First of all, happy Pi Day to all of the fellow nerds out there. March 14th, 3.14, get it?!?!

For another geeky site to keep you occupied for a bit on this Friday, head on over to Google Sky, and check out our entire universe. It’s a little slow to navigate, but can be entertaining for a few minutes. I think the constellation mapping is particularly cool (click Constellations at the bottom of the page). Just don’t expect to see the North Star, as it appears to be out of this world!

After a very disappointing loss last week, my hockey team is back on the winning side of things. We won the last game of the regular season and ended up in third place in the league. So in the playoffs next week we’ll be going up against the sixth place team. This is the same team that we had our disappointing loss to in the previous week, so we’ll definitely need to play better than in that game. I’m sure we’ll be looking for revenge and should do well.

I added another assist to my stats this past week, and finished sixth in total points for our team. My total was six goals and twelve assists in sixteen games, an average of 1.13 points per game. Not bad, especially when a few of those games were played when I was still recovering from my ankle injury. Speaking of which, the ankle is really doing well. I’m still taping it up before snowboarding or playing hockey, but I probably won’t have to do that much longer. I hope that it continues to get stronger and stronger.

As I mentioned last week, we’ve got lots of spring activity going on around the house with the incredible weather Denver has been having. In addition to the bulbs in the back coming up more and more with each passing day (no blooms yet), the flowers I noticed last year in the front yard are back as well. When we redid the front planting beds, I moved the bulbs around a little and spread them out some, but they still look really cool and are in full bloom. The purple weeds in the yard are back as well, though I didn’t actually remember seeing them before until I checked the entry from last year. I guess these blooms fade pretty quickly and aren’t seen the rest of the spring and summer. I want to put down some fertilizer on the yard, so maybe I can find something that will take care of the weeds too. I honestly have no idea when I should spread something like this, does anyone have advice?

In October, I reported that the National Lacrosse League canceled the 2008 season. What I didn’t say after that is that the league and the players association worked out their differences and the season resumed normally. On Saturday night, I finally attended my first Mammoth game of the season, even though it is already half over. I guess we’ve been super busy, but the rest of Denver must not be as this game was packed! We bought tickets on Saturday afternoon and couldn’t get two together anywhere in the arena. So we bought two singles and then searched out an empty row to sit. It worked okay, as we only had to move one time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in the stands for a lacrosse game. It may help that the Mammoth are (were) in first place. They ended up losing this game to the second ranked team, both of which are now tied for first place. Despite the loss, the crowd was very into it and we had a great time.

Since moving to Colorado, I’ve been wanting to get a bike and I finally own a new one as of Saturday. A local shop was running a clearance sale to make room for this year’s bikes, and we took full advantage of it. I pretty much knew what I was going after, and fortunately they had one in my size. It’s a 2007 Specialized Hardrock Pro with the disc brakes. And while we were there we also looked for one for Kim, and they just so happened to a have a 2006 Specialized Hardrock Pro also with disc brakes, which is very similar to mine. Both of these were close to $300 off of the MSRP price, so we definitely got a killer deal. I took my bike out on a ride yesterday, and I absolutely love it. I rode up to Wash Park and spent some time riding around there enjoying the great weather. And it’s supposed to be even nicer the next couple of days, so I’ll definitely be out again soon.

It took nearly three years but I’ve finally seen 10MPH. I first learned about this movie while skimming through a magazine years ago. Though at the time segways were not very popular, the same is still very much true. I don’t think I’ve seen one outside of an airport in years since I first heard of the movie. Regardless I still think this is a wonderful documentary full of some hysterical moments, and wonderful scenes from across our great nation.

To view the movie for free, you must first sign up for an account at ourstage.com. Once that is complete you can either watch the whole thing online or download to watch at your convenience. Personally, I downloaded it and watched it in bits and pieces. And not only is this free, OurStage is actually donating $1 for each person that signs up to the two producers of the movie who are busy working on their next film, 10 Yards.

While we were gone most of last week, my fish tank suffered quite a disaster. I bought an automatic feeder the day before we left, and hoped that I could get the kinks worked out before we were on our way. Well I guess that didn’t really happen as I had planned. When we got back into town all three of my fish were missing! The fish feeder appeared to be clogged after some moisture got into it and clumped the food together. I’m sure the little guys must have tried to hang on but ended up dieing from lack of food. Stupid technology, it shouldn’t be trusted! After mourning the loss for a few days, I went out and bought a fish to add back to the tank today. It’s a six line wrasse and I’m hoping that he adjusts well. He’s very fast and I can’t wait to see him in the tank zipping around. So at least my story ends on a positive note. And all five of my crabs are still alive. They must have found something to feed on.

The weather has been pretty wacky recently. Denver recorded a record high temperature of 72 degrees this past Saturday, which we unfortunately missed. When we got back into town on Sunday night, there was a few inches of snow on the ground. This all quickly melted over the next couple of days, and I quickly realized that our flowers are coming up. Last fall we planted a ton of tulip and daffodil bulbs near the back fence. Well the side of the fence that gets lots of sun is already starting to sprout, while the other side is still buried in snow from the winter storms. And just as I think spring is coming, we get another couple inches this morning, with possibly more as the day goes on. I’m sure the snow is great for the ski resorts, but I think I too am ready for spring, just like the flowers are.

I had my first experience with the game Rock Band over the weekend, and I am addicted. If I had a copy of the game at home I don’t think I’d do anything else, so maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t. My brother hosted a leap day party featuring the game and encouraged everyone to dress in their favorite rock attire. He had a killer Bret Michaels (of Poison fame) costume, complete with eyeliner. Fortunately my mom was there with her camera to capture pictures of the night and a couple from a disco party the next night.

Yesterday we attended mass at the church we are going to be married in later this summer. Both Kim’s parents and my parents made the trip as well. Though I had been here before, it had been awhile since I last attended. St. Francis Seraph is a Catholic church in downtown Cincinnati, which is dedicated to serving with and among the people of Over-the-Rhine, one of the poorest regions of the city, if not the most. It is very refreshing to find a church that not only does so many wonderful things in the community, but also has a strong sense of belonging together, and a different take on the standard Catholic mass. The sign of peace is much longer than I’ve ever seen before, and is a time for walking around the church and greeting the fellow parishioners, guests, and clergy. For me this was great, since there was a guy I went to both grade school and high school in attendance as well, and it was very nice to catch up with him. Beyond that there are many things that make this church stand out from any other I have ever attended before. It is an amazing place and something that you have to experience to truly understand.