August 2016

Dear Friend,

We’re well into summer now, and most of us are enjoying some vacation time. For that reason, this month’s newsletter is devoted to being entertained. Here are some of the fun articles you’ll enjoy as you sip your lemonade in the shade:

• Learn about what’s in meatless meat.
• Discover the kinds of stories grandkids want to hear.
• Get the ultimate secret to a long, healthy life.
• Find out what causes summer and winter.
• Learn how to get more things done in life.
• And laugh as you learn how to get your kids to visit more often.

Remember that late summer and fall are excellent times for real estate moves, give me a call 650-346-7366 to get started now. Please think of me as the resource center on real estate, which you can always count on to be in your corner and not let you down.

Talk with you soon.

Your friend in the real estate business,

Cliff

Cliff Keith
650-346-7366 Cell
Cliff@SFBayHomes.com

Enjoy Success, But Stay Vigilant

By sheer hard work, determination and perseverance, a man pushed his heavy wagon to the top of a huge mountain, intending to sell his cargo to the mountain village. Few people made it that far, and the village was willing to pay handsomely.

Once he reached the top, he paused to rest and enjoy the satisfaction of his accomplishment. It had been a long, hard road and the man congratulated himself.
He looked out at the view and fantasized about telling his family and friends about his accomplishment and showing them the wealth he had gained.
He raised his arms and began to dance a little jig for joy. And in that moment, he let go of his wagon and it started rolling back down the mountainside. The man chased after the wagon, but it gained speed and momentum as it barreled toward the bottom.
In tears as he watched it fade into the distance, the man wondered why he had treated his position at the top with so little care. He should have secured his wagon as soon as he got there. He should have made sure to tighten things up and complete his task, rather than daydreaming about bragging to his friends.

Moral:
Life often rewards the many uphill battles won by men and women of perseverance. The trick is not to lose perspective. Take pleasure in your accomplishments, but don’t let that get in the way of staying on task and making sure you’re secure in your newfound territory. —adapted from An Inspiration a Day by Jerome A. Waterman    ~Cliff

What Causes Summer & Winter?

As hot as the Northern Hemisphere is right now, it seems like the earth must be right next to the sun. As cold as the Southern Hemisphere is now, it seems like the earth must be

at its farthest point. Who’s correct?

The Southerners are correct. In July and into August, the earth is swinging wide in its elliptical orbit, and is at its farthest distance from the sun. Then in early January the earth swings closest to the sun. While this makes no sense to people in the north, and perfect sense to people in the south, the fact is that distance from the sun is not the reason for summer or winter.

The reason for seasons has to do with the tilt of Earth’s axis, as well as the quantity of land vs. water mass, which acts to heat and cool the surface of the planet.

Some Odd Real Estate Places to Live in the World

Slab City, California: There are no signs leading to Slab City, east of Los Angeles in the desert near the Salton Sea. Dubbed “The Last Free Place in America,” Slab City is really a semi-permanent campsite inhabited by squatters from across America, and has a reputation for rough living.

Coober Pedy, South Australia: Located in the scorching Australian outback, the cool underground town was established in 1915 following the discovery of opal. The town offers underground churches, stores, galleries, and an award-winning 4-star luxury hotel.

The Villages, Florida:  The largest gated retirement community in the world is home to more than 100,000 people over age 55. It has more golf carts than cars and no children are allowed. Unofficially dubbed “Disney World for Old People,” there are 10 women to every man and there is a black market for Viagra.

Matmâta, Tunesia: Inhabitants have dug deep pits into the ground and then tunneled into the side walls to create their homes. The existence of this community remained largely unknown until it became the location for Luke Skywalker’s home on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars film.

August Quiz Question

Q: What is a group of flamingos called?

Everyone who texts, emails or calls in the correct answer by the last day of this month will be entered into a drawing for a $30 gift certificate to Starbucks

July Question

Q:  When did the word Frankenfood come into our English language?

A:  In 1992. Coined from Franken(stein) + food by Paul Lewis.

Congratulations to:

Rick Herns of Redwood City, CA

What’s In Those Meatless Meats?

Whether you’re a fully-fledged vegetarian, or just a “meatless Monday” fan, you need to know what’s in those meatless meat-substitutes before you buy.

With brands like Tofurky and Beef(Not), as well as hundreds of others, you have many choices for vegetable-based meat-tasting hot dogs, hamburgers, and steaks.

But “not meat” leaves a lot of room for what the products actually are. Just because something is vegetarian or plant-based doesn’t automatically make it healthy, according to an article in U.S. News and World Report.

Many of these products include preservatives and additives – like tapioca starch, cellulose, xanthan gum and TBHQ, a compound that prevents discoloration – to make them flavorful and shelf-stable, and to imitate a meaty texture. Try to avoid products with a lot of these extra fillers.

When you buy, go for products with higher protein, ideally 12 grams per serving. Also, try different bases until you find the right taste for yourself, including pea protein, beans, lentils, and soy (tofu). Keep the fat under 10 grams and the sodium under 500 mgs per serving.

Also, avoid using these meatless products as a source of vegetables in your diet. You still need whole foods and vegetables, which lose something in the processing of meatless products.

Children Want Grandparent Stories

Most children enjoy hearing their grandparents tell stories. Here are some of the tales that are certain to pique the grand-kids’ interest: How their grandparents met. Did you meet your future wife in grade school? Did you initially dislike the person you eventually married? Children are often curious about how people in their lives ended up together—and they’ll like the joy they see in your eyes as you talk about your enduring love. The day their parents were born. Kids usually like hearing about their parents. Describe in detail what happened the day their father or mother was born: what time they came, what you were hearing, who helped out, and most important—how you felt.

• The day they were born. Do the same with a story about your grandchild’s birth. What preparations did you make? What did you expect? When did you first see your grandchild? What did he or she look like? First jobs. Talk about the restaurant where you washed dishes, or the shop where you stocked shelves. Tell children about your best and worst bosses, experiences helping customers, and what you learned from each position. Proudest achievements. Think back to the moments in your life when you felt proud. You’ll teach your grandchildren to try hard, never quit, and take pride in their accomplishments

• The Secret to a Long Life

  In May of this year, Ida Keeling laced up her mustard yellow sneakers and raced to last place in the 100-meter dash. Her fans cheered wildly! With a time of just over one minute and seventeen seconds, she had just set a new world record…for someone over 100 years old.

  While hearing about her, you may question your life choices a little bit. You may ask, what are the ingredients for maintaining such impressive health deep into old age?

  Quite often, the answer is that maintaining health in old age looks surprisingly similar to maintaining health in youth and middle age, too. Occasionally, fads emerge touting the secret to longevity, but the answers to longevity are the same for someone in their twenties, forties, seventies, and

  

  even nineties.

  The answer to lifelong good health is always painfully simple; it’s never anything sensational or news-worthy. Consider an athlete, after a stunning performance, sitting at a press conference amid a sea of flashing cameras, while reporters eagerly ask for the secret to success. Most responses, often accompanied by a shy shrug, are along the lines of: “I don’t know, I just did it.” Or, “I just did the right things.” Attractive for the headlines? No. But accurate? Yes.

• When it comes to maintaining health and wellness, embrace the simple and toss the fad diets, trendy workouts and “secret formulas.” It’s far easier to make habits out of simple behaviors. Live a simple life, eat whole foods as often as possible, exercise daily, laugh often, and stay curious. These are the “secrets” to a long and happy life.

• Imagine me as your real estate consultant. What I do for you is invest my time consulting, negotiating, and organizing the details of your transaction because I want you to have a superb experience that will cause you to want to introduce me to the people you care about most.

  The purpose of my business is referrals, which means I must bring the type of value that makes you feel comfortable introducing me to the people you know that need my help.

  After all, a referral is sending someone you care about to someone you trust.  Cliff Keith

The Kids Are Coming!

An elderly man living in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says: “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing. 45 years of misery is enough.”

The son crys out, “Pop, what are you talking about? You can’t divorce Mom after all these years. That’s crazy. You love her.”

“It may be crazy”, says the old man, “but I am going to tell her on this coming Thanksgiving Day. It will be the last one we spend together!”

Frantically, the son calls his sister in Chicago and she explodes. “Like heck they’re getting a divorce. You and I are going to fly to Phoenix tomorrow and talk some sense into Dad! I don’t care if it is Thanksgiving week.

Then the sister calls her father and cries that she and her brother are coming. “Don’t you dare tell Mom a thing until we get there tomorrow. Then she hangs up.”

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “OK”, he says with a smile. “They are coming for Thanksgiving, and paying their own way. Now what do we tell them for Christmas?”

It’s Official: We Dream Of Problems

In a recent study, published in the journal Psychological Science, when participants were asked to refrain from thinking about a certain person before they fell asleep, they ended up being more likely to dream about that person than someone they had been told to specifically think about before drifting off.

Daniel Wegner, a lead researcher and psychology professor at Harvard University, says that what we sweep under the rug, oftentimes returns to us in our dreams. He says that one thing this proves is that at least some dreams come from prior content in our lives and are not just random occurrences.

Wegner also says that the part of the brain that has to do with mental control is not operative while we sleep, and this allows the release of our unwanted thoughts into our dreams. Perhaps not news to many of us, but it’s nice to know there’s science behind the idea that our problems invade our dreams. — adapted from Psychology Today

Get More Things Done

Are you feeling stressed because you have too many things going on at once? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you have a hard time knowing what you need to do and when you need to do it?

So go the sufferings of the modern worker, according to productivity guru David Allen.

Allen says the mind works like this: It stores up all the things you need or are committed to doing, and then constantly reminds you on some level about what you need to do. Here’s the bad, stress-inducing part though. Your mind is not all that smart in that it reminds you to do these things at

times when you really cannot take action. This makes people worry and drains their energy.

How do people avoid this kind of overwhelming stress in their lives?

Allen says that people need to get all the things that need to be done in their lives out of their heads by writing them down. But his method is not just another time-management to-do list. Allen says that people need to both think and stop thinking about the things they need to do. That is, we need to take the time to think in a concentrated way on what we need to do to accomplish the tasks necessary in our lives.

And at the same time, we need to stop thinking about what we need to do at inappropriate times because that is the No. 1 energy waster in the modern world.

Allen suggests a five-pronged approach:

1. First, gather together all the things that demand our attention in our lives.
2. Understand what these demands mean to us and what we need to do about them.
3. Once we understand this information, it must be organized.
4. Look over the options for accomplishing what demands our attention.
5. Take action and do the things that need to be done.

Allen says this is the way people generally get things done, but it is the need for significant improvement or the correction of failure in any one of these five areas that keep people from getting things done and avoiding stress.

—adapted from Getting Things Done by David Allen

Food for Thought

Money cannot buy health, but I’d settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair. —Dorothy Parker

In any given moment we have two options: To step forward into growth or to step back into safety. —Abraham Maslow

I can’t imagine anything more worthwhile than doing what I most love. —Edgar Winter

Talk The Way Kids Listen

Most parents complain, at least from time to time, that their children don’t listen to them. Shouting doesn’t help, and chances are it will only aggravate the problem. Try these tips for forging better communication with your kids:

• Get their attention. Don’t start talking if they’re focused on something else. You may have to do something unusual—to reach a toddler having a tantrum, for example, trying giving his or her back a few pats or a tickle. For older children,

  

  singing a song may break through their wall of boredom or inattention.
• Be brief. Most kids don’t want to listen to long lectures. When you have something to say, get right to the point. They’ll get the message without feeling patronized or growing bored.
• Write a note instead. If your message isn’t time-sensitive, try writing a note to your kids. They can read it at their convenience, and you’ll be able to put more detail into it than you would in a brief conversation.
• Stay positive. Don’t just assign chores and tell kids what they’re doing wrong. Praise them and thank them so they won’t automatically tense up when you ask, “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

Set the right example. When kids have something to say, give them your full attention. If you ignore them when they’re trying to talk, they may do the same.

We’re Willing To Pay, Not To Cook

Eating out can be expensive, but many consumers are more than willing to spend the money for a meal they don’t have 

to cook themselves. The consulting firm Alix Partners, which surveys restaurant-goers, reports that diners expect to pay 1.9 percent more for their meals in 2016, for an average of $14.25, up from $13.99 last year.

It’s the first time expectations have risen since Alix Partners began their surveys in 2007. In other findings, the survey found that consumers are nervous about food-borne illnesses, with 28 percent saying they’d never eat at a restaurant that had experienced an outbreak, and 34 percent indicating they’d wait until the restaurant had been cleared by health authorities. And just because they plan to spend more money doesn’t mean they’re not on the lookout for deals—56 percent say they’re going to look for more coupons and other discounts this year.