by Osman Parvez

Mike Simonsen at Altos Research tagged me last week. I probably wouldn’t respond (I’m on vacation, in theory), but I like Altos Research. We share the same philosophy and mission to provide better information to buyers and sellers of real estate. Frankly, I’m also envious of his graphing skills. Plus this meme gave me a chuckle and in the memorable words of Jerry Greenfield (cofounder of Ben and Jerry’s), “if it isn’t fun why do it?”

5 things you probably didn’t know about me.

1. Knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em could be the essence of a good real estate decision. As it turns out, I can sing The Gambler and even accompany myself with an acoustic guitar. I’ve even performed at a few open mic nights over the years, including what used to be the Wolf Tongue in Nederland.

2. I’m a frequent participant in Boulder’s famous Cruiser Ride. Every Thursday night in Boulder, people get dressed up in colorful outfits for a casual and fun bicycle ride around Boulder. If you happen to see a few hundred cyclists parade by your home riding cruisers and shouting “Happy Thursday,” keep your eyes peeled for the guy towing a golden retriever. That’s me.

3. Real estate markets aren’t the only thing I’ve studied. That’s right, years ago I burned the midnight oil building financial models in a windowless cubicle far above Wall Street (actually midtown). I provided equities research coverage on telecoms including Quest, Worldcom, Global Crossing, and Level Three.

4. My research interests aren’t all business though. I’ve also studied frogs, including the wood frog (Lithobates sylvatica), coqui (Eleutherodactylus coqu), and spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer). My last frog research project was about two years ago in Puerto Rico.

5. Over the last five years, I’ve been writing a book on creating more meaningful, passionate, and fulfilling work. Coauthored with a friend from biz school, the manuscript is now a few chapters and a good agent shy of publication. It’s a side project, certainly, but one that keeps inching along. The more I live, work, and learn the better the book gets.

And there you have 5 things you probably didn’t know about me. As for people to tag, I’ll give a nudge to  Keith at HP. For non real estate people, I’ll tag Caroline,Barry at The Big Picture, and the only doctor (in training) and lawyer (on child rearing sabatical) I trust.

Here’s the path to me:
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Trevor Gay of Simplicity
Success from the Nest
Dave of Rothacker Reviews
Ann Handley of the Marketing Profs Daily Fix
Nedra Weinreich, Spare Change
Toby Bloomberg, the Diva Marketer
Drew from Zillow

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