Communication.

Communication is very much on my mind this month.  A big part of real estate boot camp is figuring out how to communicate with people we know without being a pain in the ass about it.  It's a fine line to walk - you want to gently remind the people you know that you sell real estate, so if the subject comes up they can say, "Hey, I know somebody!"  without making them groan when they see you approach.  Keeping your name "top of mind" as the gurus say, is of course an important thing, because it's, um, how I eat.  But at the same time, I really, really hate this stuff, because I hate being on the receiving end. I hate feeling like I'm being stalked, or seen as a customer and not just a person the stalker knows, and resent it when it's done unto me.  

This week's boot camp assignment is to draft and send a letter to people we know, saying, "Hey, I'm here, I sell real estate, I'm smarter than the average bear, etc."  A lot of time has been devoted to actual useful real estate research, and also to putting together a marketing letter to be sent to my "sphere" that doesn't make me cringe.  I think I almost have it done. I think it sounds like me. 

Communication has been the overall theme of the week.  My loathsome expensive POS smartphone decided it no longer feels like speaking to the interwebs.   Suddenly, 4G offends it.  I have a 4G signal until I actually try to, yanno, USE it, when suddenly it's gone.  This has actually been going on for a few days, but I really don't use the data plan that much - I use the GPS, sometimes I use Facebook, and I definitely use it to check email if I'm away from my computer for hours, but I don't just hop on Google and do extensive research, because did I mention that I'm an old, blind grandma and I can't see the frigging screen?  "Hang on sonny, let granny find her reading glasses and squint and fumble around with this newfangled gadget...sonofabitchIhatethisfuckingthing...oh wait, was that out loud?  Sorry."  So I can go days without noticing whether the data function is functioning.  It wasn't. After three phone calls and a couple of transfers to various tech support people, taking the battery out the first time, then the battery AND the SIM card out the second time so the tech could reset my network connection from their end, and then it still didn't seem to be quite right...as of 8 tonight, it seems to be working okay.  We'll see.

It is of course out of warranty, and of course I'm also months from the "new every 2 years" discount.  As Gawd is mah witnuss, when I get my next phone I am going to stage an HTC Thunderbolt smashing.  I may invite guests and give them the pleasure of pounding this thing into dust. 

Three phone calls to Verizon later, I think maybe possibly it's fixed.  Maybe.  We'll see if it is there when I actually want to use it.  Verizon's tech support people were all very nice, and it's not their fault that the HTC Thunderbolt is a flashy, nasty POS.