For those who don't know, I'll be back east from the 24th-1st, so drop me a line if you want to say hi! I'm wrapping up my last minute X-mas shopping and hoping to bring everything home in one little backpack, no luggage for me. It'll be good to see family and friends, check in on Bruplex and relax in the nutmeg state for a week.
I'll miss our little cold snap in Colorado, it's kind of a treat to have real winter here. On Saturday, I was snowboarding up at Loveland with temps in the minus 15 to minus 20 range and howling winds pushing the lift chairs -- my guess is it was the coldest on-resort day I've ever had. All bundled up, I was plenty warm but the blowing snow was so fine that it made the visibility extremely poor. If you could see 10 feet in front of you, that was the best look you were going to get at the mountain until you hit treeline. It was raw, wild and slightly dangerous; it felt good.
But anyhow, back to CT -- I'll be arriving just before midnight in Hartford on X-mas eve, then leaving around 5 PM on New Year's Day. Then I'm back in Colorado for about 3 weeks then off to Antarctica. It's going to be a busy next month and a half!!!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sorry for the 2x posts in one day, but to anyone who has ever seen my awful drivers' license picture (previously mentioned in this very blog):
I've got no real complaints about the record cold hitting Colorado this week. I think after about 5 degrees, I can't tell the difference until it gets to about minus 30. Outside of sketchy driving conditions, I've enjoyed the cold snap. Sunday was a fun powder day at Keystone with no crowds because it was so chilly (minus 18 at the base, probably around minus 25 at the top of the lifts). For the first time in many, many months I don't have to leave my windows open to get a good night's sleep (my apartment is unnaturally hot and gets hotter in the winter, meaning a fully opened window on a 25 degree night usually equates to a room temperature bedroom). Best of all, the snow in Boulder is actually staying for more than a few hours, bucking the normal trend of 8 inches of snowfall followed by a 60 degree day.
I also can't believe we're in the single digits of days before Christmas. Do the 12 days of Christmas go before or after the 25th? That would make December 13th the first day of Christmas, so today is the fourth day of Christmas, so I'll expect those calling birds on my doorstep when I come home from work. I actually HAVE bought a few presents and may finish up most of my shopping tonight. It would be, by far, the earliest I've ever accomplished the task! We'll see...
PS: When its below zero, try not to put your keys in your mouth unless you want a "Flick-esque" experience in miniature.
I also can't believe we're in the single digits of days before Christmas. Do the 12 days of Christmas go before or after the 25th? That would make December 13th the first day of Christmas, so today is the fourth day of Christmas, so I'll expect those calling birds on my doorstep when I come home from work. I actually HAVE bought a few presents and may finish up most of my shopping tonight. It would be, by far, the earliest I've ever accomplished the task! We'll see...
PS: When its below zero, try not to put your keys in your mouth unless you want a "Flick-esque" experience in miniature.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Despite the fact I have a pretty sweet digital camera, I hate talking about it because it has the stupidest name ever devised for a photo-capturing device: the Pentax *ist-D. Complete with the asterisk. It's like the first letter of the camera is password protected. I've grown weary of calling stores to inquire about possible lenses because when I get asked the inevitable question, what kind of camera I have, I honestly don't know what to say. I wish I could go the Prince route and call it the camera formerly known as Pentax. However, if I take creative license with the asterisk and replace it with an "F", I now have Fist-D the camera, which sounds tough and offers up some street cred. Fist-D, yo. Now shut yo' mouth and say cheese.
I mention Fist-D because I'm getting my gear for Antarctica lined up. I have the essentials taken care of (Game Boy Advance, Frisbee, barf bags, Homestar Runner t-shirt, viking helmet) so now it's onto the details, such as I dunno, clothes. I do already have the Homestar shirt, so I'm half-way there.
Also, holiday shopping is afoot-- for most people that is. I get paid every other Thursday, with the first check of the month always going towards rent. So guess when I get paid with money I can actually use for holiday shopping? December 25th. Technically, wasn't baby Jebus born sometime in the night? So if I get up at the crack of dawn, I can get my loved ones the very best gifts the Exxon mini-mart can offer! I hope you all like body-building magazines and jerky!
So a little more on the great Antarctic adventure--I'll be traveling with my company, Natural Habitat Adventures on our Grand Antarctica expedition. We'll depart from Chile with our first stop being the South Falkland Islands. From there, we chug on to South Georgia Island, the place where Ernest Shackleton made his great escape. As a cool sidenote, Jonathan Shackleton, cousin of the fabled explorer, will be on board as our staff historian.
From there, it's off to Antarctica itself. I think technically this will be the first continent outside of North America that I'll have stepped on--wait, scratch that--I'm flying to Chile. Well, you get the idea--it's going to be awesome. The whole trip will take about 3 weeks. Of course I'll takes tons n' tons o' pictures.
Anyone want me to bring them back a stone from the ends of the earth? :)
I mention Fist-D because I'm getting my gear for Antarctica lined up. I have the essentials taken care of (Game Boy Advance, Frisbee, barf bags, Homestar Runner t-shirt, viking helmet) so now it's onto the details, such as I dunno, clothes. I do already have the Homestar shirt, so I'm half-way there.
Also, holiday shopping is afoot-- for most people that is. I get paid every other Thursday, with the first check of the month always going towards rent. So guess when I get paid with money I can actually use for holiday shopping? December 25th. Technically, wasn't baby Jebus born sometime in the night? So if I get up at the crack of dawn, I can get my loved ones the very best gifts the Exxon mini-mart can offer! I hope you all like body-building magazines and jerky!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
So a little more on the great Antarctic adventure--I'll be traveling with my company, Natural Habitat Adventures on our Grand Antarctica expedition. We'll depart from Chile with our first stop being the South Falkland Islands. From there, we chug on to South Georgia Island, the place where Ernest Shackleton made his great escape. As a cool sidenote, Jonathan Shackleton, cousin of the fabled explorer, will be on board as our staff historian. From there, it's off to Antarctica itself. I think technically this will be the first continent outside of North America that I'll have stepped on--wait, scratch that--I'm flying to Chile. Well, you get the idea--it's going to be awesome. The whole trip will take about 3 weeks. Of course I'll takes tons n' tons o' pictures.
Anyone want me to bring them back a stone from the ends of the earth? :)
Monday, December 01, 2008
I hope everyone had a hearty and calorie-riffic thanksgiving! Besides celebrating the feast of "the Indians saving the white man before the white man destroyed his culture" there were two other reasons to celebrate this holiday weekend: my Grandmother's 90th birthday (yay!) and National Video Game Day (and also John R's 30th birthday as well, which is on either the 29th or the 30th. I will never remember which day it is.)
My Grandma's one complaint on her 90th trip around the sun was that her bowling average is "only" 113. Outside of that everything is fine!
As for National Video Game day, I decided to play an old classic, F-Zero GX for the Gamecube. Undoubtedly the best action racing game to date, GX is one of my proudest gaming accomplishments, notably completing all the Story Missions on Very Hard. After reacquainting myself with the controls, I noticed I had missed beating two of the staff ghosts in the time attack mode. I thus spent the next 4 hours making sure I beat their records, the hardest (for me) being Casino Palace - Split Oval, which I finally got 56'401 to squeak by the Staff Ghost record of 56'691.
All in all, it was a relaxing weekend. I can't believe it's December already! Last night I think was October, right? Did I miss a month?
My Grandma's one complaint on her 90th trip around the sun was that her bowling average is "only" 113. Outside of that everything is fine!
As for National Video Game day, I decided to play an old classic, F-Zero GX for the Gamecube. Undoubtedly the best action racing game to date, GX is one of my proudest gaming accomplishments, notably completing all the Story Missions on Very Hard. After reacquainting myself with the controls, I noticed I had missed beating two of the staff ghosts in the time attack mode. I thus spent the next 4 hours making sure I beat their records, the hardest (for me) being Casino Palace - Split Oval, which I finally got 56'401 to squeak by the Staff Ghost record of 56'691.
All in all, it was a relaxing weekend. I can't believe it's December already! Last night I think was October, right? Did I miss a month?
