The stretch of vitality

The Skareckis came out for a big Colorado ski trip adventure visit. They arrived on Wednesday morning and spent Wednesday through Friday exploring the area around Boulder. They hit the Butterfly Pavillion, the Louisville Rec Center featuring its big yellow water slide, and even went indoor skydiving in Lone Tree. Thursday night Marc’s college friend Marissa came over and we had a big dinner with Rotisserie chicken and lots of trimmings. This was followed by an intense game of Bananagrams wherein Michale validated my prediction that she would dominate. Michale and I had to get up early on Friday so we retired around eleven and left the three of them to hang and talk until the wee hours.

Friday after work we had some logistics to deal with. Marc had sent a package with their ski gear UPS for guaranteed Friday delivery. However, with the big snowstorms in the east, it didn’t make it, and we were scheduled to head up to Breckenridge early Saturday morning. So we had to drive around Boulder and pick up some borrowed gear in addition to hitting Sports Authority minutes before close to quickly outfit Sunny with snow pants, gloves, long underwear, and goggles.

We drove up Saturday morning. We sang The Twelve Days of Christmas as well as Sweet Potato in the car on the way up. Marc and Casey also talked at length about how great They Might Be Giants’ Here Comes Science album is, always lamenting how they couldn’t remember any of it. They then proceeded to sing no less than twelve of the album’s nineteen tracks a capella flawlessly. During the trip I loaded it onto my mp3 player for the ride home to verify all the lyrics. Sunny and Casey particularly got fired up for the Einsenhower Tunnel (Einsenhower Tower as Casey calls it) and the Continental Divide.

We rented a sweet ski-in ski-out condo right on the slopes at Breckenridge. The skiing was pretty great. Michale came up Saturday to join us for hot tubbing, swimming, dinner, and skiing Sunday. It snowed five inches Sunday night. Michale and I sat in the outdoor hot tub sipping hot cocoa while the snow fell on us. Marc and I headed out alone Monday morning to ski the freshies and hit the summit. We made a lot of runs between 8:30 and lunch time. Then Casey and Sunny joined us. They found some good runs for Sunny including a few little entertaining themed runs through the trees with castles, dragons, cobras, haunted mine graveyards, etc.

Tuesday was going to be a “perfect storm” of circumstances to try snowboarding. I have a season pass so I’m not concerned about the lift ticket. We had a condo so I could bail and go back to skis if needed. Marc was there and willing to give me a lesson. We had fresh sow and plenty of warmth and sunshine on Tuesday. It was mid week so it was not too crowded. So with all these circumstances aligned, I figured it would be fine to try snowboarding instead of just going off on my own while the Skareckis stuck to green circle runs. So I rented a board, packed a bunch of bath towels into my snow pants to pad my knees and butt, and headed out there. Marc gave me some tips, and within about four runs I was able to get down the learner slope without falling.

The Skareckis went over to lift nine and left me on the beginner run to try to get my skills together. I got the basics but was still not quite stable. After a long lunch break and a nap, I went back out for a few more runs. I made my way over to peak nine with great effort and fear, only to take one run then realize it was already 3:30 and the lifts would close in half an hour, so in order to get back to the condo I would have to B line it back to peak eight. I made it back in time. I was very tired though since it’s very different leg muscles than skiing, so on the slope back to the condo I was wiping out every twenty yards or so. Anyway, it was cool to get a chance to try it, but I have no plans for further experimentation unless unusual circumstances hit again. It’s just too awkward with the undoing and redoing the binding and the awkward pigeon toed shuffle.

We got up early Wednesday morning and went straight to the airport. It was a really fun trip and some great skiing!

The rest of the photos are here.

I took Michale on a vacation to Belize! Belize was on my list of places to go for good scuba diving, and Michale wanted to go some place warm. It’s a very easy trip: 6 hours of plane rides, English speaking, US Dollars accepted. We arrived Wednesday late afternoon in the Belize City international airport, and took a tiny Cessna puddle jumper to Ambergris Caye, the island where San Pedro is. It was the smallest plane (maybe 12 passengers max) either of us had taken. We stopped briefly on Caye Caulker to drop off one passenger and the rest of us stayed on for Ambergris. We got the island flavor right away with the baggage claim being a small section of grass delimited with wooden posts and a chain painted white. One of the handful of airport staff asked us where we were going and called them to arrange our taxi to our condo development. Lelo our taxi driver took us there, narrowly missing people, dogs, and structures the whole way, with that frightening but amazing precision that taxi drivers always have. He was the first to introduce us to the island slogan “No shoes. No shirt. No problem”, which he repeated numerous times.

Wednesday night we just got settled in, strolled through the tiny downtown, and ate mixed seafood pasta at Elvi’s. There was shrimp, lobster, scallops, conch, and calamari in it. Michale started reading up in the guidebooks and guest register we found in the condo that night. “A bit loud at night” is what Michale wrote in her journal. What this means is our condo was just off the street where loud golf carts and cars go past. The old lady occupying the private home next to our condo blares her TV for many hours each day and evening. Drunk people walk by and talk loudly. One day they chainsawed a coconut tree into pieces for several hours just outside the condo. Another day was the hardware store across the streeet’s tenth anniversary and they rented a huge set of speakers and played music all day. It was not the calm tropical oasis I was hoping for.

Thursday was our unscripted exploring day. We wandered out of the condo development out through the streets toward the western shore of the island. We didn’t get far before two young men in a golf cart approached us and pitched us some freebies if we went and looked at time shares at a new resort on the northern side of the island. We hemmed and hawed a bit, but eventually decided to go with them because it seemed like fun and would make a good story and we would get a free day golf cart rental out of it. They were very excited because the prize we had selected out of their manila envelope of prize tickets was a free week’s stay at the resort, which they claimed meant $100 US for them. For all we knew, half of the tickets in the envelope said that.

They drove us up to the resort and chatted away. They explained the new movie theater just over the bridge to the northern section which had recently been built and is planning to open for business in a few weeks. The drove us up into the complex, which was mostly up and running except for the last few units under construction, and otherwise mostly deserted. There was one other couple getting a time share pitch and maybe one or two guests. We were introduced to our salesperson, Karia, a slim freckled blonde woman, wearing, get this, a thigh-length down jacket and wool turtle neck sweater. Now, it was surely cool that day, probably in the mid sixties, but the full on winter garb was quite surprising and amusing. Michale and I set across from her in our shorts and flip flops. The deal was we had to sit through a 90 minute presentation, then we’d get our golf cart rental. So we did and we chatted with Karia about our vacation habits (oh yeah, we told them we had been married for two years, although Michale hadn’t yet begun wearing the fake wedding ring she brought on the trip). Karia explained how she and her daughter ended up leaving Canada to travel and eventually landing in Belize. She showed us a model unit and then finally released us after we declined to buy a time share on the spot, despite her lovely financial models and diagrams she drew on her trusty yellow legal pad. According to Karia, aggressive time share marketing got to be such a problem in Belize that the regulated it such that these places could approach someone only once, give them one pitch, and then the “mark” would have to buy in on the spot, and if not the developer is forbidden from interacting with them further.

So we got a lift back all the way to the southern end of town from another young man in a golf cart with our golf cart rental voucher and 7-day stay voucher in tow. We explored the far south end of town (although the island extends quite a bit further south) a bit before stopping in Ali Babba’s for rotisserie chicken, which was quite tasty. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed, napped, dipped toes in the water, and bought some groceries. San Pedro has a small grocery store every hundred yards, but presumably due to the realities of island sundries, they each seem to carry virtually identical goods. We got the necessary items: coffee, creamer, peanut butter, and some fruit. We ate a yummy meal at Mickey’s featuring salty Belizean style grouper followed by frozen custard and strolling on the beach.

Friday I did my first scuba dive out to a hand-shaped coral formation in open water. As soon as I started to descend, a big three foot ugly looking fish with a prominent lower jaw came up from the bottom to examine me, which was a fun feeling. We saw a nurse shark swimming around and lots of cool fish. Right at the end of the dive some of the others saw a mother and baby dolphin. I missed it since I was the first one out of air and was already on my way up. It’s tough to inhale slowly after twenty years of split-second inhales playing woodwind instruments. As I feared, I got seasick after getting back in the boat despite the drammamine I had taken both the night before and shortly before the dive. I wasn’t feeling very well so I bailed from the second tank dive. It was nice since they go back to the dock and dive shop between dives since the dive sites are mostly very nearby, so I had a chance to bail for dry land instead of bouncing around in the boat while everyone did another dive. The drammamine messed me up so I went and slept in the hammock on our balcony for a good long while.

During this Michale was wondering around exploring on her own. She eventually wondered onto the wrong side of the airport and was a bit frightened by some kids that approached her asking what she was doing there. Thankfully they left her alone though and she came back. Then Michale went for a swim in the sea, but it was still quite cool so I quickly got shivers and got out to spectate. We ate some yummy sushi at the Hummingbird Cafe and then took a long walk up to the northern section of the island. We eventually encountered Legends Burgers and went in for a “dinner 2″ burger with swiss and mushrooms. We chatted with the owner Tyler a bit then hitched a ride back home on a passing golf cart.

Saturday we lounged around the pool. I did some yoga while Michale did her pool exercises while we waited for the last morning water taxi to Caye Caulker, a smaller island about 45 minutes south of Ambergris Caye by boat. Our sea band pressure point motion sickness bracelets worked great for that trip. The water taxi captain wore a CU Buffs hat. We became quite concerned when the water taxi stopped in open water about a quarter mile from Caye Caulker. Another, smaller boat pulled up along side. Without any official explaination or clarity about what was happening, many of the passengers and luggage were transferred to the other boat, which was apparently the one making a Caye Caulker stop, while the main boat continued on to Belize City, or so we figured. We hopped over to the small boat and they took us to the island. Here a local explained that Caye Caulker is “go slow island”. Upon landing, we walked down the dock past the “Sexy-Chicken” boat and the tile placard on the dock reading “Caye Caulker. Go slow.”. Immediately, it was clear that Caye Caulker was what we were looking for and Ambergris not so much. Caulker was mellow, quiet, and mostly free of golf carts.

We wandered down to “the split”, a small gap in the island created by a violent hurricane in the 1960s that boasts fantastic snorkeling right next to the Lazy Lizard bar and grill – “A sunny place for shady people”. This spot has a great vibe. Folks lounged around, snorkeled, ordered drinks, and smiled broadly. A funny group of middle aged men, possibly Australian, sat and drank beer in their black speedo bathing suits on a wooden picnic table half submerged in the sea. Two buxom women and a small boy hung out wearing hats made from palm leaves. We ordered creole shrimp and a chicken burrito, which were Michale’s favorite food of the trip. Then we found a spot of beach with sun for Michale next to shade for me and napped for a while. Then we were ready to do our snorkeling in the split. We saw lots of big schools of tropical fish that hang out in the ruins of old boats and docks in the split. The water is shallow – never more than about fifteen feet, so the snorkeling is great. A funny man in a speedo showed me a somewhat big shark hiding under a piece of wood about ten feet down. We swam over to the other side and saw lots of Trumpet Fish, then stepped out onto the land and walked around the marshy squishy sand on the north side of the split, seeing two big iguanas. As we headed back to the south side, snorkeling back to the beach in about eighteen inches of water, I turned my head and almost bumped into a football-side red octopus right in front of me. I picked my head up and yelled “octopus!” to Michale and we watched him do a funny frightened sideways shuffle away from us.

Saturday night we made a menu error and ordered ceviche at Wild Mango, the best reputed restaurant in San Pedro, only to realize we had no idea what it was and that neither of us liked it since it was so limey and salty. Oh well. We compensated with a banana chimichanga for dessert. Michale was sun burned and spend a good long while applying cucumber to her skin. We relaxed at home and watched “The Abyss” on TV. Probably not the wisest choice ten hours before a scuba dive.

Sunday I went to the dive shop to do the other tank of the 2-tank dive I had bailed on Friday. It was a busy day with lots of divers. The captain said we were going to Hol Chan, which is a fantastic spot for both scuba and snorkeling in a marine reserve. I asked if Michale could come snorkel, ran back to the condo to get her, and we both got on the boat. At Hol Chan the water is very shallow. Two dive teams went in and did our exploring while Michale got to snorkel with a private guide. There were lots of cool fish on this dive as well, including big schools of large shiny Tarpon. Michale also hung out with a sea turtle for a while. After that we zoomed over to “Shark Ray Alley” where nurse sharks and eagle rays hang out waiting for dive boats to feed them. Here we just snorkeled around the boat a bit. It was just us and one other couple and the vibe was very relaxed. The were TONS of eagle rays and it was really cool. They are so graceful and spiritual and other-worldly. It’s really cool to watch them soar under you and snorkel down right above them. We also had some nurse sharks come hang out right next to the boat.

We ate some chicken and ribs at Wet Willy’s on a dock then went and picked up our free golf cart. We drove up as far north as you can go on the cart and then walked beyond that past some of the newer big developments. We found a suitable beach and I napped extensively and pleasantly while Michale splashed around in the water. We ate in that night – egg scrambles on our little kitchenette gas stove. The condo maintenance guy showed me the trick to lighting it: pull it out away from the wall then bang on the gas pipe. Works every time.

Monday we were picked up at our dock bright and early by a speedboat full of tourists headed for the mainland under the guidance of Gus and Juni, our tour guides. The boat ride was really fun. The boat is fast and Gus was funny. The entire area between the reef and the island is very shallow water, so you can almost always see the bottom as the speed boat zips along. We stopped when we saw a bottle nosed dolphin popping up out of the water, then zipped along, narrowly zooming through the frighteningly shallow water between two small land masses topped with mangrove trees, the branches extending out to the boat such that we nearly had to duck under them. After about an hour we were at the mainland and we went up the Belize Old River, eating delicious Johnny Cake chicken sandwiches and eyeing wildlife Gus and Juni pointed out, including egrets, crocodiles, and iguanas.

The group split here with most folks getting on a big green bus to the Lamanai Mayan ruin site, and just two couples headed to the cave tubing site. Michale and I went to the Belize Zoo with Juni while another couple from Scranton PA went zip lining in the jungle. The zoo was really fun. Juni was our private guide, describing each of the animals and usually commenting on whether or not they are commonly eaten by locals and how tasty they are. We saw lots of cool animals up close including Tapir, the national animal of Belize, which are really funny to look at, and Howler Monkeys, which make a super loud scream to mark their territory. They also had some really cool owls and eagles.

After the zoo we joined up with the other couple for lunch at the Jungle Paw resort and then we headed up to the cave tubing site. We walked behind our guide along a path through the jungle, in our life vests and helmets with our tubes overhead. The cave tubing was nice, but not quite as exciting as it would seem. The water is still and shallow and you just paddle your way through some caves and then you are done. Then it was time for another fun boat ride back to Ambergris. We ate a fancy meal of meat and fish at the Sunset Grill on the west side of the island. A big group of Tarpon fish hang out in the water right next to the restaurant (it’s on a dock) and wait for scraps like hungry dogs. You can swarm them by making a throwing gesture. They are pretty creepy.

Tuesday was our last day and travel day back to the states. We got up early to watch the sun rise from the dock. I went for a run while Michale relaxed by the pool with a papaya and a book. We had a nice breakfast at Lily’s Treasure Chest before our trip home via golf cart, water taxi (driven primarily by the Captain’s knee), taxi, airplane, airplane, and car.

Overall the trip worked out really well. We were a bit disappointed with Ambergris Caye. Too loud and bustly. If we were to do it again we’d probably opt for Caye Caulker, which has fewer amenities but is more tranquil. I was a bit bummed Friday afternoon because the diving was problematic with motion sickness, the air and water were pretty cold, and the salt water was starting to irritate my skin, plus my normal sensitivity to sun exposure. So I was starting to feel like the Carribbean was a poor choice. However, once I switched to the pressure point bands for motion sickness, everything was cool. Those things work great! The sun came out, it got hot, and Caye Caulker was fun. I chatted with Michale and then felt really good from then on. Michale and I made pretty good travel companions since we’re both pretty flexible and laid back while traveling.

But there was no time to rest because we got back late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning the Skarecki family showed up for our ski adventure!

The rest of the Belize Trip Photos are here.

It’s been a good week. Went to a fun CHAOS pot luck on Thursday and really enjoyed the long weekend. I went to the Avery Brewery on Friday with Josh and Elise and heard some good bluegrass by The Longest Day of the Year. Afterward I went and worked out at BRC, which is open to 11pm on Fridays, which rocks. I rested about twelve hours before climbing again on Saturday at The Spot. On Sunday, Michale treated me to delicious breakfast at Watercourse, which I devoured. I also brought home a sweet potato cinnamon roll for later. Michale and I had a blast playing Guitar Hero World Tour for hours on end both Saturday and Sunday night. So much fun.

So after a thorough workout at BRC tonight, I headed over the snowy roads to Zing salon in Boulder. They have late hours and happy hour discounts after 9pm, so I usually go for that. I’ve been there enough to know the owner Joy and her minuscule black toy poodle François. It was about 9:30 and the shop had closed down early. However, Joy was behind the register in the dark, illuminated by the glow of her PC. She had told me stories of her early days starting the business in downtown Boulder, where she hung a sign reading “If you’ve got money, I’ve got time” and would cut your hair anytime day or night. So I rapped on the door, triggering François’s three-pounds-of-fury guard dog behavior, and she came and let me in. As I’ve been doing lately, I placed my hairstyle in her capable hands without objection and I am now suddenly two pounds lighter. We chatted enthusiastically about the new business she is opening and my upcoming trip to Belize. I counseled her as best I could based on my experience with overcoming performance anxiety at music school, and she complemented me nicely saying “that is the best advice I’ve heard all year”. It was decidedly pleasant to have Joy and her funky salon all to myself and such a nice chat. Now, I would be doing a disservice to the great Jim Curly and Pam of Style Street in Cranford if I declared this my most enjoyable haircut experience, especially considering Pam lent me a flute for like five years, but it certainly is in the top three.

It’s been a good start to 2010 thus far. I’ve started personal training with Chris Wall at the Boulder Rock Club and so far so good. He’s got lots of fun and challenging exercises. I’ve also been to two of his level two group fitness classes entitled “Cry in the dojo”. He has 12 students, 12 exercise mats, 12 heart rate monitors. Everyone wears a heart rate monitor around their chest and they all transmit back to his computer which projects onto a big screen. Everyone has a big square that changes color based on how close to your max heart rate you are. He tries to get you to spend a lot of time in the red. The class has a reputation for a reason. It’s tough, but I’ve survived without puking twice so far. After the first time I needed about forty minutes to recover, but hopefully that will improve. I have already noticed the increased core and lower body strength in my last ski outing. I’ve also still been climbing a lot and setting new personal bests. I climbed another 5.11 at BRC on top rope and led my first 5.10, which was fun.

We had our second YouFilmFest party with the theme of TED talks. They are really amazing. We used youtube commercials as interludes between the talks. I still need to figure out the theme for next time.

I skiied Copper with Big Wave Lew three weeks ago on a Friday. It was a gorgeous sunny and calm day and the snow was great. We got really lucky and had a great day. I’m working Sunday to Thursday now so I can ski on Fridays and avoid the weekend traffic and crowds. Two weeks later Les joined us and we had another good day. I was glad to have Les driving so I could rest up to go out that night to celebrate Michale’s birthday. We had Thai food in Denver (OK, well she did because I wasn’t feeling well as has been the case a lot recently), then went to see the play “Good Girls Don’t, But I Do” at the Packing House Center for the Arts. It’s really in an old packing house and deep into an industrial zone that made me question whether I had the right address. Michale says that makes it “fringy” though. The road narrowed as we approach the address and a group of scary looking biker dudes were there screening cars as they slowly passed through the narrow gap they had left. Apparently across the street is a biker club and these guys were making sure everyone was either A) a member of their motorcycle club or B) going to see the feminist comedy play across the street. It was funny, and the director of the theater mentioned that security was top notch. The play itself was well done, clever, and funny. There was a good mix of narrative, song, and dance. It was also refreshingly short which delighted Michale and I since we are hopeless 30-somethings who struggle valiently but unsuccessfully to make it to 11pm on a Friday.

Michale and I had a bunch of other fun dates as well, and now we’re in the final preparations for our trip to Belize in less than two weeks! We did a bowling birthday party as well as a trip to Denver’s weird Disneyworld type Mexican restaurant Casa Bonita. I’m taking a scuba refresher course Saturday. The winter does feel a bit long this year, so I’m looking forward to the hot weather and wearing sandals.

I haven’t blogged in a month because I’ve been going at pretty much full speed. I’ve been working very long and exhausting hours trying to get my biggest project to date ready for release and otherwise just hopping from one thing to another without very much time to unwind. But it’s fun to do that and a nice vacation is nearby.

And now for one of my rare touchy-feely paragraphs where I depart from the safety and comfort of mundane chronological narrative! So back in September I blogged some goals. Without much difficulty, I’ve achieved them all except for the “more music” one. I seem to still be in a “waiting for the muse” phase with regard to music, although I was still able to bust out the bari to seranade Michale for her birthday last week with an impromptu Happy Birthday meets bluesy funk noodling piece. So music is still simmering on the back burner. However, the rest are all in full effect. I’ve asked for a mentor at work and have had a few meetings with him and we’re starting to get beyond the initial information dump and into concrete action items, and it’s feeling good. Overall, I’m feeling a really nice balance of identifying goals, putting in some competent effort toward them, and seeing positive results pretty quickly. I think yoga has already made a noticeable improvement in the curvature of my spine and posture. I say “already” even though I’ve been doing it on and off for years, but I thought my posture was beyond repair when I started. However, the thing that was really great and palpable over the weekend was the feeling of having recently arrived at a new level and feeling immediately ready to go for another higher level without spending much time at the current one. I think my overall confidence at life in general is at its highest. I think I’ve also come full circle with my essence. By this I mean I’m deeply a left brained, type A, engineer. I’ve been this way from at least grammar school. For a while in my post-college years, I put a lot of effort into balancing this out and trying to grow in other directions. I feel now like I have an awareness of the places where I’m toward the edges of the bell curve. I feel a certain comfort level with enough non-type-A things, and now I’m ready to accept my talents and who I am more fully. I haven’t quite gotten clarity on what the means in concrete terms yet, but there are some inklings there.

So I’m up late listening to Charles Mingus’s album Let My Children Hear Music, and it is just overtly beautiful. I listen to this music and immediately envision a puling, organic ballet. The music itself sounds like a living organism. It’s just tremendous.

OK, now that that bit of jazz nerdery is over, here’s a quick update. Over Christmas I had a nice visit with the parents. Since I was flying in to Philly, they made a day of it and went in early to shop for bar stools then see a movie. Then we went to a very fancy restaurant called James to celebrate Mom’s birthday. The decor was great and the food and beer were pretty good. It was nice to have some time with just me and the folks. The Christmas festivities were good. My young nephew Will was exhibiting extreme cuteness.

I came back to Colorado after just three days and immediately hit the slopes at Breckenridge with Erin. They must have opened up a few new trails that day since we got to make a few fresh tracks. Over all for early season it was a very good day and we ended up skiing a pretty full day – more than I was anticipating. Then that Tuesday I did the CHAOS blue moon hike with Mags. It was before the official full moon, but still a gorgeous night. Clear and still and not too cold. It was a nice short hike with a picturesque section under some overhanging trees. Everyone brought something blue to share.

Michale and I spent New Year’s Eve at the Phoenix Asylum Speakeasy roaring 20s party, which was a good time. Many folks had impressive costumes. Saturday I hiked Mesa trail with a big Pizzi/Abrams crew, which was a nice early morning outing still leaving a full day ahead. I got a dual membership at both Boulder Rock Club and The Spot for the next six months, so I’ll be ready to do some serious outdoor climbing this Spring. I did yoga classes and climbing at BRC Monday and Tuesday and will do some bouldering at The Spot tomorrow. Michale and I are also starting to book a trip to Belize in February, which I am very much looking forward to, especially considering we are in our second severe cold snap of the season. It’s six degrees outside right now.

OK, I think it’s time for a random stream of conciousness blog post! The bulk of December has passed and things have been humming along nicely. Work is very busy as I am at the helm of a big project and we’re running behind schedule, so I’ve been working long hours to try to keep things moving forward. But the project is “my baby” per say so I’m motivated to do it and get it out there, so I’m enjoying it. I went up and skied Breckenridge two weeks ago just to try out the resort early season. This is the first time I’ve had a full season pass, so I figured I might as well get out there. It was pretty good, but things will be better later in the season. Plus Lewis will be around this year and Elise has Friday’s off so I’m hoping to ask if I can work Sun-Thu during ski season so I can ski Fridays. We’ll see.

Climbing is going pretty well again. I’ve been to three different gyms this month with four different climbing partners and have been getting back up to my personal best. I attempted another 5.11a but was defeated. Hopefully I’ll conquer it next month. Speaking of which, I’m planning on doing some personal training next month, so hopefully I’ll make some fast progress with that extra help. Yoga has also been going pretty well and I’ve been practicing fairly steadily this month (except for a few days when I got sick), so that’s been nice. It’s time to learn a new set of asanas though.

I had a bunch of fun dates with Michale this month including a big breakfast I cooked here for her and the Pizzis, dinner at Bill’s, a birthday party at a friend’s house, a CHAOS pot luck, Avatar, and a few others. So that’s been fantastic. My dental woes are complete now I think and I’ll hopefully enjoy a full year before having to go back again. I’m still feeling some anesthetic wear off from today’s filling triple header.

All the stuff I shipped out here did make it out although it was an adventure getting it at the post office. I had to make three trips and wheel out a giant cart to my car to get it all. Much of it was pretty banged up but it all made it out here. I set Maggie to work on the big project of assembling somewhere on the order of 700 CDs where the discs, linear notes, and jewel cases were all separate. She and her husband worked on it for about fifteen hours. She’s researching some shelving options and I am very much looking forward to having full access to all my CDs once again.

Almost all of the Christmas shopping is done now and I fly out to NJ Wednesday for a brief visit, then back here on Saturday and on the slopes Sunday.

Winter is officially started here. Monday I hike up Anemone in Boulder with CHAOS. It was around 10F, but the air felt good. Today I started the ski season off up at Breckenridge. I’m excited to have a season pass this year and try three new mountains.

Band Thanksgiving on Saturday was a blast. I hung out with Marc in the afternoon as he made his final preparations. I was impressed since he had all of the cooking done well in advance, so he had plenty of time to just relax with a G&T and wait for the guests to arrive. Mrs. Mare would be proud. He cooked two turkeys and all the fixings. It was great to see all my old band buddies again and hang with their wives and young children. After the feast, the three girls ages three and seven put on a dance show for us consisting of a few rehearsed moves and lots of improvisation with audience encouragement. As would be expected, there was a fire going strong outside on the patio so we sat around and talked well into the night.

Sunday we took Sunny and her friend Ajahnay to Miller’s Luncheonette in West Long Branch for some real deal New Jersey diner brunch featuring lots of pork roll. It was great. Of course our plan was to head directly from the diner to another huge meal at my parents’ house but that presented us with no worries. That afternoon my Mom made spicy pasta with sausage and meatballs and we ate an early meal “pronzo” style. Monday and Tuesday I worked from my parents’ house. My mother’s side of the family was all in the area, so we did a triple header with a big restaurant dinner Tuesday, more pasta at Mom’s Wednesday, and Thanksgiving at Aunt Elizabeth’s. It was a mighty onslaught of food.

Friday I drove with Chris and Tina up to Poughkeepsie NY to spend a day and a half with them. We had another big Italian meal Friday night then watched V for Vendetta (which I had not yet seen). Saturday we went car shopping with Tina who was unfortunately a victim of a high speed rear end hit and run while stopped at a red light, which destroyed her car. We went to a yummy Japanese place for lunch and under Chris’s guidance I ordered my first legitimate meal of sushi roll. I had a “Black Dragon Roll” which was shrimp tempura down the center with avocado and cucumber and topped with eel. It was fantastic and I had to close my eyes while I chewed the large pieces and savored the flavor combinations. It took 31 years for my palette to be ready for that, but it’s totally there now, and it was great.

Sunday Tina made chicken saltimboca and we played a deadly-serious game of Jenga. We surpassed the 30th “Master” row and spent at least four solid rounds convinced that the tower would surely collapse on the next turn before making it all the way to row 34, 2 away from “expert”.

Sunday was a driving and visiting extraveganza. I drove down to Long Valley NJ to visit with Kate, Steve, Meghan, Tim, and Pat. We hadn’t seen Tim and Pat in quite some time so it was fun to catch up with them and their wives. We all played with baby Will who is a ball of energy and enjoyed the contrast with Meghan’s daughter Maeve who is perpetually still and yawning on the verge of sleep. After that I drove to Cranford and met up with my high school buddy Rich at our old hang out Tony’s Pizza, still going strong in Cranford. Then I drove down the shore to record an episode of "The Jersey Shore Podcast" with Joe P and Dan P.

In the evenings and when I could find a few minutes I had been rummaging through all my old stuff stored in my parents’ basement. Monday it was craigslist to the rescue again as I hired a woman and her son to spend all morning furiously packing boxes, 24 in total, to be mailed media rate USPS to my new house in Colorado. Soon I’ll have my beloved Queen posters displayed again!

I almost missed my flight today due to struggles locating the Enterprise rental car return lot, which is an “off-airport” lot at EWR on highway 1&9. I can’t believe they expect visiting drivers to venture out of the airport into the evil rat’s nest of 37 highways that converges around Newark airport. It’s a maze of 100-yard 2-lane merges and exit only lanes forming a cruel game for the inexperienced drivers my Dad refers to as “Stay Out of Downtown Newark”. Everyone loses at least once or twice. However, I was able to eventually get to the lot, return they smoke-smelling, manual windows and doors, 10 gallon fuel tank crapmobile and take the shuttle into the terminal. But I had to check a bag since I was bringing my soprano sax back as my carry-on bag (or hand luggage as the Brits say) and then after a long delay due to an unmanned X-ray machine and a troupe of about 5 elderly folks in wheelchairs that were pushed to the front of the line for reasons I don’t quite understand, I made it through. I hurried to my gate only to see a big sign reading Ft. Myers. D’oh. Gate change. Then I had a few hundred yards to run to find the nearest gate display and of course whenever I fly Newark I’m looking at no less than five miles of foot travel to my actual gate, so I had to run from C94 to C127, arriving about 6 minutes before takeoff. However, there was some major back up with these folks getting into their seats so a queue had formed in the jetway and it took a while to get everyone seated.

I’m flying back to Denver now and looking forward to hanging with friends this week. Tomorrow is another Paul Mags moonlight hike, which should be fun.

Trip statistics:

• Total time between arriving at jetway and plane takeoff combined for round trip flights: 12 minutes
• Restaurant meals: 5
• Big home-cooked meals: 6
• EZ Pass screw-ups: 1
• Worst rental car agency ever: Enterprise
• Raw audio recorded for a 15 minute podcast: 30 minutes
• Packages shipped: 24
• Craigslist victories: 1

The rest of the photos are here.

I went out to California for work again. I flew out to San Jose on Sunday, arriving in the afternoon, and took the rental car up to San Francisco to meet Pat. Rebecca and Tanya were also there. I hadn’t seen Tanya since Burning Man 2008 so I was glad she was home. Pat and Tanya have been roommates several months now but had only very slowly been furnishing their apartment, so they wanted to go to Ikea and pick up a few things, so I offered to drive them their in the rental car. I had just driven past it on the way up. We mistakenly went to the one in Palo Alto, a good forty-five minute drive south of San Francisco, which I had just passed on my way up, so it felt a bit silly. In any case, we went in there and as expected I found it a bit uncomfortable and crowded with families with hordes of children literally running amok. We breezed through and picked up just a few things. They couldn’t find any window coverings they liked in their budget and the book shelf they were going to buy for Marcia was out of stock. So with three small coffee tables and four folding chairs in tow, we headed up 101 again, stopping at a Best Buy along the way for Pat and I each to get some headphones. This time we hit bad traffic getting into the city, so we were a bit late for the “family dinner” we had planned with Marcia, Rebecca, Rebekah, and another friend of theirs. We stopped to pick up some food and drinks then ate together on the new coffee tables. I gave Rebecca a ride to her new nomadic residence and then again made the long drive down 101 to my hotel in Sunnyvale.

The week of work was both disappointing and exciting. We did a bunch of planning and realized we would fall quite short of the mark for our next release, and a formal procedure was started to notify interested parties that we would be dropping features from the release, so there was some stress and frustration associated with that. However, almost instantly after the announcement, the team started making huge strides of progress, so that got me excited that maybe A) we could still deliver the main functionality we were shooting for but B) people might not be constantly panicking about it.

Bernie and I took a very nice run at Rancho San Antonio park Tuesday morning. We saw some wild turkeys and enjoyed running on the curvy, hilly dirt trails. I met up with Ed one night to do some rock climbing. I gave him a crash course in belaying and he took the test. Administration of the test took longer than it should have so I figured he was probably not quite passing it, but apparently he was good enough to be permitted to belay me that night after some additional instruction from the gym staff, but not convincing enough to get the permanent “OK to Belay” card. We did some fun climbs though.

I was set to come back Friday night but a bit of snowy weather in Denver caused United to cancel my flight and reschedule me for Saturday morning. I ended up booking a rather weird and appealing hotel called the Domain Hotel on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale for that final night since my original hotel was full. It was dirt cheap – $50 – so I expected it to be basically a Super 8 type setup, but I was surprised to find it fully remodeled in a modern high-tech but weird decor and nicely appointed with sleep number beds, a fancy office chair, and actual wired ethernet. I’m not particularly skilled at describing the weirdness of the hotel, but let’s just say it was weird and odd and I liked it. However, I had worked from 6:30 am to 11:30 pm that day, scarfed down a turkey sandwich at the Denny’s next door, and had to gas up the car, return it, and get on an early flight so I went immediately to sleep.

Back in October when I went to hear the Kronos Quartet Cynthia and I got Boba Tea. I have a fascination with Boba Tea, and some of Cynthia’s friends that we met at the auditorium asked why I liked it so much, and I wasn’t sure, but I said something like “I don’t know. It’s just yummy and Japanese and weird”. And that made me realize that Boba Tea is just strange and random enough to be weird and delightful and I think these days I am quite delighted by things that are pleasantly weird.

Michale picked me up in Denver and came with me that evening to the Imogen Heap concert at the Fox Theater in Boulder. It was an odd show at 7pm because apparently they had double booked the theater so they gave Imogen an early show and had a second show afterward. It was fun to see Immi in person and enjoy her fetching stage presence. As with most of her live performances though, it was fairly lackluster. Her opening act had technical difficulties that prevented him from doing anything at all. And sadly the new Ellipse album is just not stellar. It’s certainly got some good tracks, but nothing more. Just some good tracks.

Sunday evening I had a meal with Jennifer in Denver and then took a swing dancing class at The Mercury Cafe. The band they had was called Impromptu Musique and they were “gypsy jazz” and quite good, especially the trumpet player.

This past week I had two fun climbing sessions Wednesday and Thursday with Stephanie and Safia, respectively. I’ve been working a lot and not doing much else, although it was good to do a little yoga now that I was back home. Last night I went with Michale and her friends Tollie and Zack to an America Indian Fry Bread Taco place and then to the Bindery | Space theater to see a very funny black comedy called “Big Love”. It was really quite great. It was a modernization of an ancient greek play and there was some great acting, singing, riding around on roller skates, and a constant swing between the macbre and serious grandious and the silly and humorous and humble. I go to very few plays, so it has been quite a while since I have enjoyed one this much. I also really like being very close to performers, and the theater had seating on three sides of a square stage at floor level, so it was very up close.

I’m composing this post on a flight to Newark. I’ll be in the NJ area until December 1. Tonight Marc is getting me at the airport and we’ll have Thanksgiving The Prequel with the band crew. I haven’t seen most of my old bandmates and their families in two years since last year I got a cold in transit and had to cancel the visit while I was contagious, so I am very much looking forward to it. Tomorrow it’s up to Mom’s for a big Italian Pronzo meal which I am also very much anticipating.