Julia's first Baby

metamorphosis

Dan preformed magic at the Nuspire Christmas party. Dan's show (the Great Danweenie presents Bad Magic) started poorly. Until the grand finale, his best trick might have been making beers disappear on stage. However, with the help of his lovely assistant, Annie, they ended with a great trick. Houdini's Metamorphosis.

Santa came to town!

We're practicing

We're practicing

Annual Mac and cheese bake off

We spent this weekend at the wineries of Old Mission Penninsula for the the annual Mac and cheese and wine tasting bake off. Proceeds went to the migrant workers of the area. Always a highlight of the year..

Annie is learning the guitar

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Annie's parents, brother, and Sampson came over... Great nap after a fantastic dinner.

Floor seats

Dan got to sit next to Chucky Atkins at the Pistons game last night. What made this so special is Chucky was playing in the game! Nuspire had the next four seats at the end of the pistons bench. It is an entirely different experience from the floor. You realize how small (and slow) you are next to the players...

Annie invented Toast!

Annie has claimed for a long time she invented toast. A coworker at Nuspire found a website to back up this claim. Check it out. http://fbp.wikia.com/wiki/Toast

This Batch of Beer

The beer currently brewing in our Keg is a West Coast Pale Ale (with 1 cup brown sugar, and one cup honey added). Should be about 5.6% abv.

Last batch, a summer blonde, was ok. Nothing special though. Tasted like Miller light. We are hoping an Ale, with Huney and sugar, should spice up the tast a little. The Wart was a little more sweet smelling - so I think we are on the right track. We should know in about 3-4 weeks.

Happy Halloween !

Hobee is a MSU wide reciever.
Annie is a butter Fairy.
Dan a pink Poodle.

Our Pumpkin

We made pumpkins tonight. We are quite the trio of pumpkin carvers. Check out our pictures

Dan's Trip to Orlando

Written By: Dan

Earlier this week I went down to Orlando for the Gartner IT Symposium. It was held at the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. Good show, very informative - Nuspire may sponsor next year.

One of the highlights was an evening event at Epcot. Normally, being at Disney World by yourself isn’t a good time (it really is a small world after all). However, this time was an exception. Disney cleared out the park for the Gartner event. So the only people in all of Epcot were Gartner Attendees and Disney Employees. All the rides were open, and there was plenty of free food and beer. This made for a fun time. What made things better was all the IT nerds seemed to be more interested in the different buffets than the free rides. Because of this there were literally no lines at any of the rides. I could walk straight onto the ride. If I liked the ride I could stay on and go again. As I dashed from ride to ride I kept thinking “WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING! YOU DORKS! OPEN RIDES! YOU CAN FIND A BUFFET ANYWHERE!” This is another example of book smarts VS. what the hell are you thinking.

By the time I got back to the hotel I was exhausted. I spent 3 hours in a full blown sprint, running from ride to ride. The only thing that would slow me down was to grab a beer, which I would grab (and drink) like a marathon runner takes water during the race.
What an experience. I’m not sure “kid in a candy shop” relays my excitement. Maybe “immature young man in an empty theme park with beer” is a better expression to use.

Pumpkin Carving Competition at Nuspire

Team building event at Nuspire (http://www.nuspire.com/) today was a pumpkin carving competition. Great fun.

This is Dan's team pumpkin. It is by far the best one he has ever done; though other team members did most of the work. It placed came in second to last!

Maveric football

Dan's elementary alma matter (St. Joe's), playing at his high school (NDP). Great team, coaching, and a good watch. SJS wins!

Banbury Cross Walk-A-Thon

Written by: Hobee

Today I did a 5 mile walk-a-thon with Annie, her friend Julie, and my buddy Fergus. We had a great time with lots of new sniffs on the back road trails. Fergus and I even met a few horses along the way. The money we raised goes to the Banbury Cross Riding Stables which provides therapeutic horseback riding for children and adults with disabilities.

Enjoying the game

MSU vs. UofM game

Tailgating is awesome

Lions Win!

What a great game! So glad we got to see it live.

(2010.07.01 note: The Lion's win over The Redskins was the only home victory of the season.  Sad part is, only the Detroiters in the stadium saw it live.  Blacked out locally.)

Farmer Kevin gives a farm show

Kevin's first show.

Annie's Graduation

Check out the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dan.hoban/AnnieSGraduation?feat=directlink

Annie Graduated! We are so happy! So Proud. She didn't even know until she read the program, but she graduated with honors. She should have figured since she recorded the highest clinical grade in the history of the school while at Bay City - however since she actually enjoys what she is learning she didn't pay much attention to the grade. What a dork!

We were all smiles as we headed to Troy Athens high School to see the cermony. Annie was all smiles as she crossed the stage, hugged her teachers, and recieved a very nice pin. She really enjoyed school (I know, what a dork!); and his hoping keep in touch, teach, or follow Carnegie program.

After the ceremony we went to Julia's house for a BBQ and celebration. The it was a great time. Good people, food, dogs, and a baby (who likes to feed dogs).

We've been blessed with so much to celebrate. Our wedding, friends/family weddings, birthdays, and a graduation. Kevin said he is tired of celebrating us. By the time he gets a job the family will be tired of celebrating and probibly just kick him out of the without much fanfare.

Heather & Jon's wedding.

Check out the Album. Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/dan.hoban/HeatherSWedding?feat=directlink.

Last weekend Danny and Annie headed up to Muskegon for Heather and Jon's wedding. It was an excellent time. Before the ceremony a trip to the water was in order. Next, off to another Hoban wedding. The ceremony and reception were held on a golf course near our hotel. The place was great. The cremony had a great view; a vast open area in front a large trees to creat a wooded backround. A tent on the otherside of the clubhouse held the rest of the night's activities.

Highlights included glow stick toys during the recption, Patrick catching the Garter (after Tracy caught Annie's boquet), and Connor - a 4 year old cousin - taking over as the best Hoban dancer (not a difficult task). A great time was had by all. Best of luck to the new couple.

Danny's Birthday Weekend

view the pictures: Click here (if no album comes up, hit the back button, right click on the link and choose "open in new window).

What a weekend sports fans. What a way to celebrate. We started off the weekend with a Lions game in Detroit. A great game, ended with an interception and (Spartan) Drew Stanton's game winning drive. We left Ford field, and went right across the street to the Tigers game. Though the game didn't end with a win, we had quite the expirence. our seats were 9 rows behind home plate. They were so close we were on SportsCenter this morning! You could clearly see us on the highlights of the game! One of the best parts of the seats was the Tiger Den. A great place to get a drink, a few apps, and a great view of the game. We ended up the night at HockeyTown Cafe. What a day. People give Detroit a bad rap; but it is getting better. 5-10 years ago there was no opportunity to spend all day downtown. Spending the day downtown yesterday was not only a possibility, but better than we could have imagined.

The party didn't end on Saturday. Today we went to MeadowBrook for the wine and food festival. Wineries from near and far com into town for sampling, and great deals on bottle of great wine. The great part about these wine festivals is you can do 2-4 hours of a normal wine tasting trip in 1-2 because there is no driving between vineyards. Needless to say, Dan and Annie needed a nap after this trip.

All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better weekend. great weather, great activities, great people to celebrate with. We wish every weekend could be this fun (though our livers don't wish this upon us).

















The birthday Kids.

Duckbutter Draft weekend

View more Pictures

This weekend is the 8th Annual Fantasy Football Draft. This was the most challeging year to coordinate since around half the teams could not make it onsite (stupid wedding season). However, we overcame. This year highlighted a cyber draft board, web cameras, and confrence calling lines. A great addition to the draft.

After the draft we headed to The Himmelspach's "just beacuase party," then ended up the night at Chase's new house.

Great seafood restaurant

In Coasta Mesa (outside LA) is Scotts Seafood. Great place for dinner! LA is a great city (to visit).

Jud and Katie's wedding

Jud and Katie are getting married today! Since the wedding is in Tawas, we rented a lake house. No better way to start a wedding celebration than a day on the watter.

Hobee's Honeymoon Vacation

Written by: Hobee
View Pictures (click here)

Just like the newly-weds, I had a vacation of my own! Boy did I need it. As some of you know, I had quite the exciting wedding. Though I was there for the proposal, I was not invited to the wedding. Not happy about that, Layla and I tried to crash the party. We broke out of the groomsmen house a few times and tried to get on the party bus; but Charlie kept throwing us back in. So after they left we broke out of the house! Our escape was not successful though. Layla got picked up by the Crystal Mountain Police, and I ended up spending the afternoon on the porch of Aunt Donna's cottage. On a positive note, I did make a new friend. This Uncle Chuck guy just might be the 7th person I get along with. I’m becoming quite the social butterfly.

Anyway, after all that excitement I needed a vacation. Annie and Danny gave me just what I needed - a 10 day "cruise" and on the USS "Casa de Alessandro." It was quite the good time. During the day we had excursions to exotic places called "the Polyann trail" and "Tim Horton's." During these excursions we visited with the locals, and tried the local cuisine. While this Tim guy makes a mean dish called a“Tim-bit,” I wouldn't recommend eating at the Polyann trail.

Night time entertainment was fantastic! Some of the best shows included: Partying on the top deck - singing and guitar playing (I'm quite the singer too you know) - and comedy hour with the Spags.

With the excursions and night time entertainment came much R& R time. I got daily love, pets, and attention by my favorite person - Vanessa. And was able to sleep all night on the bed with my Grandparents (something I am not allowed to do at home). My favorite place is on an abandoned pillow. I even got to sleep on John's head a few times!

Last but not least was the food! The USS "Casa De Alessandro" is known for their fine doggy dishes - but this vacation set new records. I didn't eat one kibble of the food Dan packed for me. Chef John gave me daily treats, scraps, and this new kind of dog food called "wet food." It is the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s like they took my favorite foods (Goose Poop, crumbs, and crackers) and combined it into a super substance. I ate so much; I might weigh 11 pounds now!

We got back late yesterday afternoon. Dan slept 10 hours last night. Annie 11. I'm going on 19 hours and am still not ready to get off the beanbag.

What a great vacation!

Corfu, Greece

Written by: Dan and Annie
View pictures: (Click Here)

We arrived to the port of Corfu Greece at 1:00. This allowed us to sleep in; which was much needed since this is our third straight day of tours. We opted out of excursions and instead decided to explore on our own (the tours didn’t seem to offer much). We found the city to be ok, but nothing special. Some basic shopping, trinkets, etc…. It reminded us of the Southern US states.

We stopped for a great lunch at an authentic Greek restaurant called Restaurant Bellissimo. We sat outside and had shrimp saganiki (not the flaming cheese we thought it was, but good none the less); and authentic Gyros (spelled on the menu “Giros”). They were great. All the fixings were served on a plate separate from the accompanied homemade bread – fresh out of the oven.
We finished lunch and a walk around the city for a little shopping. We next headed to the old fort on the edge of the coast. Greece’s western and most northern spot. The Greeks in Corfu haven’t figured out this tour quite yet. There were no signs explaining what we were looking at, the history, or where to go next. Also, many parts of the fort were blocked off, with no explanation of why.
The highlight came after we discovered the portal to the secret beach. It was literally a whole in the wall of a tunnel. It took us outside the back walls of the fort to a staircase to the sea. Once we arrived we found the most beautiful beach along the side of the fort. We spend the rest of our time cooling off in the clear, crisp waters of the Ionian Sea. Our second swim in the Mediterranean Sea this week! Another special excursion we will never forget.

We spent the final day of our trip at sea. We haven’t left our stateroom much today. The day has been spent on our balcony, in bed, or watching movies. We desperately needed a day of rest after three long, hot days of touring Turkey and Greece.
We are sad our honeymoon is over, but we are looking forward to heading home and sharing our pictures and stories with all of you. We also miss Hobee, a lot.
This has been a special trip we will never forget.

Santorini, Greece

Written by: Annie Hoban
View Pictures: (Click Here)

The third cruise port was Santorini, Greece - Home to wine, olive oil and pirates. We took a tour into the village of Pyrogos, where we learned all about the history of pirates on the island, how the pirates battled with rocks and how these rocks are now incorporated in the architecture of all the streets and homes throughout the village. After touring the local homes and people of Pyrogos we went to a beautiful restaurant where we sampled the local food and wine.
Our tour ended in the city of Fira, which sits along the edge of a cliff with a view of caldera of the volcano (still active). We did a little shopping, drank some milkshakes as we looked over the cliffs and then braved the Greek form of transportation to a local winery where we sampled more wine and sat in the clouds overlooking the volcano. It was quite a day!
To end it all, we took a cable car back down the cliffs to ferry back to the cruise ship. While waiting in line for the cable car we met a nice woman, Sue, from Texas. Sue and Dan quickly bonded on the cable when he announced that he’s terrified of cable cars. Dan grabbed Sue’s hand, closed his eyes and held on tight for the whole ride down the cliff. It was a Kodak moment!

Ephesus, Turkey

Written by: Annie Hoban
View Pictures: (Click Here)



It has been an amazing past two days. Our second cruise ship port was in Kusadasi, Turkey and we took our first guided tour of the Ancient ruins of Ephesus. This incredible city was built by the Romans and included remains of fountains, the temple of Hadrianus, the library of Celsus, the gate of Hercules, the temple of Artemis, a very large amphitheater, and much more. It’s truly an indescribable feeling knowing that you are walking the streets that gladiators and chariots roamed.
After the tour of ancient Ephesus we continued to a Turkish rug making shop in the town of Kusadasi where we sampled some Turkish coffee (very tasty) and pastries as we learned how silk worms are used to make the rugs by hand using a special knotting technique. After seeing many rugs that I thought would look great at home, Dan proceeded to walk her out of the store after learning the prices ranged from $300 to $45,000.
Next stop was the Church of St. John the Apostle. We are both very proud of ourselves for finding the church because it was off the beat and path, we took public transportation (quite intimidating in Turkey), and we hiked up yet another large hill to the remains of the Church and we found a mosque (The mosque of Isa Bay) which was constructed in 1375A.D. We both agree that apart from ancient Ephesus, the Church of St. John is one of the most amazing places we have ever seen. The church was built in the 5th century and Turkey must be fairly new to the whole tourism business because nothing was roped off. We were able to walk on every tile and column on the site. We even saw a woman pose for a picture on St. John’s tombstone. This place is quite an amazing part of history.

Leaving Venice, starting our cruise, and our day in Croatia

Written by: Dan
View our photos (click here)

We finished up Venice with a bang. During the day we went to Murano to tour the glass factories. They have the most elegant artwork. The families who own the factories have a special glass “sauce” that allows them to work with the glass at lower temperatures. This allows them the ability to sculpt and mold the glass into very impressive shapes and colors. We purchased our first piece of artwork! It is hard to explain, we will have to show it to you sometime. The best way to explain it is: It is made of glass, and it is pretty.
We ended our night with a trip to Harry’s bar. It is a famous restaurant on the Grand Canal. It is one of the most fancy (and expensive) places I have ever eaten. It was something we will never forget. After that we turned in early to get ready for our cruise.
The next morning, we woke up late, checked out of our hotel, and took a water taxi to Venice Port. It is quite a site. They drove us right in between the large cruise ships. It was a little too close for comfort at times. Made us feel like quite the small fish.
We arrived to the boat, checked into our room, and explored the ship. For those of you who have been on a cruise, I apologize for this paragraph. It will be an “of course” moment. However, this is our first cruise, and was something quite new for us. First off, our room is excellent. It is small, but has a small living area and balcony. As I type this we are passing by a Greek Island that looks nearly uninhabited. It is most stunning. Many tall cliffs and mountains, and a few white houses on the shoreline. We have taken to setting up the camera on a tri-pod outside so it only takes a moment to catch a spectacular site.
Besides the facilities, the atmosphere is something to get used to. Americans are in the minority on this ship, and English is one of a handful of languages spoken on the ship. It takes forever to make an announcement because they have to repeat the same thing in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, etc… I find this to be so interesting, and humbling. Most people on the ship speak multiple languages; and I don’t even talk English good.
After a great dinner and show we retired to our cabin for a good night’s sleep. Our ship traveled throughout the night to arrive in Dubrovnik, Croatia in the morning. We left the ship in the am for a day exploring the city. Again, I was quite interested and humbled by this experience. Being the naive American, I knew nothing about Croatia - besides I remembered something about a war. We soon found Croatia is making many strides to enter the European union and the tourist marketplace – so they are quite inviting to guests and do a great job to explain Croatia, and Croatian history to everyone (even us naïve Americans). Old town Dubrovnik was elegant and awe inspiring. We took about 600 pictures. We started the day by walking on top of the city walls. This gave a great view of the city, coast, and countryside. After a walking for a few hours we stopped for a nice lunch along the waterline. Fresh shrimp and a seafood Risotto. After lunch our waitress gave us directions to a local beach. Since the temperature is about 85 and sunny, a dip was in order. We swam in the Adriatic Sea for about an hour before drying off and returning to our ship. Croatia is something we will never forget. I would not be surprised if we were back one day. I would expect many other Americans to start to look towards Dubrovnik as a vacation destination in years to come.

Venice - Day 2

Written by: Dan
View pictures: Click Here

Where to begin! What a time. We kept busy during the day yesterday being tourists. We went to St. Mark's square, Palace of the Doges, St. Mark's basilica, and the Campanile.

It was quite a busy day. We went back to the hotel to to rest up and take a quick nap. On the way out a hotel employee recommended a great place for dinner. His favorite place, but not a popular place with tourists. It was great. Annie had a whole slew of things she would normally never eat, and our main course was pasta served out of a cheese bowl! This rivals the big honkin reeses peanut butter cup from San Diego!

After dinner we walked along the Grand Canal and found a spot to have dessert and a bottle of wine. Our seat was right on the river. We spent the better part of an hour watching the boats go by.

After dessert, we headed back to St. Mark's square to drink more wine and listen to a 4 string band. The setting was amazing. We drank (a lot) of wine in this vast square, listened to music, and stayed up way to late.

We returned to our hotel (no idea what time, but just about all of venice was sleeping), and drank one last bottle of champaigne on our balcony. It was the perfect ending to great day in Venice.

Our Honeymoon - The trip to Venice

Written by: Dan
View some pictures (click here)

Our trip was long (over 20+ hours), but successful. We traveled from Detroit to Chicago, and after a short layover, got on the plane to Amsterdam. It was the biggest plane I have been on - 474-400. It had an upstairs! The plane was not full, so we started with our own row in coach. After we took off the crew bumped us up to business class! The seats were great (the even recline to allow us to lay down). We had our own screen and movies and such to keep us busy. So, of course, we didn't sleep a wink. After another layover we were headed to Venice (On this plane ride I was sound asleep before they showed us how to use the seatbelts).

Once we arrived we quickly got our baggage and headed for the city. We opted out of a water bus for a private water taxi. Though much more expensive, we are glad we did it since it gave us a great tour of the city, and a fantastic ride.

Our Hotel (Bauer Hotel) is located on the other side of Venice a block from St. Mark's Square. This room is amazing. It is huge for a european hotel room. It has a hottub, little living area, and an ass washer! Plus, we have our own private balcony that overlooks a canal and an old church. We have yet to get inside this church, but have plans.

Last night we took a walk to get dinner. Dinner was a fantastic, we had thier house drink, pasta and pizza. The house pizza had egg on it! I am totally giving this a shot on my own when I get home with our new pizza maker. The walk back was interesting, we sorta got lost. This should be no suprise since we can't navigate with streets in the town we grew up in. Give us a foreign country and waterways instead of roads - we had no chance. Anyway, we came back to the room after a long walk back to a complimentary bottle of champaign and a long night's sleep.

Today is the "touristy" stuff like the Palace of the Doges, St. Mark's Square, and the Basilica. We will post picture from those stops later. Tomorrow we may travel to Verona to see an opera at an old roman arena.

We are at the hotel resting up now, looking for a place to eat. So far this has been the most amazing place. We can't wait to get back outside, break into that church next to us, and tear up the city.

4th of July

The Hoban's have envaded Roger's city again. Some highlights from this year included:

Beer tasting

Magic Show

Keg-o-rator

Beer Olympics

Fireworks on the beach (fight the power)

Kevin's fire sing along

Another year on my margarita glass (I've made the brim mow)

Gartner IT security confrence

Dan is spending a few days in DC for the Gartner IT Security confrence. Nuspire is a sponsor. These IT nerds know how to throw a party....

Punky and Abbie's wedding

A beautiful wedding at Barton Hills Country Club officiated by the esteemed revrend John.

Kevin graduated

So I lost a bet.....

Back to the Mac

This weekend was Nuspire's annual company trip to Mackinac Island. Two nights at Horns bar watching Huckleberry Groove, romantic buggy ride, and Dorks Vs. Nerd Basketball game were the highlights. Fun as always. Even after 5 years, it doesn't get old.

P.S. Dan did not win the Cmac award this year. Better luck next year.

Julia's 1st birthday

Betting on the ponies

Bachelor party weekend festivities

Home made pizza

Shower gifts are awesome. We made our own pizza!

Micah's birthday Train Crawl

Last weekend we took a trip to Barrington to visit Micah, Erin, and Layla. It was Micah's birthday party, and about a dozen people came into town to celebrate. Erin had everything planned out (including highlighting train schedules and options).

We started out the day with a BBQ, awesome food spread, and double choclate ugly cake for dessert. We headed out on the first train at around 6 (I think). Dogs stayed behind (all 3 of us).

We popped on and off the train half the night. Stopping just long enough to get into trouble, and escape before being asked to leave (just barely on a few occasions). Highlights included:

- Annie accidently stealing the menu from the margarita bar we never went to; then holding on to the menu all night.

- Micah taking food from the high school reunion, and serving it to our party - until the manager took the food back.

- the 4th bar being way too nice for the state of our crew (already down a few soldiers)

- Kevin dancing on the bar at Woolstreet.

Chicago is great. Kudos for public transportation! No worries about DD's, caravans, taxi costs, or when to go home.

See the full album here

Chillin with John Wayne in LA

Tony and Sarah's wedding

Farm friends. As an added bonus, Kevin brought is Chillian baby momma. She is a very sweet girl. We were surprised she understood english, was normal, and still managed to like Kevin.

Painting party

My cousin Sampson spent the weekend helping me, Dan, and Annie paint our beddroom (2.75 times).

St Patty's Day at Christi's