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sellhart53
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Name: Brian
Birthday: 9/4/1981
Interests: My Passion:
I love sharing the gospel to children! I know that small children can become saved because of my personal testimony and that is one reason I get so excited about AWANA. I'm thrilled that I can use my gifts in Awana by helping teach and mentor kids as well as helping them understand and memorize God's Word!!
Outside of Awana, my passion is for business. God has built finance and numbers and entrepreneurial skills in me from an early age. I currently work for the government as a financial manager. I could see myself starting my own full-time business or using my business and finance know-how for a non-profit Christian organization in some capacity.
Expertise: The Bible, anything financial (investments, budgeting, loans, retirement, stewardship), entrepreneurship, Ebay, baseball/softball, Ultimate Frisbee, Table Tennis, Alan Trammell, sportscards, AWANA youth program, Cedarville University (2003), University of Michigan Football.
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
9/22/2005
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| Q: Do women still play hard-to-get these days or is it pretty obvious to most normal people what's going on? | | |
| So much to talk about. I'll start by saying that our time in WV was awesome!! The mountain biking was crazy. When we walked into the building to register for the conference we were, head to tail, mud and sweat. Not sure we made the best first impression, but we had a ton of fun biking all throughout the New River Gorge area. 
 In other news, I had an interesting note in my door today. It was from a realtor saying that he was working with this couple (Matt & Terri) who was really interested in buying a custom ranch home in my neighborhood like mine. They've been looking for something all summer, but haven't found anything they liked. I'm supposed to call the realtor if I would be interested in selling. Hey...I do have a Make Me Move price listed on Zillow for $180K. That's my price baby. Otherwise, I kind of like where I am.  | | |
| Yesterday was the highlight of my softball year! Such a great time. It was the tournament in my competitive league. I absolutely love playing with very good players. I’m not exactly at the top of the best-player lists, but I hold my own at shortstop and have a ton of fun doing it.
This year (once again) my team was the #1 seed heading into the tourney. We had lost one game during the regular season which was the first time in 4 years that had happened with this team. It had been a hard-fought season. My team started off with a bye that put us into the semifinals.
Our first game was tough. We went back and forth trading leads the whole game. In the top of the 7th (last inning in softball), it was a tie game. We hung a goose egg (ie – they didn’t score) despite facing their best hitters. In the bottom of the 7th, they were facing the teeth of our lineup. All we needed was one run to win it. We had a guy on third with one out. The other team intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases. All we needed was a long fly ball. The next batter up hit a nice liner up the middle. The runner on third started taking off toward home, but the ball hung in the air. The center fielder, already playing shallow, dove headfirst to snag the ball right before it hit the ground. Because the runner on third had headed toward home, he couldn’t get back in time to tag up and make it home. That put me up at the plate in the bottom of the 7th with two outs and the bases loaded, tie game. They were playing me pretty well all the way around the field. My best shot for a base hit was up the middle. I ended up running the count full, 3 balls, 2 strikes, before smashing the next pitch up the middle into the outfield to win the game by one!! Exciting, adrenaline-filled game.
The finals was a blast too. Again, we seesawed back and forth all game with each side hitting the ball well. The game was tied 9-9 after the 5th inning. In the top of the 6th, after scoring one run, the other team hit a bases loaded grand slam with two outs. That put us down by five. In the bottom of the 6th we went crazy, scoring 10 runs to take the lead back by five. They scored once in the 7th, but that’s all they could muster, and we ended up taking the championship by four runs! The game ended at 11:07pm. Three hours of softball with some great guys. It was a wonderful time.
As a sidenote, I’ve been focused a lot on creating God space in my everyday relationships. I know I have people praying for me in this regard. Midway through our first game the lights went out on our field, so we had to stop playing for awhile because of darkness. Normally I would just mope around until we started playing again, but I was thankful that God brought to my mind to make some conversation with my teammates. I can’t say anything magical happened, but I tried to ask some good questions and get into their lives a little bit. It was enjoyable, and I hope it leads to something more in the future. I love talking about meaningful stuff! | | |
| Time for a mortgage update. I believe the last time I gave you an update was around the February timeframe when I had just surpassed the 50% equity point (based on my purchase price). As of the end of August, I anticipate my total mortgage debt to be below $60K for the first time! I started 2010 owing a little more than $84K, so I have been able to average a debt paydown of $3K/mo so far. I am hoping that an extra paycheck in October combined with November and December electronics’ sales will allow me to finish the year with around $44K remaining. If this can be accomplished, I will at least have a shot of paying everything off by the end of 2011!! That’s the goal. To knock out my mortgage within 7 years, I have had a single-minded focus on paying extra each month. I have spent money on a vacation or two each year, but most other expenditures on myself have been minimal. I do try to be generous in the important areas. I donate a sizeable portion of my income, and have no issue spending money to spend time with/help out other people. I do also put money away for retirement. However, I don’t really have an emergency fund to speak of. I am not saving for a new car, despite 10 years and 155K on my current car. I keep putting off all but the necessary home improvements/repairs. The fact that I am single with no other financial obligations helps alleviate a lot of concerns with this strategy. If I do run into an unexpected emergency, I am essentially banking on the fact that I can stop paying extra on the mortgage and come up with up to ~$3K within a month if needed. Not really the most comfortable situation to be in, but I really believe God wants me to get rid of this debt, so I’m going for it. I’ll keep you updated. | | |
| A few weeks ago I purchased an interesting piece of Roseville ceramic at an estate auction. I was the only bidder and paid $25. It is an 8" tall wall plaque of a Burmese female pictured below: 
The Ebay auction just ended. I didn't get what I thought I might get, but it did sell for $81. Not sure who would pay $81 for this, but I'm ok with pocketing the extra $50! On another note, I am headed for West Virginia @ 4:30am tomorrow morning! I am taking a couple days off work to go mountain biking with my 3 bestest friends and then attending a 3-day Awana conference. I don't think things could get much better than that. I shall return home on Sunday afternoon in time to host Home Groups. | | |
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