Crazy Weekend!

This has definitely been a full weekend. Yesterday Me, Ricky, and our friends Gary and Barb joined forces to have a yard sale. We had a few things we were trying to get rid of and to be honest we can always use a few extra bucks. So we took all of our stuff over to to their house in Waterford Friday night and went over there early on Saturday morning. We were set up from about 7AM to about 3:30PM. We had a good flow of traffic for most of the day. As with most retail type environments, we had busy times were we couldn't seem to get the money from people fast enough and then slow times where there wasn't anyone shopping. At the end of the day, Ricky and I actually made over $100, and with only selling small stuff, that's not too shabby. Granted, we didn't get the amounts that they get on Clean House, but at the same time we didn't have any big ticket items. We are planning a larger garage sale next year with some big ticket items so we shall have to see. To top off the afternoon, UCF ended up beating Memphis 28 to 21. Now we are in a 4 way tie for 2nd. Woo Hoo!

Today was another crazy day. I had to work from 6Am to 1PM. Unfortunately, because I had to work until 1PM, I wasn't able to drive Ricky to the airport today for his first Golf Channel business trip. I am still bummed about that, but there really wasn't anything I could do about it. But as of right now, Ricky should be in the air to Portland. He arrived successfully in Atlanta and I am just waiting on the text message saying that he arrived safely. Just to finish off the day, I have been fighting a migraine all day. Fun times!

So all in all it has been a crazy weekend, but I am looking forward to the rest of the week and my birthday.. Yay! 

The Business Trip to Portland

Yesterday we found out that Ricky gets to go on a business trip. Since Ricky has been promoted and moved into a different position, he will no longer be taking customer service calls. I cannot even begin to describe how happy he is about that. Since he is done with answering phones, they are relocating all of the customer support calls to Portland, OR. The problem is that no one knows how to properly use the phone system, so Ricky is going to head up there to train the them.

Ricky is excited because he loves to travel and has never been to the actual west coast. The closest he has gotten was Vegas when we went for the Star Trek Convention last year. The down side is the fact that he is going alone. When I told him that he was probably excited because he loves to travel, his response was, "Yes, but I love to travel with you." He wont be gone for too long though. He is leaving on Sunday in the afternoon and will be back on Wednesday night late. Apparently, when they were booking his flight, he made sure to tell them that he had to be home on Wednesday, not because of the fact that Thanksgiving was on Thursday, but because it was my birthday (Yay!). So assuming all goes well, he will be coming in at around 11PM on Wednesday night.

I am excited for him because I know how much he loves to travel and how much he loves to fly, but I will miss him while he is gone. I suppose I am just getting a taste of what it was like when I had to travel so much with Premiere Trade. Especially since this trip is about the same length of time that I used to be gone. But if it means that Ricky is going to be happier because he doesn't have to do customer support anymore, I am all for it. Besides, its not like he is going to Seattle.

Christmas Shopping = Exhausted

First of all, I must say I am loving this weather. Its so nice to know that we don't have to turn on our air conditioner. I think the average temperature in the house has been 69 degrees. The highest it got yesterday was 71. I love it. 

I went Christmas shopping yesterday and let me tell you it was exhausting. Last year, I did a good portion of our shopping online since I could find everything I was looking for in one place. This year I wanted to save a few bucks by getting things in the stores to save on shipping. I knew that everything I was looking for was available online, but I figured a day shopping would be good for me. So I made a list of the places I wanted to go and headed out. For the most part, I found everything I was looking for and managed to find some really good deals on a few things that I didn't even realize I wanted to get. Unfortunately, there were a few key items I couldn't find in stores, so I ended up ordering them when I got home. 

So from this point, I can honestly say I am almost done shopping. I am waiting on a few key items because I need to use my discount at Best Buy to get them. Under normal circumstances, some items aren't worth waiting for the discount because we really don't get too much off the price, but for the few gifts for Ricky, the discount is considerable. I actually spent some time today getting numbers and prices for  few things when I went to Best Buy to get WallE. But, I really don't have to wait too long for the conclusion of my shopping though because the discount should kick in next Monday. Once that kicks in, I'm going on a Christmas shopping spree (mainly for Ricky).  All in all, it has been a fairly painless shopping experience this year. Now we just need to work on making Thanksgiving a great family get together and maybe celebrate a birthday or two.. =).

How gorgeous...

Can I just say how much I love this weather? I love the fact that we can open the windows, turn off the air conditioner and just enjoy the fresh air. This is what this time of year is supposed to feel like. You can just tell it is the "fall" with the air feeling fresh and clean versus being muggy and gross. I love it!

We Won???

Ricky & I before the Marshall Game

UCF CONTINUES THEIR C-USA UNDEFEATED STREAK AGAINST MARSHALL

(30-14 UCF)

Three words and phrases to describe this game would be:

Smoke,  Points in the 2nd half, and Offensive Points? 

Today's UCF game was televised from Marshall. Marshall decided in their infinite wisdom that scheduling UCF for their Homecoming game was a good idea. Unfortunately, what they didn't realize was the fact that UCF doesn't have too many streaks left to hold on to, so beating Marshall in C-USA is necessary for morale. 

We invited a few of the tubas over to enjoy the game and some experimental food. Ricky wants to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving this year and wanted to test his smoking abilities. Especially since we don't actually have a smoker. Ricky read about a way to convert his grill into a smoker and aside from the fact it took 10 hours to smoke, the pork was really really good. It was definitely worth the trouble and now we know that smoking the turkey for Thanksgiving will work.  The only disadvantage is the fact that now the house smells of mesquite. At least it is supposed to be cooler this week so we can have the windows open and get some fresh air in. 

Surprisingly to everyone, UCF actually won. I watched the first half with the guys, but once half time came, I decided to play board games with my mom, Kenneth, and Kristine out in the other room. I based how we were doing by the screams coming from the guys. I am just happy that we finally won another game. The best sound was when a scream of disbelief came from the family room when Dan yells in a questioning voice..."We won??" At that moment, I knew we had won, but I also was reminded about how badly we were doing this season... so badly that fans are surprised and slightly confused when we actually do win. Either way, UCF managed to put another win in the W column. Not matter what we do though, UCF cannot have a winning season this year. Go Knights....

And the winner is.... Mac

Guess what... I have made a decision....

For those of you who don't know, I have been deliberating over a dilemma for the past couple of days over which laptop to buy. I have wanted to purchase a MacBook for grad school, but the model I wanted to get (the cheaper one) is being discontinued and I didn't know if I was going to get all of my money in time to purchase the one I wanted. The problem was that the new one was going to be over $300 more than the low end one. 

As I went into Best Buy this week, I was looking into PCs because they tend to be cheaper and I wanted to know what my options were. I found an HP that was considerably cheaper than the Mac, but I would have to deal with Vista (Not something I was looking forward to). I was prepared to purchase the HP because I didn't think I was going to be able to afford the Mac in time and I was having an emotional dilemma. With arguments coming from Ricky for the PC and Kenneth for the Mac I didn't know what to do. Should I get the HP or wait and see if I could get a Mac?

So after thinking about the options, I decided to ask the one non-biased person that is up at 5:30 in the morning while I was waiting to go to work.... my mom. I talked to her about my options and we came to the decision that I would get the Mac one way or another. 

So I went to the Mac Store in Altamonte after work today and talked with the rep to discuss my options. He first asked me if I had a student id and when I told him yes he smiled and said that I was going to get a great deal. After hearing that, I was ready to buy. I told him my thoughts and I left with a Macbook and iWork. The best part was that fact that I had pretty much the exact amount in our account that I needed for the purchase today (and I was still waiting on money from Pearson for my testing).

Yay! I got my laptop today and I am a happy camper. I am glad that I had the dilemma though because it made me realize how much I really wanted the Mac and that I made the right decision. To top it off, when I got home today, I received the rest of my money from Pearson, so now I have replacement funds for my account.. Yay for Christmas shopping money! 

Even More UCF Homecoming '08 Photos

Trip with his tuba

Smokin' Joe warming up

UCF Huddle

He steps back to throw...

Dave & Annika in the stands