BULLS BULLS BULLS!!!!

Go Bulls!!! This jersey wearing idea was all Emily's. She said we should all get in jerseys. Isn't she crazy?!?! But for those of you who don't know, the Bulls swept the defending champion Miami Heat and are on to play the Detriot Pistons. Also, Marjorie made a cake and decorated it with Brandon's new last name.

LOOK AT US!!! WE'RE A CUTE COLLEGE COUPLE... YIPEE!!!!!!!

What Rusty and Meridth did on their 4th Wedding Anniversary...

...and also a response to one of my two favorite nieces. In the comments section of Meridth's blog below, Ashley querried why I had a moustache in the photograph. By way of correction, my dear, that was a beard. I've sworn off moustaches for good, or at least until next Moustache March rolls around. Furthermore, the picture Meridth posted is some months old, back when she was still here in England. Not without irony, your inquiry, Ashley, appeared about a week into yet another romp into the world of facial hair. The beard is back my friends! If I can't be fickle about my appearance, what can I be fickle about? Furthermore my staunch opposition to haircuts has entered its tenth month. I figure I'll work for the guv'ment in some iteration or another for the next 30-35 years; I'd better get this "midlife crisis" stuff out of the way now while I'm young enough to make it look good, but too poor to buy a motorcycle. Or a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum...

Anyway, I'm sure you're all on pins and needles over how Meridth and I are going to spend our four-year anniversary toady. Through the magic of cheap internetworked technology, Meridth and I will be going on a romantic date to see one of our fovorite movies, 1985's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." We'll both be getting food from the same restaurant. Here our selection is fairly limited. McDonalds, KFC or Burger King...there's is actually a Chili's here in Reading (one of five in England) but if you're getting it to-go anyway, it's hardly worth the price (especially here, where a plate of Quesadillas costs 20 bones). We've opted to go with the "Home of the Whopper" on this romantic evening, for obvious reasons. While we dine, we shall both log onto Skype so that we can chat while eating and watching the movie on the DVD drives of our respective computers. Ain't technology grand? Well...it's hardly an optimal situation, but it will be fun nonetheless and, to me at least, seems like the sort of post-modern globalized activity that wouldn't have been possible only ten years ago.

And it beats miserably watching reruns of "The A-Team." Which is what I've been up to in the last week or so.

Was Murdock always so annoying?

-Rusty

Boo!

Toyota beat out GM on units sold in the first quarter this year. Boo.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/24/news/international/toyota_gm.reut/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories

Honestly, if there's a blander car out there, I'd like to see it...

Cupcakes, anyone?

Day one: Monday, April 23, 2007. Woke up at about 7:30a. Watched the news. I already miss the NBC5 Today show. Dick Johnson and Ellie Pie Hong live from the NBC5 Studio at Tribune Tower with their "Window on the Weather." Sigh. Took Lilly for a walk. Drove to Bluffton to the Starbucks. Did you know that Bluffton has a Starbucks? Yes. Brand new. Everything is clean but the service is slow. Need to remember that I don't have anywhere to rush off to, so there's really no reason to hurry. Home again. Changed clothes. Eliptical trainer for 30 minutes. Did you know that Dad has an Eliptical Trainer? It's nice and provided a good work out. Showered. Put Lilly in her crate. Took Brandon to the airport for this 2p flight to San Antonio. Drove to Borders. Looked at cook books. Thought about making a casserole for Dad. Called Kellie. Made plans for tomorrow. Decided against buying a cook book. Decided instead to make some cupcakes. Went to Hobby Lobby. Purchased frostings bags, tips and cupcake boxes. Drove home. Talked to Karl. He was a presentation tomorrow at 1p. His group is lame, though and usually gets the lowest grade in the class. Let's hope tomorrow is different. Home again. Made 48 cupcakes. 24 Yellow and 24 Chocolate. Dad home. Mom was working at McDonalds. Did you know that Mom's school has an occasional fund-raiser that makes them work at McDonalds? She sometimes cooks food, sometimes works the register, sometimes cleans tables. Life skills learned. Tonight was cleaning tables. Dad went to Lowes. Needed some lumber. Began frosting cupcakes. Mom and Dad helped. (See picture) Made orange frosting for Dad. Dad likes orange. Mom does not. Might be why she doesn't like the new desk? Talked to Betsey. She was driving home from school and is working on 2 20 pages papers. Walked Lilly. Mom did the dishes. Did you know that Mom and Dad still don't have a dishwasher? Talked to Brandon. He went to a parade in SAT on the water way. He said it was lame and that they were overcharging for food. He went back to the hotel for dinner. Went to bed.

Good day? Yes, i think so.

Kisses!
-M

In God We Trust!

So. It's been awhile since I've posted but that doesn't mean there hasn't been much to report. In fact, quite the opposite is true. I've wanted to blog earlier to update everyone but couldn't think of a witty or interesting way to relay the story. That being said -- I guess we'll just jump right in.

1. I quit my job. I hated that place. They pray every Monday morning and the CEO (Prayer Leader) was a devote follower of Steve Forbes, a man with terrible skin and even worse political views. (Flat tax?!?!) Can't tell you all how happy I am to be OUT of that place and with no new job in sight, am giving myself the chance to explore what I really want to be doing as it's definitely not making money for CEOs with crazy-ass politics and views on how to run a company.

2. We sold our Condo. We had put in the market in mid-March more to just see if we could sell it and ended-up getting our asking price within 5 days. It's turned out to be a wise investment for Brandon and me and we're happy with outcome.

3. We moved. (See 1 and 2) We are now homeless and I am now jobless. The buyers of our placed wanted to close in 30 days, which required us to scrabble-about on determining our next steps. I'm thinking I want to go back to school but am not sure for an MBA or a Masters of what, which is a problem.... SO we decided in the short-term, we would rely on our families' good graces. Some might call it 'mooching'. Some might say exploitation. Others might say it's just plain SMART. But no matter how you slice it - we packed up all of our stuff and sent it to Bradon's mom and step-dad's plant in Greensboro NC and are now staying with Mom and Dad here in beautiful Decatur IN. We're going to be here for a couple of weeks and then are either going to NC to look at Chapel Hill for a house. (Duke, UNC and NC State are all near.) OR and this is a big maybe at this point - Brandon could get staffed on a project in NEW ZEALAND. If that were to happen, we would probably be there a year or so. If not, we'll go to NC. Brandon can work from anywhere so that's nice and I'll explore school options all while living with his mom and step-dad in Greensboro / High Point area while looking for a house.

4. We got married. Probably not the best way to tell everyone but being jobless, moving and doing all of this stuff, we really just needed to be married. We ended up at the Chicago City Hall on Thursday (April 19th) for a 2 minute, "I do" session with the Cook County judge. We didn't tell anyone as it was really more a logistical / practical thing. We are planning to have a real wedding ceremony and party with all of our very special loved ones and friends but it will depend on whatever happens with this New Zealand thing as to the when and where. I love you all and hope you're not disappointed but really it was just something that we needed to do. So -- it's a official. I'm Margie Kooman.

5. And for those of you who haven't been to Indiana recently - there's this new CRAZY license plate here. (See picture) Strangest thing. I mean, I like the G-O-D. Who doesn't? He created the world. Blesses us. etc... But gimme a break. "In God We Trust" on a plate? Little weird.

So -- that's it. That's what is new with me.

Love to you all.
-M

I miss Edward...Russell that is

Edward and my 4th year anniversary is coming up (April 26th) and astoundingly enough, from April of 2006 to April of 2007, Edward and I have been apart for 8 months.
Yuck.
I hope that as a couple we have paid our dues and never do this again. I'm flying home (home technically is where Edward is) on May 22nd and am ridiculously excited.

Hooray for being married to somebody you live with.

Why I may not belong in the Gimbel family

So, I figured no one has posted in a few days. Maybe I should post an embarrasing story. Get the comments flowing. Cause this one is a doosey!

A few days ago, I got in my car to drive home. As soon as I turned the car on, I noticed a sound. It was a tsh tsh tsh tsh tsh kind of noise. Very fast, very rhythmic. It was there was my car was in reverse. it was there when I was going fast, slow, stopped. All the time! As I drove home, I tried to figure out what it was. Then I starting getting really nervous. Maybe my car was breaking down. I got into the far right lane, just in case I had to pull onto the side of the road.

I made it home okay, but complained to Richard that we had to take the car into a mechanic because there was something wrong with it. Richard and I got in the car later that evening and he also heard the noise. He quickly realized though that it wasn't coming from the engine. He started looking around the interior of the car and pulled out a large plastic bag from underneath the drivers seat. The noise then stopped! The vents were blowing just so on the plastic bag to create the tsh tsh tsh tsh noise.

Yes, I almost went to a mechanic for a plastic bag underneath my seat

The end.

Happy 100th

Wilt wishes us a happy 100th post!!!!! Yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Dad's Desk Project

Thought you guys would like to see what I've been up to for the past two months.

The 411 on the 911

We saw this article in the Deseret News about 911 dispatchers. It made us proud of Casey! Here's the link:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211760,00.html

Hope everyone is having a nice Sunday.

Gimbel Ugly Heads

One last Ugly Gimbel Head...I've renounced the concept of haircuts and I've been thinking of growing a beard of Mosaic proportions. Should be a good time. I think my nose be the straightest, but I left my T-square back at the lab, so it's hard to say for sure. (My ears, however, have always been crooked, that is to say, uneven, so my glassies have always sat slightly cocked on my Gesicht.) One thing is certain however...the conclusions of the following picture tell the sad truth...

i guess i too have a long head. i was just making fun of karl and i thought maybe i should post a picture of my ugly head as well. i think my nose is crooked. also, as an update. for those that did not know. i sold my subaru about a month ago.



it was a nice car, but i am too much of a cheapskate to justify that sort of luxury. i'm driving the colt now, and while it doesn't carry quite as much prestige (as if the suby was a status symbol) it is fun to drive and gets me around just fine. i love you all.

ryan

Happy Anniversary to Team Hawkins

That is right...Team Hawkins has officially made it two years! April 9, 2007 marks our two year anniversary. I think we are going to celebrate by going to the Apple Pan. David Sedarsis has a story in one of his books where he eats at the Apple Pan, so we decided to go. Happy Anniversary Team Hawkins!

New Camera for MoM

Mom got a new camera I (dad) took a pic of Karl and He wanted to see if I could get on the blog!

Vote your favorite

Hi everyone, Karl and Dad here doing some test-blogging. Dad would like you to vote for your favorite Chevy mini car.
www.vote4chevrolet.com Vote for anything but the beat.

Gimbel Recipes

Hey everyone! I thought that it would be fun to compile some favorite recipes of the Gimbel Family into a cookbook. I know that I love Fat Ed's English toffee and Grandma Gimbel's delicious homemade macaroni and cheese and would love to have those recipes (and more!) in one handy location. I want all the recipes that you guys love to make!

So, either email me or post in a comment any recipes that your family loves, or ideas of recipies that Claudia and Ed need to contribute. I'll post another time with a reminder and maybe send an email to you all. I won't be able to put this together until May, so take your time...no rush!

hhmmmmm????

Just a few slides from my business process class that I thought dad would like.