Travis Seitler

Settling into the new office

I know I haven’t posted much (at all) since our OBX vacation. I’ve got a few more design/development projects in the works (which, quite frankly, are taking far longer than I had anticipated) and Nicole & I are looking at homes in the York area. In other words, busy, busy, busy!

I’ve got a few ideas planned for near-future posts, and I’m always tinkering with the blog’s design. It’s a bad habit, actually; I’m never content with how it looks, so I spend all my time polishing the layout instead of writing. Meanwhile, my wife’s favorite blog post here continues to garner a disproportionate amount of my blog’s traffic. Perhaps I should listen to my wife more often…

My Childhood Home is For Sale

This three-bedroom rancher positioned just North of the Mason-Dixon line (outside of Littlestown, PA) sits on 1.09 acres of land with easy access to:

• Gettysburg, PA
• Hanover, PA
• Westminster, MD

There’s a cool 8′x8′ two-story clubhouse in the back of the property, and a linden tree that’s perfect for climbing. The wooded backyard is a great location for summer cookouts, Frisbee golf and Spaceman Spiff types of adventures, while the wood–burning stove in the living room is just the thing to warm you back up after a killer snowball fight.

So… any takers? There’s one catch: you’d have to let me come over from time to time so I can reminisce.

Timonium, MD

I live in Timonium, MD even though the “community web site” is kinda lame. I can’t really fault them for that, though; they’re a bunch of bankers and Realtors shamelessly sponsoring a glorified portal
developed by "Connecting Neighbors" ("a leader in online real estate marketing"), whose express purpose is to generate more real estate sales. To quote, “Your picture and contact information are prominently displayed on the web site, so each time a visitor logs on to the site, they will be reminded who is sponsoring this service.” Problem is, if the site’s sucky you don’t want them to be reminded who’s sponsoring it. Oh well, I’m not in the market for a home and I bank at BB&T, so my opinion probably doesn’t matter to ‘em, anyway.

Still, it’s pretty insulting that these folks are only using the “community website” as a ploy to get more business. Now, don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing bad about getting business as a side effect of a venture like this. The problem is when that is your primary motive.

For instance, if I talk about a book here, I’ll link to Amazon via my Associate ID. If you follow the link and purchase the book, I get a (very) small referral fee from them. But making money is not why I have this blog! And Lord willing, it never will! I hope someone wrings my neck if I ever stick a Google AdSense sidebar on here.

People are coming to learn that we can have community without advertising. The folks in industries like real estate and insurance sales may be some of the last to “get it,” though. They’re so used to the “what do I get out of it” mentality that they don’t seem to understand the concept of offering something to others with no strings attached.

Now, hopefully this isn’t descriptive of Mr. Ronald Annesley, Mr. Stephen MacDonald, Mrs. Kathleen F Beadell, or Mr. John E Kessler (who, BTW, bears a passing resemblance to John Piper). Still, you are known by the company you keep, and they seem to be keeping company with folks who only see you as a source of income. Here’s hoping they prove me wrong, (which is why I’m linking to their site at all).