Monday, May 28, 2007

Always persevere.

Drake and I took our first Colorado hike together this Sunday. It was a four-hour, five-mile hike with about a 2000 ft gain in elevation. The couple hours up the mountain definitely pushed my strength and endurance to the limits. The sun was hot and my heart rate maintained a brisk pace that left me periodically resting for breath. But the feeling of reaching the top and the slight burn in my bum today made it all worth while. What I learned from this hike is that I definitely prefer a trail that goes up and down throughout. This trail went up, up, up to the top and then down, down, down to the bottom leaving my knees begging for Advil.

We also made our first bid on a house this weekend. After viewing about 20 houses over the last month we thought we finally found the one. A mini bidding war ended with us offering 10k over the asking price and then finally losing to the younger couple who's parents were backing them. Yes, it left a bitter taste but there's another house out there waiting for us to make our home. We must keep moving forward.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Springtime = Baseball!

This weekend, Julia and I attended a Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field. Coors Field is a gorgeous, spacious stadium, in one of the sunniest, most beautiful cities in America, complete with a waterfall and scenic rock garden, and renown for its homerun-inducing thin air. What more can you ask for as a baseball fan?

The problem is that the Rockies are pretty terrible. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy rooting for the underdog - after all, the Chicago Cubs are my favorite team, and they haven't won a World Series since 1908. But unlike the perennially struggling Cubs, who are willing to spend ludicrous amounts of money - arguably in a misguided manner, but hey, at least they're trying - to win, the Rockies seem built to lose, and the owners don't really seem to care. At the game we saw, they committed some pretty embarassing errors, displayed an anemic offense, and eventually collapsed in a 10-5 loss to the Kansas City Royals (yes, the Royals).

Interestingly, on the light rail trip to the stadium, most of the people in our car were there for the game, but you couldn't tell by looking at them, save for a baseball hat or two. Whereas on the el train to Wrigley Field, people are excited and dressed to the nines in Cubs paraphernalia, people on the way to a Rockies game largely look like they're going to the mall. As the friendly dude sitting across from us said, "I'm just going to party on the Rockpile - every once in a while someone will ask about the score, but I'm just like 'Hey - throw me a hot dog!'".

Actually, now that I think about it, that guy knows exactly what he's doing.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

livin' on the edge

My job is going wonderfully. Some girls dream of a white wedding, well I have dreams of being a big-city, business woman and that's exactly what I'm living. It's great. I'm very excited to see where this job leads me.

I took the longest hike of my life last weekend! Eight miles and six hours, whew. It was awesome. I visited Johanna in Fort Collins and we checked out Greyrock. Some of the scenes were breathtaking others were a bit scary. Like, at one point really close to the top of the mountain, the trail markers seemed to disappear and I'm pretty sure we were following bear paths. Seriously, bear crap, swarms of flies, some primal smell, no people, no markers - yeah, all the signs were there. Nonetheless, we came out alive, invigorated and sore.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

I got a job!

Monday I start work as a Communication Specialist with one of the nation's largest gatherers and processors of natural gas. After almost three months of searching, and turning down a few, I finally got an offer I really want and am excited about. Many thanks to Drake for supporting me, both financially and emotionally, in making the right decision. He also taught me to go with my gut and after the interview I knew I wanted to work with them. The people I met with were super and I feel this could be a start of a wonderful career for me. The company itself seems very progressive and even does charity matching for its employees. Though the first month or so is on a contract basis, I"m sure I will be a good fit for them and they'll want to keep me ;)

On another note, Drake and I tried Frisbee golf (frolf) for the first time last weekend. What fun! I had no idea how serious people are about it but the number of others playing the greens proved me otherwise. Luckily we didn't keep score and just played for fun because I was way over par (is that how it's said, over par?). You really need a strong arm for this sport!

Our house hunting continues and we're starting to get more serious now that I have a job. We've narrowed it down to one neighborhood - Park Hill. It's like the Duckpond of Denver with historical homes both big and small. We're eying the smaller ones as the large ones can be a couple million. Yikes! But the area itself has proven over time that it maintains its value even when Denver's real estate market slumps.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Cinco de Mayo! Eat a taco or two.