Whatever funk I was in last week has lessened considerably, so I am now able to muster up some motivation to post on the happenings of this past end-of-week.  Friday was going to be "I got a new eyeglass perscription lets go to the mall" night, except my eye doctor informed me that my eye sight was stable…hence no perscription (hooray…?).  I kinda like looking for new eyeglasses, but I’ll just put off getting another pair until the lenses on this pair are scratched to hell (which probably won’t be long).  We headed to Aja Noodle Co in wonderful Brighton for good food and an lengthy wait for the bill (if it happens again, the tip will be taken hostage).  We were going to go see Brokeback , but I was tired and I honestly don’t have the attention span for movies like I once did.

Saturday…hmm..don’t recall much.  Oh, I did borrow a Speedlite 430EZ from Candace’s dad which rocked.  I really wanted to get an idea for how an external flash can improve indoor/low light photography.  The Speedlite is great.  I messed with it in the afternoon as seen below

Saturday also involved hangin w/ friends and going to Geva Comedy Improv and Spot Coffee prior to that.  It was real nice to hang out w/everyone - reminded me that being anti-social isn’t all it is cracked up to be .  

Sunday, the day that Monday so brutally slays every week without fail was actually a pretty good day, given it was cold and a bit snowy.  I headed to my folks house because my mom picked up the new Stevie King book Cell for me.  So far, it’s a real good book.  Classic King and I love it.  It has that "I can’t stop reading NOW!" effect much like the Da Vinci Code did.  

So, I mention to my parents that I was borrowing the external flash, blah blah blah and my dad comes out of his bedroom holding a flash and a camera bag that I recognized.  It was very old (he bought it when I was born) and tattered.   What he then showed me was very cool…

Above is an Olympus OM10 with a 50mm prime on it.  Next to it is a Vivitar 2500 Thyristor Flash.  The good news:  I can use the flash on my 350D!  So this saved me alot of money (for now) because after using the 430EZ, I was considering a Speedlite 580EX.

As far as other camera accessories go…well..the list is big and the items are expensive.  Next is a tripod and 2GB CF.  After that…we’ll see

Not feeling incredibly motivated to post anything of importance.

So I won’t for now. 

There are times when I get coffee from any place other than my own coffee maker or from the work coffee maker (the kind that makes bad coffee no matter what).  Of those times, I become a victim of a faulty coffee cup lid.  I’m sure others have experienced my pain and anguish on this one. 

Firstly, you get a nice tasty cup o coffee that doesn’t taste like feet or burnt’ness from a nice coffe place (in my case, Seattle’s Best in Midtown).  You then walk/drive/etc to your workplace and drink your coffee en route to your destination.  What you don’t realize, is that your lid is leaking.  Slowly.  This happened to me this morning.  I got to my cube and found a spattering of coffee marks on my right leg - lovely.  I thought that maybe during my walk from Seattle’s Best, I may have jarred the precious liquid residing in the cup - I’ve done it before. 

I clean my khakis as best I can (I now have dark water marks on my leg - like I got shot with a water-gun) and proceed to enjoy my non-feet-tasting coffee.  To my dismay, there are coffee marks on my desk - and another as I look at the cup.  It’s happened - I am yet another victim of a faulty coffee lid. 

As I write this, my coffee cup is nearly empty.  It is sitting on a napkin which has been assaulted by numerous coffee drops from the faulty lid.  The napkin is also a victim - I also have one less napkin at my desk for lunch.  When will the madness stop?  

When will we be able to live in a world where faulty coffee lids are no more and our children would be able to get coffee without living in fear of coffee-stained pants and desks? 

Is it good to be back?  In a word: No.  I had a mild case of depression for roughly the entire flight home.  It was overall a really nice trip.  Mark and Robyn were wonderful hosts and tourguides.  It was my first time out there, but Candace’s 2nd, so she acted as a back-up tour guide . \

Photos: here! Go!  

2/9 - Thursday

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We awoke Thursday morning at around 6am or so, showered, got our gear and headed for the airport.  My dad dropped us off (thanks Dad!).  We checked-in easily and I fumbled my way through security.  I am tempted to assemble a sort of mock-security checkpoint so I can do drills and become more efficient come next time (which may be Japan - who knows!).  The trip there was thoroughly uneventful and we were both just looking forward to arriving in Denver.  Like I said, I photoblog ‘d a bit, so knock yourself out. 

We arrived in Denver and the thin air was definately something you have to get used to out there.  It didn’t effect me too bad, but I found myself taking deeper breathes and laughing at longer lengths .  The parking lot at the airport was roughly the size of Canada - so it felt with the thinner air.  We got to Mark and Robyn’s apartment, but before that we went to Wild Oats for some food’ing.  Wild Oats is an organic store much like Lori’s.  I’m sorta on an organic kick lately and I am enjoying it.  It is a bit more expensive, however.  

After eating, we headed out to Boulder.  They live relatively close to there.  We stopped on the side of the road so we could snap some shots.  I have to convert alot of RAW files from my Rebel, so I’m not sure when I’ll get those up.  A handful of them didn’t turn out good because my PL filter wasn’t rotated correctly so images look underexposed .  Anyway, headed to Boulder for shopping and random walking around.  Mark pointed out a store that sold kites and gliders.  It also sold a whole ton of games/gizmos and other random crap - we spent far to much time messing around w/all the stuff they sold (see photos).  Overall, Boulder is a very cool town.  Definately has a hippy’ish feel to it, but I liked it.  We headed to a local mall to kill some time before dinner.  We finished up the evening at an Irish pub that had some stellar food.  Headed back to the apartment to hang out and then slipped into a coma.

2/10 - Friday 

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Friday was cold…real cold.  We apparently brought the winter weather to Denver.  The news showed that a bus overturned on the highway causing a massive traffic jam.  Fun Fact:  Denver and/or Colorado does not salt their roads.  Also, people apparently cannot drive in the snow there.  Seems odd to me, considering all the resorts but Boulder and Denver aren’t in the mountains like the resort towns.   

We avoided the traffic jam and proceeded to the Garden of the Gods.  A park with a ton of red rock formations.  Very very awesome.  Unfortunately, the weather kept us close to the car and I wasn’t able to get alot of shots - too damn cold.  I didn’t really care - it was impressive just to see it.  After the garden we headed down to Manitau/Manitou Springs.  A very quiet town with a ton of cool shops.  We met up w/Phil’s wife Rachel which was really cool.  We ate at an amazing BBQ place that is a mix between a cheap diner and Dinosaur BBQ - which basically means it kicked alot of ass.  For much of the ride home, windows would need to be put down periodically due to the effects of said BBQ .  Robyn made some stellar soup on Friday evening and we just chilled out (one of the main objectives of the weekend).

2/11 - Saturday

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Our last day with our hosts and in the lovely surroundings of Colorado.  Given the high temp was going to be around 30F or so, we decided it time to head to the mountains.  It was a longer drive than expected, since the mountains looked so close.  The day was clear and sunny and the Flat Iron mountains could be seen clear as day.  They looked as if someone painted them there - amazing.  We stopped near Estes Park.  Very awesome scenery.  We walked around town and Mark and I split this cookie sandwich thing that had buttercream for the center - an Oreo on crack.  

We decided to head back to Boulder for some shopping and food.  We walked around the area we went to on Thursday and ate at an amazing organic restaurant 

Saturday was the day of the Mead Festival.  Mead?  It’s a wine.  Honey wine, actually.  Basically, honey is used (with all sorts of other ingredients of course) and it is fermented with spices/juices to create a sweet wine.  Very interesting and tasty wine!  The venue for the festival was kind of odd.  It was a hotel and the layout of the place didn’t really make it a great place to have a convention-center-ish event.  The people also seemed a bit off, which was a surprise.  I was expecting to find some wine-folk, but alot of more Trekie’ish people were there - an interesting group.  Some people came in medeival costumes!  I drank a fair share at the fest.  Mark filled up on bread and water and concluded that it was the best bread and water fest he had attended (he was the DD).  We decided to get more wine after the fest and we all proceeded to laugh our asses off on the way to the store.  The wine hit Candace and Robyn a bit later than me it seemed.  Headed back to Wild Oats for dinner and to pick up grub for the plane ride on Sunday.  Our last full day in Denver came to an end with us watching a bit of the Olympics before the wine demanded I pass out. 

2/12 - Sunday 

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We got up extra early to shower and grab gas and coffee before heading to the airport.  I was immediately bummed to leave.  I honestly just plain old didn’t want to leave.  It is always hard to go back to the stressors we all try to avoid and/or cope with. 

 

Not much more to say about Sunday - flight was uneventful.  I did discover that the Da Vinci Code is indeed a kickass book.  So much so that I’m going to finish this post up and continue reading.

Thanks again to Mark, Robyn and Feasle (aka Tipsy/Tippy/Beast/etc) for meowing at 5am . 

 

So, the plane leaves @ 8:12am.  That is right about the time my workday commences.  So sad I won’t be there. 

I have full confidence that Denver will flippin rock.  I’ve got all the necessities packed.  I’m bringing both cameras .  Why?  Because I can - and because I have a big enough camera bag .  Not really a whole much to say because I’m exhausted.  Work burns me out alot. 

I plan on photobloggin’ as much as possible (in airports, etc) on the way there, so keep an eye on the photoblog