It’s pretty widely known that the biggest key to good landlording is attracting and keeping good renters. Doing so protects your property, minimizes costs, provides stability, and gives you the greatest possible income. It also, in my opinion, gives you the unique ability to build relationships and trust … one of the big reasons why I’m doing this thang.

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to find these “good renters”. The current situation in my home is pretty unique … four tenants are living under separate leases and sharing a common area upstairs. Though not an ideal situation for a family, this setup is great for a young professional or college student who’s trying to get ahead without having to live in the proverbial “parents’ basement”. I’ve been there myself for seven years, so I can appreciate the finer points of sharing a space and keeping the rent low.

When my current tenants’ leases run out at the end of the year, I plan to keep this same strategy (with some tweaks) and hopefully the same tenants (if things click). But I’ve already got to start thinking about how to fill the space quickly and with the right people if a spot opens up.

My location is one of the big factors here … I’m about a mile and a half away from Kenwood Towne Centre, one of the nicest malls in Cincinnati, so it would only make sense to try and connect with both mall employees and customers. I’d probably use roadside signs, bulletin boards, and (of course) a website … but I need your help to choose a domain:

So what do you think? Which one is the most likely to attract the right people? Which would be the most memorable to someone driving or walking by?

Want to taste what I tasted all last year? Well, you just might have your chance. A new cookbook has just been published that focuses on the spicy food of Hunan Province … and my mouth is watering!

Reviews in both The New York Times and The Boston Globe glow about this book, extolling not only the recipes but also the way the book represents everyday life in Hunan.

After living there for a year, I’m really curious about the way that this book paints the town … and I’m curious if it prescribes even a fraction of the amount of “la jiao” (spicy peppers) that I experienced on a daily basis.

Today, when Hunan again enjoys plentiful food “as bold and colorful as its people,” is the first moment in history at which a Western cookbook writer could have lived in friendship with Hunanese, and the last at which she could have collected first-hand memories of the Cultural Revolution.

Mmm … I think I’m going to have to pick up a copy …

These men and women in Gloucester, UK are competing in the annual “Cheese Rolling” competition. They’re not just falling … they’re chasing an 8lb double gloucester cheese.

Should I have put this post in the Sports category?

[via digg and Paul]

While preparing for our pirate-themed summer at PVM in 2005, I sat down with Matt and Amber to record an audio introduction for the staff website. Here’s what ensued:

The quality was pretty bad, so we never ended up using any of it. But it still cracks me up!

Back in June, I took a lot of heat for suggesting that some of the more popular views about global climate change are not as accurate as many people think. And now, four months later, Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in this very area.

The night before he won, a British judge reached a decision in a court case about the distribution of Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth. Apparently, this film had been given out to every state secondary school in the UK as part of a five-pack of edumacational films. In response, one school governer, also the father of two children, took the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to court for this “unlawful” distribution.

At the heart of the matter wasn’t a copyright or political issue … it was the accuracy of the film. After reviewing the movie and the scientific evidence that was presented, the judge ruled that much of the content was based on inaccuracies and illogical arguments.

Perhaps worse than the film’s errors is their origin. The BBC reported that Gore knew the film presented incorrect information but took no corrective steps because he didn’t want to spotlight any uncertainties in the scientific data that may fuel opponents of global warming alarmism.

After determining which parts of the film were based on inaccuracies, the judge ruled that the film could still be distributed but that students must be warned of the film’s factual errors.

Based on the judge’s ruling, the footage that ought to be excised adds up to about 25 minutes or so out of the 98-minute film. What’s left is largely Gore personal drama and cinematic fluff that has nothing to do with the science of climate change.

In the end, I really like this judge’s decision … not because of what it exposes, but because it is a conscious effort to keep the dialogue alive. The students will still see the film but will have the opportunity to learn about the inaccuracies it contains and hear some of the other relevant perspectives on this issue.

That kind of intelligent discourse about real-world happenings is so important … and approaching it with maturity, not censorship, is the only way to go!

I’ve got a great gift for you this weekend … two movie rentals, a tub of popcorn, and two 20-ounce Cokes from Blockbuster … all for free! Just print out this coupon and take it to your local store!

The only catch … I’m not quite sure if the coupon works or not. It doesn’t work.

Can someone try it this weekend and let me know if it works? I’d try myself, but I don’t have a Blockbuster account and I’ve already got 400 DVD’s from China on my shelf. But for you, there’s really no reason not to try!

“I encourage our fans to acquire our album however they please. The philosophy I’ve adopted is that if you’re supporting disc sales, you’re keeping the old model around longer … the one that forces dudes like me to tour 9 months/year if they want to make ends meet with a career in music. If you wanna really support a band, “steal” their album … help bury the label … and buy a tshirt when you show up at their show and sing every word.”

– Dave Peters, lead singer of Throwdown

I wish there was a website that would let you ping your lost mobile phone to find out its location.

I just found out that this photo of me at an alley in Changsha, Hunan was blogged in the Consumerist last April. As I remember, Rick and I were in the midst of a game of fun-and-crazy-oneupmanship, and Amy apparently had her camera ready to capture the moment.

FYI, the Consumerist is a pretty famous Gawker blog all about, well, consumerism … and it gets over a quarter of a million readers every day! If only they’d blogged a photo from Whiskerino …

I had to laugh when I discovered that YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and MySpace are all blocked at my middle school here in Cincinnati. It’s like our own little personal Great Firewall of China!

Boy, I wish getting a cell phone was as easy here as it is in China. Over there, you just buy a SIM card for a dollar or two and pay for some minutes. And if you get a number ending in 4, the card is free (the Chinese word for “four” sounds like “death”, so they superstitiously don’t want those numbers). There are no contracts, locked phones, weird packages, or confusing details … I guess that it makes sense why more than 585 million people there (almost double the entire population of the U.S.) have mobile phones.

In my hunt, I’ve discovered that Sprint is by far the best major carrier. But Cincinnati Bell, a local company, doesn’t tie down its users with contracts … so it’s turned my head and probably won my favor. They even have a neat service where, for $10/month more, all calls initiated in a WiFi network are free … and I’m wireless at home and work, so that’s a lot of free calls!

The problem now is the phone. I would really like to have a phone that synchronizes my contacts and calendars with my MacBook using bluetooth and iSync … but I’ve been striking out. The Nokia 6086, which is only $20 and works with the WiFi system, can connect to my computer but can only receive contacts manually, one at a time (and cannot receive calendar information). The LG Fusic (Sprint) and the Motorola RAZR/KRAZR are the same, even though the Motorola ones are listed by Apple as iSync Compatible Devices. Kinda frustrating … I wonder why it’s so hard to “support” more phones.

So now I’m kind of in limbo, deciding if I want to settle for a phone that will force me to manually import my contacts. Do any of you know of any phones, preferably in a lower price range, that work well with iSync?