The804.com–Richmond VA Real Estate Blog

Crikey! When did Virginia become the Discovery Channel?

• Bears
• Cougars
• Coyotes
• Foxes

…Golf n drinking.  No better combination in the world…

Richmond Co-Ed Golf Happy Hour, “Six at Six”
 
Richmond, VA - May 6, 2008 - Sycamore Creek Golf Course is offering “Six at Six,”  every Friday from May 9 thru June 27.
 
$29.00 - includes cart, balls and two cold beverage tokens.  Whether you’re a seasoned golfer or beginner, this golf happy hour is great for couples and “swinging singles” alike.
–If you’re a woman who’s never picked up a club but always wanted to try, the beginners’ clinic is a good way to start.  It’s a no-pressure, non-pretentious way to learn the game without having to worry about a bad shot!
–If you already know how to play and want to meet new people, play six holes of a Captain’s Choice format.
–If you don’t need a lesson or don’t feel like playing six holes, grab a bucket of balls and practice your swing on the driving range or putt on the practice green.
Don’t forget about the social under the stars afterward in the pavilion.  What better way to enjoy the beautiful Spring scenery, just 10 minutes from Innsbrook.  Every Friday after work from May 9 through June 27.  Richmond’s newest “club” scene.
     
Call Sycamore Creek to pre-register, 804.784.3544.  Or check the website for more information.

Friends like to make fun of my website…it looks awful, “so 1996″…doesn’t use images…no cascading style sheets…zero flash (both literally and figuratively)…no thematic unity (”what’s with all the redneck topics”)…too busy…

It’s cool.  It’s by design (if you want mysql/python/rails/rss/css…that’s gonna be my next project)…I think there is beauty in the simplicity of a Craigslist or even Drudge Report.  Aesthetics is irrelevant.  At the end of the day, it’s the content, always the content that brings you back.  As for the fluff, Skip Intro, always…  I think I’ve done a decent job in building some good reference materials, especially the dining section.  The site aims to be ridiculously inclusive and comprehensive while removing noise/junk and leaving some space for personal recommendations.  I think that’s why it’s built a growing readership and following (at least based on traffic stats and rss reader subscriptions).

The site still needed a makeover though.  For some reason, I’ve always remembered a quote Alec Baldwin (of all people) once made.  He said that his dream job would be being the Matt Drudge of St Barths.  At the time, I immediately thought that he could have that overpriced island…I’ll take being the Drudge of St Maarten/Martin any day.  Since that particular fantasy won’t happen anytime soon, I have resigned myself to my beloved Richmond.

Drawing much inspiration from the Drudge Report, Digg, and Google News, I redesigned the home page of the Good Life.  I am now triaging interesting Richmond news stories drawn from everywhere (the paper, blogs, tv stations, myspace, discussion boards, whatever is interesting).  It’ll be up to my editorial discretion to determine what might be of interest to you (I get to play-pretend being a managing editor).  Sure, there are links to silly tabloid/celebrity stories, but it’ll be balanced out with some serious stuff.  I’ll also have my share of stories that will be of zero interest to most of you.  Expect a compilation of fishing reports every Thursday until June-ish.

Check out the site.  Tell me what you think. I’m going to experiment with this new idea for a couple of months to see where it goes.  Perhaps, “Glutton Opines: Grand Case restaurants” will be part of Version 1.2. 

It makes me smile that I have chosen the following inaugural (first!) images for the new site: Marlboro, Lee’s Fried Chicken, Donnie Darko, 4 Chan, and some hot reality tv model.

RICHMOND GOOD LIFE (V1.1)

I’m loving this tit-for-tat Braves stuff going on in Style.  It’s sooo Richmond (To: Richmond Ballpark Initiative (Jon Newman, Tim Davey, Bryan Bostic, et al.) From: Scott Bass | To: Scott Bass (Style Weekly, et al.) From: Gary Armstrong, Richmond Ballpark Initiative)…

In this 2008 swan song season,  I  have decided not to go to any Richmond Braves games.  Patronizing the Braves would be the moral equivalent of babysitting your ex-wife’s dog while she and her new lover go on vacation to Hawaii or, maybe, Gwinnett.

There is an alternative.  VCU:

• 8 NCAA Regionals 
• 24 All-CAA honorees 
• 16 All-Americans including current Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge 
• 3 CAA Championships 

That’s right Ram’s baseball is played at the Diamond and will get all my baseball dollars in 2008.  Check out their schedule… 

  Fri, Feb 29  Seton Hall University   3:00 p.m. 
  Sat, Mar 01  Bucknell University (DH)   1:00 p.m. 
  Sun, Mar 02  Seton Hall University   1:00 p.m. 
  Tue, Mar 04  Liberty University   3:00 p.m. 
  Wed, Mar 05  East Carolina University   3:00 p.m. 
  Fri, Mar 14  Manhattan College   7:00 p.m. 
  Sat, Mar 15  Manhattan College   2:00 p.m. 
  Sun, Mar 16  Manhattan College   1:00 p.m. 
  Tue, Mar 18  Longwood   7:00 p.m. 
  Fri, Mar 21  Georgia State University *   7:00 p.m. 
  Sat, Mar 22  Georgia State University *   1:00 p.m. 
  Sun, Mar 23  Georgia State University *   1:00 p.m. 
  Fri, Mar 28  UNC Wilmington *   7:00 p.m. 
  Sat, Mar 29  UNC Wilmington *   2:00 p.m. 
  Sun, Mar 30  UNC Wilmington *   1:00 p.m. 
  Fri, Apr 11  Northeastern University *   7:00 p.m. 
  Sat, Apr 12  Northeastern University *   2:00 p.m. 
  Sun, Apr 13  Northeastern University *   1:00 p.m. 
  Tue, Apr 15  Univ. of Richmond   7:00 p.m. 
  Tue, Apr 29  VMI   7:00 p.m. 
  Wed, Apr 30  Norfolk State University   7:00 p.m. 
  Fri, May 02  Towson University *   10:30 a.m. 
  Sat, May 03  Towson University *   9:00 a.m. 
  Sun, May 04  Towson University *   6:00 p.m. 
  Thu, May 15  Univ. of Delaware *   7:00 p.m. 
  Fri, May 16  Univ. of Delaware *   3:00 p.m. 
  Sat, May 17  Univ. of Delaware *   9:00 a.m.

What about June-August?  Washington Nationals and Norfolk Tides!

Thought I’d never see it…After ignoring them for so long, the Times Dispatch has finally acknowledged the existence of the Richmond blog community; albeit with one of their pet pilot projects, the YouTube-inspired MashUP / Mashup Blog (btw, would have loved to been a fly in the wall for that powerpoint pitch to the NYSE:MEG gray hairs).  

Yep, MashUP links to the area’s elite blogs (Buttermilk and River City Rapids), as well as “king aggregator” RVABlogs and the CHPN neighborhood blog network.  SaveRichmond (too hot of a potato?) is strangely absent; although, Urban Richmond (which has been very critical of the city paper as of late) is included.

In regards to the actual content, I tip my hat to this lean 6 person crew.  I learned some new things that were of personal interest (Bollywood Dance Party, I’m so there…Current.com Richmond…Comic book stuff…etc).  The topics covered have a RVAMagazine/Brick  feel (young folks talking about the young style).  Speaking of Brick, is it officially dead?  They haven’t updated the website in weeks.  Is this MashUP project the latest replacement targeting the 18-35 demo?

This isn’t an original thought, but what the TD needs to do is combine the best practices of Brick, the Thursday Entertainment insert, and MashUP into one unified website and free weekly pulp companion (Creative Loafing would be a great role model).  Don’t get me wrong, I love Style Weekly (at least, until the 700 Club buys them), but this town is big enough to have two competing free “alternative” weeklies (a la Charlottesville with its Hook and Cville).  When media competes, we win.

The Richmond Weblog Oscars season is underway.  Please vote for your favorite blogs here.   Yours truly is nominated under the Best Business Blog category (which is really, really strange as I took the entire summer off while summering and working on some other projects).   Here are my votes…

Topical awards

• Best community blog
  • Church Hill People’s News Original Gangsta.   
• Best political blog
  • Save Richmond The Gadfly.
• Best business blog
  • Bacon’s Rebellion, Urban Richmond (tie) Yeah, one’s more political, the other more urban developmenty, but they are both so darn prolific that they end up covering more business/economics related news than any one else around.  I also think Richmond Business should have been a nominee.
• Best food blog
  • Brandon Eats You have to include the Style Magazine reviews as part of the canon of work.
• Best diarist
  • Not big fan of OPB diaries…Not much of a voyeur.
• Best topical blog
  • tvjerry Wish he’d RSS the damn thing.  The People magazine/Variety of Richmond.
• Most addicting blog
  • RVANews Will one day stand as an equal to Brick, Style, and Richmond.com in the alternative weekly genre.
• Funniest blog
  • Haduken The fact he named his blog after a Street Fighter fireball attack makes me smile.

Overall awards

• Best writing skills from a blogger
  • Save Richmond Devastating, Menckenian analyses (esp. VPAF, ABC, Richmond’s attitude towards independent arts and entertainment).  
• Best designed blog
  • RVANews Purty. Navigation is dense with content choices.  Compiling all the hood blogs into one + original content under one roof.
• Best kept secret
  • tvjerry and VCU Ad Center Room 116 (also see Creative Skirts; markfenske.com; Creative Clutter) Best kept secret would have to be off the RVABlogs rss grid.  The VCU Ad Center is a hidden treasure.  Some of the most creative, young folks in town call this ad mecca their home.
• Best new blog in 2k7
  • All of the community blogs (RVANews is just too new). I believe the Hood Blog network makes Richmond the king of “per capita blogs” in the whole country, maybe, the whole world.  The world.
• Post of the year
  • There need to be more very local community-oriented blogs. Baby daddy of all the new neighborhood blogs.
• Blog of the year
  • Buttermilk & Molasses for the exhaustive Downtown plan and Crupi coverage (tie) and River City Rapids for consistently covering everything under the Richmond sun.

Nice article in the TD (Couple target executive suite market) recently profiled a couple starting a temporary office space business in Henrico: Executive Business Center (3741-C Westerre Parkway).  Never knew there was a market for this kind of service, but it makes sense.  Upon further research, I found a couple other players in this field, and created a new section off main site entitled Richmond VA Temporary Offices.  On a side note, I commend the TD Metro Business for profiling another minority owned business (last week, they profiled Grapes and Barley in the article Wine, beer shop improves with age). 

Mission accomplished.  I set to make the804.com, the most comprehensive real estate portal in Richmond.  I also used it to feature a couple vacant buildings for rent.  Well, the804 has hit both goals.  I would love to continue on compiling real estate stories (both local and national trends) for the blog.  However, I’ve got a black ops, Web 2.0 project that’s taking up most of my time right now.  Once I launch that, I’ll resume updating the blog more frequently.  For now, I’ll just write about restaurants weekly to stay alive on RVABlogs.com.