Holiday Cooking

Laurel loves to bake. So with Lisa and Brenda to help her, our kitchen was turned into a baking machine today. The highlight were the Snowman Cookies. Oh well, I guess my New Year's weight loss goal just went up by five pounds.

Banzai Run gets a face lift

Nine years ago, we bought a pinball machine for our basement called Banzai Run. Banzai Run is a classic Williams pinball machine that was built in 1988. I paid $750 for the machine and today it is worth $2,200. If only I had invested the kid's college money in pinball machines instead of stocks.

The repair guy came today to give Banzai some tender loving care. As he opened the machine, it was amazing to see the number of electronic parts in the machine. Keith is home to give it a trial run and it is working better than ever. Can't wait to have some competitive Banzai tournaments with my kids over Christmas break. Philip will be the one to beat. He is still the reigning Banzai champion.

An Extra Set of Grandparents

Starting with Bryan's Baptism party and continuing with Philip today, Roger and Mimi have been an extra set of grandparents for our four kids. Most kids are lucky to have even two sets of grandparents, but we have been blessed with three. Over the last several years Noni and Popi have slowed down and of course Grandma and Grandpa have nine other grandchildren spread across three states. But we can always count on Roger and Mimi to come and see our kids. This week it was the Portage Holiday Collage Concert. Grandma, Grandpa, Roger and Mimi all came to support Philip and enjoy his music.

Thank you Rog and Mimi for all of the love you have shown Bryan, Keith, Laurel and Philip. You certainly are young looking "grandparents".

Winter Formal

Last night, Philip had Portage Northern's Winter Formal. Philip's date was Hannah Sawyer. I thought you would like to see a few of the pictures. Of course, it includes the traditional photo with the moose. Phil looked awesome in his suit and Hannah's dress was beautiful (she made it herself).

A real perk of my work

This past Friday, I had due diligence meetings at the Penninsula Hotel in Chicago. A due diligence meeting provides me the opportunity to meet portfolio managers and economists from the investments companies I utilize for my clients. A great benefit of my work is that spouses and children are always welcome to come along. I know that this a rare in corporate America. While I was in meetings, Brenda and Philip got to enjoy the hotel and Chicago at Christmas time. After my meetings on Friday, Bryan and Jessie met us at the Talbot Hotel for drinks by the fireplace. Bryan looked really sharp in his "corporate dress attire" and Jessie even posed for a picture wearing Brenda's white fur hat. The other picture is Brenda and my coworker Jim Hemenway. Jim and I have been in the same office for 16 years and we always enjoy having Jim and his wife Debbie along on these meetings.

P.S. The Penninsula is one of our favorite hotels - you can bathe and watch TV

Christkindlemarkt in Chicago

For the last several years, Brenda and I have gone to Chicago to see the Christmas lights and visit the Christkindlemarkt. This German market is set up in Daly Plaza near the hugh Macy's on State Street and only a couple blocks from Bryan's office. All of the vendors come from Germany and set up the market from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. Our favorite part of the market is drinking the gluwein (a spiced, hot red wine) in the annual souvenir mug. Nothing is better on a cold December day in Chicago. Off course the brats, potato pancakes and stollen

are wonderful too. It reminds us of our college days and the time we spent in Germany.

Look what you missed at the Mulder Thanksgiving

Brenda, Laurel and Jessie made an excellent meal. Plus, we have plenty of leftovers.

Musing on Life- #2 (Being Thankful)

Everyday our sign on screen at work has a quote of the day. On Wednesday, it was:

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it"

William Arthur Ward

In my life, I had an excellent role model for being thoughtful and expressing thanks. My Mom always goes out of her way to express her gratitude to others. She taught all of us that giving thanks and counting our blessings is not just for Thanksgiving.

Thanks Mom!

There's a Mouse in the House

Our Thanksgiving this year definitely had an odd twist. As we were going to bed on Wednesday night, I saw a mouse run across the kitchen floor. Of course, my family immediately freaks out. Brenda, Laurel and Bryan jump up on chairs and their piercing screams fill the house. Brenda demands that I go to Meijers (at midnight) to buy a mouse trap. I convinced her that I would deal with it in the morning.

On Thanksgiving morning I see the mouse run down the stairs and into the living room. I immediately call for Jessie to help out (since she is the only one brave enough to chase the mouse). Over the next 20 minutes, Jessie and I chase the mouse from the living room, to the fire place, to the pretty room, to under the stove, and finally to Bryan's bedroom. Luckily as it went into the bedroom, Jessie closed the door and I joined her on the hunt. It was us versus the mouse in a 10' by 10' room. Five minutes later we emerge victorious with a dead 3" mouse in tow. Anyways, all this excitement meant that the turkey went in the oven 45 minutes late.

So I was most thankful that at least my daughter in law was not scared of the mouse. JESSIE WAS OUR HERO!!!!!!!

The Hudson Family Secret

For as long as I can remember, Popi has loved his Early Times whiskey (perhaps being the only one in American who does). As he has aged, Popi just doesn't hold his liquor as well. Despite numerous lectures from the doctor, Popi still has several drinks every night before dinner. When we shared our concern about Popi's drinking with our friend Bruce Billedeaux, Bruce had just the answer - boil off half the alcohol.

Bruce came over and showed Brenda the trick. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. By heating up the Early Times to about 175 degrees, the alcohol evaporates but the water remains. The final result is a drink that looks like Early Times, smells like Early Times, but is 20 proof and not 40 proof. The first batch consisted of 12 bottles and it lasted about ten months. When Brenda had all the bottles out with four pots boiling on the stove, Phil walked in with his friends. The friends assumed Brenda was a bootlegger and the whole housed reeked of alcohol.

Popi has no idea that Brenda is altering his booze. While Brenda feels guilty about her "Hudson Family Secret" , it is for Popi's own good. What will our kids do to fool us someday?

Thanks Keith?

A few weeks ago Keith warned us that Philip would soon be getting several surprises in the mail. Keith had found a web site with a wide range of free products. As Keith went through the site to select items for himself and Lisa, anything they did not want got sent to our address for Philip. Well the "gifts" that came had Philip laughing with every envelope that he opened. Included among the many items that arrived in our mailbox were vaginal contraceptive film, feminine hygiene pads, diapers, and a bracelet that reads "mommy to be". With all of these presents, does Philip even need Christmas?

Christmas: "It brings out the child in each of us"

This statement is so true. Grandma, Grandpa, Noni, and Popi all have a little more "skip to their step" during the Christmas season. In fact, check out the latest video I shot:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/d7QwQanmA3WfiybYgeqP

They look great.

Dad's OCD is vindicated

A November 18th article in the Wall Street Journal reviews several of the most popular time management systems for home and work. One of the highlighted time management methods was the "Pomodoro Technique". Followers of this system make a list of daily tasks and tackle them in intense 25 minute increments. The key is to let nothing interrupt your 25 minute work session.

Of course I immediately thought of my "kitchen cleaning blitzes" that follow large family dinners. I find nothing more satisfying that to set the microwave timer for 25 minutes and get everyone working together to clean up the enormous mess from a large Thanksgiving Dinner. While my kids thought my behavior during "kitchen cleaning blitzes" was OCD, I really was just using the latest time management system!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Last week it hit me that Christmas will soon be here. Was it the Christmas Carols on the radio? Was it the holiday lights on the trees downtown? Was it the Salvation Army volunteer ringing the bell outside of Target? No, it was none of these traditional signs. What reminded me of Christmas was the fact that three of my children already announced that they have their Christmas lists prepared (two weeks prior to Thanksgiving).

In our home, the usage of a formal Christmas list was first done by Bryan. Around the age of 12, shortly after getting our first home computer, Bryan thought he would help Mr. and Mrs. Claus by typing up a list. The concept caught on and soon all the kids began preparing formal lists. Over the years, the lists have evolved to include detailed photos, complete descriptions of the wanted items, and even web links so the items could be bought with one click of the mouse.

My favorite memory of the Christmas lists is the year Mrs. Claus (Brenda) took the list to Best Buy. It was a week day morning and the numerous Best Buy holiday workers had nothing to do. Upon entering the store and showing her list, the workers just told Brenda to have a seat while they went through the store and grabbed all the items. 90% of the Christmas shopping done in 15 minutes.

So to keep up with the family tradition, here is my Christmas list:

1) Play games with Dad including pool, pinball and ping pong (watch out, I was 8th grade champion).

2) Itunes gift cards

3) Tweakers Mini speakers for my iphone http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=102923161&pnr=M53&cm_mmc=Shopping-_-Google-_-M53-_-102923161

4) The game of Ra

5) Really good winter hiking socks (for when I snowshoe)

6) Loose leaf teas (mainly herbal)

Keith - "you knew this part of medical school was coming"

As Bryan went through law school and now as Keith goes through medical school, I really enjoy hearing about their school experiences. It is fun for me to hear about their classes and learn first hand what it is like to be a law and medical student (especially since I never would have gotten in myself).

Last week when we called Keith, he described (luckily in not too much detail) his first experience with a particular exam that involves men over the age of 40, bending over, and a plastic glove. As I said to Keith, "you knew it was coming". Don't worry, I will not be adding any photos to this post.

I am really proud of all of our kids and the their ability to plan their future and do the difficult work it takes to be successful.

From:

A Proud Dad

Philip is in The Pit

The Portage Northern High School play this year is Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Two of Philip's best friends are in the play. Bryce Maurer has a key role as the talent agent and Alex Billedeaux is the lead role playing Bob Wallace (the part played by Bing Crosby in the famous movie). Philip signed up to play in the pit. The music is excellent and the play includes many classic songs.

We have really enjoyed attending the play as we know so many of the kids with key roles. Alex is outstanding and has such an incredible voice. I have even arranged to sponsor the final show on behalf of Raymond James and Associates.

Visiting Laurel in Ann Arbor

Yesterday, Brenda, Philip, Hannah and I went to Ann Arbor to visit Laurel (Who's Hannah? A subject for another posting). Laurel was taking her boyfriend Tom to a Red Wings Hockey game (for his birthday) and needed to use one of our cars. Since it is also close to Thanksgiving break, we just decided to take her the Volvo and leave it with her for the next 1 1/2 weeks. The Red Wings won 7 - 4 and eight goals were scored in just the third period - a very exciting game (maybe Laurel will comment about the "game experience"). Tom is a sophomore engineering student at U of M. Tom plays club soccer and comes from a family of 3 boys and one girl. They can often swap stories of FFF. By the way, Tom is off to Arizona soon since the UofM Club Soccer Team make it to nationals.

It was a rare November weekend in Ann Arbor as it was 65 degrees. After having brunch, we watched some of the Michigan football game at Laurel's house and we walked around the campus as Laurel and Tom finished watching Michigan lose again. Of course a Mulder outing would not have been complete without a stop at an ice cream shop (after all it was 65 degrees and Ann Arbor has as many ice cream/frozen yogurt shops as they do bars).

The photo is in front of Laurel's 1936, early American slum styled, rental house. She shares the house with five other girls. It is really a nice step up from last year's rental and has a large living room. They have renewed their lease for next year.

On another Laurel note, she went to MSU on Friday for a visitation day at their School of Osteopathic Medicine. MSU's program is highly ranked and it is high on her list of medical schools for applications. She also signed up to take the MCAT exam in May. Luckily she found out that it is acceptable to be a MSU medical student and still cheer for the Wolverines.

Portage Northern Marching Band 2009

The band's 2009 show was named Kodo. It feature some outstanding music with drumming and numerous dance moves. It was one of the most entertaining shows we have seen. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate this year with many of their rehersals and competitions occuring in the rain. I did not get any good outside video of the show, but here are a couple of clips taken inside the gym. It is not the same as the full football field affect, but you will get a taste of the show.

We hate Cutco and Cutco hates us!

Many years ago Brenda bought a premier set of knives from Cutco. In the world of knives, premier simply means "sharp enough to kill you". While we were in Italy, Brenda decided to send all the knives in to Cutco for their free resharpening service. So this week we had a chance to use the knives again for the first time. The result: the knives are sharp enough to kill us. Just check out the photos. I am convinced that Cutco is owned by Johnson and Johnson which also make Band-Aid bandages. Luckily, 14 band-aids stopped the bleeding and we did not end up in the emergency room.

Cliff-Cliffnotes celebrates its first anniversary

As of yesterday, October 24, my blog is one year old. During the last year, I have made 73 posts. I really like writing on my blog and I hope all of you enjoy the regular "Mulder Updates". Here's to the start of Year #2.

Popi's 85th Birthday

We all gathered at our house today to celebrate Popi's 85th birthday (which was on October 19th). It was a big party with Noni, Connie and Kim, Jimmy and Nancy, Roger and Marisa, Kurt and Charlene, and Philip and Brenda. Brenda make polenta vegetable lasagna with chicken sausage and we had an ice cream cake. Noni did very well and we watched photos of our trip to Italy, Kristin's 40th birthday party and Kurt and Charlene's trip to Colorado. For his big 85th birthday he got a new pocket knife (the last one was taken away at the Denver airport), and a photobook of their last four trips to Italy. Brenda and I had made the book on the Shutterfly
website and brought copies as gifts to the Italian relatives. The book includes photos from 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007.

Happy 85th Birthday Popi

Kalamazoo College 25th Reunion

This weekend, Brenda and I had our 25th class reunion for Kalamazoo College. Linda was unable to make it. It was fun to see everyone and catch up on old times. Most of the friends we have seen at our previous reunions, but there were a few new faces. We gathered on Friday night at Bell's Brewery and on Saturday we tailgated at the big K College football game.

Following the reunion, we went up north with Chip and Sandy Karr and Gerard and Anne Fancovic. Gerard and Chip were roommates of mine. This was our third straight year of heading up to the Glen Arbor area. We rent a condo along Lake Michigan at the Homestead Resort. Once again, we had a great time. They are so easy going and we have some much fun playing games, hiking and going out to eat. We have already booked our date for next year.

Trying to learn Italian

Part of the purpose of our most recent Italy trip (other than spending time together and drinking great wine) was for Brenda and I to work on our Italian. Brenda understands almost everything and is able to carry on a conversation with anyone. While it was not easy to spend eleven days constantly thinking in another language, Brenda did great. How did I do? Well, I improved. This was my fifth trip to Italy in the last ten years. In 2000, I did not understand anything. This trip I probably understood about 40% of the conversations and could say about 20% of the things I wanted to say. Luckily, I had Brenda, Eleonora, Martino and Laura to cover the other 80%. Here is a great video clip of Sergio telling us a story about Noni and Popi. Of course Sergio makes it a little more challenging by using a mix of Italian and Friulan (Noni's regional dialect).

It is the 21st Century - Can't we have a real toilet?

When I first traveled to Europe in 1982, I was struck by the number of floor toilets (see pictures above). Well not much has changed in the last 27 years. Nearly every public bathroom I used in Italy during our last trip was still a hole in the floor. It was especially interesting to see a couple of recently renovated restrooms where a brand new "hole in the floor" was installed. No matter how many times I use this type of toilette, I just cannot find any advantages to it's design. If it would fit in my suitcase, I would love to introduce the Italians to a good, old fashioned American sit down toilet.

Guest Post from Bryan: Vegas Trip

Jessie and I got back from our Vegas Vacation on Monday. We had a great time. We saw Anthony Cools, Cique Du Soleil: Mystere, Bodies: The Exhibition, and a show at The Improv comedy club. We visited the Pinball Hall of Fame, went hiking in Red Rock Canyon, and watched some people do karaoke. I played in a poker tournament, washing out (after a bone-headed all-in call) at 16th place out of 36 entrants but having a lot of fun in the process. Other than that, we ended up $14 ahead on gambling (mostly by playing penny slots just long enough to get free drinks, but we also took a brief run at the craps table).

The two highlights were Anthony Cools and the hiking. Anthony Cools calls himself an "uncensored hypnotist". He has a great sense of blue comedic timing and uses his hypnosis to make people embarrass themselves in sexual or scatological ways. He lets people buy DVDs of each night's show, so there's a bunch of clips of parts of his act on Youtube. Here's one (relatively tame) example. It gets crazier, and was among the funniest things I've ever seen.

The hiking was really cool as well. Red Rock Canyon is a conservation area a few miles west of the city. They have a scenic driving loop with a bunch of hiking trails. We took a 2-mile trail that went between a few cliffs and ended on a ridge overlooking the valley with a great view of the strip. The trail was fun because it wasn't really a trail in a lot of places. Instead, you were trying to figure out which rocks to scramble up to reach the top. It was a good break from all the artificiality of Las Vegas itself. Pictures are below:

Looking at the cliffs from the road

Jessie on the "trail"

Me on the "trail"

The view of the strip

Relaxing at the end of the trail

The Grion Ristoro Agrituristico

Brenda and I had some of our most memorable meals ever on this trip. For the first time, we got to see Giorgio's restaurant. It is open from October to June and we normally have visited during the summer. They recently renovated the restaurant and have changed the interior decor, added an attractive outside entrance, and added an outside seating area. The restaurant is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and they were packed everyday. It is easy to see why. Giorgio and Max are the chefs and prepare wonderful dishes which represent the Friuli area. Elisabetta and Eleonora wait the tables and serve the wine and Marisa pitches in as well. Here are a few photos showing the wonderful food.

Technology and Italy

Brenda and I spend 11 days driving in Italy and were never lost once. This will be a shock to our kids who vividly remember the numerous times we lost our way during our 2000 and 2005 trips. The difference this time? The GPS. Before we left, I spent $80 and downloaded the map of Italy to our Garmin GPS. The thing worked wonderfully. Other than its inability to pronounce Italian, the turn by turn directions were perfect. We will never travel to Europe without one. The other aspect of technology which worked well was my iphone. I was able to surf the web (slowly), make phone calls and stay in touch with my work and our kids through email. I received a lot of attention for the iphone as it has just been introduced to Italy and most people has not seen one. I was especially getting checked out by the teenage girls who had phone envy.

The bad technology part was the lack of wireless internet. None of our relatives had wireless and I only saw one place that indicated they offered wireless. It is hard to believe that they have not caught on to this trend yet. Several relatives are on facebook and Brenda quickly added three new facebook friends.

Home from Italy

Brenda and I arrived home last night at 9:00 pm. We had a wonderful trip and I will put up several postings this week talking about our experiences. Coming home we flew from Trieste to Rome and then on to Chicago. This flight was on Alitalia, a big mistake. They have a history of losing luggage and we ended up in Chicago with only two of our four luggage pieces. The service was also poor on the flight.

Shown above are just a few of my favorite photos from the trip. I will be adding more to my photo album as the week goes on. What was the best part of the trip? Spending eleven straight days with Brenda.