[rankandfile]

There are also many open-source solutions for e-commerce, or having a shopping cart through which to sell products. Zen Cart and OSCommerce are two big ones. Zen Cart is supposed to be a bit easier to set up and maintain. As with any open-source solution, you have to stay on top of it and keep it up to date. You might even be able to outsource the updating process to someone who is more experienced at it. I looked at e-commerce vendors and the costs were out of hand. Their whole deal was, we take away the headache so that you can focus on selling your products. They take away the headache alright, but they also take away a huge chunk of the profits for doing so. You should still look into them for yourself, but I think with your computer science background that you’d be able to be a bit more involved in the creation and maintenance of your site.

[rankandfile]

My bad, Bgates…Should’ve read more. I think I am the one to blame for bringing Terri Schiavo into this. I don’t know how much more I will respond to this thread because it is pointless trying to reason with people on certain issues. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

[rankandfile]

Bgates, I think that more could’ve been done concerning Terry Schiavo. He’s the stinkin’ President for crying out loud and his brother is the governor of Florida. If they wanted her to be put back on life support, it would have been done in a heartbeat. Family matter? My friend, there are no clear cut lines as you may be implying. Was not the Andrea Yates case a “family matter”? Perhaps we should just let people kill their own if they want. It’s THEIR own and not ours, afterall- right? What right do we have interefering?

[rankandfile]

Rocketman, a quick Google search for “historical oil prices” will help you get some info on oil price history. One of the top results of that search is this site:

http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm

Here you will find that oil prices were over $60/barrel in 1981 and dropped to less than $20/barrel in 1998. Back during the oil embargo of the 70s, and shortly thereafter, pundits said that oil would never drop again.

[rankandfile]

I have had success with Linux-based, or open-source hosts, as opposed to Windows-based hosts. If you don’t know much about open-source applications, be prepared to enter a whole new world. I started to delve into it a couple years ago when I started my own business. I was looking for an inexpensive way to establish a web presence and open-source fit the bill perfectly.

I use Site5 as my host and have most of my domain names registered through 1and1. I also used GoDaddy in the beginning, but 1and1 is less expensive and provides private domain registration for free. Private registration is what you use if you don’t want anyone to know that it is you hosting the site as they will be able to look up your name, address, and telephone number in any WHOIS-type database.

I have been really pleased with Site5. They allow me to have 5 individual domain names (websites) for each account. So, if you start one account, you can have 5 completely separate websites on it at no additional charge. Another feature I like is that they have Fantastico in their control panel. Fantastico allows you to install any number of different scripts, or programs, with a few mouse clicks. Examples of scripts would be content management programs like Drupal (which is what this site uses), PHPBB which is a forum program, or WebCalendar which is an online calendar. Again, all of these programs are open-source and are free. One caveat, learn how to update them as they change and like all programs are susceptible to hackers.

Feel free to contact me if you want any more info:
[email protected]

[rankandfile]

If anyone is a conspiracy theorist, it’s me. But some of you other posters make me look as pragmatic as Rich. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are the real axis of evil? George Soros is also speaking out against the administration? You’ve got to be kidding me. Believe me, I am ticked off at the current administration for many things; namely doing nothing on illegal immigration, doing nothing about Terri Schiavo, and not running a lean government. But those of you who criticize the things that are being done to combat terrorism are the same ones who criticize and say he did nothing when we were hit on 9/11. Hypocrites! When you start criticizing someone by commenting on their looks, you’ve already lost the argument. I expect a better effort than that from you, Powayseller.

[rankandfile]

California is the third worst?! Ouch!

[rankandfile]

I agree about the tech savvy point. There may be a correlation between age or tech savviness and those who know about Craig’s List…similar to sites like MySpace or YouTube. Older or less-savvy folks may certainly use the Internet and know about the bigger sites like Realtor.com, but I think Craig’s List may be a bit more secluded. Another obvious point would be to look at total population and home unit figures. I would guess that San Diego simply has more people and housing units available for listing.

[rankandfile]

Simple supply and demand are the reasons for the higher prices. Orange County has some 30+ cities and LA County has 91+ cities. San Diego County has something like 17 cities. I don’t have exact population figures, but do the math. There are simply more buyers looking to find homes in those areas.

You also have to factor in all those people who now live in the Inland Empire because of the job opportunities on the other end of the 91 and 10 freeways. They are likely adding to the demand of housing in LA and OC.

[rankandfile]

I am not sure if I will make it to the next meetup. When/where is it?

[rankandfile]

I remember learning in middle school, many years ago, that learning is geometric…it’s pace is ever-increasing. The older I get, the more I believe this to be true. The Internet has greatly increased the level at which we humans can communicate with each other. And an increase in communication generally leads to an increase in knowledge through the transfer of ideas, viewpoints, opinions, etc.

It’s funny because it seems as though this particular housing crash should’ve already occurred by now – I mean a full-fledged media crash that everyone knows about. It’s as though we have travelled in time to the future. Which is what I’ve heard is what happens if we could travel at the speed of light. We would move far enough into the future such that we would see ourself walking toward us. Pretty trippy, huh?

This is the type of post I write after too many servings of red wine on an empty stomach. Without this blog, and the internet in general, I’d probably be curled up in the fetal position with my thumb in my mouth.

[rankandfile]

I have nothing worthwhile, but can put something together. If you know of any other indicators that may be helpful, let me know. I dont have time to do a bunch of digging and sifting, so the simpler, the better. Is it possible to attach an Excel spreadsheet to this forum?

[rankandfile]

I view the median price like a weather report that is a week or a month behind. Would you use it to plan your family barbecue? Sometimes the best way to get a grip on the weather is to walk out your front door. I try to get an idea of what the market is doing in a more informal way. I do things like follow the number of Craig’s List postings, the number of NODs on Foreclosure.com, and the number of listings on Zip Realty or Realtor.com. I like to see if the number of listings are increasing/decreasing, and whether the price is going up or down. Put these into an Excel spreadsheet and you have your own little housing trend index!

[rankandfile]

From what I understand, San Diego, and many other California cities, were more or less designed around the automobile as being the main mode of transportation. In contrast, European cities and many older east coast cities like Boston, and Portland, Maine, were developed with foot travel and other slower methods (e.g. horse) of transportation in mind. They tend to be more compact and have cozy, narrow streets with shops on the first floor and housing above. If you look at maps of many European and older American cities, you might notice that they have a rather distinct circular pattern to their property and road layouts.

The automobile changed everything in terms of city design after WW2. Many cities in the west became places where you commuted to for work or to attend cultural or other events. People stopped living there because they could afford to purchase a good-sized home with a yard and all within a reasonable drive time.

Fast forward to 2006 and what you have are external pressures pushing the system back in the other direction. Copious traffic has eliminated the reasonable commute times and home prices in the ‘burbs are no longer the steal that they once were…unless you are willing to live in Blythe or commute 2-3 hours or more one way. Many cities in California (e.g. Riverside, La Mesa) are also pushing to become more “walkable”, whereby people can get the majority of their daily activities done by walking rather than driving.

Cities like New York and those in Europe tend to also have more mixed zoning at the NEIGHBORHOOD level than those in California. In other words, neighborhoods will have residential, retail, office, etc, space that promote foot traffic. How many of us can do all of their daily activities on foot here in SoCal? Chances are that we have to drive a number of miles in between work, the grocery store, post office, etc. Mass transportation also plays an important role, but I will not ramble on. You get the point.

[rankandfile]

I’d think twice about the bathroom cleaning idea, if it’s not a joke. The owners of the bathroom are already too cheap to pay someone $8-10/hr to clean the bathroom. Unless you can do it for cheaper than this amount, I wouldn’t go for it.

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