So We Bought a Car...

Without further ado...



We came in Sarah's '94 Toyota Corolla, and after almost five hours at the dealership on Saturday left in a Nissan Murano. Why the Murano (which you probably haven't even heard of) you may ask, well it actually fit the freakishly tall better than the other SUVs we looked at, as it even has adjustable pedals! The whole haggaling process went pretty well, Sarah did a good job of interupting every once in a while to ask if we could dicuss this alone, and they did end up coming down a lot toward what we wanted. It was sort of funny how upset the finance people were getting at us for not getting the extending warranty. The finace agent called in her boss, and they were practically yelling at us...I guess mainly because a $2500 extended warranty is pretty much pure profit for the dealership.

In other news, Sarah and I are going to Spain next week! I submitted a paper at an international conference in Rome related to my old job, so Sarah and I are gallivanting around Spain the week prior (we felt we did the Italy thing last year). Then, she's going to fly back and I'll go on to Rome for the conference on next Sunday. Of course the best part is Northrop Grumman is picking up a good chunk of the bill!

Hasta la vista y Arrivederci

Three Great Things...

You can tell I'm in a good mood, I just had good round of golf this week which is always a good way to cheer up. There are three great things about Denver that I'm going to share:

1) If its not sunny, the rain is quick: As they like to say when you first move here, there is more average sunshine in Denver (above 300 days a year) than almost anywhere else in the country. Of course this is really handy for all the outdoorsy stuff that Denver has to offer. The even cooler thing is, if it isn't shining bright, the rain moves through fast. I thought an afternoon shower was going to mess up my plans for after-work golf, but the weather reversed itself within 15 minutes. Same thing happened when Sarah and I played volleyball a few days ago; it started raining, we kept playing, and within five minutes it was clear again.

2) You can hit the golf ball further: When I played golf this week, I could drive the ball 250-260 yards here. Its hard to explain in words, but it was very cool feeling not being intimidated by a 450 yard Par 4. Thank you think air, even though I miss the extra oxygen, I'll take 10-15% extra on a typical golf shot.

3) There aren't very many fat people here: Lets get right to the point, I don't mind fat people, I have no problem with fat people but according to Men's Fitness (I think they are right up there with Science and Nature) Denver is the fifth fittest city in the US. It really comes down to this:
would you rather see a typical stomach in Houston...


or a typical one in Denver...


I rest my case

Free TV...

Just like writing a real paper (which I pretty much never did in college because I'm an engineer), I'm going to include quotes in today's entry, except because I can do whatever the hell I want they are all going to be Simpson's quotes. The first is from the Halloween episode that parodies The Shining:

Lisa: Dad, look! [holds TV up]
Homer: Television! Teacher, mother, [lusty] secret lover. Urge to kill...fading...fading...fading -- rising! Fading... fading
[family sighs]
Come, family. Sit in the snow with Daddy and let us all bask in television's warm glowing warming glow.

I too have been caught basking in television's warm glowing warming glow. When we first moved in, they didn't offer cable TV at our particular complex, so we eneded up getting Direct TV. When you first sign up, they entice you with a deal to get essentially all the movie channels they offer for free for the first three months. This is about 20 free movie channels.

While this is genearlly a good thing, I tend to get caught up in thinking that I have to watch a movie, no matter how crappy it is, because its free. I feel sort of like Homer trying to finish the 10 foot hoagie from his company picnic:

Marge: You've been eating that sandwich for over a week. I think the mayonnaise is starting to turn.
Homer: Two more feet, and I can fit it in the fridge. [flash to Marge walking up to Homer with a sandwich-looking thingamabob.]
Marge: Homer, I found this behind the radiator. I really think you should throw it away.
Homer: Suggestion noted. [when Marge leaves, Homer chows down]

I have seen a lot of good movies, but on the other hand I've also seen Harold & Kumar go to White Castle and White Chicks (I did have enough dignity to stop watching White Chicks after 15 mintues). I have definitely said to myself several times, well that was a waste of time. On the other hand, it has got Sarah and I hooked on Entourage. Any show that has Bob Sagat (playing himself) smoking weed and hiring hookers has to be doing something right. I highly recommend watching this show, even if you have to buy the DVD.

I'll leave you with one word of advice/warning (depending on your perspective). After about 9:00 at night, expect to find a moaning, naked woman on any of the following channels:

• Cinemax
• Cinemax West
• Cinemax More
• The History Channel (just kidding)

Busyness...

Man, the time really flies in between blog entries. It seemed like yesterday when I last posted, but actually its been like a week and a half. Anyway, I can attribute at least part of the delay to being pretty busy this weekend.

When we first moved here, given that we didn't really know anyone in Denver, I figured we might as well plan on doing some cool stuff to entertain us while we're out here. The first was on Friday when we saw Brian Regan, a truly hilarious comedian who had us doubled over in laughter the entire night. Rob and Bruce would certainly agree that I know what I'm talking about with this guy. This was second time we'd seen him and he used almost entirely new material. I won't even try to ruin one of his bits by typing it, but he is the man. I highly recommend him, and he is going to DC in November for all you northern Virginia people.

The second big activity was a golf tournament. The International at Castle Pines was played this weekend and we went all day on Saturday. For those who think golf is sort of lame, you may want to skip down a bit as you might not care at all about this next part. We really embraced the "following" approach at the tournament (following a certain group, as opposed to staying in one place and watching all the golfers go by). We followed one group for their last 9 holes in the morning that included Reteif Goosen who ended up winning the whole tournament. Then in the afternoon, we followed Phil Mickelsonm, probably the most famous golfer at the tournament, for his entire 18 hole round. This equated to about 6.5 miles of walking hilly terrain in the sun, but as a golf fan it was a blast for me. Most of the golfers we watched played really well, and Mickelson hit a 420 yard drive on one whole (the thin air helps)! I can't think of any other sporting event that you can get as close up to the "action" (it is golf after all) with just a general admission ticket. Even with the biggest following of the tournament, we were able to get within a few feet of Mickelson several times throughout the day. It was really cool and I'll definitely do it again some time.

Our final business is that we have actually met some people out here to do stuff with. We found a group that plays volleyball a lot, and we went today for the second time. Its fun because most of the people are good enough to keep a good game going, but not so good that Sarah and I feel stupid playing with them. If we keep this up for a while, the beach week crew may have to watch out for our new mad volleyball skizzels (editors note: I had a really hard time coming up with the spelling of skizzles/skizzels, if you happen to know feel free to correct me).