No Autos

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post.....here's the latest.


Matt: The International Autos opportunity did not work out. As with most opportunities, employers are looking for an exact fit and are less likely to fill positions if you do not have the exact experience they are looking for. That was the case with this opportunity, although they were impressed with my background, they were looking for someone with more benefits design experience. Oh well, no Porsche for me! So, now what? I'm still looking at teaching opportunities in the schools. My latest application went into the Salem School District last week. I have to say, the schools have the most difficult application process. They ask some very challenging questions that require a lot of thought. I'm also going to start educating myself on how to start a small business. Kelly and I kick around tons of ideas, but never pursue any of them. So, with time on my hands, I guess it makes sense to get smart!


Kelly: Starts her PT job on Monday 6/1/2009. She will be working approx 20 hours per week at the Elliot Hospital in Manchester. She's not terribly excited about it, but I give her a lot of credit. It's far from what she feels called to do, but she's willing to do things that are not ideal in order to help.

Derek: Wrapped up his regular season for HMS baseball last Friday. He pitched 4 innings and only allowed one run. Unfortunately, the team lost 11-2 and finished with a 6-4 record. They will most likely be the 5th seed going into the playoffs. In a Hudson Youth Baseball game last Friday night, he hit a home run that easily went 320 feet. The blog spot is not easy to explain how impressive this is, but to give some perspective, the normal dimensions of the field he plays on has a fence set to 200 feet. General reaction from those that saw it was "WOW, I've never seen anything like it!"

Jacen: The home runs continue.....Jacen hit his first out of the park home run yesterday during a scrimmage game with his All Star team. To top things off, it was a Grand Slam! It's a pretty significant accomplishment at 10 years old and he achieved one of his goals this year, so of course we're proud of him.

Grady: No home runs to report, but as always providing plenty of laughter to family and friends. He's cruising through his first grade curriculum. I jokingly tell the kids, he's the smartest one in the family...probably not a great idea, but they know I'm kidding!

School Update: Homeschool co-ops have finished meeting. Jacen and Derek had to pair up with another co-op student and report on a country. Jacen and Lindsay R. reported on China. Jacen made "Mooncakes" (click here) for the class to enjoy. Derek and Cecilia P. reported on France. Derek also got into the cooking spirit and made some real heavy duty "French Toast". If I get technically proficient, I'll post their presentations. The boys are only focused on Math and English for the remainder of the school year, having wrapped up their History and Science already. We completed standardized testing last week and should get results in June to file with the SAU.

Not the Auto Industry!

Matt: Today is a day of some job search activity for me. I received a call to from a recruiter and I may have an opportunity within the next week to meet with her client. The position is for a Manager of Employee Benefits for an auto dealership. Of course the reaction was, "oh no, not a auto dealer" with all the turmoil in the auto industry. She was reassuring and informed me that this company deals in Porsche and Audi automobiles. With any luck I"ll be in a position that pays fairly well and maybe get a cool set of wheels! The other opportunity was again speaking with a recruiter out of Boston for positions within Philips Electronics. If anyone has any contacts at Philips, send them my way!


Kelly: Kelly's interview is set for next Wednesday. She's also been doing some assembly work at a friend of ours printing company to pick up a few extra dollars. What can I say, other than she amazes me.

Boys: Nothing new to report today.

Getting Started

Ok, so for those of you who want to know what's going on in NH for the Hudsons, I'm going to try and post on a regular basis.

Matt: Yes, I'm still in search of work. I had an opportunity with Putnam Investments that the door closed on yesterday. Well...not completely closed, Putnam has plans to grow their 401k business, so who knows what may happen down the road. I still have teaching applications in the works and will be following up on those later this week. Check out my profile on LinkedIN to learn more about my background www.linkedin.com/in/matthewshudson

Kelly: Kelly is going to pursue some part-time work at the Elliot Hospital in Manchester. So, things will change for us. I will probably start to pick up some of the homeschool responsibilities while Kelly goes to work 4 hours per day.

Derek: Derek's AAU basketball team won their division in the NH State Tournament. It's a great accomplishment for this team's first year together. He's going to play baseball this summer on the Cal Ripken 12U team for Hudson.

Jacen: Jacen is also going to play summer baseball. He is going to play on our 10U team. He and Grady are often found across the street in the neighbors yard playing in the brook. It's the latest place for these boys to experience the big adventure of the outdoors =).

Grady: Grady is playing T-ball again. He is enjoying it, although, it is not very challenging for him. He is often found playing with his various action figures (Star Wars, Spider-Man, Iron-Man and others)

That should get us started....stay tuned.