Quick Update

Sorry it's been a while since we've "blogged". We have been busy. Last week I was in Hudson for the week because my boss Mark was in the Dominican Republican on vacation. I had a good week down there, even though it was stressful. On Tuesday, I went out for St. Patrick's Day with our best friends Jeb and Kaylan Wilson and Tom Kingsley. We started with some Irish beers at the "Wilson Bar". I brought Finnegan's, which if you haven't heard of Finnegan's I will use this blog to promote them. Finnegan's is an Irish beer made from potatoes. A common mistake is that it is made by Summit (terrible beer). Summit is their botteler. This beer company was started in Minneapolis and first became profitable in 2003. They have since becoming profitable donated every dollar to charitable causes in the Minneapolis community. Nicole and I became Finnegans' supporters from our days in the "big city" from 2001 to 2004. Now, since Nicole doesn't drink beer I figure it is only my duty to drink her share. So, have a Finnegans and feel good about drinking beer.
Ok, I brought some Guinness too which is my favorite. From there we went to the only Irish bar in Hudson, called Paddy Ryan's. It is a nice bar, decent food (expensive). This is the only place I have ever been where Fish and Chips is $13.99. I mean come on, its fries and a few pieces of Cod you got at Sam's Club. Their Shephard's Pie is quite good though and the bar is nice. They need some more Scotish whiskeys in there but we got by. The 4 of us had a great time.
On Thursday I completed a milestone. Our biggest client asked us to come and speak at their Annual meeting, 300 people. Since Mr. Schultz (my boss) was out of the country, who does that leave but his trusty sidekick and backup, ME! I probably slept a total of 10 hours in the 5 days leading up to this speaking engagement and the night before (spent at some casino in Granite Falls) I hardly slept at all. You know the expression "I saw every hour on the clock", well I saw every 15 minutes on the clock. I don't know why I was so nervous but I was. Usually when I speak it is a group of farmers, 40% of whom are my customers already and have worked with me and know me. Well, this group was more intimidating. It was bankers, lawyers, energy experts (even more than me). The keynote speaker who sat right in front of me while I was on the stage works for NASA and has taken it personally to solve the United States Energy Crisis. So, there I am some clown from Springfield, MN telling everyone where I think the market is going to go. So, obviously I survived it, and even got a few compliments along the way. Thursday night I slept soooo good. On Friday Nicole and I went to Springfield to see my dad and Nicole had a wedding shower to attend. It was a great weekend and we enjoy seeing our family very much.
This week we have been working on taxes and trying to figure out what we are going to do with our lives. Nicole has job interviews lined up, we need more in the metro area (right now just 1). She has 2 offers, both of them very good, just not anywhere near our home in Troy Burne. She has an interview in St. Paul on April 10th and she will have a few more I'm sure. A lot of her application deadlines are coming up so when those deadlines pass I'm sure we'll hear about more interviews. Until then, keep praying for us to find a good job for Mrs. Ward, excuse me, Dr. Ward. I kind of like the sound of that. She works so hard and I am so proud of her.
So, I've rambled long enough, thanks for reading and I hope everyone is doing well.