For a Rock and Roll fanatic, it is hard to believe that Eddie Van Halen has died—especially when he was not much older than me and maybe had not done many more uninsurable activities. Here is a great solo of his, later in his career:

In, The Changing Appraisal Landscape: Developing Trends Of Appraisal Throughout The Country—Tune in For Tuesdays at 2 With Chip Merlin, on Facebook Livestream, I made a little notation that some are getting older and no longer with us:

The appraisal process is a lot different today than in 1983, when I first started as a lawyer in this property insurance claim business. I can hear most of the people reading this blog either thinking or saying, “No joke, Chip. I was not even born or out of high school in 1983.” But if you do not know where appraisal has come from, how can you tell if a trend is meaningful in what you do for a living?

These Facebook Live Stream discussions have been very helpful to me and hopefully to those of you who watch them—I often say that the person with an open and curious mind will learn a lot when you try to teach somebody else what you know. It gets a little more difficult when a lot of what a person knows has been forgotten or is seemingly irrelevant to new participants. I find myself somewhat in that place for tomorrow afternoon’s discussion, but Larry Bache will help keep me on track as we work through this maze of appraisal honesty and transformation which has occurred over the last 38 years.

Still, this has been a very trying year. I tested positive for Covid six times in a row. Fifty-five days of waiting.

For those who know me, I have always been the kid who got up and called everybody into doing something every day. Life really has not been that different until this year. And then,

“STOP! Chip Merlin. You Cannot Go Outside.”

So, I have learned to stay inside and still get up and call my friends, many of you, to come out and play with me. Truly, this work of insurance helping people is “play” for me and I thank every one of you for helping make it fun for me.

I suggest we listen and think carefully of a song as this year comes to a close, which calls out the most important and precious aspect of human existence—LOVE.

Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can’t we give love that one more chance?
Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love
Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?

‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love (people on streets) dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is ourselves under pressure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoDh_gHDvkk