1st Time In 14 Years

The Gopher BB team wins at Assembly Hall in Illinois. After completely squandering a 19-point 2nd half lead, the Gophs were able to squeak out a 62-60 win to stay alive for a potential NCAA tournament berth. Why do they make it so hard on themselves and certainly take years off Nicole and my life. Whew....

Thirty-two years young

Yesterday was Jason's birthday so we went to celebrate after work. We first went to La Belle Vie in Minneapolis for a glass of wine. La Belle Vie is at 510 Groveland, just down the block from the condo we lived in, so it was nice to revisit the old neighborhood. From there we were planning on going to go to the St. Paul Grille at the St. Paul Hotel. However, we drove around from at least 15 minutes looking for parking, but nothing was available. If you know Jason, he never parks in ramps or pays for parking so, we didn't end up going there. Instead, we headed to our final destination: Axel's at Prestwick Golf Course. Axel's (not like the other Axel's around the metro area) is a great restaurant within the Prestwick Golf Course in Woodbury. We had a table by the fire and enjoyed Ribeye and Beef Tenderloin Strogenhoff. We both enjoyed our meals, oh and they have popovers! We decided to bring dessert home, so while watching the last half of the gopher basketball game, we enjoyed the Carrot Cake. Now this piece of cake was HUGE, there is still some left over to enjoy tonight. Bummer about the ending of the gopher game though.

Have a great day!

Skiing Was Fun!

We had a great time skiing, for MN anyway. The snow was good, it was fast and not icy so as far as MN skiing, you couldn't ask for any better. A little warmer would have been nice, it was darn cold last night and windy up there. We have the right equipment to keep us warm though so it wasn't too bad. We hit about 7 runs in an hour and then hit the bar for about an hour and then skiied another hour. There was a good group of 10 that went. It was good to spend time with Jen and Mike Peterson. I have worked with Mike here for 9 years now and if you think my life is busy (I don't) you should see his. We have a lot of the same interests, except he doesn't golf. We both ski, love wine and love to travel. His job here takes him around the country a lot and he has 2 little kids now at home. Nicole and Jen get along great, Jen makes jewelry so they enjoy talking about that and she's a wino too. They have invited us into their wine club that they host once/month at their home. It is a neat idea and something we are considering doing at our house, so we'll see if it pans out. Nicole had never been to Afton Alps before so it was good to get here there. We can see it from our backyard and she has never been there.

Olympic Skiing At Afton

With all this skiing on TV part of our trading group at the office is going to hit the slopes of Afton Alps tonight. We picked up a fresh 2 inches of snow today so we're going to try it out tonight. Wives are coming too so we hope to have a good group. So for tonight I am Bode Miller and Nicole is Lindsey Vonn!

Busy and Bored!

We woke up early on Sunday as Nicole had to work at the hospital today. She left a little after 8 and I made breakfast for George, Michelle, Ally, and Zander. We raced cars on the dining room floor for a while and then watched a cartoon called Turbo Dogs. After they left I spent the rest of the day by myself. It was quite boring actually. I watched some golf on TV and went for a walk. It was a very nice day again similar to yesterday. This nice sunny weather is giving me "spring fever". I couldn't wait for Nicole to get home. She set a record today at the hospital with 4 evals in one day. They all went smoothly and she was home by 5. Now she has about 3 hours of dictation to do before we can go out and get some dinner.

Sledding With Z

We have visitors for the weekend, Nicole's parents George, Michelle and nephew Zander. Nicole's sister Ally also joined us. Ally came out in the morning and joined us for Yoga. George, Shel and Zander arrived at 11:00. George hadn't seen the basement yet so they came up for the weekend. It was such a beautiful day, had to be 40 degrees in the sun. Zander decided at about 1:00 he wanted to go sledding so we went outside and tried out the big hill. Off of our driveway we have a decent hill that goes down to the backyard, but this year the snow plow has been pushing driveway snow into a huge pile that made for a perfect runway out into the backyard. We covered 50-60 yards on the sled and it was a lot of fun. Zander was not scared to go by himself, and Zander set the record by himself for distance. First he and Nicole had the record, then Zander and I beat that record, but when Papa came out to join us he and I gave Zander the biggest push possible and he set the record by himself. We pushed him so hard he fell back in the sled on the way down. We had many crashes and wrecks but they were all funny and no one got hurt.
Now we are settling in for some Gopher sports, Hockey vs. Colorado College at 3:00 and then Basketball vs. Indiana at 7:00. We plan to hit our favorite burger place in Hudson called Barker's between games.
Enjoy the pictures and hopefully you can get out and enjoy the weekend weather.
Ally with a "big spill"

Nicole and Z going for a record with a push from Ally
Jason and Z beat Nicole and Z's record. Bigger push from Ally I think

Rumba and Swing

5 couples showed last night. The Wards, Wilsons, Gagnes, Thompson's, and Nelsons. We missed the Quinn's as Matty is in the middle of TAX SEASON and couldn't break away.
We learned the Rumba and the Swing on our first of 6 dance lessons. We had a lot of fun. I think I was the worst dancer of the men. I look kind of like a robot, counting all the steps and not bending my legs. I have the steps down though, now I just have to loosen up a bit. Next week we have off as the Wilsons are in Mexico so 2 weeks and we're ready to go again. I think we'll add more steps into these 2 dances the next couple of sessions, but our instructor is dying to teach us Salsa, which she says is the hottest dance in the cities now where you can go out 5 nights/week for live salsa music. Hmmm, where would I find the time for that?
After dinner we all went to Shanghai Bistro, the new hotspot in Hudson. It still looks like the Country Kitchen on the outside, but we had fun inside. Food was good, everyone said so which was impressive as Jeb is tough to please in the food category. Shelly Thompson tried sushi for the first time and she liked it. We watched the Gopher BB team beat up on the Badgers and the bartender was a Badger fan so it was even more fun.
Tonight we are going to a Scotch Tasting at Midland Hills Country Club. My good friend Tom Kingsley is a liquor rep and he is tasting 6 high end scotches tonight for a group of close friends and their wives. Should be a good group of about 15 couples.
Looking forward to George, Michelle, and Zander staying with us this weekend. Nicole is on call at Fairview this weekend, but we'll still fit in some fun. I hope to take Zander sledding on our hill off the side of our driveway. The snowplow has made quite a hill.

DANCE LESSONS

Well someone in our group of friends here at Troy Burne thought it would be a great idea if several couples got together to take dance lessons. So, tonight is opening night. There are six couples participating including us (Wilson's, Gagne's, Quinn's, Nelson's Thompson's). We have signed up for 6 lessons and are going to attempt to learn two dances. I have a feeling that it is going to be a bit chaotic and just picture the guys making fun of each other the entire time. I will write back after tonight and let you know how it really is. I am hoping my younger years of watching Dirty Dancing pay off tonight---our babysitter growing up (I won't mention names) made us watch that movie every day one summer. Thinking back, I am not sure that was appropriate. Oh how things change.

So if you have been reading the blog lately, you will notice that unknowingly, Jason and I both wrote on the blog about our past weekend. You can read them both and see our different styles. From my perspective, Jason is more detailed and I give a more general outlook. I think it has to do with my schooling where we always had to try to be short and to the point (say as much as you can in as few as words as possible). Also take note that Jason forgot to mention the Pictionary game that the men had no chance at. Next Christmas---gift idea: drawing lessons for Jason! Good thing Jeb is a great guesser. He can guess the right animal Jason is drawing from something that looks like a snake or a line with four legs.

We are looking forward to my parents coming to visit this weekend. My dad has not yet seen our finished basement so we are looking forward to that.

Valentine's Day Weekend

This past weekend was rather busy for us, but very fun. On Friday evening, Jason and I tried out the new Shanghai Bistro in Hudson. We spent two hours or so there trying the sushi and asian entrees, and of course visiting with the bartender. We saw many of our neighbors also giving it a try. Well anyways, we are so excited because it is AWESOME food if you like sushi and/or asian dishes. We did not have anything to write home (or blog) about in Hudson previously. The only thing they are missing is Cream Cheese Wontons, but I will manage. I think this is going to be a place that we frequent often. So excited!!!

On Saturday evening, my sister Emily, brother-in-law Dr. Ryan, and beautiful niece Hattie spent the night. A few of our friends had not met Hattie, so I decided that we needed to show her off. The Wilson's and The Snyder's joined Jason and I and the Ritchie's for a wonderful meal. I made (with the help of Chef Brent) Beef Tenderloin, baby red potatoes, asparagas, salad, and bread. The beef was just wonderful. We also enjoyed some of our more elegant bottles of wine from our cellar. The girls (minus Kaylan b/c she is expecting) enjoyed my favorite Mascato from Vietti (Italy). Then we opened a Stag's Leap Cabernet and then another because Jason and Jeb enjoyed one of the bottles themselves. Then for the grandest of all...2005 Rubicon. This is one of the vineyards that we visited while in Napa. All of these are wonderful wines. Everyone enjoyed meeting Hattie for about an hour before she hit the hay. She sure has some great facial expressions....I love her suprised look. (sorry I didn't get any pictures of this). Jeb decided that after dinner we should play a game of pictionary--boys vs. girls. GAME ON----this game gets quite competitive when just he Wilson's and Ward's play. Now you have not only competitive Nicole and Kaylan, but Courtney is rather competitive herself. Emily was also on our team, but in a half asleep state. However, she was rather helpful when we needed her. Of course, the girls won by a considerable margin. Jeb was wishing that he was a girl that night.

On Sunday, Ryan had to attend a class for CEU's. So Jason, Em, Hattie and I went to the YMCA. After running a few miles, we decided to play in the gym and let Hattie run around. Well the three of us have obviously not picked up a basketball in several years. We played "pig", which Nicole won! Later that afternoon, we all headed back to DL. Jason had to speak in Alexandrea on Monday so we went to DL to get his braces tightened one more time before the finally come off. I hope I just didn't jinkz it. We tried out the newer Mexican restaurant in DL for dinner.

On Monday, Jason and I headed to Alexandrea because he was speaking at a seminar series that The Linder Farm Network was putting on for the week. He feels he got this seminar by default because Mark was out of town on Monday and was doing the remainder of the seminars this week. However, I believe that they got someone just as good as Mark. I listened to Jason talk and he did a wonderful job. He presents in a manner that is easy to follow and not too technical for the audience. His visual presentation is good and gets you interested. I was very proud of him and graded him an A. He of course gave himself a C+ or B-. Between Brent on the golf course and me whenever I can, we are trying to get Jason to stop talking negative and putting himself down. For example he has talked himself into hitting his driver so bad before he even hits the shot. Positive thinking Jason....it will do amazing things.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Busy Weekend

It has been a complete whirlwind lately. We are so busy we don't know if we are coming or going. After getting home from Sea Island I went on the seminar trail speaking in Menomonie, WI and Willmar, MN last week. Then we were home on Friday night and we were excited to try a new Japanese restaurant that opened in Hudson called Shanghai Bistro (I suppose being called Shanghai it is a Chinese restaurant) but I always associate sushi with being Japanese. Either way, it is new and now in Hudson. It took over the Country Kitchen which I still see when I drive by, but inside it is BEAUTIFUL. They spent a ton of money remodeling the inside. It has a huge bar and a very good sized sushi bar. Last week was their Grand Opening and it was funny how many people we saw there who we knew. Anyway, the food was VERY GOOD, which made us so happy because we always have to drive to St. Paul to Chung's Chow Mein for the best Chinese food and now Hudson has a great option. Please come and visit us if you want to try out the new Chinese/Japanese restaurant.
On Saturday we had a big day planned. We went to Yoga in the morning (don't knock it until you've tried it) plus I'm the only guy in the class which has its benefits scenery wise. Then we did some Valentine's shopping in Woodbury but we had a big day of cooking ahead of us so we got home mid-afternoon. We were hosting 4 couples for Valentine's at our home. We were very excited and we had a great evening.
The Ritchie's, Snyder's, and Wilson's joined us for dinner. I made my Asian BBQ wings again, still good, and we cooked a 5 lb Filet Mignon Beef Tenderloin. We had potatoes and salad also but it was just a lot of fun. It was a fun group to hang out with for the evening. I hope everyone had fun.
We paired some great wines with dinner celebrating a special night. We opened 2 bottles of the 2006 Stag's Leap Cabernet and 1 bottle of 2005 Rubicon. Both wines are from Napa Valley and were UNBELIEVABLE!
On the white side the ladies tried a nice Moscato from Vietti which is an Italian winery that our from Tom used to rep for and we love their wines, both red and white. They are hard to find now and have gone up considerably in price so we are left to use our own supply sparingly. Thanks to everyone for coming for dinner and to my beautiful wife for 1, being my wife and 2 for putting everything together.
On Sunday we got up and went to the Y with Em and Hattie. We played PIG in the gym and Nicole beat Em and I both (man, I can't believe how bad I have become at basketball). Not that I was ever good, but wow, it just felt weird to shoot a basketball having not done it in 2 years or so. Nicole was in her glory beating us as she hasn't played much basketball since her all-conference days in high school :)
We left for Detroit Lakes on Sunday afternoon. We saw Emily and Ryan's completely gutted kitchen and dining room and then went to a new Mexican restaurant in DL. Ryan and I then went to the dentists office for my LAST tightening. It was a chore getting the thicker wires into my braces but after some tugging and pulling and a little crying (just kidding) Ryan was successful. I tell you one thing that Ryan has is patience, it is amazing. He is working for an hour straight trying to get a small wire through my teeth and it is a struggle and he keeps switching hand positions and doesn't get rattled at all. I am amazed by him everytime I sit in the chair (all I do is watch TV). I am so excited though as today I called his office and talked with AMY and made my last appointment. The date is set, Monday, March 29th. I am taking a day off of work for this so those of you who know me know how important it must be to me to take a day off of work. I have 80 minutes scheduled at 9:30 in the morning, then a cleaning afterward. It is going to be one great day.
On Monday, Nicole and I had the day off with Presidents' Day (no markets), but I had a speaking engagement in Alexandria, MN. The Linder Farm Network, which is the largest farm radio station in MN sponsors 5 marketing meetings/year. They are all this week and Mark was chosen as their keynote speaker. Well, knowing Mark, he accepted before checking his schedule and he was in New York for a wedding this past weekend and he wasn't going to be home in time to make this Monday meeting. So, good ol' number 2 (that's me) had to fill in. I couldn't believe how nervous I was. I have done a lot of speaking in my 10 years and it isn't even the number of people that made me nervous, it was the list of other speakers before me. They were much more experienced and really considered experts in their fields and I was the keynote speaker which means in their eyes I am the expert in my field. Only in this case they hired Mark to speak, not me. That is what made me so nervous was that it wasn't supposed to be me that was speaking and filling Mark's shoes is no easy task. I had Nicole there in the crowd as moral support and I worked my way through it. I got more comfortable after 20 or so minutes. I spoke for about 1 hr and 20 minutes and then afterwards they do question and answer period with all the speakers. So they all come up in front and the audience can ask questions and NOT ONE question was asked to anyone else but me. I had to field 4 or 5 questions in that 15 minutes period, it felt like an interrogation. Anyway, it's over and I feel great.
Mark had a huge meeting in Willmar yesterday with over 350 people there along with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. I would have really liked to have seen the Secretary speak as farmers are predominantly a REPUBLICAN crowd and he is a Democrat, just to see how he defended his boss.
So, the rest of the week at the office covering for Mark while he's out impressing Minnesota with his vast knowledge.

Sea Island, GA

The Wards and The Snyders left for Sea Island on Wednesday morning, Feb 3rd. Dr. Bill Snyder (Brent's Dad) picked us up and dropped us off at the airport, which was very nice. We had a layover in St. Louis for 1 hour and arrived in Jacksonville, FL around 3:30 p.m. We got our rental car (picture to come) and headed northwest 1 hour to Sea Island.
The Snyder's are Sea Island regulars with their favorite aunt Ellen Dunn living on the island and Brent used to work for Sea Island. Brent moved to Sea Island after college for his first job and worked for them for 4 years in the golf business. Sea Island is home to many PGA tour players and they have 4 of the top 100 teachers in the US employed at Sea Island. It is very close if not "the" golf capital of the US.

We were hosted by Ellen at her beautiful beachfront home and we played the 3 golf courses at Sea Island, Plantation, Retreat, and Seaside. Seaside just landed a deal with McGladery for a PGA tournament stop this coming October. The tournament will be held at Sea Island for the next 3 years. Sea Island has also hosted the G-8 Summit in 2004.
The weather was just ok, we saw highs in the low 60's and only rained one day, but our golf round was finished before the rain came.


Our schedule was pretty open except each morning at 10:00 a.m. we played 18 holes. After golf we had lunch at Ellen's and then would tour around the island seeing the sights. We went out to Ellen's "River" project where they purchased land and are now building a home. Ellen loves to entertain at her house so we had many great dinners at her house but we ate out one night at the Cloister Hotel, a 5-star Hotel. It was amazing. The woodwork, the furniture, the restaurants, it is like the St. Paul hotel on steroids. For $550/night we were happy to be staying with Ellen. Jason and Brent sat in George W. Bush's chair for the 2004 G-8 Convention, which was held at Sea Island.

Things were quiet on Sea Island so the effects of the economy are reaching this part of the US as well. Many days we were one of few groups on the golf course and the hotels were also quiet. The amenities at Sea Island were top notch, spa, tennis club, beach club, you name it, you can do it there. We were only interested in the golf and it was very good.

Our toughest round was Seaside, the PGA tour stop this coming fall. Not only was the course tough, the weather was tougher. We saw winds up to 40 mph which made each shot perilous, especially for the higher handicappers. We took a lot of great pictures of the 4 of us on the golf courses and of the beautiful scenery. We will definitely be returning to Sea Island.