Keep candles where they will not accidentally be knocked over. Extinguish candles when your are finished with them and never leave a candle unattended. Take special care with candles if you have children or pets running around in your home.

• Sports

Gaelic Football Grows in Popularity in Northern Westchester

Section Sponsored By

The mashup of soccer and football offers an alternative sport to local kids.

By Lisa Buchman | Email the author | 6:00am

0 of 0

 

new  

Embed | Share

Setanta scrimmagers ages 8 and under.

Photos (15)

Photos

Credit Lisa Buchman

Credit Lisa Buchman

Credit Lisa Buchman

Credit Lisa Buchman

Credit Lisa Buchman

Credit Lisa Buchman

Add your photos & videos

Often described as a mashup of soccer, rugby and basketball, Gaelic football has been played for 2,000 years in Ireland, 100 years in America, 40 years in Putnam County—and for the last three years by a growing number of kids in Katonah and throughout Westchester. 

Most kids catch on to the Gaelic rules quickly because they get to do follow their instincts when they see the ball—pick it up, and pass, kick or bounce it, according to Gerald Padian, a co-founder of the Katonah Gaelic Football Club.

“When they start out, no one’s seen the game, much less played it, but it’s intuitive to kids,” he said after a recent practice for Setanta, the club’s team—named for a mythological Irish warrior. “They get to do what comes naturally.”

The goal of the game is to score by kicking or hand-striking the ball through the goal. Unlike American soccer, players can handle the ball, which is moved up through the field by kicking, hand-passing in a fashion similar to a volleyball strike, running—which must be done with a bounce of the ball every three steps—or “soloing” the ball, when players drop it to their instep and kick it back up to their hands.

“It’s physically taxing but the players seem to be into it for the sport itself,” said Padian. “It’s less competitive than some of the other sports in the area.”

Martin Viall, a South Salem resident, said his son Kye, a first-grader at Lewisboro Elementary School, played because he hadn’t really “connected” to soccer, and their family was attracted to the Irish heritage of the game. “We’re half-Irish, so it’s been great to have another sports option that also allows Kye to connect to his roots,” said Viall.

The cultural connection was not lost on the kids playing.

“I love kicking the ball and I love that it’s Irish, because I’m Irish,” said Fionn Reid, a six-year-old from Briarcliff Manor.

But the game is open to children of all backgrounds, Padian said, and the local group has a diverse roster. “This year, the Irish-Americans may even be the minority on the team,” he said, though at Saturday’s practice, plenty of typically Irish names—Aidan, Ronan, Jack and Connor, to name a few—were overheard.

Setanta joined this year with the veteran West-Putnam team to enable that region to field a group to participate in the New York Minor Board, the regional governing association of the Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland.

About 100 children—up from 20 that started the team three years ago— ages 5 to 14 were playing in Katonah on Saturday, from towns as close as Yorktown, South Salem and Briarcliff Manor, and as far as Peekskill, Fairfield and Greenwich, CT. Home games are played at the Harvey School or Katonah Elementary School. Away games are within a one-hour drive to Katonah.

Padian’s 8-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter played the game at their second home in Ireland. Their love of the game led Padian to co-found the team with locals John Myers, Mark Flanagan, Mike Drude and John Albert. Padian’s leadership and enthusiasm are a draw for some families to participate, said more than one parent at Saturday’s practice.

“When I first heard about it from Gerry, I thought—did we need another activity to do, let alone one we didn’t know the rules for?” said Rich McDermott, a Katonah resident and friend of Padian’s. “But he’s doing a phenomenal job, and now it’s absolutely my daughter’s favorite activity, and the team has a real cult following around here.”     

Cortlandt resident Padraig Carroll played as a boy in Woodlawn in the Bronx—where Gaelic football is still huge, he said. Now his former teammates are coaching his seven-year-old son Sean on Setanta.

“It’s just good, clean fun,” he said. “It gets kids outside in the fresh air and away from the television. It’s nice that it has Irish roots, but here, you can just show up and play.”

Great, we’ll send you an email as soon as a follow-up is published!

Make a new comment on this article

 

An enormous backlog of foreclosures dominates the foreclosure picture at every level, outpacing the monthly sales volume by a factor of thirty and promising to continue the Foreclosure Era for months and years to come.

Ultimately, these foreclosures will most likely reenter the market as REO properties, putting even more downward pressure on U.S. home values.

The February Mortgage Monitor report by Lender Processing Services, Inc. shows that in spite of the backlog, delinquencies continue to decline and banks’ modification efforts have begun to pay off, as 22 percent of loans that were 90+ days delinquent 12 months ago are now current.

Option ARM foreclosures increased 23 percent increase over the last six months, far more than any other product type. In terms of absolute numbers, Option ARM foreclosures stand at 18.8 percent, a higher level than Subprime foreclosures ever reached. In addition, deterioration continues in the Non-Agency Prime segment. Both Jumbo and Conforming Non-Agency Prime loans showed increases in foreclosures and were the only product areas with increases in delinquencies.

Slower processing times are causing timelines continue to extend, with the average U.S. loan in foreclosure now having been delinquent for a record 537 days, and a full 30 percent of loans in foreclosure have not made a payment in over two years.

The total U.S. loan delinquency rate is now 8.8 percent, down from 10.78 percent a year ago.   Foreclosure starts are also down 14 percent from February 2010 and seriously delinquent loans are down 9.43 to 8.24 percent.  However, the foreclosure rate is up 7.5 percent. The total U.S. non-current inventory stands at 6,856,000

States with the most non-current loans are Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, New Jersey, Georgia States with fewest non-current loans:  Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota.  Non-current totals combine foreclosures and delinquencies as a percent of active loans in that state.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• Share/Save

"QR" codes are all the rage for some businesses – especially retailers. These codes have the ability to hold lots of information but in general have been used to direct people who scan them to a web page. For that reason, there are a ton of possibilities for you to incorporate using QR codes into your own business. Let me try to break it down for you.

What is a QR Code?

The code (pictured to the right) is a code that is made up of black blobs (technical term) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. It is used by many retailers to track inventory, used by airlines to check you in at the gate, but the most exciting thing for small businesses is that these codes can help generate business!

For most mobile phones that have cameras, there are downloadable apps that enable the code to be easily read by just pointing the phone at the code. Once the code is read, the mobile phone will do what you want it to do like opening a web page. If you've got a QR code reader, go ahead and read the code to the right, you'll be taken to the VerticalResponse home page! However, when we use QR codes, we'll direct anyone who scans one to a page that contains much less information since scanning large web pages on a smart phone can be overwhelming.

Practical Applications of a QR Code for Businesses

Get More Customers – When someone scans in the code, take them to a web page where they can get a special deal or a discount for your services. This could work especially well if you've placed the QR code on your retail location to attract new visitors. If you're wanting to get people from online to your location, Tweet the QR code to your followers and send them to a page that has a coupon they'll need to show you in order to redeem.

Grow Your Email List – If you offer something of value like a white paper or a special deal, you can direct anyone who scans the code to a sign up form. In order to receive their deal from you they'll need to give you an email address so you can send them an email that contains the information they're signing up for.

Grow Your Mobile List – Just like growing your email list,  if you want to collect mobile numbers then you'll need them to fill out their phone number so you can send them a text with the information contained in it.

Customer Service Videos – If you've got

an informational video about your company, your products or services, you can direct them to a mobile-friendly page where you host the video. The advertisement to the right shows a great example of what people will get if they scan the code and how to get a reader if they don't have one.

Where You Can Put QR Codes to Work!

• Printed advertisements
• Signs
• Sandwich boards or billboards
• Your store or restaurant window
• Datasheets and collateral
• Direct mail postcards
• Product labels
• Business cards
• Take out menus
• Magazine publications
• Inbox shipments
• Endless possibilities

How You Generate Your Very Own QR Codes – for Free – in Seconds

There are a bunch of easy ways you can generate a QR code (bit.ly is one of many). You can also use Goo.gl which is a URL shortener combined with a QR code generator. Why is that cool? Because it allows you to track the number of visits to the page where the QR code was read. Make sure you're logged into Google and just type the URL of the page you want to direct people to. You'll then be presented with a newly shortened URL. Once you get your shortened URL, click on "details" and you'll see your very own QR code automatically generated for you. You can then right click and save it as a JPEG or take a screen shot of it (but saving the image as a JPEG will give you the best resolution especially for print). Then use it on any of the materials I've stated above and you'll be able to see clicks generated from the QR code to assess what's working for you.

What People Need to Read Your QR Codes on Their Smart Phones

People who have smart phones will need to be able to download a QR code reader app, many of which are free. I found a great listing at this site called 2d code so check it out.

Have some fun with your own QR Codes and let us know how it worked!

« Initiative isn’t given, you take it | Blog Home

Small screens and big decisions

My take: the smaller the screen, the more hurried and less informed the decision ends up being.

Yes, there's more currency, more immediacy, more with-you-right-now-all-the-time and more data being collected. But……

If you're working with a spreadsheet or a thread of correspondence or a set of data, I'm not sure you're doing your best work if you're doing it on an iPhone.

 

Posted by Seth Godin on March 29, 2011 | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b31569e20147e097d7fa970b

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Small screens and big decisions:

« Initiative isn’t given, you take it | Blog Home

 DEAR BENNY: I am having problems with my mortgage. I fell on some hard times lately and fell behind on my mortgage payments. My mortgage lender has been dragging this out for over a year. I have been set up on two separate trial payments and made them both with no problem. Now my loan has gone into foreclosure. The lender keeps telling me that I am under review. Can you tell me what options I have to try to keep my home? –Hodges

DEAR HODGES: During the recent winter season — with snow and lenders having legal problems when they did not have the original promissory note — the foreclosure rate throughout the country fell. However, with spring on the horizon, lenders are back to foreclosing.

Unfortunately, your situation is all too familiar. Lenders arrange payment plans, whereby the loan is modified, and even if the homeowner is diligent in making the requirement payments, suddenly the lender issues the foreclosure notice.

Communicating with lenders is often next to impossible. You have to call a phone number, and if you are lucky, you will finally get to talk to a real, live person. But that person often has no real authority, and if they see that you are now in foreclosure, you are told to talk with the attorney handling that procedure.

And if you can finally get to talk with the lawyer, he/she tells you that you have to discuss your situation directly with your lender.

It’s time to stop this merry-go-round called “chase the lender.” Here are a few suggestions:

First, if your lender is a national bank, contact the Office of Comptroller of the Currency and file a complaint. This is a federal agency that regulates national banks, and banks must respond to the OCC on any complaints within 10 days.

Next, contact the congressman and senators in your state. Presumably, you are a registered voter, and one of the responsibilities of a legislator is to resolve constituents’ issues.

Next, see if your state has any foreclosure-relief programs.

Finally, if all else fails, see if you can arrange a short sale, so that at least you won’t have a foreclosure on your record.

DEAR BENNY: I’ve been a real estate broker, investor and landlord for 25-plus years. Now my main business is here in the world of mediation, where I specialize in areas of home and family. I mediate civil matters, where in Maine we have a rule requiring alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in most civil cases, and also mediate under Maine’s strong Foreclosure Diversion Program.

The results here in Maine have been very positive and I expect that about half of the cases I’ve mediated will result in dismissal of foreclosure action and homeowners staying in their homes. As to the other half, most of these homeowners now have a much clearer idea of their options going forward, whether it be the need for more income, selling the home before they lose it to the lender, or specifics on deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or short sale.

Even here in Maine, there is nothing preventing a homeowner and servicer from discussing mortgage relief directly, and this is happening all across the country. It is amazing, however, how that conversation is more meaningful and productive when we mediate in a court setting with a servicer representative with authority at the table (if only telephonically).

We also have a buyer-seller mediation program from a mediation clause in the purchase and sales agreement (since 1991) promulgated by the Maine Association of Realtors.

An interesting discussion is becoming more prominent between the legal and mediation communities about the specific role of mediators in legal disputes. Central to this is the question of whether the mediator should be more facilitative (focused on allowing the parties to find their own solutions based on what works best for their needs and relationship) or evaluative and problem-solving (focused on advising parties of the likely court outcome and using the mediator’s judgment to suggest party action.) This is a huge question that will determine the evolution of mediation practice.

The bottom line for me is that the client will never be best served by substituting my judgment for the client’s, and that conflict often has elements aside from legal that must be addressed to fully satisfy the client. Recent research continues to support this perspective.

As long as we continue to stay in the rut of “old-school” mediation, we’ll never fully capture its benefits. Mediators and attorneys can think of their relationship as collaborative rather than competitive. — William

DEAR WILLIAM: Many thanks for your interesting and thought-provoking e-mail. Mediation on foreclosure issues is cropping up all around the country; many states (and my own Washington, D.C.) have enacted legislation to mediate with their borrowers before they can pursue litigation.

Unfortunately, too many homeowners have been unable to get in contact with their lender to discuss their financial problems and issues. Mediation, at the very least, gets the parties talking to each other.

DEAR BENNY: In the course of refinancing our mortgage on a vacation home I learned that our condo association does not have a master flood policy on the various buildings that form our community — even though the bylaws state that the board shall obtain and maintain flood insurance.

I asked the board president how the board justifies ignoring a clean mandate spelled out in the bylaws.

After several months of evasive answers, a board member who is an attorney wrote me as follows, “Under Delaware law a board is permitted to deliberate and make decisions under the business judgment rule. You have presented an issue and this volunteer nonprofit board is taking the steps necessary to make an informed reasoned decision. I think you should be mindful of the doctrine of the law of unintended consequences” — i.e., increased dues.

I am not an attorney but the implication of the statement seems to be that a Delaware board can ignore bylaws as long as it is deliberating about those bylaws. The board has had 10 years since its inception to obtain flood insurance as required by the bylaws. How much deliberation does it need? The reference to unintended consequences seems irrelevant to me, as the bylaws are pretty clear and do not allow for unintended consequences.

My interest in this is financial. If the entire association is under one flood policy and the cost of that flood policy is equally divided among owners, my cost will be substantially less than paying for an individual policy as I now do, as required by my mortgage holder.

Is there anything I can do short of going to court? That’s an expenditure I’m not willing to undertake! The status quo poses a hazard to all owners: Those owners who do not have a mortgage are not required to carry flood insurance.

Let’s say there are two such owners in a six-unit building and there is a serious flood. It’s very doubtful that those owners could come up with their share of the repair costs out-of-pocket leaving the other owners to either pony up or abandon the building. –Albert

DEAR ALBERT: There are two legal concepts governing boards of directors. In some states, the business judgment applies. This started in Delaware (where your association is located) in order to protect those who serve on corporate boards. Oversimplified, those courts that have accepted this concept take the position that unless a board member (or the entire board) is doing something illegal, or unethical, the courts will not interfere — even if the board is making a mistake.

In other states (and in Washington, D.C., where I practice law) the courts have rejected the business judgment rule and instead have adopted a “reasonableness test.” In other words, was the action of the board reasonable under all of the circumstances?

So in those states that have adopted the business judgment rule, it is possible that a board can ignore a clear directive spelled out in the bylaws. It’s not a good idea, but some courts throughout this country have allowed this.

However, if, for example, the association budget contains a line item for the flood insurance, and there is money available to pay that line item, I think that a good argument can still be made that the board should abide by its bylaws.

Clearly, this is a slippery slope; if the board can get away with not paying the flood insurance (even though it is mandated in your bylaws), what else can they get away with?

In a state where the reasonableness test applies, the court will have to review all of the facts in order to decide whether the board had the right to ignore the bylaws. So if there is enough money in the budget — and if you are in a flood zone — I suspect the court will find the board’s decision unreasonable.

Bottom line: Condominium owners must vigilantly monitor their board’s decisions. If you don’t agree with their decisions, mount a campaign with as many fellow owners as you can, and call for a special meeting of the association. Your bylaws spell out the procedure for this process.

Benny L. Kass is a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. No legal relationship is created by this column. Questions for this column can be submitted to benny@inman.com.

   

 I just couldn’t resist it any longer. Every time I go to a conference or open my Twitter stream someone is talking about them. You know what I’m talking about: QR codes. Sometimes the conversations about them get really involved.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, QR codes (QR stands for “quick response”) are those square “bar-codey” things you see popping up on business cards, signs and other printed real estate materials. These things were designed for use in warehouses and look like it, too.

When you run into someone who has just blown a wad of cash implementing some sort of QR code solution, he or she usually starts with something like, “These are really big in Japan.”

Here’s the basic breakdown of how QR codes work in a typical real estate setting:

• Real estate professional pays someone for a bunch of QR codes to print on printed stuff like business cards or signs.
• A customer sees the QR code — in the real world, away from their laptop — and scans it.
• A Web page opens on the customer’s phone.

Please note that the following must be true for the customer to scan and interpret a QR code:

• Customer possesses a Web-enabled phone.
• Phone has a camera.
• Phone is capable of running apps.
• Customer has downloaded a QR code-reading app to the phone.
• Customer knows that there’s a QR code on the printed stuff.
• Lighting is such that scanning the QR code is possible (example: if the code is on a sign this is all happening during bright daylight hours).

You can see some of the issues here. But my problem with QR technology really doesn’t have that much to do with the sliver of the homebuying public who can readily make use of it.

It’s in the missed opportunity.

Opportunity No. 1: Own the platform

Among the bottlenecks in creating a QR-enabled customer is getting the customer to download and use a QR reader — the software that is essential to make the camera and phone turn into a QR code interpreter.

There are something like 200 different apps for the iPhone that let you read QR codes. Which is the best one? How does the customer decide what to get? All the time spent thinking about this is time not spent thinking about finding a house.

The opportunity in QR codes isn’t in putting the bar codes on all printed matter. The opportunity in QR codes is in owning the QR reader software.

What if there was a real estate-specific QR app? This could be as simple as rebranding one of the existing QR apps to be about real estate and then marketing it as such. Then, whenever real estate consumers see a QR code on a sign — anyone’s sign — they may choose to use your real estate QR app.

If you really want to own the platform though, you’ll have to get more involved than simply rebranding an existing QR app.

Opportunity No. 2: Own the interaction

Current usage of QR codes is mostly limited to opening Web pages. They’re just a fancy way of opening a Web page that places a lot of criteria on the customer.

But QR technology isn’t limited to opening Web pages. All the tech does is turn a physical image — the “bar-codey thing” — into some numbers and letters. Those numbers and letters could be anything.

If you own the platform, the QR code reader could be used to alert you to which specific customers were looking at which specific QR code. Here are some ways to own the interaction once a customer scanned a QR code into your own QR platform:

• Save the property to a profile (that can be shared with an agent).
• Display a list of similar properties (show me houses like the one just scanned).
• Connect directly to customer relationship management software for tracking and response.
• Initiate a showing and add it to a calendar.

By hooking a QR reader app directly into your customer relationship system or your website profile, you can deepen the level of service you provide to customers. This goes beyond opening a Web page for the consumer to bookmark or email to themselves or forget.

Opportunity No. 3: Own the narrative

Once you’ve got a handle on creating a more meaningful experience than showing a Web page, you could go deeper still. The series of locations that customers scan in will tell you something about their interests in terms of property or price or neighborhood or whatever.

You can use this data to create a path for the visitor’s next on-the-street outing to look at property. You could partner with neighborhood businesses to get their establishments into your neighborhood QR reader software. You could use QR codes to personalize the narrative of location for your customers.

QR technology is definitely in its infancy. Whether it gets off the ground or not, who knows.

But if the primary benefit of going through the steep technology and conceptual requirements is simply a Web page — even if it’s a Web page with … (wait for it to download, please) … video — then who cares?

It’s an additional tool for a listing presentation, at least, I suppose.

Gahlord Dewald is the president and janitor of Thoughtfaucet, a strategic creative services company in Burlington, Vt.

Contact Gahlord Dewald: