old day being your regular old self.

Now, here's what I look like on the weekends, for those of you who may not know:

I really don't think I'm THAT scary.

I DO, however, look like I'm 15. Or thereabouts.

So back to the point. Try going into said bikeshop on Iliff and Colorado and play "How long until I'm even acknowledged." It's fun.

For me, the answer was "Never." Yes, I was in there for about 15 minutes, trying to look at single speeds and fixies. I tried talking loudly about having questions with the jerks standing around nearby. I tried playing around with the floor models.

Still nothing. So I started taking bikes down off the rack, playing around with them, and left them leaning against the wall.

Jerks.

On Saturday, I had the great PLEASURE of stopping in to Salvagetti on Speer. I was greeted at the door by the owner himself. His name is Scott. He's the man.

So this place is completely awesome. To give you a taste of exactly HOW awesome, here's a quote from their website-

"Sal-va-jet-tee

Salvagetti is simply the english word salvage with T-T-I added at the end to make it sound Italian. The pronunciation is sal-va-jet-tee. The word literally means a bike shop at 1234 Speer Blvd. in Denver, CO. We aren’t making fun of other bike shops with big attitudes. We promise."

Awesome.

Scott helped me find a pretty cool fixie, a Jamis Beatnik 53cm. He knows my pal Robert Koch as well, so that was cool.

It's nice to just talk to people who like to ride bikes. Nobody is going to confuse me with Lance, and that's ok with me. I just like being on 2 wheels. And so do these guys.

So pop on by, their nice. Park in the allyway right before the shop (immediately after you pass 12th) though, because there is no street parking and 13th is one way to the west. So it's a hassel to go around the block. Especially when the Cinco de Mayo parade is going on and 14th is a mess.

Links!

Salvagetti's Site

Denver Post: Best Tea Places Around

My colleague and beloved pal Mike Welk posted this on my Facebook wall this morning. Good stuff, thanks Mike.



http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_12329843

I also read an article over the weekend in the magazine Living Without on the healing properties of tea. Black tea (which I drink religiously) decreases the risk of Parkinson's, Alzheimer, diabetes, heart disease, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

So check out the places on this list. I know I will. In the meantime, buy your own up at Urbanistic Tea and Bike (see previous posts). Their Earl Grey is absolutely superb.


Cheers.

Found my College Portfolio...

For what it's worth, Colorado State University wasn't completely a waste of time. I did get to color. Good old Landscape Architecture.







And some Photoshop and SketchUp renderings...


Comments, as always, are welcome.

Denver Highlands and Such

Just thought I'd slap up some pictures of our outing on Sunday.


Me (@drewshope) and Chelsea Willis (@weddinggal) in Confluence Park, Right by the REI.


Confluence Park, with the high rises on Little Raven Blvd in the background. That bridge on the left is 15th Street.


Confluence Park. REI is to the right.


I didn't know International Harvester had a place in Denver. I knew about the Willys Overland plant on Broadway, but not this. It seems Denver was kind of a hub for 4 wheel drive manufacturing. Hmm.

And a little further up the road, we headed to Highlands-

Sorry I'm such a nerd.


Right outside Urbanistic Tea and Bike (see previous post)


32nd and Lowell.

More from 32nd and Lowell.

And on the way back home we stopped by Buffalo Exchange on 13th Ave. and Grant St. I just thought the view of the Denver Art Museum was nifty...


Hope everyone enjoys some random pictures from around Denver.

Until next time.

My first Twittargument!

So the morning of Monday, May 4th, something strange and wonderful happened. I got into my first Twitter Argument, or Twittargument for, er, short.

It all started when the user @monkmusic posted, 5 or 6 times an hour, things like:

"My music sounds like Kurt Cobain and Timbaland in the boxing ring. Check it out www.monk-music-monk.com"

(we'll save the debate over what Kurt Cobain and Timbaland would actually sound like in a boxing ring for another time).

and

"I have a new website with free downloads. Check it out. www.monk-music-monk.com"

Over. And over. And over.

And over.

So, I doing my Twitterly duty, thought I would send a discrete direct message:

"D monkmusic: your shameless self promotion is getting old."

A little harsh? Probably. But I didn't call names or use too many big words or anything.

A little while later, he replied:

Whoa! My favorite one is:

"@drewshope and why didnt [sic] you have the balls to write that as a @ ? Could it be that you faer [sic] my followers?"

To which I kindly replied:

"@monkmusic wow man. touchy? I thought I'd let you know WHY you are losing followers. It's tiresome to hear ads all day."

So yes, you can do nothing but tweet about your business all day. But it gets really old. I tell my clients to tweet 5 or 10 things about others for every 1 about themselves.

I just thought I'd take this opportunity to share a little something about the greatness of Social Media.

It's user controlled!

Now, could I have just stopped following him? Of course. I unfollow around 10 or 15 people a day, just trying to thin out crap from the valuable stuff.

I honestly was just trying to give some feedback. Tactful? No.

But I want to use this to show everyone the really cool thing about social media. If you don't want spam, you don't have to.

So don't be spam!

I know, right?

Hope this inspires.

An Interview- Urbanistic Tea and Bike

This is my first 'interview' for this blog. I have to admit, I felt a little strange asking the poor guy running the place if it was cool for me to snap some pictures.

I stopped in to Urbanistic Tea and Bike at 32nd an Lowell on Sunday afternoon. Partly because I wanted to get some different Earl Grey (Sorry Twinnings, you have just started to get stale) and partly because it was nice out and I'm pining for my new bike.

Ethan, the owner, is a pretty cool dude. He wasn't put off at all by my nonchalant inquiries on Surly frames, custom wheels, and tea stuff.

Here's the fine fellow...

He was working on a bike, as he was the last two times I stopped in.

The place has been open for about a year, says Ethan. I asked why the choice to combine Tea and Bike-

"I have been a bike mechanic forever, and we have been selling teas for a while, so we just thought we'd combine the two."

Well said, sir. Well said.

The cool thing is that they accomplish the two incredibly well. Their selection of teas is pretty darn complete. I counted 4 different kinds of Earl Grey (!).


They have a good selection of kettles and pots as well, and everything was very reasonably priced.

To the left of the store is the bike accessories wall.


A couple things on this wall-

First, the wood-grained rims are awesome. Secondly, the seats they sell here are awesome. Double awesome.

So planning my custom bike, I'm thinking a black Surly frame with a drop handlebar and wood grain rims and a brown leather seat. Just so you guys know.

Stop by, check it out. Let me know what you think.

Links!

Urbanistic's Blog