Something About Nothing..........#5

[marciemi]

Hi Guys - remember me? Yeah, it's been awhile since I posted although I do read the thread every day, if not several times a day. Just too much going on and then I don't post and then there's too much to say so then I just give up! So....I won't even try. But I know how much you all like pics so when I have some I come back.

It was great to see some of the "old folks" (you know what I mean ) hanging around again. Sharon especially - how goes Embry Riddle? We're getting more serious on investigating colleges. Did you know not one public University of Wisconsin school (yes, there are 26) offers Aeronautical Engineering? Yeah, I know MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) does at 4 times the cost of a public school. And Univ. of Minnesota (reciprocal tuition so he could go there "in state"). We're still hoping for one of the academies, but doing research in the meantime.

Anyways, those pics I spoke of. Stephen had his first night of his play last night - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - the real version (dark, depressing), not the Disney one (fun). He plays the blind man. I bought the photo booklet you could buy last night and scanned a few pictures in - the quality's not going to be great, but it will probably be awhile until I get the real prints I ordered. He's the one with the big "blind" sign, in case you can't pick him out!

And yeah, I know all school play pics look about the same!

Katie - if you drop by at all, Stephen is insisting he's doing swim team starting a week from Monday. He hasn't swam competitively since he was about 8, but is determined to try. Had the first team meeting and parents meeting. Okay, I swam for years and knew to expect a lot, but is your practice schedule this crazy? 2.5 hours each day M-F after school, plus T, Th, F before school from 5-7am, plus EVERY Saturday from 7-10am? We didn't have that many mornings or any Saturdays. Plus during Christmas break they have practice every day (except Christmas itself - yes they do have it on New Years' Day, Christmas Eve, etc.) from 7-11am. Sorry, but is this overkill or is it just me?

Any of you airfare gurus - I'd like to try to consider a trip during our spring break as well, which is the same as Dave's. We're looking at possibly waiting for free dining and going late August, but if I can make this work out better pricewise, we'd also look at it. But the cheapest air I can find - even out of Milwaukee - is close to $500pp. Much more out of Green Bay. Anyone have tips to finding anything better? I thought air would go down now with gas going down? Thanks for any help!

I'll try to stay around here more and actually post from time to time!

 

[macraven]

marci!!!!!

i know, i dropped the e in your name for punishment for deserting us....

you won't believe this but i was just thinking about you.
and then i opened the thread and there you were.

i started to think you were pregnant again and having morning sickness and just couldn't get to the computer the last 2 months......

wow, wouldn't that be a good rumor to start with..

hey, maybe if i posted things like that about the homies in the past they would come back here and play.....or beat the tar out of me


you know us well. we all love pictures here.


todd, since dave is the dell expert, pick his brain.
and dave, if you are reading, help todd out.

one of my sons, the one that moved out of the house 3 weeks ago and took my bad kitty with him, has had problems with his dell a few times.

he loves the dell computer but has a dickens of a time getting to use the warranty he has for it. always a run around.

 

[macraven]

i have had a couple of pm requests of doing the ornament exchange again this year.

last year we did the exchange and had 17 homies participate with it.
i did the exchange of names right around thanksgiving time.

the rules were the cost of the ornament was $5 and shipping is not included in that $5 cost to the sender.

think about if you want to do an exchange for this december.
we set $5 as the limit that is spent on the exchange. this way it would be more fun than an expense.

we did the shipping of the ornaments in mid december so all could put it on their trees.
if you don't do christmas trees, we can elaborate and do sometype of knick knack for you if you want to join in.

some homies sent an ornament that represented their region where they live.
marci, this is for you. no green bay packers for me. i'm a Bear fan.....

others sent an ornament based on the color of what the recipient liked best.

i know i sent out grinch ornaments as the homie i had loved universal.

all is done in secret.
i get the names of the people. they email me their home address or work if that is where they want their exchange sent to.

all i do is give out the names and address of only the person you send the ornament to.
then i destroy the listings.

all i kept from last year's exchange is who had whom so no repeats this year.

i'll bring this up later before tday so think if you want to do an exchange.

i thought an ornament exchange would be the cheapest one that would be fun.

i have done Christmas stocking exchanges on dis threads but that gets too expensive and sometimes the stocking costs more than what you put into it.

 

[ky07]

Good evening homies

 

[Sharon G]

It was great to see some of the "old folks" (you know what I mean ) hanging around again. Sharon especially - how goes Embry Riddle? We're getting more serious on investigating colleges. Did you know not one public University of Wisconsin school (yes, there are 26) offers Aeronautical Engineering? Yeah, I know MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) does at 4 times the cost of a public school. And Univ. of Minnesota (reciprocal tuition so he could go there "in state"). We're still hoping for one of the academies, but doing research in the meantime.

Hi Marcie - James is loving Embry Riddle. It's a computer/aeronautical geeks dream school. He also likes the fact that it's a small school with small classes, so you really get to know your professors and they you. He's in the honors program and living in an honors dorm, which he wasn't sure he would like. But the dorm is working out way better than he expected. Everyone is focused on learning. But they still have fun. A couple of the guys took another guys door off his room and were parading it up and down the elevator and around the building. Lots of silly stuff like that. So it's not all just studying.

He's heading over to Kennedy Space Center for the air show tomorrow. The school is providing two free shuttle busses. When he got out of work this afternoon, he heard this tremendous roar and looked over to the runway. Two F-16's and and F-18 were practicing touch and go's.

Jame's best friend is also at Riddle doing the AE degree. So if you have any questions I will be seeing him over Thanksgiving. One downer about Riddle thou, they don't have the endowement that other larger schools have, so they couldn't match all of the $$ that some of the other schools offered James. But they came pretty darn close with a little bit of pushing from me.

Has he been to see any schools yet? Does he know if he wants large or small, city or rural?

 

[marciemi]

Sharon - we were out last weekend at University of Wisconsin (Madison). Now conceding that it was Halloween, but the amount of obvious drinking and partying really turned DH and I off (and yeah, I realize we aren't the target audience!). Now Matt's my oldest, and the thought of him being in this atmosphere in less than 2 years is just really scary!

His main goal in life is to get into one of the service academies. Air Force would be his first choice, then Navy (because obviously both of those two would offer the opportunity to become a pilot as well as study engineering), and finally West Point (where his dad and I went), which I still think he'd take over a non-military school. Beyond those choices though, I think a lot of it will come down to what his GF does! Okay, they won't put it that way, but they are both looking into engineering and he's considering changing his mind to chemical (he and GF are both in AP chem and enjoying it this year).

He should have a good feel for his chances come spring. All the academies offer a summer seminar/workshop of some kind for upcoming seniors (you have to be between your junior and senior year of HS). The selection process is supposed to be even tougher than getting into the academies themselves. So he begins applying for those in January, should find out if he's selected by late spring, and attends in June. This should give him an idea of what his chances realistically are. If it turns out that it's not reasonable, then he'll have to get a whole lot more serious about other colleges.

His soccer team is (hopefully - not 100 percent confirmed) playing in a state league this year which will mean all their games will be on weekends and traveling around the entire state. If nothing else, it should be a good way to check out some of the other (state) colleges, but they're also playing tournaments in Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan so we can see some of those too.

Oh, speaking of soccer - Matt scored his first goal in one of their playoff games a couple weeks ago. Matt's a defender so he doesn't get a chance to even try to score much at all. He played midfield for a change in this game and Royce managed to get his goal on tape and another dad got a good shot of it. Here's a nice photoshopped pic he took of the shot (Matt's the tall blond kid a couple feet up in the air!):

 

[bubba's mom]

well???

what????

we WERE in Vegas in April, ya know. Got to bet the sports books futures when you are there!!! Got two tickets for the Eagles to win the Superbowl too.......


Just mailed our tickets to Mandalay Bay and The Luxor, REGISTERED MAIL, on Wednesday.

Well? How much ya win?

I guess it really all depends on what you use the PC for (ie internet vs gaming)

DH is huge gamer...explains the system

ohh

a nice round number for me 2600 posts now

I really need to make more time to hang wit da homies......

CONGRATS!!! We know u a workin' gal now...not much time to hang wit da homies

I know how much you all like pics so when I have some I come back.

We always love ur pix Marcie. Looks like an interesting play.

 

[KStarfish82]

Hey everyone!

Marcie: As for your questions.....I actually just got home from my swim meet and it is 1 am!!! And we get to do it all again in less than 12 hours!

This is the way we do our practice schedule:

M - F are from 4 - 6

Sat - 8 - 10

Special circumstances can change this of coutse, but it is typically the way it is.

As for Christmas break, we do have practice. (I don't agree with it, family first!) We are putting a practice on Xmas eve, but then giving them 4 days off. They also have off for New Years.

I hope this helps!

 

[tlinus]

Morning homies!!!

Its another gray dreary yucky day here in PA - what does it look like outside your window??!!??

 

[macraven]

the same as yours and with dead leaves covering every inch of my yard..

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Happy Saturday all ...

It's actually a very nice fall day here, albeit cool ... first time in a long time we haven't had any snow at this time of year

Good to see some old faces back ... but still no sign of Andy/Rob???

 

[Akdar]

Morning homies!!!

Its another gray dreary yucky day here in PA - what does it look like outside your window??!!??

I think our weather is going to go downhill fast now!!

I am having serious thoughts of moving to Orlando in a few years! I've joked about it before, but now my better half (Sherry) and I are seriously considering it. It would be at least 3 years, as Sherry would have 30 years on her job then, and I would need to decide what to do with my studio and sound business. It's hard to explain, but I just feel at home down there! I could probably get a transfer to a Postal Facility down there, as the PO is doing a lot of that now, instead of hiring new people, they offer early outs, and encourage transfers. But, that's a ways off, but we had our first serious talk about it last night, so............ we'll go from here I guess!

 

[Akdar]

OK, I'm in a silly mood today - first thing I thought of when I saw this was
... Bueller ... Bueller ... Bueller




I was thinking of using the 4/3 deal for our May trip ... but with APs, I think we can get a better deal room wise Plus we don't need the park tickets, and we won't get the $200 gift card as our trip is after March.

We're lucky - we only have to drive about 45 min to the airport here and have been fortunate to get good deals with the US carriers. Unfortunately we don't have access to carriers like Southwest for the really good deals

We're still looking at flights for our January trip, never mind May ... luckily we have FFP that we can use which will help. The problem right now is the exchange rate on the dollar. We're only getting 84 cents for every US dollar which really sucks. I'm hoping that the markets will go back up and the exchange rate improves soon.

Speaking of airlines, it cost as much to fly from Atlanta to Orlando as it does to fly from Philadelphia to Orlando???? We are trying to figure out our May trip to see my nephew graduate in Atlanta, then go to USF. Renting a car is an option, but an 8 hour drive........ I just hate being in a car that long, and we could be spending that time at the parks or resort, or anything, but being in a car. But it would save around $3OO to go the car rental route. That's what inspired me to check flights. I can't believe the price similarity between the 2 flights. Well, there's time yet, so I'll keep looking!

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I am having serious thoughts of moving to Orlando in a few years! I've joked about it before, but now my better half (Sherry) and I are seriously considering it. It would be at least 3 years, as Sherry would have 30 years on her job then, and I would need to decide what to do with my studio and sound business. It's hard to explain, but I just feel at home down there! I could probably get a transfer to a Postal Facility down there, as the PO is doing a lot of that now, instead of hiring new people, they offer early outs, and encourage transfers. But, that's a ways off, but we had our first serious talk about it last night, so............ we'll go from here I guess!

Lee and I have been talking about that for a while now too ... and yes we know exactly what you mean by "feeling at home" down in Orlando. While we wouldn't be able to move full time, we've thought about maybe buying a condo and paying someone to look after it for us when we're not there. Who knows what the future will hold ...

 

[Metro West]

Lee and I have been talking about that for a while now too ... and yes we know exactly what you mean by "feeling at home" down in Orlando. While we wouldn't be able to move full time, we've thought about maybe buying a condo and paying someone to look after it for us when we're not there. Who knows what the future will hold ...

It will be five years in February that I moved down and it didn't take me long to feel at home. Especially walking around in December or January wearing shorts and t-shirt!

 

[roseprincess]

Hi homies-
Quick fly by.
My kids came back from school camp yest afternoon. Had to pick them up from school early afternoon. Did alot of yest.

I actually enjoyed my quiet times without the kids Wed, THurs, and Friday morning! (I kinda wished they were gone another day)
Well, they survived school camp and enjoyed it! THey slept in this morning, which was nice
I didn't quite get as much done as I wanted to when they were gone, but I got a little bit of
cleaning done and a couple of other things done. Watched a couple of movies and watched ER without interruption

Had some problems charging up my cell phone lately. Found out the prongs in the phone were bent out of shape and shoved in. DH went to Verizon store today and I had to get a new phone, using same cell phone #. Phone under warranty, so didn't need to pay anything
THe cell employee there is transfering some of my pics from my old phone to the new phone. I hope I don't lose any pics, as I have the castle pics from Wishes on there. I don't want to lose my pics! They mean alot to me!

Got to run. Going to church soon. Guest worship leader playing tonight at church Have your backs.
If anyone is in my area, they can show up to my church to worship!

Will have to read up later on everyone's posts from the last couple of days.

Coastermom-please PM me about the appt and if you have any other questions. Thanks!

Hi to all

 

[donaldduck352]

Good Eve all..To everyone that wants to move to FLA--come on down the water is fine!

On a seriose note Florida is a beautiful place too live,Only gets below freezing maybe 3 or 4 times a year.And there is so much too see and do!!

The people are more friendly in this state then all the others I visited!!

The suburbs of Orlando is really beautiful.I'm not into real estate but you can find some good bargains right now in the marcket!!Foreclosures and empty new houses are a bargain right now,now is the time too buy--Florida is for sale trust me!!

 

[macraven]

donald duck, do you rent out that tent in your back yard still.......


i might want to rent it for a week before i make a decision on relocating.....


if i moved south, i would have to work.
Mr Mac wouldn't be too thrilled in florida unless it was near the swamp land.

in his next life, he will be a park ranger.

 

[donaldduck352]

donald duck, do you rent out that tent in your back yard still.......


i might want to rent it for a week before i make a decision on relocating.....


if i moved south, i would have to work.
Mr Mac wouldn't be too thrilled in florida unless it was near the swamp land.

in his next life, he will be a park ranger.

Half the time I'm living in the tent-the dog and I are real close(not the way you may think tho)

Most of FLA is swamp,with many lakes for the Bass fisher in your family..

What I love the most is the churches have fund raising programs.Motorcycle poker runs etc. that raise money for kids...Mr MAC would love it,they are so many back roads..

 

[donaldduck352]

OK HOMIES,Im out of here.The night crew will be talking soon..

I'm sorry if I offend anyone(disclaimer)I,m taking my son hunting tommorrow..
If we get a deer,he has too learn how too clean and dress it..

Like I said sorry,but I love venison(very lean meat good for the heart)the pilgrims did it Why not me!!!

Donnt flame me on this please!!