Scrambled Brains...

I'm back in school now (Chad) and find almost everyday that I am confronted with a case or story that disgusts my inner-self. Topics generally eminate from one of two topic areas: (1) Sex and/or Sexual Misconduct; and (2) Death/Murder (or the attempt thereof), Torture, or other Violence.

It seems like there is a constant barrage of this filth and, yet, I am somehow not as affected by it as I think I maybe should be. Long have been the days where I personally was affected by someone's sexual preferences or predilections or by a murder scene description. This seems to tell me that I am becoming a cold and heartless attorney.

I do not like this notion of being ambivalent to the maladies of the world. I have always said that if I have to be a lawyer I want to be a Happy Lawyer, where people come to me because they are happy and want to become happier through my services. If anyone knows what type of law that is let me know.

I guess I better finish this off happy-like and tell everyone that we had a blast at Disneyland, the beach, Universal Studios, Raging Waters, and In-n-Out with Mel's family. I don't know that we'll ever do quite an elaborate and tiring vacation ever again.

The Chase

The real chase everyone in baseball is talking about these days...


Craig Biggio Blames Media Pressure For Stalling At 285 Hit-By-Pitches

Blogging with Microsoft Word 2007

In the search for acceptable mediums to post a blog for my company, I am writing this post from Word 2007. I've done some minimal research and found that Microsoft has made this blogging feature to be pretty user-friendly and quite good. The only thing is, I haven't been able to find any examples of posts using Word 2007. So, here is the research laboratory for my work – the family site.

Sorry to those reading this thinking I'd post from our great recent Dance Family Reunion in Lava Hot Springs or fun Summer of 2007 in Seattle. I just haven't taken the time necessary to do those things in trying to get work projects completed. Added to this, Mel doesn't have easy access to the internet here this summer and she would be our best "poster" by far.

Anyway, we hope all are well. For work's sakes, if anyone reading this has used Word 07 to do much blogging, I'd really appreciate your rants, raves, and insights. Best!

Here's a pic of Mel and Payton at the Mariners game

Answer to a question

So, I have been working on getting a blog going for work recently and I think I have been given the ok to go forward. So, hopefully it will "go live" here in the near future. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as it does. But, in the meantime I have found a great blog that has been immensely helpful, ProBlogger. I am trying to glean from this blogger some good habits for when our company blog is up and running. He said to answer the questions of your readers to add greater insight and connectivity between yourself and your readers.

As such, I am going to answer the one and only question I have received as of yet: "Chad, what is a 1031 exchange?"

As you'll see, there's a link in this post to where I did a little write up on it on my "1031 Exchange" Facebook group page. I rather liked the way it came out so I recommend linking to it or just reading it below.

"Here's a little quick education on 1031 exchanges so you can feel more empowered for yourself and for others whom this might apply to. The IRS has allowed people to defer capital gains taxes when they sell a money making property and buy another money making property. Usually you would have to pay these taxes if not for a 1031 exchange. The government has said that if you sell this money making property (we'll say a rental property) and buy another money making property of like-kind (i.e., a piece of raw land in Hawaii) you can go through a 3rd party and get your taxes deferred. Our company, 1031 Exchange Coordinators, is the 3rd party that facilitates this tax deferral.

This knowledge is useful for everyone becasue somewhere along the lines you'll realize that buying real estate may fall within your income or retirement plans or you know someone who is now able to. You can either pay about 20-25% of the sales price in taxes or not pay them by doing 1031 exchanges. That is what a 1031 exchange can do for you. It will allow you to defer the taxes forever if you so choose and save 100s of thousands of dollars over your lifetime."

So, there is the answer to your question about 1031 exchanges. I expect this may bring to your mind more questions and thoughts; let us know what they are and I'd love to help answer them or at least steer you in the right direction.

First Entry

"So, this is my entry into the blogosphere." I think that's how you are required to start any blog. At any rate, I am looking into blogging for our 1031 Exchange Coordinators website and thought I ought to set up my own first just to see how easy it is and what kind of reponse can be solicited from the blogosphere.

Thus, if you see this blog at any point, would you mind leaving me a comment giving a couple of pieces of information: (1) The date you looked at this blog; (2) How or from whom you found this blog; and finally, (3) What you think of my blog. I would really appreciate this.

I keep using "I" when maybe I should be saying "we" as in Melanie, my wife, and I, as well as our family as it grows. I figure this can be a good place to keep in touch with friends and family no matter where we are and what we are doing. I tried putting together a family website last year (here), but it was too cumbersome to keep up, and now I don't even know the password to be able to manage it anymore.

So, leave your own comments, links, and whatnot, and we think it will be fun.... and please comment back as mentioned before.