Here I am, sitting in a San Diego hotel room at 4:00 in the m0rning, weeping like a baby…

Just a few hours ago, the Highland High School Marching Band won first place in the Arizona State Marching Band Championship!

My daughter Lauren is a member of that band.

I just don’t have the vocabulary or the writing skills to  express how proud of her I am, and how sad I am that I wasn’t there to witness it.

She and her band mates worked so hard for this championship.

Two hours from now, give or take a few minutes, will mark the one year anniversary of the tragic and senseless death of my daughter’s band mate, Kelly Tracy.

Those that have read here for a year on Phoenix Real Estate Guy may remember that around 6:00am on November 15, 2008, Kelly Tracy – just 16 years of age – was killed by a drunk driver when she was minutes away from joining her band to march in the Gilbert Days parade.

That day was, without doubt, the most emotional day of my life.

My wife Francy and I were volunteer “band parents” the day Kelly was killed and words can not come remotely close to describing what we felt that morning, as we stood in the band room surrounded by 150 kids when they were informed their friend had been killed.

As painful as that day was for us, and trust me it was agonizing, it pales in comparison to what the kids went through and was nothing remotely close to the pain the Tracy family has endured.

And yet, here we are – just one short year later, almost to the day Kelly died – and the band wins an Arizona state championship. On the same field where they marched last year on the day of Kelly’s funeral.

I am not an overly spiritual person, but it’s hard to imagine that Kelly wasn’t looking down from heaven last night, urging her friends on.

And they won. They are state champions!

I know for a fact that Kelly’s friends have not forgotten her.  They overcame the sadness from the loss of their friend, and amongst very strong competition, they won a championship. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kelly was doing back-flips in Heaven when the results were announced that her band were the state champions.

Lauren, I am so proud of you and your friends. I know how hard you all worked for this, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you when you won. Of course nothing will ever remove the pain of losing Kelly, but I assure you that she marched with you last night, and she is thrilled beyond belief. Congratulations sweetie!

For more on Kelly and the legacy she leaves behind, read this article from yesterday’s East Valley Tribune – and bring a box of Kleenex..

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For my Dad, Chaplain (COL) Jim Thompson, USA,  Ret. and all who have ever served.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. 
– Author unknown

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.  – José Narosky

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.  – Gary Hart

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.  It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.  – G.K. Chesterton

America’s veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world.  – John Doolittle

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. –Elmer Davis

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Hey! I’m growing a moustache to help raise awareness and funds for men’s cancer.

“Uh, dude you’ve already got a moustache,” you may be thinking.

Not any more!

For only the second time in… 25 something years, the ‘stache is gone.

Why in the world would I do this, and why now?

Because it’s Movember – a worldwide movement to raise awareness and much needed research funds for men’s cancer.

Prostate cancer will strike 1 in 6 men in their lifetime, and testicular cancer is the most common cancer afflicting men aged 18 – 35 (but us older guys are not immune).

Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m rather fond of my prostate and testicles and I have no desire to lose them. Or my life.

Funds raised will go the The Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.

So fellas, join our team and grow a mo! Ladies, you can join too and be a Mo Sista! (no donation required. A little publicity would be cool though.) We need your support!

And if you can spare ANYTHING, even a buck, you can donate here. Why not give up tomorrow’s latte and donate $5?

. . . ridiculous. Beyond my comprehension.

Kelly Tracy was 16 years old when Manuel Contreras-Galdean got behind the wheel of a car at 6:30 in the morning with a blood-alcohol level over twice the legal limit.

He murdered an amazingly talented, bright and caring young lady. He brought unimaginable pain and suffering to hundreds of Kelly’s friends. Very few can even remotely comprehend the suffering he inflicted on Kelly’s family.

Kelly was a member of my daughter’s High School marching band. My wife and I were volunteers with the band the morning Kelly was killed and we were present in the room when her band mates were informed of her tragic death.

Almost a year later I still can’t think of that day without crying.

Yesterday the Arizona Republic reported that Contreras-Galdean pleaded guilty to one count each of manslaughter and aggravated assault for his actions that day. A Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman said he will face a 10½ year prison sentence for each count.

And he will serve those sentences concurrently.

In other words, he serves his two sentences together, as opposed to consecutively (or “back-to-back”) as had been previously discussed.

In other words, Manuel Contreras-Galdean will spend only 10½ years in prison for killing Kelly and hurting her brother.

10½ years.

For killing a 16 year old. A completely preventable tragedy. He chose to get drunk that morning. He knew the consequences (this was his third or fourth arrest for DUI). He gambled with Kelly’s life and she lost.

And he gets 10½ years.

Assuming he serves the full sentence, he’ll walk out of prison when he’s 42 years old. On that date, Kelly would have been 26. Twenty-six.

He will have another 40 or so years of freedom to enjoy when he gets out.

Kelly’s friends and family will only have memories. And thoughts of what could have been. And they’ll go through agony every November 15th, the anniversary of Kelly’s senseless and tragic death.

10½ years? That’s the value our society places on a human life?

In a post I wrote the day after Kelly died I said, “If he gets out of prison before he dies then a travesty of justice will have been served. I know I should be able to forgive him, but I can not. I’ll leave that to a higher and greater power.”

Well, a travesty of justice has been served. This “man” should rot in prison.

But he’ll be out in 10½ years.

Assuming of course he doesn’t get early release or time credited for “good behavior”.

10½ years.

It makes me physically ill.

Rest in peace Kelly. You accomplished more in your short life than the animal that killed you could ever dream of doing. Your smile will shine on forever.

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It’s October, and that means it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So we’re going pink again to hopefully provide a reminder to anyone reading that you need to:

1) Understand early detection is key. Get a clinical breast exam,  mammogram and/or do a self-exam.

2) Think about how horrific this disease is and if you can, support breast cancer research and patients:

• The Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure is happening in LOTS of places. (The Phoenix event is Sunday, October 11).
• The Breast Cancer Society is a national organization based in Mesa, AZ that has a primary focus of providing direct help and financial aid to those suffering with breast cancer.
• Do you Twitter? Check out TweetsForBoobs.org! Send a tweet with the hashtag #tweetsforboobs and you’re pledging to donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Follow them @tweetsforboobs and they’ll keep track of your pledges and DM you your total. What a great way to use Twitter and social media to gather pledges and spread the word! Kudos to the Phoenix area peeps that put this all together.

No money? Understood. You can also donate your time, there are many organizations that need volunteers. Write a blog post. Tell a friend. Do something, anything to help stop this insidious disease.

Mr. Contreras-Galdean:

On November 15, 2008, you killed Kelly Tracy. Kelly was 16 years old when you decided to get behind the wheel of a car with a blood alcohol level of 0.192 – more than twice the legal limit – at six-thirty in the morning.

This was, according to some reports, the third time you’ve been caught driving under the influence. Lord only knows how many other times you drove drunk and didn’t get caught.

And this time you killed a young, vibrant and incredibly talented young girl.

Here it is, ten months later and you still haven’t gone to trial.

And now according to a story in today’s Arizona Republic, you’re asking prosecutors and the judge for a lighter sentence in your plea bargain negotiations.

You’ve got some nerve.

You say you are sorry “for the pain you’ve caused the Tracy family”.

You can not begin to conceive of the pain you’ve caused the Tracy family. None of us can.

You’ve caused a lot of people a lot of pain Mr. Contreras-Galdean. I was in the room that day when school officials told the 150 or so kids in Kelly’s band that she had been killed. I was at Kelly’s memorial service and her funeral too and trust me, even a low-life piece of shit such as yourself doesn’t deserve to experience what you put those kids through.

And you want a more lenient sentence?

You don’t deserve a more lenient sentence. Hell, the 20 years the prosecutors are proposing isn’t enough. You should rot in prison. You should spend the rest of your natural life behind bars for murdering Kelly. I’m not even considering the three counts of felony forgery you’re also facing for falsifying employment records and using a fake social security number to get a job while you were in this country illegally. Add that to the aggravated assault and Manslaughter charges you face for killing Kelly and the simple fact is, you should never walk free again. Ever.

Yet you have the gall to ask for a more lenient sentence. You make me sick.

Why don’t you man up and for once in your pathetic life and do the right thing? Shut up, quit your crying and go to prison for as long as the courts tell you to. The Tracy’s have agreed to the current plea offer, who the hell are you to argue for less?

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Now here’s something *completely* non-real estate related…

If you’ve been connected at all to the Internet over the last six months or so, you’ve probably heard of Susan Boyle. The runner-up in Britain’s Got Talent TV show has an AMAZING voice. Her YouTube performance from episode 1 of BGT has been viewed over 29 million times.

Her first single looks like it’s going to be a cover of the Rolling Stones Wild Horses, one of my all-time favorite songs.

Here it is via IrishCentral.com. Crank up the speakers, this woman may not look like it, but good grief can she sing.

Susan Boyle… living proof you should never, ever “judge a book by its cover”…

As I type this memorial services are happening in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, PA and the names of almost 3,000 people murdered on September 11, 2001 are scrolling across the TV screen on Fox News.

Eight years ago today, our lives changed. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were thinking on that day.

Eighteen years ago today, On September 11, 1991, my son James was born. Talk about a life changing moment! I’ll never forget witnessing the birth of my son, looking down at this beautiful baby and feeling overwhelmed with love while thinking, “Oh dear God. What do I do now?”

Today he is legally** an adult, and I love him even more than I did eighteen years ago. I’m so proud of the man he’s become. We’ve had some great times, we’ve had some tough times. I think I did some things right as a parent, and I know I did more things wrong. But the kid turned out to be one hell of a human being, and I’m proud to call him my friend and my son.

** Remember buddy, you may be an adult now, but as long as you’re in my house, ya still follow my rules…

If you’ve read this blog in the past, you know my life has been touched several times by cancer. I hate cancer. There is absolutely nothing good about this horrific disease.

Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation does amazing work. They’ve created Livestrong Action to help make world leaders aware of the impact cancer has on everyone’s lives.

I created a page to honor three of my friends who lost their battles with cancer. Wendy Collins was Francy’s Maid of Honor at our wedding. She died from leukemia. Karen George was a local lender who died from breast cancer, and my brother-in-law Tom Johnson died from lung cancer. All of them were taken at far too young an age. I miss them.

Sign the World Cancer Declaration

Lance Armstrong has dedicated his return to the Tour de France this year to fighting cancer. He’s trying to get signatures on the World Cancer Declaration and will present them to world leaders and push for new resources in the fight against cancer.

You can sign my page here. Or create your own here.

I don’t know if it will help. But awareness is key and politicians across the globe are motivated by mass numbers. It sure can’t hurt.

It only takes a few seconds and doesn’t cost you a dime.

Apparently Livestrong’s servers are overloaded. Over 2,000 pages were created within a couple of minutes of the one I did. Please keep trying!

Long time readers will know that I occasionally go off on a rant or three. Often about things seemingly non-real estate related (like towing scams, though I would argue that any sort of community news or happening is very much real estate related).

Anyway, looking back over the last few posts, I see a little trend of what could be perceived as just wee bit of negativity. Heck, my good friend Howard Arnoff of Charleston Real Estate said this in a comment a few days ago:

Jay, you’ve been in attack mode for a couple of days, part time agents, lack of pictures (but I couldn’t agree more).

Who or what are you going after next

And that was before the whole Mill Avenue towing thing blew up.

So today’s post will be about puppies and bunnies (literally and metaphorically). Let’s face it, you don’t get much cuter and sweeter than puppies and bunnies. Unless you’ve got a heart of stone (or the mind of a serial killer), you can’t look at that photo up above and not smile and think “Aww, how freaking cute is that?”

(Incidentally, that photo is used with permission from Warren Photographic in the UK. They have some very cool work there. Give them a visit.)

Puppies and bunnies make me smile. Real estate makes me smile most of the time. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that provide me the freedom to say what I think on this very blog – the good, the bad and the ugly – make me grin from ear to ear.

My friends and especially my family are way better than puppies and bunnies. So is a nice medium-rare steak with a frosty beer. Events like Ignite Phoenix, #EVFN and the amazing friends I’ve met in the Phoenix “social media community” pretty much blow away even puppies and bunnies. Ditto for me RE.net pals.

Wanna know another cool puppy and bunny moment? Getting emails from a Tempe police detective and the Tempe Community Relations Manager, a call from a Tempe Councilmember and the Mayor of Tempe all expressing the same frustration I have over the towing mess. Heck, even the guys at Monster’s impound lot must like puppies and bunnies as they were some pretty nice guys. There are puppies and bunnies to be found everywhere.

Let’s face it. Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes you have to deal with negative people, lousy service, general incompetence, a shitty real estate market and even getting scammed and ripped off.

Most of life though really is filled with puppies and bunnies. Those are the things you enjoy, and the things that make life worth living.

So if life’s bringing you down, if you find yourself letting the negative waves put you off, then get out there and pet a puppy and kiss a bunny or something.

Fear not. This blog isn’t changing to be some pie-in-the-sky let’s gather ‘round the campfire and sing Kumbaya kind of place. You’ll still get the straight scoop and my unadulterated opinion whether you like it or not. I ain’t sugar-coating nothing.

But today is puppy and bunny day!

So enjoy it damn it.