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Good With
Coffee...
March,
2010 |
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Nice that you stopped in. We
all deserve a break in our day. Our
goal here at Coffee Break is to make this page
an interesting and entertaining pause in your
day. If you have anything you would like to
contribute, please send it to me on the Contact
Joanne form.
Missed some Coffee Breaks? We have
archived many of the past issues. Scroll down
the left hand column.
I look
forward to your comments, questions and
suggestions.
Take
care and stay in touch,
Joanne
Your
San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate Broker... and coffee
lover.
California Department of Real Estate
Brokers License Number:
00822285
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You heard it here...
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Time is
running out... Update on the Home Buyer
Rebate Programs...
With
escrows taking 60 days and longer, first
time and repeat buyers need to act now.
To be entitled
to the First Time and Repeat buyer cash rebate
programs, buyers need to be in contract by
mid-April to be sure their escrow closes by the
June 30th deadline.
Who is
entitled to the rebates:
* In most cases, first time buyers
can receive 10% of the purchase price of a home up to
$8,000. A first time buyer is defined as someone
who has not owned a home in the past three
years.
* And in
most cases repeat buyers can receive 10% up to
$6,500. if they are purchasing another home as their
principal residence. They do not have to sell
their existing home. They can rent it
out. For more info on the rebate program
see our page: Buying Real Estate
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The Secret of Bar Codes ~ Thanks
to Ms. Juanita Whiteside
With all the
food and pet products now coming from China , it is best
to make sure you read labels at the grocery store and
especially Walmart when buying food products.
Many products no longer show where they
were made, only give where the distributor is located.
It is important to read the bar code to track it's
origin.
How to read Bar Codes:
This may be
useful to know when grocery shopping, if it's a concern
to you.
The whole world is afraid of China-made
"black-hearted goods".
Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan
or China ?
If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690, 691 or
692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan .
This is
our right to know, but the government and related
departments never educate the public, therefore we have
to RESCUE ourselves.
Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do
not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA", so they don't show
from which country it is made.
However, you may now refer to the barcode - remember
if the first 3 digits are:
690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 - 09
... USA & CANADA
30
- 37 ... FRANCE
40 - 44 ...
GERMANY
47 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50
... UK
BUY USA & CANADIAN MADE by watching for "0" at
the beginning of the number.
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Green
Tips... |
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Number 7 plastic
defined
 Any
plastic that does not fit into the other six
well-defined categories of material earns a number 7.
Ironically, this category also includes the new
bio-based plastics that use corn, potato, or sugar
derivatives. However, the most infamous type of number 7
plastic is polycarbonate, a building block in
bisphenol-A (BPA), which gained headlines as an
endocrine disrupter and raised health concerns. Because
this category of plastics is composed of several types
of materials, few municipal or commercial programs
accept number 7 plastic.
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A chuckle or two or even a
gasp... |
Maxine Sums up the Health Care Bill ~
Thanks to Mr. Jim Knudsen
Let me get this straight. We're going to be
gifted with a health care plan written by a committee
whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by
a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves
from it, to be signed by a president who also hasn't
read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a
treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, to be overseen
by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a
country that's broke.
What the hell could possibly go
wrong? |
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Undies ~ Thanks to Ms. Florence
Pierson
Little Susie
goes home from school and tells her mom that the boys
keep asking her to do cartwheels because she's
very good at doing them.
Mom said : "YOU
should say NO - they only want to look at your
undies".
Susie said: "I
know they do ... that's why I hide them in my
backpack!"
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Heard while
shopping... Thanks to Ms. Juanita Whiteside
Everyone's in a hurry to scream
"racism" these days!
"In
what aisle could I find the Polish sausage?'
The
clerk looks at him and says, "Are you
Polish?"
The
guy (clearly offended) says, "Well, yes I am. But
let me ask you something. If I had asked for
Italian sausage, would you ask me if I was
Italian? Or if I
had asked for German Bratwurst, would you ask me if I
was German? Or if
I asked for a kosher hot dog, would you ask me if I was
Jewish? Or if I had asked for a Taco, would you ask
if I was Mexican? Or If
I asked for some Irish whiskey, would you ask if I was
Irish?"
The
clerk says, "Well, no, I probably wouldn't!"
With
deep self-righteous indignation, the guy
says, "Well then, why did you ask me if I'm Polish,
because I asked for Polish sausage?"
The clerk replied, "Because you're
in Home Depot."
(And
now I apologize to all our Polish friends, including my
Polish relatives, but it was too cute not to include
it).
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Rube Goldberg Machine ~ Thanks
to Mr. Jim Ward
This took
incredible imagination and patience.
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Down Memory Lane ~ Thanks to Mr. Jim
Knudsen
Just click on the link and sit back and enjoy the
memories. Great photos and facts. Be sure to
adjust your volume. The
Sixties
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The
Potato Sisters ~ Thanks to Ms. Leslie
Woodbury
This is a video
of an act from 1944 - The Ross sister act called
the Potato Sisters perform an amazing act. The song
they sing is about 45 seconds long and what they
did after the song was amazing!
The Potato
sisters..
About the Ross
Sisters...
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Ross
sisters)
The Ross Sisters were a trio of female
sibling dancers consisting of Aggie Ross, Elmira Ross,
and Maggie Ross [1] (whose real names were Veda
Victoria, Dixie Jewel and Betsy Ann Ross).[2] The Ross
Sisters performed as a 3-part harmony trio wherein they
also danced and didacrobatics and contortionism. Their
public attention peaked during the 1940s, during which
they were featured prominently in the filmBroadway
Rhythm.[3] This footage has since gained popularity on
YouTube. [4] This clip also appears in the compilation
film That's Entertainment! III
(1994).
Biographies
The
Ross Sisters were born in West Texas, to Charles
Adolphus and Veda Cordelia Ross. Shortly after they made
"Broadway Rhythm," they moved to Europe where they
appeared in "Piccadilly Hayride," a post-war London
stage revue that ran from 1946 to 1948.[5] They also
recorded "Five Minutes More," a song later covered by
Frank Sinatra.
Betsy Ann
Ross was born June 20, 1926, in Colorado City, Texas.
She married Robert "Bunny" Hightower, an American
dancer, on January 11, 1947.[6] They had a son named
Dana. The couple appeared together many times on The Ed
Sullivan Show. Robert Hightower was previously married
to dancer Vera-Ellen, best known as Rosemary Clooney's
sister in White
Christmas.
Veda
Victoria (Vickie) Ross was born November 8, 1927, in
Roscoe, Texas. She married Robert Lamouret April March
10, 1950, in Paris. She later had a second marriage to
Bob Hender.
Dixie
Jewel Ross was born August 9, 1929, in Loraine, Texas.
She married on July 10, 1948, to Richard (Dickie)
Henderson, OBE, (October 30, 1922 - September 22, 1985),
whose father was a Music Hall comedian and singer famous
for his short, rotund appearance, bowler hat, and
beautiful singing voice. He was also famous for making
the original recording of the popular song "Tiptoe
Through the Tulips." Dixie died at age 34 on July 10,
1963, and is buried in Gunnersbury Cemetery, London,
England.
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Jose ~
Thanks to Mr. Jim Knudsen
This financial crisis is
forcing State and local agencies to make some tough
decisions. If things continue for much longer,
there's a real risk that we may have to lay off
Jose.
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The Patch ~ Thanks to Ms.
Juanita Whiteside
The other day I needed to go to the
emergency room. Not wanting to sit there for 4
hours, I put on my old Army fatigues and stuck a patch
onto the front of my shirt that I had downloaded off the
Internet.
When I went into the E.R., I
noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and
left. I guess they decided that they weren't that
sick after all. Cut at least 3 hours off my
waiting time.
Here's the patch. Feel free to
use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency
service. 
It also works at DMV. It saved me 5
hours.
At the Laundromat, three minutes
after entering, I had my choice of any machine, most
still running.
Don't try it at McDonald's though...
The whole crew got up and left and l never got my
order.
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Worth a thousand
words... |
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Best Photos ~ Thanks to Ms. Barbara Jones
Some of National Geographic's Best Photos in 2009
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Before we say so
long... |
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Before you go,
remember your comments, suggestions, and
contributions are welcome. When you come across
something funny or informative and in good taste,
please send it along. I would love to include
it with your name and
our thanks.
Be sure to tell
your friends about Coffee Break. And if you have
time, explore the other sections of our web
site.
I leave you to
ponder these words a good
friend shared with me:
"The happiest of people don't necessarily
have the best of everything;
they just make the best
of everything that comes along their way."
Carry that
thought with you as you tackle the rest of your
week. For information on buying or selling in
the bay area, please call me at 510-429-4800
or send me a note on the Contact Joanne form.
~ Joanne
Joanne L. Gardiner, Broker, e-PRO
Realtor
Advantage Realty
3205 Whipple
Road - Union City, California
94587
(510)
429-4800
San Francisco Bay Area
San
Francisco East Bay Real Estate
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