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Microsoft Outlook SUCKS!

Today, I got something I’ve been wanting ever since I left a dear old friend behind in New Jersey 18 months ago. Actually, I’ve wanted this thing ever since I acquired “niner three foxtrot”, my old beloved airplane. I wanted an air-to-air shot of the old bird, and today I got one.

Sometimes you look out and it looks like a postcard… I’m motivated by the mountains. For some people it’s the ocean, for me, it’s the mountains.- Scott Moninger It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, I haven’t hiked a step since our Long’s Peak ascent three weeks ago, but rest assured I’m still here and loving every second of Colorado living. Been on a few bike rides, and every time I go I’m awed by the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains’ Front Range. What really hit home for me though, what really smacked me in the face and told me that I’m lucky to be here, was the arrival of the new Colorado Cyclist catalog on Friday. This is a catalog that I used to get regularly back east in my Hoboken apartment, my Glassboro dorm, and my Blackwood home. And when I’d look at the pictures of the models wearing the cycling clothing they’d invariably have these unbelievably beautiful mountain backdrops behind them. I used to wonder who these people were, and what they did to deserve to live and ride amidst such beauty.

OK so the other day I told y’all about the impetus for our attempt on Long’s Peak, and then I fell asleep. Lemme tell ya how the walk went.

What started as a mild curiosity turned into a fascination, and then, a goal: Long’s Peak. It’s got a catchy name, it sounds distant and imposing, and it is. It’s tall, it’s beautiful, it’s scary looking at times, and get this: Brenda & I summited the damned thing this past Tuesday.

Listen up; I wanna tell ya about my friend from work. His name’s Galen, and he just finished second in the Pike’s Peak Marathon, and I’m really kinda flyin’ high on his accomplishment. Yeah that’s right, Pike’s Peak Marathon. A full marathon, all 26.2 miles of it, only you run to the top of a fourteener and back down to the bottom. Roll that one around in your head a while and I’ll wait.

Today Brenda & I hiked to the top of Mount Elbert, the tallest mountain in the state of Colorado. At 14,433’ above sea level, it’s second only to California’s Mount Whitney (by about sixty feet) for tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. Today, we stood on the top of Colorado, and it was a hell of a feeling. Our first “fourteener”. Yeah!

And I’ll scare them all away for you.

Well, shit. This is even better. God damn, when it’s presented like this you just want to cry.

Well said; I wish more people read this site. Please read this:

The Long’s Peak preparations continue, and this weekend it was Mount Audubon (our first thirteener!). Once again, the views were amazing and the hike was a huff-and-puff extravaganza as we neared the summit. As usual, the summit revealed views that made it all worthwhile, and something about the effort and the oneness with nature even causes me to eat rice cakes and fresh fruit – and actually enjoy it – while I’m up there. So this hiking thing is really healthy for me, all ‘round.

Saturday, Brenda & I – along with our friends Bryce and Leslie – hiked to the top of St. Vrain’s Mountain, a 12,000+ summit. It was amazing, the views great and the thin-air experience interesting. All in all, it was a good start in our training regimen…

Floyd Landis won the Tour de France, and Brenda & I hiked our first “12er” in what was a beautiful day. So much to process, I think I need to get out of the house. More later, for sure.

So, Brenda & I headed to Denver today to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. This is an exhibit of real human cadavers that have been “plastinated”, their solidified remains exposed to reveal the amazing complexity and beauty of the human body and its systems. The show is so insanely popular that they sell tickets to the show and have staged fifteen-minute entries. With the show closing next weekend, I was excited that we had tickets for the exhibit today.

Yeah, that’s right, there are trolls guarding the pedestrian bridge over Foothills Parkway just a few hundred yards from my house. This story should give you a good insight to some of the characters that inhabit this fine town of Boulder. I consider these people to be my outdoor pets.

Today marked one year since I moved to Boulder, Colorado. Lots of shit has happened in the last year, and since almost a month has elapsed since I’ve posted a word on this site, I figure I’ll throw down a quick recap.

At last, a quality sunset has graced the skies over Boulder. One of the things I loved about living in Santa Fe oh so long ago was the amazing sunsets that were an almost daily occurrence. Usually in the afternoon the sun’s rays would have spawned a good thunderstorm, and the scattered clouds left in its wake would become the perfect reflectors of the setting sun’s rays. It seems that Boulder is almost too clear, its skies almost always devoid of those great puffy cumulus clouds that are a requirement for a quality sunset.

What follows is the complete listing of my random quotes database. This is a random collection of quotations from movies, tv and even Real Life that I have deemed worthy of appearing on the sidebar of my blog. I am quite certain that many of the people quoted here have no idea that they have made my sidebar. If you have the chance, you should let them know.

Vegas baby, Vegas. Been there, done that.

A year ago, I would have been affected by this: “Power Failure Snarls Commuter Traffic”