Well, the airline lost our luggage (no surprise), so we're sporting new duds courtesy of mudseason sales (i look like a cowboy).
Dinner tonight with Sheila and Wes was expectedly.... Wine-y. Afterwards, realized I had a message... Apparently pur stuff is now waiting for us at the B&B... If not, you'll be sure to know. Until later! (OH, and steamboat rocks. JK, you would loveit here... Lots of geology!
Thanks to some mechanical problems, our plane was late getting in to Houston, so we missed our connection to Steamboat.
On the phone, all they could do for us was reserv seats on the next available flight, at 3:30pm tomorrow. We're going to drive instead (the rental car is cheaper from here anyway). We're just waiting in line to get our bags and (hopefully) some kind of reimbursement.
We're not counting on anything, but we're hopeful..
Blog updates, weekend trip plans, etc.
5/26/2006 08:57:00 AM
A couple things. You'll note that on the right of your screen there is now an up-to-the minute (well, updated every five minutes) picture of the current conditions in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I intend to keep that image there indefinitely. Many thanks to Steamboat Weather; the site owner graciously agreed that it wouldn't be too egregiously offensive for me to link to his site. Clicking on the image should take you to that site.
Also, I am looking in to a way to differentiate my and Dana's posts on the site. I've determined HOW to do this, but haven't yet figured out how to make it look good. So, at some point in the future, this will happen. I have in mind something simple (we get different background colors), but don't have the time to futz with the CSS right now. Perhaps if I get bored later. (but oh, crap - I have to pack).
WRT our trip this weekend, I have contacted a number of property owners and we'll be looking at a number of places. Rest assured, when we find one we'll be posting images about it. Most of the blogging this weekend will likely be of the cellphone variety, but we're bringing the real camera along as well and should have tons of pics upon our return. One of the properties we're looking at is a brand new duplex situated pretty much exactly between the mountain and the town. Ideally we'd prefer to be right in the old part of town, but we'll see - there's only so much up for offer, and a lot of places that appeared in the paper Sunday are already gone. So we'll get what we get (but this place is looking promising). Rest assured, also, that we plan on having a guest room (and a bed for you - so only if a group larger than 2 comes will we need to break out the inflatable mattress!).
What else? Ah, yes. The "blast off" image that goes along with this post is for D. I made her spit cheerios through her nose this morning. I guess she has the giggles (a case of "the Fridays?") - she commented on how my NASA coffee mug is the "coolest mug ever", to which I said, "Yeah. But no. It's almost the coolest mug ever. It really should say "BLAST OFF".
I guess it's one of those "have to be there" moments. Oh well.
One more thing. According to the Pilot there's a professional kayak competition in SBS this weekend (Monday, maybe?). I'll get some pics of that as well.
Back in Feburary, Dave called me out in the comments and suggested I get a haircut. Today I was having "fun with hair" and decided to take some pictures to update my loyal readers. Surprisingly, I'm wearing the exact same shirt I was back then (what are the odds?!).
So, for your enjoyment, the before and after...
Before...
After...
Feel free to review all the hair pics I took today at this link. Vote on your favorite!
I was just faced with the illusion, as I refilled my coffee, that there were mountains outside -- just peeking out above the trees in our backyard. It was actually just clouds..
Either I've had too much coffee today, or it's time to get me to Colorado.
This is where the Fargo Marathon started and ended, and honestly, after 26 miles, it looked like a little slice of heaven.
The whole trip back home was just a complete blast. It was so good to see my parents again (haven't seen them since Mark and I got married almost a year ago), and I haven't been back to our family's lake cabin in almost 3 years (my parents have done some incredible remodeling). To sum up:
--A big thanks to Hutch for a great wedding present--not only being willing to come up to Fargo to run a marathon in May, no less, but also for not wussin' out on me and actually crossing the line together after a marathon. I guess the third time really is a charm. --Wow, was I ever getting the full court press from Meritcare Hospital in Fargo to take a job there! Granted, there are a lot of personal connections to the place, and I'd never rule out a move back home, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon. Especially after my dear husband said "I don't want to move to Fargo", there's not much I can do. And the whole thing about having an AWESOME job in Steamboat kinda precludes the Fargo move. Eight ball says ask again later. Much later. Regardless, it was great to talk to an old friend, Sarah, who is a pediatrician with them now (I saw her cheering on the race route, and she ended up running 3-4 blocks with us), and it was nice to get an e-mail from the head of the Peds Department there, who is the father of an old friend. All good people, of course--cuz it's Fargo! --Speaking of jobs, can I just tell you once again how incredibly excited I am to move to Steamboat? It's gradually starting to become more and more real, and I'm sure once we lock in a place to live this weekend, it'll be even more so. I received my schedule for July and August, and it's so awesome I feel like I'm still hallucinating. I guess hard work really does pay off. --Back to the marathon--Hutch and I held a pretty steady 9 minute per mile pace for most of it, until the 30 mph headwinds got the better of us. With some speedwork and core strengthening, there still is a chance I could qualify for Boston before I'm 80. I really felt good through most of it, minus the wind. My SI starting acting up 10 miles in, and hasn't really let up since (I see PT tomorrow) and my IT band started killing me around mile 24, as a result of my effed up SI, I'm sure. The good news is that today was the first day it didn't hurt to walk up or down stairs, and I'm contemplating going for a run tomorrow. We'll see. --Houston is so ridiculously hot and humid--it was so nice to be home up North and wear a jacket and get cold out by a fire at the lake and see a ton of stars again. It's been too long. I didn't get a winter this year. Still pisses me off, but I'll get over it. It just made it that much harder to come back to Houston. --Congrats to Keri, who graduated from nursing school last weekend. Wanna come work in Steamboat? --For a good laugh, go back and look at Mark's ugliest dog post again--that's some funny S. --My favorite "character" out on the marathon route was by far the bagpiper, standing alone, around mile 16-17. Just the inspiration I needed. --I take that back--my favorite characters were my family members wildly cheering us on throughout the route--everytime I passed you guys, my next goal was just to get to the point where I could see you again. Thanks for everything. --When Mark and I were at the Marathon Expo, we were approached by a salesgirl as I was looking at shirts--and she had a spot-on accent from the movie Fargo. Think: the hookers from Chaska. But cuter. --OK, bedtime. More updates later.
Not necessarily that I've been slacking, but Dana sure has been in getting a post up (though to her credit, we've been pretty dang busy and I have been keeping her up late at night).
Anyway, We have a lot to do before we leave for Steamboat on Friday night (like, I have to call about a dozen places about walkthroughs, call the movers, start getting lists of utilities together, both in SBS and Houston, etc), not to mention all the stuff that's going to rain down on us after we get back (trying to hang out with friends more before we leave, pack, move, utility switches, money, bills, new bank account setup, work address changes, all that jazz), and then MOVE and un-do everything we've done.
So I started a list earlier this week. I already spoke with our real estate guy who is setting us up with some dude who is closing on a new place next week (as in, new construction, sounds like a townhouse) about possibly renting that place... I just got off the phone with a DSL provider in the area who obviously can't talk to me about coverage until after we have a new address.. I should probably call the IRS about our refund (which would really come in handy BEFORE we get to SBS but I'm not counting on it due to malfeasance on my part w/r/t taxes from 2001).. Basically, it's hair-pulling-out-time. And we can't really get anything rolling until AFTER we sign a place in Steamboat this weekend.
Oh, the pic at the top of the post is from my new favorite website, Steamboat Weather. I actually just contacted the webmaster to see about including their webcam shot (updated every five minutes) on my blog. We'll see.
Anyway, lots and lots to do.
Last night, we had Amy and Daniel over to watch the 24 season finale. I made some wicked good Mac and Cheese recipe from Cooking Light that was a success when I made it for D a couple of months ago. SO YUMMY.
Anyway, I have to get to work (and phone calls to SBS!), but I'll try to check in again later.
Hutch and Dana finished the marathon together (go Hutch!) at 4:20:01 - they both got exactly the same time. BUT, D's foot must have crossed just ahead of Hutch, as she was listed as finishing before him. Go Dana!
It was really great to see Hutch finish with Dana, and not limping. The last two times I've seen him run he spent the last several miles doing some kind of crazy limp-jog but not this time! He pushed it all the way until the end. Awesome. I'll let D post about the Marathon itself (it was COLD, it rained at the beginning, and was really WINDY), but we had a great time.
Afterwards we went to D's P's really quick for some lunch (and showers for D and Hutch), and then hopped in the car for the quick drive to her folks' place in Detroit Lakes, MN for some R&R. We were all pretty exhausted, but we were fed like royalty (I was going to make a "queen" joke at Hutch's expense but decided to be nice instead), and fed just enough beer to put us nicely to sleep after spending a beautiful, if cold, night out by the fire.
My allergies really flared up for some reason too. I think that my body has gotten used to the humid Houston air and the dry air in Fargo really played hell with me. Remind me to get some stronger allergy meds for our trip to Steamboat this coming weekend.
Speaking of which, D and I have a lot to do between now and when we leave Friday afternoon, so I should get to work so I can get everything else done.
And CONGRATS to Keri for finishing nursing school and graduation yesterday! You should celebrate with a trip to Steamboat!
Is it just me? Between this and the Natalie Portman rap earlier this year, SNL may actually be funny once more. We might even have to add it to TiVo... maybe..
This, however, is a riot. Be sure to check it out at Shaffer's blog before NBC's rabid (and stupid) lawyers take it down.
(Stupid because leaving clips like this - and the Natalie Portman one - to spread online is the best advertising SNL has had in YEARS)
I know it's been far and few between with the entries lately, and considering what a stickler (aka "ass") I can be about OTHER people not posting often, I realize that puts me squarely in the "hypocritical jerk" camp. So here goes.
As you may notice, the title of this blog has changed - I added the "and now Mrs.", in case you hadn't noticed. Dana's long-awaited return to blogdom will soon commence due to high demand (and due to me being able to tell when she's dying to blog about something - it oozes out of her ears and frankly that's gross to look at anymore). She has yet to vomit her pearls of wisdom onto my our blog yet, but rest assured she will begin again shortly.
This weekend was quite the adventure, as usual. Friday night we went out for an after-work margarita, followed by dinner at a local pub (pretty good grub, excellent Smithwick's on tap), then came home and took it easy, watching some TV.
Saturday we were going to try and make it to NASA but our plans were once again thwarted by Dana's dedication to work (oh - did I mention her new coworkers will probably be joining our readership? Welcome, Ron, Lisa, Sheila!). She was paged on return from her morning run and had to head to the hospital to - get this - do her boss' paperwork (OK, I'm simplifying, but it was really that banal and unnecessary, from my point of view). On the bright side of things, we received her schedule from Steamboat for July and August (quite the change from how things work here, when she gets her monthly schedule on the third of the month if she's lucky). Her schedule is.. how you say in this country? FREAKING AWESOME. Finally, payoff for all her years of hard work. Unfortunately, we've decided that she will drive me crazy being home that often. I guess that's the price we pay.
Anyway, since our afternoon plans were thwarted, we spent most of it reading, and then headed out to visit Amy and Daniel for some low-key fun. The problem is, with Amy and Daniel we always end up having TOO MUCH fun. Dana figured it out the following day: we ended up spending EIGHT HOURS playing this dominoes game called Mexican train. What a riot.
Sunday we slept in a little, had brunch, talked to moms (HMD!), and tortured ourselves at the gym. Afterwards, we had the healthiest dinner ever - asparagus (grilled), portabello mushrooms (grilled - delish!), and wild rice. Doesn't sound like much but it was just what the doctor ordered.
Oh, and speaking of Doctors - Dana commented yesterday that she often forgets she's "a Mrs" but when I aksed her if she wanted me to change the blog name to "Mr (and Dr)", she said no. So there's that for you.
I'll wait for her to weigh in soon. But I have a lot of pent up blogging need so you might hear from me again before the end of the day. Of course, I have a lot of backed up work as well, so these two needs may end up competing. It is sure to be a battle royale.
I was looking for JK's He-Man article at Slate but came across this gem I just had to share.. Love thy PlayStation, love thyself. By Reihan Salam and Will Wilkinson: "before you tie the knot, pause for a moment and consider whether a spouse is what you really need. Could it be that you'd be happier if you shacked up with the Sony PlayStation 3?"
JK's He-man article is also worth reading, if only for the link to the old show intro (here included for your amusement)
It's been a LONG time since we've been able to fly the 'win' flag, and we were more than happy to put it up last night, when the Cubbies prevailed and Zambrano kept The Hulk from 714.
Before the game, I told D that I wouldn't even mind losing to the Gigantes if we prevented Barry "The Hulk" Bonds' 714th. And Juan Pierre did just that. Dana and I screamed (thank God for WGN on cable).
George Lucas is an SOB. After he releases THESE, he'll re-release everything (all nine versions) on whichever next-generation format he decides to (eventually) back, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. But he won't do that until we've all given up and decided that he's NOT going to do it, so we'll all end up buying the regular DVDs, then the next-gen versions.
Of course, nobody has to buy any of them.. But that's what makes him a true SOB.. he knows we will..
Well, D and I are still on the hunt for a place to live in Steamboat (hereafter referred to as SBS) and some movers. As I believe I said before, so far I'm pretty happy with one moving company, we have one more coming today for an estimate, and I have one more to reschedule before we make a final determination.
Also, I've been keeping a close eye on the Classifieds in the SBS paper (Pilot) for rentals, but half the ones I see are either available now or out of town - two less-than-ideal options. I have seen a couple that sound perfect - rental home, good part of town, definitely big enough, for the right price - but the one I called about is available next week.
There is another one that I've contacted our Real Estate guy about, and will probably call them later today - it actually has one MORE bedroom than we've been looking for (workout room, anyone?), and is available July 1st. The good thing is, it's also priced right and in a nice neighborhood (and sounds like it's got all the right amenities); the bad thing is, it's in the paper now, which means it might no longer be available by the time we go to look at it. And I'd hate to rent a place sigt-unseen, but if it sounds worthwhile maybe our Real Estate guy can check it out for us....
Anyway, just wanted to make sure everyone was up-to-date. Gotta work now!
(one more thing!) According to reports I read yesterday, Kerry Wood might be ready to be called back up in a little over two weeks. Let's hope so! But what we really need is a hitting streak. Where have our bats been?
The Steamboat Pilot: Winter Sports Club shifts gears to summer
5/02/2006 07:33:00 AM(See what I'm talking about)
Crap. Even the kids in Steamboat will be better cyclists than me. NOT FAIR!
In the past, the team has had a small group of elite riders who posted top regional and national results, but Davis wants to build an even larger Development Level program that would supply a steady stream of top riders into the future.
All of this pent up stuff that I haven't made mention of since I last posted...
Scott is now back on the blogroll, and I decided to be nice so Hutch is off suspension (but seriously, dude - POST!). And with great sadness I removed Dana from the blogroll, but I'm confident it's only a temporary move.
I'm sure I'll think of more things throughout the day...
Oh yeah! Two movers came out last week to give us estimates (I had to cancel two other appointments), and I'm feeling very good about Graebel movers, so I think we'll go with them. They're a VERY large private company (meaning: they won't farm out our work to another carrier, like some of the affiliated companies - Atlas, United, Mayflower, etc - do), and their headquarters are in Denver. AND, they can guarantee delivery in a 5-day window of our choosing (much better than the "2-12 day window" we got from the other movers I spoke with). We're not a priority move because our load is so small (relatively), so anyone else just throws us on a truck to fill up someone else's move, so we're at the whim of their schedule. Which sucks.
Anyway, it's looking like Graebel, but I'll probably go through the motions with the other two movers this week to get my full comparison on. And our real estate guy in Steamboat is on the move trying to hook us up with a place. He said he's "working on" a 3-bedroom place for us that sounds like a new remodel. 3 bedrooms = 1 master, 1 full-time office for me, and 1 full-time guest bedroom. We know y'all are coming and want to be prepared. There's also a 2-car garage (more likely a 1-car, 5-7 bike garage), so Hutch will have a place to stay when he visits.
So it figures that soon after I give Hutch crap for never posting, I go about a week sans post. My bad.
But I *WAS* sick most of last week, and it's still lingering, so at least I have some excuse.
The MS150 was a blast (my few pictures suck, but Keri's will come soon enough, and Karen, I'm still trying to think of a story for you). The next day, even though that's when the sickness began, it was all I could do to not get on the bike. But I struggled through work on Monday anyway, and took Tuesday and Wednesday off. I basically lived in my recliner last week. Lots of good stuff on Discovery and the National Geographic channel, thankfully.
So, about all I got accomplished last week was to take of my bike pedals and chain for some deep cleaning, and a nice wipe-down of my dirty, dirty ride. As if you care, I did remove a link from the chain to replace with an SRAM powerlink, because I hate cleaning and lubing my chain while it's still on the bike, and breaking the chain every time I want to clean it is not only a PITA, but also an easy way to weaken lots of links. Plus, I had it lying around, so I didn't even have to special order it! A benefit of being a bike-part pack-rat.
Dana did some (GASP) shopping on Saturday after we made a quick run to Target (Target wore me out - I have just had no energy as a result of this cold), and we decided that it's time for me to get new shoes and a new pedal system for the bike. I knew there would be nothing Dana could say against this, since she got new cycling shoes about two months ago and has used them all of once, and I've needed new ones for a while. So that's going to happen soon. Besides, my old pedals are really gritty and not rotating smoothly anymore. Definitely time for replacements.
A note about Dana's (missing) blog. She has taken it down. I'd go in to a long talk about it, but we'll probably put a new one up eventually that has some kind of non-obnoxious protection. Probably a simple password, but I won't make you remember, I'll hook it up so it shits out a cookie for your browser if you enter the password once (or maybe just send y'all a direct link). But that probably won't happen for a while. Here's a quick explanation from Dana about her blog going down at Pablo's blog.
Also, I must sadly report that you should avoid going to see Silent Hill. The movie just tried to be too many things. Instead of just going for the creepy psychological horror movie (that the game is), it was that, plus the "gory horror" that seems to be so much in vogue lately, and then threw in some psycho-religious quackery for bad measure. Dana thinks they were also going for the "scary child" horror sub-genre as well. Sadly, a failure. But it was good to see Pyramid Head make an appearance. And he did skin someone alive, which was pretty sweet. But he would never be so showy in the games - he's just cut you in half with that ginormous rusty sword of his. And one final note: the creepy nurses made me think of Keri, who I believe graduates this weekend. Congrats, Keri! Don't be a creepy nurse!
A couple things. You'll note that on the right of your screen there is now an up-to-the minute (well, updated every five minutes) picture of the current conditions in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I intend to keep that image there indefinitely. Many thanks to Steamboat Weather; the site owner graciously agreed that it wouldn't be too egregiously offensive for me to link to his site. Clicking on the image should take you to that site.
Pee Wee. Pee Wee gets my vote for "ugliest dog". But after close consideration, I really feel like Victoria is a VERY close second.
Not necessarily that I've been slacking, but Dana sure has been in getting a post up (though to her credit, we've been pretty dang busy and I have been keeping her up late at night).
What a weekend. Highlights:
This weekend was quite the adventure, as usual. Friday night we went out for an after-work margarita, followed by dinner at a local pub (pretty good grub, excellent Smithwick's on tap), then came home and took it easy, watching some TV.
One more thing: Happy Birthday, JK!!!!
George Lucas is an SOB. After he releases THESE, he'll re-release everything (all nine versions) on whichever next-generation format he decides to (eventually) back, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. But he won't do that until we've all given up and decided that he's NOT going to do it, so we'll all end up buying the regular DVDs, then the next-gen versions.
Crap. Even the kids in Steamboat will be better cyclists than me. NOT FAIR!
All of this pent up stuff that I haven't made mention of since I last posted...
So it figures that soon after I give Hutch crap for never posting, I go about a week sans post. My bad.
steamboat weather
Featured Video (new 11/28!)
visitors Calendar
Archives
