12/9/2007
Where to
start...
We flew down to
Kyle and I spent
the first couple days with my mom shopping for a car for his upcoming 16 birthday (in March 2008). After spending a 1/2 day at
a Mitsubishi Dealer and the second 1/2 day at a Honda dealer, my mom settled on
a 2008 Honda
Civic EX, sedan. It's loaded and more car than any first time driver
should have ;-)... My
mom made Kyle's year with this gift! Due to the new car, Kyle and I
had to drive back to
We left the 80
degree weather in
11/22/2007
Happy Thanksgiving
everyone! We had a traditional meal thanks to Kim and Jessica slaving
away in the kitchen last night and today.
Just to get
everyone up to speed, Kyle and the BHS Raiders lost a game in the second round
of the State Play-offs, so he and the team started back in the gym with weight
training. Jacob's team finished the season 2-8-1. Not that great
but Jake played his heart out every game and if more boys played like him, they
would have surely had a winning season. Jessica starts Basketball this
weekend and we look forward to many games throughout the Winter.
Kim and I are doing great and busy with Christmas shopping, etc. We'll
all be flying to
Work is going
great too. Nothing really to report other than I finally got my
BlackBerry back and currently testing several WWAN USB devices. EVDO Rev
A is great! It took me two years to get back to where I was when I left
Engineering for Architecture but I really prefer the hands on research and
development. However, many of my "special projects" still revolve
around what I consider administrivia (some consider
it management type work but whatever)... Rumor has it they plan to
increase our top end in 2008 but that has little impact when you're not even
half-way there ;-).
I hope everyone is
safe, healthy, and with the ones they love. If I don't get a chance to
update the site beforehand, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
10/26/2007
Tomorrow is
Jacob's last football game of the season and now that BHS won the first round
of the play-offs Kyle will have at least another week. Kyle got to dress
Varsity tonight and they won 30-27. Jessica is taking ice skating lessons
and from what I hear, she's pretty good. Unfortunately her lessons are
too early for me to make it in person.
A couple weeks ago
I spent four days in the Ozarks at a buddy's cabin. We rode our bikes
down there and rode every day, all day. I put 1300 miles on the Beemer in
five days. The roads in the Ozarks are the best I've ever ridden on and
very challenging. In fact I pushed the envelope of my abilities until I
tore the envelope. I was tossed off the bike in a sharp left turn that
climbed a slanted 45 degree steep hill. The bike hit the ground and I
cleared a ditch on the side of the road but my old Army paratrooper training
kicked in and I was able to tuck and roll. No injuries to me and only
minor cosmetic damage to the right side of the fairing and side bag (a few deep
scratches in the plastic but mirrors, grips, brake pedal didn't even touch the
ground). I was very lucky! I was able to ride the bike the rest of
the weekend and back home. Fortunately I found an expert body/paint guy in Fairbury, IL
and Derrick Maurer made the Beemer like new again. I must say those
Germans know how to build a tough bike! I now have 4500 miles on the GT
and have only had it since 6/30/07...
9/19/2007
Last Saturday was
a great day for football in the Nolan house. Both boys had home games but
unfortunately I had to leave Kyle's game at halftime to make it to Jacob's game
but both teams won by a big margin! Kyle had four tackles and forced a
fumble by stripping the ball from the runner and Jacob made several key blocks
and ran one in for two points (in JFL its only worth 1 though, 2 for kicking
the extra point). Later that day, Jessica started Ice Skating lessons
(like ballet but on ice).
We did a lot this Summer. Although we didn't make the trip to
I bought a new
bike back in June and already have approx 2700 miles on it. I ride much
farther and more frequently on the Beemer! Our biker gang, the "Ice
Cream Bikers and Motorcycle Club (ICBMC) plan to head down to a buddies cabin in the Ozarks for an "all guys"
4-day weekend of boating and riding. Speaking of the ICBMC, I led the
ride last night. We rode about 86 miles before we stopped for dinner in
I can't think of
anything else to mention about this past Summer, other
than it went FAST!
7/1/2007
As you've probably
surmised its been busy this year. This is the
first update in 2007... Kim and I celebrated our 19th Wedding Anniversary
today. I actually attended Mass with the family this morning and the
ceiling did not collapse at St. Mary's ;-). Next we headed to CJ's for
brunch and had a wonderful breakfast. Later Kim and I headed out to