Taking care of business

Last week, the Annual General Meeting of our Condo Association was held. Since our community is run by the owners (via a Condo board), this is the time when the general manager and active committees can report to the owners.

The condo board members were there on stage. At this point, our general manager, Steve Byfield, was reporting on projects that have been completed over the past year. It was quite an impressive list!

There were also committee reports from Architectural, Green, and the Safety and Security Committees. All of the members of the condo board as well as all the members of the committees are owners of property here in the park. General Manager Steve Byfield indicated that he receives assistance from owners who have expertise in areas of concern to the park which helps all of us. One example from this past year was that the laundry facility was not being used as much as it had been in the past (more and more people have their own laundry machines) so they reduced the footprint of the laundry allowing the released space to be allocated to the real estate office. One of our residents had run commercial laundries and was able to advise on newer technologies -- the new machines do not use coins, but rather can be charged on credit cards or used via a phone app -- so no coins to have to managed by the community staff. The company supplying the machines is responsible for maintenance. $0.80 out of every $1 spent at the laundry is returned to our community. Seems like a good solution for our community.

After the Annual General Meeting, I was running off to a dental appointment... 

This picture was on the screen in the examining room where I was taken. I was wondering what it was a picture of, and I asked the young lady who was taking x-rays and she didn't know. I got Google Lens to take a look at it, and it said, "This image depicts a moment at the Badwater Basin salt flats in Death Valley National Park."

More information about Badwater Basin:

• It is the lowest elevation in North America, sitting 282 feet below sea level.
• The polygonal patterns are created by the constant cycling of salt crystals growing and drying in the basin.
• After heavy rains, a shallow, temporary lake known as Lake Manly can form, creating reflections on the salt flats.
• The basin is surrounded by mountains, including Telescope Peak, which is often snow-capped in the winter.

My dental hygienist and I agreed that the pictures they display should have captions for the curious!