Hmmm

Rob's in deep thought here. My little sister Marie got a Macbook pro and we love the program Photobooth on it. We had a lot of fun taking pictures.

Graduated

It took, like, a billion years. But, the mother has graduated. Now, it's time to get a job. Congratulations.

Christmas!

Hello! Rob got me a new camera for christmas! I named it Zeiss. Yes, I know it's not christmas yet, but he wanted to give it to me early so I could take pictures of christmas =) So Here's a picture of our christmas tree with our new camera. I also included another picture Rob took that I thought was neat.

thanksgiving pictures!

Hello, I realized we hadn't updated for awhile... almost a month, so here are some cute pictures of thanksgiving. Thank you to Andrea and Brett for the table picture and thanks to Melissa for the polebarn picture. Thanksgiving was fun. The meal started out with Brett, Rob and Bri going out to the office and all trying to get an xbox 360 for 100 dollars off amazon. None of them were able to get the xbox, so the boys were sad for awhile. All the food was wonderful and we all got stuffed. After all of us were full, we were able to go over to Mike and Denise's land and play in the polebarn.

Pianos are Scary!

Marla got me an early Christmas present a couple days ago, a Casion CDP-100 electric piano/keyboard. I have wanted a piano in the house for a long time, and now, I have one! I am very excited! So, I have been re-learning some songs, and practicing some new ones... and Marla is re-learning to play too! I was then thinking to myself that learning to read music is like learning to play DDR. How after a while, you don't look at just one note, or step, but just gaze at all of the upcoming notes, or steps. So I thought to myself, "ok, well then learning a piano shouldn't take too much longer than learning to play DDR," so I decided to do some calculations, as I seem to have the genetic disposition to do so. So I calculated that there are only 16 possible combinations of DDR dance mat inputs. (4 possible arrows multiplied to the power of 2, being that the button is either 'on' or 'off')
Ok, so 16, yeah, that's a lot. (I note that in the game you will never press all four or even three buttons at a time, so in reality there are 11 combinations)
So, why the calculator? I wanted to see mathematically how many times more complex a piano is. Now, just as note, I realize that the average human only has two arms and ten fingers (where as I have 4 arms and 24 fingers... is that weird? :)
Any way, I calculated that on an 88 key keyboard, there are 17,592,186,044,000 possible keying combinations. That is assuming that you have the ability to press all 88 keys at once, and any combination there in. And if you where able to press any combination of all 88 keys, and could 'play' one "Gigantic Cord" every 1 second, it would take 571,947 years to press them all! YIKES! That doesn't sound right, but my math doesn't lie. If you have a nice calculator, test it out... 2 (being the key either pressed, or not pressed) to the power of 88 (number of keys) will give you the total combinations. Then to figure 'time' take the total divided by 60 seconds divided by 60 minutes divided by 24 hours divided by 356 days. and all I can say is, you better get to work if you think you'll ever be able to hit every key combo there is... this doesn't seem like it's right... but it is, so don't argue!
So in the end, I just have to say, I have a lot more respect of Uncle Richard.
By the way, if any one here would know how to calculate with the restraints that only ten keys could be pressed at a time, and with two hands that only have a one octave reach, each pressing up to 5 notes, I would love to see how. I am just too tired to think of how to do it now, especially after haven typed this all up!

Rob

Robert... I AM your granFather!

This doesn't need much explanation... it's clearly a portrait of grandpa :) Made skillfully... and painstakingly on my cell phone... during sunday school. I know I know... I should be diligently paying attention to the lesson... but this is much more important. This image will withstand the sands of time and now all who fallow us will know exactly what the kind and noble Frank C. Hogan looked like.
Enjoy!

Rob

Big News from Sweden...

They say that a picture says more than a thousand words. Well, as you can se on the picture on the side here... Stina and I are going to be parents... (For those of you who can´t tell... You need to get glasses.. hehe)

Of course this is a big deal for us. We´re very happy about getting to be parents. My hope as the father is that the child will inherit most of his/her traits and talents from Stina... ;-) She´s just the best...

So far it´s all pretty new for us but we felt that we wanted to share this great news with all of you. We will visit the doctor on Wednesday to have our first real look at our baby. We won´t however ask them to determine whether it´s a boy or a girl. We want that to be a surprise.

If you visit hulldin.com we´ll keep you updated on how everything is going...

Over and out...

/M

Duluth

A few weeks ago Lucinda and I drove up to Duluth. It was a fun trip. Duluth is a bigger city that I thought it would be. I'd been to Duluth before, but I think it was like 15 years ago - so I don't remember much. Anyway, we stopped at the Jay Cook State Park and it was pretty amazing. There was a cool little river with all sorts of jagged rocks. There was a suspension bridge. And the leafs were amazing!

Check out the sweet view in this picture.

Pretty good, huh? Oh, and the river and trees are nice, too.

Well, I did it! I bought an up-dated steering wheel for my racing set up. Actually it is a wheel, pedals and gear selector set, and it is awesome! It's a Logitech G25. Steel and leather are what really set this bad boy apart from its fore-fathers. Oh, and a 6 speed gear box w/ clutch!
Pictures are of Bri trying it out. Dad was over a few hours ago to help me winterize my sprinkler system, and he went for a 'spin' in the new set up. "I can see how you could get addicted to that game" is what he had to say.

Conceptualize

I created a new website. I've realized that I really like concept stuff. I love seeing cool concept cellphones. Cool concept cars. Concept artwork. So, I figure it'd be cool to have a site where I could track my favorites and show 'em off. I figure there's got to be other geeks like me that like this kind of stuff.

And, maybe if I get productive I'll make some kind of way to blog about concept projects that I think up from time to time. My ideas aren't as cool as the stuff I'll usually write about, but to me they're good ideas. For example, I'd like to sketch up some plans to make a desk/table with a touch screen interface (so a person could work with documents like in real life - on a table, or maybe you could even play "board" games on the table/desk). I have a few little ideas like that, and I figure other people do too.

[Via conceptualize]

Jen & Lando

I just got an email from Jen (my sister). Looks like her and her husband have started their own blog. Check it out: http://trost-family.blogspot.com/

This post is about sewing, I swear!

Yeah, as most of you might know, Marla got a sewing machine a month ago. Check out what I made! A sweet little pillow! See, what happened is I made it full size... but once I washed it... well, you get the idea :-D Atleast some one uses it.

Paper Horse Power

So i figured since i'm on a paper craft kick that it would be cool to show some pictures of this. It's a Nissan R390GT which is the race car Nissan entered into the LaMans series a number of years back with great sucsess. This model was built using three sheets of paper and a color printer. Many hours later this was the end result. i started this project two or three years ago and finished it earlier this year. Since then i have started another vehicle... a Yamaha R1 race bike. much much larger and complex. i am sure it will take more years to finsh.
Rob

Immortal Rose

First off, I hope the I spelled immortal corretly... no spell check on my camera phone :-(
Thought I should post some pictures of my latest hobby, origami ikebana. Japanese paper folding flower arranging. The rose pictured is made from a couple wires, floral tape for wrapping the stem, a piece of paper to make the leaves, another small square to make the calyx, and one square to make the rose bud. i'm very pleased with the end result. i have been making this style of rose bud for a couple weeks now, but i didn't make a stem with leaves untill last Sunday when i made a rose with stem and leaves all from paper for my grandma Delores. i made the one pictured last night at about one in the morning... i am a bit of a night owl. The thing that makes me ok with spending so much time on making a single flower is that this flower will never die.

Rainy days make me so sleepy.

I guess I'm not the only one! Kimi taking a nap under the umbrella I am using to grill. We are having the Bradys over for dinner. Make your reservations now! :-D

ET go home

Here is Dad in front of the house he grew up in (or didn't grow up :-D) In Appleton Wisconsin. it was fun to see all the places that dad knew. our classes were long and boring... well maybe that was only because they started in the middle of the night... 8am!

All cats all the time!

I also didn't want this to turn into a cat blog but Lana went all possessed and demanded that I post her picture. Now please, Lana, tell me where you put my family.

THE NIGHT IS YOUNG!!!

Marla Schumacher a I are off to meet Brett & Andrea for a movie in Maple Grove. Lots of fun! We are excited to hang out with them since it has been a while.
Picture 2: Marla, so happy that I am letting her out of the house... I do reward good behavior! :-D
.

A New Day for Blogging!

Kimi pictures are always winners :-) This post is more or less an excuse to see if blogging from my cell phone is working. Any way, Kimi seems to go every where. So funny :-D
Picture two: Kimi looking innocent. Oh, and I promise this blog isn't going to turn into a "All cats all the time" blog!!

You wish

Don't you wish that this was your grandma? She's so happy. I saw this advertising while walking around in Wal-mart (a very frightful place, by the way) and it made me wish I had a yard to weedwack. I wonder how old the grandma is?

Lazy Lana

Here's a picture of my cat. Like me, you can often find her sleeping. This post is made via my cell phone. How rad is that? Super rad!

Mmmm bbq

Recently my brother Ryan and his wife Aubrey sent us a Weber big book of grilling cook book. Ryan got a grill for fathers day and has been grilling like a mad man since. So He wanted Rob to learn how to grill like him. So far Rob has been grilling really well. We had Bri, Lucinda, Andrea and Brett over for chicken kabobs. It was fun!

He's bringing sexy back

Last week Rob decided he wanted to bleach his hair. After a few hours of sitting and putting bleach on his hair, here are the results! I think he looks cute. He looks like a super hero now.

Not much...

I put my cat into military traning camp. She said she wanted to be a navy S.E.A.L. Who am I to dissuade her? I'm not sure if she wants to save the world or if she just likes carrying a gun. One thing's for sure, she'll have to get used to the water. One time she fell into my bathtub. It was pretty funny to see her try to get out. "Hell Week" won't be easy, I'll say that much. But, I know if she tries her best and fights her fears she'll make it through and will come out a finely tuned killing machine. Oh, kitty! You're so special!

They grow up so fast, don't they.

Yum!

My dream has finally come true. Rob almost likes Ben and Jerry's as much as I do. Well I'm not sure about that but we have had some fun there. Marie, my little sister is now giving tours and she did a fantastic job. She has some pretty funny cow jokes that she tells. We were also able to go in the back and see my friends that I used to work with. Rob was able to enjoy his first pint off the line. That is when the ice cream has not gone through the deep freeze yet and is only 22 degrees. It's soo good. It almost like a soft serve, but way better. Rob ate about half the pint and then I was finally able to eat some =) When we came home Rob wasn't feeling that well and we're thinking that is because of all the sugar he ate. But I have eaten a lot of ice cream this vacation. I figure why not it's free =)

Enjoying Vermont!

Hello! Rob and I are enjoying Vermont. We arrived saturday and by saturday night I was busy cutting everyones hair. I still have two more to cut. Maybe I'll get a hair cut by someone =) It has been fun to be here to spend time with my parents and sisters. Sunday we were able to see my grandparents and great aunt. It was great to see them since we hadn't seen them since our reception two years ago. Today we were able to go out and enjoy being on vacation. This picture is of a road that Rob just loves. It is up a mountain and there is no middle line. It is curvy and fun. I drove up and Rob drove down.

I have a Fee-Vah!!!

I have a fever, and the only prescription is, more cowbell! No, actually, I have a disease, and the only cure is that I have to modify things. As Marla can attest to, and as you can clearly see from these 'before' and 'after' pictures here.
Marla and I bought some Nerf guns at target the other day, thinking it would be fun to play tag in the house. It is fun :)
After a couple hours though, my head started aching... and I knew it could only mean one thing... fix up fee-va!! So now my Nerf gun looks more like a special ops top secret weapon of destruction! Which, is actually kinda true :)
So now it has a Streamlite M3 Tactical Illuminator, the flashlight on the side. It is bright enough to disorient criminals when shinned in their face, awesome!
Next is the "mojji ZERO" red dot sight. It, like the flash light, is also made for real fire arms. Red dots are the only way to go on guns, since you can see what looks like a laser dot on your target, but no one else can! Great for sneak attacks!
Then we have the custom made suppressor, which will thread on and off. It's made for two purposes: looks, and it will also fire Nerf balls!
Last, I gutted the interior and installed a new high accuracy barrel, custom drilled the trigger, and installed weaver rails. Once all back together, I painted it all custom mixed colors with the airbrush Marla's parents got me.
End result? The coolest Nerf gun on the face of the earth!!
My fever has subsided... for now.

Update from the Swedes...

Thought I´d post a little update so that you guys can know what we're up to up here in the northern parts of the world.

Stina is visiting with her extended family up in the northern parts of Sweden. When we talked today at about 22.30 it was still daylight up there. Pretty cool I must say. She´ll be joining me as we travel to visit with my parents later this coming week. They have rented a vacation house in the southern part of Sweden. So Stina will take a nice little trip of about 2200 km in two days.

I´m looking forward to my first (and probably only) week of vacation. I´m gonna be playing golf, sleeping late, visiting with my folks and just chill. Man is that gonna be nice ;-) Of course I look forward to meeting up with Stina and enjoying a couple of days together where we don't HAVE to do nothing much at all... Ain't that just WONDERFUL...

I hope you guys are all doing well. Like I told Rob a while ago, Stina and I really miss hanging out with your guys. It was a lot of fun the week or so that we spent with you. I hope you have made "KALOPS" and enjoyed it together ;-)

I also have to report that I have bought a brand new Sony Ericsson cellphone. It's a K800 and I don't know if that model will be sold in the US. It's awesome though. It has a 3,2 megapixel camera and a built in blogger tool. So now I can blog with pictures using my cellphone. AWESOME.

You can visit my Mobile blog if you go to my webpage and click on the link for MY MOBILE BLOG... Also I have translated parts of the site into English. So now at least the menus and some other stuff is available to all English speaking visitors... I´m working on all the other languages in the world ;-) So please drop by the webpage at www.hulldin.com. C ya there...

If I have to...

You know me, I just like keeping to myself. Dad, Rob, Mike, David, Andy, and myself are just chillin' out looking around the race track here in Indiana minding our own business. We're looking at F1 cars when all of a sudden I get these babes asking to be in a picture with me. So, I say, "If I have to." So we pose and they take pictures. Brian likes the ladies, of course, so Mike Anderson hooks a brother up and snaps a few shots for my digital "memory book" and Bob's your uncle.

Kimi the Kitty

I know I told Jen a long time ago that I would post pictures of Kimi, our new cat.
Better late than never.
See his little 'heart' shape on is tummy? He's so cute.
We have a funny video clip to post, but I'm not sure on how to do that yet. I'll check with web master bri later and get it up.

Rob

Did it!

Well, I finally broke down and bought a bike. I've wanted one of these babies ever since the day that I first realized that I could die. I mean, seriously, what else can make you feel more alive then the prospect of death? When I'm doing wheelies at 180mph life can't get much better - except maybe doing stoppies at 180mph. Sometimes when I'm feeling really nuts I do a wheelie and a stoppie at the same time! Yeah, I'm pretty awesome!

Ok, ok, so I might be lying a little bit. I never do wheelies. And, um, I never do stoppies. And, I don't go 180mph. And, I'm not totally stupid! But, I really did buy the bike in this picture. It looks a little like a sport bike, but it's more of a cruiser. It's great for strolling around at a leisurely pace on a day of pleasant weather.

Actually, the real reason I bought the bike is because since I live alone, own a cat, and dress nice-enough, I think my neighbors have begun to think I must be a little light in the loafers (if you catch the euphemism). I mean, only big bad fat dudes, cocky punks, and tough guys ride bikes, right?

Cocky punks ought to watch this (some people are idiots). WARNING: people with weak stomachs and pregnant women shouldn't watch this video. There's no blood, but there's a lot of flippin' and a floppin'.

This is for Nicole!

Ok, not just for Nicole, but for all the world to enjoy. Our cat Kasumi is just the cutest thing ever! We joke that she is always 'training' becuase she plays all the time, well, when she's not sleeping that is. She is in great shape and loves to play fight with Brian's cat Lana, which is a highlight in our day. They are CRAZY! So Marla thought it would be funny to get a head band for Kasumi to wear. Then Marla realized she had an entire outfit! It's an outfit for Teddy Ruxpin.
It was so cute that I had to post it.

Rob

Star Trek: Poolside

I just thought this was too funny not to post.

Boys will be boys

Bri got a new tv for his exercise room. But it hasn't gotten there yet. The boys dream has always been to drive against each other in gt4. That day has finally come. Now we have our own little arcarde in our house. Tiny Steve, Bri and Rob had a competition on saturday. Rob won, Steve was second and Bri was third. It's fun, I've played a few races, but I'm always beaten. It's still a lot of fun.

Picture...

Well, since Brian said that I´m a great photographer I guess I´ll show you one of my latest pics and you guys can decide for yourselves whether or not I´m great.

It´s kind of funny because a lot of the pictures that I take and which actually turn out good are of flowers. The bizzarre thing is that I couldn´t tell you the names of them and I actually don´t even like flowers very much. However... They do make for nice pictures... So here is a flowerpic.

I´m glad that Bri is letting me post to the blog so that I can keep you updated of what´s going on over here... And maybe I´ll try to translate some of the stuff on my webpage... Maybe ;-)

/M

Inviting

I like posts on this website. I should say, I like it when other people post. I get tired of talking about myself so much. Well, okay, I guess I don't, but I do get tired of having to type.

Anyway, I've invited our good friends Mats & Stina Hulldin to blog along with the rest of us. Mats keeps a blog already, but it's in his native language of Swedish.

If we're lucky we'll get a post every now-and-then from the Hulldin's. Mats is a great photographer so we'll probably get some cool pictures every once-in-awhile.

Me too

Well, I liked Rob & Marla's cat so much that I got one, too. I couldn't get a picture from the site (I'm not using my computer), but here's a link to where some pictures are. The linked website is a place that all my cell phone pictures go to so, feel free to check it out on occasion to see new pictures. Oh, her name is Ms. Lang, Lana Lang.

We got a cat!

Hello! Yesterday Bri wanted to go look for dogs. So Rob and I went with him. We went to Petco and Petsmart and neither had dogs. So then one of the workers told us to go to the Golden valley humane society. They had rooms filled with cats. They really didn't have any dogs though. So the minute I saw this kitty ( i haven't thought of a name yet) I wanted her. I knew Rob would like her too since she was all grey and short hair. She's about a year old and was just spayed, so that is great for us! So Rob said I could get her. So far she has been great. She likes to jump on your lamp and sleep. She's just so cute =)

Huge bunny

My sister nicole found this picture of a bunny. I think it's awesome. Brian and Rob don't believe it's real. What do you think?

FREE CONE DAY!!

Hello! As many of you know, I grew up in the town where Ben and Jerry's ice cream is made. Every year they have a day where they give out free cones. Today is that day. Go celebrate! Check benjerry.com for your local store. 12-8pm.