June 5th, 2008

So I must take back a little of what I previously said about real estate agents: My wife and I are working with one right now, and I actually like this guy. Sure he's a bit talkative and assumes that his "clever insights" are ... well, clever. But nonetheless, he knows what he is doing, is doing a better job than I ever could (he would even if it were just based on his people skills alone, not to mention other advantages that he brings to the table) and he has industry connections and knowledge that makes him effective.

It may not be rocket science, but selling real estate, apparently, has a lot of little nooks and crannies that make it a job not everyone could do (or, at least, even über smart people couldn't just pick it up and start doing it overnight).

I should also add that real estate is slowly dragging itself into the modern era, what with online property descriptions being emailed directly to customers, and, well, email at all!

Back in 2002 (not that long ago, and certainly well into the populist information age which actually started in the early 1990s) I emailed a couple of potential real estate agents, soliciting their business. Three months after (and about a month after I bought a condo) I got a reply from one of them. The other one never replied. It showed me that at least those agents were not exactly up with the latest and greatest in technology. You know, that's perfectly fine with me; but, I hope they weren't expecting the world to stay still for their experience of it.

(NB: The kids are constantly making a racket as they climb the stairs to our floor. It might benefit us all to climb our own stairs too ... you know, keep ahead of them as long as possible. Hmm ... I think Peter Gabriel used that metaphor in a song from his second solo album.)

But, anyhow, this guy is up with the technology. Latest and greatest doesn't scare him—or at least if it does, he has overcome it. I'm glad of it, too, because it makes him much easier to work with. Just fire off an email and wait for his. I'll get something from him that I can click a link and go see a virtual tour of some place—before even considering it.

I like it.

* * *

This talk of retro-realtors makes me wonder if ever I am going to be pushed out of society by advances in technology and information because I will grow too slow and unyielding.

Up until recently, I called myself "the old side of young" but I can't really describe myself that way any more. Regrettably, I am now in early onset Middle Age. It's not so bad once you get here, but the identity crisis it raises could become something evil if I let it. In response, I can see me doing what every (mostly male) middle-ager does: I grow opinionated and certain in my value system. I have developed opinions over the last couple of decades, and am now turning them into a belief system.

That's not good if the resultant belief system becomes preserved in amber and left unquestioned and unchanged until the end of my life. Especially if those beliefs have no room for new ways of thinking about the world I live in and my place within it. I mean, where would I be if I had calcified my world vision (and my view of myself) in the early 90s in such a way that excluded currently-emerging technologies?

I sure as Hell wouldn't be blogging: I would be sitting in an easy chair in corner somewhere with a book in my hands, a cup of tea at my elbow, a cat in my lap (so far so good) and an overpowering fear and confusion every time I go out into the world to buy more tea bags, biscuits, and cat food (not so good). I would become, slowly more and more, a prisoner of that world where I had my opinions about everything and "knew" without uncertainty that I had it All Figured Out. Because I am not the kind of person to sit idly by and leave my opinions, feelings, and thoughts on everything I see unexpressed, I would be proselytizing to everyone who would listen (probably only that aforementioned cat) about how everything in this world is all screwed up and I know why and it's "just that simple, see ..." I would become exactly what a former -er- friend once described as The Lecturing Asshole™. And in this case one who refuses to send emails, use a cell phone, watch most TV, drive a car, or use a debit card at the supermarket.

So back to my self-doubt I'm having in the here and now: I am not that guy, thankfully, and I am current and up on the latest and greatest. But what if I get stuck right here at this point? What if some current zeitgeist becomes my final social resting place? Now that I'm growing a hard-to-shake belief system, am I going to become just the next generation version of that guy I described in the previous paragraph?

Good grief, I hope not. There must be some way to combat it—successfully. I know this because I see lots of old people who have no trouble using emails, cell phones, etc. My parents for example. Or a lot of people over 70 years old who live in my building. I don't need to be at all indulgent to them, or extend any low-tech helping hands to them; they drank the high-tech kool-aid. So what distinguishes them from the old farts who mutter to themselves as they shuffle along the crosswalks and impede the young impatient drivers?

I want to know so that I can stay alive in this world. As appealing as it sounds, the cat-in-my-lap, tea-cup-and-old-book, leather-armchair lifestyle is not for me. Sure, I'll be able to live that life from time to time when I am older, but I'll also want to open up my wrist-mounted computer (or the future equivalent thereof) and watch a few of my favourite shows on it while simultaneously organizing my to-do list into real life categories and digital categories ... then order another bag of kibbles for my cat, tea for me, and a birthday present for my grandkid (with my thoughts alone) ... then go back to my book.

I want to stay sharp for the future, because I want to keep my future options open.

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