Angie's List, The Phoenix Suns & a summer salad...

The idea of "community" with it's many connotations and implications has been in my thoughts lately. As a child, one doesn't quite grasp the deep and richness of the idea of "community" and perhaps not until one's early teens does it have any meaning to our daily lives. As a Realtor, we use the term perhaps a little too loosely. Is a "community" just a great neighborhood, is it a few square miles of parks, homes, schools and shops? While I dare say otherwise those are definitely some examples of what constitutes a "community" but to me a "community" is more thriving, alive and cohesive in the following instances.

My husband and I took a few nights off to go root for the Phoenix Suns against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference NBA Playoffs. We were at Game 5 of the series, Phoenix was down 1-3 and this would have been the elimination game. The Suns pulled out their "A" game and the crowd responded and gave the home team their full support. The same scenario duplicated itself this past Saturday at game 7. Exhilarating as the games were, the US Airways arena was thriving with a robust energy from the fans. As I observed the throngs of fans around me, I sensed and felt a living "community". This was something large and organic to some extent. Strangers engaged in standing behind a purpose greater than the combined parts of each and every one of us. Of course, it would be remiss of me if I didn't also let you know about the buzz you feel these days in downtown Phoenix, which is in and of itself another bustling community and that the light rail, the high rise condominium buildings and the historic districts uptown are shaping up an urban metro area that in my estimates will be a striking cosmopolitan city standing proudly with many International counterparts, but I'll ask you to be patient, I'll discuss downtown phoenix in another post.

So, how about an online "community". Well, blogging most certainly fosters that, as does EBAY, Craigs List and so forth. However, another list worth mentioning is ANGIE's LIST. http://www.angieslist.com is fast becoming an online "community" for everyone from home makers to contractors, to flippers and remodellers. What is Angie's List, well, it's a report card on 38 cities and various home improvement contractors and much much more. Check it out for yourself.

Lastly, the Summer Salad. For those of you who live here in this great metropolitan area we call The Valley of the Sun, you know that the next few months are going to be days filled with drinking plenty of water, eating cucumbers and water melons and sitting in the patios of many of our great restaurants with misters on as we'll seek refuge from the treacherous heat ahead of us. Yet, we go through this every year because we know that while those 3 to 4 months of unbearable heat is sheer torture, what lies ahead is months of crisp, cool desert breeze while most of the country is shoveling snow. In that we have and share our sense of "community" and just like that tossed salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and anything else that makes for a "green community" we too are a community a like to the summer salad.

Until next time, to your health and wealth!