Hello everyone.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holdays to you all.  Typically, when I get busy, I tend to overlook my weblog and I apologize to everyone who reads it and sees that I haven’t posted recently.  I have been busy with a lot of things this fall.  Some of these activities are directly related to auctions and some are not.  Many of you know that I am also a realtor in addition to being an auctioneer.  My most recent auction was a fundraiser for the “Certified Residential Specialists” which is a group of realtors who specializes in residential transactions.  This auction was in Maple Grove last week at Rush Creek Golf Course and raised money for five Twin Cities charities.  Some of  you may have visited the new auction house in Rochester.  Ron Krause, who has  been a long time attendee at my auctions, has gone to Auction School and has started an Auction Gallery in Rochester with auctions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and sometimes on Saturday afternoon.  I am planning to work with Ron on a New Year’s Day auction at his facility.  I am starting to line up a number of fundraisers after the first of the year.  I am trying to work on New Year’s resolutions early this year.  One of these is to try to post a lot more often (my new target is once a week).  We’ll see how long I can stick with this resolution.  I hope it is longer than my average.  I also am going to start using a new slogan next year.  In the past, I have used numerous phrases to describe my auction business.  Last week as I was carrying things out of a house, I realized that the most important part of my business is that I am personally involved in every aspect of my work, from the initial contact with the seller, up through the advertising and finally during the auction itself.  This is important.  If you call me about something, you will be talking to me personally, and not to someone who doesn’t understand what your needs are.  The same is true for my real estate business.  My new slogan is going to be “Personal service, all the time”  May the New Year bring happiness to all of us.