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However, as a person who lives very near Seattle, I'm getting pretty tired of movies set in Seattle being filmed in Vancouver. I mean seriously would the movie lose so much if we just said "Hey this time it's in Vancouver." Really? Would it? To the rest of the world Seattle isn't even in the United States, let alone Washington anyway, so what would be the big flippin' deal if for once a movie took place in Vancouver British Colombia? And to my friends in Canada, you should be equally as pissed.

Within the first 3 minutes of the film, Joseph Gordon Levitt defies the laws of nature and is seen running around Stanley Park with Vancouver clearly in the background. Then cut to the next scene and he's standing on 4th and Pike in downtown Seattle finishing his run with the Space Needle in the background. I mean really? Does it have to be that obvious? And the killer in this film is when JGL is having his breakdown IN STANLEY PARK and cries "I've never even been to Canada!"

And to top it all off, the piece de la resistance . . . the end credits are set to Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" . . . . We get it . . . it's really in Seattle.

I'm sure it's cheaper, etc. to film in Vancouver than Seattle. Lots of stuff has been in Vancouver. I'm just tired of the whole "Let's pass it off as Seattle" thing. For 99% of the world they didn't even notice. But for me it was a distraction to an otherwise great and touching movie. Maybe it's just me.]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=526 Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:35:30 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=525 When I got my new iPad and Apple announced the upcoming Newsstand application, I made a conscious decision to not buy any more paper magazines. The reading experience on the iPad is fantastic. (For ME . . . calm down Kindle owners, yes, reading an iPad in the bright sunlight sucks. But I live in Western Washington. This is NOT an issue.) I was subscribing to I think at the time 6 or 7 magazines. Runner's world, Triathlete, Bicycling, Wired, Handy, Realtor, etc. etc. And every month, I'd end up with a stack of magazines next to the bath tub. (I read in the bath tub, it's where I go to unwind. Don't hate.) Sometimes 2 and 3 months worth would pile up there without hardly a dog ear. Eventually the guilt of spending so much money on that stack of magazines would get to me and I would take a 3 or 4 hour long bath (no I'm not kidding) just to get through them all. Mind you I wouldn't read every word of every magazine, but I'd read enough that I could justify throwing it in the recycle bin.

Now that I get most of my magazines on iPad (Realtor doesn't come in electronic version yet and I have a lifetime subscription to Handy) I still read in the bath tub. Yes, I'm sure there will come a day when I fall asleep reading with my iPad in my hand and I'll fry it. But with the iPad, the magazines don't stack up. Instead the Newsstand application pops up a little "1" or "2" in the corner to let you know you have new issues. (Hmmm too bad my therapist didn't have notification center). Now instead of the magazines piling up on the tub, the notifications keep piling up on my icon. I HAVE been better about reading my magazines. They don't get much past a month without being read or at the very least downloaded so I have them when I want to read them. And the money guilt is slowly going away because like everything else in the world, my magazines will just auto-renew through my iTunes account. Another $19 bucks here and another $21.99 there. As Pink Floyd says "Just a little pinprick. There'll be no more aahhhh! But you may feel a little sick."

And I guess that'll be another blog post for me to rant about, our subscription based society. I remember when you could buy things and actually OWN them. Not just rent them for awhile.

At least I'm not killing as many trees...]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=525 Tue, 4 Sep 2012 20:27:47 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=523
I figured when I was looking at motorcycles, I'd probably spend somewhere between 7 and 10 thousand dollars on something that I wanted. I was leaning towards something in the sport touring category after such a lovely time with my ZZR-1200 that would do zero to sixty in three point something seconds and I can't ever remember having it over about one hundred and sixty six miles per hour . . . or there about. Getting off track again . . . SQUIRREL! . . . so something in the sport touring category. Like a Yamaha FJR-1300, a Kawasaki Concours 14, something in that category. I wouldn't mind a BMW, but really, who has that much money to spend on a motorcycle? But one night looking around at motorcycles and not really being inspired by anything, I switched to cages. (That's biker talk for cars, I'm bad @$$ right? Anyone?)

It turns out you can get some pretty decent convertibles for around $10K. BMW Z3's and Z4's . . . Porsche Boxters . . . Nissan 350ZX . . . all kinds of luxury brands and imports can be had for $10K or listed just over. Now most of them have an ungodly amount of miles and the few of them that I looked at needed some serious detailing work, but hey for a "Sunday driver" I almost feel like you can't go wrong. Even if they have a ton of miles now, they would be a second car for me and maybe get driven once a week on average.

Of course, I also did find a nice used Audi R8 Spyder for $159,000, a bargain considering new they're almost $200K. And don't miss the Lambo's and Ferraris that approach $300K . . . I did find a nice used Ferrari 360 Spyder today for $60K that would look really sweet in the garage.

But really what is it that is drawing me to toys? Bikes, Cars, fancy things. Is this the proverbial mid-life crisis? I jokingly refer to my hair as my mid-life crisis hair, but really maybe that's what it is.

If anyone has a nice convertible they want to sell or loan to me for awhile, let me know. I'm sure this mid-life crisis thing won't last long.]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=523 Tue, 4 Sep 2012 19:58:14 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=522
Don't get me wrong, I loved my grandparents and my parents. I just think I had an odd childhood. In the Summer, I literally spent every day with my grandparents. My mom worked at JC Penney at the Tacoma Mall part time. So during the summer, she would drop me at my grandfather's on the way to work and pick me up on the way home. Then it was back there for the weekend.

So I think when most kids are forming deep lasting relationships with childhood friends, I was playing solitaire or cribbage with my grandpa. Or mowing my aunt's lawn. Or going to Fred Meyer with my grandma. I have some very dear childhood friends. But they are very few and far between. I don't make friends easily now. I think mostly because I'm comfortable alone.

When I got laid off from Adobe in 2002, I went on a 12 day long road trip from here to Houston and back. I never got bored. I saw things I'd never seen before, the Grand Canyon, The Blue Man Group, the painted desert, Joshua Tree National Park, Roswell, the Johnson Space Center, etc. I connected with a couple people here and there but mostly for those whole 12 days I was alone. I could have gone to Florida to watch a space shuttle launch (now regret that I didn't) but Thanksgiving was coming and I was expected back for that. But I would have been perfectly happy spending another week or two on the road, just exploring. Alone.

I bought 4 tickets to the Seahawks game on Thursday for a birthday present to myself. But the funny thing is I don't know who to take beyond Teri. Teri has suggested a few people. But they're really Teri's friends. Not mine. So I probably have two extra tickets to the Seahawks game Thursday if anyone wants to come along.

I'm super comfortable alone. The odd dichotomy though is that I sell Real Estate for a living. That is not a loner job. I'm always required to be social. I don't know how I ended up here. I love my job and I'm good at it. It just seems weird for such a loner to be in such a social career.

My grandpa lived alone. He and my grandma had divorced before I was born. But they lived a block apart. I suspect I have a lot of his traits. Kind, gentle, good hearted. But in the end, he was a loner too. And? Seemingly OK with it. Well, we had each other I guess. Just two loners and a deck of cards. I do miss my grandpa. It's amazing to think at this point I've lived without him in my life twice as long as I lived with him in it. I still ask him for advice. I wonder if he's proud of his loner grandson. ]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=522 Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:25:00 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=521 8:00PM - Will you confirm when that bid is placed?
9:32PM - Are you placing a bid? If not just tell me so I can move on to something else.

I need to learn how to set boundaries. These three texts tonight confirmed that. I've been working with this person for about a year now. They've seen maybe 7 homes with me. In a year. I'm patient. I don't need someone to buy a home until they're comfortable. Today I had appointments from 4:30 to 8:30. This person e-mailed me about this particular listing at 3:30 today wondering when we could see it. I let them know that I had appointments until 8:30 this evening but would be happy to show them the home at 8:30 or even in the morning. Yes, it's a HUD home open for daily bidding, so there is the possibility it won't be available tomorrow. But I don't think it's reasonable to expect me to cancel a builder meeting, or a listing appointment, or another buyer appointment to show a home because now you want to see home number 8. (Sorry, venting) But I squeezed you in between my 4:30 and 6:00. I flew across the hill to get you into the home so I could fly back across the hill to arrive at my 6:00 at 6:02. I told you to text me by 8:30 if you were interested and I'd write the offer. I got home at 8:30, no text, so I had dinner. At 8:30. I relaxed. I watched some TV. (Million dollar listing, even my relaxation has a Real Estate theme) Now at 10:45 I realized that in the span of 47 minutes you're ready to move on to something else. Perfect.

What other profession do you deem it OK to call, text, whatever at 8:45 at night? I suppose if my doctor picked up his phone at 8:45 or my lawyer answered that text at 8:45 that might set a precedence. I've set that precedence. So tonight, I realize I need boundaries. I should be able to come home and relax. I shouldn't need to check my e-mail every 15 minutes to make sure I'm not missing something important. My voice mail even proudly proclaims "If you've reached this recording after 5PM, you can expect a phone call back tomorrow." But no one ever really expects that. Because I call them back at 6:05. I'm actually really looking to the new "Do Not Disturb" feature coming out in iOS 6 next month. Will I actually have the juevos to use it? We'll see.

I have an insatiable desire to please. I'm not sure where that comes from, but I pride myself on being 100% accessible to my clients. On vacation? No problem, I'll send that addendum right over to you. Out to dinner with friends, no problem, let me just grab that call. Boundaries. I need to set boundaries. There was an agent in our office when I started, Nancy Koth (Now Larsen), that never answered her phone after 5 or 6 in the evening. And never answered her phone on Sunday. And she was super successful. I never understood how she could do that. I never understood the boundaries that she set. I, now, TOTALLY get why she had them, I just never understood how she got away with them. I mean shouldn't real estate agents be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Maybe not.

Nancy is no longer an agent, she's long since moved on to other things. I know how to get in touch with her however and maybe it's time for lunch. I know she'll precisely define the time and place for that meeting, so I won't have to think about much, just show up. She'll have perfectly defined the boundaries. I will however be all ears. And there on time. Even if it's after 5 or on Sunday. Because? I have no boundaries.

This too shall change. ]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=521 Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:25:40 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=520 2. the vocation or profession in which one customarily engages
3. You have to see this for yourself: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling#

What's your calling? You've heard that before right? What were you born to do? What are you "called" to do? "Particularly when accompanied by conviction of divine influence". Think about it. What is it that you would be doing RIGHT NOW, if you could be doing anything at all in the world where money, obligation, pride had no influence in your life. What is your calling?

Divine influence. Maybe that's my problem, there hasn't been much of what one would call divinity in my life for a very long time. And really? Even when there was, I was a kid going through the motions because it's what was expected of me.

I do a lot of things because they're expected of me. Blogging tonight in fact. When push comes to shove, I'd probably rather not be putting this particualr blog post out to the world. But the question arose "Why aren't you blogging?" so tonight...I blog.

I've been watching a lot of "Million Dollar Listing" lately. I don't particularly go in for a lot of "reality TV". Oh sure I've had my bouts with American Idol, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Pawn Stars and Survivor, but I don't set the DVR to record them or anything crazy like that. But "Million Dollar Listing" intrigued me. It's about what I do. It's about Real Estate. It's about super cool real estate.

I love architecture, always have. I love the way two lines can converge at impossible angles to form an artful entry or grand staircase. I couldn't tell you tudor from a colonial (OK yeah I could, but I don't make a habit of it) something either looks right and good to me or it doesn't. My love of architecture turned into my love of visiting open houses that was masked by my "need to be closer to Seattle because this commute is killing me". After I was laid off, I had to admit, I just really liked Real Estate.

I chose this profession because I had a kick ass time buying my house. In fact, I don't remember much at all about buying my first house, other than I basically picked one, my agent led me through the process and handed me the keys. It seemed as simple as that. And that's the way I want my clients to feel too. Like that was so easy, I could do that. In fact, I'll give a shout out to "my" agent, Jeff Jensen at Windermere Professional Partners. He's still an agent and he's still damn good at what he does. Thanks Jeff, for everything, always.
But Million Dollar Listing is really intriguing to me. Here are three guys, three VERY successful guys, that put a lot of what we as agents do on display for the world. Sometimes they make us look like jack asses. Sometimes they make us look like heroes. At the end of the day, these guys potentially make what I make in a year on ONE TRANSACTION. The aspect of the show I don't like is that really it looks like these three guys just kinda party and sell multi million dollar properties.

The Realtors that I know that are really good at what they do, work their tails off. On an episode I watched tonight, my least favorite of the three, Josh Altman made a statement: "The successful agents in this business put in a lot of hours. People don't realize this business is 24/7".

BAH! Off track. I'll maybe talk more about MDL in another episode of my blog, but tonight we're talking about your calling. What is it? How do you know you've found it?

I'm really good at what I do. Really good. I don't say that to boast, I say that because up until recently even with nearly 10 years under my belt, I've felt like a relatively new agent. I've never seen a "normal" market according to most pundits. The market has either been on a record high, or it's been on a record low. But since 2004 (Started in 2003) I've been a top 20%, in a lot of cases top 10% agent in our office and I dare say Pierce County and maybe even Washington, save King and Island counties.

I love what I do. Really love it. Somedays I complain about the long hours. But in the end, I really love what I do and at this point really couldn't imagine doing anything else. But is it my Calling? Maybe. But not in it's current form I don't think. I honestly want to list peoples homes because I see all the crappy jobs being done out there by other agents. I honestly think I can do a better job than most. My problem right now is finding the time to create the business I've always dreamed about.

For a long time I've had a vision of what my perfect real estate business looked like. I said it looked like this: 50+ transactions per year. (I'll do 40ish this year) 1 Full time assistant and 1 full time buyers agent. I will split my time approximately 70% Sellers and 30% buyers and I'll have one day off per week.

I've been crafting the ideal assistant job description over the past couple of weeks. In my head and in Evernote. I'm getting very close to starting the search for my assistant. Very close to getting some of my life back. Very close to having the latitude to find my calling.

What's yours?]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=520 Mon, 27 Aug 2012 23:53:07 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=519 General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=519 Mon, 6 Aug 2012 19:44:27 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=518 I got this f***ing thorn in my side
Oh my God, It's a Mirage
I'm Tellin' Y'all it's a sabotage

(RIP Adam Yauch) Sorry to steal some great Beastie Boys lyrics, but it's how I'm feeling about now. What does Sabotage have to do with John's Blog you might ask? Let's consider John's food journal for the day: Breakfast: Chicken Fried Steak with LOADS of gravy. Two eggs, large coke. "Lunch": Most of a large popcorn, Large (as in super huge) coke, lots of Peanut Butter M&M's. Dinner: 8oz Rib Eye steak, grilled, some cucumber salad and some tortellini followed by more M&M's. Now in between Lunch and Dinner, I DID go to the YMCA and hit the treadmill for a Runervals 2.0 workout. About 4 miles on the treadmill. But still, even if I burned 1,000 calories, that didn't even come close to negating breakfast, let alone the rest of the day's eating.

So if we look back on the week, I did P90X every day except Thursday. I bookended the P90X workouts with runs on Sunday and Sunday. GREAT job working out. Great job. At least 4 days, maybe even 5 days I had a Shakeology shake for breakfast. But the rest of it? Crap. Drive thrus, lots of Coke.

So what is it that has me self-sabotaging? This is definitely a pattern I'd love to destroy. Just utterly and completely rid myself of. It happens in lots of areas of my life. For example, I've been pushing really hard at work all year long. There is still a REALLY good chance that I could break all of my personal sales records this year. Number of transactions done, amount of commissions earned, highest sales price (already done), but as we swing into August I feel myself slowing down. Maybe not intentionally, but it's not entirely a function of the market either. I'm just not as hyper motivated as I was earlier in the year. Same thing with my health. I'm still hyper motivated in my workouts, and I can honestly seeing myself being so for awhile. BUT I reward myself for working out by pigging out. And I. Don't. Know. Why.

I've had a couple of business coaches over the year tell me I'm not afraid of failure, I'm afraid of success. Like I don't know what is on the other side of breaking those sales records, and I don't know what's on the other side of people actually seeing me as an inshape helathy man. I don't know what those things look like. I don't know how life would be different. Am I comfortable with who I am? I don't want to get into a deep philosophical or pshychological discussion here, but I'd really like to know what it's like to trust yourself to succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

Any suggestions? Thoughts? Success stories?]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=518 Sun, 5 Aug 2012 21:12:19 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=517 So I just got done with Kenpo X, which means that week 2 of P90X is complete. I'm proud of myself! I did skip Yoga this week, but mostly because by the time Yoga had come around I had worked out 10 or 11 days in a row and Yoga is an hour and 30 minutes long. Yes, just excuses, but they're mine and I'm holding on to them. Since Monday I've stayed in the 280's all week and if I can control my eating this weekend I think I can be 287 ish by the time I'm done with my workout on Monday morning. Unless something drastic happens, I doubt I'll be under 280 by my birthday. (By drastic I mean that I actually figure out how to eat properly and undo nearly 42 years of bad habits) But I really think under 285 - 283 is doable.

Tomorrow I'll head to the Y (or maybe test my hip on the roads) and do a treadmill run of 5-ish miles. Monday I've got a doctor's appointment and will get back on the ol' P90X horse then. Next week will be my last week of this routine. Then it's a "recovery" week (recovery=lots of yoga) and then on to a new routine for phase II.

I definitely feel stronger than I think I have in I don't know how long. After the Arms & Shoulders workout I walk around all day feeling my arms. Love that feeling!! (Hey, I've never really had any muscle definition so to think that I may actually get some out of this is pretty cool!)

Anyway, feeling good!]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=517 Sat, 4 Aug 2012 08:56:49 -0800 http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=516
It's 25 days until my 42nd birthday. So if I can plan to lose 2-3 pounds a week, I could conceivably be UNDER 280 by my birthday. The lowest recorded weight I've seen since my lap band surgery almost 3 years ago was 277 pounds. Right now I feel like I can continue to do P90X in the mornings Monday - Saturday and get a long run in on the weekend. I have yet to see if I can muster up the energy to throw an extra short run in on Tuesday and Thursday. But I'm going to try. My biggest fear right now is injury. This is by far the most working out I've done in my life. Should I continue on this path, as I've mentioned, I will have worked out 91 days by the end of P90X . . . . in a row.

I don't think the 2-3 pouns a week is realistic to "count" on for the long term, but at least in this first month my body is getting "used" to P90X I think 2-3 pounds a week is totally doable. If we reduce that to a more likely 1-2 pounds a week starting in September and say I'm 279 by September 1st, I could maybe be at 265-260ish by the end of the year. That would be amazing!! AND my chances of finally doing a sub-2:45 1/2 Marathon in Vegas in December would be greatly increased.

Keep pushing play and Bring it!]]> General http://johnhurlbut.com/blog/index.php?itemid=516 Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:49:00 -0800