Last night we finally got our Christmas tree put together and fully decorated. The number of ornaments we have has tripled in the last year, so we have a much fuller tree than years past. This is the same little tree we’ve had since 2004 and it’s treated us very well. I still have to get the outside lights up on the house, but I need an extension cord and possibly a timer before doing so. I think I’ll go make a couple of purchases now during my lunch break.

I’ve recently been turned onto Wolfgang’s Vault and their concert vault. I’ve always been a big fan of streaming shows throughout the work day from the Live Music Archive, but Wolfgang’s Vault gives me even more options. The LMA is all fan contributions and is regularly updated with brand new shows. Conversely, Wolfgang’s has a solid supply of much older recordings that appear to be from the soundboard, and are also free to stream from your computer. I’ve been staying busy listening to some Allman Brothers, CSNY, and even some Bob Marley. A free membership is required, but I’ve found no reason not to sign up and let the show begin.

Things are looking much better for the Colorado ski resorts with all of the recent snow that’s been falling. Most of the places on our pass are now operating with over 50% of their terrain open. And I think there is a chance of snow every day between now and continuing through the weekend. I cannot wait to get back out on the slopes and apparently neither can our visitors. We just confirmed reservations for multiple groups to come out in the next couple of months, so don’t wait much longer to get your weekend penciled in with us.

Also while in Cincinnati I helped (or supervised) the annual hanging of the star on my parents house. My dad and I made the star many years ago for a cub scout project and it is still in fairly good shape after being outside every winter since. We used to put out a ton of lights all over the house, but it has been scaled back since my brother and I moved out. Though this is still more lights than I put on our house in Denver. Kim also sent wreaths to both of our parents for this Christmas. I’ve heard they smell wonder and they look very nice. I tried smelling one but I guess I’m still stuffed up from my cold last week.

Kim and I spent this past weekend in Cincinnati and I snapped a few pictures of some of the various events. First you’ll see what happens when Cincinnati gets some snow and the Hais boys get bored. Yep, they figured out how to snowboard in the flat backyard. And then after that we traveled out to various spots in Indiana looking for a couple of perfect Christmas trees, including one that’s easily over 20 feet tall. I hope you enjoy the pics, I sure enjoyed taking them.

For her birthday I got Kim and I tickets to see A Christmas Carol on it’s opening night at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, which was last night. I thought the play was wonderfully done, and the very intimate Stage Theater was a great place to see it even from the very last row. I’m sure everyone knows the play, so I won’t go into a recap of it, but this is definitely worth seeing for anyone in the Denver area.

Prior to the play, we had dinner at the nearby Corner Office, a restaurant and martini bar. For starters we both ordered from the martini menu. I had the paper shredder which was Jim Beam (though online says Knob Creek), fresh ginger, and ginger ale. Kim had one of the holiday selections which involved spiced apple cider, cranberry, and rum as best I can remember. For dinner I had the orange chicken which was served in a traditional Chinese takeout-like container. Kim ordered the tonkatsu salad, which was panko crusted chicken breast and sesame soy dressing served over a standard salad mix. I thoroughly enjoyed all of what we ordered and would love to return to the restaurant in the future to try even more.

After losing a game last week, my adult hockey team is back on the winning side after this weeks game. We are no longer solely in last place, and are now tied for last with our 2-9 record. We beat a team that is barely ahead of us in the standings, 6-5. Though I didn’t score a goal, I added at least one assist to my stats and our line was really playing well. We accounted for at least half of the goals and were really able to work the puck around.

Things are not looking as good for my fantasy football team, in fact my season is officially over. The playoffs start this week and I definitely missed out with my last place finish in the league. All of this after I thought I drafted one of my best teams in years. I blame it on poor performances and injuries. Sounds like the Bengals, huh? At least the UC Bearcats are giving Cincinnati something to cheer about with their first Big East title and BCS Bowl Bid!

Let’s see, what else did we do over the long weekend besides stuff ourselves with lots of great food and wine? Well we tried to burn some of it off with a little exercise. Kim joined the University of Denver Recreation Center a week ago or so, and she got some guest passes for me to use before I decide to join or not. She has been wanting to get back into swimming, and since the local rec center doesn’t open early enough in the morning, she decided to check out DU and the rest is history.

So Saturday afternoon we headed over to there to do a half hour or so of cardio and then we decided to try out the racquetball courts. Before we left the house we looked up the basic rules of how to play, and then if we couldn’t remember the details we just made them up. I must say that it was a heck of a workout! I had never played before, but was still able to pull out the victory winning two of three games.

I haven’t been back to workout yet, mainly due to this little cold I’m fighting, but I’d like to go back soon. I still have four more guest passes to use. If I do join, they have drop in hockey throughout the week that could be fun, and that’s included in the membership. So I may considering joining full time, especially since it would only cost and extra $30 for me.

Sunday morning we finally took our first trip up into the mountains for a little snowboarding. Early season conditions have left a lot to be desired, but starting Thanksgiving lots of snow had been falling on the slopes. We checked the resorts and found out which had the highest new snow count. The winner was Arapahoe Basin with 16 inches in the past 24 hours and 28 inches in the last 48. We left the house around 9:30, deciding it still wasn’t worth our time to get up too early since very little runs are open anyway.

Well we didn’t arrive in the typical hour and a half that it usually takes, instead we were still driving after four hours. The snow was still falling throughout the drive, and there were reported high winds that closed a few roads around the state and led to a messy situation on I-70. I think we parked the car around 1:30 and quickly headed out to get some runs in. The snow was great, and there was tons of fresh powder, but the wind was really blowing up high causing extreme pain to any exposed skin. We took a ride down each of the open trails and then decided it was time for a little lunch.

Instead of heading back out at A-Basin, we instead headed over to Keystone since they wouldn’t be closing at four when A-Basin closes. I was also hoping that it wouldn’t be as painfully windy, but we soon realized that wasn’t going to be the case. In fact, the temperature was rapidly dropping so it was getting even colder. So we did one run at Keystone and decided to call it a day and head back home.

We knew the trip home wasn’t going to be easy, so we looked online to see what the estimated drive time was. We soon learned the estimate was worse than we had imagined. Cotrip.org was reporting that it would take over two hours to drive the eight miles from our exit up to the Eisenhower tunnel. So we decided to stop at a grocery store, have a coffee, do some shopping, and when we found out that the drive time was then estimated at over three hours we decided to grab some dinner at the Dillon Dam Brewery.

While waiting for a table, we were told that I-70 had been shut down completely at the tunnel. The restaurant was giving out direction to the local rec center that was going to be used to house the stranded travelers. So we waited and finally sat down to eat. Just as we were finishing up our server came to our table and told us that they had re-opened the highway. We quickly finished up and headed down the road and onto I-70. We weren’t moving fast, probably around 20 mph, but at least we were moving. We eventually made it back home just before 11, which made for a very long day. See what we have to go through just to have a little fun on the mountains?

Over the long weekend we did a wide variety of things. First up, I’d like to mention the two Michael Franti & Spearhead concerts we attended on Friday and Saturday nights, both at the Fillmore. Typically Kim doesn’t want to see the same band perform in back to back nights, but this time I convinced her to attend both. I was thinking that the shows were going to be completely different experiences, definitely with varying setlists. Unfortunately this was not the case, as I think I could count the number of songs that were played the second night but not the first on one hand. I would think that they now have enough material to easily play two nights and not repeat a song. If I remember correctly, the encores for each night were nearly identical. I know not everyone is going to attend both nights, but there were definitely a few in the crowd that did and had to be a little disappointed.

With that said, the shows were incredible! I’m trying to leave out my bias from hearing the same songs the second night and recall how amazing I thought the first night was. The band sounded super tight and mostly in sync and Michael himself was just as energetic as always. Joining them both nights was Jamaican singer Cherine Anderson who added her wonderful vocals to the mix. She also sang a few songs to open up the set, including a nice take on “Redemption Song.” The Fillmore itself was a wonderful place for these performances and I was amazed at how well you can see the performers from nearly anywhere in the large open room. Hopefully we can return sometime soon to see another band perform.