Gwinnett Medical Center just announced that it will no longer hire new employees that smoke. This story has received a ton of press coverage since it was announced just yesterday. Existing employee/smokers will be grandfathered in under the old policy and those employees will be encouraged to quit and offered smoking cessation help, etc.

This seems kind of logical – doesn’t it?

There’s already a smoke-free policy in place for all facilities of Gwinnett Medical Center. So, I guess this is the natural progression toward being fully smoke-free. After all, smokers smell smokey – even if they are not smoking in your presence or on the job.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually love the smell of smoke.  I smoked for 15+ years until my wife and I quit on New Years Eve many years ago.  I can’t remember what year it was but it was in the late 90’s.

So, I’m not anti-smoking or anti-smokers.  Let’s be clear on that point.

But, it does just seem to make sense that this move would come from the hospital?  Duh!

At this point everyone in the whole world knows that smoking is incredibly bad for your health. How could it be any other way?(at the hospital).

What do you think?

Gwinnett Medical Center just announced that it will no longer hire new employees that smoke. This story has received a ton of press coverage since it was announced just yesterday. Existing employee/smokers will be grandfathered in under the old policy and those employees will be encouraged to quit and offered smoking cessation help, etc.

This seems kind of logical – doesn’t it?

There’s already a smoke-free policy in place for all facilities of Gwinnett Medical Center. So, I guess this is the natural progression toward being fully smoke-free. After all, smokers smell smokey – even if they are not smoking in your presence or on the job.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually love the smell of smoke.  I smoked for 15+ years until my wife and I quit on New Years Eve many years ago.  I can’t remember what year it was but it was in the late 90’s.

So, I’m not anti-smoking or anti-smokers.  Let’s be clear on that point.

But, it does just seem to make sense that this move would come from the hospital?  Duh!

At this point everyone in the whole world knows that smoking is incredibly bad for your health. How could it be any other way?(at the hospital).

What do you think?

(this was originally posted on GwinnettDwellings.com)

Diamond Dwellings announces 1991 Regalview Drive in Hamilton Mill. New to the market and (as of this writing) listed at $664,000 (recently reduced to $650,000 ) For updated pricing, check out the full listing by clicking here.

Here’s some more details…

This gorgeous 2 Story Home is in the prestigious Coventry section of Hamilton Mill. Finished terrace level also has storage, full kitchen, pool table / pool room, exercise/fitness room and more. Kitchen has granite counters, tile backsplash, stainless appliances and is open to vaulted keeping room. Master bedroom has a sitting room with fireplace and giant closet – even enough room for his clothes!

Pebbletech saline pool with infinity/disappearing edge with spa. Covered patio and covered deck. Don’t forget the deep view of the #3 fairway on Hamilton Mill golf club. (memberships are available at a discount)

Have you checked out Foursquare.com?  It’s the fun new, location-based game that everyone’s playing on their iPhones (it works on blackberry and other phones too).

Check out Diamond Dwellings profile page and join in the fun.

Many of you might have heard about Al Real.  He is 8 years old, and a student at Arcado Elementary School here in Lilburn.  On June 7th, while playing with a friend, Al received 3rd degree burns over 80% of his body.  He was rushed to Grady’s Burn Unit, and from there sent to the Shriner’s Hospital’s Burn Unit in Cincinnati, OH.  That is supposed to be one of the best burn specialists for children in the world. At best, he faces a long and arduous journey back to health…  And that journey has begun with skin grafts and surgeries.

As a parent, I can’t begin to understand the pain that Al’s parents are going through.  Knowing that there isn’t anything that we can do to make the hurt go away HAS to be difficult.  The thought of my child being in that situation scares me to death.

Al’s mom, Angela, was my older child’s Pre-K teacher.  She was also his teacher for summer camp a couple of years ago, and I saw her regularly through this school year as my younger child was at the pre-school in which she taught.  So, this isn’t about some stranger to me… this is about a friend.

Ade For Al

On Friday, June 18th, the Arcado Elementary PTA will have a Lemonade Stand at the Lilburn Farmer’s Market at Lilburn City Park.  The Farmer’s Market runs from 4-8pm.  This is to help the family defray some of the costs they are experiencing as they care for Al in Ohio.  Al’s father still has to remain in Lilburn most of the time to work, while  Angela and their 8 month old are in Ohio with a few other family members.

We’d love for you to come out and enjoy a glass of lemonade while helping out the Reals.

Here is a link to the above video if the embed doesn’t work.

I’ve been cutting my lawn with a reel mower for 4 or 5 years now.  It’s amazing the “look” you can get just by cutting with a reel – regardless of anything else you do to your lawn, like fertilizer, etc.  I’ve found a great company called ReelWorks that deals exclusively in service (and some sales) of reel mowers and they are right near Hamilton Mill & Chateau Elan, on Thompson Mill Road (here’s a map).  They’ve been working on my reel mower since I started using one.  The service has been great.

Sanding and lime are also critical elements for getting that putting green look with Atlanta’s soil conditions (I’m specifically talking about the prevelant Bermuda grasses).  Sanding is a very serious job and requires great equipment to do a large lawn properly (and get the desired result).  Call The Sandman to get more info on that.  Usually mid-summer is the best time to sand your yard.

Lime is actually the secret weapon for kick ass bermuda lawns in Atlanta.  It cuts the acidity of the nasty red clay soil (it comes back too so you have to keep up the liming once or twice per year). Lime is just the simplest thing ever to find & apply.  You can get it at Home Depot (or anywhere) and you almost can’t apply it too heavily.  Within a week or so (with water) you’ll see the lawn actually “soften” in addition to a deeper green.

By the way, if you are going to sell your home in Gwinnett, nothing adds perceived value and curb appeal like that putting green lawn!

If you decide to try out these companies, please tell them I sent you

My oldest son is getting ready to graduate Kindergarten.  And he has been loving it.  Much of that credit needs to go to his teacher, Ms. Curtis, at Arcado Elementary School in Lilburn, GA…

The class that he is in is a ‘multi-age’ class that includes Kindergartners and First Graders.  It is called a CLE class, or Continuous Learning Environment.  And for my son, it has been a marvelous experience.  Each Kindergartner is paired up with a First Grader.  They work as a team, with the First Grader mentoring the Kindergarten student.

Ms. Curtis has said that because half of the students were in the same class the previous year (the Kindergarten student complete First Grade in the same class), they are able to teach the new students how everything in the class works… and it really works…  It is like chaos crossed with military precision.  All of the kids know their roles, and while they might be all over the place during play time, when Ms. Curtis quietly calls them to order, they all go where they should be, and do whatever is scheduled to come next…

But the format of the CLE class is only part of it…  Ms. Curtis is just a great teacher.  She really cares for the kids, and each time we have been there, we have seen previous students rushing over to say hi to her… and we have spent a lot of time in the class.  Which brings us to another reason that we have enjoyed having Ms. Curtis as a teacher.  Garrett’s younger brother has been welcomed in the class with open arms… and there are several younger siblings that have visited the class and received the same welcome.

In fact, at activities like Arcado Night at local restaurants, Jackson rushes to see Ms. Curtis.  And she is always eager to see him too.  He is looking forward to Kindergarten so that he can be in Ms. Curtis’ class… just like his big brother.

Communications have been excellent as well.  And one of the things we look forward to as a family is the regular ‘photo-shows’ Ms. Curtis produces for the parents.  She shoots a lot of pictures in class and they are assembled in photo-shows.  Garrett loves pointing out all of his classmates and telling us everything that happened (oddly, he doesn’t remember all of that ’stuff’ when we try to talk about it during dinner ;^ ).  The photo-shows and newsletters help to keep us connected between our visits to the class.

But results are where it counts in scholastic performance.  And Garrett is excelling in class.  Despite not quite being done with Kindergarten (there are a few more days of class), he is almost at the levels required to complete First Grade in reading and math.  And he loves going to school.  He loves reading and working on his math problems.  He loves taking the tests on his reading and math studies.

To me, THAT is the measure of a teacher.  Ms. Curtis is not just providing the tools and knowledge to allow my child to learn, she is helping to instill the desire to learn (I think he gets some of it at home, too…  ;^ )

One of the things that makes me very happy… Garrett will be with Ms. Curtis next year as well.  Instead of being the ‘co-Pilot’, and learning from his partner, he will be a ‘Pilot’ and helping a new Kindergartner learn the ropes.

Arcado ranks quite well in comparison to other Gwinnett County Elementary Schools.  Gwinnett County has one of the best schools systems in the state…  Ms. Curtis is in good company.

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Here in Lilburn, GA, in the heart of Gwinnett County, we are on the path to getting our second Community Improvement District (CID).

But what does that mean?

The basis of a CID is a geographically defined area, with businesses choosing to install a special tax on themselves in order to improve the area… and their businesses.  The property owners, representing at least 75% of the property value in the area, agree to tax themselves, and then elect a board to oversee how the money is used.

They are a partnership of public and private sectors.  They are enabled by municipal government, the money is collected through tax revenue, but the private group spends the money.  The money doesn’t ‘replace’ other tax money, but supplements it.

The Georgia Constitution specifies that funds collected through a CID may be used for seven types of applications:

1. Water
2. Public transportation
3. Street and road construction and maintenance
4. Parks and recreational areas and facilities
5. Storm water and sewage
6. Parking, terminal and dock facilities
7. Other

In the Metro Atlanta area there are several CIDs.

• The Cumberland Mall area
• Perimeter Center area
• US78 from West Park to around Scenic Highway
• Gwinnett Place CID
• US29 through Lilburn

Of course, there are others.

I know that in my travels, over the last few years I have seen beautification projects, traffic improvements and other changes in those districts. I’m looking forward to the continued improvements in the Gwinnett County CIDs.  There will likely be a few more in the central part of the county in the next few years as local businesses step up to deal with aging infrastructure, better manage traffic flow and improve the marketability of the area.

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Market stats for Lilburn, GA March, 2010, indicate that there are 419 properties on the market (as of March 31st). Overall, there is about a 15.3 month supply of properties, with a slowing in sales since December.  That is fairly normal for the winter season.  March sales were up compared to 2009, though.

Image by mjp* via Flickr

In the sub-$200k arena, there are 240 listings, with about an 11.8 month supply.  Absorption Rates have been slowing since December, but sales were up slightly since March 2009.

Between $200k and $400k, there are 161 listings for sale, and about 27 months of supply. This segment has been getting weaker each month since at least November.  Sales were up by a couple of units in March, but so were listings.

From $400k to $600k, there are still 12 homes on the market. The absorption rate is still around 3 years,.  Of course, there is a seasonal dip around the Holidays and the pick-up isn’t until March and April.

Above $600k, there are 6 listings, but too few sales to have any sort of reliable number of months of inventory.  There have been two sales in the last three months, but prior, there had only been two other sales in 2009 (February and November).  Two of the listings are above $800k, and there is no market activity in the last 12 months for that range…

Lilburn is in Gwinnett County, GA, just outside of Atlanta.  As of the 2000 Census, there were 11,307 people in Lilburn, but that is only including people in the city limits, and there has been a lot of growth since 2000 in Gwinnett County.  It was incorporated in 1910.  Lilburn is home to Parkview High School, and also has students that the Brookwood, Berkmar and Meadowcreek clusters. It is also home to Killian Hill Christian School, Providence Chrisian Academy, St. John Neumann Catholic School and Parkview Christian School.  Possibly the most famous resident of Lilburn is General Beauregard Lee, a groundhog with a better winter prediction record that Puxatawnee Phil up in PA. Dominique Wilkins, formerly of the Atlanta Hawks also lives in Lilburn.

I have a page dedicated to Lilburn Market Data.

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Lately I’ve become excited about biking.  In fact, I’ve been riding a LOT.  I first caught the bug doing the indoor kind called spinning. That’s where you lock yourself in a room with 20 other people and jam some really loud music for about an hour — while riding a funny looking stationary bike. Anyway, that’s what got me into it.

I recently bought a mountain bike (pictured) AND a road bike (cuz I wanted to do both). My road bike is what they call a hybrid.  It sorta looks like a mountain bike with skinny tires.  And, I also bought a mountain bike for my son so we could ride the trails together.

As it turned out, I bought all three bikes from three different shops in the Hamilton Mill area so I thought I’d write this post to share my experiences and give some links to those shops.  Since I had great experiences with all three shops, I can really recommend all of them!  Each is slightly different depending on what you want, but all of them passed inspection with me

My hybrid bike is pictured below.  I had to steal this picture off the KHS website (can’t believe I don’t have a good picture of it yet myself).  I bought it from Addicitive Cycles up in Hoschton.  I went there before any other shops because a reliable source told me that “all the real serious bikers go there”.  Based on what I saw going on there, I guess I could imagine that to be true.  Since I’m just a total newbie to biking, I can’t really confirm or deny that for sure.  You can judge for yourself.  BUT, I can say that Cody and his team up there were awesome, friendly and made me feel very welcome even though they obviously deal with a pretty “serious biker” clientele.

I only had my hybrid for about a week when I realized that I really wanted a mountain bike too (for the trails) and the hybrid for the roads and the paved trails in Mulberry Park.  My mountain bike (top photo) is a Specialized (that’s the brand) and I bought from Outback Bikes located in the Hamilton Mill Publix shopping center.  I LOVE that bike.  It’s super cool (I think).  Outback Bikes is a great little shop.  They actually have two locations.  They had good inventory also.  Great service (not just saying that either).  By the way, if you want to start mountain biking in Gwinnett, Ft Yargo is a great trail to start on.

I bought my son’s bike over at Knight Bikes & Skateboards.  As you can tell from the name, they have bikes and boards.  It’s a bigger shop so they have pretty good inventory of both.  I think they had a few more “middle-of-the-road” bikes and bikes for kids, etc.  It might be the family bike shop of the three (although Outback certainly fits that bill too).

Are you into biking too?  Please let me know in the comments here.