05/17/10

Mike's Update

The latest news and information on the Nolan's.

5/17/2010

A lot has transpired over the past few months and thanks to Facebook, I've failed to keep my personal website up to date. I need to figure out a way to get updates from facebook to automagically post here.

According to Kyle's Accounting II teacher, Kyle placed in the top 5% Nationally for Accounting II (in high school). Kyle turned 18 on 3/28 and has pretty much been working and playing hard, so we rarely see him anymore. He graduates BHS on 6/6 and we plan to have a big party for him on 6/5. We have a lot of family flying in for the fun and we're all looking forward to it.

Jacob finished the 2010 BJHS track season. Jake was the only 6th grader that didn't get cut on the team. I think it's because he's a pole vaulter and did fairly well. Jake placed thrid at a couple varsity meets and placed 2nd at least once in pole vaulting Jake continues to play Oboe and we attended at least one Spring concert since my last update. Jake has another performance coming up this Tuesday 5/18. Jake continues to serve as an altarboy at St. Mary's and started working landscaping with Kyle and I on the weekends. Jake also mows our lawn twice a week!

Jessica is still active in Hula Dancing and has performed a handful of times and continues to participate in art seminars at the McClean County Arts Center. Jess is an active girlscout and is growing up fast. Thanks to Twilight, she's now showing interest in boys (primarily Taylor Lautner). Jessisca continues to perform as an altar server with her brother at St. Mary's.

Kim finsihed her job with the US Census. Kim was team lead for collecting data from group residences (i.e. nursing homes, college dorms, mission etc.) and worked her butt of for several weeks. Kim is now starting training for Senior Home Care. I believe her goal is to become a CNA and provide home care for the elderly. Kim continues to serve on the Cougars JFL Board and has been busy with recruiting and pre-season preparations. Kim is active in countless service organizations (e.g. Girl Scouts, Claire House Soup Kitchen, St. Mary's Church, etc., etc.)...

I've been busy completing market research and developing a business plan for starting my own State Farm Agency. I'm currently in the Agent Candidate Selection Process and it has consumed nearly every waking hour for the past 3 months. On 5/27, I have my final "Executive Panel Interview" which will determine my fate as a future agent. If approved, I'll be put in the "Approved Candidate Pool". At that point, I'll have access to all Agent openings across the nation. If I find an opportunity we're interested in, I can compete for it via site interview. We'll see how it goes on 5/27...

This may be my last update for a while. I'm losing frontpage (long story) and until I can figure out Dreamweaver, you may have to visit our facebook site for news about me ;-))

3/6/2010

Kyle turns 18 this month and will be graduating in June, so I think his high school athletic career is officially over. Kyle is now focused on earning money so he can move out. You can visit Kyle most weekends at our local Applebee's where he's the host with the most!

Jessica performed in another hula exhibition for her troop. The event was called "The Day of Dance" and was held at Heartland Community College. Her troop did very well and I'm sure my grandmother is smiling down on her from Heaven. Jessica is still active in Girl Scouts and is currently distributing cookies. Our family had cookie duty for the troop this year and Kim and I had to pick up and sort through 175 cases of cookies this week. Fortunately they were able to load a whole pallet in my truck with a forklift.

Jacob completed the 2009/10 BJHS Wrestling season. Although Jake was invited to go to Varsity Sectional's he missed weight by 1 pound and was disqualified. Track will begin in the next couple weeks so we have a little down time in the Nolan House.

I've been hitting the gym 5 days a week for the last several months. I typically run a 5K every day, alternating between the treadmill and indoor track. I recently started mixing it up with the stationary bikes and eliptical trainer. My only goal is to maintain a healthy heart and increase my endurence. I have no plans to run a marathon or participate in a triathalon, I just like to run before work...

On the professional front, I just entered the State Farm Agency Candidate Selection Process. The first step is to pass the Sales and Leadership Career Profile exam. It's kind of like a personality test that you really can't study for. It's a pass/fail test with only a 42% pass ratio. If you fail, you can't take it again for 12 months so to get pumped up, I went to the gym yesterday morning, ran a 5K, came home, showered, and logged onto the test website. I hammered through the questions in about 25 minutes and didn't second guess a single answer. I submitted the exam and about 40 minutes later I received a call from my Agency Recruitor telling me I passed!. WOOHOO! I celebrated at CJ's with a veggie omelette! If I make it to the end of the 90 day program, I'll be eligible to start my own State Farm Agency as soon as June 1st (there are many other hurdles involving interviews, creating a business plan, licensing, etc.). There's a ton of risk involved and I would be forced to quit a career that pays very well, is very secure, and I love but the rewards of owning my own Agency are pretty huge too if I can succeed in sales...

Kim recently joined the Board of the McClean County Cougars because I think she had one free hour left in the week ;-). She's also the cookie coordinator for our Girl Scout Troop which has kept her very busy this past week (I helped a little with the cookies). Kim continues to teach CCD on Wednesday night's, serves as Eucharistic minister on Sunday's (Jake and Jess are alter servers too), and volunteers at the Soup Kitchen on Thursday's. There's a bunch of other stuff she does but you get the point. I need Kim to be my office manager and CFO when we open our Agency in Hawaii ;-))

We decided to have Kyle's graduation party at our house in June. In lieu of hiring a cater and spending a ton of money for a one-time party, I talked Kim into letting me cater the party and use the money that would have been spent on catering services to buy a new smoker. I recently ordered a 6 rack Bradley Digital Smoker. It should arrive sometime next week, so I plan to do some q the next few weekends to prepare for the party. Alder smoked salmon, apple smoked ribs, oak smoked brisket, I can hardley wait... I'll post pics of my trial runs!

2/20/2010

We've been pretty busy over the past month. Jake was invited to compete on the varsity wrestling team at BJHS. He placed 1st in all meets for the 75 lb weight class. Jake also performed oboe in the Winter concert at BJHS and made a scuplture in art class that was selected to be displayed at Fine Arts Night. Jessica attends a weekly advanced drawing class in the evenings and is becoming a great artist. Jessica also take hula lessons weekly and recently performed at a multicultural festival at Oakland Ave School. Kyle is a Senior in high school and working as the host at Applebees. All three are consistently making the honor roll (I hope I didn't jinx them). Kim and I are very proud of them!

Kim is busy as always volunteering weekly at the soup kitchen, teaching CCD on Wednesday nights, and serving on the board for the McClean County Cougars football team. I've been busy at work but made time to take up a new hobby, snowmobiling (or sledding as the guys call it). It's a lot like riding a dirt bike or wave runner. One day we departed at 9:30AM and rode until 11:30 PM. That same night the weather turned on us, with 30 mph winds, driving snow, and sub zero temps. Surprisingly we didn't get that cold, in fact I sweated all night. Riding sleds is a lot of work. I run a 5K every morning at the gym (M-F) and I was so sore after sledding, it hurt to walk. Who knew you could have so much fun while performing a killer quad workout!

Well, I need to get back to watching the Winter games. Go USA!

1/10/2010

Gallery of Kim's awesome paint jobs and our new floors and counters.

Things are finally getting back to normal in the Nolan house. We arrived home on 1/2/2010 after spending 2 weeks on vacation in Florida and we had to immediately start preparing for a home remodel project. By 1/4, Kim had to pack away all the Christmas decorations, pack up the curio and china cabinets, and I had to remove the existing kitchen coutner tops, kitchen sink, disposal and disconnect all appliances (fridge, dishwasher, and stove).

1/4 - 600 sq feet of hardwood flooring was delivered (Bruce Waltham Plank Gunstock) so the wood could adjust to the temperature and humidity in our home prior to install.

1/5 - The LG Hi-Macs kitchen counters (Volcanics Collection - Basil) were installed by Maxwell Counters. Maxwell Counters is a 3rd party contractor for Lowes and did a fantastic job. They had all counters and sink installed within three hours.

1/6 - "Joe" the floor installer (3rd party contractor for Bloomington Carpets) came back and started tearing out the kitchen linoleum, sub flooring, and carpet/pads from the living room and dining room. They also had to remove all funrinture and appliances from those areas. They started installing the hardwood as well.

1/7 - "Joe" and his helper compelted the floor installation for the breakfast nook, kitchen, pantry, and dining room. Only the living room to go...

1/8 - "Joe" and his helper completed the floor installation (stair caps, rolling and kicking carpet to wood, moving all furniture and appliances back, etc.) by noon. Kim and I spent the rest of the day dusting and cleaning the house. Around 12:45 PM, Mike Holtz our plumber came over to install the new disposal, kitchen flange, and reconnect our plumbing. Long story but a DIY job required a plumber due to the fancy integrated sink and pre-drilled holes for faucet. We also had to replace the shut off valves for the fridge and dishwasher. Mike is awesome!

1/9 - Kim and I purchased a new area rug from Lowes and ordered bar stools from Altman's Billards & Barstools. The folks at Altman's were very helpful.

1/10 - After church I held the couch down most the day and updated the website. Happy New Year Every One!

12/22/2009 - 1/2/2010

Vacation and Holiday Gallery.

We spent Christmas at my mom's home this year and we welcomed the warmer weather! We departed Bloomington around noon on 12/22 (due to BHS Finals) and Kim and I took turns driving all night. We arrived at my mom's house in Ormond Beach, FL on 12/23 at 6 AM EST. After much needed rest, the holiday season officially began.

12/24 - My sister and her family came down to spend Christmas Eve with us at my mom's. We celebrated with 22 lbs of King Crab Legs!

12/25 - We started out the morning at St. Brendan's Catholic Church in Ormond By The Sea. Later, my cousin brought his family down (he has 8 kids) to my mom's and we celebrated with Honey Baked Ham amongst many other dishes.

12/26 - Kim's sister Julie and her husband Ryan met us in Ormond Beach and we all headed down to Kim's dad's condo in Daytona Beach. The kids spent the day in the pool while the grown ups sat in the heated bar and watched football.

12/27 - My dad and sister Anna came down to Ormond Beach and visited with us for a couple days.

12/28 to 12/29 - We picked up Kyle's girlfriend Tori at the Daytona Airport on 12/28 and we spent a few days enjoying the beach and warm weather.

12/30 - We loaded up the Saturn and headed to Kim's dad's townhouse in Jacksonville. We spent an evening with Kim's Aunt Charlene visiting and eating seafood.

12/31 - Julie came down to Bill's house and we all headed to Jacksonville Beach to spend the day at Adventure Landing (water park, video games, mini-golf, etc.). For $10 per kid, they had unlimited access to mini golf, go carts, laser tag, and outdoor rides. It was a great deal and the kids had a blast. Later we went to dinner at our favorite Mongolian BBQ - Chun King on Monument Road in Jacksonville. Later Kim and Julie took the kids to the Jacksonville Landing for New Years Eve. I decided to stay home with Rex. Apparantly the Landing was packed since the BCS Gatorbowl Game was the following day (FSU vs WVU).

1/1 - The weather turned bad causing us to change our plans. Originally we planned to head to Glenn St. Mary, FL and spend the day with my sister Sarah and family but due to the storms we decided to press on towards Illinois. We departed Jacksoville around 10 AM and drove straight back home. We arrived home on 1/2 at 2 AM. It was -6 degrees F when we stopped for fuel in Leroy, IL. Welcome Home!

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This site was last updated 05/17/10