I just found this cool web based game called The Space Game. It reminds me of playing Dune 2000 with my brother back in high school. It took me some time to get passed mission 6 and I am just about to start on mission 9. Hopefully it helps kill any time that remains in your Friday workday.

Busy day at work. All I can think about is a trip to Alaska that we are going to take later this summer. I have a ton of miles with Frontier, so we used some to get round trip tickets to Anchorage. Seats were already filling up, so I made sure we got the ones we wanted. We’ll spend a little over a week there and in surrounding areas, mostly in those other areas. The trip happens to coincide with our one year wedding anniversary, so hopefully this is the start to a cool trend each year. As always I’m open to suggestions, but my planning has already begun. So far I’m thinking Denali National Park, Seward and Kenai Fjords N.P., and Homer, with different modes of transportation thrown in: train, boat, car.

Over the weekend, since I was able to snowboard but was already in the mountains, I decided to head out fly fishing with my friend Rob. Well I actually didn’t fish, I just used snowshoes to walk along the shore of the river while Rob fished. Within a half hour, he had already caught his first trout! This fishing stuff seemed easy. But after that, there were no fish caught, even though we could sometimes see exactly where they were. After the river bands became increasingly crowded with other fishermen, Rob decided to drive further downstream. Unfortunately, I had to head back toward Breckenridge to pick Kim up and then head back to Denver, thus ending my first fly fishing experience.

Last night I attended my first ever NBA game. Kim’s work was having an outing at the game and had seats in a box suites, so I had no choice but to tag along. I’m not the biggest basketball fan around, but it’s hard to turn down a great view of the game, with food and drinks included. The Nuggets were hosting the Boston Celtics, and I think half of Boston came along for the game. Though the cheering may have been evenly divided between the two at the start of the game, the Celtics early domination resulted in a lopsided Celtics crowd. Many thought that it would at least be a decent game, and hoped the Nuggets could hang with Boston, it was clear early on that this would not be the case. The Celtics went on to win 114-76.

Over the weekend, the wife and I took a trip to the Denver Art Museum. Not being that much into art, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we had always heard good reviews of the museum. We had heard that they offered free admission on select Saturdays, but this was not one of them, turns out it is offered on the first Saturday of every month. However, we were surprised to discover it only cost $10 per person (for Colorado residents) so we went inside anyway.

The first gallery we encountered upon walking up the main set of stairs was dedicated to Western American Art. This features many landscape paintings of the wonderful western landscape, and looking back on our visit was one of my favorite sections of the entire museum. This is in the newly built Hamilton Building, and offers an enclosed skywalk over to the the older North Building.

Upon entering the North Building, we were greeted by large wood carvings from the Northwest Coast along with other American Indian art and artifacts. This large gallery continues onto the third floor of this building, where more than 18,000 art objects representing the heritage of all cultures and tribes across the United States and Canada are on display. This is recognized as one of the best of its kind in the United States, and I would highly recommend this area as well.

We spent the better part of three hours just in these small parts of the museum. Realizing that it would be closing soon, we hurried through Pre-Columbian gallery on the fourth floor, which was very overwhelming, before moving on to the Asian art gallery up on the fifth. I wish we had more time to explore this gallery, but this was where we were alerted that we had only fifteen minutes left in our stay. So we rushed up to the newly reopened seventh floor, which contains more Western art. I really wish we had more time to explore this space, but I guess there is always next time.

With that we exited the museum without even exploring any of the new Hamilton Building, other than the second floor. So it’s easy to say that there is more than a days worth of things to see in museum. Though, if you were to arrive earlier than we did, I guess it would be possible to see it all in a day. I was very impressed by the museum, and I’m sure we will return in the future.

While walking out to the car yesterday morning, I noticed something strange in the back flower bed. There is an alley that runs behind our house, as with most houses in the Denver city area, and it isn’t uncommon for trash to blow into the flower beds. But this time I didn’t find a candy bar wrapper or even an old beer can. I saw what appears to be the first sign of spring. One of our tulips has already started popping it’s head out. Well not actually the flowering part, but the leaves are poking out of the mulch. This always brings to mind the warmer temperatures that are on the way. But I feel bad at the same time, knowing that this one probably doesn’t stand a chance with upcoming snow storms that we all know are coming.

Dave Matthews Band summer tour dates are out, and once again I’m a little disappointed. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see Denver (and the surrounding area) get skipped, since there really isn’t a venue large enough for the band to consistently play at. Yes, we do have the fabulous Red Rocks Amphitheatre, but they haven’t played there since 2005. I was hoping this would be the year of their return, but I guess I’ll have to keep on waiting. So now I have to attempt to make plans to travel to another venue to see the band. Should I go back to Deer Creek? What about another trip to the Gorge? Or how about something new, perhaps a show in California or Texas? Too many choices, not enough vacation time and money.

Back in October I started a website for my mother’s DVD slideshow business. Well a few weeks ago we finally started adding content to the website and I think it is nearly complete. To me it all looks really great so far, and both of my parents agree. But now we need some other eyes to hit the website and offer any critiques. I won’t take it personal, so please provide any feedback to either me or my parents on the layout, the wording, the rest of the content, etc. It is much appreciated.

Here are a bunch of photos that Kim snapped from this past weekend. The first nine are from our first day in Keystone. The next fifteen or so are from Breckenridge. And the last fifteen are from Vail. There are some great shots in the mix. She also took a bunch of videos that I hope to get online. Perhaps I can get creative and mix them all together into a cool mini documentary, similar to the one Corey made. I can’t do much with this stupid ankle injury, so I should have the time to do so.

I am currently sitting in a Starbucks in Avon, Colorado. I didn’t plan to write today, as I’m taking a vacation day from work. I should be out on the slopes of Vail with Kim and her brothers. Instead I’m killing time until they are done for the day, since I cannot join them due to another ankle sprain. I really thought I was past the injuries this time, with the last one occurring this past June. However, the tree I ran into must have felt differently.

After picking up the boys on Friday evening, we drove up to Keystone early Saturday morning. We enjoyed a full day on the slopes there, after which we headed to our condo in Breckenridge. We all enjoyed another great day on the slopes of Breck, until just before 2. It was at that time that I had a little too much fun in a tree filled run, lost control, and slid into a tree, hitting it feet first. My board took most of the impact, but I felt a little pain in my ankle. I managed to get all the way down the hill, but the pain got worse and I decided to call it a day.

That brings me to today. I’m able to hobble around on my own, moving very slowly. I would say that this is one of the lighter sprains that I’ve had, but it’s still enough to keep me sidelined for awhile. I’m hoping I won’t have to stay off the slopes for too long, but I also want to be sure it’s strong enough to make it a full day. As always, time will tell.

Update: at least I’m not alone. I’ve seen two others on crutches in the two hours I’ve been here.