I taught my first Junior Achievement class about 18 months ago at an inner-city urban high school by the name of Central. The memories of my first day walking into that classroom will never leave my mind. I have to admit, I was definitely out of my comfort zone. Thankfully I knew one of the teachers from back in the day and he was a huge help with getting me the respect I needed to lead the class for eight weeks. Since that first class I’ve taught at the Jr. Achievement Center a couple of times and led other classes. I love being in front of the room with all the young people, hopefully sharing something with them that will “stick” throughout their lives. The most enjoyable experience I’ve had has been with Barbara Sauer’s 5th grade class at Northaven Elementary. For some reason, we just clicked, especially with each passing week. The Kentuckiana JA is a wonderful organization based very close to Downtown Louisville. The organization serves educational needs about financial responsibility, entrepreneurship and small business to over 44,000 children over 26 counties. They’re always looking for volunteers to assist with workshops, classes and sometimes at the James Robinson’s JA Center for Freedom of Enterprise. They can be found online at www.jaky.org. I challenge everyone who wants to teach to contact JA and see what you can do to assist them with spreading their very unique message.
Interesting fact…JA Worldwide was founded in 1919 by Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph; Horace Moses, president of Strathmore Paper Co.; and Senator Murray Crane of Massachusetts. Its first program, JA Company Program, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis.
Perkfection coffee shop located on the corner of Spring Street and East Maple in the downtown shopping district of Jeffersonville, Indiana. One of the cool things about the entire Louisville area is all the coffee shops, all of them independent locally owned and operated. A favorite thing of mine to do is get a hot mocha, grab my favorite newspaper or magazine and settle down into a comfortable leather chair. I spend half my time reading my periodical of choice and the other half watching people come and go throughout the day.
Interesting fact…A number of well-known performers like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan began their careers performing in coffeehouses.
I have been a Realtor for the majority of my adult life, every now and then I run across a really good deal. Sometimes those deals fall through the cracks and people don’t stand up and take notice, I have one of those deals. I have a condo listed for $104,900 and it’s in New Albany, Indiana, the address is 1413 Slate Run Road #37. Lochwood condos used to be an apartment complex and they went through a conversion about four years ago. I’ve personally sold over 12 of these condos and the one I have listed now is one of the best units in the complex. You should check it out, I’ve included a video below about the specific condo. Call me if you or someone you know would like to see it, 812-987-2830. There are lots of affordable condo options throughout the entire Louisville, Kentucky area.
Interesting fact…The first condominium law passed in the United States was in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1958.
My friend Todd Coleman has been in the furniture business since the early 90′s. He followed my footsteps and went to auctioneering school, started doing auctions all over the country and then went to work with a furniture liquidation company sometime around 1993. After being on the road for a few years he decided to strike out on his own and build a furniture business based out of New Albany, Indiana. He’s employed a lot people over the past 14 years, provided good service with free delivery and has some of the best prices in town when it comes to furniture for your home. Most of the furniture in my house has come from Todd as has a lot of our common friends. If you want to shop from someone local and help an entrepreneur who is fighting the good fight go see Todd on the corner of Pearl and Main in downtown New Albany, make sure you tell him that Lincoln sent ya.
Interesting fact…In modern homes and apartments, the living room has replaced the old-fashioned front parlour. In the 19th century, the front parlour was the room in the house used for formal social events, including where the recently deceased were laid out before their funeral.
Iusedtobecool.com is a website started by a new friend of mine, Shannon Jones. Shannon is a soccer mom who drives a minivan, not long ago she had a convertible and was 30, single and living a travel induced carefree life. That’s okay, she’s fit right in with her role as a mom but has decided to start her own website and blog making light of turning 40, going to soccer games and getting caught up in all things “parenthood.” The irony is that Shannon is a very cool person with some pretty funny stuff on her website, check it out at www.iusedtobecool.com.
Interesting fact…According to Fast Company some large companies have started ‘outsourcing cool.’ They are paying other “smaller, more-limber, closer-to-the-ground outsider” companies to help them keep up with customers’ rapidly changing tastes and demands.
This store is sooooooo cool, everything pertaining to the promotion of area code 502 and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. While there are a lot of unique stores in the Louisville area I think this is one of the only ones dedicated to our great city. You should make it a part of your shopping excursion while strolling down Bardstown Road.
Interesting fact…In French, fleur de lis literally means “lily flower”.
Louisville, KY has served as inspiration for a lot of books and movies over the years. There was a professor who taught at the University of Louisville named Dr. David Maurer, he was an author and linguistics professor. He was an expert on the subject of the underworld criminal language. His book, The Big Con, served as a major source for the film, The Sting. The Sting earned 7 Oscars and starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Professor Maurer was intrigued by criminals and subcultures of our society. One of the subcultures he studied and wrote about were moonshiners and how they used language to infiltrate “dry” counties throughout Kentucky, very interesting. Below is the trailer from the movie “The Sting.”
Interesting fact…The source material for The Sting came from Maurer corresponding, interviewing, and informally chatting with hundreds of underworld denizens during the 1930s.
Did you know that Thomas Edison lived in Louisville, KY during the years 1866-1867? His home is now a museum and information can be found at www.EdisonHouse.org. I’ve personally been to the home and taken a tour, it’s like a lot of homes that once belonged to famous people from our area, tucked away in a little community that you would drive right by if you didn’t know that it existed. The home is in the Butchertown district which has seen a strong resurgence over the past 10 years, primarily because of its close proximity to downtown and the system. There have been a lot of people who’ve left a mark on our community over the years, it’s cool when you can learn a little bit about who they were and what they represented.
Interesting fact…On Jan. 27, 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp
I spent a good part of my childhood on a farm in Jeffersonville, Indiana. We had u-pick vegetable patches along with a commercial soybean operation and dairy cattle up until around 1974. We also had a great deal of other animals but one of the main crops that stays “stuck” in my memory is my dads honeybee venture. Dad had a few hives at one time and also taught other people everything there is to know about the honeybee. My father was fearless, he’d get right into a hive sometimes without any protective gear or netted hat, still not sure how but he did it. There is a company located here in Louisville that does a great job when it comes to the mass production of honey and education. My video of the day is an educational one, produced by Fontaine Bees. You can find them online at www.FontaineBees.com for all of their products. I doubt I’ll ever be a beekeeper like my dad was, thank goodness I have those memories stuck nicely away in the “fond memory” folder of my mind.
Interesting fact…Honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life.
There is a building located at 732 East Market Street, Louisville, KY that is home to a restaurant, bar and office space. The building is titles “The Green Building” and uses solar technology that allows it to be 72% off the grid, in layman’s terms, solar power has a lot to do with how the building is lit, heated and cooled. The video in this post is a short piece that was aired by Fox 41 on the topic of solar power relevance in today’s real estate world, they just so happened to focus on The Green Building and the man behind the inspiration, Gill Holland.
Interesting fact…The Green Building has over $100,000 invested in its solar panels.
