I’m sure everyone is aware that March Madness is going on right now. I’ve been following along pretty well using CBS SportsLine.com March Madness On Demand. Unfortunately, the results have not been what I was hoping for. Out of the 16 games yesterday, I picked only 8 correctly. I guess I got a little carried away with my upsets. Hopefully today’s results will be better. How is everyone else doing?

We attended another Avalanche game last night and watched as they attempted to extend their playoff hopes. The game was against the Calgary Flames, who are one spot ahead of the Avs in the standings. The night started with a ceremony to commemorate Joe Sakic‘s 600th career goal. Sakic became the 17th player to reach the milestone. From there we got to hear both the Canadian and U.S. national anthems. That is always a special treat.

Sakic scored the first goal in the game, number 602 for him, just over a minute into the game. Calgary added two goals of their own to end the first period with a score of 2-1 Calgary. The rest of the game was all Avs as Calgary only had 10 shots total in the second and third periods. Paul Stastny extended his NHL rookie record point streak to 19 games with the game winning goal in the third period. And with the victory the Avs remain in the playoff hunt.

I commented on the weather a week ago, and since then it has been wonderful outside. Most of our Sunday was spent outside in and around Washington Park. I think all of Denver was there with us, but the park is so big that there is plenty of room for everyone. Looking forward, the weather looks like it will continue to be just as nice, with most of our high temperatures in the 60s. In addition, it doesn’t look like the temperatures will dip below freezing again anytime in the near future.

I noticed some flowers popping up in the front yard. I just went outside to snap a couple of pictures of them, but found the yellow one had wilted already. Fortunately the purple ones are still looking great! I noticed some other purple ones growing in the grass, but I think they are weeds. I also snapped a couple pictures of some of the house plants, which are mostly bouncing back from the move. Spring is in the air!

The first pizza place we had in Denver was Blackjack Pizza, which I thought was pretty good. Over the weekend we had dinner from a second pizza place called Beniamino’s. This pizza was much different from Blackjack’s, this is Chicago style deep dish. I chose the restaurant after reading good reviews from a local paper called Westword, and seeing that it won best thick crust in 2005 and 2006.

I would have to agree with them and say that this is some quality pizza. I was an immediate fan, and although it took Kim a little longer to enjoy it, I still think she came around. I don’t know if we’ll order all of the time because it is more expensive than some standard pizzas, but I think I’ll definitely order again. Are there any other pizza places in Denver that I need to try?

We made it to Vail for the first time this weekend. I think Kim has been there before, but it was my first time ever. We arrived early enough to look around and find a free parking spot, otherwise it would have cost us nearly $20 to park. Once we were parked, we got all of our gear on and headed towards Vail Village and got in line for the lifts to open. After just a few minutes wait, the lifts were open and we were probably one of the first hundred people on.

My first impression was that the terrain is a little more difficult than some of the other resorts. It might have something to do with all the time we took off, but we found ourselves sticking to the greens and blues. Many of the blues provided a hard enough work out. We never made it to the legendary back bowls, but perhaps the next time we will. Our trip was cut short after a big snow storm came through and made it nearly impossible to see just a few feet in front of you. The storm probably dropped 4 inches in an hour.

We decided to head out early and beat the traffic. And looking back on it, I’m really glad we did. They closed I-70 from Vail to Copper Mountain just after we got through. If we would have waited a few minutes longer we would have been stuck in Vail until around 5, which wouldn’t have been a bad thing really, but then traffic would have been horrible trying to get back to Denver. It probably would have killed our night, which was instead spent watching TV on the couch until I fell asleep around 8:30. What an exhausting day!

I attempted to take full advantage of the free HBO promotion on our cable plan the past couple of days. I noticed that five of the six Star Wars movies were available “on demand” (for some reason Episode VI was not available). So while Kim was out of town, I started watching them in order starting with Episode I. It had been awhile since I saw Jar Jar Binks but I was quickly reminded how annoying his voice can be. Sure this isn’t the best of the group, but it does a great job at introducing so many characters that will be seen throughout.

Next up was Episode II, which has a lot more action in it than the first movie. It even includes a butt kicking Yoda. The movie also introduces the relationship between Anakin Skywalker (the future Darth Vader) and Padmé Amidala. It also begins to show Anakin slipping toward the dark side of the force. Both of these are crucial to Episode III, which in the end will reveal that Anakin and Padmé have twin children, Luke and Leia. It also shows Anakin transforming into Darth Vader. Episode III is my favorite of the new trilogy and does an excellent job tying up the loose ends between the first two movies and the next three.

The transition into Episode IV and the original trilogy is very interesting. The time between the release of this film and the third episode (the last made) was nearly 30 years! Obviously there are some differences in the way everything looks, but the plot transitions almost seamlessly. We see Darth Vader almost immediately and then pan to the simple life of Luke Skywalker and watch as everything changes for him. This movie is a classic and definitely one of the tops. The next in the sequence, Episode V, is another one of the tops. And just as I was getting into the whole series, this movie ends and I don’t have a copy of the final episode anywhere. I was hoping to rent it and finish the series, but now I may just wait and try it again after I build a home theater in the basement. I already have my projector now I just need some walls.

Along with the basement project, we have other projects in mind for the house. First we are trying to get the remaining six original windows replaced, and hopefully the front door as well. We’ve had a few companies visit for a free estimate and price quote. I had no idea windows were so expensive! And to make it worse, the prices range between companies more than I would have thought. It’s the equivalent of choosing between Toyota, Lexus, and Bentley. I hope that analogy works. Anyway, feel free to leave any tips or tricks in the comments.

The weather has been awesome lately. For the first time, just about all of the snow on the ground is gone. This is surprising to me, as everyone always says that March is the snowiest month for Denver. Just take a look at this forecast…

Hopefully I can find the time to sneak outside this afternoon.

Before the John Butler concert on Friday night (which was just as good as I was expecting), we checked out a local restaurant/bar down the street from The Fox called The Sink. Despite being so close to the sold out show, the restaurant was able to seat us right away and I noticed a few empty tables. I’m not sure if this is always true, but if so I think we’ll definitely be back before a future show at The Fox.

The Sink is famous for their burgers and pizza. I went back and forth between pizza and one of their sandwiches, and in the end ordered the Mesa Chicken sandwich (Blackened chicken breast topped with provolone, bacon, hot sauce, guacamole, lettuce and tomato. Served on a French roll.) Kim went with the Smokin BBQ Chicken Sandwich. Both of the sandwiches were excellent and were served with a large mound of fries. I would highly recommend The Sink and either of these sandwiches, but next time I’m going for the pizza.

We took another weekend off from snowboarding so that my ankle can fully heal, but that didn’t stop us from heading into the mountains once again. This time we chose a route other than I-70, and ended up on US-285 for a couple of hours ending at Buena Vista. I was hoping to stumble upon some good spots to view bighorn sheep. Fortunately, we did run into a group of sheep even though it wasn’t in an area that I had researched. I guess we are lucky most of the time.

Besides all of the wildlife we saw along the way, we also ran into some beautiful scenery. The South Park Basin was incredible, despite the frequent high winds. Next time we go there, I hope the winds are calmer and then I will stop to take some more pictures. Buena Vista was another incredible stop along the way. Mount Princeton and the other collegiate peaks (Columbia, Harvard, and Yale) provide an incredible background to the town. We went close to the base of Mount Princeton trying to see some more sheep, but were not successful this time.

Just as we turned around to head back home, the moon started rising and became big and full. I guess we were too far west to view the lunar eclipse, but the view of the moon was still incredible. We made it back to Denver, after a quick stop in Colorado Springs for dinner, hours after we left. Hopefully the next time we take a trip like this, we can couple it with some hiking. You can view all of the pictures from this trip in the gallery.

Buena Vista on Dwellable