Ski Season Begins...

Before I go into our first adventures of skiing this season, I'll cover a few other miscellaneous topics. First off, I got to go back to Virginia last week as part of a "business" trip. It was a lot of fun, I got to see family, old co-workers, and of course many Arlington friends at the house of Traci, Cassie, Christy, and Emily (or Emitrasisty for short). Now I just have to figure out how to continue to visit every two weeks...still working on that one.

And for your Volleyball update, our league team made the final four...translation, we won our first playoff game in a 7 team league. Although, we now have to face off against the number 1 seed, so its anyone's guess if we can keep this playoff run alive.

Back to the point of this post. Sarah and I did in fact make our first ski trip of the season at Keystone. Only about half of the mountain was open, but it was still pretty cool. One "run" consisted of going down the equalivent of 4-5 regular slopes all the way from the top of the mountain to the bottom (3.5 miles). Once we got our ski legs back everything was going great, I personally loved my new skiis, so then I came up with this great idea: "let's try this other blue slope that we haven't looked at before." Can you say "Worst Decision...Ever" (in the voice of Comic Book Guy).

We started going down, the snow wasn't groomed and a little choppy but everything was fine. Then you make a right turn and huh, there are lots of moguls for the next half a mile or so. These actually went ok, we were both being cautious but these were navigatable. Then it evens out and another right turn and...BAM, 3-5 foot high moguls for the next two miles (at an even steeper slope). Our legs were alrighty burning as neither of us really knows how to ski moguls, and this pretty much finished us off. We eventually made it down, but not without a few tumbles. To add insult to injury, the moguls got so high that a few small trees and even a rock or two were pertruding out of the "valleys." So our brand new skis even got a little scratched up.
We didn't actually bring a camera to capture these precious moments, but here is a picture from keystone of the top of this evil slope. As you can see, it looks fine at the top...

Not to let the mountain beat us, we actually did do one more long run on more normal slopes and quickly regained our confidence. So, if we block out that one long and painful memory, it was actually a lot of fun.

Blades and Booze...

Yes there were blades(some real and some plastic that caused a little stir when I tried to bring them in my carry-on bag), and oh yes there was booze (a keg of Satan's Pony, ice luge, rumplemintz, and even a pack of O'Doules*). With those two ingredients in place, the B & B party VIII was as successful as ever. Families were reunited downing shots over a large block of ice (who knew both McDevitts would be there), obscure movie and tv characters were again given a stage, and best of all no incremenating pictures were taken against the wishes of said people:*


It was a great party from start to finish. Sarah and I got to catch up with a lot of our friends, and get drunk in the process. Throw in a little Halo 2 playing and you pretty much have the perfect weekend.

Since I wasn't a judge this year, and although I would never question drunk judging, I have to recognize my favorite costumes that were eligible but didn't win a prize this year (thus eliminating Rob's masterpiece as Optimus Prime). In no particular order my favorite non-winners: Ben as Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite (Ben is definitely in the running for the "Most Good Costumes without Ever Winning" award), Sarah B. as the bar wench (DON'T call her the bar bitch), and Bonnie and Alex as Thing 1 and Thing 2.



Thanks to the planners for all their hard work and I can't wait till next year (you can check out the actual winners and many more pics at the B&B website).

*We may never know who took this photo, or who the man taking the ice luge shot was

Beer!

One of Sarah and I's recent activities that's a little more unusual than our staple of hiking and volleyball, was our visit to the Coors brewery (the beer aroma smelled great even from the parking lot). It was actually pretty fun, we got to learn about beer, see the beer making process first-hand, get indoctrinated into drinking Coors, and then, best of all, drink beer! I was impressed that they actually gave you three glasses of any of the beers they make, including some good stuff like Killans, Blue Moon, and a not bad darker beer called Winterfest. All in all, a pretty fun trip.

Our volleyball season rages on. Its funny how competetive you get when you are placed in a league setting with refs, standings and the like. Our team is actually doing decently, we're in the middle of the pack at 7-8. But, we lost all 3 (each night you play the same team for 3 games) to one of the better teams a few nights ago. Man that really puts you in a bad mood compared to when you actually win a few. However there is one cure to the volleyball blues, an ice cold Coors brand beer!

Let it Snow...

Well, as you might have guessed from the pic, we experienced our first Colorado snowstorm today. Although, I have to admit this is a half truth, when Sarah and I were apartment hunting on MAY 1st it snowed a little in the morning...but, it's the first real snow and certainly the earliest I've ever seen snow in my life. We got about 4-5 inches of wet snow but the roads were pretty clear. As you can see in the picture from our balcony, the leaves just started turning colors and haven't even had a chance to fall off yet.

The only other thing I'll add is that on Saturday it was just over 80 degrees and sunny, and Sarah and I played volleyball outside all day. We had a 50 degree temperature swing in two days!!

Random Thoughts...

I'll get this out of the way early on, if you're looking for a well-thought out blog entry with a strong, consistent point...skip ahead till next week or enjoy a freakishly tall adventure from the archive.

Volleyball: I know I've at least mentioned before that Sarah and I have been getting into Volleyball after moving out here. Well, its turning into borderline addiction. We're regularly playing about three times a week now, including an indoor co-ed league on Friday nights. Its really fun, especially as we are both starting to get pretty good. I've even decided to bulk up, grow out my hair a bit, and give the AVP tour a whirl (suck that engineering education). I have indisputable proof located on my new bio page.

Casa Bonita: This is one is for Mike P. I like to give my readers more of what they like best, and Mike has commented about Casa Bonita at least three times now. What is Casa Bonita? Well its a Mexican restauruant in Denver that is just dripping with chessy-touristy attractions. It was also apparently featured in a South Park episode (but I've never seen this one). Sarah and I still haven't been, but at some point before we move again we will go. How can I pass up watching Chiquita the angry Gorilla


Blades and Booze Party: Last but certainly not least, I have to share my excitement that 8th annual B&B party is coming up in just over three weeks! Sarah and I are flying in for a long weekend of seeing old friends, drinking several types of alcohol (both lit on fire and served on huge block of ice) Several friends of mine, (notably Rob, Bruce, and Dave) spend an insane amount of hours creating this web page, make movies, and planning what some have called the event of the year. If you are one of the few reading this who haven't heard yet, of course you are invited (email me if you want details). I promise a good time...

Rome and the Pope...

You'd think I'd be done talking about European vacations, since it was two and a half weeks ago, but you're wrong for two reasons:
1) I'm a slow poster, forgetting my usual Sunday post, and
2) Nothing that exicting has been going on otherwise. It was either bitching about high gas prices or talking about the cradle of western civilization...
(Note: Conspiracy theorists maintain that I'm still rubbing in the fact that I got to go to Europe and you didn't)

I must admit that although it didn't quite have the shock and awe factor of seeing some of the amazing sites the first time, Rome is freakin awesome. It was very easy to convince me to skip conference presentations on topics that I don't work on anymore, given mostly be people with accents that are impossible to understand, to see some of the world's best sites.

I did get a chance to have perhaps the best meal of my life, especially if you factor in variety and the pure quantity of food, at the Northrop Grumman reception. They rented out this little restaurant, and every course was fantastic if I can remember them all:
1)Antipasta tray - mainly grilled vegetables
2)Garlic bread and bruschetta
3)Salads
4)Cheese stuffed Ravioli
5)Chicken, Beef, and Sausage (the best sasuage ever) skewers
6)Four-Cheese Calzones
7)For dessert, some sort-of pudding...my memory starts to get blurry at this point as I think I had about a whole bottle of red wine by then

Throw in an Italian accordian, trumpet, and tamborine band and you get a fun evening.



The other very memorable experience was that I got to see the Pope. Now, I'm not Catholic, and I wasn't even planning on going...but it was still pretty cool. I have to thank my friend Andrew, also at the conference, who hooked me up with essentially a "back-stage" pass. He knew a priest who knew a nun in Rome, and the next thing I know is I have an orange ticket to attend the general audience the Pope gives in St. Peters square on most Wednesday mornings. Instead of being among the throngs of 20,000 plus people in the square we were within about 15 feet from where the Pope was speaking. As proof, I took this snapshot when Pope Benedict rode by our section in his popemobile:



I imagine it will certainly rank as one of the most unique experiences in my life

Espana, Part Dos...

Last time we talked, we discussed the bull fight. Although this was probably the most memorable part of the Spain trip, there are still many other tales to tell...waking up hung-over in Spanish alley, nude beaches in Southern Spain, luge lessons, and even some stories that I didn't make up.

After we hit Madrid, we took a "train" to Toledo (No, not the one in Ohio). The reason I put train in full-arm quotes is because even though you buy a "train" ticket, the last leg of the journey is by bus. This created some confusion as to if we were at the "train" station or the bus station, but eventually a friendly Spainard pointed us toward our hotel. We liked Toledo and it had a beautiful Cathedral, but it was probably the least memorable town of our trip. We did find it interesting that all the tourist shops in Toledo sold Medieval paraphenalia including swords and daggers (good stuff for the Blades and Booze party).


Next up, Sevilla, a city we both liked a lot. I fell in love with tapas here; we found two outstanding tapas places that still make my mouth water (the Sangria was pretty good too). Another great Cathedral was here, and of course we saw the famous Flamenco dancing.


Finally, we picked out a little Spanish town called Ronda. The goal here was pretty much just to take in the beautiful scenary and take lots of pictures. A breath-taking ravine divides the city into a modern half and an old Moorish half. Instead of blabbing on I'll let a few pictures finish the story:

Spain and El Toro...

After my two week absence, I'm finally back with a new blog entry. In accordance with the comment to the last entry (which I apparently made after falling asleep), my main objective today is to make you, the reader, feel short and otherwise inferior to me. The good news is that after this big vacation, I have lots of material to meet this objective...you tiny indolent bastard.

Well, Spain was a blast, and probably the most interesting thing we saw was a bullfight in Madrid. My take on it is that if you get past the fact that the killing of a bull is turned into a mass spectacle, its pretty damn cool to watch. Each bullfight is pretty much the same format and in one "show" there are 3 different matadors (with helpers) who each fight two bulls. There are basically three acts in a bullfight:

Act I: The Horse Guy Stabs the Bull

The matador and his helpers do some of the signature cape work at this point, but because the bull is at full strength they keep running behind these wooden barriers. To combat this problem they get this guy on a horse with armor to stab the bull in the neck like so:

(Note: Apparently in the early part of the last century the horses didn't wear armor...they lost like 10 horses a night back then)

Act II: Quick Guys with Decorated Sticks Stab the Bull

I think these guys had the most dangerous job description: just run up the bull stab him with these sticks and then run a away before you get killed. They moved so fast they even came up blurry in this picture -


Act III: The Matador Finishes the Bull

At this point the bull is pretty tired, albeit a little annoyed. The matador finally takes the stage alone with this signature red cape, and does several of the famous Ole passes:

When the bull is really tired, the matador goes for the kill with his sword like so:



That's the bullfight in nutshell. Although the standard format for the bullfighting did get reptitive, it was alwasy exciting when the risky matador would get knocked down or his outfit torn:


Overall, a very cool experience. The rest of Spain will have to wait until the next entry...

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).

Hiking Adventures...

I must admit that hiking out here is pretty amazing. The scenery is just a lot more impressive than we are used to back east. So far we have done two hiking trips. The first was to the top of Crags Mountain which has an elevation of 10,855 feet. This sounds impressive, but you have to take into account that we started at like 10,300 feet. Just getting to the trailhead was quite an adventure. We had to take my tiny Corolla up the most windy, bumpy road it had ever seen. It made it, but I don't think it was very happy. At that point in our Colorado experience I don't think we had completely adjusted to the altitude...walking on flat land while breathing heavily is a strange feeling. We made it to the top after a few hours, and as you can see there were some truly amazing views:

Last weekend (I'm slowly making my way back to the present) we went hiking in the Boulder area at Eldorado Canyon Trail. Also very beautiful and although it was a little more strenuous and hot with a 1000 ft climb at the beginning and 90 degree temperatures...we made it!



Now you'd think with all this hiking that we'd be considered relatively active and outdoorsy, but people out here are freakin' insane. Let's do an informal survey from a conversation I had at work:

Me: I've done a couple of 5 mile hikes with my wife
Co-worker #1: My wife and I just started to hike all the 14ers -we're doing two more this weekend
Co-worker #2: I've hiked all the 14ers (all the 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado). One with a torn ACL and a massive knee brace
Co-worker #3: Yeah, I liked hiking all the 14ers, but my favorite was Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa (only 19,340 feet)
Me: I'm going to stand over here now...

They were trying to convince me to do at least one 14er while I'm out here, but it might have to be one that I can drive up to...especially after this article in the Denver Post this morning.

Quick Update on Recent Events...

I was planning on posting something earlier than this, but unfortunate events of the last two nights have prevented me from doing so. The minor inconveince was that our LCD monitor finally died on Sunday. It had been sporadically going blurry, but on Sunday it finally stayed blurry and didn't come back on. This made working (on say a blog) very difficult, but we now have a shiny new monitor that is perfectly clear. The much more serious event was that Sarah's grandmother passed away on Sunday. It was not unexpected and probably for the best given her condition in the last few months due to Parkinson’s . Sarah and I were busy making plans to attend the funeral in Ohio this Friday... juggling with if we could get a bereavement fare (and yes some airlines actually do require a copy of the death certificate), who could pick us up from the airport, and when we would return.

Anyway, everything has been worked out (leaving on Thursday, returning on Saturday) and hopefully I'll return to posting something more upbeat very soon.

The Rockies...

If there is one great thing about living in Colorado its the great access to just about anything outdoors that you could want to do. That and you only almost feel like there is pressure to do stuff outside here because the mountains are so amazing.

Our first weekend here after moving out of the hotel and into our actual apartment we were pretty tired of unpacking and looking at boxes. So, we headed down to Colorado Springs and saw great Colorado scenary. Nothing too strenuous was undertaken that day, mainly lots of driving and picture taking. We took the Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak (14, 110 feet). Amazingly enough it was in the upper 80's at the base, but we actually saw some snow flurries from the top! Check out the cool panorama from the top:



Since we already had driven all the way down to Pikes Peak, we figured we might as well hit Garden of the Gods. In a nut shell, its a public park around these cool red rock formations. Incidently it got its name from a surveyor who thought it would make a great place for a Beer Garden (is there anything beer can't do?)! Although we didn't get to spend much time there before a storm approached we did get a few good pics...


Needless to say we were very happy with our first weekend.

P.S. Eventually I'm going to actually catch up to the present day, but for now you're just going to have get used to reading about our past freakishly tall adventures. Blame Qwest DSL for taking a week and a half to send us our DSL modem.

Our humble abode...

This is going to be the first picture post, so that means less writing on my part and less reading on yours (so its really win-win).

Our place is pretty well done the way we like it, so its now a good time to show you what it looks like.

Here is the living room...


The guest bedroom (or we may still call it Rob's room for old-times sake)...



The master bedroom...



The Kitchen...



Mike's new toys...


The $20 dollar trashcan...



The reason I put this in is because when searching for a trash can at BB&B (in the Beyond section) I was totatlly miffed at the cost of trash cans. We ended up getting the cheapest one for $20 (which I thought was a still somewhat expensive), however they went up to $180 (check the link if you're skeptical). It is stainless steel, but for God's sake, I paid less for the grill which I COOK AND EAT OFF OF. I just wouldn't think you'd want to get something that expensive dirty with say, your GARBAGE.

Later

So it begins...

It has come to this. I'm doing something unexpected, capricious even. Yes, even though I probably a few years behind everyone else, I'm starting a blog. You may be asking yourself: Why...WHY...WHY!

As you can probably guess, Sarah and I are pretty much out here by ourselves, and we want to keep in touch with as many people as we can. I think a blog is a great way to at least let everyone know what we're up to and how we are doing. If you are thinking, I don't give a crap what Mike and Sarah are doing, then you don't have to read the blog. No one is forcing you...yet (not until plan B). On the other hand if you are thinking I wonder what it's like to be freakishly tall west of the Mississippi, this blog is your window into the life of the freakish. It's that simple.

So, with this in mind and I'm gonig to lay a few ground rules (probably more for myself than you all):
1) I'm shooting to post around once a week (maybe more if I feel so inspired)
2) You won't have to spend a half-hour reading an entry. I don't think either one of us has the attention span, so the entries will probably be about this long.
3) When not purely updating you about Sarah and I's adventures, I will try to mercilessly mock, complain, and rant about whatever I want.

I encourage you'll to post comments, and take luck