Family Dorks!

Daniel, Kevin, and I are all playing on our church kickball team. Games start this week behind Dale City Recreation Center on Thursdays nights. Here's the schedule in case you want to cheer us on. Our team name is "SP Saints"


Thursday 06/28/08
8:40p
Field 2
Can’t Get Right
SP Saints
Thursday 07/03/08
*
*
*Open for Practice*
*
Thursday 07/10/08
8:40p
Field 2
SP Saints
Chinn
Thursday 07/17/08
8:40p
Field 2
The Ballers
SP Saints
Thursday 07/24/08
7:30p
Field 1
SP Saints
ARC Kickers
Thursday 07/31/08
7:30p
Field 2
SP Saints
Beltway Kickers
Thursday 08/07/08
8:40p
Field 2
Brittany Bombers
SP Saints
Thursday 08/14/08
7:30p
Field 2
Independents
SP Saints

Here's my itinerary for next week. Andrea is going to drop me off at the airport on Monday morning. Who wants to pick me up on Friday? :)

AIR - Monday, June 16
Delta Flight 805 Economy
From: Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport, DC
7:55 am, Monday, June 16
To: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport, GA
9:43 am, Monday, June 16
Duration: 1 hour and 48 minutes

AIR - Monday, June 16
Delta Flight 6485 Economy
Operated by SHUTTLE AMERICA
From: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport, GA
10:57 am, Monday, June 16
To: Houston Hobby Airport, TX
12:19 pm, Monday, June 16
Duration: 2 hours and 22 minutes

AIR - Friday, June 20
Delta Flight 1400 Economy
From: Houston Hobby Airport, TX
4:25 pm, Friday, June 20
To: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport, GA
7:37 pm, Friday, June 20
Duration: 2 hours and 12 minutes

AIR - Friday, June 20
Delta Flight 828 Economy
From: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport, GA
8:20 pm, Friday, June 20
To: Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport, DC
10:15 pm, Friday, June 20
Duration: 1 hour and 55 minutes

That is one handsome devil :P

So I guess ribs is the way to go, eh? What day are we doing this jig, Sunday? I was thinking of inviting a few people and playing some games. All of my friends will be at the Bortner's during the day for Jerry's graduation party, so we shouldn't be TOO hungry. We could probably bring food with us. Oh, I also have a Wii (Lauren's bday present, I already opened it hehe) I might setup for the day.

Anybody recognize the picture of that vaguely Asian-looking dork below?

Ummm, hello....did anyone remember it's my birf?

Diana just sent me this portraits album of Tommy & Reese. A must-see if you haven't already.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dianarosner/Portraits

There are 2 upcoming events being held at our church that I would like to share/invite you all to:

Friday, April 11th, from 6pm to 9/10pm, Family Game Night. Kevin has organized this evening of board games for all ages that evening. We are working on getting some light food/drink.

Saturday, April 12th, from 8am to Noon, Red Cross Blood Drive. I am helping out with our semi-annual blood drive again. Let me know if you or anyone else would like to make an appointment.

Mom's caseworker has set up a meeting for the treatment team and family members to meet on Tuesday, March 25th at 10am at NVMHI. Just an FYI in case you would like to go. We plan to discuss progress with Mom's discharge plan (if one exists?) and get a better understanding of the terms of Mom's stay there (we don't believe it is a voluntary admission) and what will happen if they cannot find a placement for her.

I'm leaving Thursday evening for Seven Springs, PA until Sunday night. I probably won't be back for dinner, so I'll see you dorks next time :D

We are doing the happy dance today, since we just paid off Kevin's truck with part of our tax refund. YAAAAAAAAAAAY! I shall call this #1, since we plan to pay mine off as well within the next few months.

In other fun news, we just got tickets to see the Lion King broadway production at the Kennedy Center in August. The show is in town from late June through August if anyone else is interested.

Happy late Valentine's Day everyone!

This is getting pretty weird. First it's Virginia Tech, where Daniel went, and now it's Northern Illinois, where I went. What's next, GMU? UVA? UCSD?

The Kers are going to Wisp Ski resort from Feb 21-22nd. Weeeeeee!

March 14, 2008, Flight 426 [Non-Stop]
Departing Baltimore/Washington, MD (BWI) at 05:35 PM
Arriving Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 07:28 PM
--- Connecting To ---
March 14, 2008, Flight 773 [Non-Stop]
Departing Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 09:25 PM
Arriving Las Vegas, NV (LAS) at 11:03 PM

March 20, 2008, Flight 770 [Non-Stop]
Departing Las Vegas, NV (LAS) at 10:40 PM
Arriving Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 05:30 AM
--- Connecting To ---
March 21, 2008, Flight 486 [Non-Stop]
Departing Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 09:25 AM
Arriving Baltimore/Washington, MD (BWI) at 11:14 AM

Finally bit the bullet and got tickets to vegas. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Not that any of you will miss us:(.

We are planning a trip to visit Uncle Peter & Aunt Isabel in mid-March with Kevin's sister, Kara, and Kai. We had talked about all going out there a long time ago, and we're finally making plans to visit March 14-19 or 15-20. Kara and Kai are planning to go down to Rosarita, MX with Peter & Isabel after Kevin and I have returned home.

I am looking for airfare using farecast.com and some other fare watchers. The price for tickets was lower on Tuesday and jumped almost $100pp toward the end of the week--yikes! So I am watching it for a little while anyway before we spring for them. Does anyone have any other ideas/tips for finding good prices for tickets?

I spoke with Peter & Isabel a couple of times this past week on the phone. They are looking forward to going to the beach with you guys. They said the got to see the house pictures because Dad sent them a link.

This is what option 1-3 may end up looking like if you don't flat iron every day.....

Alright, that's it. This lack of blogging has forced me to post about my quest for a new haircut. :) I got it cut yesterday below my shoulders, since going too short might be drastic this time around. I think it's too long. Of these 3 cuts, which do you think might look best on me? Consider that my hair usually can't look that flat...lol....and consider that if you say i shouldn't cut my hair short, I will punch you in the face. :)

Option #2

Option #3:

As the new season of ANTM is due in just a few short weeks, the FamilyDorks! blog has received this season spoiling photograph of "Baby Reese", not to be confused with "Baby Ruth", who was kicked off the show last season for her "nutty" behavior (bwahahahahaha!) :). This bangin' burrito star mesmerizes fans with her piercing blue eyes and perfectly texturized brown locks. Only an up and coming star like this could make bald (or semi-bald) beautiful again and a burrito-shaped torso irresistible. So tune in this season to cheer on this burrito-rific winner before Chipotle marketing snatches her for their new ad campaign.

Found this funny cat picture......

An excellent jib jab creation by Tom:

http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/preview/A5Bj0wSDVXeVmBXqIrTWtklr

Let's reserve Sunday dinner on December 30th to celebrate Dad's 50th birthday.

Dad, Diana, and I got this email message from Uncle Peter. Thought I'd post it here since he is indeed a Hallman! I wrote him an email about visiting Vegas sometime next year. Kevin and I are thinking of visiting Vegas some time. If you have any suggestions of where to stay and what to do--please let us know! We are definitely not going to gamble very much at all.

Without further ado, here is Uncle Peter's email....


Tis the season to shop so I thought I would give you my 2 cent tip.

I love Ebay.

Here is an example: I bought a speaker in August 2006 for 286. I just sold it today for 356 less 39 shipping cost for a net profit of $31 after using it for over a year. If you have a lot of spare time on your hands like me it can be fun. This works well for home theatre electronics, tools and cameras. I currently have 7 other ads on Ebay for my old equipment. I have bought or sold almost 100 items on Ebay in the last year and half. This allows me to buy new equipment every year at low price and sell it a year or so later for more than I paid for it. You can check out some of my Ebay ads by searching for nv_kid.

Here is how it works. Everything in retail is usually marked up 100% by the retailer. The retailer buys from the distributor at 50 and sells it at 100 (except clothing & jewelry which are marked up higher).

You just buy the items new on Ebay auction – just make sure you buy it near or a little above wholesale price. If the bid goes to high – don’t buy it. Wait for your price. I generally watch the prices on the item I am interested for a couple of weeks so that I have a feel for the bottom market price. Be sure to keep the boxes the items comes in with all the packing material which you will reuse when it comes time to sell. Generally don’t try to buy between 11/15 – 12/25 as you will have to much completion and will end up paying over the market price.

Use it for a year or so and sell with your 10 day auction timed to end at 6pm Sunday. This gets two weekends of maximum prime time bidding action on your item up for sale. The best time to sell of course is the first week of December.

If you can buy just after a new model comes out (buy the new model). Sell the old one after your new one arrives. Many Ebay buyers are unaware that the new models have come out so they believe that the last year’s model you are selling is the current model.

The worst items to sell – are furniture and clothing. You can only sell them for pennies on the dollar. If you need them you can buy them cheap on www.craigslist.org or free by registering with www.freecycle.org.

If you are needing a new kitchen – I currently see a lot of new kitchen cabinets and appliances on the market. It appears that house flippers who have been unable to sell their flip are stripping the new houses they bought and are selling the kitchens. They show up for sale on craigslist. Just be sure to plan and measure your remodel twice and buy only once. I use Craigslist to upgrade my rental house appliances annually. I will find bargain appliances a year old or younger at cheap price and sell my old still working appliance for about the same or greater price I purchased their replacements. The trick is you have to be able to rush and buy the bargains within the first hour they hit the internet. I typically purchase a slightly used washer, dryer, or stove for $150 or less each which originally retailed for $375 or more.


My shopping pet peeve:
Why is it that men’s slippers are only on sale in for three weeks of the year? It seems they don’t appear until after Thanksgiving and by December 12th all of my size are sold, gone for a year. This has been my experience for the last 5 years.



Merry Xmas and happy shopping.

http://www.elfyourself.com

I would be delighted if someone made one of these and posted it. :)

I haven't posted anything for a while, so I thought I'd share this instant classic:

A friend forwarded this to me and it reminded me of my beloved innocent sister:)

Yes, Lauren and I will need a ride to and from the BWI. Badge doesn't do anything in the middle of the day, so I'll probably have him drive us at least one way. I booked the flight through kayak.com.

Here's the flight info:

Total price: USD 499.20

Wed, Jan 09, 2008 - Baltimore, MD (BWI) to Seattle, WA (SEA)
United 0357	Depart: BWI 02:37 PM Arrive: ORD 03:48 PM	Non-stop 2h 11m 752 621 miles traveled	Fare basis code: LRA14ON4 Booking class: L Economy 621 Award miles No Meal Service	17F, 17E
<<<>>>
United 0949	Depart: ORD 05:00 PM Arrive: SEA 07:28 PM	Non-stop 4h 28m 752 1,721 miles traveled	Fare basis code: LRA14ON4 Booking class: L Economy 1,720 Award miles No Meal Service	21D, 21E

Sun, Jan 13, 2008 - Seattle, WA (SEA) to Baltimore, MD (BWI)
United 0764	Depart: SEA 11:55 AM Arrive: SFO 02:00 PM	Non-stop 2h 5m 319 678 miles traveled	Fare basis code: LRA3NR3 Booking class: L Economy 678 Award miles No Meal Service	16E, 16F
<<<>>>
United 0294	Depart: SFO 03:12 PM Arrive: BWI 11:17 PM	Non-stop 5h 5m 320 2,457 miles traveled	Fare basis code: LRA3NR3 Booking class: L Economy 2,457 Award miles Food for Purchase	15E, 15D

Its official, Lauren and I will be leaving for Seattle on Jan. 9th and returning Jan. 13th. Yes, my FIRST plane ride. The "missing link", or otherwise known as the last Angus family member to meet me, resides a short 2600 miles away! We'll be visiting her sister, Katie, and her husband Matt. I'm sure we'll also do a little site seeing.

ROSNERS!! Please post some updates this week of your trip to Disney.

We watched "The Pursuit of Happyness" this week. A good movie. I would recommend it if you want to feel a general sense of sadness and want to beat yourself up for being ungrateful for the life that you lead. hehe...just kidding...sort of...

Roseanna, (if you read this) my prayers are with you and your family at the loss of your dad. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you at this sad time. I hope you and your family are able to grieve but are also able to celebrate your dad's long life.

And to think that all along we just thought Koosh was being grumpy....he was just PMSing! :)

Diana--can you please post our gift exchange names for this year?

Also, for Thanksgiving, Kevin and I will plan to eat with the Kers at noon on Thursday. We will join the Hallmans for dessert whenever that may be since I believe Roseanna estimated the meal to be around 3pm.

There's just nothing like it. The crusty shoppers who just rolled out of bed and still smell of turkey from the previous day's feast, the steamy fog that forms on your ice cold glasses when entering the first open store, the thumping of your heart in your chest as you race to get that one big item you got up at 4am for...not to mention the stress and urgency you feel to punch other shoppers in the face that cut in line. :) ahhh, yes...pure bliss!

In case you haven't scoped them out yet, here are some of the deals to be had:
http://bfads.net

Kevin and I have our eye on this particular item: http://bfads.net/Garmin-Nuvi-200-GPS-at-Best-Buy

Which reminds me...we have yet to exchange names for gifts this year!