Fantasy

As most of my friend's know, I am seriously into reading fantasy novels. Among my favorites are "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind, "The Wheel of Time Series" by Robert Jordan, and most recently the "Mistborn Trilogy" by Brandon Sanderson. Why mention this? Simply put, I want to share some random thoughts about the a fore mentioned books. If you're not a fan of these books you might want to skip to the next post to avoid being bored.

"Wizard's First Rule" is actually the first book in a long series called "The Sword of Truth". Unfortunately, the series as a whole gets relatively repetitive with the author's themes being so closely related between books. He gets on his soap box and never dismounts leaving us to have to skip several pages (sometimes chapters) in numerous places in each book simply to avoid having to read the same thing over and over again. However, if your looking for a good book that stands on its own, "Wizard's First Rule" does exactly that. The rest of the series is good, but not worth wading through the muddy swamp of opinion the author lays out for you.

I mention this because they have recently turned the first book in to a TV series called "Legend of the Seeker". I always have reservations when it comes to putting the written word of fantasy into a movie/TV form. Sometimes it can be done mostly right ("Lord of the Rings") and sometimes can be done not so well ("The Golden Compass"). So far they have only aired 7 episodes. Of course since I don't watch TV anymore because of the commercials I watched them at www.hulu.com (I think all 7 episodes are still up). My first impression is that they made a terrible mistake in casting the character of Zedd. For one thing he is way too tall. For another, he doesn't speak with the same inflection in his voice as he does in the books. And his accent doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, Kahlan is a perfect match! She is poised and confident and lonely as in the books. I only wish her hair were a little longer. I'm a little distressed that they did away with the cultural reference of the length of your hair being a symbol of your the level of your station in the Midlands. It was one of the many details that made the world so unique. As far as Richard is concerned, I'm on the fence. At times I am convinced but then the actor makes some bad choices and shows you how truly green he is as an actor proving he is a little too inexperienced to handle such an important role. Who knows, if the series is allowed to hang on for a little longer he might grow into the role. Although, I'm not hooked on the show, I am curious to see if they get a large enough fan base to keep it going. http://www.legendoftheseeker.com/

"The Wheel of Time" series has been and probably always will be my favorite series of books. They are the books that I discovered the joy of reading and the joy of exploring a new world. I hope no one EVER puts these books onto any kind of screen. It belongs in the imagination of the reader. Since Robert Jordan passed away in September of 2007, the completion of the series has been passed on to the little known writer Brandon Sanderson. Seeing how he was chosen to complete my favorite series ever, I decided to try out his books. "Elantris" and the "Mistborn" series are the most well know of his bare handful of published books. I won't talk about them individually but I thought it might be prudent to mention a few things about his last released novel the final volume of the Mistborn series "Hero of Ages." There are two things I'd like to say. The first is that when I finished the book, initially I was a little upset by the ending. That is, until I realized it couldn't really end in any other way. It was the right ending for the story. The other thing I wanted to mention was how impressed I was by the linear thought patterns of the characters. Each character figures out what they need to figure without it needing to be a stretch or a too obvious. One epiphany led to the next in a very logical manner. This is not easy to do folks! I certainly have read my fair share of books that did not have believable thought processes in its characters. (The most obvious of which was Grand Admiral Thrawn in the only Star Wars Trilogy worth reading by Timothy Zahn.) I can't wait until the last Wheel of Time book is published next year. I have a feeling I will be taking two days off of work to read it. :)

School and the Christmas Season

I don't even want to know when the last "real" post is dated. I've actually secretly been avoiding writing anything because of the massive amounts of things that I've thought about putting up but haven't done. With school now a week behind me, I guess my batteries have recharged enough to make some mention as to what has been happening in my everyday events. That being said, I will separate the topics into different posts since if I did every thing in one post you all would get bored.

Every year I hear people around me complain when people put up their Christmas decorations mid-way through November. People claim that it is too early and that Thanksgiving gets buried in the enormous corporate puppet show we call Christmas. But for me, Christmas is a week long activity that seems to go by way too fast. Why do I say this? Because I am so busy from mid-November to the end of finals doing semester projects (and Senior Design) and studying for finals and trying not to make "To-Do" lists to keep myself sane and responsible at the same time that I completely loose track of what time of year it is. It could be mid-July outside with beautiful weather and a tropical breeze in Colorado and I still wouldn't notice! So when school ends abruptly every semester I can't go even one day without becoming incredibly bored since every minute of my life for the last two months has been planned and active. The sudden existence of free-time is more than my brain can handle and it compensates by sleeping for 10 hours a day fro the next week. But back to my point, I'm so busy with school that purposely forget that its Christmas until the end of my last final in order to keep focused. This year my last final happened to be exactly one week before Christmas. Therefore, my Christmas season only lasted one week. I only got to enjoy my mini Christmas tree for two days before I left to travel home for Christmas. (I'll post pictures when I get back to Boulder since I forgot my cord to plug in my camera) All of my shopping had to be done in one week and I had to soak in the "Christmas Spirit" in no time. I guess you could call it Christmas on steroids. So when I hear people around me complain that the Christmas season is too long, I'm a little jealous that they have the time to notice.

Speaking of semester projects, one of my professors insisted on creating a webpage as the method of turning in our project. The address for this project if your bored (and since you're taking the time to read my blog thats a given :) )is:
http://ccar.colorado.edu/asen5050/projects/projects_2008/ogilvie_project/index.htm

As stated before, I'm participating in a Senior Design project this year. Our website is:
http://arcticproject.org/default.aspx

Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights

RULES:
1. Post rules on your Blog.
2. Answer the six "8" items.
3. Tag 8 other people. (this one I'm ignoring, as always.. feel free to participate if your it's your little heart's desire) :)

8 FAVORITE SHOWS: (in no particular order)
1. Journeyman
2. SG1
3. Firefly
4. Farscape
6. Heroes
7. House
8. Tru Calling

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. Rode the bus
2. Did a presentation on the Trident Missile in Naval Weapons
3. Finished a composite lay-up for Senior Design
4. Practiced our CDR presentation with ARCTIC for our presentation on Tuesday
5. Sat through a bunch of presentations in Materials class
6. Finished reading "Mistborn 3: The Hero of Ages"
7. Went to Target for some Khaki's
8. Watched the movie "Hancock" (and almost cried)

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Sleeping
2. Graduating
3. Getting a job
4. Meeting my new nephew/niece to-be
5. Seeing the Savior
6. Winter Break
7. Summer
8. Getting married (someday)

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Chipotle
2. Panda Express
3. Daphne's
4. Einstein's Bagels
5. Noodles and Company
6. Sol Azteca
7. Il Vicino
8. La Baguette

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. More time to do all the stuff I want to do!
2. A laptop with Finale Allegro, MATLAB, Solidworks, and Mathematica
3. A job
4. A Waffle Iron
5. A better wardrobe (goes hand-and-hand with a job)
6. My own apartment
7. Milk (I need to go to the store)
8. A new(ish) car

8 THINGS ON MY DESK THAT DON'T BELONG (only 8?)
1. My deodorant
2. My face lotion
3. My bike chain lubricant
4. A bicycle lock
5. 3-lbs weights
6. A pile of blank thank you cards
7. My netflix movie
8. Sunscreen

Adjusting to Roommates

For the last 3 months I have been living on my own in a two bedroom apartment. It wasn't really planned. The original plan was to move-in and find a roommate within a month. Unfortunately, things don't always work out the way you plan. After much tribulation and prayer, I was finally able to find a roommate only to have her move- out two weeks later without telling me when I was gone for 1.5 hours one Saturday morning. You might ask me if she signed the lease and the short answer is, no, because the landlord happened to be out of town those two weeks. There was no reason to suspect she would do this. She passed a credit check, moved all her stuff in and even painted her room!

I have since found another roommate and she has now moved-in and been here almost a week. She is warm and friendly and I find myself enjoying her company. She a hard worker and seems to have goals for her life's accomplishments. However,I find myself having difficulties adjusting to having someone else being around.

Here is a list of things that I have noticed since she has been here.
1) we wanna shower about the same time in the morning, forcing one of us have a cold shower...
2) she used my favorite bowl fresh out of the dishwasher when I usually wait to use it til its the last clean bowl left
3) she likes to sleep with the heat at 72 when I'm accustomed to turning it down to 65 to prevent my night outbreaks of sweat
4) she locks the front door knob when I usually just lock the dead-bolt (mostly because they unlock with two different keys and I'm lazy)
5) she enjoys watching TV... a lot

Ok, I admit it. I'm being neurotic. And a control freak. And overly observant. But you gotta cut me some slack. By living by myself for 3 months I have developed a sort of OCD. I've come to expect things to stay where I put them and know that all the lights are turned out when they are not being used and know exactly how much trash is in the kitchen trash-can, and so on. What's surprising, is that when I was first living by myself I didn't like it. It was too quiet and lonely. In fact, I would purposely hang out longer than usual at activities just so I didn't have to go home to a quiet house. I'm not sure when that changed.

Like I said, I do enjoy the company when I'm home. And I'm sure there are some things about me that she finds unusual. That being said, I'm just going to have to adapt back to roommate mode. And I can do it, but that doesn't mean I can't look forward to the day when I can afford to live by myself again.

NOAA Tower

I try and keep this blog more focused on my personal thoughts on life and what I've been doing with my spare time. However, I was able to do something so fun associated with school that I felt like it deserved a little blurb.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration happens to have one of their central offices here in Boulder. As part of that, they have a 300 meter tall instrumentation tower located about 30-40 minutes from here. (For those of you stuck in English units its about 1000 ft.) Part of my senior design project has to do with dropping deployable sensor packages from an unmanned aerial vehicle in the Arctic. Needless to say, we have to test said sensor packages (sondes) before sending them off to the most pristine environment on Earth. So, we got to drop things off a 300 m tower. :) If you're interested in seeing the footage you can check out one of the videos on youtube.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eleNomImeWw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPpysHKlkKI

It was a little intimidating at first. The first day we wen't it was freezing and so windy we couldn't go to the top! And the second day we went it was 75-80 outside and one of the most beatiful days you could have asked for. I guess that's Colorado for you.


Ryan and I at the top of the tower. There's not much room to move around.


A look down the center of the tower from the very top. Seriously, it disappears into nowhere!


A view of the upper half of the tower from the parking lot. It was impossible to get the whole thing in one shot.

Ahhh... much better

Although it is white and boring, I can now enter into my room and feel at home. Plus this saves me from having to paint it back when I move out next summer. And this white is so white I feel like its not a normal color.

Unfortunately, I have no Halloween pics to share. Meaning, I did not dress up even though I had a great idea. I was kinda bummed about it but I'll just be sure to share it next year.

This morning I went running. I have decided to try and improve my run time. And since running regularly isn't doing it for me, I decided to try some some sprints. I don't think I've run sprints since I was a kid!! I forgot how incredibly draining they are.

Just a quick note before I sign off. My friend who was in Iraq is now safely back in Germany where she is stationed. Many prayers of gratitude are in order.

Paint colors

So I stayed up really late last night painting two walls in my room blue. The intention was to get rid of the ugly salmon color that my room has been since I moved in last September. Both colors can be seen in the photo. Unfortunately, I don't like the blue...

So now I have a room that I don't like at all and I'm out the $25 that I spent for the new paint. Maybe I should just paint the whole room white to avoid another color I don't like...

Graduate School or "Real World"???

Life decisions are tough. Is it already almost 2009? Where did the time go???

Graduate School - Pros
- I know school and its an easy "next step"
- Increases my chances of getting a job at JPL (if the degree is in Aerospace)
- Will ensure job security in the future (assuming government stability)
- Would have more $$$ in the future than would be available now with a BS
- Stay in Colorado next to my mountains :)
- Learn more stuff
- Get to teach and TA classes
- Live the schedule of a student instead of a 9-5 job

"Real World" - Pros
- $$$$$ now!
- Change of lifestyle with new life experiences
- Possibly move across the country
- Meet new people!
- I would be able to get a dog!
- Be financially independent
- Help my siblings through college
- Have more free time to pursue hobbies
- Don't have to take the GRE

Any suggestions, anyone?

Career Fairs

I'm going to take a moment to vent...

You get up in early in the morning to dress all fancy. You put make-up on, you walk around all day in heels and you take 30 minutes away from you study time to check and recheck your resume. You then decide skip your favorite class (in my case, ballet) so that you have enough time to make it to all the company booths that you are interested in. Then when you get there, you say the same 30 sec intro of yourself a gazillion times and start to hand them your resume only to have them say "We don't want your resume. Please go online and submit it into our system." Grrrrrrr....

What a waste of time!!! Not only our time but theirs as well! There should be some kind of law that prevents people from wasting others time. All that time I spent preparing my speeches, looking nice, and taking twice as long to get places because of the the dumb heels would have been better spentin front of my computer online in my p.j.'s submitting resume after resume with the same end result.

I'm done.

As predicted...

As predicted, school life has left me no choice but to become incredibly lax in updating my blog. In lieu of this, I will update a little of what has been happening in recent days.

I am now on a senior project called ARCTIC (Arctic Region Climate Tracking and Intrumentation Cargo). It is a mission to collect climate data in the arctic at Earth-fixed locations using an UAV for climate modelers trying to better understand the role the Arctic Climate has in global climate changes. Our website is located at: http://arcticproject.org/default.aspx

I also have joined a team that is writing a proposal to NASA to allow us flight on the "vomit comit" to do an experiment with a wilberforce pendulum. Wish us luck.

I am playing in the Boulder Chamber Orchestra and the Longmont Symphony this season. The first concert of the season is this weekend!

By the way, it is now my opinion that God made the days too short. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done. But I guess he knows what he's doing...

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

This is a show/musical that Joss Whedon produced during the writer's strike just to prove that it was still possible to create good entertainment without the big name companies. Enjoy! (Run time is 42 min and 26 sec)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog


As a side note, Joss Whedon's new TV Series "Dollhouse" begins to air in January 2009 with Eliza Dushku (Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as the main character, Echo. It will show Mondays at 8PM on FOX (believe it or not, Joss forgave them for Firefly)

The Joys of House Sitting

Isn't it incredible that the tiniest particles that are contained within a cats fur can cause such discomfort in some of us? It seems so unfair that some people are completely immune to the ways the feline species have evolved simply to torture our poor bi-ped species. I'm inside and sick as a ...well, a dog... and then I step outside and everything is fine. Amazing! I've lived with cats in the past but it seems that I have to develop an immunity them over the course of a few months before I can breathe easily. But if I house-sit for only a few days, I have to resign myself to the fact that I'm going to miserable with itchy eyes and a stuffy nose for however long I have to be there.

Ah! The joys of being homeless.

Passing the time

I was bored so I filled this out...

Four places I've lived
1. Colorado Springs, CO
2. Boulder, CO
3. Hancock, Maine
4. Glenwood Springs, CO

Four favorite books
1. Wheel of Time Series - Robert Jordan
2. Mistborn (the first book only)- Brandon Sanderson
3. Enchantment - OSC
4. Ender's Game - OSC

Four Favorite Movies
(these are just some that popped into my mind... I don't really have "favorite" movies)
1. Princess Bride - You really can’t argue with the classics
2. Serenity
3. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (I know, its tacky but, hey!, I won't judge yours if you don't judge mine)
4. Return of the Jedi

Four embarrassing facts about me
1. I can't do arithmetic without a calculator but I can do vector calculus.
2. I can't focus on a conversation in a group setting so I always end up embarrassing myself when I say something completely unrelated to the topic on hand. Of course, in my mind it was right on cue with everything around me. :) Mostly it's just cause I can't focus for any length of time.
3. I tend to be lazy if someone doesn't give me anything to do. My self-motivation starts lacking when I think no one is watching.
4. I feel like I've fallen behind in life. So much so that I've been lapped several times by my friends. Of course, going back to school didn't really help with that...

Four dreams of mine
1. Be part of an interplanetary mission of some sort to advance mankind's understanding of the universe.
2. I want to be a great mother. Not OK, or sufficient, but great! Fantastic! Outstanding! I want my kids to be strong and independent and able to make the world a better place for everyone around them.
3. I want to make my Heavenly Father proud.
4. Finding a husband who is my best friend, is motivated, loves to travel, likes the outdoors, is practical, loves to laugh and who embraces my weird sci-fi/fantasy side.

Four pet Peeves
1. The dumb buttons on the front of a device such as a DVD player that require more force to push then than it does to push the whole device across the table. Seriously! Its a simple calculation that gets ignored by those dumb mechanical/electrical engineers.
2. People who don't even try to become self-sufficient and who think that the world owes them something. Whether they leech off their families, or their friends, or the government, these people should be locked up in a community of their own for some kind of social experiment and never let out again.
3. The crazy drivers that own the fancy cars that go from 0 to 60 mph in some unspeakable time and think that they have more of a right to be on the roads than me and my car that will get to 60 in about 2 minutes. The worst is when you're driving over mountain passes and they honk at you to go faster when you're just praying to reach the top.
4. Obesity. Seriously! How hard is it to not take seconds at dessert, eat veggies and run around the block everyday! Have a little respect for yourself, please!

Four things that make me really happy
1. A productive day. Sure its nice to kick back once in a while, but its also very fulfilling to come home and know that the world just got a little better because of me.
2. Playing in a symphony. Never in my whole life have I found something that requires more team work and coordination than creating music with 50 other musicians. Its an unbelievable feeling.
3. People who are naturally witty. They make me smile. :)
4. If I had a dog, he/she would be listed here. There's nothing sweeter than the pure love of a pet. I saw a bumper sticker once that said "I long to be the person my dog thinks I am." I second that quote. When I graduate I will get a dog and I will love it unconditionally.

Catchin' up!

Ugh! The idea of trying to catch up with all that's happened is daunting. I'll try to keep it in a chronological order but no promises! As I sit here and type I can only hope that Elgar's Cello Concerto outlasts my typing...

I headed down to Boulder a few weeks ago and behold! Skeeter (my car) flipped over to over 200,000.0 miles. Pretty cool, eh?



While I was in Boulder, I found an apartment!! (Feel free to cheer here!) It's in the same area as I've been living in for the last two years but its a different building and its a two bedroom instead of a three. I'm currently on the hunt for a roommate. Its considerably less stressful then trying to find a place to live. The only drawback is that the lease doesn't start 'til the First so I'm going to be homeless for the first week of school.

(Speaking of school, it starts in less than a week. I can't wait simply because I can't wait to be done and graduated. Wish me luck!)

I was also lucky enough on my trip down to say goodbye to a dear friend, Angela, who has now moved to Houston to get a doctorate degree in Environmental Engineering. I hope she's doing well. Which reminds me, (and only I know how :) ) that I got contacts for the first time in late July.


One other note about my trip to Boulder. Lindy and I went to lunch at this restaurant called Bimbamboo on Pearl and it was fantastic! You make an effort to go if your in the area.

On the 9th of August, I went to the Glenwood Caverns (Fairy caves) with my roommate Ope. While we were taking timed photos with the sites as our background, my camera decided to commit suicide off of the table I placed it on. Therefore, I will be saving my money to buy a new one (assuming I can't fix it with some nitrogen and IPA). So the pictures you see here might be the last ones for a while.

As far as the actual caverns go, I was not terribly impressed with the caves UNTIL the very end. Of course they would save the best for last in interest of good tourist business, but nevertheless, I was impressed. Some of the pictures below were taken with Ope's camera phone...







At my house in Glenwood Springs there was an apricot tree full of fruit. So I decided that I'd try my hand at canning and see if I was any good at it. I picked enough fruit to fill 7 quart-sized jars. As I was canning, I ran out of syrup so I had to take the time to make more. Of course this was just enough time to let two of the jars cool down enough so that when I put them in the boiling water, they broke. So I ended up with 5 jars of apricots and an experimental apricot pie I threw together with no recipe. The pie was actually quite good! Even though I think I could have put a little more sugar in it.

So of course with the end of the summer comes the end of my experience at Fiberforge. I had a good experience and I'm glad I did it. However, I'm just as happy to be going back to school and finishing it up. I'll miss some of the people but not some of the things they had me doing.

I have now moved out of my $700,000 mansion in the mountains but not a day too late! The ceiling in the living room collapsed during my last night there. All of the insulation everywhere made quite a mess and at that particular time, I was glad that I didn't own the place. On the other hand, it was nice because I got to spend some time with the landlords, whom are quite nice, and share my apricot pie. I wish them all the best!

Something I'm looking forward to this year is being a seasonal sub in the Longmont Symphony. They've got a great season lined up and I'm excited.
http://longmontsymphony.org/FramesHtml/SeasonSchedulepg1.html

I will also be playing in the Boulder Chamber orchestra again this year. The season isn't quite as exciting but its string music which has its own level of class. I rather enjoy not having the brass and the percussion threatening to deafen me further.
http://boulderchamberorchestra.com/concerts.html

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this catches me up. Hope all is well and happy with all of you!

The Nightmare Before School Starts

I need an apartment.

And there's no easy fix to that. All the places I have found are either A) girl households who are lesbians or 420 friendly (marijuana for you non-Boulderites) or B) guy households with no problems except they are guys or C) too far from campus.

So here are my options.
1) Live a cheap life in a good place with guy roommates (that I know and trust from school)
2) Get a one bedroom apt which would be twice as expensive when you factor in utility costs
3) Commute to school and spend time and money every day to get to and from school.
3) Live under a bridge (which I don't fancy in the winter time)
4) Live at school (since I spend most of my time there already...and there are showers)
5) Forget school altogether

It just so happens that I will not be taking George (long story). I thought that it would make finding a place more simple. But that's not the case. I still am homeless. And time refuses to obey my commands to stop until I've found something.

So if you hear of anything in Boulder. Please let me know.

Birthdays

My birthday isn't for another 2 days but I've been telling people my new age almost a month now. It seems my mind thinks it turned 25 as soon as the Forth of July has passed. Or maybe its just that July is my birthday month and therefore I turn 25 as soon as we enter into its paradisical haven every year. After all, native americans and whomever else who didn't have advanced Astronomy throughout history labeled themselved by seasons. So I could say I'm 25 winters old (or summers since I like them better). Afterall, what do a couple dozen days really account for, right?

Finding an apartment is turning out to be a nightmare. I'll be adopting George this year--an old roommates dog-- in order to prevent him from disappearing in a pound. So the challenge lies in trying to find a place that welcomes both of us. The idea of being homeless in a little over 2 weeks is not a pleasant thought. It adds incentive.

NOTE: 285 days until graduation...

lions and tigers and BEARS...

I hiked Red Mountain yesterday which is the mountain right behind my house. When I got to the top a couple things happened. I found a bunch of people jumping off the mountain... with parachutes of course. I stood around wishing I had lots of money but of course I don't so I had to walk down the mountain on my own two feet.

But before I did, I decided to explore the nearby road and see where it would lead. As I was walking I came across a cell phone tower, so I decided it would be a good time to call my dad and check in and see how the 'fam' was doing. After I had walked and talked for about a half mile I turned a corner and there on the side of the road was a mother bear and her two cubs not 150 ft in front of me!!!! I was stunned and blurted out to my dad, "Oh my gosh! There's a bear!" Thankfully, as soon as she saw me and I saw her she turned ran the other way with her cute little bear cubs hopping after her. I suddenly decided that it was the perfect time to turn around. Now the kicker... I had been carrying my camera in my hand the whole way up. But when I decided to call my dad, I put it in my pack. Therefore, I have no pictures to share with you. I'm bummed, but I'm still really happy that I saw them. :)



I also had family visit me on their way from Blanding to Colorado Springs. My brother-in-law Kelly, his parents, his niece and my two little nephews stopped by. It was fun to see them.

Yesterday's adventure

I went up to Hanging Lake yesterday. It is one of the steepest mile hikes I've ever done. It was well worth it though. It was quite gorgeous. I never knew there was crystal green water in Colorado. I thought that it existed only on tropical beaches. But sure enough, you can see every pebble and fish in the lake -- pond. The lake (or surrounding area) produces travertine. I guess its made when calcite deposits from limestone formations dissolve in water. Its a common building material. You can learn more about it on Wikipedia.

While I was there, a few crazy people who cliff dove off the waterfalls. I would've done it myself but the thought of walking back in wet clothes deterred me. If anyone ever feels like coming to visit, this would be a great morning activity.

Here are some pictures of the hike...

As promised...

Hello All!

In this post I have included pictures from my trips through Glenwood Canyon, my rafting trip and my quick trip to Aspen. Read on for more!

Behold! Pics from the rafting trip I went on my first weekend here in Glenwood Springs. It can't really be called rafting because it was really a morning of floating down a river with maybe one or two decent rapids. However, the trip was totally fun because the wildlife was incredible! We had a bald eagle and a blue swallow and so deer and elk all showing off for us. The pictures didn't turn out due to there being water on the lens but I've included some good ones.

The first pic is of Mt. Sopris that stands at 12,965 ft. Although, its not a "Fourteener" it has its own
claim to fame. It rises 6,000 ft in under 3 miles making it one of the most impressive vertical climbs in the country. It is also a double peak where each summit is at exactly the same elevation. Also, although unconfirmed, it is the most dense mountain in Colorado.

The second picture is a group photo of the crew, I can't remember all of their names anymore, however, my co-worker is the second one on the right. Her husband is behind the camera.










This pic is of the minor rapids we went through. One thing I will say is that the water was FREEZING!!!!! Straight from snow and/or glaciers it was at about 38 degrees Fahrenheit.










The last photo is a shot f the bald eagle that showed off for us. 'nough said.













Here I have included pictures from my bike "trip" through Glenwood Canyon. Unfortunately, they closed the bike path half way through the canyon (at Shoshone) because the Colorado River was running too high. I was really bummed cause I had been looking forward to it all week and I also had gotten up early on a Saturday morning to beat the heat. Oh well, as you can see the 9 miles I got in (round trip) were worth it. Most of these pics are just pretty and no explanation is needed

This pic is of the entrance to the canyon. However, by this point I as all ready a good 3-5 miles out of Glenwood Springs.




















































I also decided last Tuesday to take a trip down to Aspen to attend the Double Bass Master Class at the Aspen Music festival. It brought out this incredible desire to play my bass. Unfortunately, I left my Henri at my sister's house for safe-keeping during the summer since I had no idea what my living situation would be... and I had no room in my car.

Half way through the class I was completely surprised to see Edgar Meyer walk into the room. I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but everyone was taking it as an everyday occurance. So, not wanting to stick out, I covered my shock. Turns out he teaches there. Once I got past the initial shock I remembered hearing somewhere that he spent his summers in Aspen... It makes sense. Anyway, here is a pic of him (candidly taken, I might add) . He's the one closest to the door. For those of you who done know he is, he's the world's greatest (at least most famous) bass player.

These other pics I just took of some of the students who played. I liked the "uniqueness" of this guy's bass. But it sounded too much like a cello for my taste.










This guy was incredible. I wish I could play like him...












I'd like to go more often (they have a class every Tuesday) but the hour drive both ways kinda makes me hesitant. Plus, it'll just make me miss my bass all that much more.

Thanks for reading!

Car Insurance

Is there some kind of magical wisdom that is bestowed upon drivers when they reach 25 years of age? Why else would my car insurance be reduced by over 50%? One must be given some kind of sixth sense as that internal clock ticks closer to the title of "old maid."

Though the timing might just be extremely lucky. Perhaps its actually some kind of compensation for gas being $4.38. The insurance companies might be thinking that we Americans will stop to use our cars if insurance goes up too. (yea right!) But just to be clear...I'm not complaining. Less money in their pocket is more money in mine, right?

In any case, if there is some kind of almighty knowledge given to those of the ripe age of a quarter century, then by all means, bring it on! I can't wait to see what else 25 will bring!


~ 314 days until I graduate!~

Take a moment...

Could I ask a favor?

Please pray for our soldiers in Iraq and their families.

Thank you!

Pictures...as promised!

You know the saying "A Picture is worth a thousand words?" Well, get ready for a novel...

Water World - 21 June 2008

A fun trip with (back) Evan, me, Heather, Kyle, (front) Shannon, Bill Tandy, Abbey, Alayne, and Lindy.






House in Glenwood Springs
Here's a couple pics of my mansion in Glenwood Springs (rent free!! Thanks to the company I'm working for) It's a $699,000 house! Plus a pic of Mt. Sopris that watches over Glenwood Springs... and some hiking pics where you can see all the way from Aspen Snowmass to Mt. Sopris.








(please forgive me not stitching this together)


Estes Park
Some neat photos I took in mid-May in RMNP. Farin invited me to her boyfriend's sister's husband's family reunion. ( I'm a little amazed I still remember that brain twister!) And yes, I was hiking in my pj's. I missed judged the weather and brought only shorts.







Rafting Photos ...
...will be coming. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to pull them off my computer at work. My co-worker was the one who took them. But that trip was incredible not for the rapids (which were rather dull) but for the wild life we saw. A bald eagle decided to give us one heck of a show. There were others that showed off too but I don't reacll they're names... Blue sparrow...swallow??? It was too big for a sparrow.... Oh well, I guess someone will tell me what is is when I post the pics.

And one more thing!
I just wanna add a quick CONGRATULATIONS to my friend and avid reader misskate211 who recently got a big rock attached to her ring finger!!!!!!!

Thoughts

Hmmm.... What to talk about?

Thought #1
I'm wishing that I could be done with school and continue forward with life.

Thought#2
I went back to Boulder last weekend. Here's why... It was stake conference for the Glenwood Springs ward. But the stake center is 2.5 hours away in Craig. So it was either 2.75 hours back to Boulder to visit with friends and be in a friendly familar environment or 2.5 hours to a conference where I would know no one and the chances of me meeting anyone I would actually see again were slim. So I chose the easy and safe solution. I'm glad I did cause I went mini-golfing and went to breakfast (at 1pm!) with a friend and had an overall good time. It gave me a little bit of homesickness. The homesickness is a result of me having trouble meeting new people to hang with. This ward has an FHE activity for the YSA every Tuesday. I went last week and I brought my roommate. My roommate and I were the only ones there for almost an hour before anyone else showed up. And that was just because the lady who hosts FHE called her grandson to have him come. I felt really bad for her because she made a really fancy ham dinner with all the trimmings. Oh well, hopefully it'll be better tomorrow...

Thought #3
I love summer.

Fascination with TV?

Having new roommates, I have to become accustomed to new habits of life. But I will never truly understand the fascination with television. Here we are in beautiful Glenwood Springs and all my roommates do all weekend is sit and watch the big HDTV or mess around on the computer. Me?? I went river rafting and hiking and biking and shopping and went to church. It was a fun! Though if I had people to do it with, it would make it all that more enjoyable. I guess I have to cut them a little slack. After all, one of them just came from sea level and has to acclimate before doing anything too crazy.

The Beautful Land of Glenwood Springs

I have now officially moved to Glenwood Springs after over a week of preparation. And I have to day that as of today, I couldn't be happier with my decision. The house is great, my job has promise, Glenwood is beautiful and find myself excited to explore a new town. Although, I'm going to have to adapt to working 8 hours every day before I'll have enough energy to do more than find the grocery store and other necessary places.

This morning on my run I discovered that there is a bike/run trail that runs all along the river just like the Boulder Creek Path. Its like a little piece of home away from home. :) I can' t wait til the weekend so I can explore the trails a little more. Plus, I'll be able to go to church and meet my new ward family. Part of me just wants to show up at the building to see if there are any activities going on. But then I remember, that I'm exhausted and probably wouldn't be very social.

Did I mention just how gorgeous our house is. I've never lived in such a nice place. Making the transition back to boulder will be quite difficult. I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Thats it for now. I wish all my readers a wonderful week!

Beginning the Journey / ER visit

I've always been intrigued by blogs and have been a lurker on my friends blogs for years. The excuse of "I don't have enough time" has worn pretty thin and I've decided to step up and test it out. Besides, I'm moving on Monday and its a time of new beginnings.

This week has definitely been memorable. I took my first trip to the Emergency Room last Wednesday. Much to my chagrin, I was kinda pressured into going and it turned out to be only a minor problem. It all started when I told my friend I was having a pain on the right side of my abdomen and that it had kept me up all night the previous night. I pointed to the location and he said, "Go to the doctor! That could be appendicitis!" I tried to ignore the comment but as we all know, some comments like that stick in your subconscious and make you think, "Is it really that serious?" So after a little more prodding from several different people including my parents I decided to at least go the urgent care place. I was quite promptly told by the doctor that I should go to the ER to get blood work done and an ultra-sound. Again, I didn't think it was all that serious and I tried to ignore it. But those same friends and the all too familiar family peer-pressured me into going to the ER to endure unpleasant tests and needles just so they could tell me. "Go home, take some ibuprofen and go to the doc in 3-5 days if it doesn't get better." So, to sum up, I spent 3 hours of my time lying in a bed wishing I had listened to my gut (no pun intended!).

They just made it that much more difficult to get me to the ER next time. :)