January 2021

From Josh James, author and philosopher:

Hey righteous dudes and dudettes. What we have here is a radical flashback to what I call the best decade of all, the 80’s. Why, you may ask? Because this decade hasn’t panned out too well, I thought it would be nice to walk down memory lane and check out all the totally awesome things I remember about that decade. So grab your fanny pack, your high top shoes and your members only jacket and let's hit the road.  

Big hair, outrageous outfits and crazy makeup pretty much sums up the fashion statement for the 80’s. Who remembers, ladies, aquanet and the cans of spray it took to lift your hair skyward. It was like every girl was in competition over who could get their hair higher. Make-up was loud and proud with vivid colors and rock and roll inspired designs. We can’t forget the mullet guys. Who aspired to have business in the front and a party in the back? Well, I confess that I tried it out at one time. 

Neon clothes were all the rage with crazy patterns and contrasting colors. Don't forget the acid washed jeans and your Swatch to accessorize your favorite outfit. Even though we never jumped out of planes, we all had parachute pants and don’t get me started on the spandex and leg warmers. So much fashion and so little time.

The 80’s were filled with some of my favorite movies and TV shows of all time. Cable TV just began and completely destroyed the 3-4 channel, rabbit ear genre. With cable came 24 hour TV, remote controls and 50+ channels like CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon and pay channels like HBO and Cinemax. We sat down and enjoyed family comedies like the Cosby Show, Family Ties, Different Strokes, Silver Spoons and so many others. Dramas like Hill Street blues kicked off a whole set of TV dramas that continues today. Actions like Knight Rider, Airwolf and the A-Team littered the “tube” as well. 

Not only did we have cable but we had VCRs and with those came the movie rental stores like Blockbuster. Ahhh the days of renting three movies, because they always had the rent two get one free deal, and trying to watch them all in one night because they had to be back tomorrow before they closed. Glad those days are over. In retrospect, we spent a lot of time walking up and down those stores, reading the back of each box, trying to pick those three movies out. Then there was the door, you know the shady looking wooden door that said 18+ only on it. As a kid, that door was really intriguing. It was like a magical land beyond that door and I wanted to see where it went. I would see people go in and come out with movies in their hand but what movies needed to be behind a closed door. I wonder? 

Anyway, cool cars, cool clothes, cool shows and oh yes, the best decade for music ever. Prince, Madonna, Phil Collins and so many more filled that new channel MTV 24/7/365 and we were all like, did you see the new Micheal Jackson video Thriller. It was awesome!!!! Our heroes of rock leapt off the radio and into our rooms where MTV played all the time. With the advent of the handheld VHS camera, we could reenact our favorite videos. It was our generation's version of YouTube without the hateful public scrutiny.

Times were simpler back then, at least for me. Sure we had our fair share of controversies and tragedies but what generation is immune to that. We all look back on those simpler times, whether you were fond of my 80’s or you were a child of the 60’s or even earlier, it’s that look back that makes us who we are today. So, kicking things off in the 80’s, we are going to dive further back through the decades, with each month’s newsletter having a decade theme to it. From hippies to sock hops we are going back, because face it, right now stinks and we need a little nostalgia in our lives. 

Along with each newsletter we will be doing some trivia, 20 questions to be exact. If you’ve read this far into my monolog, then you’ve got the inside track on winning a great prize. If you can answer all twenty questions, without internet help and send those answers to joshua@gsmar.org then you win. First one to send the correct answers wins a pass on any MLS fine they may get in the future or already have. This is a potential $500 prize depending on the fine. Winner will be announced in the next newsletter. Wow, that’s totally tubular! Look for the questions throughout the newsletter. 

Contest is over: We have a winner 

Here is the first one: 

1. Which of these movies was NOT released during the 1980’s.                                         

        A. The Goonies   B. Gandhi    C.  Ghostbusters   D. Goodfellas

The moment has finally arrived. We are on the cusp of transferring from Paragon to Navica. This has been a long and arduous process, and we would like to thank the MLS committee for all their help in choosing this new platform. Many have asked, “Why are we switching?” Simply put, we believe Navica is easier to use, offers more in the way of a great phone app, their online website offers better services and, lastly, we keep reciprocal access between GSMAR and LAAR. When surveyed, a significant number of our members did not want to lose Lakeway access, and we followed their advice. Lakeway changed to Navica and so are we. We know that the first few weeks are going to be frustrating at times while you learn the new system. We believe that, in the long run, it will be better for the members.

We are proud to announce that we will go live on January 18th. Logins and the sight link will be sent out on the morning of the 18th prior to the launch. All of your listings and contacts will be transferred during this switch. Training has already been ongoing and if you have missed any training, go to our new YouTube channel “GSMAR Staff” to watch the Navica training videos. 

Anything entered into Navica after January 11th will not be in the new Navica system. Anyone's profile that was entered after the 11th will have to be re-entered.  You will be sent a new logIn and password.

Once Navica has gone live, the Instanet/Transaction Desk tab will not work for the first couple of weeks. Same goes for CRS and RPR. You can however still log into Paragon to get that info up till January 31st. By then it should be available on Navica as we go to them exclusively. 

Reciprocal access between LAAR and GSMAR will not be added right away. It will be added a couple of weeks after the 18th.

Office staff, which we call unlicensed assistants, will have full access to the entire office’s listings. We will be subdividing office staff later into a couple of different categories. What we call Unlicensed Assistants will be divided into Office Staff Administrators and Personal Assistants. Administrators will have full access to all listings from every agent in that office. They will have the ability to maintain listings, CMA’s and reports for all agents and the office. Personal Assistants will be assigned to one or more specific agents. They will only be able to maintain the listings of those specific agents they are assigned to.We will be subdividing the office staff personnel at a later date once we get used to this new system. 

Quiz Questions:

15.       Name the doll that created the first toy riots in 1983, which paved the way for more violence in following years over other toys like Tickle Me Elmo in 1996 or Hatchimals in 2016?      

16.       With over 43 quintillion combinations and only one way to solve this maddening puzzle, this  handheld device sold over 200 million worldwide from 1980 to 1983. What was it and did you solve it?       

17.       What year did the first “Windows” operating system debut?  A. 1982   B. 1989    C. 1985   D. 1987