Wandering With Words

Cat Deeley Makes Me Happy

2011-08-11T23:17:00.002-06:00

So I have never been afraid to let my dork come out. Part of that is being honest about your guilty pleasure. Of which I have many, below are just a few.....

1. I love most pop music...the cheesier the better!
2. I'm a fan of Katie Holmes. Despite the crazy that has followed her with the crazy couch-jumper and really due to her days as Dawson's girl.
3. I have read and seen every Harry Potter book/movie...sad I know.

But more than anything I love So You Think You Can Dance.....SYTYCD for those who are in the club. The dancing is great, and it's an awesome, non-thinking, always happy reality show. That being said, the reason I think the reason I like it so much is Cat Deeley.

Ah...Cat Deeley...my favorite giant, sexy, awkward, English dance show host. She is hot....but dorky funny hot. She kind of has that "I'm hot but I don't know it so I'm dorky and going to keep rambling on" thing going on. I would suggest engaging in a little tv-you time and watch Cat whenever you can. However, if you haven't watched her on SYTYCD...it's too late this summer, the season ended tonight. There's always next summer, but meanwhile, here's a couple photos to tide you over....pardon the drool.

Slacker Tri 2010

2010-08-16T15:25:00.002-06:00

This weekend I participated with a bunch of friends in what we called the “Slacker” Tri. So basically what that means is a group of us, who have trained together for triathlons the last couple years have slacked this summer, for one reason or another. Obviously we aren't as fit as we have been at this point in the summer the last couple years. That being said, we are all slightly competitive people and thought we would sign-up for an Olympic Tri Relay and place a little wager on it. So 2 teams, 6 people, each person doing one sport. It’s worth noting some other friends of ours had a relay team too, but they displayed way too much dedication to training to be include in our stake. Anyway, we had a boys v girls bet. Loser has to provide the winners with a steak dinner…fully catered by the loosing team.

So everyone rolls in before the race and you can immediately tell it’s different from other races. The normal jitters that generally occur before competing are non-existent. Instead of psyching ourselves up to kick-ass, we sat in a circle and talked about how much we all slacked this year….except for one or two people who, IMO, are overachievers. This conversation continued to the point that we all almost forget to get marked and barely get set-up in the transition area in time to start.

First up the swimmers…..the relay teams start last and were supposed to start at 8:15. Unfortunately when we moseyed on down to the beach at 7:55, the other teams had already started. Whoops. So our swimmers got a late start and no warm-up. Both are pretty good swimmer and did well actually, but generally slower than the past…in addition the slow crawl to transition from the water probably didn’t help our team.

Next up the bikers…..Here is where most of the time on the course is spent. The 40k ride is hilly and windy and depending on the wind speed can seriously affect your time. Our rider is pretty good and he is generally very fast and can get it done. He did pretty well, but the ladies rider was a rock star. She had a PR by something like 20 minutes. Now I’m not accusing her of anything but I think someone may have been training a bit in secret, or using some sort of enhancement…..just saying.

Now I was the runner and therefore had to wait a couple hours before my leg started. I’m not sure if the mimosa I had prior to my leg helped me out at all, but it was sure tasty. That being said I did finish without stopping…very slowly though. As you may know I tore my MCL earlier this spring and have been very slow to pick up more speed and distance on my runs. This was the second time this summer I ran a 10k without stopping due to knee pain. I actually did finish with no pain and a bit faster than my last Olympic 10k time…..however that run was after a 1.5k swim and 40k bike. Still way over 10 minute miles

Based on past results, the boys gave the girls a 20 minute handicap…and they killed us. I think they finished about 5 minutes after us. So congrats Team We Try…Now I want a drug test from Ginger.

Turns out the girls did really well; they finished 3rd and the other team of ladies, we refused to bet due to their general fit level, finished 1st!

Oh also, we finished 3rd……out of 3....but we still got a prize because we placed!

We decided to make it an annual event and hopefully we can expand the teams next year :)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-07-28T15:34:00.000-06:00

I just finished the novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I know it’s probably the most buzzed about book on the planet right now…but I just heard about it about a month ago. I was convinced to pick it up as due to the fact that I while I glanced at the book a few times prior to buying it…at Costco, or the airport, or reading a magazine that was reviewing it….random people came up to me and said emphatically, “You need to read this book. It is great!”

I took it as a sign and grabbed the book. Turns out the randoms were correct, the book was fantastic. It is, to an extent, a classic murder mystery novel, but it had modern twists with complex characters that you didn’t know if you like, but you are obsessed with finding out what they’ll do next. It’s action packed, although it actually starts fairly slowly. I had to force myself to read past the first 50 pages. After that things heated up quickly. The book takes place in Sweden and follows the investigation into the death of a 13 year old heiress, thirty-five years after the crime has taken place. The family patriarch is obsessed with finding out who killed her and hires a famous journalist to conduct an investigation. He, in turn, brings in an withdrawn, young researcher who’s punk looks, including many tattoos and piercing, give the title of the book. The book describes the year in which they solved the mystery. I can’t really say anymore than that as it will give away the twists and turns of the book, but I recommend it if you like mysteries and aren’t afraid of a little disturbing literature.

It turns out the book is a trilogy(called the Millennium Trilogy) by the Swedish author, Stieg Larsson. Who actually died in 2004. The book wasn’t even published until after his death and became a huge hit in Sweden first, and then all over the world. His intent was to write a series of 10 books, but his untimely death stopped him at 3. The fourth novel was supposedly ¾ complete when he died but a manuscript has never been confirmed.

I’m about to start book 2, The Girl who Played with Fire, and will provide an update on the blog when I finish it.

The Horror.....

2010-06-08T23:41:00.000-06:00

Do you sing in your car? I do. I sing terrible pop songs at the top of my lungs. I love it. I can’t readily admit in print what songs I sing…but you know which one…come on…you do it too. Sometimes I will be singing at a light, look over and someone is staring me down. Most people might be embarrassed…not me…I keep singing to them. Sometimes they pretend it’s not happening and look away, most times they smile or laugh.

Well earlier today I was jamming to some terrible song, sung by a young chanteuse who, once she is legal, will break a few achy hearts, and somehow I recorded part of my singing on my cell phone…it’s truly amazing the amount of pocket activity my phone gets. So when I realized it I thought for fun I would listen to it. Wow, I am not a good singer. It was terrible…scary terrible. All I can say is, it’s a good thing my car windows have a good seal on them, otherwise those people next to me at the stop light would chance mortal peril by running the light to get away from the terrible death gasps coming from me.

Anyway, here are a few awesome videos of “singers” that inspire me to keep living my dream. (My favorite is the first one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKFLXO2YADk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RAhHcNIikg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7qR5JZcLbc&feature=related

Summer TV

2010-06-02T19:29:00.006-06:00

Why is it my standards for television shows drops significantly in the summer? Suddenly I am ok with watching a show where a poorly created CGI dragon talks with a British accent or people try to get over a mud pit by bouncing on giant red balls.....at least they're not blue!

Here are a few shows that...yes...I can admit I watch in the summer and would never watch any other time of the year.

1. Wipeout (http://abc.go.com/shows/wipeout) - home of the previously mentioned giant, red balls. I seriously found myself laughing out loud at this show yesterday. There's mess, there’s competition, there's dumb-ass contestants…what more can you ask for?

2. So You Think You Can Dance (http://www.fox.com/dance/) - Ok so I love this one in the summer, however when we tried to watch it when it was on last Fall, it was just not good. I think my favorite part of the show is that it features music from artists that are about to blow up. One Republic, David Getta, Lady Gaga…like them or not, all performed on the show before they exploded.

3. Merlin (http://www.syfy.com/merlin/) – This show follows a young Merlin as he leads Arthur through the life in Camelot. Although, it’s from the BBC, it’s low budget effects and sets are comical and make it almost feel like a high school theater production. The first season aired on NBC last summer and had such low ratings NBC….yes NBC….sent the show to the SyFy network this summer for season two. I am strangely obsessed with the show…still.

4. Next Food Star (http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-next-food-network-star/index.html) – I haven’t actually seen this one yet, but I predict it’s going to be one of my biggest guilty pleasures this summer. It’s got all the key ingredients to get me addicted…it’s a competition, it’s on Food Network, the host is hot (ah Giada).

I recommend trying some of these shows on this summer, although you won't admit it...you're going to love them!

What is Wrong With Me?

2009-08-24T22:25:00.002-06:00

I am sitting at home and I have a ton of work to do, both for my job and on my house. I have been a bachelor for the last 6 days and as a result my inner slobby man has come out. Barb comes home tomorrow and I have left crap all over the house...not actual crap...dishes, socks, paper towels all over. It's 10:30 so I should actually go to bed, I have to get up at 6 tomorrow but I'm not going to sleep, nor am i finishing up work or cleaning the house.....no....I'm watching Mamma Mia on HBO. Uh huh. I don't like musicals....I hate Abba...not really a fan of Meryl Streep or Pierce Brosnan, what am i doing? Something is seriously wrong with me...but if I stay up until midnight I can watch a new episode of the Facts on Life On Demand. Wow, I have issues. Anyway, thought I would share my embarrassing reality. Since no one is probably reading this, it's no big deal right?

Starting up again....

2009-06-25T22:15:00.002-06:00

I suck...I know. I never finished posting my journal from SE Asia. I am aiming to start posting them again tomorrow. Pretty exciting Friday night plans huh!?!

Anyway, what a crazy day in Hollywood! It's pretty nuts to think that Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett are dead.

Although I haven't listened to MJ in years, his death brings back all these memories from my childhood. I remember watching the Thriller movie...yea it was like 15 minutes long...one summer in MN and staring out the window in bed the whole night freaking out that zombies were going to come into my room. How funny! I was also thinking about what an awesome big brother I was. I used to put my Thriller tape into my portable tapedeck(requiring 6 D batteries:), start playing it and then I would push Danny into the front closet with the tapedeck and hold the door shut so he had to listen to the whole thing in the dark....so evil. But seriously, as crazy as he was, his music is legendary and his influence still effects pop music today.

RIP to Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett!

SE Asia Day 11

2009-04-07T10:58:00.001-06:00

February 3rd, 2009

Today we had breakfast on the top floor of our hotel, The NY Hotel....in Phnom Penh....Cambodia....still seems bizarre to me. From this viewpoint you could really see that beyond the main street in Phnom Penh, the neighborhoods appear very rundown and almost slum like. The streets are filled with trash and the homes look old and dirty. It's a shame as the architecture has a distinct French flair to it, but the years of neglect are obvious. After breakfast we headed to the airport and boarded a plane for Siem Reap, the base for exploring Angkor. Let me just say that the Phnom Penh & Siem Reap airports are very nice. The Cambodians do know how to take care of their largest source of income...tourists! Our hotel in Siem Reap, The Apsara Angkor, is amazing. The rooms are finely decorated with huge beds and a full American bathroom. The grounds are immaculate and at the center is a tropical pool, waterfall and a huge stone mosaic running up the entire side of the hotel. Siem Reap itself looks a little like Vegas. There are many huge, fancy hotels that are lit up like crazy at night. Dan & Charlotte had decided to bus instead of fly so we waited for them to arrive while drinking at the pool. Sitting at this beautiful pool is in such sharp contrast to the poverty surrounding the hotel. It’s hard to get used to…but the beer helps.

Anyway after a rest, our guide, Mr. Sau, met up with us and brought us to a dinner theatre. Here we, along with 200 other tourist, stuffed our faces with buffet food(1st and 2nd dinner requirement met) and watched an Apsara Show. An Apsara is a Buddhist female spirit of the clouds and waters. They appear as young women of great beauty and elegance who are proficient in the art of dancing. I can confirm that the women dancing were very beautiful. The dancing reminds me a lot of what I would think is Thai and they all wear very colorful costumes. The dancing was excellent and the experience was a fantastic way to be welcomed to the land of Angkor.

On a side note, we have all been having a great time and everyone seems to be getting on well together. I think our primary topic of discussion has helped break the ice with those who just met. The topic...pooh. Yes, pooh. Everyone has had intestinal issues. We're not sure if it's the copious amounts of curry or the "purified" Phnom Penh water that's doing it but it is a common problem. We have spent a lot...and i mean.... a lot of time waiting for people in the bathroom. A couple of times we actually have had to pull to the side of the road for to allow for a burning flush of the colon that couldn't wait.
With that.....I'm out :)

SE Asia Day 10

2009-02-27T15:21:00.001-07:00

February 2, 2009

Today was…….long. I woke up at 4am with a terrible Bah Bah Bah Headache. It’s my first one of the trip and it’s a doozy. Luckily misery loves company and I think everyone was feeling the same way. No more Bah Bah Bah for this group! In the middle of the night we had docked in Chau Doc, a boarder town in Vietnam. After a terrible breakfast and some yelling at our guide by an unpleasant guy on our tour, we set off on smaller boats for Cambodia.

Before crossing the border, we stopped in another shopping “village” with many weaved silk products. This was a great stop for souvenirs as you can buy beautiful silk scarves very cheaply. As you walked through the village, all these little kids would surround you and ask you to buy little cakes or candies from them. I’m sure they don’t speak any English but they know. “Hey Mister, you buy from me. I need money for school. $1 for 3.” It’s hard to resist them so I bought some cakes from one little girl. I don’t trust eating the cakes so I basically bought a chance to photograph her and her friends.

After our shopping we done we started the long journey to the border. This was hot and miserable. 2 boats, 3 border stops and one very hot and crowded bus ride later, we arrived in Phnom Penh. Yeah we’re in Cambodia! It is so surreal to think I am across the world in Cambodia. This country has only been reopened to the West for 15 years so it’s very surreal to be here. Phnom Penh is very different from HCM or Saigon. The city was abandoned during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, so after Pol Pot was defeated the city was basically rebuilt….or better described as repopulated. The main street in town, Monivong Blvd , and the riverfront have large French styled buildings that look fairly modern and almost European. Once you go off these streets, it is basically slums. There is garbage everywhere and the homes look dirty and old. It’s really sad and distinctly shows the huge gap between the rich and the poor here. As I mentioned before this is the most “foreign” place I have ever been so I found it comical that upon arriving to Phnom Penh I found out our hotel is called “The New York Hotel”. The hotel is, of course, nothing like any New York hotel I’ve bee too, but the rooms are big and it feels safe.

After dropping off our luggage, we quickly grabbed a motortaxi…basically a tuk tuk pulled by a motorcycle….to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Tuol Sleng is the prison where the Khmer Rouge tortured over 2,000,000 Cambodians during Pol Pot’s reign. The prison was basically used as a stop over for torture before victims were taken to the killing fields and murdered. With a populated of only 7 million people, Cambodia was decimated by the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot’s goal of a Maoist society, complete devoid of any western influence meant death to any and all educated people. Most doctors, professors, teacher and lawyers were killed by the Khmer Rouge in order to create the agrarian society Pol Pot desired. Because it only happened 30 years ago, anyone over 40 remember it vividly and there are relatively few Cambodians living between the ages of 45 and 65. The country is filled with orphans whose parents were killed or died due to the Khmer Rouge.

After that uplifter, we took a tuk tuk to the riverfront for dinner…amazing how learning about national genocide increases your appetite. On the way we passed the royal palace. The King of Cambodia still lives there and the grounds and buildings are immaculate. We ate at the recommended spot from Lonely Planet and enjoyed our first Cambodia meal. The food was delicious but not cheap. Cambodia is much more expensive than Vietnam and everything is priced in US Dollars. In fact, the ATMs dispense American dollars…not Cambodia Riel! After dinner we headed straight back to the hotel and passed out after a very long day.

SE Asia Day 9

2009-02-27T15:20:00.001-07:00

February 1, 2009

Today we began our journey to Cambodia. We will be traveling on a tour through the Mekong Delta from Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We left Saigon at 7:30 on a mini-bus with about 10 other people. We drove 3 hrs south to My Tho, where we boarded a boat that travels up the Mekon. Our guide explained that life on the Mekong focuses around the tributaries and rivers that make it up. While on the river we stopped at numerous little “village” where the goods were made. My personal opinion is that these villages are staged for tourists and that the people working there travel from other areas to work here, but regardless the experience was one of a kind. First up was the Candy Village. The village consisted of an open air tent where the locals make all the candy that is distributed around Vietnam. We saw them make coconut taffy mixed with chocolate. The candy was great and cheap too.

After buying a bunch of candy….great souvenirs… we sat and enjoyed some tea and samples of the other candies them make there. At this point, our guide brings out a large jar that was filled with wine, 7 snakes and a scorpion, smartly called….snake wine. This wine is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and is supposed to be a good source of vitamins and virility. Now this is something I would never buy, but luckily for us, he was giving free samples J The bottle he presented actually contained what looked like a small cobra that was positioned with the tale of a scorpion laying in it’s open mouth, pretty sweet. Being free and something we would never have the chance to do again, Jen and I volunteered to taste some….bottoms up. The wine was actually not bad, it weirdly tasted what I thought snake wine would taste like. I once had rattlesnake sausage and the wine tasted very similar to it. Supposedly the wine can make you hallucinate or feel drunk after just a shot of it, however Jen and I felt no side effects from it….except the urge to swallow small rodents whole.

Next up, we visited another village where they make popped rice and corn cakes. They were not as tasty as the candy we had sampled before, but it was still interesting to see them make. After buying and tasting everything we could we headed to an island called “Beach Pool” for lunch. Here we boarded smaller boats where tiny ladies, under 100lbs, rowed us up a small tributary to the center of the island to our lunch spot. Our tiny lady was definitely huffing and puffing rowing the 3 of us up the river. I felt bad, but we gave her a good tip. Once at the restaurant we ordered the specialty of the island, Elephant Ear Fish spring rolls. When the food arrived we were treated to a yellow, spiky fish that looked somewhat like a piranha, cooked whole. To make the spring rolls we would grab some rice paper and fill it with meat pulled off the fish, rice noodles, basil, mint and sprouts. Then after wrapping it all up, dip the roll in fish sauce and enjoy. It was so good! The fish was very mild and I think I am now addicted to fish sauce. After lunch we hopped on some local bicycles and rode across the island in the 90+ heat. Very fun but hot hot hot!

Meeting us at the other side of the island was our boat, which we rode to another dock, them boarded our bus again and headed to Can Tho. There we took showers in what seemed like a random Buddhist monastery and then boarded a larger boat bound for the boarder town of Chau Doc. We are actually sleeping on the boat tonight as it floats up the Mekong towards Chau Doc. We had a great night on the boat! We all drank entirely too much of “Bah, Bah, Bah” Beer aka “666”. Oh my god, terrible beer that causes the worst headaches. As we all know, alcohol is a great social lubricant and as a result we made some new friends on the boat. We met a really nice couple from Wales that are following the same path as us for the next few days. Unfortunately we haven’t found the Vietnamese people to be overly friendly. They are polite and helpful but not really conversational. I’m sure one of the main reasons is the language barrier, but I just don’t get the feeling that they are really interested in conversing. Oh well, overall our experience in Vietnam was phenomenal and I would highly recommend it as a necessity when traveling to SE Asia.

SE Asia Day 8

2009-02-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

January 31st, 2009
Today we woke-up with plans to explore Saigon! We decided to only spend on day here, the cities in Vietnam are so busy and dirty that it’s really all you can take. We hired a car to bring us to the Cu Chi Tunnels, 20 miles north of town. The Cu Chi tunnels are famous as the heart of the Viet Cong resistance against the US and the South Vietnamese Government. The tunnels were used by the North Army and the Cu Chi villagers to kill and trap the opposition, mainly Americans. The first things we saw upon arriving was a documentary glorifying the killing of the American Invaders…..#1 American Killer Hero…is what the video called the 16 year old female village that killed 11 Americans. It’s hard to watch as you can imagine all the 18 year old Americans who were sent to fight here and the died or were mortally wounded by the terrible traps the Viet Cong set up. Along the tour we saw all the terrible traps with rusty spikes meant to capture the opposition and an abandoned tank sitting in the middle of nowhere. We were even able to walk through a small section of the tunnels themselves. It was freaky; small, dark and claustrophobic. I could not imagine living in them as many of the Viet Cong did. Best transition for the terrors of the tunnels…firing an AK47 or an M60. That’s right, there is a stop on the tour where you can pay a dollar, grab a gun and fire. It’s every 12 year old boys dream! And of course seeing all the torture and killing of war, we worked up an appetite, so we grabbed some very good food at the restaurant by the tunnels. Meals generally consist of spring rolls, friend rice or noodles with chicken or beef, pho and then fresh fruit for dessert. I love it, but if you don’t like Asian you’d be screwed.

After arriving back in Saigon and hit up the open market. You can buy anything in this market. For example I bought a Gucci wallet, Adidas flip flops, 2 t-shirts and a Rolex for $43! All fake…but convincingly so. The sales ladies are very aggressive; to the point of grabbing your arm when you try to walk away. After an exhausting day we showered and headed out for first dinner J….drinks and spring rolls. The place was unremarkable but Kevin did buy a photocopied, yet bound and genuine looking, Lonely Planet Thailand book for $8 for a street vendor. Danny bought two books about Cambodia for 1200 dong, roughly $6. We then took motorbike taxis to second dinner…this was one of the best experiences of our trip! We were all riding bitch on the back of a bike zooming…quickly…dodging other bikes and cars by inches. I think the best part of the ride is the danger and the hope that you won’t run into anything. I’m sure the few beers we had had contributed to the fun of it, but we decided that that’s the only way to travel in Saigon.

We had second dinner at a “Jamaican” grill where you cook your own food on a grill in the middle of your table. While the only thing Jamaican about the place was the 4 Bob Marley songs playing on repeat on the sounds system. The food was good and the beer was cheap! We had apps and dinner for 5, roughly 4 large beers each and a couple desserts for 400,000 dong….$40!. One the way back we had so much fun on the ride there, we paid 5 more motorbike taxis to take us on a 30 minutes tour of the city. This time they went very slow, so not as exciting, but it was cool to see the city by night.

There are so many motorbikes on the streets of Ho Chi Minh that you feel like you’re at a scooter rally! The main drag of the city has an LCD light tunnel over the street. The lights form white lotus flowers that float on a bead of blue lights that represent water. After the ride we walked to what Dan thought was an Irish pub called Long Pe…he he he. It turned out to be a seedy, jazz bar where old white guys can pick up 13 year olds. Not an awesome end, but still a great night! Hangovers for everyone tomorrow.

SE Asia Day 7

2009-02-16T10:20:00.004-07:00

January 30th, 2009
Today is a big travel day. We travel to Ho Chi Minh(Saigon) via Jetstar Airlines. Jetstar is owned by Quantas so the plane is fairly new, but it is packed and all the seats are closer together, but we felt safe. We arrived in HCM and were so happy that it was finally warm! My one pair of jeans can probably stand on their own by now. We met up with Danny and Charlotte at the guest house Char had booked for us, Ngoc Thou. It was perfect, clean, ac and good location and best of all $15 a night! Saigon(most southerners still call the city Saigon and not Ho Chi Minh) seems much less chaotic and the architecture is less standard than in Ha Noi, The streets and streets of tube housing has been replaced by everyone type of architecture you can think of.

We arrive at the address our guest house is supposed to be and immediately this guys starts following us and asks us if we need a place to stay, or want to sign-up for a tour. We continually say "No!" but he keeps following us. So we are immediately on guard in Ho Chi Minh, what doesn't add to this is that we can't find our hotel, there is an alley in the spot that the hotel should be. At that point the guy that has been following asks "Where are you going? Where are you going?" We finally break down and show him the address...and he points down this alley. We say "Thank You" and head down the alley. It's sketchy...there are people hanging out of their homes just staring at us, a dirty Indian restaurant and the smell of poo is in the air. Kevin actually stops about 20 feet in and says "Yea, I don't think this is right" but we keep pushing. And finally we see a sign for the Ngoc Thou Guest House. Sweet! We arrive and the family that runs the guest house is expecting us. They are very friendly...kind of speak English...and the guest house is clean, cheap, has AC and funny enough, each room has a tv with HBO! We dropped off our stuff and met up with Dan & Char to catch-up on the last week. They went to Hoi An, a beach town in the middle of Vietnam known for it's tailors. They had a bunch of clothes made for them, cheap and perfectly fitted for them. They look awesome!

After a much needed Happy Hour....discovering a new favorite beer Saigon Red(5% alcohol!) we headed to dinner. Chad & Dan had met a couple Swedish girls who had recommended a really good place that had authentic Vietnamese. We walk up to it and it's called....Quan An Ngoc...the same place we loved the day before in Ha Noi, looks like we really will get to eat here again. How funny, it's a chain! The place has a long line of people outside waiting to get a seat, with most people being Vietnamese, so that's a good sign. Apparently if you are a foreigner you don't wait in lines as they ushered us in and gave us a seat in front of everyone else waiting. The food was great again, mine was decent, however I did get a blended strawberry shake that was probably the best fruit snake I have ever had. After dinner we decided to walk up a few blocks and....eat again..specifically desert and drinks. Here was born a new tradition the 5 of us are calling second dinner. Hey we're on vacation! We drank a fair amount of Red Saigon until we were ready to pass out, wondered back to the Guest House and collapsed in bed. Not before Danny decided he wanted third dinner, which was a fertilized duck egg. Considered a delicacy in Asia, he said it didn't taste like much but did crunch when he bit into it...yum how appealing.

SE Asia Day 6

2009-02-16T09:43:00.008-07:00

January 29th, 2009

Today we woke up for a very full day of exploring Ha Noi. After a good breakfast with Vietnamese coffee, so good espresso and condensed milk, we braved the streets. The city is pretty chaotic and dirty but has lots of charm. When you cross the street you basically have to start walking...don't stop..and hope that the scooters swerve to miss you. Our first stop was an electronics vendor, I had forgotten my camera charger and needed to buy one. Let me say I am an excellent bargainer, here was my conversation with the shop owner.
Saleslady: New charger costs 175,000 dong ($10)
Me: No, no too much, how about 100,000 dong
Saleslady: No
Me: Ok, I'll take it!
I would like to think I got better after that, but I just had to laugh at my first attempt.

Hanoi is full of two types of buildings, the first are "tube" homes which are very skinny tall concrete buildings that house commercial on the first floor and residential on the upper floors. They are usually colored brightly in the front and pure concrete on the sides. As land prices are expensive, houses are generally very narrow with numerous stories. The second type of building in Ha Noi are government structures. They are usually very large, nondescript buildings that are guarded by communist soldiers. The soldiers seem friendly but freak out if you try to take their pictures....of course Jen found this out :)

We walked about 3 miles to Ho Chi Minh's tomb. The mausoleum is grand and sterile. Constructed in marble in a roman style, it is supposed to represent a lotus flower. Personally I don't see it at all. It has black marble and sharp edges. Before Ho Chi Minh died, he has said he wanted to be cremated and his ashed spread in the four corners of Vietnam, to represent a unified Vietnam. The one thing he didn't want was a mausoleum. he said he'd rather take the money and give it to the schools of Vietnam. Unfortunately the Communist government that survived after he died didn't feel the same way...under the influence of the Russians. We weren't able to go inside but you can view the preserved body of HCM.

Next to the HCM Mausoleum is the HSM Museum. Built in 1990 it is meant to document Ho Chi Minh's life and goals. It is the craziest museum I have ever been to. It's like a weird mix of communist propaganda and a modern art museum. For example they will have a section with random newspaper and leading snippets about Ho Chi Minh's struggle to liberate the south from the oppressive foreign government and then next to it have a huge art piece that is a giant bowl of fruit meant to represent the fruits of labor created if the Vietnamese people collectively work together. I wouldn't actually recommend the museum. There isn't really any flow to the museum and the content is limited, so it's difficult to get a picture of who HCM really was.

After the museum we walked...starting to get used tot he crazy moped, no rules, driving in the city. Next up was the Hoa Lo Prison aka Masion de Central aka the Ha Noi Hilton. It's a prison built by the French in the late 1800's, however it is more famously known in the western world as the prison of the American POW's of the Vietnam War. The museum, while interesting, again provides a one sided view of the war. There is an exhibit that shows photos of the American "Guests", including John McCain, "celebrating" at Christmas, receiving packages from home, watching movies and hanging out in their "rooms". It's very interesting since we know that the prisoners were tortured nightly for the 6 years they were kept there. There are also many exhibits about how the French government oppressed and tortured the Viet Nationals. It's depressing but interesting to see.

After working up an appetite seeing the torture devices at the prison we headed, for a second try, to Quan An Ngoc. This time they were open and it was worth a second try. The restaurant is set-up with tables in a large courtyard covered by a tent. On the edges are all the food stations that feature regional food from around Vietnam that you can see being made before eating. We ordered a bunch of stuff and it turned out to be our first very good meal of the trip. I had a beef stir fry w/ spinach and green beans on something like a fried noodle cake. It was really tasty. Jen ordered some ice drink that everyone around us was drinking. When it comes out it looks like a glass full of ice and milk with green peas and black worms in it. Yum right?!? The "worms" and "peas" where actually Tapioca gel and the drink was pretty good actually. Very refreshing. Overall we had a great experience at the restaurant and wanted to visit it again. Plus the whole meal was $7 for all of us.

To work off our meal, we opted to walk back to the hotel, about 1.5 miles. and see the park around Hoan Kiem Lake. With luck on our side, we happened to walk right into the New Year's Parade, 1/24 was the Chinese New Year; it is now the year of the Buffalo. The parade had 100's of people in many colorful, traditional outfits, dragons and dancers marching down the street. After snapping many photos, we made it back to the hotel and basically collapsed from all the events of the day. Jen slept while Kevin and I grabbed a quick dinner down the street and then went back to the hotel and fell asleep. I have a feeling we are going to miss most of the night life of SE Asia as we continue to be sleeping by 9:30.

SE Asia Day 5

2009-01-29T05:39:00.001-07:00

January 28th 2009
Today we woke up to another cold and windy morning for the voyage back to Ha Noi. Fast forward a bus ride, boat ride another bus ride, another obligatory souvenir shop stop and we're back in Ha Noi. On our drive back we saw on the back of a motorcycle a 4x2x2 mesh covered box full of chickens...live chickens sticking their heads out of the box and clucking. It was classic. We decided to meet up with Jenny & Yen, 2 Brisbane sisters who we met on out tour, for dinner. After a sketchy cab ride, just close your eyes and hope for the best, we arrived at Quan An Ngon, the restaurant we were to meet at. Unfortunately, it was closed due to TET.... like everything else. So we called Jenny and decided to meet at another location. Here is where we got our first taste of walking the streets of Ha Noi for the first time. It is crazy...so crazy in fact we saw a scooter accident occur right in front of us. This guy slipped on the wet pavement and landed on his face. I think he was ok, but a couple people rushed over to him, lifted him and his bike up, threw him on the back of it and then drove off. I'm not sure if they were being kind and helping him or taking him to a back alley to finish him off and take his scooter, but I am going to assume the first. :) After that excited we met the sisters at a restaurant called Lotus Life. The setting of the restaurant looked like a Vegas lounge, complete w/ a loud, terrible pianist and violinist overplaying random pop songs. The food was mediocre but we had a great time chatting with the ladies. They were raised in Brisbane but their parents are both from Saigon. After dinner we said goodbye to the Vang Sisters and took a cab back to the hotel and passed out.

SE Asia Day 4

2009-01-29T04:49:00.005-07:00

January 27th 2009
u may have noticed that i have stopped using caps in my entries..truth is the shift key on this computer sticks so it's easier not to.

woke up today at 7:30 for another random meal on the boat. it's a little warmer this morning so we took the opportunity to take some photos from the awesome top deck, that looks like it would be a great place to hang out on a warmer day. we cruised the bay a little longer and then docked at cat ba island. this is the largest of the islands in ha long bay and has an actual town where we will be staying the night. after disembarking we got onto another mini-bus and drove 20 minutes to the other side of the island where we got on a little boat that took us through a channel between some rice fields. then we pulled up to a beach and trekked about 15 minutes through said rice fields to another cave. the journey itself was pretty awesome. we didn't see any other tourists and going through all the little villages was fascinating. so before going into the caves ha tells us that only 4 other tour groups are allowed to visit this cave and that no one else can visit it. which makes sense since we didn't see anyone else the entire time were were there. the cave is so remote that our boat driver actually had to use a hand generator to start up the electricity for the lights in the cave. the cave is called Tom Coc and contains similar formations as hang sung sot. however this one has hidden caves that you have to shimmy through 1.5 ft wide, mud covered, holes to get to. yeah for jen, unfortunately kevin and i could not fit in them. we did however hike up a different path. it was awesome and the lights actually end so we were basically climbing in a cave with the light of our tour guide's cell phone.
after leaving the tunnel, we make the awesome walk back to the boat. we had lunch at a local place that had a deck that sat over a fish pond. The food was ok, fried, but afterwards we enjoyed jasmin tea and chocolates in the owners home, which seems fairly common here in vietnam. after lunch we got back on the bus and headed to cat ba town for the night. the best way to describe cat ba town is, i think, a cross between Nice, France and Mexico. the "tube" architecture with it's numerous story, yet only 10 ft wide buildings, one next to the other looks like the shops on the beachfront in Nice. the street vendors, cheap food and many hotels remind me of the puerto vallerta beachfront. at night the city lights up like vegas with blinking lights on the awnings and buildings. our hotel, Sunrise resort, sits on a hill above the city with a private beach. it is beautiful and very fancy. it has a nice pool and beach area that would be hopping, i'm sure, if it was about 10 degrees warmer. we checked in and enjoyed some ginger tea, the favorite in veitnam, and some teriyaki jerkied eal...uh huh...it was interesting. after taking in the view, we walked to town on a cliffside path from the hotel that provided stunning views of the bay. we grabbed some vietnamese coffee(french press and condensed milk) and some tiger beer in town and connected with some new friends from our tour. with us there were 11 of us, a couple from melbourne, a couple from brisbane, sisters from brisbane and two friends from germany. we all decided to meet up for dinner later that night at the green mango, recommended by ha. it was overpriced but still cheap by normal standards and gave us a chance to chat with some other people. after dinner we headed back to our hotel and went to sleep with the sound of the ocean on the beach in the background.

SE Asia Day 3

2009-01-29T04:22:00.003-07:00

January 26th 2009

Yes that's right, not 25th, we have lost a whole day getting over here and boy are we feeling it this morning. Hopefully we'll make it through the day! This morning we woke up early and enjoyed a very tasty breakfast at the hotel before being picked up by our guide, Ha, for our tour of Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island. The journey began on a bus with 15 other tourists and a 3 hour ride to Halong City. Our driver, Wong, was insane. I would have passed out for exhaustion but I was so scared we were going to run into something or someone on the drive that I couldn't. i swear Wong only drives in the middle of the road.... half way through the drive he pulled into a giant tourist gift shop on the side of the road and we were all forced to get off and look around. everything is completely overpriced but everyone from the other 15 buses that have parked there seem to be buying things left and right. i think we'll pass for now. then back on the bus to halong bay city. this city was created just as a tourist spot to stop before getting on a boat to the bay. it doesn't have much culture but has an atm and cheap water...just what we needed. after more chaos, we all get on our junk boat. it is called the phoenix halong cruiser and is pretty nice. jen and kevin are sharing a cabin and i am taking the other one. i should mention at this point that it is freezing! We're talking 50 degrees and raining. i didn't expect this and brought no coat, one pair of pants and 2 sweatshirts. guess those will have to last a few days..going out on the open sea in this weather will be interesting. oh well, you're only in vietnam once and the bay really is gorgeous. halong bay is an area east of ha noi on the gulf of tonkin. it's basically a channel of water that runs through jagged limestone islands. the area has numerous floating fishing villages and is usually full of tourists on junk boats made for cruising the gulf. however due to the weather and the Tet holiday, the channel is not very crowded so that worked out for us. So back to the story, we shuffled on to the boat and we're off on the cruise. We had a tasty, yet random, lunch on the boat. The dining room of the boat is also the main viewing area inside the boat. It is all cherry wood and mimics a white tablecloth dining room, to the best ability possible in vietnam. the rooms are also all cherry and each has it's own en suite bathroom. all and all it's pretty luxurious for vietnam. after lunch we make our way to the hag sung sot caves...probably the most famous in ha long bay. the caves are located within one of the islands and were created naturally due to erosion with water and minerals. the caves are huge caverns with stalactites and stalagmites all over the place. the cave is huge and the formations are beautiful but it is filled with tourists. i think the best part of the caves is the views it gives u of the bay from the entrance and exit on the side of a hill. after finishing at the caves we headed back to the boat for a nap....jet lag sucks....then woke up for dinner and a night cruise thru the bay. After dinner, at 8pm, all we wanted to do was sleep but we forced ourselves to stay up for one more beer and then passed out around 8:30. something about being that jet lagged and a beer makes everything anyone says funny, so we had a great time.....that's what she said.

SE Asia Days 1-2

2009-01-28T19:17:00.007-07:00

**Note while I have many skills one of my weakest is spelling and the spell checker is not working on this computer so my apologize for bad grammar.

On my journey to Southeast Asia, I am writing this journal in a moleskin notebook. While many greats such as Ernest Hemmingway & Vincent Van Gogh have used similar moleskin notebooks to record their great works that lead them to infamy, I hope it at least inspires me to write every day on my trip. History shows I tend to detail the first few days of any great adventure I take and then I lose interest quickly.
So here goes.....

January 24th 2009 & January 25th 2009
We left at the obscene hour of 5:30 this morning from Denver. After picking up Kevin and some terrible coffee....can't wait for Vietnamese Coffee....we were off on our trip. Here is the cliff note version of the next 28 hrs. 2 hrs to LA, 4 hrs at the cesspool that is LAX, 13 more hours to Seoul, sprint to connection, meet up with Jen, observe snow storm in Seoul, 5 more hours to Hanoi. We've arrived! 11:00pm on the 25th. Wow! If it wasn't for Ambien I don't know how I'd have made it.
I'd arranged for a pick-up from our hotel..so as we left customs a nice driver from our hotel, Iane, was there to take us to the hotel. Leaving the airport the roads looked deserted and the buildings very basic. However this changed quickly. As we got closer to the Old Quarter the traffic started to thicken. We had arrived at the beginning of the TET Holiday, which means everyone is out in the streets celebrating. In actuality it was just after midnight on the equivalent of New Year's Eve. What this meant was thousands of people walking, biking and motorcycling in the streets. It was so crazy! Hundreds of scooters everywhere, dodging in and out of traffic. Families of 4 on a mini-scooter cutting in front of an oncoming bus. It is wild. There are no lights or stop signs and everyone just goes. To add to what only looked like the riots of Boulder, it's tradition to burn paper money on Tet to honor your ancestors, so there were little bonfires every few yards on the street. So Crazy! As we moved forward every street became more narrow and crowded and the chaos increased until we reached our hotel, Hanoi Elegance. The hotel is very nice. It is a little boutique hotel on Ma May street in the Old Quarter. The hotel is modern and clean and the staff is very helpful and speak English very well. As we walked into the hotel Danny and Charlotte were waiting to meet us with Tet balloons! It was great to see them. They had been waiting a while since our flight was so late but hey...it's ok to make Danny wait for me on once ;) After hellos, we checked in to our room. It has a great balcony with a view to the street below. The old quarter we are staying in is also called the 36 streets. When the quarter was established in 1010, there were...you guess it...36 streets in the quarter. Each of them was named for the product that was made on that street. To date, the stores on each of the streets sell products based on their street name. For example, Hang Duang translated to "Sugar Street" has great bakeries and pastries shops.
Anyway, We chatted with Danny and Charlotte in their room on the 7th floor with the sound of Tet Fireworks in the background. Before we knew it, 3am had come so we called it a night.

A Shitter for the Ages Part 3

2009-01-23T21:55:00.003-07:00

Here is the final result...not bad for my first big project huh?
At least it doesn't look like a bathroom out of the Bates Motel anymore.

A Shitter for the Ages Part 2

2009-01-23T21:29:00.007-07:00

Okay Okay....I was slacking at writing. Anyway here is part two

So first was the fun part....Demo! Here's what I did.
-Ripped out the tile around the sink
-Ripped out the sink
-Ripped out the vanity
-Ripped out the jail house light
-Ripped out the built-in Medicine Cabinet
-Ripped out the toilet
-Ripped out the towel racks (2)

Then I hit a wall...plumbing. How can people handle it. I seriously have never screamed at an inanimate object as much as I yelled at those pipes. I finally had to break down and call a plumber. $300....37 minutes. Guess I now understand how people handle it.

Anyway, after that I learned to patch drywall...that was fun! Here's a picture of my handiwork.

Then I tiled the floor and the wall. That was fun!

After that installed the new sink, light, medicine cabinet, toilet, towel racks and painted.

A Shitter for the Ages Part 1

2008-12-17T22:45:00.006-07:00

This post is way over due, so I am finally writing it today. As mentioned previously, I took on my first remodel project! I have an old house with an old bathroom in the basement. It is tiny, about 7x6, and looks like a bathroom from a room at the Bates Motel. I moved in to my house over 2 years ago and have wanted to do this for awhile, and finally took it on this fall.

Below are some shots from the bathroom as it was before I took on the remodel. As you can see it is terrible. From the ugly tiles to the prison style lighting to the jerry-rigged cabinet, it was awful.

In my next entry I will describe what I did with pictures taken along the way. For now, enjoy this lovely ode to 1950's construction :)

Nice huh?

Only new thing in the bathroom....a toilet donated by Blake.

Damn you Wall Street!

2008-11-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

I am so freaked out (something I am usually not) about the future and my retirement plans.

Today the Dow sank to its lowest level since 1997. In 1997, I was a sophomore in college. That basically means that all the money I have put away since college, 10-15% of my salary, was a bad investment, since I have effectively earned nothing and actually lost some of the money I have invested. That is crazy; everything that was drilled into my head in college about investing for the future has basically been thrown in the toilet over the last month. All the graphs that show how your retirement values will be exponentially larger if you invest in your twenties rather than your thirties have been tossed out the window. I know that now is a great time to buy, but seriously the growth over the last 8 years I’ve been in the work force pretty much means nothing at this point. I mistakenly looked at my investment balances 2 days ago….before the market dropped about 800 points…. and my values were down 40% since January……40 percent! I have actually lost money by investing it. Holy Shit this is crazy.

I wrote a little Haiku to express my feelings…..

Money in the bank
Saved for years, instead of beers
Gone in 30 days

Uplifting huh?

Hope for the Drunks

2008-10-27T12:57:00.003-06:00

I'm convinced now, gmail is the free web-mail for me. Check out this new feature....Mail Goggles!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27071685/

SNL...Funny again

2008-10-23T15:23:00.002-06:00

Since I don't have a life, I watch a lot of tv these days, especially Saturday Night. I know you're totally jealous.

I'm sure you have all seen the Sarah Palin impersonations by Tina Fey but there have actually been some other hilarious SNL skits this season. Kristen Wiig is a very good physical comic and always delievers a spot on performace. Part of this is due to the writers knowing the comics strength. Seth Meyers as the head writer is doing a fantastic job this year. Below are links to a couple of the best skits of the season so far. Far and away Anne Hathaway has been the best host this year.

The Lawrence Welk Show
Totally reminds me of the real show....well maybe about 3/4 of the real show

Mary Poppins
What happens when Mary Poppins gets a VD

Mark Walhberg Talks To Animals
Sounds just like him, I can totally see him doing this

Mark Walhberg Follow-up
And Mark Walhberg actually does it

Judy Grimes
This is great, just kidding, it's grape, just kidding, it's green

My Top 10.........Albums to Listen to Completely

2008-10-10T14:39:00.008-06:00

Last night I was over at Penny Loafer's(see "Oh Dear Lord....No More Croptops!") and the song "Jumper" from Third Eye Blind's Semi-Charmed Life started playing on his stereo. I hadn't heard it in years but it reminded me of how much I loved that album when I was in college. I'm sure some of you are thinking..."WTF!?, really?! Third Eye Blind?"......but 10 years ago, I could listen to the entire album over and over and not get sick of it.

Now, with the creation of mp3's and iTunes, I hardly ever purchase an entire album and realize that finding one you can listen to completely is rare. This realization, and a bit of alcohol, lead to us both listing out our favorite 10 Albums. The rule was that you can only include the album in your list if you can listen to every song on the album and not want to skip a song. No soundtracks allowed and you can only put one greatest hits or live album on your list. I'm sure everyone will have their opinion on our lists, but here they are. Let me know what you think I'm missing or I completely missed the boat on....of course you'd be wrong, but I'm still curious what you think.

Oh and as for Semi-Charmed Life, it just missed the cut!

Matt's Top 10
1. Dave Matthews Band – Under the Table & Dreaming
2. John Mayer – Room For Squares
3. Beatles – Abbey Road
4. Eagles – Hotel California
5. U2 – Rattle & Hum
6. Pearl Jam – Vs
7. Harry Connick Jr – She
8. Garth Brooks – Roping the Wind
9. Kanye West – College Dropout
10. Guster - Lost & Gone Forever

Penny Loafer's Top 10
1. Van Morrison – Moondance
2. Sister Hazel – Somewhere More Familiar
3. Bab Marley – Legend
4. Steve Miller Band – Greatest Hits
5. Billy Joel – Glass Houses
6. Limp Biscuit – Limp Biscuit
7. O.A.R – The Wanderer
8. Dave Matthews Band – Under the Table & Dreaming
9. Sublime - Sublime
10. Paul Simon - Graceland

Fall in The Rockies 2

2008-10-07T22:55:00.005-06:00

More photos...

This photo is of the house that I would buy if I had a spare 6 mill....

Fall in the Rockies

2008-10-07T22:41:00.005-06:00

This weekend my mom and I went to Beaver Creek to enjoy the fall colors. To me it seemed like the colors were so much brighter than years in past. The yellows and oranges were amazing! Anyway, here are some photos.

So Jealous!

2008-10-02T07:32:00.001-06:00

My parents are moving to Mexico! They suck, I'm so jealous! I think they are ready for a little change in life and scenery so why not go to Mexico?? My step-mom is in the mortgage lending business so...in case you hadn't heard...things aren't going well for lenders currently and my dad is self-employed and has the ability to do most of his work from home. As a result, they decided it's a great time to try something new....like moving to Mexico.

They're renting out their house here, selling their cars and boat and moving to Puerto Vallarta for six months! It's actually not that wild of a thought as they own a condo with some friends in a great, little town called Bucerias, just north of Puerto Vallarta. In addition, they have a little network of locals down there they can rely on. They always say that it's a bit of a waste of money since they don't get down their enough so they're going to move in and try to sell some of their friends Mexican real estate! If it works out they may stay longer, if it doesn't, they'll just come back and resume life up here. Talk about awesome!

This leaves only my mom and I in Colorado. 5 years ago all the family was here, now with this and my three brothers leaving the state(or country) it's going to be lonely during the holidays. Maybe I'll just go down to Mexico for Xmas this year; my dad and step-mom wouldn't mind if my mom comes right? That's not awkward or anything.....Anyway, I have attached a photo from our place down there, I know....it's rough right?

I need a vacation….

2008-09-29T15:20:00.014-06:00

I haven’t gone anywhere for more than a long weekend in 1.5 years. It’s depressing, I haven’t spent more than 4 days in a row away from my office (or traveling for work) in 18 months! As a result I find myself daydreaming about where I want to go, here is a partial list:

1. Vietnam – I have always wanted to see Vietnam. It’s supposed to be as beautiful as Thailand but less developed and touristy. Large Asian cities don’t appeal to me, however Saigon(Ho Chi Min City) is a must! From the capital of French Indochina to the seat of communist Vietnam the cities history intrigues me. Although a somber monument, I think visiting a part of the Ho Chi Min Trail would be remarkable after learning about it in school. The beaches of Vietnam are supposed to be just as breathtaking as Thailand; plus it’s one of the last places on earth where people like Americans. I think this one is really going to happen for me. I am planning on meeting my bro and his girlfriend next spring for the Vietnamese new year! Nothing like a romantic trip to Vietnam....with someone's brother tagging along. Hopefully Char and I can ditch Dan for some of the time ;)

2. China - I've always want to see Hong Kong but never really had it high on my list of potential vaca spots. After seeing Mary Carillo's pieces(she is crazy but a fun kind of crazy)on China during the Olympics...which I was addicted too...this has moved up on my list. I love architecture so all the large, modern skyscrapers of Hong Kong would be awe-inspiring to see. In addition, now I want to see Shanghai, Weifang, the Kite Capital or the world, the Panda refugee and then eat some chocolate covered insects....do I really want to be just like Mary Carillo??? In addition, the East meets West allure of Taiwan would be fascinating too. I think I can piggy-back off the trip to Vietnam with a jaunt over to China. Who knows, maybe I'll fall in love with China and never come back!

3. Portugal – Can not wait to get here. I’ve heard the people are friendly and lively and the lifestyle is laid back…..like Spain, however it’s supposed to be more rustic and less touristy. I am and history dork so visiting this old century, maritime, world power is alluring. Although the Igreja de São RoqueI Jesuit church and the Conimbrigia ruins are must see sites, I mostly want to rent a bike and ride from coastal town to town and drink San Gria in a café on the beach.

4. Argentina, particularly Buenos Aires - It’s kind of dorky, but Matt Lauer was there for, where in the world is Matt Lauer and it looked impressive! The food and culture is supposed to be vibrant and young. Beunos Aires in particular looks kind of like a Paris in S. America. Plus I would love to learn the Argentine Tango...or at least dance with a sexy Argentinean! Plus Patagonia looks fantastic...of course it’s probably a lot like Colorado, but I have always wanted to go. You think if I wear my Northface or LL Bean fleece to Patagonia, I'll be chased out of the region?

5. Seychelles – A few tropical islands in the Indian Ocean. Talk about isolated, this nation is 1000 miles from its closest neighbor….Madagascar! It’s so expensive to get there, but I think the effort would be well rewarded. White sand, blue ocean, French-Indian fusion food….what more can you ask for? The island has no indigenous people and was first visited in the 16th Century. The people of the Seychelles, Seychellois, represent a true melting pot of African, French and Indian people. Interestingly enough the society is matriarchal…ie.Women tend to be dominant in the households. Plus, they speak French, which proves that my 5 years of learning French aren’t wasted :)

A musical for adults only.....

2008-09-26T14:52:00.007-06:00

Have you seen Avenue Q yet? If not, you must!

Most guys and many girls will tell you “I’m not really into musicals.” I know for me, watching a sexually questionable bloke singing of his heart's desire for his the shy girl-next-door while dancing in tights with a chorus behind him, is not my idea of a great way to spend my Friday night. However after seeing Avenue Q, I, and I would venture to guess that they, will change their….tune.

Avenue Q is the story of a recent college grad who moves to Avenue Q in Manhattan to start his life by discovering who he is and where he belongs in the world. Reading this I’m sure you’re thinking, well that doesn’t sound awesome, kind of expected. That’s true, however what makes Avenue Q amazing is that instead of people acting it’s puppets...muppet like puppets! And instead of scenes surrounding a disfigured man wearing a lot of make-up and a cape or a ho-down on the farm in Oklahoma, we are treated to disturbing...but fun puppet sex, a chorus of male muppets singing of their love for internet porn or the antics of the slumlord of the building everyone live in who is none other than Gary Coleman..."What u talkin' 'bout Willis"! Rather than following characters like an 18th century english orphan or cats....lots and lots of cats, you are treated to a monster puppet who is addicted to porn and a Bert and Ernie like duo, where Bert is an in-the-closet Republican who sings about his girlfriend from Canada. It is inappropriate and offending in everyway, but that's why I love it!

I was so inspired by the show that I think I have found my Halloween costume, Mrs. Thistletwat, here I come.

If this hasn’t convinced you, here is a list of the inspiring songs your treated to:
1. It Sucks to Be Me
2. What Do You Do with a BA in English
3. The Internet is for Porn
4. If You Were Gay
5. My Girlfriend who lives in Canada
6. You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want, When You're Making Love

Check out their website for more details http://www.avenueq.com.
Check out this youtube video from the first number in the show

Oh Dear Lord....No More Croptops!

2008-09-22T13:32:00.003-06:00

Let me preface this entry by saying that I generally like to think of myself as a caring person. I try not to be shallow; judging everyone by their personalities alone and view everyone the same, despite their appearances. That being said, in the story following, I don’t display any of those qualities. So….if you are offended, forgive me and if you know me you know that this is occurring at a time in my life where I think I can be a little shallow.

The story begins about a month ago. All my buddy’s wives, girlfriends, ex-wives and wardens were out of town for a bachelorette party. So as everyone was free for the weekend, we decided to have a guy’s night by going to a Rockies game Friday night. There were six of us, all of whom are great friends and have known each other for years. To protect the innocent lets just call them: The Bee, Rainman, Penny Loafers, Diorama and Hairy Palms. Par the course, I could not tell you much about the game as we proceeded to drink too much and ended up at the Sandlot bar by the middle of the 5th.

Following up the riveting game, we decided to go out to the bars.

Bar 1: Cruise Room – I usually love the Cruise Room, but tonight the locale can be summed up with 3 things: expensive drinks, old people and drunken idiots (us). We walked in and noticed we were the youngest people in the bar, by a lot. After the complaining of “Why are we here?” died down from those who didn’t make a suggestion about where to go, we settled in for a drink. Ten minutes in, “Diorama” introduced me as his “divorced friend” to a table of single ladies. Is that my new title? Awesome! However to his cred, it did work in getting me sitting at their table. I believe they were attractive; of course the 3 hours of drinking beforehand could have swayed my judgment a little. Anyway, they were all divorced too…..yeah……and they seemed a little bitter. I hope I don’t end up that way. Either way, I did get their numbers. Oh also, I think “Penny Loafers” got the digits of an older gentleman wearing a sports coat. Not sure what his wife will think of that, but he was really into him. Personally I think it was sports coat envy.

Bar 2: Rio – Here’s where the shit hit the fan. Last time I was at the Rio……a couple years ago…..it was filled with attractive, witty single women; women who you are instantly attracted to and who you can have a good conversation with. The kind of women who, despite our obvious shortcomings, my friends and I have been lucky enough to end up with. However this time…..not so much.

We walk in….the bar is filled with lots of very scary women. I am talking McDonald’s eating, muffin-top bearing, Aqua-netted Phys-Ed teachers. Oh my god! So I am drunk…yes still drunk(are you seeing a theme here?) and starting to freak out a little… is this what my future holds? I decide the best way to get through this is…obviously...a Rio marg; in retrospect, maybe not the best choice. So after about 20 minutes and drinking pressure for “Rainman”, who was in College Rainman form, and another margarita……I don’t feel any better. I know I haven’t dated for almost 5 years, but is this really what I have to look forward too? I look to my right and besides “The Bee” passed out on the table next to me mumbling something about monkeys, there is a table of hungry Cougars looking to devour any innocent prey that walks by. Uh oh….my chest is starting to constrict. To my left there is a mess of ladies dancing to the music, it’s like a spandex party at Jenny Craig’s. Can’t breathe…. have to step outside; I am freaking out!!! I go downstairs and talk myself down from my first ever panic attack. I tell myself “This is not that typical, it’s just a weird night, nothing to worry about. Stop being so shallow, I’m sure their great people……”

So after getting my breathing back to normal, I go back upstairs to our table. Low and behold as the table comes into view, I see the table of cougars has now swarmed our table. Let me say the smallest of these ladies outweighed the heaviest of us by about 50lbs. They have completely engulfed “Rainman” and “Penny Loafer”. Pardon the obvious comparison, but it appeared like hunters circling in on their pray. They are obviously scared…”Rainman” is sweating and “Penny Loafer” is laughing nervously. None the less, they are chatting these ladies up. Honestly, when any of us are drunk we’ll talk to a tree if its leaves are blowing. Again, on any other day, I’m sure I would have been all about talking to these ladies, however not tonight. The only person who seems somewhat disturbed in my other single friend, “Hairy Palms”, who looks like he just witnessed the trampling of a baby calve by a pack of elephants. So I proceed to walk past the table, pretending not to know any of them, only making eye contact with “Hairy Palms” and go back outside to reevaluate the night’s events…while vomiting in an alley. Funny side note, I have thrown up more in the last month than I probably have since graduating from college. Mostly from terrible, Mexican tequila…but that is another story.

Anyway, after that the night was pretty much over. While waiting for light rail for 45 minutes, away from the hunting grounds, I realized that this was not typical and things will be fine but…..wow what a night!

Overused words.....

2008-09-21T14:28:00.001-06:00

I am attempting to expand my vocabulary both in written form and in my personal verbal lexicon. As a math guy, I have never focused much on honing my English skills. Annoyingly, I have notice that there are certain words that I constantly overuse. So in an ever present effort to improve myself....or more likely to just be less annoying to others.....I am attempting to replace the following words with other less obvious synonyms.

Unbelievable - I swear it comes out of my mouth anytime I hear anything that is mildly exciting. Instead I would like to use amazing, astonishing or my favorite.....mind-boggling!!!!

Plethora - One of those words that 10 years ago was a great obscure word that is fun to say, has now become commonplace, especially in my daily conversations. For this I am going to try to bring it back to basics by using simpler words like excess, overabundance or glut(I like that one)

Sweet...in the exaggerated form. - I don't really want to replace this one. I have noticed that I use it often and it's always in such a negative respect that I really just want to get away from it.

Whatever - I think this one comes from my Minnesota heritage. I just imaging my grandma making hot dish and goulash in her kitchen and when someone asks her to make a choice she says "Whatevre" with that great Midwestern twang all my family has. While this is a great memory, I am not a 65 year old grandma, so it's not as endearing coming from me. Besides I've come to the conclusion that I am sometimes too laid back....or am I? well whatever....As a result I trying to be more affirmative when asked my opinion. I do it at work, so I don't see why I can't do it in my personal life.

New Training Schedule

2008-09-17T14:14:00.003-06:00

After a weekend of wedding debauchery, I am getting back into my off-season training schedule. Here's what I'm thinking.....
Monday - Fried chicken, football hot wings and beer
Tuesday - Watch some TV
Wednesday - Playstation Day!!!!
Thursday - Drinks with friends, mow the lawn
Friday - Happy Hour :)
Saturday - Game day....beer and braughts
Sunday - recover from game hangover, lots of NFL

Pretty agressive but I think I can handle it!

Anyway, here is what I'm thinking for real
Monday - Bike in the morning, lift at lunch
Tuesday - Track work-out
Wednesday - Eliptical, lift
Thursday - swim
Friday - off
Saturday - some activity....hiking, bike, drinking....whatever
Sunday - A long run

Fasting

2008-09-11T10:14:00.003-06:00

I have wanted to do a fast for awhile now to clean out my system. I’ve read it’s an extremely healthy way to “reset” your body. With the amount of training I’ve been doing for the last 6 months, I haven’t been able to try a fast. Now that my triathlon season is over, I decided this is the week!

To start, I attempted a short 2-day fast to see how I feel. Now that I am done with it I do feel much better actually. It may be more mental than physical but either way, it seems to be working and my body feels better than it has in awhile.
However, after completing it yesterday I think my metabolism is totally f**ed up. Since Monday night I have had 2 bowls of soup and 6 glasses of orange juice. I feel better and I am definitely eliminating the toxins in my body, but I have some how managed to gain 3 pounds! In addition, at no time did I really every feel famished.

Doesn’t it seem that if I am not eating anything I should lose weight instead of gain it? I’m wondering if I should ask my doctor to check for hypothyroidism. Weird huh……

Anyway, I am in a wedding this weekend, so in true Matt style…I plan on re-toxifying(is that a word?) my body with copious amounts of makers mark and coke. Maybe I’ll throw in some fried chicken too just to complete the full life cycle.

As for the picture of a gremlin...it's totally random. The movie was on tv last night and who doesn't love a gremlin......just don't feed them after midnight.

Triathlete?......Triathlete!!!!

2008-09-09T15:43:00.004-06:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. I thought I would take a minute and post about my big accomplishment this summer. This is mainly for me since I doubt anyone is checking this blog these days.
So I have had an eventful summer, besides all the personal things going on, I participated in my first two triathlons! I really didn't know if I could complete one in January when I decided to do this, however I did complete it, signed up for another, and am really proud of this accomplishment. I am not a boastful guy, but I think it's important to point out this completed life goal and use it as inspiration for future goals. So here is a synopsis of the races.

The first race was a sprint in Boulder. It was a 750 meter swim, a 17 mile bike ride and a 5k run. The swim was super slow, but i finished it! The slowest of the 3 events for me, but more enjoyable than the run. If you've ever swam in open water with a wetsuit you know it's a completely different experience than swimming in a pool. You can almost swim without kicking as the suit keeps your legs afloat. This allows you to save your legs for the bike and the run.
The bike was awesome! I love this part and I am the most competitive at this part. I just bought a new bike two weeks before the race and it was amazing. Carbonframe so it was super light and great to ride.
The runs sucked. Let me preface that I hate running, every step reminds me of how much I hate it. I think for personal reasons my hate of running has intensified lately, but I was about to power through it in the race. I actually didn't run as fast as I could of, as I was being careful to not over strain myself in my first tri. Anyway....I completed it, very slowly, but I did it! It was such a rush, I was afraid I was addicted.

The second race, 3 weeks later, was an Olympic distance in Loveland. It was a 1500m swim, a 30 mile bike and a 10k. It was awesome! I swam so much faster and didn't have to doggie paddle in the water at all. I ended up finishing faster than a couple other guys I trained with that started with me. The bike was great too. It was a pretty tough ride, going into the foothills with 2 really big hills and a lot of rollers the whole way. It was good though and I ended up with an 18mph average, so respectable for me :) My transition sucked though. I don't know how, but I ended up taking about 5 minutes on it! The run was next, a very flat and shady run, but still challenging considering my loathing for it! The end result.....a more competitive and respectable finish. By no means am I saying I am an expert at this, but I really love it and love the challenge of completing the race and even the training up to it.

I actually trained with Team in Training, which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. I ended up raising $2400 so that was awesome. Since it's founding in '88, TNT has raised over $850 million for cancer research! In fact they are the leading provider of funds for the society and the money raised can be directly realized in the lives saved from new medicines and treatments discovered from this funding. Besides the philanthropic side, while training with the group I met a bunch of great people, found some new training friends, lost a bunch of weight and realized my potential more than I had in the past. If you are thinking of doing your first tri, I would highly recommend the group. They are national and the money raised is for a good cause. http://www.teamintraining.org/

Anyway, I have attached a photo of me in the race. Just wanted to have a record of me completing this goal and use it as inspiration when the training starts for next year :)

Ah fun with airlines.......

2007-03-29T14:21:00.000-06:00

Just a little story about how I spent an hour and a half of my day today.......

So.....I went to ual.com to look at our itinerary for our honeymoon flight to St Thomas when I notice that it looks weird. It only shows the flight to and from washington dc and there is an alert that says "Please call United for a schedule change."

I call UAL and an operator, Susan, says that they have discontinued service to St Thomas on the day we are supposed to fly in (Monday) and only fly there on Saturdays now

She asks if I can hold for a minute while she looks up possible solutions to the problem. …15 minutes and 7 versions of the United Theme Song Later……

She says there are no award seats on any of the star alliance flights but we can fly in on Saturday if I would like... "No Susan, I really don't want to fly in Saturday."

So I ask her to look at Tortola and see if we can fly in there.

......15 more minutes......and Same story......They only fly there on Saturday.

Thus begins the heated discussion phase of the story.

Operator: Flights change all the time and we can’t be responsible for the issues this causes

Me: I understand flights change, but you your company made the decision to make the change so I shouldn’t be left in the lurch because of your actions.

Operator: Silence……..Again, flights change all the time out of our control.

Me: Yes, but when you completely stop flying somewhere and you have people booked on a flight you should find suitable replacement flights for them.

Operator: I'm really sorry, but we can't protect our customers from these kind of changes.

It goes on like this for awhile. Until finally I say, well what do we do?

Operator: “I can refund your miles and you can book the flight on another airline.”

I freak and say “I can’t believe you are not honoring this. You should buy us seats on the other airline to compensate for your decision to discontinue the flight.” She says she’s sorry she can’t and asks me what I want to do.”

After about 30 seconds of silence, I freak out again "I can not believe this! You have just ruined my honeymoon. My fiancé is going to freak out too!" I'm a pretty calm guy but I can get crazy if I need to.

She is obviously sick of this conversation....I can't help it if she has just become by verbal punching bag.....so Susan asks me to hold for her director.

I have found that the directors at airlines are usually very good at what they do and can usually help a situation when an operator can not.

Par the course.....the director comes on and calmly says “We can put you on an award flight on US Airways, but it’s going to be in First Class. Is that ok?”

Is it ok? Of course it is!

Another 15 minutes pass and she comes back and says they can’t get the miles to credit back to my account from the previous flight.

So she very politely asks me to hold again.

Finally after another 20 minutes, she comes back with the booked flights!

In the end United came through and the margaritas and sandy beaches were saved!

Ah The Beach!!!!

2007-03-23T10:07:00.000-06:00

I am getting married soon, precisely 7 weeks from tomorrow. It’s nut! While I am very excited to be married, the whole planning of the wedding event has been one that I wouldn’t want to repeat. The stress and monetary aspects of a wedding are astronomical. At this point, I think the day is going to be excellent and everyone is going to have a wonderful time thanks to all the support from our respective families and the diligent planning of Barb. However, a month ago, I thought the whole day was going to be a disaster. However, the thing I always thought was going to be amazing is the honeymoon!!!

We are going to St. John for 7 days. I’ve never been to the Caribbean and Barb has never been to St John so we’re excited. St John is part of the US Virgin Islands so it’s technically a territory of the US. Two-thirds of the island is national forest and there are no airports on the island so it can only be accessed by boat. We’re staying at Caneel Bay which is supposed to be spectacular. In 1956 Laurence Rockefeller, who owned most of the land on the island, actually donated most of the land he had acquired on the island to the United States National Park Service under the condition that it be protected from future development. The remaining portion, the Caneel Bay Resort, continues to operate on a lease arrangement while the park owns the actual land.

Triathe-slob

2007-03-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

I’m bored. Work is very slow right now. I keep looking at the clock and it never gets any later. It’s one of those days, where I have a ton to do, but I just can’t motivate. Anyone ever have days like that?

So Barb talked me into doing a Triathalon 2 weeks after we get back from our honeymoon……what was I thinking giving into that? We all know Barb is exercise crazy, but I’m not. Give me a remote and a bag of Doritos and I’m happy. Why would I think I can recover from eating 3000+ calories a day on the honeymoon to running, swimming and biking in a couple weeks? I plan on gaining all the weight I lost for the wedding back on in a week on the honeymoon. Maybe I can just wait at the end of the race and cheer Barb on at the finish with my beer in one hand and my fried cheesestick in the other.

It Cold Here

2007-02-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

This winter has sucked in Denver. A little known fact about the Mile High City is that during the winter, we never have snow that stays on the ground all winter. When it snows, it usually all melts within a couple days. This winter we have had about on blizzard every week since the 3rd week of December. With the exception of last week and the week before, the temperatures have been below freezing almost every day. As a result until last week, we haven’t seen the pavement in our neighborhood since before Christmas! I admit we’re spoiled here in Denver, but I am used to being able to run, bike, hike, etc all winter long. We have been cooped up in the house for so long that I have now started watching terrible, terrible tv (American Idol, The Hills). I swear Barb is about to start running around in circles in the living room.
Anyway, no point to this entry really, just a little rant. Cheers to Global Warming and Al Gore.

Wedding Funnies

2007-01-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

In lieu of Barb and my wedding coming up this spring, I have been inundated with youtube wedding videos from friends lately. Some of these are really funny…..and don’t remind me of Barb and I at all :)

Check them out if you have some time.

“You fart when it’s just you and my mom, and you blame her”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iuWYBeFu9bg

“It ok, you look like Shirley Temple.”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=10VmJ-8XGA4

“It’s Americas Funniest Home Videos”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrlt2SyIOAM

“No wedding theme here, just a really clean cat.”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=15bwhVxw-Bg

Christmas is coming, the wallet is not getting fat....

2006-12-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

So after a long drought in postings I'm back. We're getting ready for the holidays and I am finding that the problem is not buying gifts for everyone; rather it's the other things I buy for myself while shopping for others that is breaking the bank. Only around the holidays do you think it’s ok to spending many, many, many dollars on things that you never would. Examples……..$10 boxes of cookies, $2000 televisions, $7 yards of beef, $3000 dining room tables you know the usuals.

Anyway, I guess it all balances out when the credit card statement comes in January and you are forced to eat top raman and hotdogs for the rest of the winter. It just wouldn’t feel like the holidays if my wallet wasn’t empty!

So, happy holidays to everyone and hope the new year brings you joy and a balanced check book!

Al Roker…..you lap dancing fool!

2006-10-23T13:57:00.000-06:00

So this morning on the Today show Matt, Meredith and Al were exchanging witty banter about privacy and hidden cameras. I can’t remember exactly what the exchange was about but Meredith commented on being on hidden camera and said something like “You really wouldn’t want to see yourself then would you?” Al then promptly replied with……”No way, not like a stripper on a pole in front of a mirror.”

Result: dead silence, crickets chirping…… Did he really just say "Stripper Pole" in casual converstaion on The Today Show? I swear it was so quiet you could here Katy Couric snickering in her upper west side apartment 50 blocks away.

Despite the tranquility of hearing Meredith Viera shut-up for a few seconds, it was one of the most awkward moments I’ve ever seen on the Today Show, of which there have been quite a few.

Weeds

2006-10-23T13:44:00.000-06:00

Because I hate Blockbuster……they are the devil…….Barb and I have a subscription to Netflix. This week we received the first 6 episodes of the Showtime TV show “Weeds”. It is so funny! So wrong, but hilarious. We are addicted to it now. I’m almost tempted to get a subscription to Showtime, just to watch the second season.

It stars Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy as a recently widowed, mother of two, who sells marijuana to support her upper-middle class suburban lifestyle in So Cal. It costars Elizabeth Perkins as Celia, her desperate, uptight, controlling neighbor; who’s discovery that she has breast cancer sends her into a crazy mid-life crisis that includes flashing Nancy’s 15 year old sun and a one night stand with Nancy’s supplier.

Meanwhile, Nancy maintains her lifestyle by selling to other adults in the neighborhood including Celia’s husband and her accountant Doug, played by Kevin Nealon.

This is a fantastic show. A warning, though, don’t watch it to learn any moral lessons, rather to see an innovative plot unravel and excellent and realistic character portrayals by excellent actors.

You can learn more about the show by going to the Showtime website:
http://www.sho.com/site/weeds/home.do

Bored at work? Try this.....

2006-10-04T08:16:00.000-06:00

If youÂre looking for something to help pass the time, check out the web site of JKrowlingg, the author of the Harry Potter books. The website, http://www.jkrowling.com/, being geared for 12 year olds around the world, is actually quite entertaining for the 12 year old in all of us.

The site is set-up like you are in her house; sitting at her desk, looking at her bulletin board, reading books in her library and looking at her journal. Within the site are many Easter Eggs that will give you snippets into the new book, or character developments. ItÂs interesting.

To get you started, when you log in, go to the ÂExtra StuffÂ section by clicking on the hairbrush sitting on the desk. Once there click and drag the eraser to the blank sheet of paper. When you do, it will reveal the ingredients required to gain a special prize. These 3 items can be found all around the website if you look carefully. Once you find an item click on it to store it. Once you have all 3, the secret prize will be revealed.

I Miss Katy

2006-09-27T21:29:00.000-06:00

If you are a regular viewer of the Today Show, like me, you may have strong feeling about the Today Show. I am not a morning person, and I definitely have a routine in the morning; part of which is watching the Today Show. A couple weeks ago, the Today Show, introduced their new anchor, Meredith Viera, as well as a new set. It may be that I am just grumpy in the morning, but I think Meredith is just annoying.

She’s trying too hard; things seem forced. It’s like she’s pretending to have this history with Matt, Al and Anne when she doesn’t. Also, you can just tell that Anne wanted that anchor position and just wants to drop-kick Meredith off the set.

I’m not sure if that’s how it was when Katie Couric started, but it seems very forced compared to KC. Katy may be annoying and smug sometimes, but at lease she seems real.I'm not giving up on her yet though. I hope she'll calm down a little and force things a little less in a few months.

On the side note, the new Today Show set is weird. It’s so colorless, like they are transmitting from a saved set from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Everything is all plastic. The camera is also off center due to the HD filming, I don’t like it.

My Mullet and Me

2006-09-19T15:11:00.000-06:00

So….for the last couple years I have had relatively long hair. In fact, most of the time I have had a mullet of sorts. It wasn’t intentional and the back of my hair was the same length as the front, but the back has this wicked, trailer park wave to it that makes it look like a mullet when it’s long Today, I finally let go of the Indigo Girl inside me and cut it all off. While I was getting the snip I became reminescent and began to think of all the famous people who have had mullets…..

Kevin Coster
As mentioned above...both of the Indigo Girls
1/3 of the NHL
1/4 of MLB
Michael Bolton
Billy Ray Cyrus
Andre Agassi
Jerry Seinfeld

After bidding farewell to “the party in the back and the business in the front” I was still haunted by it’s memory heading back to work. While exploring the internet I came across this excellent ppt presentations on the history of the mullet.

Click here to view the presentation

Apparently the mullet…or mullette in French…. Has been around for thousands of year and is also genetically passed to children of Mulleters. Who’d a thunk it?

Anyway, enjoy the presentation and if the mood hits, observe a moment of silence for the loss of my mullet.

The Buffoons....er The Buffalos

2006-09-18T15:34:00.001-06:00

Ok, ok, it’s been a long time since I’ve written. I seem to have focused most of my attention on our wedding website lately. It’s looking pretty good, but I have neglected my outpouring of thoughts into wanderingwithwords.com this summer.
Luckily I had something that inspired me start writing this up again…CU football. We are terrible. We’re 0-3 with 3 convincing losses; one of which was to division 1-AA, (1-2) Montana State, oh yeah that’s right; we are they’re only win so far. Now that’s sad…..

There is just no talent to work with on the team. We all knew Barnett couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag, but it turns out that he really couldn’t recruit either. I mean, our offense had negative yards through the first 5 halves of this season! This being said, our defense looks pretty good actually. This is probably due to all the practice they are getting by being on the field about 45 minutes of every game. The good news is that even though our offense may go 4 and out with negative yards every drive, we are able to hold the other teams….most of the time.
The good news is this year I don’t have to continually be disappointed every game when I hold out hope that we may win. I can focus my energy on things that have a better chance of happening….like Jake Plummer being MVP….or Maurice Clarett starting a recreational football league in the Ohio Penal System. (see Clarett Article here)

Come On.....Flag Burning........Really?

2006-06-28T09:54:00.000-06:00

Is a flag burning ban really the most pressing issue for the senate to address? I understand that it is a great “tool” to use when campaigning that your opponent voted it was ok to degrade our flag and, therefore, what it stands for, but I am a little disgusted by this waste of time, tax-payer’s money and senatorial effort. With all the pressing issues at hand, the war in Iraq, social security reform, health care reform, border control, why are all our senators taking time to pass a flag-burning amendment?

I am a patriot; I’m glad to be from America and wouldn’t personally want to degrade our flag and what it stands for, but aren’t we a country founded on freedom? Ironic, that this potential new constitutional amendment, contradicts our very first amendment, freedom of speech. It isn’t “freedom of speech, unless the congress doesn’t like it.” Shouldn’t someone have the right to express their anger at our country by burning the flag? We allow people to burn other country’s flags; it’s ok if someone burns a likeness of our president or a presidential candidate, but our flag…no.

I guess I will just have to sit at home, and watch this fascinating and pressing debate and see what the outcome is…….all the while eating my freedom fries.

Back from Hiatus

2006-06-09T14:00:00.000-06:00

I decided to take a little break from blogging while work was particularly busy and we were in the midst of moving, but I am hoping things will be slowing down soon so I can jump back into this. Anyway, here are just a few things that I have been contemplating lately…..

Things on my mind:

Weddings – Wow, everyone is getting married! Something is in the air for sure; I don’t know about you, but I plan on never getting married…………that is just crazy! Right Barb?
Scrubs – What the hell……NBC cancelled Scrubs! I don’t understand? That show is so funny, and NBC has no funny shows anymore. How does a show like “7th Heaven” stay on the air and Scrubs gets cancelled. Now I know the acting on 7th Heaven is suburb and the character development is very complex and three-dimensional, but come on! Scrubs has all those things too; plus an occasional musical montage featuring a string of has-been 80’s pop artists.
Julia Roberts – She hasn't looked very good in her movies recently; she looked horrible in Oceans 12. Is it me or does her mouth seems to keep getting bigger as she gets older? Anyone else notice that? It’s really strange, she almost has a Joker like grin now.
Butlers – I think some day I would like a butler. How cool would it be to have someone to butle around for you? I can be sitting in the East Wing of the house and simply yell out “Farnsworth, I would like a snow cone made with ice from the arctic glacial basin and flavoring made from hawaiian pineapple grown on the original Dole farm on the island Oahu, served in the cone brazier worn by Madonna at her London stop of the Blond Ambition Tour” and he would say “Of course, Mr. Martin, right away.” Yes………….that would be excellent.

She said Yes!

2006-05-19T12:39:00.000-06:00

Ok so I haven’t written in awhile, but a lot has been happening. To start, last week I surprised Barb with a trip to London for her birthday. While there, I asked her to marry me. She said yes :)

So…..we are engaged! Pretty crazy, but amazingly great! I find my self slipping into adulthood all the time. I am ready for all the changes going on lately, but it’s still just a crazy thing to realize that you are all growed-up.

If you want to hear details about the engagement, check out Barb’s blog, http://running-blogs.com/barb/.

As we are getting ready to move out of my place and into our new place, attend a few weddings and plan a bachelor party or two, I’m a little swamped these days. So this is going to be a short and sweet entry.

New Kids on the Block

2006-04-25T15:17:00.000-06:00

So we bought a house! It’s pretty crazy, we are under contract on a house in Bonnie Brae. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch built in 1952. It has a new kitchen, an awesome backyard and ….wait for it…..a bar! We are really excited. Check out some of the pictures…….

Dining Room

2006-04-25T15:08:00.000-06:00

Kitchen

2006-04-25T15:07:00.001-06:00

Mmmm....Beer

2006-04-25T15:07:00.000-06:00

Backyard

2006-04-25T15:05:00.000-06:00

Selling a kidney to buy a home

2006-04-19T11:09:00.000-06:00

It’s been insanely busy lately!

For starters – our place is under contract! It only took 2 weeks for an offer to come in. I countered and they accepted. Although I am not making any money on my place (I was never expecting too) I am happy with what I’m getting for it and am getting what I put into it. So now that that is done, Barb and I are frantically looking for a new place. If we can’t find a place before we close on our old place, we have a couple of friends that generously offered to let us stay at their places until we find a new place. I would rather not do that, but it’s a nice offer.

This leads me to my rant for the week…..
How do people afford homes in Denver? The market is so out of whack. I think that with Barb and my combined incomes, we make enough to afford a decent house. Apparently I am wrong. Every place we look at has something wrong with it…like a 1970’s kitchen, a toilet in the middle of the basement or a famly of squirrels living in the fireplace…………. and the sellers are asking an absurd amount of money for it…..squirrels and all. It’s perplexing. We have looked in a handful of different neighborhoods and, on average, the prices of homes has gone up by double-digit percentages per year for the last 5 years. That’s funny because I don’t think inflation, the GDP or my salary has gone up by that much each year. Am I missing something? Is there some secret to buying a home that I don’t know about? Do I have to sell a vital organ in order to afford a decent home?

Ok I’m done now. Thanks for reading

The Last Week or So

2006-04-11T10:12:00.000-06:00

I haven’t posted in a week so here is an update on what has been going on.

Race- So the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile race was great. The race was pretty easy actually. I think I really noticed the difference in altitude. It was distracting to run past all the monuments so that helped get my mind of the fact that I was running for 100 minutes. I was able to finish in 1:41:40. So 10:10 minute miles. When I first started running I thought I would run it in 11 minute miles so I am pretty happy with that. Barb and Kristen did really well too so it was a good day.

DC – Was beautiful weather and it was great to see all our friends and meet a bunch of Barb’s friends and family who live in the area. The city is really interesting, very historic with all the US monuments and museums. My favorite monument was the FDR memorial. It is very serene with water features, quotes and statues of FDR all along the monument. I like it because instead of just being a attractive structure, it actually traces the events of his terms in office and brings to mind the era he was president. We also went to the Holocaust museum. It was very depressing but so well down, I would recommend it to everyone.

Condo – The condo is on the market and we have had about 8 showings in the first week. It’s a good sign that people are looking so hopefully we’ll hear have an offer before too long. We have been looking at neighborhood that we would potentially like to move to and it has been a little depressing. I can’t believe how expensive some of the neighborhoods in Denver are. People are asking so much money for little, dirty, dinge homes in questionable neighborhoods. If I didn’t hate it so much, I would say we should just move to Highlands Ranch and get a big, new house for less money.

Home Repair Part II

2006-03-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

So I have reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to fixing up the house. Last night, after 2 hours of painting smudges and nicks all over the house, I thought we were finally done with the home repair. Nope, I just had to keep going. First, I went to screw in the face plate on the light switch and broke it by screwing the screw in too far. Then I went to try to fix a crack in the drywall, ended up ripping off a chunk of the wall. Luckily with some superglue it’s back in place :)

We leave tomorrow for DC and the big race! I think I am ready for it. Beside the race, DC should be fun. We’ve never been there and this time of year is supposed to be beautiful with the Cherry Blossoms. I am excited to see some friends from college that live out there now. Should be a good time!

Caulk This!

2006-03-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of fixing up my house. I have spent all of my spare time the last 3 weeks getting my house ready to sell. This is frustrating since before I started I thought it was already ready. To date I have:

• Replaced the carpet
• Re-caulked all the windows and the bathtubs
• Painted over scuffs on the doors, walls and trim
• Scrubbed the outside of the house
• Cleaned the inside at least 15 times
• Packed and moved out many, many boxes of crap
• Re-arranged the furniture at least 5 times

I don’t think I can do anymore to fix it up. The house goes on the market on Thursday so hopefully the effort will help to sell it.

Wine, Wine, Wine

2006-03-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I have an acute sense of smell and taste. For instance, I can taste things in wines that most people can’t. I’m not sure if this is just my imagination or if I can really taste these things, but as I have become more attuned to it, I really enjoy tasting new wines now. Below are a few really good wines that are cheap and great for drinking with dinner….or after work……. or as a 7am morning drink (ok, that might be a sign of a problem). Does anyone else have any recommendations on wines? Having spent most of my drinking years consuming Keystone Ice, I am a novice when it comes to wines. Anyway, on to the wines:

Maribeau – This is so cheap and good. Barb’s parents turned us on to this one. It has a really clean taste, yet has enough body to not feel like you’re drinking . It’s really good with anything and is so cheap! It’s about $6 a bottle and comes in a liter bottle (a standard bottle of wine is 750ml). Both the red and white are good.

Twin Fin Pinot Noir – This is a good pinot that Barb read about and found. Again, it’s not overbearing but has more flavor than the Maribeau. It’s from a small vineyard in California whose motto is “We prefer sunny Days over dark cellars”. The name “Twin Fin” refers to a type of surf board. It’s $9 for a bottle of pinot noir that is better than the more expensive, larger Kendall Jackson type brands. If you don’t want to finish a bottle you can just screw the lid (no quark) back on. They also have Cab, Merlot and Chardonnay which we haven’t tried.

Evolution – Our local wine store, Marczyk’s, recommended this white. It is a bit more pricy but is so good. It’s very crisp and you can definitely taste the pear in the wine. It’s great with dinner, but at $15, it’s a little pricier. Worth the cost though
Strawberry Boones – Ok, just seeing if you are still reading at this point. If you are an 18 year old freshman girl rushing Kappa Kappa Gamma, this is your drink. Otherwise watch out for the wicked hangover the next morning. If you would like to go down this route, like me, you may be fooled into thinking there is only one flavor of Boones, but oh is that wrong. They have many revolting flavors, a sampling of which includes blackberry ridge, sangria and melon ball. Mmmmmmm Yuck!

Barb, the super runner

2006-03-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Barb is so fast. I am just amazed at how fast and far she can run. This weekend she ran a 5k in Wash Park and finished 5th Overall and was the 2nd female finisher. Although I am not the best runner, I am just amazed that she can just keep going and going and going. It’s pretty impressive. We were running the other day and I was saying that my legs were getting tired and she said she didn’t really understand that feeling. Nor does she understand the out-of-breath, burning sensation that sometimes accompanies running. Oh yes, that is a great feeling. She just chugs along at a crazy pace. When she runs with me, she usually ran earlier in the day and just treats our runs as a cool down. It’s crazy; I’ll be dripping in sweat while she maybe has a couple beads of perspiration when we’re done.

Oh Brother(s) Where Art Thou?

2006-03-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

I’m beginning to think my brother, Danny, doesn’t like his family or Colorado anymore. He moved to New Zealand last August for a year and has decided to stay for, at least, another year and move to Melbourne. In fact, in the last 3 years he has spent more than half his time out of the country. Prior to the trip to New Zealand he spent 6 months in Melbourne.

Maybe it’s all the family functions… birthdays, holidays, anniversaries. With 3 parents, 4 brothers, 3 girlfriends and a dog I guess it can get a little overwhelming. Maybe it’s that he doesn’t jive politically with our amazing President……..unnecessary wars, deficit spending, cronyism out the ying, yang…… I don’t see the problem there. Maybe it's that Australia is amazing and I’m sure New Zealand is just as beautiful?

No, I don’t think those are the reason.

I think there is another, more pressing motive for staying in the Southern Hemisphere. I think that he and his Kiwi girlfriend, Charlotte, who happens to be a great person…….I’m sure she’ll read this………are hiding their love child from the rest of the family. That’s right, I think they have given birth to a beautiful bouncing baby boy…..who’s name is, I assume, Matthew.

On a side note, it’s easier to figure out why one of my other brothers, Joey, moved out of state last summer. I know he likes the family and Colorado, but he just likes money much, much more. Hence the move to Las Vegas.

Run Matt Run!

2006-03-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

So tonight I did my last big run before the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race that's in two weeks. We ran 8.25 miles and it was a tough run. It was really cold and very, very windy. I ran a little under 10 minute mile pace so I am psyched about that and think I may try to run the CB at that pace. I figure I will be able to since it is at sea-level.

Tomorrow is NCAA Tourney Day. I am picking UW-Milwaukee as my upset team. This is because they are an underrated team and are going up against an overrated team, Oklahoma…………apparently overrating runs rampant in all Oklahoma sports….

NCAA Tournee

2006-03-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

All the pressure, I am frantically filling out my brackets today before office poll deadlines. No time to really write in the blog. I would like to pose the question though? Who is going to win it all?

Spring In Denver

2006-03-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

For everyone who lives in Denver, they know that there is really no such thing as Spring here. It’s either 75 and sunny, like a nice June day, or it’s 29 and overcast, like a cold day in January. I’m not sure how any flowers grow here as they start to bloom when we have a few warm days in a row and then they freeze the next week when the frost comes in. I’ve lived in Colorado for almost 25 years and I still can’t get used to it. It tricks me every year.

Also, I think I may be regressing to my college drinking days. In the last week I have been debilitating hung-over twice. That Maker’s Mark, though very tasty the night before, slaps me around like I’m Glass Joe and it’s Mike Tyson while I sleep. (Note my little homage to Nintendo).

Thirdly, Just to follow up on my last entry, I bought some new carpet this week at Lowes. They had the best selection of carpet and much better prices than Home Depot. However, I did end up selling one of my kidneys to pay for it still.

Preparing for the Future

2006-03-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Barb and I are getting ready to sell my place and I can’t believe how much money you can drop on replacing stuff in your house. It makes me wish I was a carpet manufacturer. I am going to easily drop $2000 into my house to just get it ready for selling. It’s a little crazy. Apparently my Formica countertop isn’t very desirable????

Anyone have any suggestions on where to get cheap carpet or counter top? These decisions I’m making are way too serious and have lasting impacts. I liked it better when my biggest decision was “Malt Liquor or not”

By the way, do you like the picture below? It’s my white trash look, I look freakishly natural huh?

Hooooooo Weeeeee

2006-02-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Diarrhea of the Mind

2006-02-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here's some random thoughts.

Many friends from out of town visited this weekend, it was good to see them all. Hopefully they all got home, with all their new, large, fragile gifts  Sorry K and R, couldn’t be helped, everything you registered for was huge!

I ran a lot this weekend training for the Cherry Blossom…….7 miles……. I am a little sore today, but I ran at an 11 minute pace and could have kept going so I am feeling good about the race; especially because it’s at sea-level.

I am haunted by Gray’s Anatomy, now that people say I remind them of O’Malley I feel a kinship with him. As a result I was really disturbed by the episode last night. He was basically crushed by his crush. George is so sad, at least he did something about it at the end.

I haven’t boarded in 3 weeks; I have a serious need to get to the mountains. Maybe I will come down with some 24 hour illness this week that can only be cured by a trip to a higher altitude and fast speeds on a snowboard?? Has anyone ever come down with something like that? I think it’s going around.

In addition, I keep hearing more and more people actually read my strange, pointless, yet....hopefully.... entertaining blog. So that's cool. Maybe if you're reading you leave a comment? Let me know what you think or that you're out there??

Matt O'Malley?

2006-02-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

So people keep telling me that I remind them of George O’Malley from the show Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not sure what to think of it as he is kind of this dorky, awkward, always single doctor. Apparently he is very endearing and a nice guy, ah yes my life curse…the nice guy. Though we do have the same haircut and, ironically, are both from Minnesota.

I guess it’s better than being compared to someone like Jason Alexander, yes someone has told me that before…..nice huh?

Check out this article about TR Knight, the actor who places O’Malley:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11371432/

To Netflix or Not?

2006-02-16T00:09:00.000-07:00

Reading a recent article about Netflix:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/10/netflix.penalty.ap/

I began to ponder my existence….. Really, most of the movies we see on Netflix aren’t that great. Basically, Barb or I will see a trailer for a movie coming to a theatre, get all excited about it and, unless we are dying to see it immediately, add it to the Netflix queue. Then when we get the movie on Netflix 9 months later, it’s not that great. As a result, I think Hollywood has gotten so good at making interesting and compelling trailers for mediocre movies. I would say 4 out of 5 movies I see on Netflix aren’t that great. The trailers make them look amazing, but in reality they’re not. Case in Point; take a look at the last 10 Netflix movies we’ve seen:

Happy Endings – Slow start, but actually a good flick
The Brothers Grimm – So strange, so strange
Crimes and Misdemeanors – Overrated Woody Allen babble; makes me think the newly added “Match Point” will suck too.
The Wedding Date – This was an entertaining plane movie.
Madagascar – A good cartoon, but…..it’s a cartoon.
Constantine – Horrendous, Despite Keanu Reeves amazing acting skills, the dialogue and story was horrible.
War of the Worlds – Very anti-climatic ending, would have also been better if Tom Cruise wasn’t so looney.
Crash – Totally overrated, too many actors makes for one-dimensional characters.
Monster-In-Law – Only a couple good scenes where Jane Fonda is batshit crazy.
The Interpreter – Sooooooo Boring, oh my god, this is the cure for insomnia.

Really, I would say 1 of these flicks was really a good movie and maybe 3 or 4 more were mildly entertaining. As critics are usually so jaded they don't like anything that isn't about a gay cowboy or stars an oscar winner, my question is where do I go to find out which movies to weed out and which ones to watch?

Migrains Suck

2006-02-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

I usually get one or two migraines a year. This weekend I had two. It was miserable. It basically destroyed the weekend. While everyone else, boarded/skied, I slept. In fact, I think I slept about 25 hours this weekend. So, at least, I am rested. Anyway, I hear it was so cold that it wasn’t too fun.

This week I am tracking my spending to see where all my money goes. It always seems like I run out of my weekly allowance by about Wednesday, without anything to show for it. I’ve done this before and the results were depressing. It turned out I spetd all my money on food and booze…..Hmmmm, think I may have a problem?????

Anyway, I’ll update with the results next week. Hope everyone who reads this has a great week.
Also, don’t forget to get your Powerball ticket before Wednesday night, the jackpot is $300 million!

Nothing to Write About

2006-02-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

I find that I feel an urge to write, yet I have nothing to write about. When I was writing
book reports in 3rd grade, I would sometimes feel like this. That’s when I discovered
double spacing.

It makes everything you write seem longer.

Using a slightly larger font was one of my favorites too.

When you love Math and not English you learn how to

s t r e t c h

your words so that you have to write less.

Holy Weddings Batman!

2006-02-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

I just have to share for a minute. I thought the window to add weddings on to the summer closed with the new year? Apparently not, in the last 2 weeks I’ve learned that two more couples have decided to get engaged and married this summer. This brings our total of weddings this summer to a whopping 7………pause for dramatic effect…..yes 7; 4 of which are out of state, 1 out of the country and 3 that I am in. Our whole summer is going to be spent going and planning on weddings. I am excited for all the couples and all the weddings as they will be a lot of fun, but wow. I’m thinking of buying a tux and using at all the weddings this summer. Below is the link to the one I like, it matches my eyes:

http://www.uglydress.com/powblutux.html

What do you think? Sexy huh?

Tired

2006-02-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

I’m tired………

So apparently, I have severe sleep apnea. From what my doctor said, most people have some form of sleep apnea, but mine is “extreme.” Now most conditions people have can be fixed by taking a pill or something easy like that, not sleep apnea. The “cure” for sleep apnea is actually to sleep with a large mask that looks like a gas mask called a CPAP, continues positive air pressure. It wraps around your head and fits over your nose. The mask then has a 6 foot tube that connects to a humidifier type thing that blows constant air through your nose, it’s not too comfortable. Then, if that isn’t bad enough, you have to wear a chin strap that prevents your mouth from opening up when you sleep. It’s great, I know that although it takes 4 hours to fall asleep, since you have to always sleep on your back, those 4 hours left in the night are the best hours of sleep I’ve had in years.

I’m still tired…………

Cheese & Running

2006-01-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last night, Barb and I went on the first of my long training runs. It went pretty well! I ran about 5.4 miles in 59 minutes so that is slightly under an 11 minute mile average. I am happy with that right now. My legs are a little sore today though; 5.4 miles is a lot for me. I think I’ll be ready for the Cherry Blossom. It’s almost double what I ran yesterday, but I could have run further last night and it’s at sea level.

After running went to Costco and bought 15 boxes of Mac & Cheese…..not an exaggeration. Sadly, it will probably be gone within a month and a half. Mmmmmm powdered cheese!

R2D2's Progeny

2006-01-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s like someone is reading my mind. For those of you that have been to my parent’s place in Mexico, you know we named our friendly, sliver cooler on wheels R2D2.
Check out this article; it’s like someone has tapped into our minds and executed our thoughts..........freaky!

The article is compliments of Mr. Barbeau:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8642

Great Musician, Great Words

2006-01-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Mike Doughty is one of my favorite musicians. In one of his songs he uses the word "decathecting". I am no english major, but I don't think I'm the only one who doesn't know what this means. Below is a definition provide on www.mikedoughty.com
Turns out it's a great, made-up word.

...................................................................................
What does "decathecting" mean?
We get a lot of emails here at Mike Doughty HQ asking what the word “decathecting,” from the bridge section of “Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well,” means.

Our good friends at Dictionary.com define the verb “cathect” as meaning “To invest emotional energy in (a person, object or idea).” So “decathecting” would then be the divestment, or letting go, of said emotional energy.

Geekin’ out—FOR THE FANS!

HQ

Faster than the speed of............a turtle

2006-01-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend I kick into high-gear with training for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run Barb and I are doing in April. For those of you who are runners, 10 miles probably doesn't seem like that far, but for me it might as well be a marathon. I am not a runner by nature. The type of races I am best at are boat races, the drinking kind. I can usually run about 3 miles and then I am done. I think I can do this though. I have been getting in better shape over the last year and every race I have run in, I have increased my speed. However, my races are mostly 5ks, 4mile runs and one 10k, The Bolder Boulder. So this is a loooooooong run. My goal is to finish the race, I would prefer to run it no slower than 11 minute miles, but we'll see. Anyway, this weekend we are starting with a 5 mile run, not too much for most, but a pretty good distance for me. My "coach".....Barb......is pretty good at helping me keep going, she'll probably run about 10 miles before our run so she can treat the 5 mile as a cool down :) Wish me luck with the training!

I really, really, really, really, really want a puppy.....she said

2006-01-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

If any of you have met Barb, you know that she is very focused and knows what she likes and doesn't like. When she gets an idea in her head, it doesn't go away. Don't get me wrong, part of the reason I love her is because she is very opinionated and knows who she is. Sometimes though, logic doesn't rule; for example.....Puppies

She wants a puppy so much. I love dogs and would like to get one when the timing is right, however below are 4 reasons why I don't think we can get a puppy right now.

1. We have no yard. Although it would be tiny now and doesn't need a lot of running space, I think it's cruel to have a dog and not allow it to have a backyard to run around in all day.
2. Barb already has a dog. She has an Australian Shepherd, Bomboo, who lives at her mother's house. However, she live with her mother because she is insane and continually tries to eat me. Apparently I am very tasty.
3. Since we both work, no one will be at home with it for the first 2 months. That time is really important for socialization and I don't think a puppy should be alone all day during that time.
4. Puppies are expensive and we are trying to save money right now.

So as much as I would love to get a dog right now, it just doesn't make sense.

At the same time, check out these golden puppies that are available right now. They are hard to resist.

By the way....here is her quote from this morning....
"I just want a HUGE dog that weighs more than me! Is that so wrong? Think how cute it would be."

I think.....err I hope.......she was kidding.

The Digital Ball & Chain

2006-01-23T11:18:00.001-07:00

In light of the recent rejection by the Supreme Court to hear the copy write infringement ruling against In Motion Ltd, the company responsible for Blackberries, you have to ask: Is the world a better place without Blackberries?

True they are very convenient for getting your emails, surfing the internet or talking on the phone simultaneously in any location, but do we really need to be that connected? If you ask any of my friends that have one they’ll say “Yes, of course it is.”, or rather, “Yes”…..a pause to quickly check an email and respond and then continue……”of course it is.”

Like a cell phone, I think you become addicted to the ability to always be connected, you never miss a call, an email or a breaking news story. But at the same time, you are ALWAYS connected. It seems to me, almost like a digital ball and chain. You can always be reached by work, or your mother or an annoying friend you’re avoiding.

True, it’s great, at the drop of a hat, to be able to find out a sports score or who was the actor that played Blossom’s best friend, Jenna Van Oy by the way, but how annoying is it to be in mid-sentence when someone stops engaging you and checks a new text message they received?

I’m sure that when I get a blackberry, I will become an addict like everyone else, but it’s just a question to ponder before I go to the dark side……or should I say blackberry side.

Poetry....I think not

2006-01-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

To get in touch with my Japanese Ancestry, I have taken up Haiku, tell me what you think?

A Haiku for Barb
This speedy lady
Running always, day and night
She can’t get enough

A Haiku for Snowboarding
Roaring down the hill
Wind is blowing, face is cold
Smash! One more bruised rib

A Haiku for Ketchup
This tomato sauce
No condiment is better
Than lovely ketchup

I can't feel my face cold

2006-01-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Holy Shit… I have spent many cold winters in Minnesota but this blows that out of the water.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/01/20/russia.cold.ap/index.html

So I have a simple question to pose to Conner…….
Why do you visit this bastion of ice so often?

I know they have excellent vodka and the legal age of consent is 15, thinking pre-Jenna of course, but that is just silly cold.

Wouldn’t it be much better to have an infatuation with a country like Tahiti or The Virgin Islands?

Running in circles????

2006-01-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Looking back at my 6 ½ years in the working world, I realize that I have added slim to no value to most of my clients/employers. Here is a quick synopsis

First at Anderson Consulting/Accenture I worked on 4 projects in my 4 years there.

Large billing replacement for Telco
The project was cancelled as the company was bought by another company that didn’t think billing was important. I think this should have been a little red flag as the CEO of this company is most likely headed to prison for insider trading

Siebel Implementation for a start-up SAN
The project was completed; however the company went out of business within 6 months of the go live. This company received 20 million in capital investment and blew it all on expensive consultants, high salaries and hot, new hardware and software. The problem was they didn’t have a clear business plan or a defined customer base.

Siebel Implementation for a subsidiary of a Telco
The project was cancelled as the subsidiary we were working for was shut down due to lack of market share. Again, lots of cash with no business plan or analysis of a customer base.

Siebel Implementation for a satellite television company
Worked on 2 systems, one of which went live and is still in production, the second was cancelled after the prototype phase.

Value Added: 9 months

Then I moved on to Level 3; for 10 months of the 18 months I worked at Level 3, I worked on an OE Entry system. It was, of course, cancelled.

Value Added: 8 months

Then I went to my current company. Everything started off well and I was able to design, develop and implement enhancements for 4 months. Great start right……..For the last 7 months though, our leadership has changed their minds 3 times and have shelved everything my whole team has done 3 different times.

Value Added: 4 months

So basically, over the last 6 years, I have added value for 21 months. That is crazy! I have learned a bunch and have been able to teach and mentor others, so I don’t consider the time wasted, but it just shows a good picture of how wasteful large corporate America is.

Who’s ready to open up that tiki bar in Tahiti with me?

Potential Career Changes

2006-01-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

One of the issues with being in IT development is that occationally you are on call. This weekend I was on call, now in the past I have never been awoken with a page in the middle of the night, so I figured if I went to the mountains, there was a slim chance I would get paged at night. Yea, I know, you can guess what happens next.....

Murphy's Law, of course I got a page at midnight on Saturday. I was able to resolve it, with the help of a teammember that I had to wake up, but it sucked. I hate IT. Here are some alternative careers I was thinking about......

1. Britney Spear's husband - I think KFed is on his way out, so if I just start rapping really badly, impregnating women and then leave them after spending all their money, I have a pretty good chance. Just embrace the trailer park
2.President of the United States - I think I can take the criticism that goes with it as long as I can also have the 2 months of vacation, a vice president that makes all the decisions and the complete certainty that I am always right. Plus I can annunciate correctly.
3.A Homeless Man - The easiest way to sleep in late and drink all day

Here's To Not Having an Ignominous Year

2006-01-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year, I hope you are all having a wonderful New Year. So far so good for me.

Although I believe that New Year's Resolutions are only made to be broken, I have decided to give in to popular culture, which I usually do, and make a few new year's resolutions.

1. Buy a new house, Barb and I are looking to buy a house this spring, partially because I want to sell my place and Barb wants to start building some equity, but also because we want a dog. Silly reason I know, but it's just an extra perk of living in a place with a yard.
2. Sell my car. I hate the Jetta, always have. Time to get rid of it.
3. Run a 10 mile race, unfortunately this will be happening in April :( I hate running, but I have to do it.
4. Read more, Me feels ignorant cause i ain't reading much. By doing this I can expand my vocabulary and use such words and ignominy

Quotes from the ski house form New Year's Weekend....Well actually just one, the others I had just didn't compare to this one

B: Does it get it done for you if a girl swallows?
S: It's not that, I just like to keep the sheets clean.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great, long weekend and was able to enjoy some time with or………. depending on your preference…....without their families. We had a great holiday with all our family and are always glad to spend time with those that we don't see very often.

Anyway..... On to my random topic for the day

I’ve noticed that my musical tastes tend to change constantly. Not sure if it’s thanks to ADD or an open mind, but my favorite musician seems to change every couple weeks. My recent trend towards Bluesy Rock has given me a chance to discover a ton of less famous sing/songwriters. Below is a list of musicians and their websites. Some are more famous than others, but check them out if you have time, they are worth a listen.

Marc Broussard – I have been listening to Marc for about 2 years now and his music is what got me into this genre. He has very rich vocals and a southern blues feel to his songs.
http://www.islandrecords.com/marcbroussard/site/home.las

Jonny Lang – Obviously, not an unknown musician, his raspy voice mixes well with his bluesy sound. JL has a similar sound to Marc Broussard, but with a more definite gospel vibe to his songs.
http://www.jonnylang.com/

Will Hoge – Sounds almost like younger, popier Lyle Lovitt, see if you can hear the similarities in their voices…especially in songs like Hey Tonight.
http://www.willhoge.com/

Josh Kelley – Folky pop from a guy with a very distinct voice. His song "Amazing" has just entered the billboard top 20 charts, so you've probably heard it before.
http://www.joshkelley.com/new/

Christopher Jak – Definitely less blues and more folk here, he has a good voice and catchy songs. What’s sweet about him is that I had been listening to him for awhile when I saw an article about him in Rolling Stone, in which they said he lives in Fort Collins, my hometown.
http://www.christopherjak.com/index_flash.html

Matt Wertz – The most pop of all of these groups, his songs are simple but, true to a pop formula, they are catchy and good to listen too. If you can admit that you occasionally enjoy a good pop album, this is good one as MW infuses some blues into his songs.
http://www.mattwertz.com/

Mike Doughty – He’s awesome. Great in concert, great albums, great BLOG on his website. MD used to be the lead singer of Soul Coughing. Definitely check him out, if you ever listen to KBCO, you’ll probably recognize the song “Looking at the world from the bottom of a well.”
http://mikedoughty.com/

John Legend- Fairly different from all the other singers here, he has more of a Bluesy R&B feel. He was originally “discovered” by Lauren Hill and has been under the mentorship on Kanye West the last couple years. So take a combo of those 2 artists and you have John Legend. His lyrics are heartfelt and his delivery is genuine. Most of the songs feature Legend playing piano, which adds a level of intimacy that many R&B albums lack. He was nominated for 8 Grammys this year, including best new artist.
http://johnlegend.com/

Can you tell that I don't have a lot to do at work today? Enjoy the musicians! Let me know what you think.

Great Weekend

2005-12-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

NY was awesome this weekend, it was freaking cold, but a lot of fun. Some of the highlights of the trip:

-A 4 Mile Race in Central Park. That is a great place to run a race, but it was so cold, I finally thawed out that night. Barb and I both ran good runs and were happy to get inside to warm up after the race.

-A walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, although very chilling, the views were incredible. We then walked around and had lunch in Brooklyn Heights. Brooklyn Heights is the area on the Harlem river that faces Manhattan. The neighborhood looks like the setting for the Cosby Show. I was waiting for Rudy to walk out the front door. It mainly consists of a whole bunch of restored brownstones………….. It's a pretty sweet area.

-Seeing Avenue Q. This was so hilarious, and inappropriate. Nothing better than a musical with drunk, muppet sex. No need to say anything else I think.

-The Food. We had some great food in NY. If you’re there in the near future, I highly suggest The Stanton Social Club in the Lower East Side. It’s kind of like funky tapes. For example we had Crab Cake Corndogs and Kobe Beef Sliders. Mmmmmm, my mouth is cheering, but my arteries are crying.

-Chinatown. You can buy a fake of anything you want there cheap. Not that Barb’s two new Louis Vuitton handbags aren’t real J

Big Apple Bound

2005-11-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Barb and I are headed to NY tomorrow for a long weekend.

We got a great deal on tickets, $120 on United round-trip, and are staying with a good friend of Barb's from college, Betsy, on the Upper-East Side. So we are saving a ton of money....which we'll probably spend on frivilous things like liquor, food, liquor, christmas gifts and liquor.

This is a great weekend to be in NY. All the lights for Christmas are up, the people seem so friendly this time of year too. I would highly recommend this weekend if you are planning a trip.

I think we’re going to try to go to the Today Show Friday morning so look for us if you watch J

We’re going to see Avenue Q. Basically this is a musical that stars “naughty muppets”. Instead of living on Sesame Street, these muppets live on Avenue Q. The all live in the same building, owned and managed by Gary Coleman.

Just to give you a taste of the types of songs they sing…..

If you were gay, that’s be ok
The Internet is for Porn
You can be as loud as the hell you want, when you’re making love.
Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes

Everyone we’ve talked to who has seen it says it is hysterical. It won best new musical last year at the Tony’s and is now playing at the Wynn in Vegas too.

Check it out below
http://www.avenueq.com

Also, this weekend CU plays Texas in the Big 12 Championship. As disappointed as I am in CU, I am still pulling for an upset. You just never know what team is going to play each week so here’s hoping we can hang with them and possibly win the Big 12. It’s happened before….. never the less, I can’t bare to watch the game. GO Buffs!

Quotes from the ski house this weekend......

2005-11-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, I am posting quotes from the ski house from the previous weekend, here are a couple doozies to start off with....

"Everyone wants a whore once in awhile; as long as it's not a mean whore." - Frank

"I don't need to double-click my mouse, I have Matthew" - Jenna

Thanksgiving

2005-11-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend, before gorging myself with turkey and watching the Bronc's squeak out a win in Dallas, I ran the Turkey Trot with Barb and some friends. The race goes once around the outside of Washington Park and then continues around the inner path of the park for 4 miles. This was the first race I have ever run in that I actually got in a zone and just pushed faster and faster each mile. It was a great feeling and I as a rusult, I finished with a PR.

Friday I wasted $100 on 2 tickets to the CU-Nebraska game. Talk about a let down. We have looked fairly good all season and to come in and just get destroyed by a mediocre Nebraska team was disheartening. Our offense was anemic, but that's nothing new. However, our Defence, usually pretty solid, was letting Nebraska and their....wait for it...... West Coast Offense, throw all over us. The upside was that the day was beautiful and we were able to meet up with a bunch of college friends that were in town for the game. And even though we lost, we still somehow managed to win the Big 12 North. Talk about a division of mediocrity! Basically this win means that means we'll get to watch as Texas pummels us and then probably go to the Holiday Bowl and have Oregon pummel us too. Ah, brings back memories of the Fiesta Bowl 4 years ago :)

To top off the game loss, our fans, possibly the worst in the Big 12, took it on themselves to “decorate” the fields with garbage.

Just to give you a little taste of what the game looked like, here is a quote from John Henderson of the Denver Post

‘In 40-plus years of watching college football, I can't recall a 15 1/2-point favorite with so much on the line against a team in such shambles and looking more incompetent, disorganized and flat as Colorado in its 30-3 drubbing by Nebraska on Friday.

The only aspect worse than Colorado's play was two sections of CU students who transformed themselves into a soccer crowd in a banana republic. If you were at Folsom Field dodging the flying rubbish, bottles and sanity, it looked worse on TV. ABC play-by-play man Mike Tirico carved up the offending students, calling them "an embarrassment" and pushing the university to take action.

Then in a surreal scene right out of a war zone, Tirico urged sideline reporter Suzy Shuster to "get outta there" while she reported from a cleared-out section with some tequila-laced student ringing a cowbell.’

Friday after the game we headed up to the Mountain House for the weekend. Our place is great and everyone seems to be getting along so well. The next morning we hit Keystone early to avoid the crazy crowds this weekend. I boarded horribly. The snow was patchy and they have only groomed 2 runs so far, Mozart and Schoolmarm, both of with were jam-packed with Texans flying all over the mountain like a blind monkey driving an eighteen-wheeler down the freeway……yes, it’s worth it to pause and picture that. So avoiding the monkeys was a must and that left runs that besides being patched with icy, snow-pack or dirt, were covered in moguls. Now I am an intermediate boarder and by the end of last year I could handle some moguls, however, after about 7 straight tumbles down the mountain on my third run I was feeling some pain. In one of the numerous tumbles I took, I think I rebruised my ribs. Sucks but at least I got to get up to the mountains this weekend. It was a lot of fun to get my first day in.

Also, just a side note, Barb is an incredible skier. She really zooms down anything so elegantly. If you are ever out here and want someone to ski hard and challenge you, talk to Barb.

The rest of the weekend I sat in a chair, drank a fair amount of liquor and waited for my entire body to stiffen up.

Overall a great Thanksgiving Weekend though.

Where in the World Day 3

2005-11-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

Man, this is one that everyone in Denver should have figured out!

Clue for Wednesday's Location:
"The gold flowed here for a second time, after a bust in the Rocky Mountains."

Answer: Innsbruck, Austria

Explanation:

The gold flowed here for a second time.......
-Referring to Olympic Gold, Innsbruck has hosted the Winter Olympics twice,

After a bust in the Rocky Mountains......
-Denver was awarded the Winter Games in 1976, however Denver voters turned down the games due to costs. As a result, Innsbruck was awarded the games for that year.

A few facts about Innsbruck:
-Innsbruck was the host for the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics
-Was also the home of the Van Trapp Family, the inspiration for the Sound of Music
-Downhill skiing was invented in the Alps above Innsbruck

More about Innsbruck, Austria:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041544/

2005-11-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here are the answers for the first two days and the clue for day three...

Clue for Monday's Location:
"The shuttle can land here in a pinch without turning any heads."

Answer: Easter Island

Explanation:

The shuttle can land here in a pinch.......
-NASA recently spent millions to lengthen the one runway on Easter Island so that in the case of an emergency, the shuttle can land on the island

Without turning heads......
-Refers to the Moai Statues, giant heads with small bodies, that the island is famous for.

A few facts about Easter Island:
-Most remote island in the world that is inhabited. Closest inhabited island is 1500 miles away, Tahiti is 2000 miles away, mainland Chili is 2500 miles away
-All Moai statues were knocked over in battles between different families on the island, resoration of the statues began in 1960.
-The island is 63 square miles and has a population of 3,791, of which 90% live in the capital city, Hanga Roa
-Is techincally part of Chili

More about Easter Island:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041544/

Clue for Tuesday's Location:
"People are still asking me about the one i got in 2002 almost 90 years after this most famous one was built."

Answer: Panama Canal

Explanation:

People are still asking me about the one i got in 2002......
-In 2002 Matt Lauer got a buzz cut because he was loosing his hair; he got a "Short Cut"

Almost 90 years after this most famous one was built......
-The Panama Canal, completed in 1915, is the world's most famous "Short Cut"

A few facts about the Panama Canal:
-Over 25,000 people died making the canal, mainly due to yellow fever.
-The French initially started the canal in the 1890’s and abandoned the project due to cost and loss of life
-The US took up the quest in 1904 and completed the canal in 1914. On January 1, 2000, Panama took over ownership of the canal. Prior to that, the canal was controlled by the US.
-The canal consists of 2 seperate sets of locks that each feed from the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean to Lake Gatun.
-The average price to go through the canal is $60,000 and can run up to $260,000, based on the weight of the ship.

More about Panama:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041544/

Clue for Wednesday's Location:
"The gold flowed here for a second time, after a bust in the Rocky Mountains."

Where in the World is Matt Lauer

2005-11-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

I usually watch the Today Show before I leave for work in the morning. Although sometimes annoying, I think the 4 anchors, Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, Ann Curry and Al Roker, are entertaining to watch. This is my favorite week to watch as it is "Where in the world is Matt Lauer" Week. This is where Matt Lauer will travel to a secret location everyday for 5 days and broadcast live from that location. At the end of each day, he gives a clue to where he is going next. I love to try and figure out where he is headed. Last Friday he gave the clue and I was actually able to figure it out. For the week, I will give you the clue from the day before and then the next day give you the location he broadcast from. If you want more information or prior locations he has broadcast from, check out the following link........

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/?ta=y

Clue for Monday's Location:

"The shuttle can land here in a pinch without turning any heads." Can you guess it?

Clue for Tuesday's Location:

"People are still asking me about the one i got in 2002 almost 90 years after this most famous one was built."

Follow-through

2005-11-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I lack follow-through. Case in point, I have wanted to write in my blog for the last week and have just not done it. No reason why, I just haven't followed through on it. It’s either due to my adult-onset ADD or just the fact that I’m lazy.

Anyway, I’ve lost interest in writing, more later

2005-10-20T15:29:00.000-06:00

What is up with the Powerball Gods? Why have they smote our state? Of the 27 states that participate in Powerball, Colorado is the only one not to ever have a jackpot winner. I thought the drawing yesterday was going to bring our state a winner. Not that I would ever expect to win the powerball myself, but it would be nice to see someone in the state win……. Ok….. that’s a lie………I wanted to win.

Anyway, here is the picture of the day…… It’s Tom Delay’s booking photo from earlier today taken at the Harris County sheriff’s bonding office,. I don’t care if you’re a Republican, Democrat or an Independent; that guy is skuzzy.

Old Man Walking

2005-10-19T15:29:00.000-06:00

It has been a crazy week!

After working a ton in Greenville last week I came home to a fun, yet busy, birthday weekend. Despite being almost 30…. Holy shit!.......I had one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.

Friday, we went to dinner with Barb’s dad, step-mom and brother to The Barolo Grill…. it was excellent! We went for Barb’s dad’s birthday, which was Friday, but everyone was nice enough to include me in the birthday celebration.

Saturday we headed to Cordiera, outside of Vail, for a wedding of a friend of mine from Accenture. Now if you didn’t know, The Cordiera Resort is where Kobe was staying when he performed his lude act with a cleaning lady. Anyway……the resort is very majestic and the views are incredible. Barb bought me a massage at the spa for my birthday, it was so relaxing….. in a non-Kobe-molestation-touching way. The wedding was at the golf club at Cordiera. The golf course is a true mountain course, complete with pine trees, rocks and naturally steep hills and bumps all over the course. It is a Nicholas design and the houses are designed to blend into nature so it almost looks like a golf course in the middle of a national park. That being said, the houses on the golf course are sick; each one is seriously the size of a mountain lodge. In fact, we couldn’t find the golf club at first because it is the smallest structure up there. The wedding was a lot of fun and it was great to hang out with some old friends from Accenture.

The next day we headed back down to Denver and watched the Broncos. I was exhausted from the busy week of work and the non-stop activities of the weekend so all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and watch football. Despite being exhausted, we made plans to meet up with Conner and Jenna for dinner at Hapa. I was complaining that I was too tired and that I didn’t want to go, but Barb thought we should. Anyway, she drags me to Hapa in the middle of the Broncos game so I am not too happy. To my surprise, when we walk in, there are about 20 friends there to surprise me with a birthday dinner! Barb had planned a surprise party for me. Suddenly I felt like such an ass, a feeling I am quite familiar with. The dinner was so great and it was so nice of everyone to come.

Barb definitely knows how to treat someone on there birthday, I don’t think I have ever been so spoiled on a birthday, except maybe last year when she planned a birthday vacation to Maine! So Barb, thanks again for everything!

On a side note, a little entertainment for those who are familiar with my car, the Jetta is broken again…….I love VWs!

Mmmm..... Meat

2005-10-12T15:28:00.000-06:00

There is a software expert out here in Greenville helping us with an upgrade of the software I work with. I worked with him about 5 years ago at another company we were both working for.

He looks completely different from how he used to look. He has lost about 75lbs since I saw him 5 years ago. At dinner last night, after a couple cocktails, he told me that he lost all the weight in the last year. What’s so funny about it is that he lost all the weight by strictly changing what he ate and when he ate. He said he does the same amount of physical activity, which is working out daily, that he has the last 5 years. His diet consists of eating foods higher in unsaturated fats and consuming fewer complex carbs. In addition to this Atkins like approach, all the food he eats in organic. Organic eggs, cheese, fruits. He gets his meat from a farm in Colorado Springs that only feeds its cows grass, no feed.

Maybe it was just the liquor, but I was just amazed that he could lose that much weight from just shifting his eating habits. Of course at the same time, he was eating a huge rack of bbq ribs and a piece of pecan pie, so he may just be blessed with good genes.

Ah The Deep South

2005-10-10T15:27:00.000-06:00

So I am working in Greenville, South Carolina this week at my company’s data center. I have never been to South Carolina and I have to say it is really nice. The weather is a bit muggy but the temperature is really nice. Right around 70. It’s very green, similar to Kentucky (see last week’s entry) but more plantation style houses.

Greenville itself is a fairly small city, around 55,000 people, however it is fourth largest in South Carolina, and the biggest in western South Carolina. I am staying at a Westin on Main Street. The hotel is a 150 year old hotel that was just remodeled. It reminds me of the Brown Palace in Denver. Very ornate and fancy. The best part of staying there are the beds. If you’ve never stayed at a Westin, the beds are so comfortable.

When I got in to town last night, I walked up the main street to find a restaurant to get dinner at. Now I know I border on the line of being an alcoholic, but I was just amazed that I couldn’t find a place to get dinner, have a beer and watch a football game last night. This is the bible belt and apparently it’s very rare to find a restaurant that serves alcohol on Sunday. As a result, restaurants don’t open on Sunday, because they can’t make any money on liquor sales. I guess it was Devine Intervention that I dry out for a day……….. Praise the Lord….…….Amen!

Jake Plummer..... Still Sucks

2005-10-08T15:26:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that despite a good couple weeks for the broncos, I am still not a fan of Jake Plummer.

He's like a big baby that requires all the attention of the head coach. It will take a couple more consistantly good performances and a little more personal responsibility from The Snake before I will upgrade him to decent.

Feel free to argue with me......Travis.

The Claddagh Ring

2005-10-07T15:25:00.000-06:00

I am so excited. Barb gave me a new Claddagh ring for my birthday. My old one was stolen a couple years ago out of my car. In my family, it is tradition that someone you love gives you a Claddagh ring to bring you luck. So it’s was so sweet of her to get it for me as I couldn’t buy one for myself. All Claddagh rings have a standard design, however mine is unique in that it is made of white gold. These rings are almost always made of yellow gold. For those who don’t know the history of the Claddagh ring, below is a little history about the Claddagh.

History of the Claddagh Ring:

The celebrated Claddagh ring, as we know it today, stands as a monument to love and friendship. The design is striking and unmistakable, two hands joined together to support a single heart, and upon it a crown. Its motto, not surprisingly, is 'let love and friendship reign'.

Traditionally, the rings can be worn in three different manners, all declaring a different status in the quest for love. When worn on the right hand with the heart facing outward toward the nail, the ring signifies one whose heart is free. When the heart is facing inward, toward the knuckle of the right hand, it indicates that the heart is no longer available. And finally, if the ring is to appear upon the left hand, it traditionally means that love has been plighted.

The tale of the ring is one of the greatest to be heard in Galway. It is said that by the year 1900 the Claddagh ring had become as important to the mythology of the city as the 14 merchant families, or tribes, that led Galway as a virtual city-state during much of the 13th through 17th centuries. Adding to the intrigue is the simple fact that no one can say for certain just where the ring originated, who made it first, or exactly what its connexion with the Claddagh is. Interestingly, through the mists of history and folklore, one name has become more associated with the origin of the ring than any other – Richard Joyes.

The story of Richard Joyes (his own variation of Joyce) is nothing short of remarkable. As it is told, after embarking on a voyage for the West Indies, Richard was captured by an Algerian pirate and subsequently sold into slavery. His purchaser was a wealthy and skilled goldsmith who, noticing Richard to be clever and adroit, trained him as an apprentice. Richard became marvelously skilled at the trade earning the lasting respect of his master. Meanwhile, King William III had ascended the throne of England and as a matter of first action he sent an ambassador to Algiers to demand the immediate release of all British subjects. Upon learning the news of Richard’s imminent release, the Moor offered Richard the hand of his only daughter in hope that he might stay. Richard declined and shortly thereafter departed for Galway where he began a new life as an independent jeweller, his most famous creation being the Claddagh ring – some of which, bearing Joyes distinctive jeweller’s mark, still exist today.

Another account of the ring’s origin attributes the ring to Margaret Joyce, the wealthy widow of a Spanish wine merchant who returned to Galway and married the city’s governor somewhere around the year 1600. It is said that Margaret, being fond of philanthropy, built the greater portion of the bridges of Connaught with her own money. One day while overseeing the construction of the bridges an eagle flying overhead let the original Claddagh ring fall to her in reward for her extraordinary generosity.

Yea.......Anti-Depressants for Everyone!

2005-10-05T15:23:00.001-06:00

Today it was announced that Katy Holmes and Tom Cruise are expecting a baby.

Despite assuming Katy will be having a natural birth, I can’t tell you how horrifying it is that Tom Cruise is breeding. Sane and rational people of the world should be scared that the Cruise gene pool won’t be dying with that crazy, little man.

And if you think this is good news, then you’re just being glib.