Inaction In Action

I Took Control of My Life, Just as Anyone Can; And I Want Everyone to See It's in the Palm of Your Hand

2008-12-12T11:13:00.001-07:00

This blog is still dead with no current plans for resurrection. However, a lot has happened over the past year so I thought I would at least provide an update.

I now live in Portland, Oregon. I love it here. I loved Colorado, too, but this place definitely rocks.

I am not going to Costa Rica as detailed in the previous post. Instead I am going to London. I still very much want to go to Costa Rica, but London was calling, as they say.

That's it. Life is very good. Now back to the lurking.

I Knew Just What to Say, Now I Found Out Today That All the Words Had Slipped Away

2007-11-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful readers. Sorry it has been awhile since I last put a post up, but I need to take a break from blogging. It has nothing to do with the last post, and since I recognize that the last post was a pretty down note to end on, I figure I should give you all an update.

Things are actually going quite well. I had a great Thanksgiving, which was an extra long weekend for me since I took time off to be with the girls, who were out of school. The mrs. and I sat down and took a good hard look at the budget and our financial situation and we figure that if we stick with it, we can have a significant portion of our debt paid off by March of 2009, and be able to take a trip to Costa Rica to celebrate the accomplishment. So, that is what we are working towards now. I did have an interview for a part-time job, but alas, they gave the position to someone else. While the extra money would have definitely been nice, perhaps it is for the best right now. As SLG pointed out, it is hard to put a price on the time you get to spend with your family.

So with a plan in place and a goal in mind, I face the next year and a half with a lot of hope that we can finally be where we want to be. In the meantime, I have to take a break from posting. Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. It just needs to be done. Thank you all for stopping by here as I have truly enjoyed your company. Best of luck to you all.

John

Smells Like Autumn, Smells Like Leaves; You Don’t Know That You’ll Rust and Not Belong So Much

2007-11-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

I think I’m depressed. Not the serious clinical put-me-on-24-hour-watch type of depression, but the pre-winter, post vacation blah kind of depression. Don’t get me wrong, life is good. No complaints. But I’m still experiencing a let down of sorts from coming back from Florida. I’m a guy who likes to travel and craves to see the world. However, due to financial and personal reasons, we haven’t been able to go on many big vacations in recent years. I was hoping that this excursion to Florida would somewhat satiate my wanderlust, but instead it just exacerbated it. It’s like I got a small taste of what could be, and then left back with what things really are. To make it worse, we are on the cusp of winter and I really don’t like snow and cold. I think I suffer from seasonal affective disorder because the winter months are especially rough for me. Living in Colorado has certainly helped since it is still actually sunny outside during the winter, but still the short days, long nights, and bitter cold really get to me. I’m serious when I say I could easily see myself as a snow bird during my retirement years spending the winter in a timeshare in some warm local where it never snows. Hey, if I had the money I would be doing it now.

But that’s the problem. I don’t have any money. Well, I take that back. I have money, however, I am currently using that money to pay myself back from the time when I didn’t have any money. You see, faithful readers, a few years back the mrs. and I hit a bit of a financial rough patch, you might say (cue violin music). After enduring several rounds of layoffs, wage cuts, and raise freezes for about a year, my number finally came up at my former employer. That was a few months after my wife got laid off from her job. Since the recent economic downturn hit our area pretty hard, employment around here was fairly scarce (and some would argue that it still is). So, with two mouths under 4 to feed and a mounting pile of bills to pay, we got desperate and moved to Minnesota where I took a good job in a place that absolutely sucked. Talk about enduring a bad winter. Not only was living in MN crappy, but we never sold our house in Colorado which meant that we were paying a mortgage on an empty house and all the complimentary bills that go along with it, on top of the rent for the small 2-bedroom apartment we were renting in MN and all of the bills that goes along with that. Sure, I had a better job, but what’s the point of making more money when all of the extra you make is going to pay for an empty house in a place we would rather be at? We were ready to move back within six months. We figured, hey, if we are going to be broke we might as well at least be in a place we love vs. the frozen wasteland hell that goes by the name Minnesota. So, we moved back into our house and I had the very good fortune of staying with my employer from Minnesota but working out of the Denver branch. I eventually changed divisions working for the (former) Big Boss Lady and that pretty much leads up to the beginning of this blog.

Believe it or not, that’s the short version of the story. The good news is that so far life has been leading us up to a happy ending. I worked down in Denver for about three more years and when I finally got fed up with it, I landed a better job much closer to home. The mrs. also has a good job close to home and the two of us together are slowly climbing out of the big hole we found ourselves in when things took a turn for the worst. It’s been a hard climb out, though, and one of the opportunity costs for us having to pay back our massive debt has been to not take whirlwind trips through Europe, winter vacations in Hawaii, or even trips back to see family. This past Florida trip was the first time my whole family had been together in over 2 years. It’s been even longer for the mrs. side.

So now, there’s the conundrum. The mrs. and I have a budget set that will get us out of debt so we can finally go and do the things we want to do. Unfortunately it is going to take a couple of more years to get there. I believe they call that “delayed gratification.” You save and take care of the more pressing things in your present so you can have the means to enjoy the future. The brain says, “That makes sense.” My heart says, “Screw that! Let’s blow the budget on another big vacation!!!!” Right now the brain is winning only by the slightest margin. The heart is putting up one hell of a fight.

So, what’s a depressed, impatient person to do? The mrs. suggested getting a second job and using those proceeds as extra money outside the budget to use towards another vacation and other weekend getaways. Sounds good. So, that’s what I’m doing now. I’m trying to find a part time evening position that isn’t in fast food or telemarketing. Sounds easy enough, but it’s actually been pretty tough trying to work around my current hours. I need a low-stress job that pays me well to just sit around and play on the computer for my whole shift. You know, kinda like my day job but at night…

Visions of Good Times That Brought So Much Pleasure Makes Me Want to Go Back Again

2007-10-25T12:52:00.000-06:00

Ok, faithful readers, as promised, here is my post-vacation post. We went to Florida. It was awesome. The whole thing pretty much came about from my parents. I guess the company that my father works for had a pretty good year last year and so my dad got a hefty-sized bonus as a result. My mom asked him if he wanted to go to Europe, take a cruise, etc, with the money but instead he decided that he wanted to take all of the grandkids to Disneyworld. Apparently the old man is a softie at heart. So, my parents organized this whole big trip where my family, my sister’s family, my brother, and both my parents would converge on Orlando during the October teaching break (my mom, sister, and brother are all teachers) and do the whole Disney thing, compliments of my dad. The mrs. and I decided that we would go out a few days before the scheduled meet-up and spend some time at the beach to get some much needed R&R. And let me tell ya, as fun as we had being with my family at Disneyworld, our time on the beach was definitely the highlight of our trip. We made no plans and we had no schedules. We literally just went to different beaches up and down the eastern shoreline and enjoyed the ocean. The girls had a blast. They never got bored just running in and out of the waves for hours, or simply making castles in the sand. The mrs. didn’t want to leave. She went from never seeing the ocean before to now trying to figure out how we can buy a beach house. I wouldn’t mind. Summers in the mountains and winters on the beach sounds mighty fine to me.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the trip:

Here is the view from our hotel balcony. We originally had a different room, but I worked my Johnny mojo and got an ocean-view suite on the seventh floor. As much as I love the mountains, I could definitely get used to a view like that every morning.

We went to several beaches during our stay, but this picture is of Sebastian Inlet State Park. This place was pretty nice. The waves were pretty rough for swimming (but apparently world famous for surfing) on the ocean coast, but inside the inlet the waters were much calmer. One of the coolest parts of this beach was that from the jetty pictured above you could see a lot of dolphin jumping in the water. Supposedly you could see manatee as well, but we didn’t spot any that day. We did see a jellyfish though. The girls were fascinated. The mrs. was disgusted. It looked like a big glob of petroleum jelly to me.

We had originally signed up my oldest daughter for surfing lessons before we left so we could give her an experience that she couldn’t get here in landlocked Colorado. However, when we got there the surfing place advised us that the wave conditions were way too rough for a child her age/size. So, I took the lesson instead. I didn’t do too badly, either, for never having been on a surfboard before. I got up the very first time, and a few more times after that, even. And that was in rough conditions. I guess I’m like a total surfer dude, now, bro.

Your choice of captions:

“Just add water”

Or

“Ok, you’ve got the pose down. Now we need to work on that tan…”

And here’s me riding the wave back to shore. That was a lot of fun, and believe it or not, a lot of hard work. To me, the hard part wasn’t trying to stand up on the board; it was trying to paddle out against huge, salty waves crashing in your face just so you could get far enough out to get to that point. I would do it again, though, for sure.

Since we stayed just mile or two south of Cape Canaveral, we were lucky enough to catch a rocket launching one morning. We saw this liftoff right outside our hotel room. That was pretty cool and totally unexpected.

Of all the fun things we did, though, my favorite was just simply being with the mrs. and the girls and watching the waves roll in. With as busy as everyone’s lives are with school, work, lessons, and just about every other obligation that keeps us constantly on the move, it was nice to just relax and spend time together as a family.

And speaking of family, we eventually had to leave the beach and go meet up with the rest of my family in Disneyworld. As relaxing as the beach was, Disney was the opposite. We were non-stop-go the whole time we were there. But we rode all of the rides, saw all of the parks, and hugged all of the costumed characters walking around. We even got my mom to ride on Space Mountain, no small feat, let me tell ya. Disney is everything you expect it to be. It’s huge, it’s commercial, and there are a lot of people there even in the off-season. But I have to say, though, that they definitely go all out to please. All of the rides were top-notch, the park is extremely clean, and if you are on the plan, the meals are huge. I had a great time and it was good to have the whole family together in one place for the first time in over two years.

It all went by way too quickly. Now I am back at work having slowly adjusted back to the old routine. I need to be rich so I can travel all of the time without the worries of my existing financial obligations. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can become independently wealthy? Thanks.

Well Thanks For the Time, I Needed to Think a Spell

2007-10-22T12:56:00.000-06:00

My body may be back at work, but my mind is definitely still here:

More pictures to come once the jet lag wears off and the realization that I have to return to my normal routine sets in...

I Found Out Long Ago, It's a Long Way Down the Holiday Road

2007-10-12T11:12:00.000-06:00

I'm going on vacation. In less than two days' time I will be laying on the beach. This will be good.

Please Forgive the Words I Use, My Mind it Tends to Run, Away With the Small Ideas (I Know I'm Not the Only One)

2007-10-04T13:09:00.000-06:00

I like American football a lot. I like other sports, but football is the one that I by far follow the most. But this isn’t about football, it’s about baseball. I like baseball, but as I just mentioned, I don’t get all crazy over it. That being said, I have to give it up for the local team, the Colorado Rockies. Ok, I admit it. I haven’t been watching them since the season opened back in April. I haven’t even been watching them up until a week ago. So, yes, I am a bandwagoneer. But you tell me this: if your home team who has only been to the playoffs once in their existence (12 years ago) just won 13 of their past 14 games, pushed a one-game playoff game just to get into the playoffs, then stretched out that game 13 innings to finally break the tie, wouldn’t you be just a little bit excited for them? Yeah, I thought so.

So, I don’t know if they will go far in the playoffs or not. But I do know that it’s pretty cool to see them get in after all of these years. Plus the Rockies’ star player, Todd Helton, once played quarterback for the University of Tennessee, my favorite college football team (he started one game after the regular QB broke his leg. The next game the staff went with a little-known true freshman by the name of Peyton Manning…). You see, it always comes back to football.

I haven’t done any music posts in recent memory, so I figure that it’s about time to do a quick rundown of some new tunes I’ve been listening to lately:

Tegan & Sara. The critically acclaimed sister act. I kept hearing all this hype about their new album, The Con, so I figured I should check it out. I have been avoiding them since they have been featured prominently on Grey’s Anatomy, a show that I’ve never seen, but also prominently highlights musical samplings of acts that suck completely like The Fray and Snow Patrol (yes, I know that The Fray is from Colorado. That doesn’t mean that they still don’t suck). However, Grey’s Anatomy also plays Brandi Carlile, who is super good, so I figured it was worth a shot. I picked up The Con and So Jealous. They’re ok. Not bad, but no Brandi Carlile.

And speaking of Brandi Carlile, she put out an album a few months back called The Story. That gal can sure belt it out. If you dig acoustic/folk rock by really strong female vocalists, then you should for sure check her out. I dig her.

Hmmm… what else. I recently picked up Challengers by The New Pornographers. I dug their old stuff, like Mass Romantic, so I figured this one would be good, too. It is. There are some really good cuts on this album. The title track has been stuck in my head a lot lately. It probably hasn’t helped that it is getting pretty heavy rotation on the local college station as well.

I got the new Iron & Wine. It sounds like Iron & Wine. Not that it’s a bad thing, since I like Iron & Wine. If you like Iron & Wine, you’ll probably like it, too. Boy, wasn’t that a deep analysis…

A few months back I picked up Songs We Sing by a guy named Matt Costa. It has been one of my favorite albums lately. It is kinda single guy folk-guitary. The songs are pretty catchy, though I have to admit a couple are a bit Beatlesque. But, then, who wasn’t influenced by the Fab Four? You gonna knock every band in the past 40 years?

A while back Sass recommended a group called Mother Mother. I took her up on that recommendation and picked up one of their albums. They have a very original sound, that’s for sure. I can honestly say that I have never heard anything like this band before. They aren’t bad, just very hard to describe. You should check them out, even if just for the opportunity to hear something completely different.

I’m sure there is a whole lot more lately that I’ve been listening to, but I can’t think of any more off the top of my head. If you faithful readers have any recommendations for me, please send them my way. I depend on word of mouth to know what the really good stuff is, so let me know if you’ve heard anything good lately.

* Update* I started this post the other day and didn’t finish it. As of the publishing of this post the Rockies are already up one game in the playoffs. Sweet.

Now I’m a Fat House Cat Cursing My Sore Blunt Tongue

2007-09-20T12:16:00.000-06:00

So, last Friday we had a speaker visit here at my place of employment to discuss conflict resolution. Attendance for this seminar was mandatory and we had to choose from two different sessions which one we would have to suffer through. I chose the morning one, as I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible, and I didn’t want to have to take my lunch early just to lose it later that afternoon after listening to a pompous consultant for four hours straight.

As you may tell from my mildly-biased introductory paragraph, I tend to hold these fluff sessions in pretty high contempt. I personally find them a waste of time, and if my employer really wanted me to work more efficiently, effectively, etc, then they wouldn’t make me spend half my day listening to all of this crap and instead actually let me get some work done. So, as you can tell, I went into this thing with a pretty open, positive attitude.

Sure enough, it was exactly as I figured. A pompous, know-it-all speaker with a Ph.D. spoke in condescending, sweeping generalizations and used a lot of self-serving examples to really say nothing of any substance. She deftly avoided responding to any question that she couldn’t answer, and to those that she did answer she gave such watered-down, generic advice it sounded completely canned. I’ll admit, a little of what she presented did have some practical value, but none of it was new and I had encountered almost all of it before. On top of all of this, she had us do fun things like breaking off into groups and engaging in other activities designed to help us learn how to resolve our conflicts. I needed no help in my resolution. My opinion of all of this wasn’t the least bit conflicted at all.

Anyway, I bit my tongue and let several prime opportunities for calling this lady out pass by without incident. I was just going to keep my mouth shut and just try to tolerate it until the end despite what my brain was actually screaming. But, faithful readers, somewhere around the third hour my self control completely broke down. During one particularly lame exercise, my mouth started moving before I could stop it. I totally went off. I went off in front of all of my co-workers. I went off in front of my boss’s boss. I went off in front of my boss’s boss’s boss (who scheduled this thing in the first place). I went off in front of a whole room of people who had no idea who I was (being both relatively new and not being in their respective departments) and will now forever know me when they see me in the hall as “that one guy who totally went off.” When my mouth finally stopped moving, I looked around and realized what had happened. People were cheering, but it was too late. I was totally embarrassed at my lack of self control. Here I am, I’ve only been here six months and really hardly know anybody. What kind of idiot in that position goes off like that in front of upper management and half of the employee base? Well, apparently that question has been answered.

I talked to a couple of people after the session and then slunk my way back to my desk to try to recover the rest of my what-should-have-been-pleasant Friday afternoon. However, by later in the day news of my outburst had spread. It had spread so much that my name was even brought up during the second session (which my boss attended). I tried to sneak out of the office unnoticed, but it was completely in vain. Everyone I bumped into on the way out the door told me that they heard about my earlier performance. I was so embarrassed. I just wanted to go home.

I felt completely lame all weekend. I felt extremely lucky to have taken Monday off work to watch the girls during a day off from school (a day off already? They just started a few weeks ago…) because I was still way too embarrassed to go back. I feared the worst. Well, Tuesday rolled around despite my attempts to freeze time by putting my two index fingers together repeatedly. And, despite having that extra day of cushion off, it was exactly as I feared when I returned. Everyone wanted to talk to me about the incident. However, strangely enough, it was all very supportive. Most people told me that they were happy that I went off because they were waiting for someone to finally speak up (well, why didn’t they do it then?). A lot of people told me that they agreed with me completely and that they got more out of what I said in a few minutes than what the speaker said in four hours. One lady here told me that I should consider a career in conflict resolution consulting (after she jokingly asked for my autograph since I was now a “celebrity”) since she felt my input was much better than the Ph.D.’s. Another lady told me that in her department’s one hour staff meeting they spent at least 40 minutes discussing what I had to say (and some expressed disappointment for having missed it). My boss’s boss asked me if I had a background in theater (because I tend to cause drama?) because of how well I projected my voice and my comfort level when speaking to a large audience. When my boss brought up the subject, I told her that I was sorry and tried to explain, but she asked why would I be sorry and that she didn’t think the presentation was all that good, either.

Even a few days later I still have people coming up to me wanting to talk about it. Despite all of this, I am still pretty embarrassed over the whole ordeal. I should have just kept my mouth shut and played good little employee. I’m glad people felt inspired, but I’ve been around long enough in business to know that people who stick their necks out usually get their heads chopped off. But the incident must not have tarnished me too badly, because my six-month probationary period ended yesterday (I’ve been here six months already???) and they actually decided to hire me on as a full employee (suckers!). So, I guess there’s something about me that they like, despite my apparent proclivity to take paid consultants to task in front of executive management and half of the organization’s employees…

It's a Prairieman's World, It's Wide Open

2007-09-10T08:39:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know I am a little late on this, but here are some pics from my trip to South Dakota over Labor Day weekend. It was a great time and despite the mrs. just recovering from pneumonia, she hung in there pretty well. We had great weather the whole weekend and got to see a lot of pretty cool stuff.

I want to say first off that the Black Hills area is definitely some pretty country. I can see the attraction for motorcyclists to that area for sure. There are many picturesque, well-paved roads perfect for driving or riding with lots of curves and awesome views. We drove both the vaunted Needles and Iron Mountain scenic highways, respectively, and both lived up to their hype. That being said, the area is also very touristy. It kind of reminded me of Colorado Springs. You get equal parts natural beauty and kitsch. But, hey, that’s what the whole plan was for the area when they started carving Mount Rushmore almost a century ago. They wanted to turn the place into a tourist destination. And, well, I guess they succeeded because they at least got me to go there (for my second time, even).

We tried to avoid most of the super-touristy stuff, though. I mean, there is plenty to do and enjoy naturally in the area. For example, you can visit Wind Cave National Park. Faithful readers will remember that awhile back I made it a personal goal to visit all 58 US national parks. Well, guess what? I’m up to 8! Yee-haw! Anyway, Wind Cave is one of the oldest national parks (#6, 1903) and was protected for its unusually large collection of boxwork formations inside the cave. In fact, around 95% of the world’s boxwork is found in this cave alone. At around 120 miles in length, it is also the fourth longest cave in the world. Pretty groovy.

Anyway, we took a tour and it was very informative (as you can tell by my Cliff Claven-like factoids in the preceding paragraph). No, we did not spelunk for all 120 miles of the cave. We did, however, spend just over an hour down there and got to see a whole lot of cool formations. One thing about trying to take pictures in a cave, though, is that it is hard to get really good pictures of the formations due to the lack of good lighting and depth. They also refuse to smile for you and tend to blink a lot. But here is one shot of some boxwork that kinda turned out when we flipped it to black and white.

Basically boxwork forms when calcite oozes between softer minerals and then when the softer rock wears away, it leaves the criss-cross patterns of the calcite remaining. Ah, screw it, here’s the wikipedia entry. That explains it a whole lot better (and has a better picture, too).

Once we finished at Wind Cave, we drove up into Custer State Park. This place was really cool and is famous for its large herds of buffalo and other wildlife protected at the site. When we pulled in, the ranger told us that if we wanted to see the buffalo that we should follow a couple of gravel roads into a more secluded section of the park. Well, she was right. We followed her directions and sure enough we saw buffalo. Lots of ‘em. They weren’t stampeding like on Dances with Wolves or anything, but it was still amazing to see so many of them together wandering free. It is hard to imagine that these huge beasts were once on the brink of extinction due to humanity’s own carelessness. I saw a lot of cool stuff that weekend, but this may have been the highlight. This wasn’t like being in a zoo. We literally drove up into the middle of a herd of buffalo. They were right there and we were right there with them. They came right up to the car window. Words cannot explain the experience. Neither can the pictures, but I’ll post a couple anyway.

I think there's a joke about a buffalo crossing the road here somewhere...

Herd of buffalo. What? Of course I’ve heard of buffalo. Sheesh…

We also saw lots of mule deer, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, and even a free-roaming gang of burros that are the remnants of an old pack of trail mules that were simply released into the park when the trail expeditions ended years ago. They are now nicknamed the “Begging Burros” because of their tendency to block the road until approaching cars give them food. We fed them pretzels and were allowed to pass on up the Iron Mountain Highway. I guess it beats having to fight the Black Knight…

The Iron Mountain Highway was awesome. This is one of the routes you can take to Mt. Rushmore from the south, and was designed to not only show off the region’s beauty, but also to boost your anticipation and excitement for the carved heads ahead. There are several tunnels through the mountain specifically aimed so that you see Mt. Rushmore perfectly framed through the rock as you drive through them. That was super cool. I tried to snap some pictures, but unfortunately, none of them turned out because the darkness of the tunnel washed out the light at the end. I know: excuses, excuses. First the cave, and now the tunnel. I guess if you are going to be taking pictures in dark places surrounded by rock, you need a special attachment or something. Next time I’m going to go into Wolf Camera beforehand and ask for the “Cave Lens.”
Eventually we made it to Mt. Rushmore where my heart swelled with patriotic pride… Ok, I admit it was pretty neat. It was kinda weird because on one hand I’m thinking, “man, what a waste of a perfectly good mountain” and on the other hand I’m thinking, “Wow! This is cool!” just from the sheer magnitude and hard work put into the thing. It is the largest work of art in the world, surpassing both the pyramids and the sphinx. Plus, as an American, I’ve had this image jammed into my brain pretty much since birth, so to see it in person is pretty surreal (even for my second time). I’ve never seen the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, or the Mona Lisa, but I’m sure the feeling when seeing those iconic emblems would probably be about the same. Just the strange disbelief of seeing it in person alone is worth the experience.

The next day we visited the Cosmos Mystery Area. This place is a pure tourist trap, but it was one of the less-corny things to do in the area, had good reviews on Trip Advisor, and wasn’t too expensive so we thought we would give it a shot. The basic premise to this place is that a couple of college students years ago discovered that this area “defied physics and the laws of nature” so they built a cabin in which to demonstrate this phenomenon through wacky experiments all the while charging admission to passing tourists. So, during this tour I did indeed see water flow uphill, a ball roll uphill, a guy stand at a 45-degree angle off of a wall, people standing on level ground change heights, felt the strange “pull” of the mountain, and several other “unexplainable” feats and demonstrations. I say unexplainable, because I myself will admit that I can not explain them. However, as someone who is deeply cynical and doesn’t believe in anything that can’t be proven, I highly doubt that there is any magic or “unexplainable” paranormal phenomena behind any of it. I think it was all a bunch of well-constructed optical illusions and perception tweeks. That being said, I would have to say it was still fairly entertaining. Here is a picture of our tour guide standing 45-degrees out from what was shown to be a flat ledge with a bubble level. As you can see, the audience appears to be standing uphill on what should be level ground… (insert spooky music here). Whoa!!!

After that we toured another cave, The Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. Seriously, there are like a hundred caves around this area. This cave found fame as the sometimes-home of Sitting Bull, who used to camp in the entrance during the winter months. This one is privately owned (the family claims to have known Sitting Bull himself), though, and you could totally tell the difference between this one and the one at the national park. It was still pretty neat since it was a completely different kind of cave than Wind Cave. Instead of having boxwork, it was chock-full of pointy crystals hanging down from the ceiling like you were inside a giant geode. There was also a section of the cave that you could explore by yourself with flashlights that my oldest daughter really dug. Alas, the pictures of the crystals really didn’t turn out that well. But, man, wait until next time when I have that cave lens…

There was some other stuff that we did, but that was pretty much it for sight seeing. But in a place like this there was a sight to be seen everywhere you go. I would have liked to have driven through the Badlands, but it would have been an hour just to go there, a drive for at least another hour through the park, and then the drive back which would have been a bit too much. I’ve seen the Badlands before, though, so it wasn’t too big of a disappointment. But, man, that place is pretty cool to see as well.

Oh, we did see the Crazy Horse Memorial on the way out. We didn’t go in, but I did get a chance to snap this picture from the road. They are a bit farther along than when I last saw it over ten years ago, but they still have a way to go until they are finally done. You have to appreciate the persistence and determination, though. They’ve been working on that thing for forever.

Well, that’s the trip. The mrs. did really well despite still feeling a bit under the weather. The only time she said that anything really got to her was when we climbed the 180-something steps back up out of the Crystal Caverns. That’s understandable. Something like that would get people who don’t have lungs full of fluid. So, I was pretty proud of her for not letting a minor setback like bacterial pneumonia keep her from having a good time. Ok, this post is getting way long so I am going to end it now before next Labor Day rolls around. Sass, I’ve been listening to Mother Mother and will let you know what I think in my next post. Take care, faithful readers, until then.

Where I Once Had a Head Full of Thoughts of Happiness and Daily Things, There is Only Strange Darkness Now and in the Darkness This Bird Sings

2007-08-30T09:08:00.000-06:00

Ok, I haven’t posted in awhile so I figured I better check in. Life’s been pretty crazy around here lately. First, the mrs. has had pneumonia. It started a couple of weeks ago with what seemed like a typical cold. Then that cold turned into a bad cough and chest congestion that didn’t go away. So, she went to the doctor and it turned out that she had bronchitis caused by a bacterial infection. No problem, just take this antibiotic and you’ll be fine in a few days. In a few days she was even worse and was completely bed-stricken. The cough was uncontrollable and she was in all out pain and misery. Over the weekend she decided that the antibiotics obviously weren’t doing their job, so she went into urgent care to see if she could get a different kind. Well, they did some blood tests, took some x-rays and sure enough that bacterial bronchitis had turned into pneumonia. They gave her a breathing treatment, a new antibiotic, an inhaler, and a cough medicine chock full of codeine and told her to go home and rest. And rest she did. The good news is that yesterday she went back to the doctor and the diagnosis looks good. Even though she was not “out of the woods” yet, she got the green light to get out of quarantine and return to work (half days). She still has a bad cough, but that will probably linger for a little while longer. I’m just happy that after two weeks this thing is finally turning around for her. That pneumonia thing is pretty scary stuff. People die from that, you know.

The girls also started back to school this week. So, on top of being Dr. John (no, not that Dr. John) I was also getting the young’uns ready for their 9-month complacentcy and socialization indoctrination program. My youngest is just starting kindergarten this year. I’m so proud of her. Just think, in just twelve years she will be docile, disillusioned, beat down by the system, and completely devoid of any individuality. Ahh… to be young again…

Anyway, since the mrs. was pretty much in bed and out of commission, I was taking the girls to school, picking them up, making sure they were fed, dressed, and bathed, helping with homework and all that other stuff you have to do when you have kids in the house. Who knew they would be more than just a nice tax deduction?

Just kidding, actually I’m pretty domesticated. I cook, clean, wash dishes, do the laundry, and fix the girls’ lunches on a regular basis. If you don’t believe me you can ask my wife. You may want to wait a while though, because attempting to talk might induce a coughing fit…

So, I guess what I’m saying is that I haven’t been blogging much lately because of all of this stuff going on. Of course, my posts have been erratic for months now, but at least this time I have an excuse. I’m going away this weekend so I should have another post next week if you want to check back in then. There should be pictures and everything (wow!).

What? Why would I be going on a trip when my wife is just getting over pneumonia? Am I some kind of insensitive, brainless idiot? Well, yes, but here’s the deal: we booked the hotel back in May on one of those super-low internet rates. The catch was that you had to pay in advance and it was non-refundable. So… basically, if we don’t use those rooms then we are out 3 days of hotel rates. Plus we had big plans to meet up with the mrs.’s mom and her husband while we were there. They usually come out here every year on Labor Day, but this time we thought it would be cool if we met somewhere in the middle and see something new and different. So we picked South Dakota. We will drive north and they will be driving west from Minnesota. We planned to hang out in the Black Hills (like Rocky Raccoon) and do all kinds of touristy things like seeing Mount Rushmore and stuff. We were going to just scrap the whole plan and have the mrs.’s mom come out here instead, but the mrs. feels that she is up for the journey and the doctor said it was ok, so we’re going. We are going to try to take it easy, though, and not do anything too strenuous or crazy. Just a relaxing weekend out of town with the in-laws.

Don’t laugh, it’s possible…

So, that’s what’s going on. Thanks faithful readers for hanging in there. Thanks again, Sass, for those music recommendations. I had some other ones passed along to me as well, but I’ll be honest with everything going on I haven’t had much of a chance to check them out. I did see an interview with the guy from The National in The Onion AV Club that you might want to check out, SLG. Have a good Labor Day everyone. It’s my favorite holiday.

The Mountain Came to Recognize It's Deep and Rocky Sides

2007-08-14T08:32:00.000-06:00

So, I finally went hiking again last weekend after taking over 3 weeks off. And since we had that little break to let our muscles go soft, we decided to take it easy and climb a Fourteener.

A "Fourteener" is a mountain over 14,000 ft above sea level. There are 88 Fourteeners in the contiguous United States, with 54 of them residing right here in Colorado. Out of the 54 Colorado Fourteeners, we climbed #38: Mt. Bierstadt at 14,060ft.

If you are a Coloradoan, climbing a Fourteener is like losing your virginity. It is very much a bragging right around here. Some people seek to climb all 54 of them. Certifiably insane people try to climb them all during the winter. Our goal this summer was to summit at least one of them. My ultimate goal is to do Long's Peak (#15, 14,255ft), but after doing Bierstadt I don't think I'm quite ready yet. As far as Fourteeners go, Bierstadt is considered a relatively easier one to accomplish. If that's one of the easier ones, I definitely don't think I'm ready for a climb one as difficult as Long's. Someday, though, someday...

Anyway, here are some of the pics from the hike:

The first part of the trail goes through kind of a muddy swamp full of pointy willow bushes. The boardwalk pictured above is only a few years old. Before that, you had to slog your way through the marsh in ankle-deep mud while getting your thighs scraped apart by the willow branches. Old school hikers lament the boardwalk and argue that traversing the willow swamp was part of the rites of climbing Bierstadt. I, myself, was happy to have a clear trail and to not have wet slimy socks for the rest of the 7-mile hike. Call me a wuss, I guess.

Oh, that's Mt. Bierstadt on the right. Those jagged points make up the Sawtooth that leads to another Fourteener, Mt. Evans. But I'll get to that in a little bit...

After you get out of the swamp, you encounter a series of switchbacks that take you to the base of Bierstadt. You still have to deal with willows, which at times can be shoulder high. I didn't think that this part of the hike was too bad, but it definitely got me huffing and puffing.

Once you clear the willows, you get a bit of a reprieve as the path takes you through an alpine tundra and up to the real ascent. As you can see, it was a bit busy on the trail that day. However, this field was very pretty with little wildflowers growing everywhere. The air was a bit thin up here, but it was a nice, restful stretch before the trail literally shoots straight up the mountain.

After a long, hard, steady straight-up climb, the trail finally levels off a bit and provides a great resting point before hitting the final summit. There is no vegetation this high up, it is literally just a big pile of rocks. Way out in the distance you can see two other Fourteeners: Grays and Torreys. You see that road down there? That's where we parked. I am pretty high up at this point and I'm not even at the peak yet.

That's the peak. It is literally a hands & knees rock scramble up to the top from here. Don't be fooled, those rocks are big. As hard as that last bit of climbing was, I knew by this point that I was going to make it. There was no turning back now.

I hiked a little bit with that guy in the green backpack. He was cool. It was his first Fourteener, too. He had just moved here from Indiana a few months ago and wanted to get one in right away. I moved here 11 years ago and just now got one under my belt. Hey, I was acclimating to the altitude...

Here I am signing the register at the top to document that I made it. Yee-haw! Again, you can see it was a bit crowded that day which kind of took away from the "alone on the top of the world" experience, but it was still extremely cool. Unlike, say Pikes Peak, which is surrounded by a large metropolitan area, Bierstadt is completely surrounded by mountain wilderness and provided some of the best 360 degree views that I have ever seen on one of these hikes. It was absolutely breath-taking (and I'm not just talking about the altitude).

That's Mt. Evans, which is connected to Bierstadt by a ridge of rocks known as "The Sawtooth." Some inspired hikers climb along the Sawtooth over to Evans and knock out two Fourteeners in one shot. I was not that inspired. One was definitely enough for me that day. Plus, the Sawtooth is pretty technical and not to be ventured by amateurs such as myself. On a side note, though, the highest road in the US leads up to the top of Mt. Evans, so some people park a car up there, climb Bierstadt over to Evans and then drive down saving them a climb back down the mountain. For that, the Sawtooth might be worth risking. My knees absolutely hate climbing down.

Eventually I did get down, aching knees and all. It was just in time, too, as you can see our clear blue morning sky quickly turned into a dark, cloudy afternoon. On top of a 14,000 ft. mountain is definitely not where you want to be when you see storm clouds moving in. But by this point we were safely back at our vehicle, completely exhausted from the day's excursion. The mrs. said that she is definitely not interested in doing another Fourteener any time soon, especially Long's Peak which would be over twice as long and probably three times as difficult. While I'm not ready to do another one right away, I am all for getting some more under my belt. As I said, I don't think I'm ready for Long's Peak quite yet, but someday it will be mine. Oh yes, someday it will be mine.

I Got No Reason to Turn My Head and Look the Other Way; We’re Good and We’re Evil, Which One Will I Be Today?

2007-07-31T09:30:00.000-06:00

So, I haven’t posted in awhile because I’ve been kinda down lately. First, my cat disappeared over two weeks ago, which pretty much came about from me being a bonehead and locking him out (see previous post). Then a culmination of other errors followed, including one of the sort that you anguish about days later wondering how in the world you could have been such an idiot. So, I have been pretty much wallowing in my own self-pity trying to sort out the existential question of whether or not I was an inherently good person who made dumb mistakes because it is a part of human nature, or if I am an inherent screw-up who is striving to be a good person, but keeps making mistakes because it is in my personal nature that I can’t escape.

I haven’t slept that well lately. I haven’t hiked in two weeks (although I did spend two lovely weekends with the family instead), and I have spent the past few days in a somewhat mild depression going over and over in my head how I can try to turn things around and make up for my blunders. Luckily, they can be made up, but it will just take a whole lot more work than if I would have just done things right the first time around. What really bugs me is how someone like myself who is typically very rational and level-headed could make such rash decisions and screw things up so badly as a result. Don’t worry, it’s not anything major. I didn’t get arrested, commit adultery, gamble away my life savings, or anything like that. It is simply the kind of thing that you would hear and say, “yep, you were a bonehead.” And that really bothers me because I don’t like to consider myself a bonehead. However, recent evidence has pretty much pointed in that direction.

Then yesterday evening I got a phone call. Apparently a neighbor just saw a flyer that the girls and I hung up a week and a half ago regarding our missing kitty cat. He apologized for just now seeing it and calling, but a cat that matched that description has been visiting him on and off for the past few days. He said he is really friendly and likes to come over whenever he and his wife are outside doing yard work or whatever. He just thought that he was a neighborhood cat since he looked healthy and well-fed. Then he saw our sign and gave us a call to let us know to not give up hope and that next time he saw him he would try to catch him and give us a call. The girls were very excited to get that news.

This morning I was getting dressed and grabbed my cell phone and saw that I had a message waiting. My neighbor had called late last night to tell us that he had our cat and to give him a call anytime to come pick him up. So, before work today I called and went to meet my neighbor’s wife to get our kitty. They literally lived right around the corner, a few houses down. If he was that close why didn’t he just come home? Anyway, she was out in her garage with him in her arms and I knew right away it was our cat. She said he still looked well-fed (he is a BIG kitty) but I could tell he had thinned out a little. He also got in a scrap with some kind of animal because he had a big scratch down the side of his face. But it was him, no doubt about it. I walked him back home and both girls were in the front yard waiting. As soon as they saw me coming down the street with him in my arms they both started yelling cheers of joy. We brought him inside to his food dish and he must have been pretty dehydrated because I think he drank water for at least 5 minutes straight. Then he went around the house sniffing, purring, and rubbing everything with all signs indicating that he was happy to be home. My other cat, though, was not as thrilled as she hissed at him when she first saw him. I think she was enjoying having full run of the house and getting all of the attention as the only cat in the family. Oh well, I think she’ll eventually come around.

So, right now I am still grooving on the feel-good vibes of getting our cat back. I still need to pay penance for my recent bonehead mistakes, but I now have this little reminder to not give up hope. After being gone for over two weeks, our cat has come back to us. Things can still turn around, even if you have long written your chances off. There is always hope, even for a complete screw-up like me.

From the Forest Itself Comes the Handle For the Axe

2007-07-19T08:13:00.000-06:00

Ok, sorry, I know I am a little behind on my post for this week but things have been crazy around here lately. Just a little bit of summer madness in effect keeping life interesting. To top it all off, we realized last night that no one has seen one of our cats in two days. Both of our cats are of the indoor variety, but the male likes to hang out on our back patio whenever we are out there. We figure he must have snuck out Monday night when I was out grilling dinner and we unknowingly shut the door on him, locking him out for the night. With everything going on, we didn't notice his absence Tuesday and it wasn't until we grilled out again last night that we noticed he wasn't on the patio with us hanging out. We searched around the house and he was gone. No sign of him in the surrounding area, either. The humane society was closed by the time we tried to call, so I am going to call when they open up today to see if they picked him up.

He looks like this if you happen to see him. He's a black and white short hair domestic who answers to Tom. He is pretty big, about 3 years old and has black spots on his nose. Let me know if you see him around. I know two little girls who are pretty upset that he's gone.

Speaking of two little girls (and in lighter news), we took them on a hike last weekend up in Rocky Mountain NP. We usually hang out in the southern end of the park, but this time we took a jaunt in the northeast section of the park instead. We did a four mile roundtrip hike up to Gem Lake and back. Both girls did extremely well, especially considering that it pretty much consisted of straight up, straight down hiking.

I really liked this hike, even with it being a little bit shorter than I usually go for. First, there were some amazing views like this one above. Way off in the distance you can see Twin Sisters on the left and Long's Peak & Meeker on the right. That's the town of Estes Park below. It was a little more cloudy than we usually see on a Colorado summer morning, but that was actually good since it helped cool things off on what would have otherwise been a scortching day.

There were a ton of cool rock formations around here. The northern part of the park is known for its good rock climing and bouldering spots and on this trail you could easily see why. These rocks are just begging to be scrambled.

Gem Lake was pretty sweet. It is actually kind of a crater lake surrounded on all sides by amazing rock outcroppings. It was very cool to just hang out on the rocks, have a snack, and soak in the beauty. You can tell that this is a well-visited spot, as the pikas around here were very tame and literally begged on their hind legs for food. The girls thought that was cool.

After we ate, my almost 8-yr old and I decided to do some bouldering and scrambled up one of the rock walls. We got pretty high up there (much higher than even what the picture shows) and the 360 degree views from the top of one of the rock peaks were absolutely breathtaking. The rock formations on the top of the ridge were even more amazing than the ones we had seen below. My daughter loved it and showed absolutely no fear of being so high up, jumping from rock to rock. I even had to call her back several times so she wouldn't get too far ahead. I'm pretty sure her mom would never forgive me if I let her fall off a mountain ledge. So, we got as high as we could go and then turned around to go back down. My daughter was very proud of herself and was very excited about climbing that high up and all of the cool rocks and things that she saw up there. Then she got stung by a bee at let out a scream that could be heard througout the whole valley below. I'm pretty sure they could hear it down in Estes Park, even. The Mrs. flipped out since she heard the scream but had no idea what was going on. But the wee one was brave and made it back down ok. A few (lot) of tears were shed, but eventually she calmed down and her spirits came back as she decided to wear her badge of honor with pride.

So, that was quite an adventure. But overall, it was a pretty good day and I was very proud of how well both girls did. Bee stings aside, I heard no complaints. There's more to this world than video games and Cartoon Network. I'm happy that the girls enjoy experiencing it and I hope that they take away a respect for nature that can last a lifetime. Even when it stings a bit.

In and Around the Lake, Mountains Come Out of the Sky and They Stand There

2007-07-11T06:59:00.000-06:00

Ok, faithful readers here are some more hiking pics from last weekend. You know, if I keep this trend up, I'm going to have to change the marquee at the top of this page to mention something about hiking since this theme has started to dominate this blog of late. Oh well, it beats me whining about work or my lame music reviews right?

Anyway, we hiked in our usual stomping ground, Rocky Mountain NP. Since our hiking buddies took the previous weekend off and we only went on a little hike with the girls, we didn't want to take on any crazy long summit hikes or anything. Instead we opted for an approximate 6-mile trek that took us by four very beautiful lakes in the park.

Our first stop was Nymph Lake, pictured above. This lake was covered in beautiful yellow water lilies like the ones seen below.

It's a real shame that the early morning sunlight kinda washed out the lilies in this pic, but I wanted to post it anyway. Hey, I never claimed to be a photographer, I'm just a guy who likes to take pictures. Anyway, this was a very beautful spot very early on in our journey. Due to its relative closeness to the trailhead, this was a fairly popular spot. In fact, I hear that there is even a fan club of this lake called the Nymphomaniacs. However, I don't think I'm gonna do a search on it while at work...

The next lake we saw on our way was Dream Lake. Or at least I think I saw it. It could have been one of those weird Waking Life lucid moments. I didn't have any lightswitches nearby to check.

There were a few people fishing on this lake, and I can certainly see why as you could see the trout swimming in the water plain as day from the shore. I tried to get a shot of a fly fisherman in mid-cast framed by the beautiful surroundings, but the guy wouldn't cooperate with me. As soon as he saw some strange guy trying to take his picture he refused to cast out until I was gone. What if I was some guy from Field & Stream magazine? He could have been on the cover. But no, he is reduced to being slammed in my blog. What a shame.

After Dream Lake, we hiked up to Lake Haiyaha. There was some decent elevation gain on this part of the trail. To give you some perspective, our first stop, Nymph Lake (R), is pictured below along with neighboring Bear Lake (L). We parked at Bear Lake.

Lake Haiyaha was really cool. To get to the lake we had to traverse giant boulders half-submerged in the backwaters. There was no shoreline, just a huge crystal-clear body of water surrounded by huge rocks.

Disappointingly, I didn't see any marmots on this outing. However, I did see this little guy who literally landed at my feet and hung out for awhile. I also saw a cool hummingbird drinking from a wildflower, but very unfortunately I couldn't get a good shot off. Those little buggers are pretty fast.

Here is a shot of Lake Haiyaha. Or at least some of it. The size of this lake was pretty amazing considering how high up we were. I think I need to get a wide-angle lens or something. Like pretty much all of these shots, the pictures don't do the real thing justice.

On our way back from Lake Haiyaha, we passed an off-shoot trail that led to Emerald Lake. The distance was only an extra .7 miles (1.4 roundtrip) and we still felt fresh se we decided to make the side trip. Little did we know that it was .7 miles straight up. So much for having fresh legs. But it was totally worth it. Framed by Hallett Peak to the left and Flattop Mountain to the right (yes, the flat one in the pic is NOT Flattop. Don't ask me, I didn't name them), it was a very scenic spot.

So scenic in fact, that one could sit in a tree root throne and soak in all of the surrounding natural beauty. Moments like this are priceless and I for sure don't take for granted my ability to enjoy them. This is what it's all about, man.

We Carried You in our Arms on Independence Day, And Now You’d Throw Us All Aside and Put Us on Our Way

2007-07-03T13:19:00.000-06:00

Is there a Fourth of July in England?

The answer to this old riddle is of course there is a fourth of July in England. It’s a trick question. Every country using the modern Gregorian calendar has a fourth of July. Now whether or not they celebrate American Independence Day is another question. I was deeply pondering this when I began to wonder why we call it “The Fourth of July” other than the obvious reason of what day it falls on. The official name for the holiday is “American Independence Day” but you rarely hear that term kicked around unless it is advertising some kind of used car or mattress sale on TV. We don’t call any other holiday by the day it falls on (hey, better buy a turkey for the big “Fourth Thursday in November” feast!) so why do we do it for this one? I mean, we hear every year about the alleged “War on Christmas” and how the name of that holiday has been co-opted and changed to disguise its religious origins, however, no one seems to care that the true nature of this holiday is being co-opted as well. Where are you uber-patriots??? Some one call Fox News! There is a war going on faithful readers and it is being waged against the very birth of our beloved nation! It is happening right under our noses. First they make fireworks illegal, then they start changing the name of the holiday, and the next thing you know they will make pounding down a bunch of good ol’ American brew with your buddies then driving to the fireworks display where you will puke and then pass out before they even start illegal as well! This is a wake-up call my fellow Americans. Stand up for your independence now before they take it away. Wave that flag that you falsely believe Betsy Ross designed, slam a Budweiser, shoot bottle rockets at your neighbors, and for sure ask everyone you hear wishing you a “happy fourth” why they hate America so much. It’s up to you to keep this holiday sacred from those who wish to destroy it. It’s what George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Chester Arthur would do. Me? I’m gonna spend time with the family, grill out some food, watch some fireworks, and read some newspapers, legal documents, and/or commercial contracts all tax-free thanks to some brave, forward-thinking heroes who liked to dress up and dump private property into the harbor. You should, too. Happy American Independence Day everyone!

That is, unless you're Canadian, in which you can ignore all of the stuff above and have a happy belated Canada Day (before they start calling it the "First of July")!

I Got a Nikon Camera, I Love to Take a Photograph

2007-06-27T08:37:00.000-06:00

We went hiking last weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park to Chasm Lake. It was about an 8.5 mile hike roundtrip with a net elevation gain of about 2,400 feet. The trail is rated as "moderate" but I think that must be on the higher end of moderate because there was a whole lotta up on this trail. In fact, the route you take to get to Chasm Lake is the Long's Peak Trail, which goes to the top of 14,000 ft+ Long's Peak. You may remember me saying a few posts back that our goal was to summit Long's by the end of the summer. Well, using this hike as a measuring stick we may not be ready quite yet. I was feeling good at Chasm Lake and felt like I could go on, but summitting would have added another very strenuous 7 miles to our hike, and honestly after finishing at 8.5 I was pretty beat (along with everyone else in our party). Going up is ok, but going down is killer on my knees.

Anyway, the hike was well worth it and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. I took a bajillion pictures on the way (I really do have a Nikon camera...), some of which I included here:

Here is a shot of the sun rising over the Twin Sisters, which we summitted a few weeks ago. This is when we first started out. Even though we left really early to avoid any afternoon thunderstorms, it really wasn't necessary as the sky was a clear blue for our whole time out.

The first leg of the hike is through a thick woods named "Goblin's Forest." I didn't see any goblins, but I did see a bunch of cool, freaky trees like this one above. Since the trail lead straight up pretty much right off the bat, I didn't mind stopping and shooting a couple pics of them.

Coming out of the Goblin's Forest towards the tree line. Right after this the trail turned into huge rock steps that lead all the way up to the base of Long's and Mount Lady Washington. Did you hear about the guy who went to Mount Lady Washington? Her husband saw and got really ticked...

Once we hit the base of Mount Lady Washington's peak, the views were fantastic. There was even an open-air privy hanging on the side of the mountain that provided some very inspiring vistas in which to do your business. However, as comical as it was, I passed on the opportunity.

At the privy, the trail forks one way to the summit and the other to Chasm Lake. We took the trail to Chasm Lake which hung on the side of Long's and granted us spectacular views of several glacial lakes. This is Peacock Lake above, which I am guessing may be named after its amazing blue-green color. Also pictured is Columbine Falls, which we crossed over on the way to Chasm.

We had to cross several snow fields while transversing to the alpine meadow below Chasm Lake. These were pretty steep and even though it looked like a way fun hill to sled down, I wouldn't recommend it. You might not stop until you hit Estes Park if you do...

Once we got above Columbine falls, we entered an absolutely beautiful alpine tundra meadow. We followed this babbling brook for awhile and saw many butterflies, wildflowers, and even this guy...

Which leads to my obligatory marmot shot. They look much cuter when they aren't trying to steal my lunch...

At the end of the meadow we had to scramble straight up a wall of boulders and rock, which was pretty tough especially at that altitude. But after that we were finally at our destination, Chasm Lake, 11,760 feet above sea level. The backdrop pictured is the top of Long's Peak, but the lake is surrounded on all sides by Mt. Meeker, Long's, and Mt. Lady Washington. I can't even begin to express how serene and beautiful this place was. Very cool.

As you can see, there was still a layer of ice floating on the lake but it was starting to break up around the edges. Look at how clear that water is. Seriously, it was like glass. Very cold glass as I found out when I decided to test it out. A mid-hike swim was definitely out of the question.

Here is some guy standing out down by the lake. Funny, I think I saw this guy on our last hike...

Well, there are this week's pics. As I said, I took a whole schlew of them and it was hard trying to pick out just a few. While the straight up then straight down took it out of me, it was well worth it for the sights we encountered along the trail. I don't know if I'm ready for Long's yet, but I am definitely ready for some more hikes like that. Tons of fun.

Lookin’ for Some Hot Stuff Baby This Evenin’

2007-06-21T11:57:00.000-06:00

Well, today is the first official day of summer. So up to this point all of the barbequing, sandal-wearing, outdoor swimming, etc. hasn’t counted. We will be celebrating the summer solstice here in Colorado with a near 100-degree F day. Yee-haw! You know, I love warm weather. But once it starts getting in the triple digits that’s even too warm for me. I usually try to head up into the mountains when that happens since it tends to be 10-15 degrees cooler, but that doesn’t really help when I’m driving down the road in a car with no AC or when attending a middle-of-the-day summer company picnic like yesterday. In fact, I’m sporting a pretty nice red forehead from that little venture. It could have been worse, I guess. Since the sun was directly above me I was spared the wonderful “raccoon look” from wearing my sunglasses.

I know what you’re thinking: Why didn’t you wear a hat and/or put on sunscreen you big dummy? Well, I normally do and I would have, except this was conveniently scheduled during the middle of the work day so everyone could (had to?) attend. So, in order to not mess up my well-coifed ‘do and to avoid smelling like coconut all day I passed. ‘Cuz you know, I’d rather look like a bright-red beet for a few days than have to spend a single afternoon with hat hair…

Anyway, in honor of the official start to my most favorite season, I was going to list off a top-whatever list of “summer” songs. Then, I realized that the vast majority of summer songs are incredibly lame or outrageously overplayed. Seriously, how many times can you hear “Summer in the City” or “Dancin’ in the Streets” before you start asking yourself if it is the end of September yet?

But I don’t want to disappoint, so I was able to come up with a handful of summer tunes:

Doin’ Time by Sublime. Ok, this is basically a cover of an old Gershwin tune that has been redone a thousand times, but I really like Sublime so they make the list.

Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers. Just a happy, feel-good tune. Plus, it is one of those few Allman Bros. songs that doesn’t have a woman’s name in the title…

Girl by Beck. I love Beck. This is a nice little pop track that he put out a year or two ago. It gets a lot of radio play around here, but in this rare case I don’t mind. A good tune to crank while driving along in your little tin can car with all of the windows rolled down because you don’t have AC…

Summertime by Janis Joplin. Basically the same song Sublime covered, but presented in such a different way I thought it would be ok to slip it on the list. Sultry and bluesy, Janis really nailed it on this lesser-known track of hers. She’s at her best when she gets raw and belts it out, and she definitely doesn’t disappoint on this one.

Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran, but I like The Who’s version myself. However, every time I hear it I think of that weird outfit Roger Daltrey wore at Woodstock (I was going to link a picture of it, but couldn’t come up with a good one doing an image search. So, you’ll just have to trust me on this one…).

See? I’m already running low on good ones. Do I include “Summer” by War or “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly & the Family Stone? I like both of those groups, but IMO those are some relatively weak tracks when compared to their other respective releases. I’m sure there are some more decent summer tunes out there, but all of the rest I can think of either suck completely (“Summer of ’69”by Bryan Adams, anyone?) or get an “eh…” like “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry or “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. So, please help me out fellow bloggers. Any ones that I missed that deserve to go on the list? Any of the few that I did happen to mention that you disagree with? Feel free to chime in, we’ve got a few months.

While I'm Tryin' to Figure It Out I'm on This Ride For the Thrill Of It; Livin' the Dream That's What Life's All About

2007-06-18T18:06:00.000-06:00

So, as promised here are some pics from last weekend's hiking expedition. We had the girls with us, so we didn't do any major summits this time around. Instead, we decided to do a nice hike to a Mills Lake in our usual stomping ground Rocky Mountain National Park.

Our first stop was Alberta Falls, which is a pretty popular spot considering it isn't that far off of the trailhead. Still, it is a pretty spot to rest, grab a drink, and take some pictures before heading on our way.

Here is another shot of the falls a little ways down the chute. Considering the number of down trees swept up by the river, the water must come down pretty powerfully from time to time.

Here is some guy who coincidently also happened to be hiking with his daughters. Boy, those are some of the whitest legs I've ever seen...

The trail to Mills Lake cuts through the side of Glacier Gorge, pictured above. Some of the most scenic parts of the hike came from this section.

This is on the final approach to Mills Lake right after departing Glacier Gorge. I don't know, I thought this puddle and piece of driftwood looked cool framed with the back of Mount Meeker, Long's Peak & company.

And here we finally are: Mills Lake. This picture doesn't do this place justice. It was absolutely beautiful, and despite there being other hikers at the lake today, it was still quite serene. Definitely well worth the hike to get there.

There's an old joke that says that Coloradoans get up earlier on the weekends than they do for work during the week. That's because you have to get in and out before you see one of these guys rolling in. Lucky for us we were almost done with our hike when this afternoon thundershower started coming over. We made it back dry and lightning free. I can't say the same for anyone on top of those peaks...

So, there are a few pics for ya. All told, we hiked about six miles. Both girls did great, though my 5 year-old ended up getting a piggy-back ride right at the very end. It was a very quiet ride home as both of them konked out right away. I had a ton of fun. I couldn't ask for a better way to spend Father's Day weekend.

Even If We Knew Which Way to Head, But Still We Probably Wouldn’t Go

2007-06-14T13:51:00.000-06:00

***Warning*** This post is fairly self-serving, and was pretty much written to help me formulate my own thoughts so I can concentrate on obtaining the personal goals that I have set for myself. An attempt to inspire and motivate me to keep moving forward on the path I’m on, so to speak. Feel free to peruse and take from it what you will. Or you can just skip it and check back next week when I should have some more scenic hiking pictures to share. Your choice.

What can I say? Life is on an upswing for me right now. Just about three months into the new job and things are still going well. We are a week or so away from the start of my favorite season, and I have been trying to take full advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve had lately leading up to that point. The family is doing well, and I really have no complaints. It’s kinda funny because I was reading back through some of my older posts and it’s hard to believe that I ever let myself get so miserable. All it took was a few tweaks in my life (another job, shorter commute, etc) to drastically change my overall outlook. I know these things come in waves and that today’s peak is tomorrow’s ebb, but I am trying to do more to “tweak” how I’m living my life so those ebbs never become as deep nor last so long.

I know that sounds incredibly corny, like I’m some kind of late-night Tony Robbins infomercial guy (You, too, can lead a happy life! Just buy my book…), but I truly believe that for the most part we are masters of our own destiny. We can create our own happiness. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of work, but I think it can be done. I know what I want and I am now trying to pursue those goals by taking the necessary steps to realize them.

I think that the hardest part of dream realization is the transition time. I have to invest the time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, etc, to get there. Nothing comes quickly, and we have to work hard to get to where we need to be. I can’t just say that I want something and expect it to be given to me. But how does one successfully maintain his/her current life and status while trying to achieve his/her desired life and status? Having to straddle each reality is difficult, and the more you try to reach out and invest in your desires, the wider your straddle becomes, making it more difficult to maintain. One has to gain flexibility to be able to make that stretch. My favorite excuse for putting off doing the steps to get to where I need to be is that I “don’t have any time.” But I had time. I just didn’t want to adjust my already full and rigid schedule to make room for that time. It wasn’t the task that was the problem. The problem was me and my inflexibility to change even when the end result was to my own benefit. I didn’t want to put in the investment towards a long-term reward when I was already comfortable living in the short-term, despite the knowledge that I would be much happier if the long-term payoff would ever come true.

I have known that I was my own worst enemy for a long time, but only until recently have I started to do things about it. I needed to change my paradigms and become flexible enough to make room for the tasks in which I wanted to accomplish. For example, I am one of those people who need to work out for many mental and physical reasons. I am not one of those naturally fit and trim people. I’m ok now, but if I don’t stay active, my body will put on weight and get all kinds of flabby in a hurry. But trying to squeeze in a workout 2-3 times a week when a lot of times my weekdays don’t end until 9:00 or so due to work, kids, etc, can get pretty tough, especially when one is looking to use those few precious hours that he/she has alone with his/her significant other to pencil it in. Plus, after all of that running around all day I often feel too worn out to all of a sudden get all active. So what did I do? I decided to get up an hour earlier a couple days a week and exercise then. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely NOT a morning person. So, deciding to not only get up at 5:00am but to sacrifice an hour of precious sleep on my own volition is a huge deal for me. I’ve been doing it for a couple of months now, and so far I’ve stuck with it. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s really hard for me to get out of bed that early especially when contemplating that ever-attractive snooze alarm vs. getting up first thing in the morning and physically exerting myself. However, that little bit of sacrifice has really paid off for me. Plus, in the long run what will mean more to me? Getting that extra hour of sleep or my physical and mental well-being?

I’ve also made a goal to get out and do a lot more hiking this summer. I love the mountains and I love to hike. However, that, too, involves getting up at an ungodly hour to do it (and on the weekend, nonetheless). Did I really want to forgo my sleep-in Saturday to get up at the crack of dawn? As much as I hated to do it, I did and the payoff was well worth it (see previous post). The old John would have argued that Saturday was “my day” and that I had earned the right to sleep in after a long week of work. But why was I working? So I could afford the life I wanted to lead. As I said, I love the mountains and I love to hike. If I wasn’t doing it so I could grab a couple hours of more sleep, was I really living the life I wanted to lead? Years from now I will remember that hike and how awesome it was. I can honestly say that I’m not thinking back to myself saying, “Remember that Saturday I slept in back in ’96? Boy, that was that the defining moment of my life.”

But both of those cases are just smaller scale examples of the philosophy I have now decided to apply to my entire life. We only get one spin on this merry-go-round, and I want to make my ride worth it and know that I spent my time well. I’ve had time all-the-while. I just wasn’t spending it wisely. The hard part will be trying to make this philosophy stick. I can feel the straddle getting wider. I just need to keep myself flexible and looking ahead to the time when I can finally step-off and stand firmly in the place where I want to be. I control my destiny and I can make it happen. Where I am at is pretty good, but I can do better. Here’s to working towards that goal.

An Image of You and of Me and We're Laughing and Loving It All

2007-06-10T22:38:00.000-06:00

So, one of my big goals this year was to get a lot of good hiking in this summer. I used to be all into it, but once the girls were born it was kind of hard to really get out there and get some good climbs in. We take them on little 3-mile nature hikes now and they do ok, but with their little legs they're not exactly ready to take on any big peaks. My wife works with a lady who used to climb fourteeners regularly with her husband, but they kinda fell out of it in the last couple of years due to a lack of climbing partners and just overall burnout. So when they heard that we were looking to get back into the groove, they offered to have their daughter watch the girls and we began to plan our summer outings.

This past weekend was the first of our hikes this year, and we started out on a moderate climb, the Twin Sisters just adjacent to Rocky Mounatin National Park. This mountain is so named by its two prominant peaks and has an elevation of 11,428 feet.

The first part of the 7.4 mile roundtrip is a steady climb through a trail in the woods. This part is fairly gradual, with several switchbacks along the way.

Here we are finally out of the woods and above the treeline. You can see row after row of the smaller foothills going out into the horizon. That's the town of Estes Park down below.

Above the treeline, it was pretty much rock scrabble all of the rest of the way. There was still a decent trail to follow so we had to do minimal scrambling. As you can see, even though it is called "Twin" Sisters, there are several smaller peaks in between the two major ones. So it's actually a whole gaggle of sisters, a "Little Women" of mountains, if you will.

Getting closer... We really lucked out with some fabulous weather. We had to get up at the very crack of dawn so we could summit and get down before the afternoon weather started rolling in. It was well worth it. Besides a few straggling clouds the sky was clear blue. Check out those snow-capped peaks in the background. Simply amazing and, honestly, the pictures don't do that view justice. Awe-inspiring, for sure.

We made it! Well, most of us anyway. I'm still lagging behind playing around with the camera. Oddly, there was a woman sitting crosslegged on top when we got there. I tried to ask her what was the meaning of life but she told me to buy a dictionary. Go figure.

Here is a view of Mount Meeker (the shorter of the two) and the fourteener, Long's Peak. Our tentative goal is to summit Long's by the end of summer, but we'll see. I've heard it's a pretty tough one, but I can see it from my house and have stared at it since I moved here over 10 years ago and have wanted to conquer it. Check back in late August to see if make good on that one or not.

Once we got to the top we took a break and had a snack. Then a marmot came who was also interested in eating my lunch.

Get away you oversized squirrel!!! This guy was a monster, seriously. He was really agressive, too. Apparently he had a taste for cheese & crackers and trail mix. We eventually had to scare him off with a hiking pole, though if he did manage to take my lunch I would be wearing a marmot-skinned hat on my next trip...

A shot of the other twin sister. I don't know if that's Mary-Kate or Ashley. I can never tell them apart.

Hey, I was up there once. After we got back down, the dark clouds started rolling in. We met a lot of people going up as we were coming down. I sure hope they didn't get caught in a storm. The weather was still great when we got back to town. We had a bbq to celebrate the day, and then we went home to shower and groan about our sore muscles the rest of the night (and most likely the next few days after).

I know I've said it a bajillion times, but life in Colorado is good. Man, I love summer.

Where I's Headed, Well, I Didn't Really Say; The Road was Calling and I's on My Way

2007-06-03T16:50:00.000-06:00

Ok, sorry, I know I'm a bit late with these, but here are some shots from my Memorial Day weekend roadtrip:

Curecanti Recreational Area. This is the south part of the Black Canyon, where it opens up into the very impressive Blue Mesa Reservoir. We took an hour and a half boat ride from the reservoir up into the canyon. The first half consists of a tour guide sharing the history of the canyon while the second half was a chance to get up, relax, and snap some sweet pictures.

After the boat ride, we went into neighboring Black Cayon of the Gunnison National Park and looked down. This is a shot of the North Rim of the canyon right off of the Chasm View overlook. This is the narrowest part of the canyon, about 2,100 feet from the bottom.

The Painted Wall, so named by the streaks of color in the wall due to magma shooting through the original rock layers over a billion years ago. Boy, I sound like I know a lot about geology, but really the tour guide in the boat told me that.

Um, this is just a pretty shot that I like. My daughter found a wildflower laying on the path, but the sign said not to pick them, so she set it in the knot of this rail so no one would think that she picked it. My wife came up behind us and caught the picture.

On the way home we stopped in Colorado Springs and climbed to the top of Helen Hunt Falls (I'm really trying hard to suppress a lame Mad About You joke here...). This is about halfway up the falls before the main, big drop.

So, there are a few scenery shots of Southwest Colorado. It was a beautiful weekend and I had a super amount of fun. I know I got all gushy in my last post about how much I love Colorado summers, but seriously, with places like this right out your backdoor how could you not love living here? Anyway, it was a great kick-off to the summer season and I am way pumped to get out there and enjoy those mountains some more.

The Mountains and the Trees, Are They Just What You Need?

2007-05-24T12:23:00.000-06:00

Hey, what can I say? Life has been good lately. Of course, that usually means that life is trying to catch me being complacent before it kicks me square in the rear end again, but for now I’m enjoying it. I’ve been at the new job for two months now and that is still going really well. It’s not the miracle cure for monotonous boredom as I had hoped, but it is definitely WAY better than the old job, that’s for sure. Just the difference of how I’m treated as an employee makes the whole change worth it. I guess that’s the advantage of working for a local, mid-sized municipality versus working for a super large Fortune 500 company that treats labor solely as a resource instead of an asset worth investing in. And man, I sure as heck don’t miss that commute to Denver every morning.

Not much to complain about on a more personal level, either. My allergies have been kicking up the past few weeks, which I only bring up because as faithful Inaction readers may remember, I had nasal surgery last summer to help correct a lot of sinus structural problems that I had been suffering from since, well, birth. And while suffering from seasonal allergies is certainly no picnic, I have to say that it is a completely different experience now that everything has been fixed. First of all, things drain as they are supposed to, as opposed to not draining, building up and blocking my sinus passages, then turning into a lingering infection. I’m aware that mucous is not exactly a subject most bloggers would like to read about, but hey, I think the ability to breathe is something most people take for granted, and trust me, if you finally could after 30 years or so of not being able to, you’d be as ecstatic about allergy drainage as I am.

Ok, maybe not.

In other news, I am going away for Memorial Day weekend, and I am totally pumped. You see, I love summer, I love road trips, and I absolutely love Colorado. This trip will be a combination of all three. A triumvirate if you will. We are going to drive down to Gunnison, CO, this weekend to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I’ve wanted to visit the Black Canyon for a long time now, and I am very excited at the prospect of finally getting to go there. I have heard it is absolutely gorgeous plus it will give me an opportunity to cross off another NP from my list. You see, I have this odd goal of wanting to visit every national park in the US. I’m not even close to the 56 or so NPs in the US, but after this weekend I’ll be one closer… Plus, I will have finally visited all four Colorado NPs (Rocky Mountain, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, & Black Canyon of the Gunnison). It only took me 11 years or so of living here, but hey, I’ll have done it, right? I’m sure that there are many CO natives that haven’t been to any of them. How could anyone take for granted the paradise in which we Coloradoans are lucky to live???

Did I mention that I love Colorado?

Even more, I love Colorado during the summer. Some people are here for the winter skiing, but to me nothing beats a Colorado summer. I think that probably tops my long list of reasons of why I love to live here. And since Memorial Day is the unofficial kick-off to summer, I say “bring it on!” I can’t wait. I’ll be sure to post plenty of pictures so you all can understand the reasoning behind this big gushfest. Even better, you all should visit here at some point during your lifetime. You won’t regret it. You may even end up moving here because of it. I did.

Was Always Tangled Up in Knots to Keep Myself from Speaking Up, But No One’s Listening Anyway…

2007-05-11T12:34:00.000-06:00

I’ve decided to come out of the closet. I can’t live with the secrecy and shame any more. No, it’s not what you are probably thinking. I’m talking about popular music. That is, music that is so popular, or has such a hardcore fan base that something is assumed to be wrong with you if you don’t immediately drop to your knees and prostrate yourself the second a name is mentioned. And I’m not talking about the sheer numbers teenybopper stuff like Britney Spears. I’m talking about the stuff that the general “in-the-know” listening public has deemed to be the “no denying it”, quintessential cream of the music crops. And while the general consensus of millions of these in-the-know listeners speaks otherwise, I don’t really care for these artists. Up until now, I have been cautious about speaking out against most of these bands on this blog out of fear that I would lose my vast throngs of readership (yeah, right). But I shall live in fear no more. Here is a non-exclusive list of artist/artists that despite their huge popularity and critical acclaim, I just really couldn’t care less about:

Radiohead. Ok, I know they are the darlings of musical hipsters everywhere, but I really can’t stand them. And no, it’s not that I “just haven’t given them a chance” or “haven’t heard any of the best stuff they don’t play on the radio.” Trust me. I have listened to Radiohead ad nauseam (and in this case, literally nausea…). As soon as you tell a Radiohead fan that you don’t like Radiohead they instantly try to convert you, or treat you as if you have some kind of illness that must be cured by unlimited exposure to more Radiohead. Look everybody; I am really happy that this band makes you really happy. Seriously, I am. But give up. You aren’t going to win me over. Ever since the first time I heard that “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo” song on the radio (and my buddy and I fully trashed it), I have thought they sucked. And that super whiney “Karma Police” song makes my ears bleed. Not that I don’t listen to other whiney, depressing music, but Radiohead just doesn’t do it for me at all. There, I said it. Let the public stoning begin.

The Righteous Brothers. I know. You are thinking, “What???? The Righteous Brothers? Who could hate them?” But, I’m telling you, like several others on this list, I would rather crash my car trying to turn the radio station fast enough to avoid even the first opening notes of one of their songs. I don’t know if it’s the connection with that horribly terrible movie Ghost or what, but I just can’t tolerate “Unchained Melody” even in the very slightest. And “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling”? That song was bad before Top Gun turned it into a cliché. I know the ladies like ‘em, but you know what? The ladies also like Al Green, Marvin Gaye, and lots of other more talented soul singers. I’ll stick with them, thank you.

Madonna. This one should be self-explanatory, however, my brain cannot fathom why so many individuals who have otherwise decent tastes in music hold her in such high regard. I realize that nothing I say here will ever change the minds of her hundreds of millions of worshipers, but consider this: what makes Madonna a more popular figure, her talent or her knack of constantly staying “controversial” in the public eye? I’d argue that at this point in her career she is more like a follower and amplifier of the trends than a trend-setter, but even if she was the leading boundary-pusher, does that make her a good musician? Or does she just know how to play the showbiz game? Hmmm… I have a hunch it’s the latter. Plus, I blame her for making Guy Ritchie’s movies suck. He was cool. Then he married Madonna and his movies began to suck. Correlation? You be the judge.

The Cure. The reaction to this one is similar to the one I get from Radiohead, though not as vehement. How could I DARE not like The Cure? Well, honestly, I just don’t get into Goth music that much and they are like the kings of Goth. Again, the vocals are whiney and the music depressing. Plus Robert Smith is kind of a wuss. I prefer the Robert Smith that used to play running back for the Vikings. Of course, that last statement probably just explained to every single Cure fan why I don’t “get” the Cure. You know, because I’m just a dumb, meathead jock and stuff.

Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leopard, Bon Jovi, and every other 80s hair band. Didn’t like them in the 80s, don’t like them now. They are the epitome of cheese and superficiality. Or maybe I just said that to counter my meathead jock image…

U2. It’s not that I hate U2. I can respect them and admit to their talent, but I’m not a fan. They have some ok songs, but I think the total radio saturation has gotten to me. Seriously, how many stations can these guys be played on? I can hear the same 25-year old song on the classic rock channel, the alternative channel, the modern rock channel, the lite-rock channel, the top-40 channel and just about every other channel out there. All they need is to have a rap-remix of one of their songs and they would have all of the formats covered. Let’s just get it over with and introduce an all-U2 radio station format. I’m sure it will work. A handful of the Denver stations are pretty much already there…

Prince. At this point I think I’ve pretty much lost SLG’s readership forever, but I’m going to venture on and discuss the Great Purple One. Like U2, I don’t hate Prince. I just don’t understand why he is so highly regarded as this great talented musician. I actually lived in the same town in Minnesota as Prince (funny, I never saw him in sweat pants at the local Target or in line at McDonald’s…) and people, including good friends, would swear up and down that Prince was one of the most amazing guitarists ever and that he kept endless reels of his guitar-playing virtuosity locked in his studio vault. I’ve heard this from many unrelated sources. However, if this is true, why is it being locked up? Why is none of this virtuosity ever featured on any of his songs? Sure, he can crank out a catchy pop dance tune, but other than a couple solos on Purple Rain, I can’t think of any times I’ve witnessed Prince really grind his axe (I mean, seriously, he didn’t even bother to plug it in during the Super Bowl). Can he play it or not? Prove it to me, Mr. Prince, and I’ll rescind all I’ve ever said against you. Until then, you get categorized with all of the other cheesy top-40 hip-hop dance “artists.”

I’m sure there are plenty more that I need to come clean on, but I think I am going to stop for now. If I deeply offended you by putting your favorite band on this list, then I’m sorry but that’s just how it is. I can’t argue with my ears. I can neither pretend nor keep silent any longer. Judge me as you will. I'm ready for the backlash.

Tomorrow May Come, Tomorrow May Never Come Again

2007-04-25T16:52:00.000-06:00

So, I was listening to the radio last night and the DJ was discussing a list that Rolling Stone magazine put out regarding the top 25 guilty pleasure bands or something like that. He listed off some of the artists which I can safely say I take no pleasure in guilty or otherwise, but then he mentioned that the number one guilty pleasure band of all time is none other than that Canadian power trio Rush. The DJ went on to say that he didn’t consider Rush to be a “guilty pleasure band” and that he was unaware of any Rush fans who were embarrassed to admit that they dug Rush since they were legitimately talented rock musicians. That’s when I bowed my proverbial head in shame because I realized that I could be one of the “secret” Rush fans to which the list was alluding.

Even though I haven’t listened to Rush regularly in years (at least since high school), I still have tons of Rush albums stashed away and could still readily list off my favorite tracks, albums, etc from the band. I’ve seen them in concert a number of times. I will attest to the musical virtuosity of each of the respective members, and would not be afraid to list Neil Peart as one of the best drummers of all time. Plus, he writes a lot of the song lyrics as well. Only a real geek would know that. And maybe that’s the problem. Listening to Rush is often equated with being a geek. It is hard to pretend to be a hipster and listen to all the cool, hipster artists and yet have 80s prog-rock albums in your collection. It’s contradictory. But then again, isn’t being hip really about not trying, not caring, and actually embracing things not generally considered “hip” by the mainstream? So, wouldn’t listening to Rush by that definition actually be a hip thing to do? Can I really crank “By-tor and the Snow Dog” without fear of shame by my peers?

Eh, I didn’t think so.

But it did make me wonder what other albums that I have stashed away in my collection that I would be equally embarrassed by should the hipster police come calling. I don’t have my CD collection in front of me right now, but I do know that it contains some of these treasures:

Stone Temple Pilots. My friends and I LOVED this band in high school. I have very fond memories driving around in my buddy Troy’s T-bird cranking these guys. We even saw them a number of times in concert. I never did understand why they were accused of ripping off Pearl Jam. They sound nothing like them. But still to this day, if you claim to be a STP fan, you get dogged on because of it. Sure, they weren’t the best grunge band (that title goes to Alice in Chains), but they are still a fun listen. Plush is a bit overplayed, but “Crackerman” is a great volume-cranker, and I still have a fondness for “Big Empty.” So there, I admit it. What else…

Ok, Hank Williams Jr’s Greatest Hits. Wait... come back I can explain. You see, I spent almost 10 years of my life in Tennessee, from first grade until just before my sophomore year in high school (please don’t hold it against me). Back in the late 80s/early 90s Hank was huge. Well, at least down south. He was entertainer of the year like three times in a row, singing MNF theme songs and selling out arenas everywhere. In fact the first concert I ever paid to see was to a Hank Jr show. Believe it or not, my friends and schoolmates were very jealous that I got to go. So, even though that CD hasn’t been spun in at least 15 or more years I still hold onto it just for that memory. And for the record, no, I don’t listen to country music of kind. And no, I will not explain why I saw Hank twice, or why I have also seen Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels, Lee Greenwood, or a handful of other country concerts either…

The Cars. Does this count as a guilty pleasure? When I was a sophomore in high school they were a permanent fixture in my CD changer. However, after about a year or so of countless listenings, I haven’t listened to them since. Even when they come on the radio I kind of shrug. I keep the disc around though just in case I get a biting case of nostalgia and need to hear “Let’s Go” immediately. That’s never happened, but you know, if I ever got rid of it you know it would.

There are many more like that, but I think I am getting off-track. Technically, for it to be a “guilty-pleasure” it has to be a band that you secretly love but you are embarrassed to admit that you love them. Do I have any bands like that… hmmm… let me see… you know, once during a music conversation at a past place of employment, I was dogging on AC/DC. I don’t consider myself an AC/DC fan by any means (does every single song have the exact same drum beat or what?), but a buddy of mine called me out and said that he bet that when I am all alone in the car that if an AC/DC song came on the radio I would be cranking it like everybody else. Sad thing is, years later, I have found this to be true. I will be driving along absent-mindedly and notice that I am in the middle of “Who Made Who” or “Shoot to Thrill” and totally cranking it. And don’t even ask me about singing along to “Big Balls”…

But the biggest guilty pleasure that I can think of right now has to be early Van Halen. I know, they totally cheesed out with Sammy Haggar and then (even worse) with Gary Cherone of Extreme. Yes, I know they put out a whole bunch of really crappy records in the late 80s and onwards. However, back in the David Lee Roth days they totally rocked. Ok, I know I’ve just lost all of my hipster credibility, but listen to their first two albums and then tell me that Eddie Van Halen doesn’t deserve all of the guitar god praise that he gets. But bottom line is that the songs are fun to listen to. I don’t put in a VH album very often, but you can guarantee if I hear some classic VH like “Unchained”, “Hot for Teacher”, or especially “Eruption” it’s getting cranked. Guilty as charged.

Inspired by True Events on Movie Screens

2007-04-17T09:42:00.000-06:00

I am a music junkie. I want to qualify that statement because it is not a claim I want to make lightly. I’ve known and befriended many a music aficionado in my day, but I doubt very few would consider listening to music as an addiction. They probably consider it just a pleasant way to pass the time or to enhance his/her enjoyment of life. However, I show all the signs of obsessive behavior. The advent of digital downloading has only compounded this compulsion. I am constantly looking for new music, adding to my collection, and expanding my exposure to new sounds. When I hear one album, I’m on to the next. I don’t just listen to one release. If I like what I hear, I go for the whole discography. If I really like it, then I’m onto the influences and contemporaries of that particular selection. When I’ve exhausted that, I’m on to the next thing and the cycle starts all over again.

I had a buddy in college who understood this addiction more than any one else I’ve ever met. You see, he was also afflicted. We spent many an hour in long conversation regarding the topic of music appreciation, and while our tastes often differed, we both had a mutual respect for each other’s passion. However, there was always a friendly difference of opinion on how one should store his/her music collection. This difference of opinion was known as the “Crate vs. Rack” debate.

My buddy Nate had a lot of CDs. I mean A LOT of CDs. He stored these CDs in a number of plastic milk crates. In order to find a CD to listen to, one would have to sort through all of the crates until that individual found the desired selection in which he/she wanted to hear. Personally, I found this to be a huge pain. Nate, however, loved the randomness of it all. Instead of searching for a particular CD, he would think “Hmmm, what should I listen to?” and then dig around until something struck his fancy. Kind of like a physical disc “shuffle.” Or to paraphrase Forrest Gump, “life is like a crate of CDs, you’ll never know what you’ll find…”

Now, a system like that (if you want to call it a “system”) would drive me completely nuts. I’m the kind of guy who has to have a specified order and know exactly where things are when I need them. If my brain all of a sudden gets a hankering for “Strokin’” by Clarence Carter, I don’t want to have to spend a half hour digging through CD crates. I want to go to my rack, find the letter “C” and then pull out the disc in question. Yes, I put my CDs in alphabetical order, then chronological by release date. I know that according to High Fidelity that cataloguing in this fashion is extremely amateur, but again, I want to know exactly where things are when I need to find them. Sure, I miss out on being able to roll my eyes in snobbish exasperation when I explain that my albums are placed in the order of the studio name in which they were respectively recorded starting with Abbey Road, but really, I’d take convenience over that rarely-occurring pleasure of elitism any day.

So which way is better? It is all subjective, I guess. Neither Nate nor I ever came to a conclusion of our debate, but we could both recognize the merits of both. I supposed with the advent of the iPod and the digital music revolution that the point has finally been rendered mute out of obsoletion, however, I would still like to hear everyone’s opinion. So sound off. Which is better: the “crate” or the “rack”?

Like Trying to Hide Daylight from the Sun

2007-04-01T11:58:00.001-06:00

Ok, faithful readers, I know I’ve been way behind on getting a post out, but I’ve been really busy with the new job. It’s going really well. Actually, it’s been better than that. I’m super digging it. Sure, it’s only been two weeks but so far this job is WAY better than my old one. Maybe it is still the honeymoon period of doing something new, but this change has been very positive for me. The department I work in is very laid back and I assimilated immediately. I have been told by several of my co-workers that they think I am a “good fit” and one of them even went out of her way to tell me that she was relieved because she was worried that they would hire some kind of “stick in the mud.” What? You mean not all auditors are goofball smart alecks?

Yep, everything so far has been good. It has been more of an ease-in process vs. the “throw you in the fire” training that I’ve had in my past few positions, so that is pretty cool. I did start to finally do some auditing analysis stuff on Friday afternoon, so perhaps I can start getting into the real meat of the job now. That’s another thing I don’t like about starting a new job. You have to depend on people giving you odd tasks to do, or worse, ask other people for something to do instead of just coming in, sitting down, and doing what you need to get done. Eventually it will get to that point and the sooner the better. I hate puppy-dogging people around asking them if they have any busy work for me to do for them. Sure, it helps familiarize me with stuff, but I want to already be familiar with it all. I just don’t like all of that new guy awkwardness.

Ever notice that the word “awkward” actually looks awkward?

Anyway, sorry everyone for waiting two weeks to finally get you all the new job update, but I’m actually trying to make a good impression by not blogging on the clock or anything like that, like I did at my old job. At least not yet… But I’ll try to do better. This blog is probably going to have to take a new direction since I won’t have to blog about how much my job sucks if my job doesn’t actually totally suck. Maybe I’ll go back to blogging about music. People seemed to like that. Have you all procured a copy of the new Modest Mouse yet??? Better get on it, you don’t want to miss out on the MM gush fest sure to take place…

True Hunting is Over, No Herds to Follow

2007-03-14T09:11:00.001-06:00

Three more days. I can't believe it. I read somewhere once that there are few things scarier than a realized dream. I can attest to that sentiment from this experience and others, but I'm not scared per se. I'm just really nervous. This new job is something that I've never done before. What if I completely suck at it? I'm not the kind of guy who can accept personal mediocrity. Basically, I fear the learning curve. I am not accustomed to failure at work. I like being able to perform well at what I do. I don't want to not do well, even if it is just for a little bit. I don't want to let myself or my new fellow co-workers down.

On the other hand, I have been craving change for a long time now. This is what I wanted. This is what I need. I am super excited for the potential that this new job may bring. On paper it is a slam-dunk career move. This could be a serious turning point in my life and professional career. Why live life passively just sitting back waiting for something to happen? Seek out what you want and get it, right?

So, I'm not scared of the change. I say bring it on. But I'm still excitedly nervous for it. I guess that's normal, right? I mean, who wouldn't be? I just keep telling myself that I've felt the same way before every job I've ever had and things pretty much always come out right. When I started one past job I totally freaked out. I thought that there was no way I would make it past the first week. I told myself that I had to hang on for at least a month. That job was horrible, but I lasted almost three years. I figure if I made it at that place anything else has to be a piece of cake by comparison.

The winding down of the job here has been pretty anti-climactic so far. I was in Misery, um, I mean Missouri last week to help train in a couple of my soon-to-be-former co-workers on some of the things only I know how to do, like the receivables website. The person I will be training in is pretty capable, so I think she'll do ok. It is a whole heck of a lot to learn, though, so I hope she is up for the challenge. The Big Boss Lady wanted me to drop everything and fly to St. Louis on short notice to do this, but when I got there the BBL wasn't even there. She was traveling to Philadelphia. Oh well. She is going to be here in Denver, though, for the next three days. Why? I have no idea. She has never done a three-day stay before, not even for any of my reviews or anything like that. Perhaps she wants to make sure that I am going to show up or that I'm not going to steal my stapler or something. The Mrs. thinks that the BBL is freaking out that I am going to leave and no one is going to know what is going on because I am the only one in a company of 8,000+ people who knows how to do a lot of stuff. Quite possibly. Hey, I gave them fair warning and a chance to retain me. They chose not to. I feel no guilt regarding the repercussions they brought upon themselves. However, I will exit gracefully and make sure that I am giving my best up until the very end. I still have friends here that I don't want to screw over, like my sales rep friend in California who agreed to be a reference for me. I owe her at least a smooth transition to the next financial rep she will have to deal with for helping me out. Plus, that's the kind of guy I am, and maybe when it is all said and done they will feel a tinge of regret for just watching me go. Trust me, though; there won't be any regret on my part. I'll be walkin' out that door with smile on my face. Guaranteed.

Left a Good Job in the City, Workin' for the Man Every Night and Day

2007-03-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, I have exciting news to share. I got the job!!! Pretty cool, huh? I'm pretty excited myself.

I felt the good vibe walking away from my interview, but I knew there were at least 9 other candidates and I've made it farther than that before and not got the job so I didn't want to get my hopes up. The Big Boss Lady came in town the next day for my review. We went out for lunch and she brought back up the issues we had discussed during her last visit, such as my low pay, long commute, and no hope ever for promotion. She tried to say a few things to get me to stay, but all of them were wrong. Like "lots of people stay in the same position their whole careers." Yeah, but I'm not one of those people and if I have no hope of promotion or major salary increases for the next 26 years or so, what motivation do I have? I am the kind of person who has to work towards some sort of goal or achievement. I have to push myself and set my sights on an obtainable accomplishment. I can't just float through my job (and my life) passively. I need to control my own destiny. And get paid more doing it.

But I didn't say any of that then because I hadn't heard anything back yet. No, I just sat there and smiled knowing that one way or another sooner or later I would finally escape from all of this BS. We finished lunch, went back to the office, and then left for the day.

The BBL was still in town for the next morning. We were discussing some account or another when my cell phone rang. It was my prospective employer calling. I cut the discussion with the BBL short and ran into the warehouse to take the call. They wanted to let me know that they were on the "second round of the hiring process" and that they were going to do a background check on me and call my references. They wanted to let me know so I could give my references a head's up. Sweet! I was totally pumped. Just one problem... the BBL was one of my references...

So, I told the Big Boss Lady that I had something to tell her and we escaped to the privacy of the conference room. There I told her that I had been interviewing and that she should be expecting a call soon for a reference check. Although I had given her (and her boss, Herr Direktor) fair warning two months ago, she seemed taken aback like she doubted that I would actually leave the company and that it was all just a bluff. I told her that I felt no animosity or anger towards her or the company, but that it was completely a career decision. I had to go somewhere where I had a future, I could seek out new opportunities, etc. She said that she understood, but that she was disappointed. That was on Wednesday. On Friday around noon they called.

First they asked me if I was still interested in the position. Absolutely!!!! Well, then, they would like to offer the position to me. Whoooohoooo!!!! I was totally pumped. Then she wanted to talk about salary. She put out a pretty good number, but with my current bonus it was pretty close to what I could make staying here if we had another good year (then again if we didn't...). I told her that it seemed like a pretty fair amount but that to be honest I had another figure in mind. She said that we were just having a "discussion" and that this wasn't set in stone. So, I asked for the amount I had in mind and she gave it to me. So, all told I will be earning 23% more than my current base salary. Even if I stayed with my current (soon to be ex) employer and they had a phenomenal year resulting in a maximum bonus, I would still be making more in my new position. Add in the good benefits package, the much much much shorter commute, and all of those government holidays off and it all seems too good to be true.

Now I just have to like the job. I'm kinda nervous because this will be doing something completely different than what I have ever done before. I'm not scared, mind you, just nervous. I'm not the kind of guy who accepts (or doesn't care about) not doing my job well. I have pride in my work. I am nervous about the learning curve and the challenge ahead of learning something new. But this is a challenge that I invited. I craved it. I wanted it so badly to be here. And now it is here. Crazy.

Thanks everyone for putting out the good vibe for me. I appreciate it. This new job will no doubt affect a change in this blog, but change is good. Yes it is. Change is indeed very good.

Going to Shake Myself Right Out the Door, Going to Thank Myself When It’s Finally Over

2007-02-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

Well, faithful readers, I had an interview yesterday and I think it went fairly well. I definitely had the good vibe going on during the meeting, and I left feeling pretty good about it when it was all done. I usually don't get worked up or scared of interviews since I make sure that I'm prepared and rehearsed and I typically do fairly well during them. Admittedly I get nervous, but not out of fear of the actual interaction, but because of the importance placed upon it and what can be gained (or lost) by the whole ordeal. This was for a position doing something completely different than what I am doing now, so I was worried going into the interview that I was going to completely blow it. Sure, that's a fear that a lot of people have going into interviews, but in this case I feared that they would realize that I was unqualified for the position, expose me, and then ridicule me openly for even wasting their time with the interview.

That fear wasn't completely unfounded. The questions were a nice blend of your typical interview questions along with technical questions related directly to the position. So, I would get a softball like "What are your greatest strengths?" followed by "How do you define a public improvement fee and how would determine upon which businesses this fee should be levied?" Or I would be asked a creampuff like "What do you feel has been your greatest achievement?" right before being hit with "Define a Use Tax and explain the steps you would take in auditing a company to ensure their compliance with this tax"... um, ok....

So, I completely BS'd my way through those questions, but I think I knew enough from my current work experience and through the classes that I have taken to at least give satisfactory responses. I never hesitated or backtracked, and I did my background research on the position, so at least I sounded confident even if I was ignorant. I did get one "good answer!" from both of my interviewers (it was a dual attack), so that was cool I guess. I don't know if I did well enough to get the job, but I left with no regrets or feelings that I performed poorly. I applied to another position with the same organization (they even asked me if I did apply to that position) so even if I didn't make the cut this time, hopefully they will remember me doing well for next time. It couldn't hurt...

And by now you have probably figured out that I applied to a tax auditor position (cue "Taxman" by the Beatles). Yes, if I get the job I will be the bad guy that people love to hate. But, hey, I've been the bad guy for the past 7 or 8 years, whether I was collecting unpaid bills or in my previous job turning off phone lines. I take it with a grain of salt. Someone has to do it, right? It pays, it is a heck of a lot closer to my house, and it will be extremely good experience down the line. Just doing this little job search now I have seen a lot of really good paying accounting jobs high up in companies, but they almost all require auditing experience. With my financial experience I have now along with that auditing experience (should I get the job), I will be sitting quite pretty in three years. If I get my CPA on top of all of that, then I'm headed for the big time for sure.

Yes, I've completely sold out. However, I sold my soul for the corporate world long ago when I left History grad school and went into business school so there's no turning back now...

Anyway, I don't know if I'll get the job or not, but at least I'm out there trying. It sure beats sitting here and being miserable. Ironically, the Big Boss Lady is going to be in town today to give me my annual review (they now have to do all reviews in the first quarter regardless of hire date, so mine got moved up from the summer. yee haw!). I wanted to tell her not to bother, but who knows how long this job search might last and I'm not ready to tell the company to kiss off yet. At least I'll get a free lunch out of the deal...

Oh, finally, I have heard the new Modest Mouse and it is good. Very good. I still like The Moon & Antarctica better, but I for sure wasn't disappointed. I totally dug it and recommend it to all. I recommend all Modest Mouse albums to all. They rule.

Lookin' Real Hard and I'm Tryin' to Find a Job But It Just Keeps Gettin' Harder Every Day

2007-02-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, faithful readers, it's time for an update on the job search. In the closing of my last post I mentioned that I had received a call from a reputable company local to Fort Collins regarding a good position that I was very interested in. After that initial phone interview, the human resources lady on the other end advised that if I hadn't heard from the hiring manager by the 14th to give her a call on the 15th to get a status update. Well, readers, I spent the time between that initial call and the 14th researching as much as I could on the company and the position so I could make sure that I was fully prepared for that second interview. On the 14th I sat here with my phone and packet of info ready just waiting for the call. Alas, the call was never to come. So, mid-morning on the following day I called the HR lady back to get the status check. She advised that since the hiring manager had been traveling internationally the previous week he was currently trying to catch up and was behind in the interviewing process. The position was indeed still open, however, she advised that there were several internal candidates also vying for the open spot. I was relieved to hear that the non-callback was not a snub, but I admit I was a bit disheartened by the news of the internal candidates. Although I feel I am a slam-dunk as far as their required qualifications go, an inside person always has an edge since they already know the inside workings of the company (not to mention the hiring manager personally, most likely). The HR lady said that she would probably know more by today and would give me a call to let me know, but here it is a little bit after noon and still no call. Lame. I really liked that job, too.

So, I was feeling a bit dejected because of the events detailed above and the day-to-day at my current place of employment wasn't making me feel any better. It has gone beyond the point of petty annoyance and frustration. We on the financial staff have been instructed to engage in a procedure that at the very best is extremely bad accounting and at the worst in violation of Sarbanes-Oxley. This information was passed on to me by one of my sales rep friends with a kind of "can you believe this?!" message attached and I immediately forwarded it onto the Big Boss Lady and the other financial members noting a handful of red flags and expressing my extreme reservations about following this procedure. The response back I received from the BBL basically said, "this is the new procedure and this is how we will be conducting it" along with some more instruction. Not a single one of my red flag examples were addressed. One of the other financial managers said that she completely agreed with me and that she would also express her dissent in writing as well and then print out a copy for when the federal investigators show up. Good advice...

So anyway, I was kinda bummed out on my drive home yesterday when my phone rang. I expected it to be the mrs., but instead it was for another job that I applied for. They wanted to know if I was available next week for an interview. Heck ya! I was totally back in my upswing. Funny thing is, though, that when I was applying for this job I thought there was no way that they would even bother considering me for it since I didn't really have the experience to back it up. But apparently I BS'd enough in my cover letter to convince them otherwise. Pretty groovy. Once again, though, competition will be very heavy for this position. Even more than the other position that I was called back on. So, I am now trying to do as much research as I can for this job to make up that experience deficit. Keep those fingers crossed...

And finally, this one is for Sassinak. I get sent the Merriam-Webster word of the day every morning and Sass for sure would grok why this is pretty darn cool:

The Word of the Day for February 16, 2007 is:

grok • \GROCK\ • verb: to understand profoundly and intuitively

Example Sentence:
No matter how many times I try to explain it, my grandmother just can't grok what a blog is and why anyone would want to read one.

Did you know?
"Grok" may be the only English word that derives from Martian. Yes, we do mean the language of the planet Mars. No, we're not getting spacey; we've just ventured into the realm of science fiction. "Grok" was introduced in Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The book's main character, Valentine Michael Smith, is a Martian-raised human who comes to earth as an adult, bringing with him words from his native tongue and a unique perspective on the strange, strange ways of earthlings. "Grok" was quickly adopted by the youth culture of America and has since peppered the vernacular of those who grok it, from the hippies of the '60s to the computerniks of the '90s.

Just a Window From the Room We’re Bound to; If You Find a Way Out, Oh Would You Just Let Me Know How?

2007-02-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

So you all are probably wondering where I've been. Well, you might have been wondering where I've been. Ok, so you most likely stumbled onto this website by accident and noticed that I haven't posted in two weeks before clicking "next blog" or the back button. Well, there has been a lot going on in johnworld the past few weeks and it has been difficult to get a post off. I will try to recap what I can...

First off this job has been totally sucking lately. This will come as no surprise to those faithful readers who remember when this blog was dedicated to just that subject. Faithful readers might also remember last summer when I complained to my boss about how they expected of me to do a high level job without the high level title and they finally gave me that coveted title. The elation didn't last long, however, once I found out that only my title was promoted and not my paycheck. When I brought that issue up to the Big Boss Lady, she said that we would meet again in January when they do the budgets and we could re-visit the issue.

Well, for those of you who haven't checked a calendar the past five or six weeks or so, last month was January. So, knowing that she was planning to come out to Denver I asked her for a private meeting during her visit. She was coming with her new boss in tow since he was new to the position and we had yet to ever meet each other. From here on out he will be known as "Herr Direktor," simply because, well, he is a Director and he has a German last name. Nothing else is implied...

Anyway, in preparation for her visit I wrote up a two-page argument of why I deserved an increase in salary. I made sure that it was very professional and cited the company's own published directives that state that they must pay me not only in line with others in comparable positions within the company, but also competitively and in line with those in the external job market. In research of evidence to support my argument, I discovered that not only was I getting paid approximately 20% less than the median of all people at my pay grade level within the company, but also I was being paid actually less than the minimum amount that the company had to pay me based on their own salary directives. Those numbers were pretty much equal to what my external market analysis exhibited, again showing that I was getting paid at least 20% less than the median of people performing the same job as I am for other companies.

Please keep in mind these facts: I have a master's degree in business. Each morning I voluntarily drive an hour (on a good day) on my way to work and another hour (on a good day) back home just to work here. I think my job sucks. So basically, I am commuting 2 hours each day to get underpaid to perform a job I am steadily growing to hate. I could provide a pretty long list of people who will testify that I bust my rear end every day for this company. Why am I giving my maximum for a company that is literally giving me the minimum in return?

I made sure that my written argument was very professional, backed up by numbers, devoid of negative emotion, and I cut out all that stuff about hating my job. The Big Boss Lady pretty much anticipated what I wanted to meet with her about, so she brought some numbers of her own. She acknowledged that I was making less than the minimum and agreed to bump me up immediately. Wow, that's a couple hundred bucks spread out over a year, but I appreciated the gesture. Basically she told me that she had budgeted me a 5% increase effective in June and that was the most I was going to get. That still would put me well below my market value, internally and externally. I told her that I would accept that if she could get me out of the daily commute and let me work from home. I would come in one day a week if I had to, travel more to HQ and to customer sites, and do whatever it took to make it work. She said that she knew of no one in the company who worked in Finance who worked remotely. I reminder her that since I work for corporate and not Denver, that I have been working remotely for the past 3 years and have proven it works. I literally drive 55 miles each day to sit at a computer. I don't actually work with anyone in Denver. The only change would be the drive. She said that she couldn't make that approval and would discuss it with Herr Direktor. Meeting over.

After that, I spent a couple days with the Big Boss Lady and Herr Direktor in town. We had a couple meals out and I got to meet the new big boss. He didn't seem like that bad of a guy. I found out that we even went to the same school in Wisconsin, although I finished up at Colorado State. The day after they left, however, he called me up and asked me to find a private line. First, he told me that there was no way that he was going to let me work from home. His argument was that if he let me work from home then everyone would want to work from home and he would have to subjectively decide whose commute was worse, who deserved it more, etc. I reiterated the fact that I was already working remotely, but he wouldn't hear any more on the subject. Then he turned down my request for a salary increase request. He proceeded to tell me that the only way I could make more money was to accept a new position elsewhere. I told him that I had been offered opportunities to relocate before and that the answer would always be "no." My family and I had an extremely financially and emotionally damaging experience the last time we moved for a job with the company (to Minnesota) and that we would never leave Colorado again.

Then he told me that I was in a "unique position" here with the company. I had a recognizable name and that the CFO and VP of Treasury often discussed me for promotion when openings came up. In fact, he had just spoke with the CFO that morning and if I was interested in an opportunity in Boston I would get an automatic 20-30% increase and get bumped up a pay grade. No, we aren't moving. Plus, the cost of living in Boston is like 50% higher than here, so I would actually be making less... Then he pretty much said that if I stayed in Denver, I could expect the same piddly increases each year and basically go nowhere in my career. He said that he knew I had a "hard choice to make" and ended the call.

The Mrs.'s response to that was, "no, you just made the choice a whole lot more easier" and she was right. She pointed out that if a CFO and VP of Treasury in one company were impressed by my work, then a CFO and VP in another company would be impressed by my work. If they make no attempts to try to keep a good employee, even meeting me halfway, what reason do I have to stay with them? They have not given me a single one.

On top of all of that, this job is just getting more and frustrating by the day. Since about last summer when our customers' distribution center went to a new computer system, things have really hit the fan around here. It has been a huge source of frustration for everyone and despite my trying to bring up the ugly subject of correcting these problems very many times my pleas for change have been ignored. Another result of this conversion is that my job has ceased being a "financial" job. I no longer do credit or financial statement analysis, I don't do collections, customer contacts, number-crunching, or any kind of actual critical thinking or decision making whatsoever. I spend my day auditing thousands of sales order line items for accuracy to make sure that our invoices don't get bounced back from their system when we electronically transmit them over. This isn't finance. This is quality control. Plus, once corrected, all of these line items just get bounced back again for some other reason, making us have to start the whole thing over. We haven't been paid for almost $12 million dollars of invoices dating back to June of last year. No one but me seems to care about this issue or the crazy interest expense that we are eating because of it. Tack onto that the fact that my computer was down for the past week because of an IT person's error that she couldn't correct and I am getting pretty fed up with the whole deal. I am totally wasting my potential. I definitely need more.

So, faithful readers, I am currently on the look out for greener pastures. I have a pretty narrow search, though, because my job needs are pretty high. The position has to be in Fort Collins, or very close to, so I can get out of this horrible commute. No more 4-hour drives when it snows and no more rollover accidents to contend with each week. The job also has to pay at least as much as I am making now or more. I am hoping for more, but since the overall market in Fort Collins is a lot smaller than Denver, I will take equal pay if it is in a good growth position for a good company. There has to be good health and compensation benefits as well, because admittedly, I have pretty good ones now and they would be hard to give up, especially with the girls to consider. And finally, I want to get in with a good, reputable company who treats their employees well and there is a strong possibility for growth. A company headquartered locally would be optimal, so I don't have the constant pressure to move that I have had to endure for the past 3-4 years. I know that's asking a lot, but it's not impossible. I just have to be patient and the right position will come. In fact I got a call back a few days ago from a decent-sized company HQ'd in Fort Collins for a position that looks really good. It was just a preliminary phone interview to screen me before passing me on to the actual hiring managers so I'm trying not to get too excited yet, but admittedly I am excited nonetheless. The market is pretty tight here, so I'm most likely up against some good competition for the spot. If you could all please keep your fingers crossed for me and send some good vibes my way, I would super appreciate it. In the meantime, I'll keep you all posted on how the search goes. I promise...

Like Spittle From a Cloud, Amassed Resentment Counting Ounce and Pound

2007-01-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

One of these days things might settle down enough that I might actually be able to post something. Well, besides this one, that is.

In the meantime, please feel free to discuss the merits/disappointments of the new Shins album and whether or not listening to them did indeed change your life...

Lately, Newspaper Mentioned Cheap Airfare; I’ve Got to Fly to Saint Somewhere, I’m Close to Bodily Harm

2007-01-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while and for that I apologize. I certainly wanted to write, but things have been totally crazy around here lately. It's budget and strategy season so I have literally been in teleconference phone meetings every day for the past week. That wouldn't be too bad, but the people who come up with these budgets/strategies have their heads up their posteriors, in my opinion. The Big Boss Lady got us all together before her big meeting with the execs to discuss how we can make our division more profitable. My list of recommendations to actually resolve problems and target obvious known issues that are eating heavily into our bottom line got the brush off as usual. Their solution? Just increase sales volume and gross margin rate. Sure, that will help. We can't collect on the stuff we are selling now. Adding more sales will just compound the problem plus adding more points on our mark-up will just drive our customers to our less-expensive competition. When the boat is sinking you don't add more passengers and charge them more for a ticket. You fix the dang leak! But what do I know? I'm just the worker bee. The execs must make those big bucks for some reason...

The weather here is also making me grumpy. I used to think that Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) was a bunch of BS made up by psychiatrists to push more Prozac, but then I moved to Minnesota and came back to Colorado a year later. There is MOST DEFINITELY a connection between sun, warmth, and depression. Being snowed in and freezing for 7 months of the year = not good for Johnny. Sixty degree and sunny blue sky Januarys = very good for Johnny. However, this winter for some reason we have not only been hit for the past four weeks with significant snow falls (two of those being blizzards) but it has been sub-freezing for the past month so it won't go away. The sun hasn't been out, either. It was so overcast the other day that I couldn't even see the mountains. So let's summarize: piles of ugly, black snow that won't melt, long stretches of below-zero weather, no sun, and no mountains. I feel like I am living in freakin' Minnesota again!!!! To make matters worse, Minnesota is having a highly unusual mild winter with high temps and barely any snowfall. This is a phenomenon that my parents have not failed to mention on several occasions to me. Considering that we are close to eclipsing the seasonal average snowfall and we haven't even hit our snowiest month yet (March), this is not looking good for my mental stability. I need summer now.

On a side note, I read in the paper that S.A.D. is a diagnosable medical condition that can be treated in several ways, one of which is taking a long, tropical vacation. I am considering visiting my doctor, getting diagnosed, and then hitting up my employer for paid medical leave for "treatment." I'm think I'm going to call my insurance company to see if I can work this all out...

So, the weather sucks, my job sucks, and my commute to work the past few weeks has absolutely totally sucked. I've also been in complete despair ever since I watched An Inconvenient Truth last weekend. I'm tellin' ya, you'd better bust out the straight jacket now because I don't think I am going to make it to February...

He Chose His Words From Mouths of Babes, Got Lost in the World

2007-01-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

I knew it was there. I had planned on going. However, when I went over to the library just now on my lunch break I couldn't help myself. I had to get a peak. To some people it may be just a long sheet of paper, but it changed my life long before I ever saw it in person. Seeing it there, the first half rolled out and encased in glass, I was immediately overcome with emotion. I was by myself and had to tell someone, so I turned to the security guard sitting there and exclaimed "This is by far the coolest thing ever!" He gave me a knowing smile and nodded. I'm sure he's heard similar sentiments before and probably will hear them many more times again. You see, I just got as close to greatness as I will ever get. I just read directly from Kerouac's On the Road scroll.

I was only there on my lunch break. I could have easily spent the rest of the afternoon dazed in wonderment at its marvel. There was Ti-Jean's manuscript, unabridged, unaltered and "un-aliased." His own handwritten notes and proofreading marks resided in the margin. I read as long as I could with the time I had. I think I am going to go back once a week until I have finished it all. I've read On the Road many times throughout my life. I even took an upper-level college course in it (and made an A+). However, this was the original. Straight from Jack's fingertips. LSD (and other Kerouac fans out there), if the exhibition comes anywhere near you, trust me, you have to go. You won't regret it.

Well it Would Have Been, Could Have Been, Worse Than You Would Ever Know

2007-01-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

Things bothering me today:

That I have to put up with at least a year of hearing "Florida Gators" and "national champs" in the same sentence.

That I have never just stumbled upon a big, cinched-up canvas bag with a big dollar sign stenciled on the front of it filled with a large sum of unmarked bills.

That there still is no official release date of the new Modest Mouse album after they postponed it last month (I am, however, totally digging the first single "Dashboard").

This weird throbbing sensation that just started in my ear.

That they are predicting another 8 inches of snow for Colorado this Thursday/Friday.

The things that I cannot change. Like that lightbulb. Anyone have a step ladder I can borrow?

Blogger being down for "maintenance" once again.

Madonna.

That thing you are doing right now. Yes, you. Knock it off! Thanks.

Yeah, that should do it. I feel better now. No, wait. Gators still suck! Ok, now I feel better.

Three is a Magic Number...

2007-01-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Three weeks. Three major snowstorms. At least 3 feet of snow on the ground. At least three months until Spring. It will probably take me 3 hours to get home tonight.

My third eye is imagining me someplace warm and snowless. Anyone want to contribute to the John Winter Relief Fund to make this a reality?

So This is the New Year and I Don’t Feel Any Different

2007-01-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's the New Year. 2007. The year of the some animal or other. As is the custom with each flip of the annual calendar, I guess I should come up with some resolutions. However, I think I am going to score myself against last year’s resolutions first to see how well I did. Ok, first thing I resolved to do was learn HTML. Well, although I wouldn't dare say I am fluent, I did learn a good chunk of the basics and was able to turn this website from a basic blogger template into a more original layout (with basic blogger template structure). I also designed a couple of more layouts completely from scratch, but you will just have to trust me on that since none of them are published and remain as .html files on my computer. So, one resolution resolved. Let's move on to the next one: have my website up and running and my writing project done. For clarification, this is a website separate from this blog. This was part of an overall experiment of mine to see if one could actually make money on the internet. I set up a trial website complete with all kinds of test factors to determine what content, advertising, trackers, keywords, marketing, etc, brings people to a particular website. The experiment was a great success. I learned many things from this experiment and that is that there is money to be made from the internet but it is to be earned from selling an actual product, not just placing advertisements on blog and watching the tracker click. In a single month the traffic for my trial blog had way surpassed what this blog had taken almost a year to accomplish, but I had less than a dollar to show for it. I needed a product to sell otherwise other people would just be making money from my hard work. Unfortunately that is where I stalled out. I have a great idea for a product, but I admittedly have been lazy about getting it together. I know I have mentioned my lack of motivation several times here in the course of the past year and yet I am still unable to finish up. I have some kind of blockage that has prevented me from moving forward. My first resolution is to figure out how to remove that mental blockage and press on. I know this idea will be successful; I just have to follow though. By the end of this year I want some serious progress made on this project. No more slacking!!!!

My second resolution is to pick this whole website design hobby back up again. I was doing really well learning HTML and having a lot of fun with it. I even started in on a JavaScript book to learn that language, too. Then warm weather hit. I was no longer indoors. Summer and all of its wonderful distractions came and I was away from my computer. I meant to go back in the fall but it didn't happen. Now that winter is here and the long cold nights have returned I want to pick JavaScript back up. This blog hasn't had a major tweaking since about last March so it is time. I resolve to finish the JavaScript book and to do another major tweak done by the end of the year.

Since it is custom to have a resolution that deals with physical fitness, my third resolution is to get in more hiking this year. Ok, this should actually be an easy one. My wife recently joined a weekend hiking group with some friends of hers. They go out every Saturday and Sunday (weather permitting) and stretch their legs for a handful of miles or so. A lady in the group used to do some of the big tall peaks around here with her husband but stopped due to burn out and a lack of other people to go out with. I love to hike but haven't been able to get out much regularly for years. Even now, I am usually at home watching the girls while the Mrs. goes out and gets her outdoors fix. Turns out that my wife's friend has a teenage daughter who will baby-sit the girls while the four of us go out and hit the trails. We are all pretty excited and early planning has begun on some of the trips we can take this year. I seriously can't wait!

For my last resolution I've decided to make a life-long goal, not just for the upcoming year. Ever since my visit to Joshua Tree I've been thinking about how awesomeness of the US national park system. These are truly national treasures. I want to make it my goal to visit each one of them during my lifetime. Although I've only visited about six out of 58 parks, I think that this is a very realizable goal. First, a very significant number of these parks are within a days' driving distance of where I live. Second, many parks are near places I would go to visit anyway like the handful of parks on the way to or around Minnesota, or in places that I would much rather visit like Hawaiian Volcanoes NP. Some will be harder, like the one in American Somoa, but hey, a goal has to make you stretch, right? Even if I don't make all 58, my life and love of nature will no doubt be enriched in the attempt. And isn't that what these resolutions are supposed to be about anyway?

Saint Stephen Will Remain, All He’s Lost He Shall Regain

2006-12-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well, faithful readers, I hope you all had a happy holiday this year. We here in Colorado certainly had an xmas to remember. As you may have heard, we got a bit of snow last week. It started out tame enough. They predicted a bunch of snow on Tuesday but none came. They said we would get it early Wednesday morning, but when I woke up super early to deal with the traffic, none had come. By the time I was done showering flurries had started to fall, but that was about it. My drive was uneventful and it seemed like it was going to be another false warning. However, very shortly after I got into work it started coming down. I mean REALLY coming down. The wind was blowing like crazy. Schools were closing. Our delivery trucks were turning around and coming back. They closed down our Denver branch at noon.

I, of course, had no fear of high winds, blizzard conditions, or a 50-mile commute back home since I drive the ultimate winter driving machine, the Kia Rio. However, everyone else apparently was having difficulty because it took me almost four hours to get home. I spent at least the first hour and a half of that just trying to get five miles away from my work. Eventually once I cleared Denver things improved, but it was still one of the worst winter drives I ever had to endure and I used to live in Minnesota, the land of bad winter driving (or all year driving, for that matter).

I am honestly amazed I made it home. The interstate was lined with vehicles much more conducive to rough driving than mine lying in ditches or run up in drifts. I feared that I would run my little white sedan right off the road, get lost in a snow bank and no one would find me until spring. My wife said to make it as close to home as I could and she would try to come rescue me in the 4-wheel drive. Luckily she didn't have to and I amazingly made it home safe and sound.

The next day the national weather service reported that Fort Collins got an average of 23 inches of accumulation (58.4 centimeters for those of you who think metric). With the wind as crazy as it was, we ended up with drifts in our back yard higher than our 6-foot fence. Thursday was actually kind of fun because the whole town was snowed in. The state literally shut down and all of the interstates in all directions were closed. I feel bad for all of the travelers and those people stuck at the airport for days, but once I finally got home I enjoyed it. The branch stayed closed on Thursday, so when the snow stopped, I went outside and helped dig out the neighborhood while the girls played.

My wife was thrilled that a white Christmas was virtually guaranteed, and I definitely wasn't complaining about the well-timed extra days off work, but I can't say that the holiday went off without a hitch. We haven't had mail service since the day of the blizzard (even though the roads were plenty fine for travel by Saturday morning), so not only did our packages not get out but we didn't get any in, either. Luckily we already had the Santa gifts for the girls or there would have been a lot of explaining to do for sure.

The funniest twist on the no-mail-delivery thing involved our xmas dinner. You see, as tradition, my grandparents used to send all of the families good honey-baked hams to eat on xmas. One of the last things my grandfather did before passing away last month was order the hams for everyone. We even discussed it the last time I spoke with him. We had counted on that ham coming in time for the big meal. My parents had received theirs but ours never came. Then the blizzard hit and no mail came. We had all of the fixin's for side dishes, but no main course. So, we cracked open the freezer to see what we could make. Well... we have the ingredients for meat loaf... And that is what we had: Christmas Meatloaf. I guess we'll see next year if a new tradition is born.

All in all it was a great xmas, regardless of the late packages. We got some unexpected extra time to spend with our friends and family and that was more than gift enough in replacement. We did a lot of baking, playing in the snow and other fun holiday things with the girls, and we visited with friends on both Saturday and Sunday nights. I also witnessed a true xmas miracle as the Denver Broncos defeated the Cincinnati Bengals thanks to a bad snap in the final seconds of the game. Merry xmas indeed.

I hope you all had a great holiday as well. I am now going ride out the next few days of work until Friday, which I am taking off as a vacation day. I had saved an "emergency" day but never needed it so I am taking it now to end the year. That is, of course, depending on when the xmas packages finally arrive. I just may be taking off for another round of xmas...

Like an Angel Standing in a Shaft of Light, Rising up to Paradise; I Know I’m Gonna Shine…

2006-12-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am back from my business trip to California. All in all it was a very positive experience. So positive in fact, I can't wait to go back and spend a little longer time there to enjoy it (especially on days like today when it is cold and snowy outside). Anyway, here's the rundown of my trip:

I had a 6:00am flight, so I had to get up at like 3 in the morning since I had to shower, get ready, make the hour or so drive to the airport and still get there in time to check-in, go through security, etc. I made it on time, albeit in a zombie-like state. It was strange, though, because literally as I was approaching the airport Going to California by Led Zeppelin came on the radio. Very strange.

I made it through security and boarded the plane without a hitch. However, once boarded we had to sit on the tarmac for another 30-40 minutes because maintenance had to come out and tighten a loose panel. That would usually be ok, since I am generally patient and would rather wait and make sure the plane was safe before watching a piece of paneling rip off the plane mid-flight, but I was changing planes in Phoenix and only had 30 minutes to do so.

Once we finally took off things were ok (take-off was a bit bumpy) and I made it to Phoenix with about 5-10 minutes to catch my plane. Luckily I had not missed my connection, unlike many of my other fellow passengers who flooded the ticketing desk with their complaints. I literally ran down the concourse only to find the jetway doors were closed. "Are you John?" the flight attendant asked. "Yes, I am" I replied. "We've been expecting you. We knew you were coming." Ok, that was weird in a creepy, horror movie kind of way. Anyway, they held the plane as I ran aboard. I asked about my luggage, but sure enough they were loading it as I spoke. I found my seat and soon enough I was back in the air. I had never been to Phoenix before, but from the 5-10 minutes that I ran through it, it seemed very lovely.

I found flying into Palm Springs to be a very odd visual experience. From Phoenix until just before we landed, brown land was all you could see out the window. There were a lot of mountains, but they were all brown as well, like little mounds of dirt rising from the ground. There was little or no vegetation to be seen anywhere. Then, all of a sudden you see a huge swatch of bright, vibrant green. Palm trees and golf courses everywhere. I mean a TON of golf courses. I think there must be a city ordinance that mandates one hole for every resident.

I didn't spend much time in Palm Springs, but I really liked what little I saw. The airport is like 2/3 outside. Of course, when it is super sunny and in the 70s (F) in the middle of December why wouldn't you want to be outside? The first site you see coming out of the airport is the very impressive Mt. San Jacinto complimented by the many tall palm trees reaching for the sky. It must cost a fortune to keep this oasis in the desert lush, but the visual result was spectacular. No wonder this is such a winter haven for wealthy snowbirds and celebrities. Even I'm starting to think about getting a January time share there myself...

It doesn't take long after driving out of Palm Springs that you find yourself in the desert. This isn't a giant sand dunes and camel desert that probably first comes to mind, but more like a really dry dirt and sage brush kind of desert that you see in the old cowboy movies. However, the land wasn't flat. There were mountains on either side and I was headed right towards the eastern ones.

The town of Twentynine Palms, CA, is about an hour away from Palm Springs. I couldn't think of two more contrasting locales. As lush as Palm Springs was, Twentynine Palms was dry. It was a small desert town that reminded me a lot of Alamosa, CO. The best thing about Alamosa is its close proximity to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Unless you are counting the marine base in Twentynine Palms, the best thing that I encountered in Twentynine Palms by far was Joshua Tree National Park.

But I'm getting ahead of myself since I had to do my customer visit first. You know, since this was a business trip and all. I actually picked probably the best day to go out. The marine base held a big pot luck in one of the hangars for all of the vendors and contractors that work on the base, so I got to meet a lot of people and get some good grub on in the meantime. Even Santa came to visit. I'm telling you, xmas in the desert was a weird experience for me. Here it was all sunny and warm and people are walking around in snowflake sweaters and Santa hats. In Palm Springs, houses with green grass and palm trees had wreaths hanging on the door. A big inflatable snowman advertised real xmas trees for sale. I was rolling up my sleeves as people were talking about how cold it was getting (down to 40 F in the desert at night... brrrr... ;-). After that I took a tour of the base, met our staff and checked out our facilities, and counted all 29 palms. I learned that each palm represents an action that the Marines took place in. Very interesting.

Later that evening I went to a dinner hosted by one of the big contractors in the area. I guess this guy has a huge expense account with his company and buys dinner and drinks for all of the other vendors once a month. It just so happened that I was there for one of those free dinners. Fine dining is in short supply in Twentynine Palms, so we ended up at a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place that I guess is the usual monthly destination for this kind of thing. While ordering something to drink another vendor recommended a new micro beer that the place just got in called Fat Tire Beer. Fat Tire Beer? You mean the same Fat Tire brewed right down the road from my house in beautiful and lovely Fort Collins, CO??? Sure, I'll have one! I guess it just goes to show that no matter how far you travel, you can always find a bit of home.

I didn't have much business on base the next day so I took some extra time before my flight to visit Joshua Tree National Park. No, I did not see Bono or any other members of U2 there. I have wanted to visit this place for years and I honestly don't even remember when it started or why, just that I had strong desire to check it out. I was not disappointed. I LOVED this place. I spent a few hours in the park and I could have easily spent a few days there. It was beyond super cool. It was mind-blowingly amazing. I can't even explain it in words. The only thing that dampened this awesome experience was that I was all alone and could not share it with anyone. I didn't have my good camera with me, but I tried to snap some shots with my cell phone. They turned out terribly. I am going to post them here anyway, but I would recommend visiting this guy’s site to see some much better images.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a Joshua tree.

The Cholla Cactus Garden in the Colorado Desert

A downshot of a rock arch in White Tank. There are huge rock piles scattered throughout the park just waiting to be ascended. A rock climber's dream...

Those are just a few shots that turned out (barely). I need to go back with my good camera, for sure. I didn't get near enough time in the park. I had to force myself to leave or I would have missed my plane. I was pushing it on time as it was, so I reluctantly turned to go. I made it back to Palm Springs with just enough time to gas up the rental, return it and check into my flight. Before I knew it, I was back in the air leaving sunny California and returning to Denver. The flight went well and I made it through the airport unscathed. I found my car in the economy lot, sank down in my seat and turned on the ignition. The radio popped on and it was Where the Streets Have No Name by U2. You might recognize it. It was on The Joshua Tree album. Very strange...

Rhymes So Loud and Proud You Hear it; It’s Christmas Time and We Got the Spirit

2006-12-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

Ok, so a couple of posts ago I took the liberty of ripping into some of the more popular holiday songs that we get inundated with each year around this time. It was suggested to me that I should counter-balance that post with some xmas tunes that really aren't that bad (relatively). That sounded like a good idea, so here we go:

Merry Christmas Baby by Otis Redding. Ok, this one has been covered a number of times, but in my opinion no one does it better than Mr. Pitiful. Mr. Redding takes this soul/R&B love song set during xmas time and turns it into a track that "shore do treat us right" every year.

The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. Ok, some might argue that The Nutcracker is not xmas music, but to them I ask why have toy soldier nutcrackers become so synonymous with xmas then? I'm a Tchaikovsky fan all year round, so this is no big stretch for me, really. We took the girls to a live performance of this seasonal ballet this past weekend and they both absolutely loved it. This just shows that xmas music doesn't have to be cheesy bubblegum pop. It can also be a classical and cultural tradition and experience. And involve codpieces.

Christmas Tears by Eric Clapton. Clapton. Blues. Xmas. Need I say more? I mean, besides bragging that I have Clapton tickets for when he comes to Denver in March... merry xmas indeed!

Roses are Free by Ween (also covered by Phish). Ok, probably not one to play in front of the relatives, but still a pretty good tune anyway even if it is a little warped. Hey, it's Ween, what did you expect from a duo who recorded such classics as Bananas and Blow and Mister, Will You Please Help My Pony?

Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC. Ok, how could I not include this one? I know it's corny. The ridiculousness of the lyrics is only overshadowed by the ridiculousness of the music video. However, it still is a lot of fun. Plus, how many other xmas rap songs can you rattle off?

Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) by The Ramones. Is there a better way to celebrate xmas than blaring The Ramones? Joey and the crew actually present us with a pretty good holiday message to contemplate on this track. We shouldn't fight because "Christmas ain't the time for breaking each other's hearts." Well said, Ramones, well said. On a side note, the radio station in Boulder has a decent holiday music stream on their website that has a track of Joey Ramone singing Merry Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) in rotation. That one ain't bad, either.

Father Christmas by The Kinks. While this one is often overlooked as a "joke" xmas song, there is actually a pretty pointed message here about the commercialism of xmas and the irony that Santa tends to bring the most gifts to the kids who least need them. Who knew that listening to The Kinks would be the best way to stay grounded during the overwhelming wave of excess that we tend to get wrapped up in this time of year?

Christmas by The Who. Finally, a Who song that hasn't been completely overplayed by commercial radio! This little gem is hidden between the more prominent and recognizable tracks in the amazing rock opera Tommy and asks us the deeply profound question: how can men who've never seen light be enlightened? Hmmm... Really, I love this tune. It just may be my favorite on this list, seriously. If not for anything else the "wahwahwahwahs" in the background are totally infectious. You might just have to hit "repeat track" a few times just to get them out of your head.

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure there are many more that I have neglected to mention. If any of you all out there think a tune should be added to this list of "tolerable xmas tunes" please feel free to add them in the comments. I'm all ears and antlers...

In other news, I am traveling to California on business for the next few days. No, I will not be laying out on the beach somewhere. I will actually be in the middle of the desert, or more accurately, in the middle of two deserts: the Mojave and the Sonoran. We received a mandate from the top that all of the financial managers had to make a customer visit by year-end. So, I picked my favorite customer in Twentynine Palms to grace with my presence. This is mostly for show, a kind of "meet and shake hands" type of thing, but it should be a good trip nonetheless. I'll be checking in and out for the next few days (which is different from any other time?) but Inaction should be back in regular action soon.

Rhymes So Loud and Proud You Hear it; It’s Christmas Time and We Got the Spirit

2006-12-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Only People Just Know How to Talk to People; Only People Know Just How to Change the World

2006-12-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm like some freakish savant when it comes to music trivia. Don't ask me to remember anything of any real significance or practical use, but for some reason I can list off the most obscure musical minutiae with ease. The same could be said of film, books, historical events and other random factoids as well. Trust me, I would readily trade my ability to never lose Trivial Pursuit for, say, an understanding of quantum physics or anything of actual value, but I have come to accept that it is just how my brain works.

I mention this because I learned something new today that I had never heard before. According to the morning DJ (yes, I admit it, I was listening to commercial radio) Jimmy Page played session guitar on Tom Jones’ It’s Not Unusual. I knew that he had done a lot of session work early in his career, but I had never known about this one (rest assured it's locked in the brain vault now).

I did know that Mr. Page played sessions for the Yardbirds and eventually became a member of the band after Eric Clapton departed. Eric Clapton is no stranger doing session and cameo work himself. Best friends with George Harrison, he contributed on several of his tracks, including one of my favorite Beatle tunes While My Guitar Gently Weeps. He also played lead guitar in John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, which brings me to today's real topic, the anniversary of John Lennon's death.

I wrote a decent post on this subject last year so I'll link it here and invite you to read it. I know that's cheating, but hey, it beats redundancy. I will, however, once again implore you faithful readers to consider Mr. Lennon's message of peace and understanding between peoples. With all that is going on in the world, this message is just as relevant now as it was then. Let's not just remember Mr. Lennon by playing Beatle "rock blocks" on the radio. Let's instead honor his memory by reaching out to our fellow humans and practicing random acts of kindness for our neighbors. That and listening to A Day in the Life ad nauseum. That's what I plan to do.

Not Now John It's Time to Get on with the Film Show

2006-12-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. I was going to make a joke about today being the day that we mourn the millions of dollars wasted on one of the worst movies I’ve seen in recent years, but then I thought that might be insulting to the brave men and women to whom this day is actually dedicated. Then again, could it be any more insulting than trivializing one of the darkest moments in US history by making an extremely lame love triangle movie with the surprise attack on the Hawaiian naval base as its backdrop? Michael Bay, what cinematic great will you attempt to dumb the masses with next? Opposites attract in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building? A make-up/break-up story set in the twin towers? Oh wait... it's yet another Friday the 13th sequel. Way to set the bar high, Mr. Bay. Maybe a bunch of superfluous explosions and bad editing will finally get Jason this time...

In all seriousness, thanks vets. Your service is remembered and appreciated on this 65th anniversary.

Father Christmas Give Us Some Money, We’ll Beat You Up if You Make Us Annoyed

2006-12-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm back after a crazy week at work last week. Snowy weather socked the US this past week, which closed down our corporate headquarters for two whole days. Hey, we had snow and below zero (F) temps here, but we didn't close down. Wimps. Anyway, since I work for corporate and not for the Denver branch, most of my co-workers were out leaving me to pick up the slack. That's ok; I was able to get a lot done regardless. It is a relatively slow time of year for our line of business.

This past weekend was my youngest daughter's 5th birthday, so we celebrated that big event for her on Saturday. I can't believe how fast she's grown. I know that is a cliché every parent utters, but really, it's true. Time will sneak up on you if you aren't careful.

We try to wait until after my daughter's birthday each year to set up the xmas tree and stuff, so she doesn't feel overlooked in the holiday shuffle between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, on Sunday I pulled out all of the xmas gear and we had our annual holiday decorating event which usually involves a huge wave of excitement up front followed by at least an hour and a half of "are you done putting on the lights yet?"

So, since xmas is in full gear over at the John household, I decided to dedicate today's post (or let's face it, this week's post) to xmas music. However, instead of singing its praises, I am instead for giving most of these songs a permanent "silent night" if you know what I mean. Hey, I know that they can't all be Christmas in Hollis, but I think it is time to re-evaluate some of the old standards. I know everyone loves xmas music, but are some of these tunes really the ones you want to hear over and over for the whole three months of the xmas season? I didn't think so. Although not nearly an exclusive list, here are a few that I have issues with:

Jingle Bells. Ok, I know this is a highly revered holiday classic. But why? Why is this a "Christmas" song? There aren't any lyrics that have to do with xmas or the "holiday season," nor are there any imbedded lessons about giving, kindness, peace on earth or anything like that. This song is about bells ringing on a horse sleigh. Technically, this song could be sung year-round. Why must we stop singing it after xmas? Did people a hundred years ago not take sleigh rides through the snow in January? I just don't get it. The same could be said of Let it Snow, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, and that other sleigh song creatively titled Sleigh Ride. Apparently snow only falls on xmas. That's fine with me. Somebody please notify the weather service, because my xmas spirit is going to be worn fairly thin if it is still snowing in March...

And speaking of songs having nothing to do with xmas becoming xmas songs, what is the deal with Favorite Things now being a part of the xmas repertoire? I've seen The Sound of Music (yes, I am comfortable enough with my masculinity to admit it) and I'm fairly certain that it was not an xmas movie. Well, sure, those Nazis were a bit frosty, but not in that "cute and loveable snowman" kind of way. So, I think we should say "so long, farewell" to this one before we end up trashing all of the old standards in favor of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Greatest Hits.

Deck the Halls. Ok, is there anyone out there nowadays that doesn't snicker when they sing this song? I have a feeling that donning "gay apparel" had a slightly different meaning when this song was first written. Plus, there is no way that I can hear this song without thinking of the Chinese restaurant scene in the movie The Christmas Story. Now, that's classic.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Ok, as far as xmas songs go, this one isn't that bad. It is a nice upbeat tune that everyone enjoys boogyin' to while they hang on the decorations. But, answer me this: what is the "new old-fashioned way"? Is that like retro? And while I am pretty sure that this song is about a xmas dance party, the only rockin' that goes on with my xmas tree is when my cat tries to climb it...

Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney. Ok, this one isn't exactly a holiday classic, but I have to call this one out anyway. Hey, I love the Beatles, but Sir Paul really cheesed out on this one. Compare this tune to John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War is Over) and it is easy to see why John was the superior Beatle in my opinion (sorry, SLG!).

The worst xmas song by far has to be Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. This is saying a lot, considering there is a pretty wide field of bad xmas songs, including Christmas Shoes and anything ever appearing on a NOW! Christmas album. What makes this selection particularly grating is the tendency of xmas record-producers to put in some underage moppet who can barely enunciate to try to sing some of the most horrid lyrics to grace the season. Johnny wants a pair of skates/Suzy wants a dolly/Nellie wants a story book/ She thinks dolls are folly. Dolls are folly???? That's not only a terrible rhyme, but it doesn't even make sense! Whoever penned that line should be forced to hang holiday lights while standing on an icy ladder for all eternity. Do yourself a favor, St. Nick, and lean your ear the other way on this clunker.

I could go on, but I'll stop (for now). There are a few ways to make the holiday music somewhat tolerable, though. First, have Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin sing it. If you can't pull that one, have no one sing it. I'm serious. The instrumental jazz versions are far less vexing without the singers/singing and, in cases like White Christmas or The Christmas Song, they may even be better. If that still doesn't work out for you, then just blast out Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones about 20 times in a row. That's what I plan on doing.

I Was Stunned and Amazed; My Childhood Memories Slowly Swirled Past

2006-11-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't make it to Ohio. With such short notice, a flight out of Denver on Thanksgiving weekend was a bit hard to come by. I did find single seats available, but I was advised that those single seats didn't actually exist and that if I actually showed up to claim said seat that I would find out that the airline had actually overbooked, leaving me hanging out at the airport for some unknown length of time. Or, even worse, I could have gotten a flight out of Denver but then stuck in who-knows-where trying to get a connection to Ohio. There was no way I was driving. That would be a two-day drive by myself just to get there and then turn around and drive two days back. My parents didn't want me to even attempt a trip by any means of travel. After several conversations going back and forth, we decided that it was best in reality to just stay put in Colorado. Personally, I had no problem trying to get out. I was worried about getting back. Reading in the news today that Denver International Airport saw the highest amount of traffic in its history on Sunday at least lets me think in some way that my final decision to stay was the wise choice. My family understood.

So, I stayed in Colorado and despite the obvious being on my mind, it actually turned out to be a fairly nice Thanksgiving. I had a day off alone with the girls on Wednesday, which was fun, and on Thursday we totally chowed down on some turkey and other traditional dishes. The weather was nice over the whole holiday weekend, so we took a short hike on Friday up to the Fort Collins "A." For those of you unfamiliar with the beautiful city of Fort Collins, there is a giant letter "A" painted on one of the foothills to the west of town. The "A" has been there since Colorado State University was Colorado A&M and stands for "Aggies" as students were previously known prior to becoming Rams. Here is a swell article about the painting of the A. Anyway, we hiked it. Here are some pics:

Approaching the "A." This picture does not do the actual climb justice. Trust me, it is a lot more steep than it looks here...

Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, as seen from the "A"

On Saturday we decided to relax and take in a movie. However, since there was slim pickings between what we had already seen and what we could realistically take the girls to, we ended up seeing a movie so dreadful that I am embarrassed to even mention the title here. I had low expectations going into it, and even that bar was set too high. A half-hour into it and I was looking at my watch to see how long towards the end. But, the girls seemed entertained by it and hopefully being exposed to it didn’t permanently lower their IQ levels.

Sunday was another down day pretty much spent getting ready for another full week of fun at work and school. Somehow those long weekends never seem long enough. Oh well, only a couple of more weeks until we get days off for xmas and New Year's. At least I've got that going for me. After that, it's the long, hard slog towards Memorial Day...

You Run and You Run to Catch Up with the Sun, But it’s Sinking

2006-11-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

My grandfather passed away Monday. My mother called me early yesterday morning to let me know. Although the call was unexpected, the news wasn't. His health had been failing for a while now, and with my grandmother passing almost a year ago, we knew he would be following soon. He began having stomach complications on Friday and my uncle checked him into a hospital. He made it through the surgery, but not the recovery. His heart failed yesterday.

This is all weird to me because I just spoke with him a few weeks ago on his birthday. We talked about my girls and xmas and how he was doing, etc. He seemed very upbeat, though he admitted he was still feeling very lonely at night. Perhaps the holidays and the anniversary of my grandmother's death were just too much for him. I know he was ready to go. He let us know on several occasions. He even had a "do not resuscitate" order, which was violated twice before they finally let him have his peace. He was my last grandparent to go.

Each xmas my family bakes huge batches of sweet rolls. My mom even freezes them and mails them out to us in Colorado. We've been doing this as long as I can remember. I always thought it was because they are super yummy, but later on I found out that there is a history behind this tradition. During the Great Depression, my great-grandfather deserted my grandmother's mother and her five children. The only thing that my great-grandmother knew how to do to support the family was bake. So, she would bake goods and my grandma and her sisters would go door-to-door selling them in baskets. They lost everything, but the family survived. Instead of dwelling on such a dark period in her life, my grandmother instead turned this into a joyful symbol of perseverance. Each holiday season, we eat the rolls to remind us of our blessings. This year I am going to make them with the girls.

My grandfather's family also lost everything in the Great Depression. Being a little bit older than my grandmother, he went to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps, a works progress program initiated by the Roosevelt administration to relieve unemployed laborers. He told my grandmother that he wouldn't marry her until he earned enough money to buy back her family's farm. He eventually did buy back that farm and the two were married. They lived on their own farm in the Ohio valley and raised three children: my aunt, my mother, and my uncle. My grandfather was a rural postal worker who walked his own country route sometimes with miles between mailboxes. My grandmother initially worked for the phone company as a switchboard operator and later in life became very involved in local politics. That amazing lady had a whole list of accomplishments under her belt, with most of them starting out "First Woman to..."

My grandparents witnessed the Great Depression, five wars, the Cold War, various economic and oil crises and unprecedented social change in the world. They survived their respective cancers, strokes and heart attacks. They lost a daughter when my aunt died in a car accident 15 years ago. Life was hard, but they persevered and both lived very long lives.

However, for all of this perseverance, they were both eventually worn down by the mercilessness of time. Is there no bigger enemy than time itself? Regardless of who we are or what we've accomplished, we all must succumb to the inevitability of its passing. I have accomplished a lot in life, but I have a far ways to go before I could even begin to compare myself to either of those two individuals. I have a tradition to maintain, and I don't mean just baking sweet rolls each xmas. I must persevere and, in their honor, continue to live my life to the fullest despite the hardships that life may bring. They came from nothing and gave us everything. I must not squander that opportunity. It is the greatest gift they ever gave me.

So, I may be spending Thanksgiving weekend in Ohio this year, depending on whether or not I can get on a flight last minute on the busiest traveling holiday of the year. As you US readers gather around with your families this Thanksgiving, please take a moment to cut through all of the annoying relatives, badly cooked dishes and the Kansas City Chiefs losing horribly to the Denver Broncos and appreciate the matriarchs and patriarchs of your respective clans. We all have stories of hardship to tell, and I'm sure they'd be happy to know that their own perseverance has not gone unnoticed.

I Myself Have Found a Real Rival in Myself; I am Hoping for a Re-Arrival of My Health

2006-11-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no post yesterday. I know, I've been bad lately, but I've been super crazy busy here at work. The Big Boss Lady keeps throwing projects at me but never gives me a chance to finish the first one before she hands me another. Of course, they are all top priority so I'll have to explain why I didn't finish on time when she asks for them. I don't think "because you kept giving me all of this other crap to do" will go over so well.

But work is lame. Let's talk about some other stuff. Hmmmm... what's going on in the life of John... Well, last weekend the Mrs. and I climbed Horsetooth Rock. Horsetooth Rock sits atop Horsetooth Mountain and overlooks the beautiful and lovely City of Fort Collins, Colorado. It is called "Horsetooth" because I guess a long time ago someone thought the peculiar rock formation resembled the lower part of a horse's jaw. The rock is extremely visible from Fort Collins, and many streets and landmarks are named after it, not to mention the absolutely gorgeous Horsetooth Reservoir.

As far as Colorado mountains go, it is just a baby. It is only about half the size of some of the really big peaks that we have around here, but it was still a pretty good hike. It is about 5 miles round-trip and we were up and back down in about 2 ½ hours. The view is magnificent from the top, as you can see the entire layout of the city below to the East, Rocky Mountain National Park to the South, Wyoming to the North and tons more beautiful hills and mountains all to the west.

But forget all of that; let's get to what you really want to see. Here are some pictures:

Here is a picture of Horsetooth Mountain from the road to Horsetooth Reservoir. The jagged formation on top is Horsetooth Rock.

Here is a pic of Horsetooth Reservoir. This shot was taken this past summer. The water is a whole lot lower right now.

Here is the Southwest view from atop of Horsetooth Rock. You can see snow-capped Long's Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park off in the distance.

On top of Horsetooth Rock. It was fairly breezy up there.

I've done the hike several times before, but it had been several years. I love to hike, but with the little ones it is hard to get out sometimes. We took them to RMNP a lot last summer and did a few short trails, but until their legs get a little longer, we won't be doing any extreme treks any time soon. However, my wife has a friend who used to be really into hiking with her husband, but they haven't been out much lately, either. So, we hooked up and did Horsetooth Rock with them and made plans to take on more. As an added bonus, they have a teenage daughter who can watch the girls while we are all out. This is a very cool development, and I am looking very forward to getting out into nature a whole lot more than I am now.

Where the Scream of the Bold Mountain Eagle Responds to the Notes of the Dove...

2006-11-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

Is the Purple-Robed West, the Land that is Best, the Pioneer Land that We Love...

Well, mid-term elections were held here in the US yesterday. Now that they're over, we can all optimistically look forward to a nation-wide change towards relative peace and civility. What? No, I wasn't talking about the power of congress changing hands. I meant that all those political attack ads are going to be finally over.

Since the time change a week or two ago, I have had the pleasure of getting to watch the sun rise every morning during my commute to work. As the sun lifts up in the east, the mountains to the west of me begin to reflect a red/purplish glow accented by the whiteness of their snow-capped peaks. As long as I've lived in Colorado, witnessing picturesque moments like these have never ceased to strike awe in me. These truly are Katherine Lee Bates' "purple mountain majesties." Man, I love living here.

It's autumn here in Colorado, which (similar to springtime) means that we get lots of fun fluctuations in weather. For instance, today they are predicting a record high temperature of 80 degrees F. On Friday we will be getting snow. Saturday, sunny and in the 50s. Sunday? More snow. Sure, that is one of the endearing little quirks about living in the paradise of Colorado, but it seriously throws my sinuses out of whack. Not to mention trying to figure out to wear. No joke, the temperature can swing 40 degrees within a few hours. I've determined that the best way to deal with it is to dress in layers. For instance, I am currently wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with dress pants and a button-down shirt over that, then a sweater, and finally a snowmobile suit, a pair of choppers (Minnesotan for mittens over gloves), a wool cap, scarf and fur-lined goulashes. That may be overdoing it, but at least I'm prepared for any type of weather. Well, except for a flood. I better add a life preserver to that list tomorrow.

Speaking of weather, there is a winter weather-related phrase that bugs me. When it is particularly frigid outside, it is not unheard of to hear someone remark, "It's cold as hell out here." I know you've heard it. I've probably even said it myself. However, this doesn't make any sense. Regardless of your religious leanings or personal beliefs, I think we can all agree that the traditional Christian depiction of Hell is one of fire, brimstone and other generally hot things. So, when you say it is "cold as hell," doesn't that actually convey the exact opposite of the message that you are trying to get across? I propose that we alter the phrase so it makes a little bit more sense. Instead of saying "it's cold as hell" we could say "it's cold as Minnesota out here." Sure, I know, that takes a lot of the bite out of it, but I think that we can all agree that it is much colder in Minnesota than in the generally accepted description of the Christian devil's abode. Plus, anyone who has spent considerable time in Minnesota (especially in winter) can vouch that it is a fairly viable substitute for Hell. What do ya think?

And speaking of segues, my sister who lives in Minnesota (as opposed to my other sisters that I don't have) called me last night to let me know that I am going to be an uncle again. A big congratulations goes out to her along with a huge "best of luck" since this is going to be kid number four for her. You see, she already has three boys. I give it up to her because I think that my two kids can be a handful. I couldn't imagine having four. She's pretty excited, though. She really wants it to be a girl. I'm crossing my fingers for you, sis, but I think we all know that it's going to be another boy ;-)

And boy, this post is getting long. I better go ahead and publish it now.

Come Monday It'll Be All Right...

2006-11-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

So, I let another week slip by in between posts. I know I've been really bad lately. I was off of work Wednesday thinking I would get my car back that day, but that turned out to not be the case. I was back at work on Thursday, but that turned out to be such a horrible day that I barely had time to access my blog much less post to it. Friday I was off for my final week of Access training, so I didn't post that day, either, and before I knew it, it had been another week.

I took Wednesday off to be home with my oldest daughter, who didn't have school that day. I had planned on dragging her all around town to pick up my car and to return the rental. However, the mechanic called early that afternoon to tell me that one of the parts that they supposedly overnighted didn't come in so they had to hold the vehicle another day. No problem, I'll just keep on paying for that rental car. Take your time... Actually, the mechanic guy wasn't that bad, but I was really hoping to get my car back. I mean, when you own an elite driving machine like the Kia Rio, it is hard to be away from your baby for too long...

I came into work on Thursday (in the rental car) to find that while I was out IT had taken the liberty to upgrade my computer. Ok, I understand that it has to be done, but I REALLY wish someone would talk to me first before they decide to re-image my hard drive. I lost everything. I lost all of my files and all of my programs. Now, that in itself would be annoying enough, but Thursday is the day that I upload the receivables website. With no files and no programs, that ended up being quite a difficult task. Eventually I was able to recover the majority of my files (they backed up to the wrong location, which prevented them from coming back initially) but my programs were lost forever. Some I was able to re-install, but others I'll never see again. On top of that, my computer has been running goofy ever since. Good thing that all of this technology has made our lives easier, or else I would never be able to handle all of the stress caused from dealing with it.

I finally got my car back Thursday night. After several pushbacks and delays, I was finally able to liberate it from the mechanic as he simultaneously liberated a hefty sum out of my bank account. The repair bill coupled with the two-week car rental charge came out to be quite a significant chunk of change. But now I have a new(er) engine, a new clutch, a new fuel line, a new timing belt, and lots of other replaced and/or repaired items. The only downside is that it cost me over half of what I paid for the car brand new to get it all...

Big congratulations to Kat and her BYU Cougars. I won't diminish BYU's deserved win over my alma mater by lamenting Colorado State's embarrassing downward spiral after such a promising start this season. BYU is playing very well this year and looks to take the MWC. Good job. The University of Tennessee, however, dropped a HUGE game with LSU by letting them score with 8 seconds left. Before the game they were looking to take the SEC and were BCS eligible (perhaps even national contenders). Now... maybe the Citrus Bowl. Lame.

On Friday, I had my last MS Access training class at the local community college. I went off-campus for lunch to avoid being labeled geriatric by members of the student body again. While I successfully survived the seminar without anyone offering me a membership to AARP, I did get a reminder of my mortality later in the evening when my 7-year old daughter beat me for the first time on a video game. I knew the day would come when the student became the master, but so soon???

Bonjour a mes lecteur de France. Merci pour lecture mes blog. Ecrire un reflexion, s'il vous plait. Je interesse en ouie de vous. Oui, Je sais me Francais est terrible...

Well, that's the summary for the past week. Hmmm... maybe this one post a week isn't that bad. It keeps the subjects short and gives me plenty to talk about. Then again, I don't want to keep you guys longing for more Inaction for a whole week at a time. I'll try to at least get two posts out this week. Now I have to find something interesting to do to write about...

They Say I’m Going Crazy; They Say I Got a Lot of Water in my Brain

2006-10-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, everyone, sorry for the long hiatus between posts. I actually tried to post several times last week, but Blogger seemed to be indefinitely down for maintenance every time I tried to post. I was going to put them out there after the fact, but not only did I not want to overwhelm you faithful readers with multiple posts coming all at once, but I also felt that they lost their relevance once several days passed the time the original thought was conceived. So, to make up for it, I am just going to briefly (yeah, right. Is anything I ever say on this blog "brief"?) summarize what has been going on over the past week:

My car is still in the shop. I will hopefully get it back sometime this week. In the meantime I am renting a car to get to and from work. Since I am paying for this replacement vehicle out-of-pocket, I went for the absolute cheapest model they had available. Hey, it's just to get to and from work. Plus, I drive a Kia Rio. It couldn't be any worse than that, right? Well... they gave me a while Chevy Aveo. Have you seen one of these things??? My wife thinks it's "cute." I think it is like driving a giant egg.

Last week the weather prognosticators were forecasting a big snowstorm on Thursday. As I was looking out at the beautiful, cloudless sunset on a 60-degree F Wednesday night, I thought there would be no way that we were getting up to a foot of snow. Well, guess what? I woke up at 4:30 am to at least 4 inches on my car. It was wet, heavy and it was coming down like crazy. It took me almost 2 hours to complete a typically 1-hour drive. All morning long the snow fell like you wouldn't believe. Schools and government offices closed. We shut down our Colorado Springs branch. People here were itching to get home. Then, it stopped. The sun came out. The snow melted. By Thursday evening, the temperature was back up into the 50's and all the snow (at least in Fort Collins) was completely gone. Just another one of the wonderful quirks of living in Colorado.

Salve a mio lettrice da Italia. Grazie per tua visitas. Scrivere uno commento scritto, per favore. Io sono interessato sentire da ve. Ecco, se tu no sei offeso da mio Italiano. ;-)

I know that you guys don't like when I talk about work stuff, but I am on the verge of collecting about $70,000 worth of invoices dating back to 2002. Yes, 2002. The big kicker is that I am collecting this money from a payables guy that I've heard mean and nasty things about since I first started working in this division. Apparently he has a deep animosity towards the Big Boss Lady and the other financial managers who handled that particular group of accounts before. But for some reason he has taken a liking to me. He not only agreed to pay what I asked him for, but he wants to work with me to clean up a bunch of other super old outstanding receivables as well. So, here was this big bad guy that everyone called "belligerent" at best, and he was not only cordial but also complimentary to me. The Big Boss Lady is thrilled that we finally have movement on this stuff because we are about to write off $300k worth of these old orders to bad debt if we can't collect them. Guess who the new point of contact is for these orders? All I'm saying is that this better come up in my next review...

I also know that you all hate when I discuss American Football on this blog, but I can't help but to express my overwhelming sense of joy that the University of Tennessee defeated South Carolina over the weekend. It isn't so much that I dislike SC, it is that I completely despise their coach Steve Spurrier. After having to listen to his obnoxious comments all week, I was more than happy to see him have to eat his words. How does the leather taste on those size 11's, coach?

Going back to a discussion that SLG and I had a few posts ago, I am still taking a few continuing education courses at the local community college to learn Microsoft Access. These are once a week, all day seminars. We stopped for an hour lunch, so I decided that I would slip on over to the student center to grab a quick bite to eat instead of leaving campus to eat out. It was super busy in the cafeteria, so I grabbed a newspaper and my soft pretzel and tried to find a seat wherever I could. Upon sitting down, a guy across from me inquired if I was an instructor. Um, no. Am I a student? "No," I replied. "I'm neither. I'm just here for the day taking a continuing ed class." His response: Oh, I was wondering because we don't see to many old guys hanging out around here. Old guys????? I'm freaking 31!!! I realize that in the relative scheme of things 31 is ancient on a college campus, but jeez man, I wouldn't consider myself elderly by any means. At least not enough for a complete stranger to point it out. Needless to say, I won't be eating in the cafeteria this Friday. It's a good thing, anyway since I just spent all of my money on a crate of Oil of Olay.

That's about it for now. Sure I could go on, but I was talking about my work shift. It's about over so I am going to post this and go home.

Just Like that River Twists Across a Dusty Land

2006-10-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

So, I drive a Kia Rio. I know. It is the epitome of manliness. The reason why I drive an automobile of such pretentiously high stature is because I drive 54 miles to work each way (that's just under 87 kilometers for you Canadian readers), totaling around 108 miles each day, or approximately 540 each week. That's right, I am putting 30,000 miles a year on my car, about double than the average user. When my old Honda broke down for the zillionth time (don't even get me started, that's a separate post - no, a separate blog - all together) we needed to find a car that was cheap, got good gas mileage (do you Canadians call it kilometerage?) and one that I wouldn't feel guilty racking up that many miles on. You know, the exact polar opposite of a Humvee. Well, due to a little financial finagling on the wife and I's part, we were able to purchase a brand new Rio for under $7,000. So, for the past two years I've been zooming that tin can back and forth to Denver each day with no major problems beyond the dent in my wallet due to shelling out for the gasoline to make that commute. Other than that, I have no complaints about our cheap, dependable car.

That was until last Wednesday evening. As I was on my way home from picking up the girls from school, the car completely cut out on me. It is a manual shift, so at first it just seemed like the engine stalled like when you don't have the clutch in or something like that. My electrical system was still a go, but I had no response from the motor at all. I coasted on to a neighborhood side street and tried to give her another start. Nothing. No clicks, no turnover, no buzz. Zero. Since my radio was on and my clock still had the correct time, I figured it couldn't be a battery problem. A failed jumpstart confirmed this notion. Something was very wrong.

The Mrs. came and rescued us in her vehicle and I went home to promptly research what may be going on. There were many scenarios, but it appeared that in most likelihood it was the timing belt. Ok, no problem. I'm not a mechanic by any means, but I'm not afraid of doing it myself, either, when things need fixed on one of our cars. Unless it involves overhauling a transmission or milling heads I am usually up for the challenge. Changing a belt? Easy. My pops and I did it on the old Chevette I drove after high school. However, this time was different. Due to this marvelous experience, I have had the opportunity to learn something new about automobile engines. You see, there are two types of engines: "freewheeling" and "interference." Almost all cars nowadays are built with freewheeling engines. When the timing belt slips or breaks, the wheels spin free. Like my '86 Chevette, all you have to do is replace the belt and voila! your car is up and running again. The remaining engines out there on the road have "interference" engines. When the belt slips on an interference engine, the wheels keep turning and firing the pistons. This can cause substantial damage to your engine, often resulting in bent valves, broken pistons and busted head gaskets. Translation for the non-motorheads out there: Lots of $$$ to fix.

So, I went out to visit the stranded vehicle the next day. Whew! They didn't tow it away. I popped the hood, took off the engine cover and sure enough, the timing belt was missing at least 9 teeth. That had to have been the reason behind the engine failure. Did I worry? Of course not. One of the appeals of buying a Kia is that they are covered by a 100,000-mile/10 year warranty. Surely something this serious is covered, right? Um, wrong. In the back of the owner's manual is a maintenance schedule that recommends that the timing belt be changed at 60,000 miles. It fails to mention that if you don't and your belt slips that not only will it seriously wreck your engine but they won't cover it under the warranty, either. In fact that one little line squeezed in between many other "recommended" maintenance procedures is the only mention of the timing belt in the whole manual. How is one to know, especially since the majority of timing belts last well over 100,000 miles and go on the majority of engines where a slipped belt doesn't matter? Well, you can find out all about it online after-the-fact. Apparently I'm not the only one, either. This is a known issue with Kia motors and belts. Don't believe me? Do a search for Kia+interference+timing+belt. See how many testimonials and horror stories come up. Interestingly, almost each one of these cases happened in the 60-75,000 mile range (I was at 65k). Kia can get away with selling inferior belts that break 40,000 miles earlier than their competition because they "recommend" that it be changed. Hey, it's my negligence, not theirs, if I chose not to take that recommendation. Ok, I'll concede that. However, a little more head's up on the importance of having it changed out would have been nice. Seriously, how many of you out there have dropped $200-300 bucks to change out your timing belt as part of your routine vehicle maintenance? Would you if you knew it could save you from having to replace your engine down the line? I'm guessing so.

Luckily for me, I had already taken off Thursday and Friday last week anyway since the girls were out of school. So, that conveniently spared me the embarrassment of asking the Big Boss Lady for that time off. I did have to come in late today, though, because I had to pick up a rental car to cover the time that the Kia is in the shop. That's right, to add salt on top of it all, I am paying for a rental out-of-pocket for the next few weeks until my car is done. I won't know how long that will take until today. It all depends on how many valves and pistons were damaged. The lower the number, the lower the expense and repair time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed until I hear back...

Well, thanks for letting me rant, fellow readers. I know you all probably skimmed most of this, so please keep in mind the main points of this post: the importance of adhering to your vehicle maintenance schedule, knowing what type of engine you have, and that it is extremely masculine to drive a Kia Rio.

Finally There is Clarity… This Tiny Life is Making Sense. And Every Drop Numbs the Both of Us, But I Alone am Staggering

2006-10-17T10:38:00.000-06:00

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I am taking some continuing education classes right now to learn MS Access. The Access database that I work in for our receivables website was built by a person no longer with the company. The individual who managed the database before me now works in Treasury and hasn't run the upload in two years. So, you can imagine her surprise when we had to call her a few months ago when the database needed to be adjusted due to our customer changing one of its websites. No one else knew how to do it, and she had been more than happy to forget (it is a very meticulous, drawn-out process). So, the Big Boss Lady and I decided that it would probably be wise if I went and took a few of these classes since I work in Access weekly and someone needs to know how to fix it if and when it goes down again.

So, starting last Friday I began taking one-day seminars on the ins and outs of MS Access. I completed the "basic" course, and I am signed up through "advanced." After that I am moving on to Visual Basic. I am pretty excited about these classes, or at least for the information I am/will be learning from them. Even during the basic class my head was spinning with all kinds of ways I could apply this tool. The potential is wide open. Plus, since few people really know how to work Access, it is a skill in high demand, especially for "experts." This is for sure a talent that I am interested in developing. On top of it all (nerdily enough) I also think it's fun. Yes, I am a geek.

I'm taking these courses at the local community college, conveniently selected in Fort Collins so I can avoid the commute to Denver for at least a handful of Fridays. Once I stepped on campus, I realized how far removed I am from the current college-aged crowd. Some how it all crept up on me, no matter how hard my efforts have been to stay "hip." During my last few years of school I was what they call a "non-traditional" student, so I know what it is like to different, but this time I really felt like I was out of place. I seriously lost count of how many times I heard "I was sooooo wasted" in the hallway. The first few times were funny, then nostalgic, and then sort of pathetic. I mean, I could have shared with them how my wife and I had plans that weekend to finish re-modeling our master bedroom and bath, but I would have just came across like Frank the Tank in Old School. The difference, however, is that I am happy to have moved on. Don't get me wrong, I had a whole lot of fun those three years of my first attempt at college, but I am more than happy to have moved on. Those were not just years of me being wasted, but years I simply wasted. I don't regret the indulgences that I pursued, only that I pursued very little else during that time. Once I removed myself from that situation and gained some perspective on my life, I realized that I am someone who needs continual growth. I cannot tolerate stagnation, whether it is in my personal or professional life. I needed that change.

Sure, I miss the freedom of those years and the idealistic notion that the world was wide open to me and my desires, but I wouldn't go back. I am happy with who I've become and the progress I've made since that time. I still like to have fun, but I make sure to temper it with positive growth as a husband, father, professional, human being, and most recently as a home do-it-yourselfer. The master suite is coming along well. Once we are finally finished I am going to get soooooo wasted...

When You Were the Brightest Star Who Were the Shadows?

2006-10-11T16:04:00.000-06:00

This started out as a response to Sweet Li'l Gal's comment to yesterday's post, but I rambled on so long I decided to just post it as a entry of its own. Thanks, SLG.

I finally broke down and read The DaVinci Code last spring right around the time the movie came out. I had successfully avoided it for three years or so, but my curiosity over what all they hype was about got the best of me. While I certainly wouldn't consider it great literature, nor would I give much credence to its historical assertions, I do have to admit I was entertained. But I think you (and Ducasse) make a good point about it. It amused me for a weekend, but then I moved on. However, some books like Kerouac's On the Road or Camus' The Stranger have struck me deeply, and I have read them both at least 4 or 5 times over (and probably will read them many more times in the course of my lifetime). I can think of many other books that have had similar lingering effects on me, even though I may have only read through them only once. Those are the ones that I consider "greats" and pass on as recommendations to other people. Sometimes people come back and thank me, other times people tell me that they couldn't get past the first few chapters. I guess everyone is different in that way. It drives my English teacher mother absolutely crazy when I trash Jane Austen (every plot's the same, a bunch of sisters all get married to landed gentry) yet I can safely bet that she's never read any works by my faves Kerouac or Bret Easton Ellis (I do think she's had to teach Dostoevsky, though). In fact, I'm sure many "high-brow" readers would dismiss Ellis as sensationalistic garbage, but I personally consider Less Than Zero to be a masterpiece of style and modern existentialism (the 80's movie sucked, though, IMO). But this goes back to the question I posed yesterday: is "art" just in the eye of the beholder? Doing a quick internet search on The DaVinci Code would demonstrate that the book has had a long, lingering effect on innumerable conspiracy theorists. Does that make it art? I'm afraid that the controversy kicked up by this book will keep it in the minds of the populace for quite some time. Does this count as a lingering effect? I wouldn't consider The DVC as art, but then again, Truman Capote once said that Kerouac wasn't writing, he was typing. Whose opinion counts? As Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (another book I loved but a fellow blogger recently disclosed she hated) asks, how do we define quality?

I personally am a fan of technique. Those who can master a technique deserve to be acclaimed. Those who invent a technique deserve to be celebrated. However, strong technique can only get you so far. For example, I was raised in a household where proper writing skills were highly valued (back to the English teacher mother). However, even though I feel that I can write well, that doesn't mean I can write well. Just because I can create grammatically correct, non-passive sentences with correctly used adverbs doesn't mean that these statements will actually convey anything of value to the reader. In fact, that is where a majority of my frustration with writing comes from. I know how, I just don't know what. In the reverse, there are many people who are quite profuse with expressing their ideas, but do so in a very poor manner. Consider the poor teacher who each year hears the same argument from students: why do you count off for grammar mistakes in a (non-language arts) class? Shouldn't you be grading me on knowing the information? Or how about the junior high misfit who has notebook after notebook of bad amateur poetry? Sure, there may be a great emotional outpouring of creativity involved with composing these poems, but they would pale in comparison to the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare or even the juxtapositions of Alan Ginsberg (I won't even bring T.S. Eliot into the mix...).

But there does come the point where even the best of techniques simply becomes imitation if new ground is never broken or no new ideas come to light. So, I'm inclined to say that quality art is the middle ground between technique and creativity. But is compromise, or middle ground, what we want to use to measure appreciation? Can we even measure qualitative with quantitative? I don't know. I'm starting to ramble. In the end, I like your definition. The best way to know if a work of art (inclusive of music, literature, film, etc) is of quality is to know if you felt an emotional response from experiencing it. Whether it is attraction or repulsion, I think the ends have been achieved. Art should be provocative; otherwise it is just superficial amusement that will quickly fade away from memory.

If I Could Play Guitar I’d be Jimmy Page…

2006-10-10T14:10:00.000-06:00

So, as some of you may have noticed from the sidebar, I am currently reading Lolita. I put off reading this book for a long time because of the socially taboo nature of its theme. However, some time ago I compiled a list of "must-read" books from several other various lists of "must-read" books that I found on the internet and this one is near the top of almost all of them. Critics and readers alike proclaim this book to be one of the greatest written novels around for its use of language and allegorical references (among other things). However, the controversial reputation of this book has greatly overshadowed the literary praise it has received. I admit I was a bit nervous when I began to openly read it in the break room here at work, since I am often asked the typical questions of what I am reading, what it's about, etc, and I really didn't want to share with my co-workers that I was currently perusing a novel about a grown man who falls in love and runs off with a young, adolescent girl. I am honestly concerned that people will think I condone this type of behavior by being seen reading such material. But I couldn't hold off this selection on my reading list much longer so I finally broke down and got it from the library (humorously, I wanted to be discreet and go through the self-checkout but I forgot my library card that day. So, not only did I have to disclose my reading selection to the librarian, I also had the added embarrassment of having to go to the "special" checkout desk so they could look up my personal information...).

Well, the level of odd stares and comments that I expected from my co-workers was not as intense as I expected. Perhaps most of them are just unaware of this book's disputatious history. However, I was asked by one fellow the questions mentioned above, and once I gave him the answers he asked why in the world anyone would ever want to read that kind of stuff. I tried to defend the novel by relating its literary redeeming qualities, but he responded that it was just like the movie Brokeback Mountain and that everyone said it was so good but he wasn't going to watch it because it was about (well, you all know what it was about without me having to paraphrase his sentiments). I continued to try to explain that sometimes we must look beyond what is written and consider how it is written, but I think that argument went over his head. That did get me thinking, though, of all of the other books that have a far greater value due to their respective techniques and themes than the actual stories themselves. For instance, what would On the Road be without Kerouac's distinct spontaneous prose and bebop style? Would it just be a disconnected collection of hitchhiking vignettes? Or how about Naked Lunch (which actually went before the Supreme Court to defend its redeeming value)? All that book consists of is technique and style. There is no central story line. Would The Stranger just be another pulp murder paperback without Camus' existentialist themes? What about Catcher in the Rye? Ulysses? Lady Chatterley’s Lover? Tropic of Cancer? The list goes on...

The same argument can be made for music, film, art and pretty much any other creative endeavor out there. But where do we draw the line? How long can we overlook a weak story line or endure a socially taboo one if it is presented in a technical or stylish masterpiece form? Is there a breaking point? I'm certainly not advocating censorship by any means, but is there a point where we begin to fool ourselves and start celebrating obscenity as art? Or is it all just subjective and in the eye of the beholder anyway? How do we define “art?”

When I Think Back on All the Crap I Learned in High School, It's a Wonder I Can Think at All

2006-10-05T08:27:00.000-06:00

So, the other day I briefly mentioned a teacher that I had in high school and that kind of got me thinking about whatever happened to some of those people in my graduating class. I mean, for a handful of years I spent almost everyday with those people and now I have no clue what paths their lives took. I still keep in contact with a few individuals from that period in my life, but for the most part even close friends of mine have disappeared into the unknown. So, that had me musing about what could have happened. Some people I know about and really, there's no surprise. Like the son of the ex-marine wrestling coach who is now flying helicopters in Iraq. No shock there. However, the blond girl that people tended to kid for her, um, "less than profound" observations is now an oceanography professor at a major university. I honestly didn't see that one coming.

But what about everyone else? Did the couple voted most likely to succeed actually defy the odds and fail? And if they did both fail and they were the most likely to succeed in our class, what does that say about the rest of us graduates? How about the artsy theater girl? Did she end up becoming a corporate lawyer? How about the young conservative guy? Is he now running a hippy commune? Is the three-sport star athlete now fat and out of shape? How about the overweight awkward girl? Is she now a model?

I guess if I ever bothered to show up at one of the reunions I could probably find out. But the people that I would actually care to catch up with don't go to those things, either. I do know one thing, though. The guy voted class clown ended up being a financial manager for a wholesale supplier. How's that for irony?

Misunderstanding All You See

2006-10-02T15:41:00.000-06:00

I am dedicating this post to my high school English teacher, Ms. Anderson. Ms. A, even though you made me sit in the front center desk in your classroom, even though you warned the class "this is what happens when you do drugs" after you read my creative writing journal out loud to the class (hey, I was experimenting with spontaneous prose...), and even though you often dismissed my insights into literature with laughter, I want to thank you. Yes, contrary to what you probably believe, I did actually take away a lot from both of the American Lit classes you taught. I thank you for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I thank you for The Learning Tree. Most of all, I thank you for Self Reliance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self Reliance is no joke probably one of my favorite essays of all time, right up there with Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and Sarte's Existentialism is a Humanism. In great irony, I am going to do the exact opposite of what Emerson advises in his writings by exulting the genius of others, namely Emerson himself. Emerson implores us to strike our own genius and to become our own selves independent of the thoughts of others. We must embrace our true selves and follow this path regardless of the paths that others have set out for us. We should not base our lives on past events when we know that continuing to follow these past actions will keep us from being true to our inherent selves. This, according to Emerson, is a "foolish consistency" and the "hobgoblin of little minds." Instead of walking down the same beaten paths, we should strike a new path, seek new ideas, and break out past the paradigms of accepted thought. We fear treading this unknown, but we must trust in ourselves that we alone know the way to our enlightenment. We must cast off the ridicule that we will face, because we shall surely be misunderstood. Emerson states that "misunderstood" is a "right fool's word." We must rely on our own self-opinion, not others'. "If we live truly, we shall see truly." To rely on anything else is cowardly.

Emerson's words and wisdom ring just as true today as when they were first written in 1841. How can we as individuals move forward when we refuse to look anywhere but behind us towards the past? We have become such a social creature that we have all but surrendered individual thought. Who cares what the crowd thinks or demands? Those who have been truly great, those individuals who have contributed the most radical of ideas have done so without regard to public opinion and have many times been persecuted for it. We hold ourselves back because we fear. We fear our own ideas because we fear isolation from society. However, we should not fear isolation but embrace it. For it is the individual nature that allows the great thinker to overcome conformity and consistency.

But here I am doing exactly what I predicted; I am simply regurgitating Emerson's words (and doing a poor job at that). Instead, I am going to link Self Reliance here. I strongly encourage you to read it. At the very least, skim it for the highlights. You will thank me for it.

In the meantime I am going to share some of my favorite quotes:

To believe your own thought, to believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men - that is genius.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.

I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle.

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loathe to disappoint them.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

If we live truly, we shall see truly.

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession.

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.

And finally, my favorite quote from Self Reliance, one that I still have on a laminated bookmark that Ms. Anderson gave me on the final day of class:

Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

Maybe Ms. Anderson understood after all. Thanks, Ms. A.

In a Truth-Blown Gutter Full of Wasted Years, Like Blown-Out Speakers Ringin’ in My Ears

2006-09-26T12:27:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know that I've been slacking on my posts lately. I was in and out most of last week doing some business travel, and then I was at home watching a sick little one. On top of that, things have been crazy around here lately since our customer's end of fiscal year is on Sept 30th, so everyone is trying to cram in orders to make sure that they come in over budget so they can get even more funds next year. But excuses are just excuses. A writer writes, so here I go...

A week ago today I flew in to our company headquarters. Actually, it is just one building in the corporate HQ nexus, but still it is part of our corporate offices (as opposed to a branch office like Denver). I check in there every few months because that's where my boss(es), and co-workers reside. I should be there, too, but I have a special arrangement with the Big Boss Lady and local management that allows me to work out of the local office here in Denver. This has its pros and cons, but overall it works out well.

However, every time I travel there I get the same question over and over: When are you moving to ____? I hear it from VPs, directors, sales reps, CSRs, administrators, and other finance people in and out of my own department. I mean everybody. I've been told that the VP of Treasury said that he would do "whatever it takes" to get me to move there. I have a position waiting for me and all I have to do is say the word...

But I don't want to say the word. I don't want to move. It is hard to explain but it is actually more than that. My overall happiness is intrinsically tied to being here in Colorado. I know my wife feels the same way. We can't move without sacrificing this emotional serenity.

Sure, a lot of people like or even love where they live. But this is different. I belong here. I knew that I belonged here when I first traveled out west with my family when I was 10 years old. The first time I saw the mountains I immediately knew that I was going to live here someday (my parents will vouch for this sentiment). For the next 11 years I continued to be drawn to this place, with several backpacking trips to help solidify this desire. When my girlfriend and I decided that we had to escape the downward spiral that threatened to consume us in Wisconsin, the time had come to fulfill what I had foreseen over a decade earlier. We quit our jobs, left school, and headed to Fort Collins with everything we owned in a tiny U-Haul trailer.

We loved living here. We were married here. We both finished school here (well, our first degrees). Both of our daughters were born here. We bought our first house here. We love the community, the area, and of course, the unbelievable scenic beauty. This has been more than the town in which we live. This is the town in which we have LIVED.

Times weren't always so good for us, however. Our young family was hit particularly hard by the economic downturn. With both of us out of full time work with a mortgage to pay and two small mouths to feed, we became desperate. There was no work for us (or a whole lot of other people) here in Colorado so we decided to leave the place that we loved so much so I could take a job in Minnesota. That decision turned out to be a total disaster. Although my job was going well, six months later we were paying rent on a cramped two-bedroom apartment while still paying a mortgage on an empty house in Colorado (no one’s buying when no one’s working). We hated the weather, we hated the rudeness of the local people, and we hated that we lived in a place that we hated. With our finances strapped, we couldn't even do anything but sit in our apartment and slip back into that all-to-familiar downward spiral that would have surely consumed us once more if things didn't change. That xmas we decided that we were moving back no matter what. I would be leaving a good job, but what's the point of having a good job when everything else around you is falling to pieces?

We moved back that following July. I remember seeing the mountains the first time after that year of being gone. I remember quite vividly the literal feeling of a fog being lifted and of black clouds clearing out of my head. We were still on the interstate leaving a good job and angry family and heading towards complete uncertainty but I knew we had made the right choice. It was then that we decided that we would never leave again. We would never take for granted the happiness that this place brings us. In my lifetime I have lived in states all over this country and have traveled to even more. Although I've seen some pretty nice places, there has never been any place that I have ever been that I would want to live in more.

So, as I was sitting in the finance director's office discussing some continuing education classes that I am taking next month, he tells me that if I am interested he will approve full-on college courses in these subject areas because he wants to groom me to be the next "CK." CK is your typical company success story. He started out as a low-level A/R guy (like me) then he learned a bunch of fancy programming tricks which pretty much sling-shot him WAY UP the company ladder into senior treasury management. Now admittedly that got me all tingly because who wouldn't want to hear that they could be groomed for a top-level position with a 9th-floor office literally adjacent to the CEO, CFO, the VP of Treasury and a handful of other executives? I mean, even if things didn't pan out near as well for me as for CK, one has to at least consider why he or she is being invested in. If this is hypothetically all prerequisite for a big job offer in the corporate HQ, the question returns to the subject of relocation. I have held out from moving thus far for mid-level jobs, but what if a huge opportunity came up? Would it ever be worth moving from the place that I love and belong for a huge career opportunity and material gain?

At what price would you sell your happiness?

I Claim I’m Not Excited With My Life Any More; So I Blame This Town, This Job, These Friends; The Truth is It’s Myself

2006-09-18T15:34:00.000-06:00

To paraphrase Sarte, we cannot evaluate a person based on his or her potential. We can only evaluate someone on what he or she has already done. We do not celebrate an author for the next novel he or she could have written, but for the great works that that individual has already produced. Therefore, I cannot go through life believing that I have potential to create until I have actually created something. Potential is intangible. We often lament wasted potential, but does it really make a difference what we could have done if we did nothing about it? What is the difference between one individual who could have painted a masterpiece of art and one who is completely without artistic talent if neither individual ever picked up a brush? There is no difference. It is just as easy for me to say that I can walk across the room as it is for me to say that I could run a 1-minute mile. Until I've done either one of those tasks, neither matters, regardless of their respective odds of accomplishment.

So, it comes down to the simple notion of doing something about it. But how does one realize that unknown potential that lay deep within one's subconscious? How does one resolve that nagging feeling that he or she is capable of so much more and then "do something about it?" So many of us have the desire to exceed the status quo and to go beyond the parameters that have been set for us, but so few of us actually accomplish that feat. Why is that? Are we afraid of failure, ridicule, contempt, or even success? Is it a matter of time constraint? Sure, we tell ourselves that we "have no time," but if we really had the drive wouldn't we make time? How does one convert that desire into drive?

I have been wrestling with these issues for a long time now. I've long held that notion, that "nagging feeling" that I could (and should) be doing more than this, but have never figured out how to capitalize on this struggle between my reality and my desire. I want to grow beyond myself, to re-shape my essence to meet (and even exceed) the expectations that I have for myself but am doing nothing about. Where is my motivation? Perhaps I am lazy. That is an easy excuse and on the surface it could easily appear to be so. However, I think it really lay deeper than that. I am generally not a lazy person (laid back, but certainly not lazy). I want to be actively working on my idea. But I am not. Perhaps I am plagued by self-doubt. I heard something this weekend that basically said that we hate what we create because we secretly hate ourselves for thinking differently (due to society's conditioning) and that we will know when we find an original idea because we will hate ourselves for thinking it. We become our own worst critic. The key is to push on and know that even though we are reviled by our own creation, the world will eventually embrace it due to its originality (despite the fact that we are conditioned not to). Society loves what we are told to hate.

While I don't know if there is any truth to that idea, I do find it very intriguing. I know that I have personally either scrapped or left unfinished many a project because I became frustrated or even repulsed by the results and my inability to please myself. Although others have encouraged me, I have failed to encourage myself to continue in the face of my own mental adversity. Once again, I am in the midst of another project but have found myself stalled. To be honest, I consider this to be the best idea I have ever come up with. The few individuals that I have run this idea by all agree that it is a " sure-fire winner." Why then can I not move forward? I know what I need to do, but I can't. Why am I stopping myself both consciously and unconsciously? Will finding the answer to that question help move me forward, or is this just another diversion that I've created for myself to keep from working on what I have set out for myself to accomplish?

Strange, But Not a Stranger

2006-09-14T14:52:00.000-06:00

I first read The Stranger by Albert Camus in the first semester of my freshman year in college. It was required reading for an Intro to World Religions class that I had signed up for. At the time it didn't mean much to me. I was just happy that at a little over 100 pages that it was a quick read. Later on that year I went to a party thrown by my friend Tony. After hanging out at the party a little bit, Tony said that he was sick of drinking the cheap beer in the keg and suggested that we head upstairs where he kept the good stuff. Up in his room, we drank bottled microbrew and discussed philosophy (me being a wise sage at eighteen years old). Tony asked if I had ever read The Stranger and I told him that I had but it didn't really make much of an impression on me. He then began to give me a drunken discourse on early 20th century existentialism that was honestly far more informative than anything I had learn in that religion class. That was my first real exposure to existentialism, even if it was a perverse interpretation from a guy who used it as rationalization to have two steady girlfriends at once (which is a great story in itself since both women once showed up at the same party, broke up with Tony and then both got back together with him a few days later). Tony insisted that I read the book again, this time with a greater understanding of its deeper meaning. I did. And I did yet again because I had to re-take that religion class since I bombed it the first time (hey, what can I say? My first few years of academia were anything but academic...). Tony was right. Upon re-reading the book, I found a much deeper meaning within its pages. I began to identify with the protagonist. I began to realize that I, too, was a stranger. Not just to myself or to others, but a stranger in society itself questioning how so many others can so easily and readily accept the absurd constructs of this world both physical and metaphysical. This book didn't change my way of thinking; it just echoed what I had already long been feeling. I realized that I was not alone. Later on in college I took an upper-level philosophy class in which we discussed the meaning of life (or, in some cases, the lack thereof). We read essays by Sarte and Camus, including the Myth of Sisyphus, which particularly hit home. My subscription to the existential philosophy was sealed.

Throughout my youth I had felt out of place. I suppose we all feel like that, but to me there was an empty void that could not be filled. In reflection, I realize that like Meursault, I had become so desensitized by the ennui and the mundane that I sought extreme behaviors just so I could "feel" something. This can explain my constant trouble in school, reckless behavior, early experimentation with substances, and general juvenile delinquency despite coming from a good home with loving parents. Every parent/teacher conference was the same: we know that John has potential but he keeps wasting it... he hangs out with bad influences... blah blah blah. One particularly perceptive teacher even pointed out that I was living a duality: one John was smart, played sports and knew how to "fit in" while the other was self-destructive, anti-authoritarian and hung out with "the bad crowd." Which one was I? Hell, I didn't even know.

I pretty much kicked around in this mode well into my twenties. I didn't have a real existence, I merely existed. As the years have gone on, I have assimilated more into what society expects of me. I have a college degree (two in fact), I'm married, and have two kids, a stable job and a mortgage and auto payment. I can see what the attraction is to this kind of life. It is certainly much easier and I can honestly say that I am generally a much happier person than I was then. I am lucky to have a loving relationship with my wife and family and I hold a respectable position within my company. But am I really any different now than I was then? I am still living in a duality. Sometimes I feel that I was trapped into this job out of necessity, not out of desire. I sought my business degree so I could support my family when all else failed. Although I have done well and have advanced, I often feel that I am living a fraudulent life as if this really isn't "me." Of course, I have matured well past that angry and rebellious younger version of me and I'm not that guy, either. People here have no idea of who I used to be. When the other financial manager here noticed the hole in my ear she exclaimed, "YOU had your ears pierced?" When I mentioned in the break room once that I had a tattoo on my back, I was met with a flood of stares and, again, the remark "YOU have a tattoo?" When I alluded to my shady past once with one of my co-workers she just laughed and said that she just couldn't see it. I have truly become everything that I swore I never would be.

On the other hand, the non-conformist in me still likes to shine through. My approach to my job function is radically different than how it has always been handled in the past. I remember when I first started that I went over to the customer service dept to inquire about a discrepancy. Everyone literally stopped what they were doing and stared at me. When I asked what was going on, I was told that financial guys NEVER come over there. Why not? How does anything get done? Another time when I was talking to the same group of CSRs they were making fun of the financial dept. When I threw in my objection they insisted that I shouldn't worry because I "wasn't one of those guys." When I started in the division I am in now I was warned of a particular sales rep that had a history of being disagreeable, uncooperative and a handful of other pejoratives. From day one I have gotten along with her, and almost two years later I am quite happy to say that she not only reps for my cleanest account group by far (thanks to her help), but I consider her a good friend whom I enjoy talking with often.

So, the question returns, "who am I?" Am I this role that I play each day? Am I really a rebel trapped in this disguise? I still don't know. I am still a stranger. I still subscribe to the tenets of existentialism, but as I referred to in yesterday's post, just because I do not believe in an overall meaning to life, does not mean that I think my life has to be meaningless. I have sought meaning by engaging myself in relationships that are meaningful to me. I believe that the void can be filled with mutual love, both romantic and platonic. I happily embrace my role of husband and father. I have friendships that have lasted longer than our ages when they began. These roles have meaning to me. However, the non-conformist is itching to break free. I want these things, but I need more. A role as a mere cog in the production wheel is not meaningful to me. I know a lot of people feel this way, but I want to be one of the ones who do something about it. I want to live by my own design, to not just derive meaning but to provide it. I no longer want to be the stranger.

You Wasted Life, Why Wouldn't You Waste Death?

2006-09-13T09:14:00.000-06:00

I am not a hard determinist. I don't believe in a master plan, a grand design or even the Wheel of Samsara. I believe that we first exist and then create our essence, not the other way around. A lot of people would probably seriously wonder how someone could live this way. Perhaps it is a rebuke of eighteen years of Presbyterian predestination indoctrination. Perhaps I've just read too much Camus and Sarte. But honestly, if given a choice of whether I would want to serve a purpose or create one for myself, I would much rather be in charge of my own life's path (or at least believe I am). Is it any better to have everything predetermined, pre-programmed and already "written in the book?" Personally, I find it more depressing to believe that everything is planned and that every act and decision I make has been planned by fate. Doesn't that just make me a puppet of destiny? If some are destined to be great, does that mean the purpose for the rest of us is to serve as contrast to make those people look great? I don't know if I can subscribe to that kind of caste system philosophy of life.

Many feel that living a life without a predetermined meaning or designed purpose equals living a life without joy. Personally, I would have less joy knowing that I am forced to live a life that isn't mine than existing in a life without a predestined meaning. However, just because there is no meaning to life that doesn't mean that one's life has to be meaningless. Each of our lives contains the meaning we assign to it. Sure there is inequities in our respective starting points in life, but all of us contain the potential to be great. We create our own essence, our own purpose. What does your life mean to you? It doesn't have to be an empty existence of isolation. It is what you make it to be.

I know this is a pretty heavy subject for Inaction-in-Action, but I woke up with this in my head and felt that I had to get it down. I am constantly re-evaluating my life's meaning and the purpose that I have set for myself in this existence. What is my purpose? To be a good husband? A good father? A good financial manager? Sure, those are all excellent traits to strive for, but do they create a purpose? Some would argue that, yes, they do create a purpose because if each of us did our best in each of our respective spheres of influence, then collectively we could improve society as a whole. While I feel that there is some truth in that, I desire to leave a bigger footprint with my life. No, I am not about to run away and join the circus nor would I discount the importance of being a good husband and father to the family I love. What I am aiming at is a desire to grow beyond the present parameters I have set for myself. What have I done to better this world? What meaning has my life had for others? Has it mattered that I lived? I need to create a broader purpose for myself so I can answer those questions with the responses that I desire and will create meaning for my own life and for other's. For while existence provides us with the opportunity to create our own essence, it just as easily takes it away. Our lives are but a flicker of light in a sea of eternal darkness. However, I want mine to leave green spots in your eyes long after my flicker is faded and gone. I have work to do.

Speaking of work to do, the Big Boss Lady is coming into town today and will be here any minute. Time to post this now.

Watch in my Pockets, Arms in my Bones; Hear Me Up a Buyers and the Microphone

2006-09-11T15:41:00.000-06:00

Monday. Well, another week of non-stop fun begins. I have been busy today mostly with odds and ends. The good news is that I am making headway in my past-due collections. The bad news is that due to glitches in our customer's new computer system, we haven't been paid for a majority of invoices billed since July. So... that pretty much means that I am running in place since today's currents will be tomorrow's past dues fairly quickly.

Last Saturday was Potato Day in Greeley, Colorado. For those of you who don't know Greeley, let's just say that it is the kind of town that I would only visit on Potato Day (overheard sentiment from one college-age female to another: "I had no idea you could have fun in Greeley"). Included with the price of admission is a huge baked potato with all of the fixin's and a full day's fun of potato-related events. The girls even got to have their picture taken with a giant walking potato-person. This was my third Potato Day and a good time was definitely had by all.

This past weekend was definitely a crazy one for college football. First I have to complain that the Tennessee game was not televised. I know what you may be thinking: hey, you live in Colorado, not Tennessee, so of course it wasn't televised. Well, since UT played the Air Force Academy, which is 2 hours away in Colorado Springs, it should have been an in-market game. Totally lame. Anyway, in an excellent example of the paradox of me being a big football fan yet still a complete nerd, I watched the game on my computer's game tracker. It was probably a good thing I didn't see I probably would have had a heart attack watching AFA almost comeback to win in the final seconds only to have their 2-point conversion blocked, handing Tennessee the win. I had no idea this game would be so close. As much as I love my Vols, I have to give props to the AFA. Good job, Cadets.

In other good football news, my alma mater, Colorado State University, defeated in-state rival University of Colorado. As per usual, this game was a close one that came down to wire. As per unusual, CSU actually came out on top this time. For those who said that the new CSU QB was the next Bradlee Van Pelt, I have to completely disagree. Hanie is a far more accurate passer than BVP. Of course, BVP wouldn't have been sacked 6 times, either. Anyway, way to go Rammies! Bragging rights are ours for the next year!

On the flip side of my predictions, I was WAY off on my calls that Texas would take Ohio State and that Penn State would take Notre Dame. What can I say, these things happen. That is why I stress that my predictions are for entertainment purposes only...

In professional news, the Denver Broncos blew their home opener. Hey, it's hard to win when you turn the ball over 5 times. The defense looked spectacular out there, though. Unfortunately the offense couldn't compliment them with even a minuscule effort. Get it together, guys. KC is next week.

I listened to some new music this morning, but I think I am going to save my review until tomorrow since both days will have tunes from the same group and this post is starting to get a little long. Hasta mañana, mi amigos-

Faster Than Any Boy Cold Ever Describe; Whose Got that Love So Deep and Everything Alive

2006-09-08T12:57:00.000-06:00

Friday. I admit I must have been a little grumpy or something yesterday and it came out in my post. I tend to be a pretty even-headed guy, but I guess even the most laid back of us have our moments. Today hasn't been too bad, though. So far it has actually been kind of relaxing and I am able to get caught up on a lot of stuff. So that is definitely pretty cool.

Since I didn't go over my college football picks yesterday, here they are:

Tennessee plays the Air Force Academy this week. This is one of those games that I consider a double bonus. First, unless Tennessee completely unravels, this should be an easy home win for the Volunteers. Second, Air Force is in Colorado State's conference, so a loss to Tennessee will in turn give CSU an edge in the conference standings. UT looked great last week against a 9th ranked Cal team. As long as the Vols keep their heads and don't get too overconfident, look for them to go 2-0 after this weekend.

The biggest game of the week is unquestionably no. 1 Ohio State versus no. 2 Texas. This is not only big because it's a match-up of the top two teams, but also is a rematch of last year's contest when Texas came back late in the game to win over the Buckeyes. OSU has been looking at this date since last year for revenge and should be a hot one regardless of their respective rankings. It's pretty much an even pick, but it is in Texas and I think that is going to give the Longhorns the advantage. Look for a fired up OSU, but Texas hanging on for the win.

Another good match-up in the top 25 is no. 19 Penn State versus no. 4 Notre Dame. These two teams are reviving a rivalry that has been on hold for 13 years. Notre Dame comes into the game with the higher ranking and much ballyhooed QB Brady Quinn, but I thought the Irish looked weak against Georgia Tech last weekend. Penn State looked sharp, on the other hand, and if JoePa's team can put up a strong defense against Quinn they have a good shot at taking it, even in South Bend. The smart money is on Notre Dame, but I've never claimed to be that smart plus I don't really care much for Notre Dame (join a conference already!). Look for an upset by the Nittany Lions in this one.

Another huge match-up that you might not hear much about is the Mile High Showdown between my alma mater Colorado State and the University of Colorado. This one is close every year, but the Buffs have taken the past two. However, I think the winds are in the Rams' favor this time. First, after two years of playing in Boulder (those arrogant scaredy cats NEVER come to Fort Collins EVER) they have finally listened to the fans and returned the game to neutral ground in Mile High Stadium where it belongs. CSU is fielding the best team they've had in years and is coming off of a big win. CU on the other hand has a new coach and is coming off an embarrassing loss to a lower division team. The big question is whether or not this loss will have the Buffs looking for validation against the Rams or the beginning of a long series of disappointments this season. No matter what, it is going to be close and emotions are going to be riding high on both sides. The key for the Rams is to play strong defense like last week and to get out and score early. An early lead will take the wind out of an already-shaky Buffs team still reeling from last week's loss. Get out there and score some points Rammies and bragging rights are ours!!!

Ok, that's it for now. I hope you all have a swell weekend-

We All Become Important When We Realize Our Goal Should be to Figure Out Our Role Within the Context of the Whole

2006-09-07T15:15:00.000-06:00

Thursday. Man, I am really dragging today. I have been sleepy all day and all I can think about is laying my head down on a nice, fluffy pillow and falling asleee....

Huh wah?... Oh, sorry about that... Today is not the day for sleeping anyway because I've got a whole stack of stuff to do, like updating the receivables website and working through the adjustment account (a task I foolishly volunteered for). Right now I am typing this while on a teleconference regarding customer claims and discrepancies. This is certainly not helping me stay awake. Maybe more coffee will help...

You know, some kind soul first thing in the morning sets out coffee filters containing fresh pre-measured coffee grounds ready to go for brewing. When the pot runs out, all you have to do is dump out the basket, put in one of these fresh packets, hit start and everyone is good to go for another round of lovely hot java. But... do you all know how many times I go into the break room looking for a fresh cup of wakeup fuel, that one shiny bright point of every mid-morning that I look so forward to, just to find that some jerk (or jerkette) took the last cup without making a fresh pot?! Seriously, how hard is it to change it out and press start? What, are those 15 seconds so valuable in your day that you have to abandon all common courtesy without thought to your fellow co-workers? As my desk neighbor said after listening to my little rant, "if we can't even count on each other to do the littlest things like that, how do we expect to be able to come together as a team and get our jobs done?" I think you just hit the nail on the head, brother.

Sorry about that little digression, but that kind of stuff really ticks me off. Just like the person who has sat in my chair the past couple of nights after I have left and has re-adjusted all of my settings. Hey, I don't mind if you borrow my chair, but at least put things back the way you found them. I'd rather not have my armrests higher than my ears or my seat so low that my knees hit me in the face when I try to sit down first thing in the morning, thank you.

Man, I just went off on another rant there without even intending too. I must be harboring some kind of internal rage today. That is an interesting combination: physical sloth and mental rage. I'M SUPER TICKED OFF AND I'M NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BUT CONSIDER TAKING A GOOD NAP!!! At least it isn't the other way around. That could be dangerous. I could end up holding public office if that happened.

I know I have been lame lately with the music discussions, but I assure you all that I am currently in the process of securing more tunes to review. Starting next week I should have some good stuff to talk about, so stay tuned.

Since I promised not to discuss football in this post, you all will just have to wait until tomorrow to see whether or not I am going to pick Tennessee over Air Force Academy this weekend. I know you are all on the edge of your seat so try to hang on. In the meantime I am going to ride out the last hour and twenty minutes of my work day and hope that I wake up enough to make the hour-long commute back home without scraping against the guard rail more than four or five times...

Making So Much Noise You Don’t Know When to Listen

2006-09-05T15:45:00.000-06:00

Tuesday (or is it Monday? It feels like a Monday, but it's Tuesday. Hmmm...). Well, I'm back after a long holiday weekend. And what a good holiday weekend it was. I said it last year and I'll say it again, Labor Day is my favorite holiday. I'm serious. Think about it. There are no obligations, no pressures, no presents to buy, no costumes to dress in, and it hasn't been over commercialized with candy, cards or imaginary characters in which we have to lie to our children about. There are no ties whatsoever. Sure, you may feel like having a barbeque or going camping, but you don't HAVE to. All you have to do is not work. It is simply a "thank you for working enjoy your day off." Trust me, I do every year.

This year we had guests in town, so we spent the weekend doing various Colorado things and enjoying the time together. The first day we hung out in Fort Collins and checked out the local sites. Sunday we spent down in Denver going to the zoo (for the kids) and then hanging out on the 16th Street Mall (for us). On Labor Day itself we drove down to Colorado Springs and enjoyed some scenic beauty at Seven Falls. I still think that Colorado Springs is kind of touristy, but since we had actual tourists with us it worked out just fine.

During the in-between times I got to watch a lot of opening weekend college football. I know this was an easy week for picks, but I ended up sweeping all of my predictions. Since 21 of the top 25 teams scheduled pushovers the first week, everything fell out as predicted. There were no major upsets except when #23 Tennessee soundly defeated a #9 ranked Cal 35-18. Trust me, it wasn't even that close. All of Cal's points were scored in the second half, with 15 coming in the fourth quarter when UT's replacements were in. Ainge even looked pretty sharp out there. I was certainly pleased with this start by my beloved Vols.

Also not disappointing was my alma mater Colorado State. I said in my predictions that if CSU's defense could stop the run, then the Rams would take the victory. Well, they must have listened to me because they held Weber State to a record low negative 38 yards rushing. Yes, you heard me, -38 yards total rushing. Awesome. Final score 30-6.

A team that didn't fare so well against a Big Sky opponent was the University of Colorado who lost in a huge upset to Montana State 19-10. Although my dislike for the Buffs has gone down a bit with Gary Barnett finally gone, I still can't help but smile at the in-state rival dropping one to a Division 1-AA school. Hopefully this embarrassment doesn't fuel any fire for the CU/CSU game this weekend...

My other pick this week was Florida State over Miami, which if you saw the game last night was as close as I predicted. I said it was an even pick, but I chose FSU to come out on top. That they did with a field goal late in the game to seal Miami's fate.

Ok, enough football for now. I promise my next post will be football-free. Until then, I hope that you all had a glorious Labor Day weekend as well, and here's looking forward to a great autumn!

Rocky Top You'll Always be Home Sweet Home to Me

2006-08-31T16:07:00.000-06:00

Thursday. Man, this has been a crazy day. Is there a full moon or something? First I get one vendor calling me demanding a $13k payment. Ok, no problem. Do you have a proof of delivery? "No." Do you have a signed packing list? "No." Do you have any proof whatsoever that the material that you want me to pay for actually got there? "Well, I called the guy and he said everything was working out so that should be good enough." No, it won't. I'll pay you when you can prove that there is something I should be paying for, thanks. He wasn't too happy about that one. And then there was the vendor that we are trying to place a sizeable purchase order with who won't provide us with a proof of product liability insurance. So, I call the president of the company. He tells me that he won't provide it because he believes that it is much more risky to make that information public than it is to protect his distributors. He honestly believes that we are going to scrutinize the policy, find a loophole and then sue him. I asked him if he realized that he would be losing an $18k order if he didn't provide that documentation. He said that was fine with him, said "good day" and then hung up on me. Seriously, how much dough is this company making that they can just throw away $18k orders? I guess that's how you get to become president of a business: you turn down a bunch of business. Silly me, I guess it's this out-moded "let's make the company some money" mentality that has kept me in middle management instead of skyrocketing me to the top...

At least the college football season starts this weekend. You see, I like sports, but there is only one sport that I really follow closely and get super excited for and that's American football. I know what you are thinking, but I assure you that I'm not some knuckle-dragging Neanderthal that paints his face and chest just to watch the game at home, nor do I stack several TVs on top of each other so I can see all the games simultaneously, nor do I watch the same Sportscenter highlights of games I've already seen over and over. Ok, maybe I do that one, but seriously, I'm just a regular guy who happens to like the sport of football. Especially college football.

All of you faithful readers who were here last season may remember that on each Thursday of the college football season I would make a few predictions on the games to be played that weekend. These predictions are out of pure fun and in no way would I recommend actually placing any bets on my picks. I am basically entertaining myself here, but please feel free to comment if you disagree with me. If you couldn't care less about American football, please feel free to skip over that part of those posts or even better you can comment on something completely irrelevant, which could possibly be more entertaining than the predictions.

My favorite college team is the University of Tennessee Volunteers. I lived in Tennessee for about 10 years of my life (please don't hold it against me) and even though it has been since I was a freshman in high school that I lived there and that I've tried to ditch everything else "Tennessee" about me, I can't help but to love my Vols. They have their work cut out for them this season, though. Despite some people picking them to win the national championship last season, they ended up with a fairly disappointing season, capped off by a loss to Vanderbilt for the first time since I was like two years old. They didn't even get to go to a bowl game. Let's hope they can turn it around this year. A season opener against #9 Cal is a tough place to start. Some are picking Cal as a contender. Stick it to 'em, Vols. Ainge you better have learned some accuracy in the off-season, I'm counting on you!

Kat, I'm afraid neither your BYU Cougars nor my CSU Rams are going to take the Mountain West this year. I think TCU is going to take it again. I know, I don't like it either, but I have to face the reality of it. After TCU, it will be CSU, BYU and Utah battling it out for the remaining bowl spots. Best of luck to BYU (Well, except on Nov. 4th...). CSU opens up against Weber State. They have a new QB that is supposed to be the next Bradlee Van Pelt. BVP is the man, so I certainly hope so. The big question is whether or not CSU can stop the run. They were like a sieve the past couple of seasons. Stop somebody!

Each week I will also be highlighting some of the better top 25 games. Some of the teams I say to keep on the look out for this year are USC, Texas, and Ohio State. You know, the usual suspects. I need to find an underdog team to go with that. Hmm... time to do some research. In the meantime, feel free to boo the Florida Gators as much as you want.

***addendum***

(Friday) You know, I got really busy yesterday afternoon and ended up posting my rough draft in a huge rush to get out of here last night. After reading this post later, I realized that there weren't any actual football predictions... So, I went and checked the top 25 to see what the big games were this weekend, and I have to say that the vast majority of teams out there scheduled patsies for their season opener. The two biggest games that I saw were #24 Tennesse vs. #9 Cal (which you can probably figure out who I'm picking) and #10 Florida State vs. #11 Miami, which should easily be the best game of the week. This is pretty much an even pick, but I am going to go with FSU on this one. I think they are going to have a pretty good year. I'm also picking my alma mater Colorado State over Weber State. If they can get back to the trademark Sonny Lubick ball that they abandoned the past two seasons and successfully stop the run, then they've got this one in the bag. Other than that, the rest of the top 25 will fall out exactly like you would expect it to. Safe bets all around.

I Just Wanted to Prove Wrong the People in my Head, the Ones Who Told Me I’d Be Better Off Dead

2006-08-29T15:49:00.000-06:00

Tuesday. Man, it's 3:30 already and where did the time go? I have a pretty good guess that it slipped away somewhere between my 4 different teleconference calls, getting the pre-website upload spreadsheet done and dealing with all of the other junk that has flown across my desk and/or jammed my email inbox today. But I'm not going to dwell on negativity and complaints. I have new music to discuss.

So, one good thing about school being back in session is that the local college radio station is off of robots and back to having live DJs program the music again. The quality of the play lists increase significantly when school is in session. Anyway, I heard a song played on the station a couple of times and it kind of got stuck in my head. Out of curiosity I looked it up and now I coincidently have a copy of the album. The song is called Tire Swing, the album Remember That I Love You, and the artist Kimya Dawson.

After some research, I found out that Ms. Dawson is a member of the Moldy Peaches, another band that I never heard of (but will probably check out now). They have been categorized by the powers to be as "anti-folk" which supposedly is a fusion of punk and folk. I don't know about that. Sounds mostly folk to me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. What first caught me about Tire Swing was its infectiousness, but after subsequent listens I began to pick up on the whimsical and very clever lyrics. She kinda reminded me of Joanna Newsom without the distinctively warbly voice. However, as the album progressed, the lyrics became less whimsical and more dark and emotional. An excellent example would be The Competition. This track is painfully powerful in lyrics yet juxtaposed with the "simplicity" of the folk music accompaniment. What I at first found to be a fun, clever album took a completely different tack with me. I appreciated it on a whole new level. I really dug this one and I recommend it to others who can dig the "anti-folk" sound. Definitely good stuff.

So Take Your Pace Easy for Home Soon Like Lightening We Soon Will be Riding, My Shiny Black Bess

2006-08-28T16:05:00.000-06:00

I am driving in my car on my way to work. It is hard to see the mountains today. Sometimes as the sun rises, they look purple. Today they are obscured. I hate this daily commute, but I wonder if I will miss seeing the mountains if things ever changed.

I am listening to Wilco and Billy Bragg's co-operational effort Mermaid Avenue. I had never heard this one before, but it came with the whole Wilco discography when I came into possession of it a few months back. It is a Woody Guthrie tribute album. I had no idea beforehand, but I like it. I did a book report on Woody Guthrie when I was in 7th grade. I also like his son Arlo. This album isn't too bad. There are a couple of bright tracks, but I really like The Unwelcome Guest. I swear I've heard this song before by someone else, but I don't know where or by whom. Hmmm...

I am arriving to work and trying to get things situated. I put my lunch in the refrigerator and fill up my water mug. It is Monday and the endless spinning wheel begins another rotation. I log in. My phone doesn't immediately ring. Perhaps this won't be that bad of a day.

I am answering the phone at about 20 minutes after 7:00am. It is the Big Boss Lady requesting a copy of a spreadsheet that I am putting together. Can I have it done in an hour? "No problem" I reply. It will be a problem, but I don't admit to it.

I am trying to finish up a spreadsheet for the Big Boss Lady when the phone rings. I only have a few more things I have to get done before I can send it off. It is the Big Boss Lady on the line inquiring 5 minutes early if I will have it done on time. I would if I wouldn't have to stop working on it to answer the phone. I don't say that to her, of course, and assure her that it will be there in a few minutes.

I am sending it off a few minutes later. I would take a breather but I have more spreadsheets to do.

I am getting up to get a cup of coffee. It is a quarter to 10:00am. Around this time daily I have a little snack to carry me to lunch. I prefer to have fruit, like an apple, but we were all out of fruit at home. Today I took baby carrots instead. Not bad, but carrots and coffee are not really a good mix.

I am looking at the internal job postings. I tell everyone that I check them from time to time to make sure that I'm not the last to know when my job gets posted. In reality, I'm bored. You all already know that, though. I am warned to be wary of the job in which I expressed some curiosity. At this time I don't know whether it would be better to get a new job here or to get a new job elsewhere. Either way, I am indentured for a while longer, so I am stuck for the time being.

I am talking on the phone to my sales representative friend in California. She is upset, but not at me. I am trying to help her. However, one of her vendors won't sign one of our company's documents without reading our contract with our customer first. No problem, but apparently no one has a copy of said contract (not even the legal dept) despite there being a big headline on our company's website advertising that we just renewed it.

I am taking a lunch. I usually take a later lunch, today at 12:45pm. I sit in the break room where I attempt to get a chunk of my book read since I only have about 50 pages left and I am anxious to finish it. Instead (like the true nerd that I am) I get sucked into a conversation on the respective differences between the Lord of the Rings theatrical releases, the director's cuts, and the books. I eventually get a couple of pages read and then go sit in my car for about 10-15 minutes to rejuvenate before heading back in.

I am finishing up another spreadsheet. This one is not too bad. We are actually making good progress on this account. I send it to my friend in California and call her to discuss, but the good news is quickly muted by the (still) lack of a copy of our contract. Her vendor has been waiting two weeks for this and wants to get the project started. I express empathy for her frustrations since I am getting the runaround as well.

I am trying to get another vendor set up in our system so a CSR can place an emergency order. However the vendor will not grant us Net 30 terms because our trade references have not come back yet. I try to explain that since I work for a 5A2 rated Fortune 500 company with about $5 billion in annual sales that we are probably good for the $3k that we are ordering, but they want to stick to procedure. After a bunch of back and forth, it looks like we are going to have to buy this one on the credit card. Not a big deal, but I very highly doubt that we are going to get paid for our order by the time the next statement goes out, meaning that we are going to have to eat the interest expense. As my old boss used to say, "Listen people, we're a supplier, not a bank. Don't expect us to finance your purchases." Of course, in that division we could bill back service charges. We can't do that here, so our threats are pretty much idle. Lame.

I am typing a blog post. Change is needed. Change is coming. I don't know what, but it is on its way.

I am thinking about going home now.

I am saying goodbye.

Some Trees Will Bend and Some Will Fall, But Then Again So Will Us All

2006-08-24T15:23:00.000-06:00

Thursday. I am super busy today. I am busy because I was foolish enough to take a vacation. You see, taking a vacation only lets you relax temporarily. All of that day-to-day stress you were trying to escape from? Well, it just builds up and waits for you when you get back so you can get it all in one big dose when you return. So, take all of that stuff that you have to get caught up on, mix in all of the stuff (like uploading the receivables website) that you would normally have to get done, then add the five or six projects that the boss assigns for you to get done right away and that equals one busy johnny.

On a bright note today, since the Denver branch exceeded its budgeted sales numbers the past two months, local management sprung for a catered lunch of Italian food. I don't really work for the branch, but I still get invited to share the rewards, which is nice. Anyway, while we were dishing up, someone asked, "What is the meat in the lasagna? Is it some sort of sausage?" In which someone else replied in all seriousness, "yeah, I think it's Polish sausage." Yeah, bud. It's Polish sausage in an Italian dish. Let me guess, you're the same guy who orders French dressing on your Olive Garden salad, too, aren't you?

I have Iron & Wine in my head. No, this is not from the effects of partying with Merlot and anemia supplements again, I have the music of Iron & Wine in my head from listening to it the other day. Good stuff. No, I didn't listen to it this morning on my drive in. I actually listened to Wilco's Summerteeth. But I'm not going to discuss music today. I am going to change it up and talk about television instead.

I don't watch very much television. I just don't have enough time. I have a buddy who has been trying to get me into Lost for a while now, but the way my schedule is I just can't guarantee I will be in front of a TV at the exact same time on the exact same day each week in order to watch. Sure, I could spring for a Tivo or something and record it, but really, I don't miss watching television. I don't mean to come off as snooty, but there's not really much on the tube that entertains me anyway. If I find myself with some free time, I would much rather watch a good movie instead. So, I am actually shocked to find myself currently hooked on a TV show. This all happened innocently and inadvertently, I promise. There is one of those red rental vending machines close to my house, so instead of driving across town to the movie store, we often go there instead. Well, we had seen everything in the machine already (it mostly just carries major titles), so the Mrs. picked up the first season of Prisonbreak. Have you seen this show? It's actually pretty good. The guy in charge is a film director (action guy Brett Ratner) who had never done TV before, so he decided to just make a really long movie. The show is shot in widescreen and the production values are really high for television. It doesn't just look good, though. This is more than just a jailbreak show. There are a ton of plot lines and twists going on, and anyone who is big into government conspiracy type stuff would totally dig this show as well. As you can tell, I'm hooked. Sure, I may be embarrassed by my gushing down the line, but for today I have to say that this is the best thing I've seen on TV in a long time. Check it out for sure. I recommend it.

(I wonder if I could still rent the first season of Lost...)

Holiday in the Sun

2006-08-23T15:30:00.000-06:00

Wednesday. Well, everyone, I'm back from vacation and I have to tell you all that I had a pretty good time. If you remember, faithful readers, right before we were set to leave we started experiencing automotive difficulties with our vehicle. On first look, it appeared that a battery terminal clamp had gone bad due to corrosion, but even after I fixed it the truck still had trouble holding a charge. I drove it over to the local auto parts store where they tested the battery and determined it to be dead. So, I did what I had to do and installed a new car battery as well. Sure, I was a little lighter in the wallet, but at least we knew that we would have our dependable vehicle back in which to travel. Thankfully, we experienced no more vehicle problems for the rest of the trip.

We started our trip on Friday morning by getting up and driving to Colorado Springs, about two hours south from our starting point. Colorado Springs is a nice town, but I find it a bit touristy. I was a bit apprehensive at first about stopping here when we began planning this trip, but since we decided to design this venture around the young ones, this destination seemed like an obvious choice. Plus, as the Mrs. pointed out, we've lived in Colorado for ten years now and never visited any of those places so maybe it was about time.

So, the first thing we did was to take the historical Pike's Peak Cog Railroad up to the top of Pike's Peak. It was a lovely train ride, about three hours round trip with a half-hour stay on top of the peak. The views from the train car were absolutely amazing, and we were lucky enough to see lots of wildlife on the way. We saw a herd of big horn sheep gathering in a clearing to test their pecking order, which according to the guide was quite a rarity. They even stopped the train so we could get a good look. We also saw several marmots along the way, and I spotted the tail end of a deer running off as we approached, but no one else saw it to corroborate my story...

We eventually got to the peak, which was a bit chilly compared to the typical summer weather below. There were also several clouds moving over the peak while we were up there that gave the air a damp feel as well. And while Pike's Peak isn't the tallest mountain in Colorado (that would be Mt. Elbert), the views from the top cannot be dismissed. Perfect serenity in every direction. We snapped some pictures, browsed the gift shop (how would you like that drive to work every day?), and then got back on the train to head back. The return trip was just as pleasant as the way up, however, I think we were all a bit wiped out from the high elevation.

We rejuvenated ourselves by grabbing a quick lunch in Colorado Springs, and then headed back up to the hills to visit Cave of the Winds. Cave of the Winds is a cavern system adjacent to Pike's Peak. It was nice contrasting experiences to be at one moment over 14,000 feet above the ground, then just a short time later be several hundred feet below it. We thought the girls would get a big kick out of going down into a cave, and we were right. You can take crazy spelunking explorations, but we did the standard tour. I've been in more complex cave systems before, but this one was still pretty neat. The girls dug the crazy formations and it's always cool to hear a bit of cave lore. We emerged from the cave unscathed by any bats or bears, so we loaded ourselves back into the truck and headed southwest about an hour to Cañon City where we stayed the night.

Cañon City is not only home to several state correctional facilities (that was kind of creepy, I actually saw a guard with a rifle standing in a tower overlooking the yard), but is also the location of the highest bridge in the world (if the claims are to believed) over Royal Gorge. Now, standing out on the bridge looking down over 1,100 feet is cool enough in itself, but there is actually a lot of other stuff included with the price of admission as well. We took an inclined train down to the bottom of the canyon to check out the view from the bottom, and we also could cross the gorge via suspended tramcar. There was also a petting zoo and a Wild West exhibit that the girls liked as well. After spending a few hours checking out Royal Gorge, we noticed dark clouds coming in so we decided it was time to head back to the truck. Luckily for us, we just made it back to our vehicle when it really started coming down. I mean, like torrential downpour coming down. I felt really bad for those people who got stuck out on the tram halfway across the gorge... the wind was blowing that thing back and forth like crazy. Not exactly the position that I would want to be in suspended twelve hundred feet above the canyon floor...

Oh yeah, we also checked out the Dinosaur Depot in Cañon City, which was conveniently located across the street from the hotel we stayed at. The girls (especially the youngest) really liked seeing the dinosaur exhibits. I, in particular, totally dug the world's only fully fossilized remains of a stegosaurus, the stegosaurus being my favorite dinosaur since I was about my girls' age.

Anyway, from Royal Gorge we headed on southbound to Alamosa, which is remarkable solely for the fact that it is the biggest town next to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We had planned to camp out that night in Sand Dunes, however, since the rain never let up on us and we were going to be arriving late anyway, we decided to stay in Alamosa instead. It rained all night in Alamosa, but we woke up to very pleasant weather the next day.

From Alamosa, we took a short drive into Great Sand Dunes National Park. You can camp in the park in a non-secluded, huddle-with-the-strangers area for a fee, or you can take a 5-mile off-road trail out of the park boundaries and camp how you are supposed to camp for free. So, we set up the tent, unpacked all of our gear and loaded ourselves back up to go play in the sand.

Now, I gotta tell you all that I had a total blast in the sand. We brought a sled with us, so we found a smaller dune a little ways in and let the girls slide down. After a while, the oldest of the two decided that she wanted more thrill to her sledding experience, so we set off to find a more taller, steeper dune. We found a perfect one just a few dunes over, and the sled went much more quickly down the higher incline. Of course, you know who had to keep bringing the sled back up, but it was all good. I was having a lot of fun, and that joy increased exponentially every time I heard the girls giggle as they went down the hill. When we were finished with the sledding, we went back to the smaller dune and made sand castles with our buckets and molds.

After a few hours of being in the direct sun and hot sand, we decided to head to the visitor's center to cool off. We hung out there for a little while and then ate a late lunch. While we were eating, some very dark clouds started rolling in. We decided we had better get back to the campsite. As we began our way back down the 4-wheel drive trail, the weather turned for the worse. We didn't just get rain, we got hailed on. Welcome to Colorado, where at one moment you can be playing in the sand and sun, and the next you can be pelted by chunks of ice while lighting goes off all around you.

Since the weather report said there would be "an afternoon storm turning to partly cloudy in the evening" we tried to wait it out. However, after almost two hours of waiting for the rain to break, we decided we had better give up. Even if the rain did eventually stop, the temperature had dipped into the low 40s, and that cold coupled with the wetness would probably not be the optimal camping atmosphere for the girls to have to endure. So, the Mrs. and I ran out in the rain and hastily folded up the tent and packed up our gear. The girls were totally bummed since we had planned to camp out for two nights but got rained out on both, but being able to swim another night in the hotel helped a little bit to lift their spirits.

Monday was spent driving back home. Although we didn't get to go camping, I still had a total blast. I really needed a vacation like that. Not just time off, but time off spent having fun and completely doing away with the regular routine. I loved being able to spend time with my family, and I hope that the girls were able to store away some pretty good memories themselves. Too bad we can't do more of this kind of thing.

I had yesterday off as well, which I pretty much spent doing laundry and getting my oldest daughter ready for her first day of second grade (which is today). I can't believe how quickly the summer came and went. However, I have to say that this has easily been one of the best summers I've had in years. It will be sad to see it go, but I'm hoping that this wave of awesomeness carries over into the autumn as well.

Now, I'm back at work and I have a huge pile of stuff to go through and get taken care of. I was really busy before last week, and it appears that none of it subsided in my absence. On an up note, though, before I left on my trip I helped a lady here with a problem she had with her cell phone provider. You see, in another life I once worked for a huge telecommunications company and picked up a few tricks on how to get things done when the customer care center refuses to actually take care of its customers. Anyway, the tricks I shared with her must have worked because she brought me a tray of peanut butter and chocolate brownies this morning. Mmmmm.... yummy.... Now that actually makes the return to work not all that bad...

Now I’m Sleeping on the Sand of an Unfamiliar Land and I’m Dreaming Up a Plan to Get You on a Breeze

2006-08-17T15:17:00.000-06:00

Thursday. Wow, faithful readers, has this ever been a busy week for me. The good news is that I am going to take a few days off and finally get a bit of a vacation. The bad news is that it seems like strange and unexplainable forces are trying to prevent me form taking said vacation. First, we have planned to go camping for a few days at Great Sand Dunes National Park. We were going to go to Moab, UT, which is one of the coolest places ever, but we are taking the little ones so we decided to change destinations to a place they might enjoy a little more. Who doesn't like playing in the sand? Anyway, after waiting forever to finally go camping again, it appears that the weather is not going to cooperate. There is rain in the forecast for the days we will be gone, so that is literally hanging over our trip right now. I can take a little rain, but I don't want to be stuck off the side of a 4-wheel drive wilderness trail caught in the middle of a monsoon.

If that was it, then I could let it slide. However, last night our 4-wheel drive vehicle decided to stop running. I am pretty sure it is just a broken battery terminal clamp, so I bought the part this morning to do the repair tonight. It won't be that tough of a fix, however, we are about to go driving miles off-road into the wilderness. I don't want to incorrectly diagnose the problem and then find myself stuck with a disabled vehicle out in the middle of nowhere. So, I am crossing my fingers on this one. I am totally pumped to do some camping. It has been a few years since I have been able to go (as opposed to going about once a month for the totality of my adolescence) and I really miss it. Please, unforeseen forces please let the truck drive and the sun shine. I don't ask for much in life but that and being independently wealthy would really help out. Thanks.

I'll be back next week to disclose a full account of the whole adventure. Cross your fingers the phrases "tow truck" and "ripped front axel completely off" are nowhere to be found in that report...

Life’s a Gamble, Step Up and Place Your Bets; I Drift Through Space, Then Make My Escape on Through the ‘Net

2006-08-15T15:47:00.000-06:00

Tuesday. Sorry for the no post again yesterday. I am still really busy here at work lately and there still seems to be no signs of letting up. The increased sales volume for this time of year has resulted in a huge stack of sales orders sitting on my desk just waiting for my approval. Even though I am diligently working through them, as soon as one is gone another handful come in. On top of all that, I am really pushing on collections this month. Although I still have a long ways to go, I did get the good news yesterday that the customer finally scheduled to pay $182k worth of invoices on one of my accounts. It may just be a drop in the bucket when looking at my total base, but it at least gives me something to go back to the Big Boss Lady with to show her that I don't just sit here and blog all day, every once in awhile I do actually get some stuff done...

I listened to some new music today. Well, new music for me and the blog. This album has actually been out for a while, but I just now got my hands on it. In following up with last week's Roots review of The Tipping Point, I decided to check out another one of their releases, Things Fall Apart. Now, I liked The Tipping Point, but I liked Things Fall Apart much better. It had more of a jazz/funk vibe to the music, which complimented the hip-hop beats and lyrics excellently. Guest artists the likes of Mos Def and Erykah Badu that add a lot of flavor to this album as well. What really shines for me is the Root's true music ability. These guys don’t just rhyme over old samples. This is a real band that plays real instruments and plays them well. Those who try to discount rap by claiming "it's not really music" would do a service to themselves by checking this one out. It just might spark a conversion or two...

(Sass – I’m going to check out Brand New Second Hand for sure now, I’ll let you know what I think)

Finally, on a more personal note, today marks the Mrs. and I's wedding anniversary. Nine years and two kids later she has still stuck with me. Thanks, babe. Happy anniversary.

I Can Be Moving or I Can Be Still, But Still is Still Moving to Me

2006-08-11T15:50:00.000-06:00

Friday. Yeah! This week has been so busy for me I didn't think I would make it. I guess it is just going to get even busier until the end of our customer's fiscal year (9/30) because in order to ensure that each of our customer's respective entities get more expense funds allocated to them, they must ensure that they overspend their budget. See, it works like this: They purposely overspend so they can go back and say, "see, we obviously need more money because we are X amount of $ over budget." So, the next year they get the requested funds, they overspend them again, they request more, and the cycle continues. This gives my department a nice double-edged sword to deal with. I mean, it's great that we are going to get all of this business, but the busyness of this business is a pretty big bear to have to deal with, that's for sure. I'm already feeling it from all of these orders coming in, and we are still 5 or 6 weeks away from year's end. Oh well, it beats being bored out of my mind I guess.

Since today is Friday, I had to find someting upbeat to get my weekend started off right. I thought some funky reggae would do the trick, so I grabbed True Love by Toots and the Maytals. True Love is actually kind of a weird mix between a "greatest hits" release and a tribute album. Toots plays all of his big tunes, but this time they are re-recordings with guest musicians. Normally I get a bit wary of tribute albums. Usually they completely suck. There tends to be one or two halfway-decent tracks and the rest are horribly obvious attempts by record companies to try to push their lame signees on us by having them record awkward sounding cover tunes of much, much, much better artists. However, this album thankfully bucks that unfortunate trend. Toots pulls out all of the stops in bringing in guest players, with names the likes of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper and more showing up on the liner notes. You probably already know this, Sweet Lil’ Gal, but your main squeeze Ryan Adams appears on this record as well. Even Willie Nelson shows up for a duet. Yes, you heard me. Willie Nelson sings reggae (in fact, I heard he recently put out a whole reggae album - hmmm... now that would be a great discussion for Inaction in Action...).

Anyway, I enjoyed this album thoroughly. Sure, some reggae traditionalists would shudder at the thought of Toots going commercial with this crowd-pleaser, but I can't deny that the album had me feelin' the good Rasta vibrations by the time I got here to work (of course, now my co-workers are wondering why I am wearing sunglasses indoors and why I just ate nineteen glazed doughnuts...). This album was a lot of fun and it did what I wanted it to do. My weekend is ready to begin. Can I go home now, mon?

So Much Time Inside, When You Put it Aside You Waste it; You See Your Fortune Lie, You Can Decide to Wake It

2006-08-10T15:45:00.000-06:00

Thursday. Well, I missed another post yesterday. Sorry about that. On top of how busy it's been around here lately, the Big Boss Lady was in town yesterday. So, I didn't get much time to squeeze blogging in since I had to pretend to be busy all day. Actually, I really have been super busy so I didn't have to fake it. I am getting slammed in all directions right now with no sign of it letting up. Of course, I'd rather be busy than bored, but I have to lament not being able to blog as a result.

The Big Boss Lady did take me out to lunch yesterday to make up for when she was in town for my review and we found out that the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed. So, we went back and this time it was open, and let me tell you it was pretty darn good. I think I'm still stuffed a day later...

I had some new music yesterday, too. That's ok, though, because I can just carry it over to today. For a while now I have seen Sassinak advertise the musical artistry of one Xavier Rudd on her blog. I was curious about who this guy was, but it wasn't until I saw his name on her music wish list that I finally decided to check him out. Boy, am I glad that I did. This guy is good. The music fairy finally came through and I had the opportunity the past two mornings to check out Solace and Food in the Belly, respectively.

Mr. Rudd originates from Australia. I read comparisons of him to Jack Johnson, but to me he sounds more like if you put Ben Harper, Paul Simon, and Cat Stevens in a blender and hit liquefy. What sets him apart from these artists is that beyond the acoustic guitar, he also plays authentic Aboriginal instruments. This brings a really rich sound to compliment his soft, easy voice. I put Paul Simon in the blender because Food in the Belly reminded me a lot of Simon's excellent Graceland. However, change Africa for Australia, give it a few tweaks and you get another excellent release. Solace sounded more Ben Harper-ish to me, but still, this is just to give you an idea of his style. Mr. Rudd has definitely captured a sound all his own.

I very much enjoyed both albums and highly recommend them. Thanks, Sass. I guess I should have checked him out before. I didn't know what I was missing. Hmmm... What else is on your list?

The Wicked is Diseased and It Ain't All Viral, Could Be Greed and Gluttony Bubblin' Inside You

2006-08-08T15:15:00.000-06:00

Tuesday. Sorry for the no post yesterday everyone. I've been super busy here at work lately. My collection numbers dipped last month, so I am really trying to turn things around for this month. Of course, me being out for surgery and the customer changing to a new computer system last month certainly didn't help things, so I definitely have my work cut out for me. Today has gone fairly well, though. Besides the collections work, I did my pre-upload spreadsheet and I am currently reviewing sales orders. I had an hour and a half-long steering committee meeting this morning, which was kind of lame, but besides that, today hasn't been too bad.

Here is part of an email conversation that I had with Lampsidebriefcase yesterday regarding an idea I shared with him and ways to keep people from stealing it:

Lampside: I would suggest using a new email for this otherwise someone may say they own the rights to this idea.

Me: I also need to write down this idea, put it in a sealed envelope and mail it to myself without ever opening it. This is called the "poor man's copyright" since the postmark holds up in court as long as the envelope has never been opened.

Lampside: yeah i have done the poor man's copyright in the past. (Lead singer of Jistoray) did it with tons of his music a few years ago as well. i was thinking to seal my head in an envelope, mail it and just wear the envelope without ever opening it. that way no one would get any of my ideas.

Me: If the envelope is airtight it will keep those ideas fresh as well...

Lampside: great idea. that would be great to go to a meeting to sell your idea with an envelope on your head.

Me: Yeah, you could tell them that your ideas are ready to deliver...

Lampside: yeah i am sure i would be able to deliver my message well in the meeting. however if they do not like my delivery i may go postal on them. i suppose with that display they would need to check the mail and send me back to my return address.

And on it goes... That's been pretty much my work highlight for the past two days. Oh, I have some new music to review. The music fairy has been letting me down lately, so I sought a new venue to relieve my unquenchable thirst for new tunes in which to listen. That new venue? The public library. Yes, I know that sounds nerdy, but the downtown Denver library actually has a decent collection. I put a bunch of CDs on hold and picked up three of them yesterday. Two of the three aren't worth discussing, but I thought the third was worth bringing up. Ever since I saw Dave Chapelle's Block Party (hilarious, btw), I have been interested in checking out a handful of hip-hop acts that played on the soundtrack. One of those groups is The Roots. I couldn't get the music fairy to deliver, but the old DPL had several items in their catalogue so I put them on reserve. Yesterday I picked up The Tipping Point. I thought it was pretty good. I thought the beats were tight and I was very relieved that the lyrics pretty much avoided the cliché gangsta rhymes that went stale about ten years ago but for some reason are still popular. There is still a lot of profanity, so you probably don't want to play this CD around your grandma (or grandkid if that's the case). However, if you are an adult and you like good hip-hop then this album isn't that bad of a listen. I don't think this particular album can compare to some of the other rap releases out there, but it is indeed refreshing to hear a rap group that doesn't need to lean on the gangsta crutch to produce a quality record. I am looking forward to checking out a couple of more albums from The Roots once they come in for me to borrow. In the meantime, I am going to work down Sassinak's list of tunes and see if the music fairy can redeem herself that way. Who is this Xavier Rudd anyway?

A Child of Countless Trees, a Child of Boundless Seas

2006-08-04T15:01:00.000-06:00

Friday. Yeah! I've got all kinds of stuff going on today and not too much of it good, unfortunately. It seems like today has been a magnet for bad news or something. All morning long I was made aware of all kinds of different problems that I am now going to have to deal with. The positive perspective comes from the Big Boss Lady: "well, you didn't want to be bored now did you? (I swear sometimes she reads this blog). The negative spin comes from a co-worker who called to remark "if it wasn't for bad luck (I'd) have no luck at all." Gotta love it.

However, despite being buried under this gigantic pile of lameness, I am in a good mood today. First, it is Friday, so by default the day has to be good. It is also my daughter's seventh birthday today. I can't believe it. Seven years old already. Crazy. You know, seven years doesn't seem that long ago, but when I think back things were totally different then. I don't just mean not having a seven-year-old daughter, but just life in general. At least for the most part it has been progressive and positive change for me. There have been a few bumps along the way, but hopefully the past seven years haven't been too bad for her, either.

I listened to Without a Net by the Grateful Dead this morning for the drive in. I did this because faithful readers may remember that my wife and I named our daughter after the GD song Cassidy. Ok, now I'm sure some deadhead out there will split hairs and tell me that Cassidy is actually a Bob Weir song and not officially a Dead tune. However, since the Dead both recorded the song and played it live on numerous occasions, plus the fact that Bob Weir is a member of the Dead, that makes it a "Dead tune" in my book. I have several versions of this song in my collection, but today I chose the one off of Without a Net to hear. I like this one, first because the whole album is good and second because the arrangement sets it apart from other released versions. For example, this recording is much more upbeat and rocking than, say, the acoustic Reckoning version. The Brent Mydland backups add a lot to the track as well.

We chose this song not just because of who sang it, but what they were singing about. This is a song about the cycle of life, of beginnings and endings, and how everything that fades away simply makes way for something new. It is about the death of Neal Cassady and the birth of Cassidy Law. It is about renewal, and how even from the darkest ashes the world can become reborn. It is about bringing into this world a life with endless possibilities, guiding it through adulthood and then having to let it go. It is about love and loss and a celebration of them both. It is an amazing song, and I have never regretted using it as the namesake of one of our beloved girls. Happy birthday, sweetie.

I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream
I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream
A child of countless trees, a child of boundless seas
What you are, what you're meant to be
Speaks his name
For you were born to me
Born to me, Cassidy

Lost now on the country miles in his Cadillac
I can tell by the way you smile he's rolling back
Come wash the nighttime clean, come grow the scorched ground green
Blow the horn, tap the tambourine
Close the gap on the dark years in between
You and me, Cassidy.

Quick beats in an icy heart, catch colt draws a coffin cart,
There he goes and now here she starts, hear her cry

Flight of the seabirds,
Scattered like lost words,
Wheel to the storm and fly

Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by its own design
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I am done with mine
Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by its own design
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I am done with mine

Now, Open Your Ear ‘Cause Slavery Will Appear When Corporate Cutthroats Control Your Career

2006-08-03T15:55:00.000-06:00

Thursday. Ok, I know I am lame. I haven't posted in like three days for various odd reasons. None of these reasons excuse my lameness, of course, but I have been really busy here lately. To make up for this unplanned hiatus, I thought I would share some random thoughts about my working environs with you all:

Someone here drives a green pick-up truck with a sticker on its back window of Calvin urinating on the word "work." Even if one thinks that stolen images of Calvin peeing on things are funny, is this really the decal you want to proudly display in your employer's parking lot?

There is a bamboo plant that sits on a file cabinet right next to my desk. It isn't mine; it actually belongs to the person sitting in front of me. The plant looks sickly. I am told that this is because four or five years ago when my co-worker worked for the Big Boss Lady, she asked the BBL to water her plant while she was on vacation. When she returned, the plant was bone dry, yellow and dying. She has been able to keep the plant alive since, but it has never regained its original splendor. When she got another plant about a year ago, she asked if she could put that one on my file cabinet. I agreed, but ever since people keep walking by and commenting that my plant looked like it was yellow and dying (it doesn't help that a vibrant, dark-green bamboo plant triple its size sits five feet away). I was sick of hearing it so I mixed up a special concoction of Miracle Gro, green food coloring, and caffeine water to kick it back into shape. Even though it has some ways to go, I am now happy to announce that it is no longer a sad, yellow, drooping bamboo plant. It is now a moderately content, greenish-yellow bamboo plant with fronds that are actually standing firm (yeah!). Of course, people still walk by and tell me that it looks sickly, but I tell them it's getting better...

Someone asked why two bamboo plants flanked my desk. I told them that I was trying to lure and trap a panda. He asked if I had any luck. I told him no. He suggested that maybe the pandas weren't aware of the bamboo, so I put up a sign that read "Free Bamboo for Hungry Pandas." I didn't work. The only thing I caught was odd stares from my co-workers. That is, more odd stares than usual...

I get into the office early every morning before the majority of people show up for work. Every single day one or two of the early workers will complain that the office is way too cold and ask someone to turn up the thermostat. After lunch, the same people complain that the office is way too hot and stuffy. I have an idea: why don't we just leave the freakin' thermostat alone until the office fills up and the added radiant body heat makes up for the couple of degrees of coolness? By the time the temperature adjusts to the morning change, the office is full and the afternoon sun shines through the windows heating this place up naturally. There is no need to play with the controls, just set it and leave it alone. The way the temperature fluctuates around here, I think I'm hitting menopause or something.

Last football season, a bookkeeper friend of mine and I had a bet over who would win a professional football game between the Washington Redskins (his favorite team) and the Denver Broncos. The loser would have to buy the winner a coffee mug depicting the winning team. Well, up until about two days ago I had a beautiful black mug with a pewter Broncos logo on the front of it. However the Broncos logo fell off while I was rinsing it out the other day. I really hope this is not an omen of the season to come.

I was told once that an inventor was trying to invent the strongest adhesive ever but couldn't get the formula right. On one occasion, he was able to create an adhesive that was extremely strong up front, but would quickly degrade. Instead of throwing it out, he instead invented the Post-it note.

I don't know if that's true, but I do know that the mother of the Monkee's Michael Nesmith invented Liquid Paper...

Well, that's enough random thoughts for now. Sorry, no music review today. I am still lame with no new music to discuss. I've been looking, but so far the music fairy has come up empty. Hopefully I will have some new stuff soon.

Even in My Dreams My Words Get Blown Away

2006-07-31T15:48:00.000-06:00

Monday. Well, since last week was so mind-numbingly boring, I decided to come in this week with a fresh start and see if I can kick myself out of this funk that seems to be plaguing me ever since I returned to work from my surgery. You see, things have just been kind of dragging lately, and while I don't expect to derive immense pleasure from my job function, I would at least like to spend the day in at least some mild sort of bliss. Sure, work is lame, but this is the time I've got and I have to do the best I can with it, right? So, I decided I was going to turn things around and get back on the upswing.

Well, while today wasn't exactly a buzzing ball of excitement, it has been better than any day last week (at least so far...). I had a spreadsheet report to do this morning, and I had a couple of teleconferences to attend. Other than that I have been working on collections since the combination of me being out a week and a half and the customer changing business software systems a month ago has had a few negative effects on my receivables base. Nothing too crazy, but when you are used to continual positive progression, the slightest dip can be unnerving.

Speaking of dips, once again I am without new tunes to discuss. Don't get me wrong, I have a few artists/albums that I want to check out, but I have not yet been able to procure them. Trust me, though, I am working diligently to resolve this dilemma and hopefully I will have some new stuff soon. In the meantime, I pulled out Bossanova by the Pixies to listen to on the drive in. I know, I've talked about the Pixies like a bajillion times on this blog, but after a little hiatus I had to get my fix. These guys are just too darn cool. I like this album a lot, but I have one grievance with it. There is a noticeable lack of Kim Deal. Of course, this lack of an outlet is what led to her forming The Breeders, but still, couldn't Francis afford her at least one track? She doesn't even do backups on this album. What a waste.

Even though one does not get a Gigantic Deal when listening to this album, I enjoy it just the same. Dig For Fire is a great tribute to David Byrne and the Talking Heads' signature style, and Velouria and Allison are excellent tracks as well. If you are new to the Pixies you might want to go with Surfer Rosa or Doolittle first. If you already have those albums but not this one, then what are you thinking? Was your copy stolen or something? Round out your collection today!

Passengers on Different Cars Steppin’ off the Same Train; In the End Makin’ it Right’s the Main Aim

2006-07-28T15:33:00.000-06:00

Friday. Yeah! Well, another boring day to end an extremely boring week. There isn't much going on here at all today. I'm just trying to keep myself busy doing odds and ends and putting through whatever orders come in. Not exactly thrilling, but I guess it could be worse. At least it's Friday. I'm ready for this week to be over.

So, I was reading music reviews in The Onion AV Club the other day and I was ecstatic to see that Jurassic 5 was finally putting out a new album after a long hiatus. I've been waiting for this one because I am totally down with the J5. They are good stuff indeed. However, after reading the review I have to say I came away with three major reservations about this album:

First, Cut Chemist had no part in the production of this album because he is busy with his solo career. Actually, I already knew this because I read an article a few weeks back in which he discussed his solo career and his love for Star Wars (yeah!). So, that was disappointing. Second, Scott Storch produced a track on this album. For those who aren't familiar, Scott Storch has been the producer behind some of the biggest commercial pop hits recently. That's all nice and good I guess, but I don't listen to commercial pop music. One of the main reasons I love J5 is because they aren't commercial. Which is an excellent segue into reservation number three, which is that the Dave Matthews Band collaborated on one of the tracks on this album. The DMB?! Those guys are totally lame. I know they are super popular and all the ladies think Dave is hot, but really, to me they are to jam band music what, say, Good Charlotte is to punk. To paraphrase what the guy in the Onion said: this track will be sure to usher in a bunch of new fans for the J5, while pretty much alienating all of their old ones. Exactly.

I overcame all of this trepidation by reflecting back on how sweet the J5's old albums are. This one couldn't be that bad, could it? I gave Feedback a listen on the way into work to find out for myself. Admittedly I thought the album got off to a slow start. It was good, but it didn't compare to their older work. Then it started to pick up. I started getting into it. Even the DMB song wasn't too bad (not that I'm reversing my position on the DMB). It had a pretty catchy hook to it that was reminiscent of Action Satisfaction. As the album progressed, so did the overall quality, in my opinion. While (at least on the first listen) I don't think that Feedback can compare to the Jurassic Five's earlier releases, I can't deny that there are a few pretty good tracks on this album. I ended up fairly enjoying it. I recommend this album to any previous J5 fan looking to hear their new stuff. If you are new to the J5, though, check out Jurassic 5 or Power in Numbers first.

One Dimensional Fool in a Three Dimensional World

2006-07-27T15:38:00.000-06:00

Thursday. I've had better days at work. Not that today has been that awful, but there's enough going on to keep me teetering just at that perfect level of annoyance and frustration without going over. First off, the network response time today has been completely terrible. The slightest task I ask my computer to perform seems to take forever, as if I am asking it to devote every single system resource to join in to accomplish it. Now, this wouldn't be too bad, however, today is website upload day and I am trying to move information back and forth across a server 800 miles away. Something that usually takes me about 20 minutes to download took about 2 hours today. The compiling macro has been running for over an hour now. Uploading the database back to the pick-up site usually takes two hours in itself. At this rate, I might have to start it when I leave and hope that it is done by tomorrow morning...

On top of all of this, one of my customers issued a formal complaint against our company because of shoddy work and materials provided by one of the installation firms that we contracted out to perform their requested services. Even though none of the many issues are our fault directly, because we are the procurement firm that arranged the services, we are by default liable. The customer is ticked off, the installer refuses to acknowledge their complaints, and we are stuck in the middle. There is a very strong possibility of this going to court if we don't resolve it all by the 31st. Since the sales rep failed to secure a signed labor contract between the two parties, we pretty much have nothing to work with should it actually go to litigation. This situation has caught the attention of several of the high-ups, and I just finished a fun little teleconference with the sales rep, the customer service manager, the Big Boss Lady, and several other directors of sales, operations, etc. Let's just say no one is really happy about this development, and it only seems to be getting uglier. This could seriously jeopardize our relationship with this end user, and with over $700k in receivables on the books, we have to do the best we can to not lose them. I'm seriously crossing my fingers that this all works out. Otherwise I may be dealing with legal issues for the next two years. Yeah!

On a more positive note, I listened to the second half of Ben Harper's Both Sides of the Gun this morning and I totally dug it. The acoustic portion was all right, but these tunes were what I had been waiting for. I lamented yesterday that Mr. Harper's usual calls for radical change and cures for social injustice were all but absent on the first half of this album. I ended the post with my fingers crossed that they would appear on the second half, and I am very happy to say that I was not disappointed. Mr. Harper is back to his trademark self on tracks like Black Rain and Gather Around the Stone. This was the Ben Harper whose music I fell in love with long ago. I just had to be patient.

Although the B-side of Both Sides of the Gun is intended to be more rockin' than first and takes on more confrontational themes, these songs are not depressing or too heavy. In fact, the title track actually has a bit of a funky feel to it. Most of the other tracks are fairly upbeat as well, including Engraved Letter and the feel-good Better Way. I loved the second half of this album, and while the acoustical tracks are enjoyable, I am basing my recommendation on the strength of the second half alone. It's that good. I can't wait for the drive home so I can listen to it again...

Another Day, Another Chance to Get it Right; Must I Still be Learning?

2006-07-26T15:56:00.000-06:00

Wednesday. Another insanely boring day. Seriously, I am experiencing some major ennui over here. And you know what? I'm bored of ennui. I need some serious excitement around here, and not the type that slapping into a Slim Jim can provide. The highlight of my day was my account review with the Big Boss Lady. It could have gone better, I suppose. The combination of me being out for a week and a half on top of our customer converting to a brand new computer system less than a month ago has not had optimal effects on my account base. Luckily I had some irons in the fire already going that should shake some things loose, or this could have been much more ugly. So, needless to say I have to get crackin' on some collections in the next few weeks.

My sister and her family are in town and are planning to drop by the house tonight. They are currently on some kind of freewheelin' free spirit cross-country odyssey right now. They had no real plans; they just hopped in the van and went driving out west. They had only the barest agenda and are camping wherever they find camp. They are on the second week of their trip now, and I think we are the last stop before they head back home. I haven't seen my sister in over a year and a half, so it should be a pretty good time. I just feel bad for them because I know they wanted to go to Rocky Mountain National Park today and it just started to rain out. Hopefully they got out in time this morning to enjoy it before the rain started. It's funny because it doesn't really rain much in Colorado. We usually have clear blue sky from horizon to horizon all year long. It just seems to rain whenever we have guests in town visiting. It really is beautiful here, trust me...

Ok, so I finally got my iPod/iTunes/new Ben Harper issue all figured out. I converted the music files to the correct format last night, and now they play on my iPod just fine (though some would argue that the files lost quality during the shift). So, I am now finally able to give the first part of my two part discussion on Ben Harper's latest release Both Sides of the Gun.

For those out there unfamiliar with Ben Harper, it is pertinent that you familiarize yourself immediately. This guy is good. His style varies from time to time, but I think he is most often put into the "guy with an acoustic guitar" category. However, I don't think he would be in the "sensitive guy with an acoustic guitar" category. I would put him in the "guy with underlying anger with an acoustical guitar" category. That is, until I heard the first part of this album. You see, Both Sides of the Gun has been split into two parts: an acoustical part and a more rockin' part. Mr. Harper insists, though, that this is not a double album (even though it comes on two discs). He says to consider it as "side A" and "side B" of a record, although he says on his website that he often changes his mind on which side is which.

I started with the acoustical stuff since that is what was listed first on my playlist. While these tracks were very enjoyable (did I mention that Ben Harper is awesome?), gone were the angry, confrontational lyrics of his past. These seemed to be more intimate, like he was letting his guard down. Perhaps this is a softer side of Ben Harper. Maybe once I can contrast this half with the other, the whole will make more sense. I'm counting on you, Mr. Harper, to confront the injustices of the world on the second half of this album. I guess we'll see tomorrow...

Fate Isn’t What We’re Up Against; There’s No Design, No Flaws to Find

2006-07-25T15:08:00.000-06:00

Tuesday. Man, I am really dragging today. I woke up tired and I haven't been able to shake it even with the cumulative help of four cups of coffee. Not that there is much going on today here at work worth waking up for. I started out this morning doing my pre-upload spreadsheet for the receivables website because it requires little or no hard thinking to put it together. After that I have been mostly doing odds and ends, trying to clean up deductions and other discrepancies on my accounts. As I said, tons of fun to be had for sure. Zzzzzzzzz...

Sorry about the no-post yesterday. I had a bunch of stuff going on here at work due to our customer advising us that we have until September 30th to collect a certain kind of billing from them or we aren't getting paid for those items ever. Yes, they seriously told us that. I know, you are thinking "can they get away with that?" and while the legal answer seems a bit unclear, the customer is moving forward with this plan of action anyway. I can't say who this customer is, but let's just say that they are incredibly big and legal matters don't really concern them all that much. Seriously, who else could get away with this? If my company called up all of our vendors and told them, "hey, you got 2 months to collect all of our past dues or tough luck" we would be run out of business. Needless to say, the Big Boss Lady and all others involved pretty much freaked at this development and we had a bunch of action plan meetings to discuss how we were going to deal with this mess. It's going to be a tough two months. We have been trying to collect on some of this stuff for over 2 years. I don't know if two months' time is going to be enough to make it happen.

On top of that I admit I have just been lame lately. I don't know if it is a post-promotion/post-operative return-to-work slump or what, but my blogging has been a bit sub-par since I got back. For that I apologize. Unfortunately the lameness is going to have to continue for one more day, though. I was all prepared to have a two-part music discussion on Ben Harper's new double album, but when I went to play the first track on my iPod this morning all I got was silence. Apparently the tracks need to be converted to another format in order for them to play (this has happened to me before). So, mid-drive and on the fly I had to find another album to listen to or be stuck with Clear Channel-operated commercial radio (no!!!).

I ended up picking Chutes Too Narrow by the Shins. I'm pretty sure I've already discussed this one before, but it had been a long while since I've heard this album so I decided to give it another spin. I haven't been listening to this album because I have been focusing most of my Shins attention on their Oh! Inverted World album instead. Oh! Inverted World has New Slang on it, which you might have heard featured in the movie Garden State. Anyway, Chutes Too Narrow shouldn't be overshadowed by its sibling because it is pretty darn good in its own right. It is a bit more dynamic than OIW, with songs breaking out of the mellow transcendental mood so predominant on that album. It still sounds like The Shins, though, so if you aren't hip to their sound you might want to skip this one. If you do dig The Shins, then by all means run out and get this album. I think it's pretty darn good. Recommended tracks: So Says I, Turn a Square and Saint Simon.

Inconceivable, Unbelievable, Grammar Like a Hammer Information Receivable

2006-07-21T15:03:00.000-06:00

Friday. Man is this day ever dragging. Seriously, if time were going any slower it would be yesterday. I have work to do, but it is all long and monotonous spreadsheet work so it really isn't making the time go by any more quickly. I am so bored right now I am randomly Googling things just to see what comes up. I tried Googling my own name. That sounds incredibly egotistical, but I already knew ahead of time that it wouldn't bring anything up related to me, so I was just curious to see what other "Johns" are out there. Unfortunately this exercise can be fairly depressing as I read about university professors, software engineers, professional animators, musicians, old famous bishops, town founders, and all kinds of other exciting lives and professions that my doppelgangers are enjoying. Me? I'm virtually non-existent, not even a quick blip in the local paper to be found. Forget working on the perfect epitaph. I need to work on the perfect web entry...

I had planned on having some new tunes to discuss today, but due to technical difficulties unfortunately that did not happen. It is Friday, though, so I had to come up with something upbeat as a replacement. I have to get my Friday started off right, ya know. So, I dug deep and pulled out an old Run-DMC mix that I made up a while back. I figured if I couldn't do new music, I should perhaps go in the other direction and kick it old school. Man, was listening to these tunes fun. These songs still hold up even 20 years later. It's kind of funny to me, though, that rappers like Run-DMC and Kool Moe Dee were considered "hard" back in the day, but aren't even close to what is played on regular top-40 radio nowadays. Not that it stopped me from listening to them. Raising Hell was huge when it came out. I don't think there was a fifth-grader at my school who couldn't recite every word of You Be Illin'. I also think that Walk this Way single-handedly led to Aerosmith's resurgence. They were pretty much written off at that point in time, then Wham! Walk this Way comes out and next thing you know Permanent Vacation is topping the charts the following year. And what about the Beasties? There would be no Beastie Boys without Run-DMC and Def Jam Records.

Of course all of this prop-giving is unnecessary since Run-DMC's place in music history is pretty well solidified. They were the bridge that took rap from the underground to the mainstream. The beats were good and the lyrics were positive. As I said before, I had a ton of fun jamming out to these tracks first thing in the morning and that's all that I can ask for on a long Friday morning commute.

The Tune You’ll Be Humming Forever, All the Words are Replaced and Wrong; With a Shower of Yeahs and Whatevers, You Trade Me Away Long Gone

2006-07-19T16:04:00.000-06:00

Wednesday. Well, back to the boredom. I've kept busy, but not the exciting kind of busy. More like the busywork kind of busy. To be exact, the "let's stare at an Excel spreadsheet screen all day compiling line item reports" kind of busywork. So, I guess being busy isn't always a cure for boredom, but it is helping pass the time I guess. Other than that, not too much going on as far as work goes.

During my time off I tried to discover some new tunes through my usual combination of searching Live Plasma for bands similar to the ones I already know and then sampling their songs on Amazon. I was typing in some band, probably Modest Mouse or Built to Spill or something, and it came up with a band called the New Pornographers. I don't know exactly what happened to the old ones (perhaps overtaken with the onset of digital media vs. video tape), but these were the new ones and I decided to check them out. Unfortunately, Amazon did not have any song snippets to sample. The reviews seemed favorable, and described music I liked, but I have been burned by this before. Someone says that some album is the greatest of all time and it sounds like this and that group, but when I actually hear the tunes they are nothing at all like the reviewer made it out to be (probably a lot like your respective reactions after hearing the music I discuss on this blog...). But, I decided I was going to take a chance on this one so I asked the music fairy to help me out and sure enough three albums appeared on my hard drive shortly after.

I had no idea who these guys were, so I decided to try to find some background info on this group. At this time, I would like to say that one should be VERY careful when researching a band named "The New Pornographers" when sitting at a work computer. If my post tomorrow regards my immediate dismissal, well, let's just say you'll know why. Anyway, it appears that the NP are similar to Broken Social Scene in the fact that the band is actually made up of people who are from other bands. The NP are also from Canada as well. What is the deal? I guess all of the coolest indy super-groups are coming out of Canada these days.

I didn't know which album to start with, so I went with Mass Romantic. I took a risk on this one and it paid off. I had no idea what to expect, but I ended up really enjoying this album. These guys are pretty cool. I don't really know how to describe them, though. They for sure don't sound like Modest Mouse or Built to Spill if that is what Live Plasma connected them to. They are more like over-the-top indy pop or something. Every single song is upbeat. There are no downers on this one. Even the depressingly titled My Slow Descent into Alcoholism is presented in a smiley-faced manner. My only complaint was that my copy of this album either had some pretty bad skips in it, or this was some of the roughest sound editing I've ever come across. I'm guessing it was the former, though.

I really liked these guys. Despite their name, Mass Romantic wasn't raunchy, obscene or misogynistic in any way that I noticed. Of course, for some of you that may be a disappointment, but I'm going to recommend this album anyway. I really liked it and I am excited to hear more of what this band has to offer.

Oh, You Call that Drivin’? Then See Us Dream; How Could it Last? I’m Tryin’ Hard Not to Scream

2006-07-18T15:53:00.000-06:00

Tuesday. I don't know what was going on this morning, but for some reason the branch kept getting intermittently disconnected from every kind of communication tool. We were losing our phone connection, our server connection, internet, email and pretty much everything else necessary to do any actual work around here. So I spent the morning trying to find things to file and stuff since there wasn't much else to do. Once things clicked back on, however, I was super busy not only trying to catch up on the hours lost due to the outage, but I am also still trying to get caught up from being out. Luckily most of the stuff that I had to do involved spreadsheet reports, so I am just kicking them out like crazy.

Ok, as promised, a discussion of the New York Dolls. No, the NY Dolls are not a lesser-known sports team from the Big Apple. They are a rock band from the early/mid 1970's who pretty much ushered in the punk movement heard later in that decade. Much like the Velvet Underground, this band is probably more famous from the success of those they influenced than any success that they actually realized as a band. It is amazing when listening to New York Dolls to hear how much the Sex Pistols borrowed from their sound when leading the punk charge several years later. I can also hear a bit of New York Dolls in the Misfits. That being said, I wouldn't consider the New York Dolls full-out "punk." Then again, they're not exactly hard rock, either. They are a lot of fun to listen to, though. Don't expect to hear any deeply profound lyrics or hear any intricately complex guitar chords. Expect to rock out while cruising down the interstate with a big smile on your face.

Thanks Kat for the recommendation (hey, did you know that bassist Arthur Kane was a Mormon? His conversion is detailed in this documentary: New York Doll). I am forwarding along this recommendation to anyone else who is interested in the roots of the late 70's punk movement and/or just likes to completely rock out to some fun tunes.