#jeff shull

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show begins its twelfth season on March 25, 2023 at the Farmland Community Center at 3:00 pm! The fun begins with an episode of the classic comedy, My Friend Irma! Plus Baby Snooks and Bob and Ray! Featuring the talents of Wendy Carpenter, Sean Orlosky, Katy Wolfe, Angela Gick, Jeff Shull, Larry Beck and Debby Girtman!

That’s March 25 at 3:00 pm at the Farmland Community Center (100 N. Main St, Farmland, Indiana)! Tickets are just a dollar! For more information, please call 765-468-7631.

Radio fun for everyone!

Photograph by Cindy Lowe

[ulkaralakbarova]

From Wichita to Dodge City, to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp is taught that nothing matters more than family and the law. Joined by his brothers and Doc Holliday, Earp wages war on the dreaded Clanton and McLaury gangs.  Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Wyatt Earp: Kevin Costner Doc Holliday: Dennis Quaid Nicholas Earp: Gene Hackman James Earp: David Andrews Morgan Earp: Linden Ashby Ike Clanton: Jeff Fahey Josie Marcus: Joanna Going Sheriff Johnny Behan: Mark Harmon Virgil Earp: Michael Madsen Allie Earp: Catherine O’Hara Ed Masterson: Bill Pullman Big Nose Kate: Isabella Rossellini Bat Masterson: Tom Sizemore Bessie Earp: JoBeth Williams Mattie Blaylock: Mare Winningham Mr. Sutherland: James Gammon Frank McLaury: Rex Linn John Clum: Randle Mell Tom McLaury: Adam Baldwin Urilla Sutherland: Annabeth Gish Curly Bill Brocius: Lewis Smith Young Wyatt: Ian Bohen Virginia Earp: Betty Buckley Lou Earp: Alison Elliott Sherm McMasters: Todd Allen Francis O’Rourke: Mackenzie Astin Warren Earp: Jim Caviezel Mrs. Sutherland: Karen Grassle Frank Stillwell: John Dennis Johnston Sally: Téa Leoni Ed Ross: Martin Kove Bob Hatch: Jack Kehler Pete Spence: Kirk Fox Johnny Ringo: Norman Howell Marshal Fred White: Boots Southerland Indian Charlie: James ‘Scotty’ Augare Billy Clanton: Gabriel Folse Billy Claiborne: Kris Kamm Judge Spicer: John Lawlor John Shanssey: Michael McGrady Dr. Seger: Ben Zeller Stable Hand: Rockne Tarkington Mayor Wilson: David Doty Gyp Clements: Matt O’Toole Saddle Tramp: Brett Cullen Danny: Owen Roizman Gambler: Lawrence Kasdan McGee: Matt Beck Film Crew: Costume Design: Colleen Atwood Original Music Composer: James Newton Howard Producer: Kevin Costner Set Decoration: Cheryl Carasik Production Design: Ida Random Producer: Lawrence Kasdan Executive Producer: Charles Okun Director of Photography: Owen Roizman Producer: Jim Wilson Casting: Jennifer Shull Editor: Carol Littleton Art Direction: Gary Wissner Set Designer: Charlie Daboub Key Costumer: Barry Francis Delaney Set Designer: Barry Chusid Music Editor: Jim Weidman Supervising Sound Editor: Stu Bernstein Camera Operator: Ian Fox Executive Producer: Michael Grillo Hair Supervisor: Marlene D. Williams Assistant Art Director: Gershon Ginsburg Executive Producer: Dan Gordon Camera Operator: Bill Roe Foley: John Murray Script Supervisor: Anne Rapp Second Unit Director of Photography: Richard Bowen Set Designer: Tom Reta Dialogue Editor: Lewis Goldstein Executive Producer: Jon Slan Makeup Artist: Francisco X. Pérez Stunts: Gary McLarty Visual Effects Producer: Robert Stadd Chief Lighting Technician: Ian Kincaid Still Photographer: Ben Glass Dialogue Editor: James Matheny Costume Supervisor: Cha Blevins Foley: Dan O’Connell Property Master: William A. Petrotta Supervising Sound Editor: Robert Grieve Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Rick Kline Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin O’Connell Construction Coordinator: Greg John Callas Boom Operator: Joel Shryack ADR Supervisor: Jessica Gallavan Hairstylist: Elle Elliott Dialogue Editor: Alison Fisher Key Makeup Artist: Gerald Quist Makeup Supervisor: Michael Mills ADR Editor: Joe Dorn Supervising Dialogue Editor: Bobby Mackston Key Costumer: Ruby K. Manis Key Grip: Tim Ryan Location Manager: Paul Hargrave Key Hair Stylist: Dorothy D. Fox Steadicam Operator: Rusty Geller ADR Editor: Stephen Janisz Rigging Gaffer: Kim Kono Dolly Grip: David L. Merrill Costume Supervisor: Le Dawson Key Costumer: James M. George Casting Associate: Phil Poulos Casting Associate: Elizabeth Shull Movie Reviews: GenerationofSwine: Tombstone was a different beast, and that sort of overshadows this, given that one tries to be more accurate and the other goes for entertainment. Take Wyatt Earp as a biopic and it is a superb and fair film. Compare it to Tombstone which was more of a Western and it’s lacking the flair. However, it ends abruptly, and it is miscast. Cosner (and i am a fan) doesn’t really make a good Earp. Dennis Quaid who I am also a fan of, doesn’t make a good Doc. This was 1994, in the 80s I might have a dif...

[actinglife4me]

Here's a blast from the past! That's me behind the scenes of the Muncie Civic Theatre's production of Big River in 2009. I played Pap Finn. Of course, the gentleman standing beside me is Lord Scrumptious himself, Jeff Shull!

Photograph by Bob Green.

[lucyariablog]

13 Fresh Ideas to Get More Content Marketing Zing From Employees

Involving employees in the company’s content marketing strategy isn’t a new idea.

Employees already are asked to share content on their social channels. C-suite and subject matter experts often collaborate on thought leadership content.

And you likely know the value of connecting with your sales and/or customer service teams to get frontline insight into what your brand’s prospects and customers want to know.

But employee-involved content can be much more than that. I put out a call to learn more about how marketers involve their non-marketing coworkers in their content. While many responses reflected the typical examples, several brought a unique perspective and others offered some fresh approaches.

The inherent takeaway through all the ideas? Employees can give your content marketing the zing it needs to stand out, be remembered, and build relationships.

Employees can give your #contentmarketing the zing it needs to stand out & build relationships. @AnnGynn Click To Tweet

Now, let’s get to the ideas, tips, and examples.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Don’t Forget the Leadership in Thought Leadership

Have fun with them (and relevant news)

We’re a merged real estate team with a marketing department that handles five brands across many digital platforms. Over the holidays, our team came together to stage a Christmas parody video about Amazon’s HQ2 arriving in Arlington sung to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. We had dancing elves, agents dressed in Christmas pajamas, a large inflatable reindeer costume, and more.

Nick Tozier, content specialist and copywriter, Keri Shull Team

Employees @KeriShullTeam used the Amazon HQ news to make an innovative video: http://bit.ly/KeriShullTeam. @AnnGynn Click To Tweet

Connect with their contacts

When looking for content partnerships, such as guest blogging, we leverage employees for their contacts. Your first- and second-degree connection list becomes much bigger when you’re able to tap multiple networks instead of just your own. Because of this, we’ve partnered with platforms that would normally be difficult to reach.

Catherine Giese, SEO associate, Fundera

When looking for #content partnerships, such as guest blogging, we leverage employees’ contacts. @cathrinegiese Click To Tweet

Use their external education

If staff members attend a seminar, symposium, workshop, or some other type of skill-building (or industry) event – ask them to document their experience. Then you can work with their notes to create a lessons-learned piece based on the event. We did this with one of our developers when he attended a security conference, and it was interesting to see the amount of positive feedback the content received from our staff, other conference attendees, and people interested in the topics covered.

Colton DeVos, marketing and communication specialist, Resolute Technology Solutions

Employees attend an industry event? Ask them to create a lessons-learned piece of #content. @ColtonDevos Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Turn Conference Content Overload Into an Action Plan

Write about their day

Employees at CIENCE help our marketing efforts by participating in day-in-the-life pieces. We’ve produced a number of these to inform future customers about what it’s like to be a researcher, sales development representative, customer success manager, etc.

These in-depth articles have helped our sales team relate to customers the future experiences they may have when hiring CIENCE.

Eric Quanstrom, chief marketing officer, CIENCE

Employees at @ciencecom help #marketing efforts by participating in day-in-the-life articles, says @EQuanstrom. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 B2C Brands Offer Content Marketing Lessons and Inspiration

Make them your personas

At Prep Expert, we use some of our employees as customer avatars because of their roles as parents or guardians of children within our consumers’ age range. Our consumers are a specific niche – high school students between their junior and senior years. That’s tough to track.

That’s why we’ve looked to our employees who are raising children and know what issues their kids have when studying for these college-prep tests and the common questions that come up when tackling our course.

Shaan Patel, founder and CEO, Prep Expert 

Show them

To boost our recruitment marketing, our 100% remote team at Worldwide 101 invented a video series called “Meet the Team” where we interviewed our team members on why they chose to work with us and what their day to day looks like.

Each video is personal to the employee and highlights their life and work story in two to three minutes. The videos are now a major driver in us attracting new talent.

Audrey Fairbrother, marketing manager, Worldwide 101

Employee #videos are a major driver in attracting new talent, says @audreywwide101. #recruiting Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Video Marketing Strategy: What Marketers Need to Know

Capture employees as real people

I’m at Davines North America now and previously at Estee Lauder, Unilever, Nestle, etc. The rapid rise of social media – and the current trend towards, raw, “transparent” content – plays to companies finding a way to ‘open up’ further to the consumers.

At Nestle Purina, employees have been featured in videos to show how Purina is passionate about pets by filming employees at home or work with their pets.

At Aveda, our head office employees would often be models for our social media hair photo shoots. A wider program #AvedaArtist enables employees in retail stores and stylists in salons selling Aveda to showcase their artistry and share within the community.

Let this red color melt warm up your day!

Hair by Alexis at Gordon Salon in Wilmette! #avedaartist #stylesbyalexis pic.twitter.com/76oi5G4CyM

— Gordon Salon (@GordonSalon) January 10, 2019

At Davines, our employees get involved in our community events in New York to help bring the brand to life and capture content at the event, we’re often hair models too.

Hannah Dixon, marketing director, Davines North America

Get involved in community events to help bring your brand to life & capture #content. Hannah Dixon @DavinesOfficial Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How 3 Serious Brands Engage Humanly on Social Media

Send them to Quora (and more)

Employees can help answer queries and create awareness on social media platforms such as Quora. Employees can run Twitter chats or ask-me-anything sessions where they can interact with the customers and potential customers. These interactions also can be used in content.

Sumit Bansal, founder, Craft of Blogging

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Use Social Media Monitoring as More Than a Listening Tool

Use your products

Each year starting mid-January we do a piece on weight loss with one or more of our employees. We are in the health and supplement industry, so it matches up with exactly what we sell.

We will have two employees doing the weight loss challenge this year along with many of our customers. We include blog posts, videos, social media posts all about their process, their progress and, of course, the supplements they are using. This not only helps us get involved with our community of customers, but also helps us sell more products.

Jeff Moriarty, digital marketing manager, Best Price Nutrition

Communicate the culture

I’ve found it’s as important to talk about the culture of your people who are often doing plenty of interesting and noteworthy things that companies can share on their blogs.

If you have an employee involved in a lot of volunteer work, a showcase about that person and his or her impact in the community builds goodwill for the business. I’ve found these posts get a lot more engagement than you might expect, which builds your awareness audience for retargeting later.

Derek Bryant, director of content marketing, EZMarketing

Go to staff meetings to find ideas

At weekly or monthly staff meetings, dedicate a few minutes to sharing a little bit about the work each person is doing and how that could tie into a larger content piece. You never know what could come of a good old-fashioned team brainstorm.

Danni Dichito, sales and marketing manager, North Carolina Theatre

Find #content ideas from attending staff meetings, says @ddichito. Click To Tweet

Ask what they think and encourage them to answer questions

Our employees act as sounding boards for content ideas. Our development team has the freedom to point out a trending question and contribute blog posts whenever they see fit.

Readers aren’t looking for “thought leaders” or executives to answer every question they have. The people with the most authority to answer questions are the ones engaging with and solving problems every single day.

Shelby Rogers, content marketing manager, Solodev 

Don’t say stupid

We involve employees in team meetings and brainstorming sessions. The most important aspect to a creative session is to remember that there’s no such thing as a bad idea, just poorly executed or insufficiently fleshed-out ideas.

There are “no-go” words, such as “dumb,” “stupid,” “no”, etc. that everyone agrees are unhelpful to the process. If you can keep your employees’ creativity loose there’s no telling what they can accomplish.

Never use words like “dumb” or “stupid” in a brainstorming meeting, says Nate Masterson of @MapleHolistics. Click To Tweet

Nate Masterson, chief marketing officer, Maple Holistics

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Want More Creative Content Ideas? Break These 6 ‘Rules’

Get that employee zing

To gain the many benefits of employee-involved content – improving brand awareness, lead generation, and ultimately sales – go beyond the traditional tactics. Make your employees the differentiator in your content marketing strategy. Consider one of these 13 suggestions or perhaps let them spark new ideas for your company.

Let us know what you do to get employees connected to your content in the comments.

Put some zing into your inbox every weekday with the Content Marketing Institute newsletter. Subscribe today.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 13 Fresh Ideas to Get More Content Marketing Zing From Employees appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2019/01/fresh-ideas-employees/

[thousandmaths]

Observations from SEICCGTC 2017 Part 1

There were tons of talks at this conference, and not all of them were amenable to taking notes. There were many individual reasons for this, from the talks being rather straightforward, to me being tired, to the presentation using a very animation-heavy style. However, there was also a more global reason: all of the talks, except those given by the invited speakers, were 15 minutes long. As I’ve mentioned before, short talks don’t have the luxury of fully explaining everything: they have to either be quite sketchy and heuristic, or sharply timed and technical.

What I usually do with such talks is combine them together into a “Miscellany from...” post. But for this conference, since there were so many of them, it made more sense to spread them out, else risk these things becoming excessively long. Originally I had them separated by the day they presented, but this also produced posts which were just a little longer than I would have liked, so in the end I’m just grouping them into clusters of 3-5. (If I were really on top of shit, I guess I would cluster them by subject topic, but... well...)

Also, very few of these talks were creatures that I really didn’t understand, so my notes are often at least somewhat substantive. Hence, “Observations” instead of “Miscellany”. To keep things brief, I will refrain from giving many background definitions, instead providing links where appropriate.

(More observations: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8)

[ When the presenter’s name does not have an associated link, I could not find an academic website for them. ]

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Jeff Gaither, The Combinatorics of RNA-Protein Interactions

I was excited about this talk because of my experience at ACSB. In the end, though, this turned out to be a negative. The secondary structure stuff— which I was already familiar with— took a large majority of the talk (since it does take a considerable amount of explaining). So the protein stuff whizzed by and I couldn’t take much from it.

I ended up talking with Gaither afterward about academic life; he was encouraging and fun to be around. His PhD was in analytic combinatorics, which is pretty close to what my roommate does, so I introduced them and I got to be the beneficiary of the ensuing conversation :) But of course I wasn’t taking notes, so that’s long since left my brain.

Warren Shull, On a Conjecture on Spanning Trees with few Branch Vertices

A Hamiltonian path can be understood as a spanning tree; distinguished from its peers in that it has no branch vertices, i.e. vertices of degree three or more. We can thus interpret spanning trees with few branch vertices as “approximations” of Hamiltonian paths.

The relevant conjecture is: Let $k\geq 0$, and $G$ connected and claw-free, then either there is a spanning tree with at most 3 vertices, or an independent set of size $k+3$ whose degree sum is at most $n-k-3$. Using a very clever initial construction, followed by a deluge of casework, they were able to prove this when $k\leq 2$, the strongest partial result on this theorem so far.

Erik Lundberg, The Excedance Set of a Permutation: Asymptotic Enumeration

The main question of this talk was: how many $n$-cycles $\pi\in S_n$ avoid stretching pairs, i.e. elements $i,j$ such that $\pi(i)<i<j<\pi(j)$? Lundberg’s original motivation for this question was actually not combinatorial: stretching-pair-avoiding cycles apparently have some significance for the stability of dynamical systems.

In any case, these have an explicit (bijective) correspondence with permutations having a particular excedance set, i.e. elements $i$ such that $\pi(i)>i$. They were able to give (asymptotic, I think) formulae for such things, which not only answers the original question, but also completes the picture for some set of extremal problems.

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[ Part 1 ] [ Next ]

[soccerstl]

Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Honor SoccerSTL Founder

Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Honor SoccerSTL Founder

Steve ‘Ole’ Olson pic by Pamela Panchot on June 10, 2013 The Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association (MSHSSCA) held their annual Recognition Banquet Sunday December 18th and introduced a new award this year, the “Champion of the Game”. Designed to recognize members of the community outside of players and coaches, I’m proud to say that I am the inaugural recipient. I did a poor job of…

[gillespialfredoe01806ld]

The Best Places to Live in America, 2018: Revenge of the Burbs!

iStock; realtor.com

Home is where the heart is, home is where you make it—but given the option, wouldn’t you want to make your home and store your heart in a place with a great sense of community, excellent schools to set your kids up for success, and affordable homes so you can set yourself up for financial stability?

Of course you would. And we’re here to help!

For the second year in a row, realtor.com® teamed up with Money magazine to come up with its annual Best Places to Live list. Having focused on small towns last year, we set our sights this time around on places with populations of 50,000 or more.

To figure out the best of the best, we took into account more than 135,000 data points, covering economic health, public school performance, local amenities, housing, and cost of living. We disqualified places with high crime rates (more than double the national rate), depressed income (less than 85% of the state median), and a lack of racial diversity.

The resulting list doesn’t feature any of the nation’s best-known big cities (could it be due to their higher crime rates and skyrocketing home prices?), but many suburban towns that are within a decent commute of one. That means you get those classic suburban amenities (a big house, a backyard for barbecues, great public schools) without totally giving up on the big-bucks jobs and fun factor of the big city.

“For someone who’s starting from scratch, this is a list of areas with great quality of life, healthy housing markets where affordability is important, and great overall community,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com’s chief economist.

Ready? Let’s take a cross-country tour of America’s top-drawer places, 2018. (See the list of all 50 here.)

Best Places to Live

Claire Widman

1. Frisco, TX

Median home price: $449,900 Median household income : $117,642 Population: 177,286

A three-bedroom home in Frisco for less than $500,000.

realtor.com

For the first time in at least five years, Frisco topped the U.S. Census list of America’s fastest-growing big cities. From 2016 to 2017, the city added an average of 37 new residents every day. Over a year, that added up to a population jump of 8.2%.

The city about 30 miles north of Dallas is home to the splashy new headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys, The Star, a megacomplex that includes offices, a hotel, and swanky bars and restaurants. North Texas is on fire economically, and as Mayor Jeff Cheney pointed out in his (apparently unsuccessful) sales video aimed at snagging Amazon’s new headquarters, Frisco still has plenty of room to grow.

With its 177,000 people, Frisco is already a good-sized city—but one that still has a sense of community, says Julie Howell Stutts, who’s been a homeowner there for seven years.

“You still kind of feel like you know everybody here,” she says.

Schools here are top-notch and a prime draw for families. But while in the past the area’s housing consisted of mostly single-family homes, the recent spate of building has included apartment complexes more appealing to single professionals.

2. Ashburn, VA

Median home price: $519,990 Median household income: $120,862 Population: 49,692* 

A large home in Ashburn

Tim Kitchen/Getty Images

A couple of decades ago, Ashburn was a country town with just one grocery store. That’s when Kim Rabinowitch and her husband bought a townhouse, just after their marriage.

“We liked it because we could get a lot for our money back then,” she says. But they fell in love with the schools and their neighbors, and when they decided to trade up to a house, they bought one just down the street.

“People want to move into our school district,” Rabinowitch says. “Houses go on the market, and they’re on there for less than a day.”

With great schools and convenient transportation—it’s 10 minutes by car to Washington Dulles Airport and 40 minutes to the District of Columbia, plus there’s a new metro station to DC under construction—it’s no wonder that Ashburn has become popular with commuting federal employees. And other nearby suburban towns such as Tysons Corner and Fairfax offer more job opportunities closer to home.

Single-family homes, many with four to five bedrooms, dominate the housing stock, along with some townhomes. An impressive 83.4% of those homes are owner-occupied.

3. Carmel, IN

Median home price: $374,000 Median household income: $106,546 Population: 92,198

Coxhall Public Garden in Carmel, IN

Purdue9394/iStock

Just 26 miles north of Indianapolis, Carmel has become a sought-after suburban destination for its excellent schools and amenities.

“It’s mostly young families that are moving in,” says Kelly Lavengood, a real estate agent with the Lavengood Team in Indianapolis. “I frequently receive calls from people looking to relocate to Carmel from out of state.”

But it’s not just a magnet for parents—Carmel’s walkable downtown and plentiful parks also make it appealing to empty nesters.

“A lot of times, people think that suburbs are just an extension of the city,” Lavengood says. “But Carmel has really become an entity of its own.”

There’s a variety of homes for Carmel buyers to choose from, from entry-level abodes all the way up to mansions. Architectural styles vary, too—there’s even a pocket of midcentury modern homes designed by Avriel Shull.

4. Ellicott City, MD

Median home price: $558,950 Median household income: $121,019 Population: 70,780*

Shops in Ellicott City, MD

Walter Bibikow/Getty Images

Founded in 1772, Ellicott City has plenty of charm, particularly in its historic downtown district. Here, you can dip into boutiques and antiques stores in buildings that are pretty much antiques themselves.

But that doesn’t mean this place is stuck in the past. Its top-rated schools attract young families, and its affordable housing and access to two major metropolises appeal to professionals as well.

“The cost of living is high in Maryland; Ellicott City just happens to be located between Baltimore and Washington [DC], and it offers affordable housing,” says Jon Sandler, a real estate attorney who has been practicing in Ellicott City for 21 years. “Half the people are [Washington] Redskins fans, and the other are [Baltimore] Ravens fans.”

It’s the kind of place, he says, where locals stick around, or eventually come back to their roots. Many of the older buildings downtown have rental apartments upstairs, and there are also historic single-family homes, typically built with granite blocks, just outside downtown. There are also quite a few newer developments aimed at young professionals, Sandler notes.

But if you buy here, you’d best get flood insurance—the city has been subject to disastrous inundations in the past, and is weighing whether to invest tens of millions of dollars to redirect water from downtown.

5. Cary, NC

Median home price: $389,000 Median household income: $94,617 Population: 165,904

Four-bedroom home in Cary, NC

realtor.com

Cary sits within North Carolina’s Research Triangle—an area of scientific innovation marked off by the cities of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham, which is home to more than 200 companies.

The area is rife with highly educated professionals who want the best schools for their kids—and Cary can offer that, says Merry Ann Cutler, a real estate agent and relocation expert with Re/Max United in Cary.

“Some of the people moving here are coming all the way from the West Coast,” she says.

Plus, it’s relatively affordable—you can buy a nice, single-family home here for $400,000.

“There’s a huge influx of people moving in right now, and construction can’t keep up with it,” Cutler says. “Homes sell very, very fast.”

Despite the development, there’s still plenty of green, crisscrossed by the largest number of walking and biking trails in the Triangle.

6. Franklin, TN 

Median home price: $549,900 Median household income: $88,961 Population: 78,321

Downtown Franklin, TN

Dan Reynolds/Getty Images

Franklin may bask in the reflected glow of nearby Nashville, but it has a gravitational pull of its own. Big-name companies such as Nissan, Schneider Electric, UBS Financial Services, and United Healthcare have offices here. The surrounding Williamson County is one of the country’s richest, with the lowest property taxes in the region and top-rated schools—a knockout combo.

“Franklin is a desirable place to call home,” says David Wright, a real estate agent with Benchmark Realty in Franklin. “It’s a variety of people moving in: families, empty nesters, and newly graduated professionals.”

Developers are still building out the city, Wright observes, with new communities and commercial areas. Westhaven, one of the most successful new communities that’s still under construction, has a target of 2,750 homes, townhomes, and condominiums. It features trails, resort-style pools, drop-in day care, and even a 37-seat theater. The townhomes and houses range from roughly $500,000 to $1,500,000 for 2,100 square feet to over 5,000 square feet.

7. Dublin, CA 

Median home price: $898,000 Median household income: $128,403 Population: 60,939

Dublin, CA homes

yhelfman/iStock

If you thought there were no good places to live left in the San Francisco Bay Area—Crazy expensive! Unfriendly! Dirty!—well, Dublin is here to tell you that you are wrong. This East Bay burg has a small-town feel that you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find within just a few miles of Silicon Valley.

“Even though it has been rapidly growing, it still feels close-knit and family-oriented,” says Rebecca Briggs, an elementary schoolteacher (in neighboring Pleasanton) who’s lived there since 2002.

Like the other cities on this list, Dublin’s public schools are a prime attraction.

“Dublin stands behind its schools, and in turn that increases the level of educational excellence,” says Briggs, who sent her two children through the system. She notes that the community consistently votes to pass parcel taxes or bonds when they’re needed to meet the schools’ funding needs.

8. Highlands Ranch, CO

Median home price: $475,000 Median household income: $111,332 Population: 106,596*

Home for sale in Highlands Ranch

realtor.com

While many towns have sections dominated by new construction and tract homes, in Highlands Ranch, that’s all there is. The entire suburb outside Denver was planned out back in the late 1970s by the California-based Mission Viejo Co. Highlands Ranch has since ballooned, with different parts being built out by various developers. But unlike some other communities that have experienced growing pains, this town already has infrastructure in place, like wider roads, to accommodate growth.

Terance Freeman and his wife moved to the area in 2013, mainly for a shorter commute to his job in Aurora.

“The first thing that I really noticed was how family-oriented the community was,” he says. He noticed there were always kids playing in the street.

And despite the community’s upscale reputation, he soon realized that it’s actually cost-effective.

“Per square foot for the area, we actually got a better bang for the buck than we did in Aurora or would in Denver,” he says.

The flip side is that without kids, Highlands Ranch loses a bit of its luster. Kevin Mullen lived in the community for 14 years. But with his sons nearing the end of high school, he’s decided to pull up stakes.

“I don’t think it lends itself to a place that you’d want to live once your kids are up and gone,” he says.

9. Sammamish, WA

Median home price: $1,137,000 Median household income: $153,253 Population: 64,548

Lake Sammamish

4nadia/iStock

Head due east from Seattle as the crow flies, and you’ll eventually find yourself in Sammamish, which has turned into a bedroom community for Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond, home of Microsoft.

Ann Gallinger moved to Sammamish about four years ago from Gig Harbor, where she and her husband felt they didn’t click with the community. Sammamish was a different story.

“It’s been exactly what we’ve hoped for as far as a sense of community, people being involved, people being open, and having a sense of the importance of things that we feel are important”—including funding parks and schools, she says.

The Microsoft force is strong here—Redmond is just 6.5 miles away. And with workers continuing to pour into the area, builders have been cramming large, two-story homes onto modest lots.

Amy Nielsen Hanson has seen the city develop over the 21 years she’s lived there. When she bought her first condo, she was just 21—prices were still affordable then. These days, despite the building boom, there are fewer options for first-time buyers. In addition, infrastructure such as roads haven’t been improved at the same pace as the housing expansion.

“For people who actually do have to commute, it’s gotten atrocious,” she says.

10. Woodbury, MN

Median home price: $369,642 Median household income: $101,922 Population: 69,756

Woodbury, MN

realtor.com

In Minnesota, there are the famed twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. And then there’s Woodbury, a suburb of St. Paul and the largest city in Washington County.

“Woodbury is the economic energizer of Washington County, which is basically all the eastern suburbs of Minneapolis,” says Matthew Johnson, a real estate agent with Anew Real Estate Group in Woodbury. “We have the largest population in the county and the most jobs. We’re known for great restaurants, great shopping, and great people.”

Health care provides both abundant job opportunities—280 of the 900 local businesses are in the health care industry, Johnson says—and good quality of life for residents who know they will be well taken care of.

A large part of the local housing stock is two-story houses with two to three bedrooms, Johnson says, and that’s what most families are looking for. Those homes run about $390,000.

Editor’s note: Median household income and population numbers are from 2016 U.S. Census data, with the exception of * entries, which use 2017 data. Home price data are from realtor.com.

Allison Underhill contributed to this report. 

The post The Best Places to Live in America, 2018: Revenge of the Burbs! appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from DIYS https://ift.tt/2QCktKQ

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

Tom Cherry’s Old Time Radio Show gets radio active with a new show on July 27, 2024 at the Farmland Community Center at 3:00pm! The radio gang will present an episode of the classic radio comedy series, The Easy Aces! Plus a visit from Bob and Ray! A lucky audience member will get a chance to play It Pays to Be Ignorant and Wendy Carpenter will sing!

Featuring the talents of Wendy Carpenter, Bob Green, Missy Donahue, Jeff Rapkin, Debby Girtman, the sound squad Judy Cole and Cliff Lowe, and Jeff Shull as Lord Scrumptious!

That’s July 27 at 3:00 pm at the Farmland Community Center (100 N. Main St, Farmland, Indiana)! Tickets are just one dollar! For more information, please call 765-468-7631.

Photograph by Cindy Lowe

[full-imagination]

Nettie Atkins

Nettie Allgood Atkins, 81, went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on April 28, 2017 at her home at Watercrest. Born October 11, 1935 in Pendleton, SC, she was the daughter of the late John Edward and Helen Richardson Allgood. Mrs. Atkins was a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother, filled with such grace and love for everyone. Mrs. Atkins also was an elementary teacher during her young adult life and later worked with her husband in the real estate and development industry for forty years. She was the force behind her husband, F. Hugh Atkins’ success. She always supported fully whom she loved. Along with her support to her husband, she was the most wonderful mother. She loved her girls more than anything, always standing strong behind both of them and as a grandmother, she was wonderful to her three granddaughters. She loved them and loved to spend time with them any chance she had. She exemplified a grace filled lady, a child of God. She never said anything negative about anyone and always thought the best of others. Along with the time she spent with her family, she loved her church, Westminster Presbyterian and was very active in circles and serving in the choir. She cooked meals for the St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinics, delivering Mobile Meals religiously, even when she was not well herself. She was a member of the garden club and loved roses and grew them abundantly. She slalomed on Lake Bowen until she was 77 for miles on end. Everyone was stunned at her energy level and athleticism. Her family always came first to her and always there to support whoever was needed. Survivors include daughters, Dr. Lanette Atkins of Inman; and Melody Shull (Kent) of Spartanburg; granddaughters, Nettie Katherine Shull of Spartanburg; Amelia Atkins of Columbia, SC; sister, Carolyn Farmer of Greer, SC; and brother, Edward Allgood (Jan) of Pendleton, SC. Along with her parents, she was also predeceased by her loving husband, Franklin High Atkins of 60 years, and by her precious granddaughter, Anne Caroline Shull. Visitation will be 6:00 – 8:00 PM Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at Floyd’s Greenlawn Chapel, 2075 East Main Street, Spartanburg, SC 29307. Funeral service will be 2:00 PM Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 309 Fernwood Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29307, conducted by the Rev. Dale Rawlings. Burial will be in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, 1300 Fernwood-Glendale Road, Spartanburg, SC 29307. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic, P.O. Box 3466, Spartanburg, SC 29304 or to Spartanburg Regional Hospice Home, 686 Jeff Davis Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29303. An online guest register is available at http://bit.ly/2lcbDXM Floyd’s Greenlawn Chapel from The JF Floyd Mortuary Crematory & Cemeteries via Spartanburg Funeral

[actinglife4me]

Look, Ma! I’m acting with Jeff Shull in a scene from John Oak Dalton’s Scarecrow County!

Photograph by Kyle Garner

[princestreetco]

Can Pizza Hut Outdo Itself With These Sitcom-Style Ads From Viacom?

Maladjusted millennial braggarts choose Pizza Hut. Let's all go there today!

Running on Viacom's cable-TV networks, this goofy campaign for the restaurant chain targets young adults, presenting folks who get their kicks by outdoing one another in various situations. The ads were created in-house by content unit Viacom Velocity and amplify the line, "No one out-pizzas the Hut," introduced last year in ads from Droga5.

"When we can get people to laugh, and often laugh at themselves, it really resonates," Ken Saji, creative director at Viacom Velocity, tells AdFreak. "And instead of doing one-off spots, we wanted to create a franchise—almost like a sitcom series—that all of the creative could live under."

Four 30-second commercials were tailored to match the vibe of various Viacom properties. For example, the first ad below, running on MTV and Spike, focuses on rock-band fandom, and features the scariest air-guitar-solo-face of all time:

    "We needed a band name for the crazy fan's T-shirt," Saji recalls. "Options included: Impossible Hockey, Underwater Teen, Two-Acre Haircut, Rumika's Revenge. We went with Fire Knife."

Dude, get back in the editing suite. Impossible Hockey! Impossible Hockey!

This next spot, intended primarily for VH1, puts selfies in the picture. (Do millennials like taking selfies? Man, they ruin everything.)

    Meanwhile, an ad running on Comedy Central combines workplace humor, puppies and DJs. (Wait, do millennials even have jobs?)

    "During every break, people ran and lined up to hold the puppies," says Saji. "Also, they were rescues, and up for adoption. Crew members posted photos and links to the shelter to help them find a home."

Finally, for the TVLand and CMT crowd, comes this pretentiously pompous playdate:

    This spot was filmed at a private home in suburban Los Angeles. "During the shoot, the boy who lived there needed to come back to get his clarinet," says Saji. "He couldn't get in until one of the scenes was over and waited patiently on the street."

Sorry, kid, that's showbiz.

Like the products they promote, these ads fall into a familiar comfort zone. That's because the wacky pizza-commercial trope has been dished out by Domino's, Little Caesars and Pizza Hut seemingly forever. Just follow the recipe—a pinch of oddball here, a dash of wacky there—and you've got a piping-hot pie of a campaign. (Or a tepid pile of dough, depending on one's personal taste.)

Here, the cast works hard to wring laughs from the material, and the performers are fairly funny, though they get kind of shouty at times.

Some wags might argue the funniest line is the tag, and take a swipe at the chain's infamously generic cuisine by suggesting that practically anyone could, in all likelihood, out-pizza the Hut. We'd never dream of being that saucy. And in Viacom's defense, that's an inherited positioning, albeit one that should probably be sliced into nonexistence post haste.

All told, in keeping with Pizza Hut tradition, this campaign isn't exactly the tastiest stuff around. It's predictable, lowest-common-denominator fare, but not half bad, and satisfying if you're in the right frame of mind.

"All the actors were given to option to take their bites of the pizza and spit—a common practice," says Saji, "and they all decided to eat it."

No one can out-starve actors. They'll eat anything.

CREDITS Client: Pizza Hut Agency: Viacom Velocity EVP, Chief Creative Officer – Niels Schuurmans SVP, Creative – Chris Carlson VP, Creative Director – Ken Saji Director – Evan Silver Copywriter – Zac Coe Executive Producer – Deb Reichman Production Management Director – Jeff Woodton Production Manager – Ashlee Alves Line Producer – Chris Zimmer Editor – Tommy Shull Assistant Editor – Luigi Romano Project Management Director – Ellie Miltner Designer – Ayla Nucum Motion Graphics – Rob Cerrato, York Capistrano Sound – Eddie Cooper, Plush NYC Color – Gary Scarpulla, Nutmeg Integrated Marketing Director – Meredith Kohlbecker Integrated Marketing Manager – Carly McElroy Integrated Marketing Manager — Stacy Katz Media Agency – Optimedia

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(Source: © 2016 ABN | All Rights Reserved)

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

Today is Jeff Shull's birthday! Celebrate!

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

Tom Cherry’s Old Time Radio Show presents The Mysterious Traveler on April 27, 2024 at the Farmland Community Center at 3:00pm! The show also features two original radio plays by local playwrights, Cliff Lowe and Beth Nahre! A lucky audience member will get a chance to play It Pays to Be Ignorant and Judy Cole sings!

Starring Sean Orlosky, Bob Green, Missy Donahue, Katy Wolfe, Jeff Shull, Jeff Rapkin, Larry Beck, Debby Girtman, Thomas Nelson III, Todd Terrell and the sound squad, Judy Cole and Cliff Lowe!

That’s April 27 at 3:00 pm at the Farmland Community Center (100 N. Main St, Farmland, Indiana)! Tickets are just one dollar! For more information, please call 765-468-7631.

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show returned to the Farmland Community Center for a new season on March 23, 2024! Our next performance is April 27, 2024 at 3:00pm! Hope to see you there, radio rangers!

Photograph by Cindy Lowe

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

On December 9, 2023, Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show returned to the Anderson Public Library to perform the Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol with Todd Terrell as Scrooge. Special thanks to Joe Skeen (Our special guest star!) and all the fine folks at the library for inviting us back!

Photograph by Cindy Lowe

[tomcherryoldtimeradioshow]

Despite the fact we didn’t close the season with a Christmas show at the Farmland Community Center this year, Tom Cherry’s Old Time Radio Show did spread some Christmas cheer in early December! On December 3, the radio gang performed at Hagerstown High School to support our friends, The Nettle Creek Players! The line-up included a Christmas themed My Friend Irma and featured our special guest stars, Jeff Dickey and Linda Ward!

Photograph by Cindy Lowe