2006 - The Year in Review

2006 is quickly coming to a close. I really enjoy this time of year. As for me, it is a time to set goals, and resolutions for 2007 and reflect upon the last year.

In 2006, we lost

"Red" Auerbach - former coach and GM of the Boston Celtics
Ed Bradley - 60 Minutes
Peter Benchley - writer "Jaws"
Lloyd Bentsen - former Secretary of the Treasury
Gerald Ford - former President

Steve Irwin - the "Crocodile Hunter"

Kirby Puckett - Hall of Fame outfielder
Buck Owens - "Hee Haw" TV show
Ann Richards - former Governor of Texas
James Brown - "Godfather of Soul"
Byron Nelson - former Professional golfer
Joe Niekro - former Astro (with his brother Phil, won most games as sibling pitchers (539))
Bo Schembechler -former head coach of the University of Michigan football team (5th all-time wins)
Aaron Spelling - his credits included the TV series Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Dynasty, Melrose Place, and Beverley Hills 90210
Caspar Weinberger - President Reagan's former Secretary of Defense
Most recenty, Saddam Hussein - former Iraqi Dictator

Personal Reflections of 2006 -
What transpired in our (Lisa and my) lives...

Jan. - We moved into our new real estate office.

Feb. - We welcomed our fourth child and second son, Palmer Jett Smith, into the world Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day).

Mar. - We became highly addicted to the Fox television series "24" (we watched all four complete season series within about 6 weeks). Hunter finally turned 3, yet he still acts like a two-year old. ;)

Apr. - Alyssa won an award at pre-school for being the "Most Neatest" which is pretty accurate. She always seems to have the cleanest room in our house and so far seems to retain the compulsive disorder gene of having to have eveything in perfect order...which no one else in our family seems to possess.

May - The family took our annual vacation to my parents condo on Galveston Island. Lisa, Julia, Alyssa, Hunter, Palmer and I had much fun while escaping reality by wrestling fake alligators in the pool and fishing off the pier into the Gulf of Mexico. We actually caught a few Angel fish. Julia graduated from Kindergarten.

June - Lisa and I begin updating our home (after 8 years in our current residence and 14 years since it was built)... we gave our home a much needed "facelift" to attempt bring our home into the 21st Century - we textured and painted the interior, put in faux wood blinds (yes, I did that - don't look to closely), we installed wood floors (actually we hired someone to do that part), installed updated light fixtures (again, hired someone to do that) and improved our landscaping (and yet again, we hired someone to do that). We did all this while only missing 1-2 Astros games. ;)

July - renovations continued...the men (I say that figuratively) begin construction on our (10' x 12' - $200.00) shed we purchased from Lowe's. We assumed that this would be a relatively easy task that would be completed in a day or two. Now, I've been selling homes for almost 10 years and I have never seen anything take as much time as constructing this stupid shed. The men started contruction on this project in early July...now, I will say in their defense that the parts were not all there and that the directions were not even included, but the guys I hired were supposedly professional house framers...hold on just a second - I think that's them at the door right now letting me know they're finished...LOL, but seriously, I believe it wasn't completed until early September.

Aug. - Julia began first grade and Alyssa began Kindegarten - both are enrolled in the Dual Language program at College Hills Elementary. For those of you that don't know anything about the Dual Language program, it is a program in which half the class' primary language is English and the other half's primary language is Spanish. The class is taught half the day in English and the other half in Spanish. I think this is an incredible opportunity for our children and am honestly quite jealous that I didn't have this opportunity growing up. Our sincerest thanks go out to the Gus Roman family for referring Julia to this wonderful program.

Sept. - after 17 years, my dorm at Texas A&M, the Moore Hall Truckers, "Bad Mother ...", that's as far as I'll go with that, decided it was about time to have a dorm reunion. We kicked off our reunion at Abuelo's on Friday evening, we then went to yell practice (which I hadn't been to in several years) and concluded the evening by visiting our old dorm and mingleing with the current tenants of our old dorm rooms (who were very hospitable)and had our own "yell practice". Sat. we tailgated and went to the Aggie game and that concluded my part of the weekend.
We also kicked off our company's (The Real Estate Group) first annual softball team (don't ask me about our final record - I have "Selective Amnesia", as Charles Barkley calls it. We also celebrated our company's second anniversary. We purchased a company limousine (that we plan to use for company events and to thank our clients) and it was a big hit at the celebration. Although, our chauffeur, Jose (who is from Mexico and doesn't speak English very well) although very careful, only drives about 15 MPH, and ran about 3 hours behind schedule. The Astros broke my heart again by just missing the playoffs, but "there's always next year" (a common theme if you're a Houston sports fan).

Oct. - Kicked off with a bang! Julia, our oldest, turned 7 and let the whole world know about it. She celebrated her birthday with a pajama party. Halloween was a blast, our church, Grace Bible Church, had a "fall festival" in which all of our children dressed up and had a wonderful time. Julia was a lion tamer and "tried to tame" her younger brothers.

Nov. - One of my favorite months...not only is it the official start of the (NBA) National Basketball Association season and I get to satisfy my withdrawl symptoms from not being able to watch the Rockets for the last six months, but Lisa also celebrated her 29th birthday (for the eighth consectutive year!) Besides, I think the best Thanksgiving gift we've received in quite some time was the Aggies football victory over t.u. in Austin.

Dec. - Not only did my fantasy football team (Da Beers) win our league championship...Yeah, baby! But the Chicago Bears (my favorite football team) - (at least since the Oilers left Houston) - won the American Football Conference and for the first time since 1986, the road to the Super Bowl goes through Chicago (my hometown). Certainly, a Super Bowl Party at my house will be immininent should they make it to the big game! However, should they play Dallas and you so happen to be a Cowgirl fan... then you're not invited, so please stay home (unless you're my wife, and then...please leave home...just for the game, of course). ;) Go Da Bears!

Well, here we are! We're just about to turn the page to another chapter in our lives. May each of you have a Prosperous and Memorable New Year!

If you're ever in the area, please drop in and say "Hi" - remember we're at 809 University Dr. E., Suite 200. You can also always reach me on my cell at (979) 777-7677 or via email at Andrew@AndrewSmithTeam.com . Be sure to visit my website at www.AndrewSmithTeam.com to find out more money saving tips about buying or selling homes in B/CS.

What is a blog?

I've never posted a blog before. Honestly, I'm not quite sure I even knew what one was until a couple of months ago, when my wife became addicted to blogging. She spends hours upon hours in front of the computer trying to post photos of our children, etc. I'll hear her groan when our outdated home computer freezes up because it is simply too slow to upload her photos; she'll hear me groan as I watch Rafer Alston take another ill-advised 3 point attempt or Chuck Hays make another needless foul... so I guess we're even, ;) but my groan seems so much more important in the grand scheme of things (at least as playoff position is concerned) - LOL :).

Honestly...I'm proud of her new addiction. Not only does it leave less time for her to complain about my obsessive-compulsive Bears and Rockets watching disorder this time of year, but it truely allows her to express herself in a way that suits her personality and talents extremely well. So as the famous expression goes; "If you can't beat 'em...join 'em."

I apologize in advance that so many of my ancedotes refer to sports, but those are the things that I relate to best.

I teach a Real Estate class at Blinn College - "Law of Agency"- and one of my favorite pasttimes has been to bring Julia or Alyssa (my two daughters) to class and challenge the class to see if the class can name more of the Rockets or Astros than Julia or Alyssa. Needless to say, I've trained them well and Julia (7) or Alyssa (5) almost always wins.

A couple of years ago, we took a family photo with Lance Berkman (a Houston Astro All-Star first baseman). He picked up Alyssa in one arm, and Alyssa still to this day refers to him as "a nice man."

One of my favorite moments in class is when I'll ask Alyssa, "What do you say to Kobe?" Without hesitation, she'll yell out, "No means No!" Like I said before, I train them well.

Anyway, my objectives for this blog are to 1) educate you 2) as Matress Mac would say "save you money" and hopefully 3) entertain you.

This week's money saving tip goes out to my good friend Damian, who is the GM for both Bryan and College Station's Little Caesar's Pizza franchises. I worked for Damian when I went to A&M in the late '80's and early '90's and we are still good friends to this day (even though he likes the Cowboys... Da Bears rule!) Little Caesar's offers a "Hot and Ready" large pepperoni pizza that can feed our whole family for only $5.00. In my opinion, it is by far the best bargain in B/CS, not to mention that there is no reason to call ahead as they are already ready. Get one today, pick one up on your way home from work at the College Station store on SW Pkwy and Texas or the Bryan store at Booneville and the Bypass.

Now as the late night TV talk show hosts might say about their guests promoting a new movie, I'm going to "plug" my own business and offer you a free, quick, over-the-net market analysis of your property if you're in the market to sell you own home. Simply click on www.AndrewSmithTeam.com and fill out the online questionaire and I'll give you a free, confidential market analysis of what your home might sell for without any obligation.

I'd love to hear your comments, your thoughts, your opinions, and your questions. If you've got any input please post in the comment section.