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GRANDS SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE
Don’t Text and Drive
By: Cathy Droz
Using one’s communication and socialization skills with grandchildren can be a challenge for Grands at any time, no less in a moving vehicle. With today’s technology our grandchildren know how to text and tweet before they can write and speak. It may be a challenge to stop your teens and tweens from using modern technology in the passenger seats while driving to the playground or the soccer field, but the best thing you can do as their grandparents is not do the same while driving.
The University of Utah studies show that 70% of accidents involving teens are caused by sending and receiving text messages. That is equivalent to drinking and driving with two times the legal limit of alcohol. Many states have outlawed both cell phone (other than hands free) and texting while driving. In some instances there is also a ban for teens to use hands-free devices for their phones.
Granted, I don’t text well standing up, no less driving, but I do use my cell phone hands-free in the car. I have a Bluetooth ear piece while many newer model cars have this feature included. Even with these precautions, pulling over to take a call or a text message is the safest bet.
If our grandchildren, even as young as two years old, see us fumble for the cell phone, take one hand off the wheel and start talking or texting while driving they will think its okay. Operating these devices in this fashion can be deadly; just ask those people who have lost their loved ones to someone who was texting or talking on their cell phone.
Three letter acronyms can be used to shorten a word or sentence, but texting while driving can shorten the life of another driver, pedestrian or your loved ones. Be conscious of your actions, be a role model for your grandkids while driving.
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Grandpa’s Getaway … a Luxury Garage
By: Larry Edsall
Last summer, when I was visiting the Midwest, my youngest daughter – she whose family will grow this summer to husband, wife, son, new baby, and don’t forget, Vegas, the wonder dog, and thus it may be time to move out of the rented town house and into a home with more bedrooms (including one for visiting grandparents), and don’t forget a fenced-in back yard for Vegas…
Anyway, she got me to watching a television show called House Hunters. In the show, someone or some couple hunting for a house is shown three properties, at least two of them in their price range, and one of which they have to buy. The lure to the viewer, I guess, is to see the houses, how the person or couple reacts to them, and to guess which one they’ll select.
Now, I’m not eager to think about moving, though it can be fun to watch, and speaking of watching, I’ve found a website that let’s me dream not only about exotic property but about all of those classic cars I’d like to own.
The website is called CarProperty.com (www.carproperty.com) and was launched three years ago by Bob “B.C.” Cross, who lives between Palo Alto and San Jose in what generally is known as Silicon Valley.
No surprise, Cross built his own computer software company, and later did a decade as an information technology consultant. But then he got his real estate license.
You see, Cross’s father was a car collector, and so were his father’s friends. Cross remembered how his dad and his friends were always talking about needing homes with more garage space for their cars. With the boom in prosperity in Silicon Valley creating new car collectors in need to more space for their cars, Cross recognized a niche market.
While the MLS focuses on things such as bed and bathrooms, it doesn’t go into the details of garage stalls, ceiling heights to accommodate car lifts, etc.
Cross not only did general real estate work, but specialized in properties that would appeal to car collectors. When he realized that he was one of the few agents anywhere providing such a service, he launched his website as a place people could see such properties regardless of where they lived – or planned to move.
But as I’ve discovered while watching House Hunters, even if you’re not planning to move, it can be fun to see what’s available – and, O.K., to dream about owning such a place, and in our car-enthusiast’s case, owning the cars to fill all those garage stalls.
So lately I’ve been clicking through the various ads on www.carproperty.com, where you get to go inside Nicholas Cage’s place on Newport Beach and the 20-car property formerly owned by Steve McQueen. You also get to see lakeside and mountain hideaways with spectacular views – and great garages.
You can dream about buying 17 acres on old Route 66 complete with a 1950’s café, two vintage gas stations, a car wash and plenty of garage space. O.K., they’re real fixer-uppers, but it doesn’t cost anything to dream.
O.K., back to the ads… Hey, I just found a 10-car property not far from my daughter’s town house. I wonder if they’d be interested.
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PEACE OF MIND IN A KIT
By: Cathy Droz
December Issue – Grand Magazine
CHILD CAR SEAT SAFETY FOR GRANDPARENTS
By: Cathy Droz
December Issue – Grand Magazine
What Happens in the Cadillac, Stays in the Cadillac
By: Larry Edsall
www.izoom.com
GRANDMA ATTENDS PHOENIX CITIZENS POLICE ACADEMY
October, 2009
Two for the Road USA
By: Cathy Droz
Questions by Bill Z.
CAN YOU TELL THE CHILDREN FROM THE ADULTS?
The Children’s Museum of Phoenix
215 North 7th Street – Phoenix, AZ 85034
602 253-0501
No GAP for Grandpa
by: Larry Edsall
2008 Women's Expo
News Release
2008 Ford Escape Hybrid
by Cathy Droz
Grandparents “GETAWAY” Car
by Cathy Droz
Hip-Hop Meets Pop-Pop
by Cathy Droz
"Green" Grandparents are Cool
by Cathy Droz
Was that a Hot Flash or a Hot Car?
by Cathy Droz
Read about Cathy Droz featured on GrowingBolder.com
Cathy Droz's articles are included in 55+ Alive!
About Love Inspired Photography - Weddings, Portraits, Family and Sports Photography
Grandma, Cathy Droz has 20 years of automotive marketing experience. She writes a weekly column with her daughter called Boomer and X and has a successful radio show in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the proud grandmother of Jayden Droz, who will accompany her on her test drives for fun and research. For more reviews go to www.twofortheroadusa.com or contact Cathy at drozadgal@aol.com
