Raising the Bar » Real Estate Zebra

Where have I been?

Bryan Rothamel — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:06:58 +0000

I know, I know. I have neglected this blog. I have been quite busy since October but that is no excuse. I should write more often.

Let me tell you where I have been. I started my own news organization in the end of October. Daniel and myself decided to start Fluco Blog and we have had tremendous success.

Fluco Blog covers all things Fluvanna County, “Fluco News. All of the Time.” Daniel has owned the website address for a few years now. I always wanted to write but didn’t want to write on other people’s schedule. I wanted to write when I wanted to.

Hence, Fluco Blog.

It has been exciting so far. We have 416 fans on facebook and many local news organizations use material we have whether it is a RT on twitter or using our copy. We are quite excited with what has happened so far.

I also have increased hours at Strong Team Realtors. When I get home, I just want to play XBOX, go the gym then cover a story. After that, get some time with my girlfriend on Skype then bed. Doesn’t leave much time for a well developed blog post.

I need to make time for a well developed blog post and I plan on doing that. 2009 was the year of the Zebra for Daniel, well maybe 2010 will be the year of the BAR.

That sounded better in my head then it did when I read it.

You know what I mean. I hope I can provide insightful information you enjoy. Here is to 2010!

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The Differences Between Brothers

Bryan Rothamel — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:53:00 +0000

No related posts.

Here's to you Little Zebra

Bryan Rothamel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:30:17 +0000

The biggest announcement in the history of the Real Estate Zebra came a week ago. Incase you were not on Twitter, my brother and sister(-in-law) are having their first child due to arrive mid January.

Daniel and Kari asked for people to comment on the blog entry Daniel used to break the news. With that came 38 comments ! And no, I didn’t leave a comment. Why? Because I’m too good for comments! I raise the bar, not answer to it!

That is where this post comes in. This one is for you Lil Zebra (and Daniel and Kari too). This is my open letter to my future niece/nephew.

Dear Daniel and Kari’s child,

I’ll tell you what. Your parents’ little announcement of your pending birth really ruined millions of jokes I had about their lack of children. But there couldn’t be a better way to ruin jokes than to have the jokes end by bringing in another beautiful person into the world.

Your parents’ announcement pleased many in our family because we have lots of love to share and have waited some time to share it with you. You have people that will cook, entertain, teach you, you teach us, help you through life problems, share life’s joys with you and many, many more things. Our family might be a little unconventional at times, but hey, name one that isn’t? We sure have fun at doing it and will always have the love.

And don’t you worry, love will come in bundles from me. I have a few promises I have thought of for you. Why, you might only be in your first trimester, I still can make some promises to you.

I promise you that no matter how far we are away from each other by domiciles, we will be near each other in thought. Visiting you will be fun, I might even make time to see your parents too!

I promise you, an addendum to the first promise, I will try to make as many of your life changing experiences as possible. I don’t know how far we will live away from each other, but I will try my hardest to make it like we are 10 steps away even if we are 10 hundred miles apart.

I promise to play you in whatever technology games whenever we can. Let’s face it, your parents, especially your father, will always want the newest games. If they don’t, I’ll be on your side to persuade them, or whatever else you want to persuade them on (except not anything that brings a permanent change to your body and/or relationship with your parents).

I promise to also play with you outside. Throw a baseball/softball, take a walk, ride bikes, whatever. We can’t always be inside; every now and then we have to go outside.

I promise to be whatever you need and the greatest uncle you could imagine. I guess that’s kind of an open-ended, all-inclusive promise. Good thing I left it for last. Maybe you don’t want me in play video games or walk outside or whatever. I just want to make sure you can think of me, a smile comes to your face because I know when I think of your family, a smile will always come to my face.

I can’t wait to meet you and see you in January!

Love,

Uncle @HeRaisesTheBar

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Bryan Rothamel — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:37:39 +0000

In honor of Dec. 14, 2008, and the special day it is for my brother, here are the 28 reasons why I love my brother, Daniel Rothamel, aka Real Estate Zebra. This are in no particular order, just as they come to me.

1. He’s balding worse than me (for now…)

2. He always gives unusual facts. Their usefulness can be debated later.

3. He always knows the best places to use the bathroom.

4. I think like him. Like when I wanted to visit the Dick’s Sporting Goods website, he made the same mistake before I did. FYI-dickssportinggoods.com is correct.

5. When he went through the high school he left a good name to follow. Now if only he didn’t leave such a smart one I would’ve had an easier time with fewer expectations.

6. We communicate on a constant basis. When he was in college and even while I’m in college.

7. He is 7 years older than me and helps me get through life choices.

8. He lets me do odds and ends for his business so I can make some money when I am home on short breaks.

9. He makes lots of free time to find cool things on the internet then he shows me how to do it. (By the way, I need help on my site again…)

10. He always calls to take me out to dinner when I’m home so we can catch up on our lives.

11. He let me drive the X5 once. Nothing like taking turns at 30 mph that you should take at 15 mph.

12. He knows English and I can call him 400 times for help on a paper.

13. He lets me win at XBOX/XBOX 360/Wii/Game Cube/Sega/etc.

14. When I do win, he lets me brag like it actually matters.

15. Also on games, he used to beat me in Monopoly but then when I got good we played every night until early in the morning for bragging rights. I would finally beat him, every now and then, less now than then.

16. Two words, I believe from 2000: Ping Pong. Dad still mentions how we never play it anymore.

17. He picked a great wife.

18. He taught me how to blog, videoblog, use of Twitter, etc.

19. He officiates basketball and it’s a fun time watching him work.

20. He played baseball in high school and it lead to my infatuation with the sport.

21. For the almost 21 years I have known him, I don’t think I have ever been mad at him for longer than 21 hours. If I was mad at him, I had no good reason to be probably.

22. When I was younger he would drive me around. Nothing cooler than driving with your older brother. All my other friends had siblings much younger than Daniel.

23. He always has the coolest gadgets to play with.

24. When he got married seeing him so happy he was crying made me cry.

25. The 25 moments of our lives we will sit down and smoke a cigar together.

26. He does the funniest impressions.

27. He spoils me with birthday presents. I wear my Tommy Bahama watch and think I’m pretty lucky.

28. He is the best brother in the world and I’m lucky to have him

There you go. My first 28 reasons I love my brother. Happy birthday, Daniel!

Honesty

Bryan Rothamel — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:17:58 +0000

So my wicked cool brother, Daniel, gave me a shout out in his blog. It does not pain me to say Daniel is pretty advanced in this web 2.0 and does some really cool, innovated things. What can I say? He’s cool.

I was thinking last night, “What is my favorite blog post my brother has done?” Most of his posts have to deal with real estate so that throws out about half. The cool thing he does is combine both real estate and real world analogies. So even some of the real estate ones I still can understand them on a basic level.

That brings me to my favorite post, his one on honesty. You might see a slight resemblance with the people in the video considering they are my brother, mother and father. I hope you enjoy it and take to heart the message. BE HONEST!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU7q_M7SdeU]