• Managing Your Money After Retirement

    Taking the Right Kind of Risks The greatest challenge in investing as we age is to resist the urge to stop taking financial risk. In our minds, we are playing it safe by eliminating stocks or other riskier investments from our portfolio. We don't want to "run out of money" [...]

  • Buyer’s Guide

    Start Your Search The first step in buying a new home is for us to identify the neighborhoods you want to live in. Save your favorite homes, then add them to a collection – where we can comment and collaborate. Get Pre-Approved Why should you get pre-approved? Simple – [...]

  • Realty During Covid-19

    A Guide for Buying and Selling Realty During Covid-19 became an important priority when the world came to a sudden halt and the State of California ordered us to stay home.  As we continue to move through this crisis, be sure you find the best representative who is committed to [...]

  • A good friend of mine recently called because she forgot her sunscreen and got a sunburn. I was able to treat her skin and give her some relief. After the treatment, I went through my list of 10 simple things to protect your skin from summer damage. It's More Than The Sun One of the [...]

  • I am so happy to announce that I graduated from esthetician training at the International School of Beauty in Palm Desert, California. The curriculum is about six months long so I had to pace myself. It is amazing how difficult it is to get back into the habit of studying after a decade has past [...]

  • Healthy skin often begins with a Classic European facial. This classic facial is the foundation of skin care and should be continued as a part of ongoing monthly skin care routine. Classic European facials are uncomplicated and designed to improve the look, feel and overall health of the skin. You will leave feeling relaxed and [...]

  • Lorem ipsum is a placeholder text used in publishing and graphic design to demonstrate the layout of a document without having to add relevant text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut vel dapibus quam, eget dictum lectus. Pellentesque condimentum vulputate tincidunt. Nunc elementum sapien eget tellus commodo, eu bibendum nibh viverra. Orci [...]

  • Finding a good domain name is a very difficult task. There are so many variables to consider that it is part art and part science. When I stumbled upon the name Kirombo I was so excited because I could not find a single product and only a handful of people with that name. There are [...]

  • Recently a friend asked me to explain why a buyer should never pay more than appraised value on leveraged property.  Since she had taken a few classes I began by explaining the opportunity costs associated with this strategy and I could see her eyes "glass-over" and I knew I had lost her. When I shifted [...]

  • Consider Orange County. Forbes Magazine recently reported that Orange County is one of the most likely places to raise a world class athlete. The Realtor Association reports that the housing market for 2017 is optimistic for first-time home buyers. Almost half of these buyers are under 35 years old. If you are moving to California, [...]

  • This is the California real estate update for October 20th and the first in a series of posts that looks at some of the interesting trends, stats, and opportunities in real estate in California and Orange County. The format includes about 3-4 interesting notes and the entire podcast will last about 6o seconds. I am [...]

  • 504Planner.com is a pre-configured and populated website that is designed for lenders who offer SBA 504 loans.  Purchase the site as-is, redesign, and/or change all the content. The choice is yours. Includes 80 published articles about the 504 loan program, 80 image files, published 504 rates for more than two [...]

  • The announcement that the SBBTC was closing was discouraging at first, but when I began to consider the possibilities I immediately saw this as an opportunity to move Avalon MIS closer to some important constituents.  Over the last several months I have been working with several organizations that are in Northern California. [...]

  • Actress, writer, and comedian Nadya Ginsburg trusted Avalon M I S to transform her old WordPress website with a new celebrity site that is designed to showcase her talent. We first saw Ms. Ginsburg on the MSNBC Today Show where she was interviewed in response of her "Al Roker" music [...]

  • Which Content Management System is Right For Your Organization? Each week my office gets calls from prospects who are making a decision between content management systems and are seeking my input on which to choose, Drupal Joomla or WordPress.  Avalon M I S works with all the popular open source [...]

  • This week Avalon M I S began work on a Wordpress website for Congressional candidate Kim Letke.  Letke is running in Baltimore, Maryland on the Democratic ticket. Thank you Kim for selecting Avalon M I S as your digital marketing partner.

  • Avalon M I S  launched a new website and new services at ConciergeMBA.com.  The website and services are in response to prospects and clients who are looking for affordable, on-demand social media and business services. The site is powered by WordPress and was developed to make it easy for prospects [...]

  • Quick Social Media Tips for Political Candidates As the political season heats up it is time for some quick tips for your social media campaign. Here are 10 things that every candidate needs to do. 10 things that every candidate needs to do Either create a CMS website or use [...]

  • Avalon M I S is giving client's a peek at the project manager site that we created and use to manage our many projects. TeamAvalonMIS.com is home of many client and internal projects and is our latest Drupal powered project manager site.

  • On Wednesday Jan. 18th thousands of sites will go dark to protest SOPA & PIPA, two US bills racing through Congress that threaten prosperity, online security, and freedom of expression. The White House opposes the bill and announced last Friday that the legislation "reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, [...]

  • Editing content in a WordPress site is a snap. This short instructional video will give you the basics. Simply click the image and the video will start playing. Be sure to enlarge the video for best viewing Video contains music. http://vimeo.com/34936702

  • Busy professionals typically don't have the time to budget daily blogging and tweeting. One quick and easy approach is to implement a retweet strategy. A simple retweet strategy will help you create content and connect with others without much work. Watch this 40 second video to learn how to retweet. [...]

  • Read This To develop your site, please start by giving us a GENERAL SENSE of the type of design you prefer. Of the ten designs presented below please select 1-2 that you like the best. That gives us a general sense of the type of designs that will fit your [...]

  • vCard personal websites are growing in popularity. This vCard personal site was completed for this business professional and delivered within 36 hours of receiving the order. If you don't have yourname.com vCard site, then it is time you do. Take a look at this month's special.

  • http://vimeo.com/32812494 For clients who are new to WordPress, this quick video shows you how to create a blog post. I hope you find it informative. Simply click on this icon and the play the video.

  • Avalon MIS is about to launch our latest brochure site for our friends at Cold Noses Warm Hearts. Cold Noses Warm Hearts is a non-profit organization that provides grooming, boarding, and placement services for dogs in-need.  This Website is a simple website that is integrated with Craigslist so that when the [...]

  • I attended the Sacramento's 2011 Regional Connecting Point event at the Citrus Heights Community Center and it "rocked". The event was energetic, great workshops, panel discussions, and tons of small business resources and networking opportunities. The sponsors included the Sacramento Public Agency Consortium, also known as SacPAC, the City of [...]

  • The Quick Landing Websites were released in December 2011 at Quicklanding.com. These Websites are offered to small business owners who are interested in attractive, functional, and affordable Websites that are delivered in a short-period of time. Avalon MIS has been a leader in Website training for nearly a decade and are [...]

  • Avalon MIS is working on a white label eLearning project to provide training and documentation to a Fortune 500 company. The services that we are providing are white label, which means we are working as a sub-contractor on this project. The prime contractor is developing a Drupal powered Website and [...]

  • Lucky me, I got to spend time this summer working on a university campus near the beach.  I was providing planning and training for the development of a campus department Website. Project Deliverables Offsite Group Training Onsite Planning Onsite Training Onsite Drupal Co-Development

  • Drupal Camp LA was held at UC Irvine in Early August. This year Laura Scroggins made two presentations including "Huff, Puff, and Webonomics".  The second presentation was called "She Codes Like a Girl" which targeted women programmers who are active in the Drupal community and over the age of 40. This very small group of [...]

  • Web Development Approach 1. Discover Client provides all content within 10 days of project start.  When content is received the project manager meets with client to discuss navigation, design, and site message.  If content is not received in 10 days the project is set aside and the cost of the [...]

  • This talented and successful artist turned to Avalon MIS when she was making important strategic and marketing changes.

  • eLearning projects bring a certain amount of excitement to Avalon MIS, especially when the environment is supplemented with learning materials and interactive training. The client on this project is a large Web developer and SEO strategist who was awarded a contract to develop 12 Websites for a State government agency. [...]

  • Dandy Dogs in Goleta California wanted an attractive and affordable Website that would helps clients find and contact her. She did not need online booking or eCommerce but did want an attractive and inviting site. Project Deliverables: Multiple page Website Includes Contact Form Google Map Stock Photos Slideshow Website: DandyDogs.Biz

  • Avalon Real Estate Management is a California licensed real estate brokerage firm specializing in commercial real estate management and residential property management. All financial and real estate services discussed at this site are provided by Avalon Real Estate Management.

  • Just got back from my first WordCamp and was inspired by my experience. I've attended Joomla® Camps and Drupal® Camps, and this was my favorite for many reasons. First I want to discuss the similarities. The venue was definitely packed with people who were eager to learn. There were some [...]

  • Had a great time at the Web 2.0 Expo and was particularly impressed with a young man who pitched open{subnet}. I searched the Internet and found the company Kiwi Commons who's mission is to "To provide the best Internet safety resources for parents, educators and youth workers across North America. [...]

  • Looking forward to the upcoming Joomla! Day West at Ebay in San Jose. Good news, Allen "Gunner" Gunn will be the MC again this year! Sponsored by ebay, Microsoft, and the busy team at Kontent Design. Speakers this year include Andrew Eddie, Louis Landry, Ron Severdia, Paul Orwig, Ryan Ozimek, [...]

  • Finding and accessing financial information and resources is challenging for most small business owners. This is particularly true when you are considering the purchase of commercial property.  The 504 Planner™ Website is a tool for small business owners who are considering the purchase of commercial property for their business. In [...]

  • This simple resource site was designed for a resource officer who had very simple needs. She wanted to start collecting links to natural resource and environmental sites. Project Deliverables 1 Brochure Website with Blog

  • Avalon MIS created a Website for this export compliance officer located in Santa Barbara, California. The attorney wanted something clean that minimized design to maximize the readability of the content. Project Deliverables 1 Brochure Website with Blog Social Media Ready

  • The best way to demonstrate the features and benefits of your services is to "show" people. This Central Coast chiropractor decided photographs of her adjusting a two month old baby would be an effective way to communicate the gentle nature of her treatments. The mother and daughter were on the [...]

  •   San Diego Drupal Camp 2009 attracted some amazing talent including: Andrew Root, Mike Stewart, Christoph Weber, and Karl Scheirer just to name a few. The camp was held at Platt College San Diego, a graphics art school in east SD. The room were comfortable and as with most camps [...]

  • This busy attorney wanted to have a simple site to help clients and prospects find him online, to communicate his services, provide a quick bio, and give the site user critical contact information.

  • Had a great time and learned tons at this year's Joomla Day West. It was held at Google in Mountain View, which is a huge perk!

  • I am excited to announce that I've been invited to speak at Drupal Camp LA 2008. This is the second annual DrupalCampLA and last year's event was fantastic. If you are a Drupal developer, designer, or end user this event is for you. If you've never been to a DrupalCamp [...]

  • http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615 What can I say ... it was a little overwhelming, in a very good way.

  • My first Linux Expo was informative and easy to navigate, much like a good database. I arrived in Los Angeles early Saturday to a full parking lot. That is usually a good indicator that an expo is going to be successful. As I entered the expo registration area I was [...]

  •   Just attended my first meeting of the Berkeley Drupal Users Group at the UC Berkeley campus. Thanks to Tao Starbow for making me feel welcome. I became interested in this particular user group after presenting at BADCamp 07. BADCamp attracted such an interesting and diverse crowd that I had to see if it was [...]

  •   Wow ... thank you to AOL for such a great venue and Crystal ... you rock! Some of the interesting things I learned at Camp Today: 1) Still more men in technology but wow, these were an amazing group of guys. 2) Drupal seems to attract smart, fun loving, [...]

  • Recently held in San Francisco Joomla! Day West 2007 was a great way for about 100 people to acquire new information on Joomla 1.5 and a great way to hook-up with Joomla resources. Here are some of my thoughts after the unconference: Allen Gunn flawlessly moderated the unconference. iJoomla is [...]

  • Dr. Norma Davis is a professional management consultant that specializes in turn-arounds, project management, and enterprise resource planing.  Dr. Davis had a Website but it was outdated and did not have good "curb appeal". Additionally, since her last name was not unique, it was hard for prospects to find her [...]

  • Financialfuture.com went into publication in 1997 when the Internet was just emerging as an important source of information. Since that timefinancialfuture.com has gone through many changes including transitioning from an html site to a CMS powered site. Website: FinancialFuture.com

  • FinancialFuture.com was featured in a cover article in Financial Planning Magazine® in 1999. That article begins with: “One of Laura Scroggins clients is a woman living in Japan. The two women have never met, nor have they spoken on the phone.” Official Magazine of the International Association of Financial Planning [...]

  • Recovering a Drupal 6.x Website that is "down" is quite easy if you are prepared.  Here are my helpful steps on how to prepare for recovery if your site goes down.  Click the icon to watch the video. You will need a password to view this video. Please contact Avalon [...]