When the moon hits your eye...

While I was out playing at the Children's Museum with Dylan, Mason and Dad made some homemade pizza. I know Mason had a blast because it was the first thing he told me when he woke up the next morning. Check out the pictures...

http://www.kodakgallery.com/hughesweek/main/making_pizza_with_dad?UV=281147108342_464345497605

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This Old House: Exterior Refresh

We had planned on doing this project a few years from now but it did not make any sense to do all the landscaping and cement work only to wreck it while updating the exterior surfaces so we flipped the two projects. Not exactly sure how this happened but we pulled this refresh project off in 3 months! Most of the time was actually used up in waiting on materials and lining up the slew of contractor schedules. We did a lot of the heavy lifting, read demolition, ourselves to cut down on expenses and the contractors mainly did the final installations, save the windows. Steph did an excellent job managing the contractors; she's pickier than I am! Big thanks to my brother Scott and Jack for their wisdom and hard work. :)

Our plan was just to get done before the snow fell, but Steph did such a great job lining up and pushing the subs we finished at the beginning of October.

07-05-2007 Removed Unneeded Chimney (first task of the project)
08-16-2007 Replaced Roofing, added 2 Sky Lights, Ridge Vent replaced box vents
09-01-2007 Replaced all Windows with Andersen Windows
09-04-2007 Framed and Installed one 8FT and one 6FT Andersen Patio Gliding Doors
09-19-2007 Installed James Hardie Board siding, Keystones, New Soffette and Facia
10-05-2007 Installed Leaf Guard Gutters (last task of the project)

Well that was plenty of an update this year so we will probably just spend the winter cleaning up the interior molding around the windows and new patio doors. Little by little...

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Mason Update: Visit to the Children's Museum

Matt and I took Mason to the Children's Museum of Minnesota. They are having a Curious George Exhibit, so we just had to check it out.

He had a great time playing at all of the exhibits, especially the water tubes! The museum has an area for kids ages 6 months - 36 months. It's full of padded ramps and tunnels. There were great views of Saint Paul from the third floor.

On the rooftop, they have a place where kids can build sand castles and paint on water stones. There was just so much to see we couldn't do it all at once. We will definitely be visiting again soon.

Check out the pictures on our gallery: Children's Museum

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Matt Update: Expect More. Pay Less

For those of you that haven't already heard, Matt found himself a new job! He finally left Fair Isaac and moved on to bigger and better things at Target Corporation in downtown Minneapolis.

Matt is an Analyst in the Project Management Office (PMO). He started about three weeks ago and is really loving the new job.

Congrats Matt!

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Welcome to HughesWeek, How May I Direct Your Call?

Hello all,
It's been a while since my last post. Steph and Mason have been the most diligent about posting in the past few months even through all the crazy goings on. For some reason our February and March have been very busy; sick kids, sick adults, house work, new babies to meet etc. Isn't that the excuse you were waiting to hear? Right. Well, my goal is to get back in the groove too. So to get back on track I thought I would share a few new links to our online world to completely distract you from the lack of posts from me on this site. Overall, things are settling down and I plan on getting back into the blogosphere. Cheers, Matt

Friends and Family Sites:

1. My Sister Stephanie's Website. (It's her Birthday today! March 21st! Happy Birthday Sis!)


2. The Frey Family Steve and Karianna start an online life together. We wait patiently for little Frey to arrive in July. The Gnome Photo Gallery is a must see. As the unseen wedding guest, a true wedding crasher personally trained by Owen and Vince and a good reminder why you should never leave a disposable camera unattended at a wedding.


3. Estación Liceu, Kelly's Blog. Austin's better half gives the low-down on several topics in her daily-weekly blog.


4. Vivid Assault, My new "just for fun" blog that hopes to assault your senses. This blog will have nothing to do with the HughesWeek family blog; no kid pictures, no proud dad and mom moments, no family updates, its pretty much an outlet for the 18 year-old-boy still inside me that wants to talk about cars, guns, gadgets and boobies. Rated PG13 for the most part.

Other fun links I can't stop reading:

1. Deal of the Day Tracker. There are lots of sites that have a "special one deal of the day". This site pulls all the deals together on one page each day. http://www.woot.com/ is the best DOD site, but this one hits them all at once!


2. LifeHacker. I've said it before and I 'll say it again...and again. This site is the Cat's Meow. It's like digital self-help and makes you more productive, confident, organized, etc etc...all the things you want to be. It is a must read for the masses that like to "get things done".


3. Give Away of the Day Free full version Software that is tested and spy-ware, ad-ware clean. This is software you normally have to pay for. The only catch is that you have to install it during the available 24 hour window. If you do, its yours to keep and use as you want. The hope is that you will provide feedback on the software, so they can keep making it better and more desirable to purchase. Many times you get the version free just before they are about to launch a newer version. Their hope is that you will like the old version and buy the newest one.

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Baby News: The Waiting Game

They say time flies when you are having fun. That is very true for pregnancies too. August 14th, 2005 seems like yesterday. That is the night I came home from a weekend with the guys to have my wife tackle me at the door beaming. (She already had that glow about her.) She announced the best news I have ever heard and it seemed at the time like the start of a very long journey. Not so, for 9 months has pasted in a blink of an eye and this guy is about to become a Dad. Ready or not here comes Baby.

The past few days have slowed down a bit. We are now four days away from the "Due Date". That special date that really does not mean much if you think about it. Only 5% of women have their babies on their Due Date. Overall, I can tell Stephanie is ready. I can tell the baby room is ready. I can assure you that my car is ready; loaded up with bags for the hospital, car seat installed, heck it already looks like a "family truckster." Everyone else must be ready too; they keep asking Stephanie and I the same questions over and over..."Baby here yet?", "Are you ready?", "Bet you can't wait?", "Do you think you know what it is?", "Do you have the name picked out?"...and on and on.

Putting aside all the commentary and questions, all the build up and preparation, all the nervous energy and anxiety of being a good parent, all the anticipation while waiting to meet this tiny little person...put all that down for a minute and what do you really have to be prepared for? In short, just a little life-event that will forever change my life, Steph's life, our marriage, and our household...forever.

You bet I'm ready... just call me "Dad."

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Guilty Pleasures: Shiny Objects That Grab My Attention

Here are a few "Inna'net" interests that I regularly digest and find interesting. You may find them interesting too...or maybe not...but that's your own issue to deal with. Maybe you are just not an interesting person, have you ever thought about that?


1: The GM Death Watch. I'm addicted to this column located at 'The Truth About Cars" website. Since two-fifths of the Hughes fleet are GM products, I like to see where the company is going. Okay, actually that's bullshit, what I really like to read about is how this company is going to try to save itself... from itself. Competitors are not even half it's problem and the GM Death Watch consistently dissects the real challenges this behemoth is facing.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/content/1141419410727162957/


2: Gawker Media. I love reading niche blogs and this media company keeps on top of them all. They have professional writers that are given free rain (sp?) to write/blog/opinionate about what ever they want as long as it fits there blog's topic. Below is a list of their current blogs with descriptions of the topics. The ones I regularly visit are in blue text. Check 'em out, you may fall in love with their writing style and humor as I so badly have....but they still never call.
Gizmodo - Gadgets and technology
Wonkette - DC gossip and politics
Deadspin - Sports
Defamer - Hollywood news and gossip
Jalopnik - Cars and automotive culture...my personal favorite.
Screenhead - Internet miscellany and humor
Gridskipper - Travel
Lifehacker - Productivity, tips, tricks, downloads and getting things done in general.
Sploid - Headline based news...not exactly CNN, so not for the sheltered souls.
Kotaku - Video games
Gawker.com - New York City area media local stuff (for my east coast family)
Valleywag - San Francisco and Silicon Valley stuff (for my west coast family)
The Consumerist - Consumer advocate and exposer of the evil corporate world with an affinity for picking on Best Buy.

3: Wikipedia. An online encyclopedia that is in constant editing mode by it's users. Scary huh. I'm not saying you should write a thesis based on information from this site, but it is interesting stuff. Search on a topic of interest and learn everything about it in a matter of minutes. Go ahead try it....you will learn something....I promise. If something is incorrect or out of date submit your change to be reviewed. This is perfect for all of you out there that have to be "that guy" and correct the sorry understandings of inferior minds. Here is your chance...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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Homeward Bound: New Job Moves Me Back to the Arden Hills Office

"I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind... You could have done better but I don't mind...You just kinda wasted my precious time." Bob certainly speaks to me on that one regarding how I feel about leaving the downtown Fair Isaac office and returning to the Arden Hills office after only a two month separation. Being back in the Arden Hills office is kind of like going back to a nicer ex-girlfriend after some time going your separate ways, you actually appreciate her more. Sure everything was exciting during your little fling with lots of new sites to see and things to do, but after a while the cost of the dinners and movies were adding up and the new girl never pays for anything, nothing! Add to it that she lives on the other side of town and never wants to go out for drinks near your house which really sucks since you spend all your time in the car. So you finally get wise, call up the ex-girlfriend, make amends, and voila...you go back to were you belong. Every day seems brighter with no commute, every free parking space, even the ones at the end of the lot, seem.... well, frickin' awesome! It truly is the little things that make the day-to-day life enjoyable; so I am doing my best to not take it all for granted.

Oh, and I got a new job.

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New PC: If you build it...you will have fun.

Mad scientist I am not but slightly irritated I was as it took an insane amount of time to get the new Hughes super-computer together and working properly. After 2 weeks of tweaking, "Deep Hughes" is now up and running and it has already re-tallied the 2000 Bush-Gore Florida votes, balanced the national budget, found oil in Oshkosh Wisconsin, and challenged Kevin Luther to a game of Chess. Overall this beauty is lightning fast like my wife Stephanie's wit and it will probably take over the world once it starts mass producing robots covered in skin that resembles the Governor of California.

Now why would I build a computer of this caliber for home use? Its not like I need to write the next "Million Little Pieces" novel at the speed of light,( I would never go on Oprah if I did!) and its not like the Hughes Week family blog is getting mad hits like Google or Amazon.com, (does anyone read this thing?) but rather I blame Microsoft. I could have purchased an Xbox 360 and have been plenty satisfied to play video games on it. Let's face it though, I would sooner find Osama Bin Laden at the Stillwater Wal-Mart than an Xbox 360 for sale inside the lower 48. So I built this new PC to play games and escape the real world a few hours a week. And what’s the fun of being a guy and building something if you can't OVER build it! Oh well, I hear it will be obsolete by next Tuesday....[sigh]

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You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go...

"..........Downtown,
things'll be great when you're
Downtown,
no finer place for sure,
Downtown,
everything's waiting for you,
...Downtown"

So I have been singing that song for like 2 weeks straight now and it is not making me feel any better... It's official, the powers that be are moving my department to the downtown Fair Isaac office. As you might suspect the thought of going downtown again after being there for 2 years with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young kind of... well... sucks, it sucks. Allow me to elaborate.

Its one of those total lifestyle downgrading events. Let's see, the short list would be some thing like:
- I currently live only 5 minutes from work,... now it will take any where between 45-60 minutes depending on which idiot slammed into another idiot while both were talking on their cell phones in SUVs the size of Exxon oil tankers.
- My current daily commute now consists of leaving the house when I am appropriately ready for a leisurely 4 mile drive with no highways, no traffic, and free parking right next to my building....However, in a few weeks I will get to enjoy the vast openness of the local "Park and Ride" during -30 degree wind chills at 6AM, ride a packed bus with other unhappy "bus people", pay extra Rush Hour bus fares so I can experience the thrill of riding in a bus going 95 MPH on the shoulder of a highway passing stopped traffic like something out of an LAPD hot pursuit chase while I'm not even half awake and already stressed to the max! And let's not forget that fabulous bus schedule that my life will now revolve around. Wonderful.

Other things I am looking forward to... Downtown! (there's that song again)
- Days I need to drive my car anyways due to graduate classes in the evenings means bumper-to-bumper traffic, costly parking, more gas than normal, and everyone's favorite, the panic-rush-hustle leaving Minneapolis to get to my Saint Paul campus classes on time 2 nights a week.
- Let's face it, there will be no more college fund for Baby Hughes. Why you ask??? Because parking downtown costs as much as a 2 bedroom Condo costs in Miami, and lunch at a fine dining establishment like... Taco Bell, costs about $21.50 for 2 tacos and hot sauce packet.

But I'm not complaining, what's not to love? After all, I get to work in the top 4 floors of the AT&T Building (pictured above). Did I mention that I get vertigo when I stand on street curbs? Or that I watched WAY WAY WAY too much 9/11 news footage?...hmmm this should be awesome working on the top floors of a skyscraper!

Well I'm sure all this will be made up for by the happy and inspiring people in the city that I will be interacting each day. There is Mr. Pissed-Off Bus Driver, Mr. Pissed-Off Taco Bell Cashier, Mrs. Pissed-Off Parking Attendant, and let's not forget all the other positive individuals that I get to interact with from now on including, Mr. Snotty-stuckup-know-it-all-corporate-type fresh out of college that thinks his shit doesn't stink.... oh yeah, I was one of those...but I digress.
What is really important here is that my user community that I support is completely served! Um... yeah... you see, they are not coming to the downtown office with us. My users, my clients, the reason I exist, they are staying at the old office. Soooooooo, the people that I normally work with daily in their cubes are now going to be 45 minutes away by car. This outta make troubleshooting the Payroll systems VERY interesting. But hey, I'm sure everyone in the company has a spare paycheck in the bank, no worries.

Where was I???

Oh yeah..."I'm not complaining"...okay, okay, so I am venting heavily, ya got me. :)

Most of you aleady have this commute and see it as no-big-deal. And I have to agree, downtown is not really all that bad. I'm just worried about all these "little things" adding up and the impact that will have on my wife, school, budget, and soon...Baby Hughes. Yeah I know, I'm being a tinny tiny bit dramatic, but it is more fun that way at 1:30 in morning.

To wrap up...being the (sucker, no, pushover, no, wuss, no, spineless, no, guy-how-cares-too-much-about-the-mortgage-payment, no) ...ah yes... team player that I am, I said I would try it out and see how it goes.

Stay tuned, this should get interesting.

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Easy Rider: Matt's Harley

Most parents to-be sell off all the "toys" and prepare to "grow-up" and "act like adults". I'm not so sure Steph and I fit that mold just yet. So on Friday I finally found the Harley Davidson that I have been seeking out for the past year. You have no idea how hard it was to find a simple Black & Chrome HD Softtail Custom that has not been grotesquely violated by misguided motorheads. All that searching is over now and the new arrival is home in our garage. We've owned her only 3 days and have put 140 miles on it...man what a ride!

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Matt and Steph Hughes at the Nohr-Trunnell Wedding

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