On this first day of the new year, I visited the Hotel Del Coronado to bring you a most unusual experience. Ice Skating on the shore of the Coronado Beach. It was 70 degrees in the shade and the activity was enjoyed continuously through the day and evening. As you can see, the warm weather created a wet but glassy image on the ice , reflecting the Grand Dame of Hotels, Hotel Del Coronado on the shore of one of San Diego’s finest, deepest and cleanest beaches.

One thing you can always count on is San Diego being creative when it comes to its Halloween Celebrations. Along with the offerings of haunted houses, San Diego has in store something special that actually might scare you.

The Star of India, said to be haunted will host lantern lead tours that feature tales of its seafaring past and the ghosts that haunt it’s bowels. The tours will be held on Fridays and Saturdays during October and will last about 45 minutes. The tours go from 6PM to 10PM and are included in the general admission and any and all ghost sightings are free.

If you are into being scared, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to possibly encounter some real ghosts that haunt this ship.

Padres ” OPENING DAY ” at Petco Park

TONY Gwynn ” Mr Padre”

All is in readieness as the Padres and Petco Park get set for Opening Day 2011.

While I was down taking photos of the new 550 foot Pedestrian Suspension Bridge ( Dedication Day) , one end of which connects to Petco park, I noticed the gates open for the “Park in the Park”. I can’t attend the homeopener game today against the 2010 World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants but I wanted fresh new photos from just two days ago of our wonderful ballpark.

In the foreground of this picture is the “Park in the Park” where families  and baseball enthusiasts can come in, bring blankets and enjoy the park, watch the game, have a Play by Play screen just for their use and enjoy the thrill of baseball. All that for $5.00

Well, baseball in San Diego wouldn’t be baseball without our long time hero and Hall of Famer, Tony Gwynn, A bronze statue of him rightfully placed at the top of the hill in our “Park in the Park”. He will be in the park today as he should be. The Padres won their first opening series away with the St Louis Cardinals  2-1.

Today is also designated “ Military Day” , honoring those of who served our country. When they sing the opening anthem, no doubt today, it will have an extra special meaning.

” GO Padres “

A Real Lesson in Spring Renewal !

When you read the news about all the tragedies that have befallen mankind, it is so heartening to read about something as innocuous as an annual Cherry Blossom Festival that transforms itself into being something so much more. In this case, a fundraiser for the victims that have suffered such terrible losses from the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that took the lives of many thousands of loved ones last week in Japan.

Tomorrow, an annual event celebrating the relationship of the sister cities of San Diego and Yokohama Japan, will become a fund raiser for relief efforts in Japan. It is what any true sisters would do, look out for each other. So tomorrow, the Japanese Friendship Gardens at Balboa Park that would normally be celebrating the life transformations of the over 160 Japanese Cherry trees in various levels of bloom will instead quietly and respectfully accept donations to assist with the horrific tragedy that has befallen our friends and neighbors in the Pacific.

I have shared my pride with all of you of how wonderful our San Diego city is and the many treasures it shares with citizens and visitors alike. But it is these special times when the people themselves share their own treasure to help mankind through it tragedies that makes me the most proud to be a citizen of this awesome community.

And this wonderful way of helping is certainly not unique to just San Diego but found throughout our America. The organizers of the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco as well as the one slated for March 26th in Washington DC will also move fund raising to the center of their activities.

It will be my mission to make my way sometime during the day to the  park and make my contribution as well. And don’t be at all surprised if I just happen to come away with a few beautiful photos of the blooming Japanese Cherry trees. These Cherry blossoms signify the beginning of Spring. No matter how harsh the season or severe the obstacle, these trees teach a real lesson in renewal. As they have for centuries, they bud, they bloom and after a brilliant show, wither and die but they leave behind a life that regenerates itself year after to year to remind us of the wonderful Spring Renewal.

I hope the citizens of San Diego will open their hearts and share their good fortune with those that so need our help as they begin their own Spring Renewal, not for the show of their beautiful flowers but for their very survival.

READ ALL ABOUT IT! When Passion Meets Opportunity | San Diego Real Estate|William Johnson!

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Merry Christmas From My Home to Yours

The cards have been sent, the tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped and all is ready for the Magic of Christmas Day. May you and your family be blessed with the Merriest of Christmas Days and May Your New Year be Filled With Love, Good health,Wonderful Happiness and Prosperity.

May the Spirit of Christmas Touch your Hearts and be shared with all those you love throughout the year.

William

]]> http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/12/25/merry-christmas-from-my-home-to-yours/feed/ 1 http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/11/21/victorian-homes-in-heritage-park-get-a-makeover-and-re-purposed/ http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/11/21/victorian-homes-in-heritage-park-get-a-makeover-and-re-purposed/#comments Sun, 21 Nov 2010 19:17:30 +0000 William Johnson http://therealestatetextbook.com/?p=1355

Victorian Homes in Heritage Park Getting a Makeover and Re-purposed.

They will serve as Inns to be rented out nightly for guests and visitors to San Diego.

Heritage Park’s nineteenth century Victorian Homes are being transformed from a Park to an enclave of hotel guest room as part of a multi-million dollar restoration.

The Burton House ( 1893)

Heritage Park was created  to preserve a number of century old structures  that were threatened by demolition when the post WWII expansion of downtown San Diego started.

The Bushhead  House ( 1887)

With the help of matching federal funds, San Diego county purchased the current 7.8 parcel of land adjacent to Old Town in 1971. Seven buildings were moved  from various parts of downtown and the Banker’s Hill area of Hillcrest from 1971 through 1982.

The Christian House ( 1889 )

The original vision was a for a Victorian Village with shops and restaurants but Heritage Park never quite proved itself financially enough to expand it it’s designated purpose.

Just restored, The Senlis Cottage ( 1896)

The new vision by the county is to turn these homes into guest rooms as part of a larger expansion associated to the  Hacienda Hotel in Old Town.

SHerman-Gilbert House ( 1887)

Everything has a season  and Heritage Park will provide for a new attraction for guests and visitors to San Diego.  Thankfully the visionaries of yesterday  saved these historic structures  and now will see these marvelous old homes be able to create new memories. May they live on for yet another century.

Temple Beth Isreal ( 1889)

Very soon these restorations and modifications will be completed and I will be back to take new photos of the transformation. Some of the new colors are already showing up. There will be over time, three new constructions in the same architecture with a number of additional rooms and they will complete the makeover.

William Johnson, Certified Residential Specialist

Need Help and Guidelines for Buying or Selling a Home ? Search for Homes and Condominiums in San Diego County. “ Voice of San Diego Real Estate Blog “

]]> http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/11/21/victorian-homes-in-heritage-park-get-a-makeover-and-re-purposed/feed/ 1 http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/11/21/1343/ http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/11/21/1343/#comments Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:51:14 +0000 William Johnson http://therealestatetextbook.com/?p=1343 Rumors fly this time of year especially when it comes to Apple products and the iPad in particular. We can’t know for sure who starts those but I read an article by Bloomberg News this morning and it seems that the specific items mentioned would make a lot of sense.

The article referenced an important San Diego company that makes chips that will allow for different types of connections ( both GSM and CDMA). These are the two dominant radio standards for cell phones and smart phones out there. Having chips that would accommodate both types of networks makes sense to me and seems very logical and likely in the new version iPad 2.

The article suggests that Apple will introduce the new version in the first quarter of 2011, several new features that will appeal to the iPad user, including making it thinner. The new chips and several other features  like a camera for video calling. I know that I would like to have an iPad now that our MLS and our Standard Forms are accessible from the iPad. I fully expect that many real estate professionals will gravitate to this neat piece of hardware. Currently the iPad still needs a reliable printer app that prints correctly but sending the Contracts to the clients e-mail allows then to print it just fine. When we sync the iPad to our computer, we can also print the contracts or MLS from our Mac or PC. A good work around for the time being. This printing issue will get solved and maybe in this new version?

When I was at ActiveRain Raincamp in San Diego, I was sitting next to a person that was typing away on his iPad during the presentation. As I recall he had a mobile keyboard as part of the case that housed the iPad. Pretty cool. I really liked the idea of being able to take notes on a small profile computer that is easy to hold in your lap and the iPad has so many other cool applications.

There have been lots of rumors of what the new features of the iPad 2 will be, most of which are likely from someones wish list. Some of those items, including but certainly not limited to the camera to accommodate FaceTime®  may also be a part of the new version but we will have wait for it to be introduced by Apple to know for sure. I switched to the MAC almost 2 years ago and I have been pretty much pleased with the way things work and now with many new software programs being added. One of things that was really so different with my Mac experience over  the PC ( at least prior to the opening of the new Microsoft stores around the country) was the idea that you could carry the Mac into the store and have the Genius Bar ( a very apt name for their service dept.) fix it if anything goes wrong. Most of the time from what I can tell, is that many of the  issues that came up with the Mac are mostly human error based and pretty easy to solve. But like any machine anything can go wrong but having a fix locally based is really awesome.

Because I do a lot of photography and those files are large, I am personally hoping for a larger storage capacity as well, but I can find a work around even if not. I will just have to store less of them on the iPad but certainly there is enough space for adding my selection of photos to my blogs. My current printers are not set up for Wi-Fi as they are connected via USB but that will have to be a consideration when I actually do get my iPad.

Each time I go into the Apple store, I find more after market things that will make the iPad one of the key pieces of hardware in my real estate business. So I am anxious for the new version to come out. And I fully expect to be the type that wants to share the success and the particular applications I find to make it easy for those interested to adapt to it. Having been a Tablet PC user, I am excited to embrace this great new tool for my real estate business.

Over the years and with a number of significant benefactors, the zoo has grown to it’s 107 acres of parkland with over 800 species and a collection of over 4000 animals. The San Diego Zoo was a pioneer in the “Cageless” exhibit concept. The San Diego Zoo is a world leader in both species preservation as well as it’s world wide conservation efforts.

Throughout the Zoo grounds, the exhibits are designed around particular habitats. Currently there are 9 habitat regions ( see display and habitat map ) represented in the park with collections of animals and native plants representative of each region. The entire park is maintained as an arboretum with native and exotic plants ( and a notable rare plant collection ) represented throughout the park.

I hope you will enjoy meeting some of the many wonderful and unique faces of our permanent residents here at the San Diego Zoo in my slideshow.

Photo taken with iPhone camera

If you are a PC user, this was a major event that happened here in San Diego. I was not able to make it Thursday Jun 24th to the Grand Opening of Microsoft’s First Retail Store in San Diego but the celebration is still going on. And had I arrived just one hour earlier, I would been able to see the musician John Legend perform live there right in the front window of the store ( see white Yamaha piano in window) .

Even though I am an Apple user, I also use Microsoft on my Mac, so I am interested in Microsoft. What a beautiful store and the amount of personnel made me think I was in the Apple store. I was spoken to the moment I entered the store and then soon spotted what had to be one of the most intriguing notebook computers I have ever seen. In fact I couldn’t even figure out how to open it.

Immediately someone came over and and showed me. Wow, was I impressed. You simply run your hand over the front edge, the light turns blue and voila, you lift the thinnest screen on the thinnest computer I have ever seen.   And If that weren’t enough I saw things I have never seen before. I saw the table top touch screen computer the size big enough for about 4 people to comfortably play computer games in total ease, gadgets and software that would make you think you might have died and gone to “Technology Heaven“. Talk about toys for all ages. An amazing experience of the newest offerings in technology.

This all started because after my late in the day listing appointment and being close by to the mall, I wanted to stop in to see first hand the new Microsoft Store. I also needed to go into Apple, a couple stores away to see the newly released iPhone 4 since I will be due for an upgrade later this year. I naturally tried out the new 5 megapixel camera and the new video feature.  The resolution and quality of both were remarkable and the ease of using the video will make this a very desirable ad-on feature of the phone. While there I also tried out the new iPad which is still the coolest looking tablet but I will wait for the second edition for some needed ad-on features I am hopeful will be on the second edition.

So it was a late day of learning about what is new on the market and where the technology dollars will be parceled out later in the year.  All this was really eye candy for this techno wizard want-a-be.