Another busy day at work.  I did manage to squeak in a little personal time to follow the launch of space shuttle Atlantis.  This is the 32nd mission for Atlantis, and will be the last one unless there are some unplanned changes.  That leaves only two more launches in the history of the space shuttle program.  My brother’s friend, Nick Volpenhein, finally got to see a space shuttle launch live in person.  Over the past few days, he participated in the NASA Tweetup with around 150 other users of Twitter and fans of NASA.  From all that I can tell, his trip was well worth it and he is pretty much speechless at this point.  It’s always nice to fulfill a lifelong dream.

Last night started yet another season of mens’ league hockey.  About half of the team I played with over the winter is back, and we’ve added some solid new players to our roster.  We are no longer known as the Hockey Guild, but are now called Santoro’s and are sponsored by the bar in the rink with the same name.  New season, sort of new team, and new results.  We actually won a game!  It wasn’t just a win against a bad team in the league, it was a win against one of the better teams.

Some of our new additions to the team are defensemen, so it looks like I’ll be able to spend most of the season playing forward.  I had numerous scoring opportunities last night, including an open net, but I wasn’t able to convert any of them.  I would have been more upset at the missed opportunities had we lost, but our 4-2 victory was solid enough throughout most of the game.  Hopefully we can turn this into a winning streak and have some fun this summer.

This past Sunday, Kim and I spent the majority of the day painting and finishing the built-in china cabinet drawers that I mentioned last week.  We removed all of the drawers and took them outside to avoid making a huge mess.  While Kim prepped the drawers for painting, I sanded and painted the bottom half of the frame.  Once the drawers were primed and small holes filled, we painted the front and sides of the drawers.  We didn’t want to paint the actual drawer itself, just the part that you can see when they are closed.  Later in the day we also took a trip to Home Depot to get some new knobs.

Before

We still have to refinish the top half of the built-in, but this is definitely a huge improvement already.  We will likely install matching hardware to the glass doors, along with installing some new hinges.  I think we are going to leave the old shelves inside as they are.  Hopefully we find some time this weekend to start and hopefully finish the remaining pieces of the project.  Thanks again for John Monks at Trim Works Carpentry for his excellent work!

After

Before our big race on Saturday, Kim and I finally made it to the often packed breakfast eatery called Snooze.  This wasn’t the first time we tried to eat here, but each time we’ve driven past, the large crowd gathered outside has forced us to look elsewhere.  We even tried their newer location on Colorado Boulevard, but it too was packed on a random weekend morning.  This past Saturday morning would be different though.  We were up and moving before 8am.  I’m pretty sure we were at the restaurant before nine, and were seated at a table within ten minutes.  While we were leaving, I overheard that the wait was already up to 30 or 45 minutes for two people.

Kim and I both had a chai tea latte to drink while we looked over the menu.  I had heard all about their pancakes, and decided to order the pancake flight, which is three pancakes of differing flavors.  I went with the Pineapple Upside Down (fresh chunks of caramelized pineapple with housemade vanilla crème anglaise and cinnamon butter), Sweet Potato (signature sweet potato buttermilk pancakes topped with homemade caramel, pecans and ginger butter), and Cinnfull (glorious buttermilk pancake with white chocolate chips, drizzled with our homemade Bacon Caramel, vanilla cream sauce and topped with cinnamon butter).  I must admit that the latter was by far my favorite, though it was very sweet.  I also enjoyed the Pineapple Upside Down pancake, but thought the Sweet Potato was a little plain.  Or perhaps it just wasn’t as strong as the other two on my plate.  Kim ordered an omelet, which she also really enjoyed.

I’m not sure I would wait 30 or more minutes to try this restaurant.  It definitely has good food and great service, I just don’t understand the large mob that often hangs on the street-corner waiting for an open table.  Give me Lucile’s over Snooze any day of the week, though it too often has a really long wait for a table.  I guess you have to wait for good food at times.

As mentioned earlier, Kim and I participated in the CitySolve Urban Race on Saturday as team Paff Finders.  We arrived at the Ginn Mill around 11:30 to get our registration finalized and to get more information on the race.  The event was supposed to start at noon, but I think the overwhelming number of teams pushed the start back a bit.  While registration was being finalized, they decided to have the costume contest, which was originally scheduled for after the race.  It came down to two guys dressed as Jolly Green Giants and two girls dressed as Octomoms.  The winner was decided by crowd applause, and it ended up being the Jolly Green Giants.  They had my vote.

Closer to 12:30 is when the race actually started.  All teams were gathered in the parking lot behind the Ginn Mill for some last minute rule reminders, more instructions, and our first puzzle of the day.  Two of the staff held up large pieces of paper with the following question on them.  Which movie was filmed in Denver?  Depending on the correct answer was the intersection that we had to go to to pick up packets containing the rest of our clues.

Kim and I both started looking for the answer online using our phones, which is totally allowed.  We started at the bottom of the list of answers and went up.  Unfortunately, the correct answer was the first one in the list, Die Hard 2, which was filmed in a large list of cities.  Once we had found the correct answer it was pretty obvious which intersection everyone was heading.  I guess we should have just followed the crowd, but we quickly made up time running past most of the walkers at the back of the pack.  Once at 22nd & Curtis, we grabbed our packet, and started walking while reading through the list of puzzle clues.  The remainder of the race would consist of solving the puzzles, going to the place in the answer, and getting a picture there with both of us in it.  You were only allowed to use your own feet and public transportation.  No taxis, cars, bikes, rollerblades, etc.  Kim and I decided early on to just run the entire thing, though it ended up being a little longer than expected.

Below are the clues that we had to answer, listed in the order they were given to us, but not the order that we solved or took our pictures.  If you click on each clue you can see our picture for each, except for #3, which we skipped.  Every team was allowed one skip.  We skipped this one due to it being on of the furthest points away from the starting location.

1. Rita can’t fine you at this meter…locate any Denver’s Road Home to end homelessness meters.
2. This one smells sweet…you’ll need to unscramble the 2 words below to find the 1-word vacation get away located in downtown.
   GOAL MAIN
3. Are you going to the fair? There’s a restaurant whose name is an herb in the Golden Triangle where Simon and Garfunkel would probably dine. (We skipped this one, the answer was Parsley & Bailey)
4. This one’s dy-no-mite! A 1970’s sitcom has the same name as a hamburger joint.  You must find the restaurant on Colfax to get credit for this one.
5. This one’s tasty…this CITYpoint is located within 3 blocks of Civic Center Park.  Complete the crossword below to find your next destination:
   (There was a 3 item crossword puzzle with the following clues)
   Any relatively small group of soldiers.
   Shortbread, lemon drop or chocolate chip; singular.
   US capital city.
6. You might need to clean this one up…head to the lounge in LoDo whose name suggests that you might cry if you did this to milk.  Once there you’ll need to check in with a CitySolve Creative Team Member and they’ll instruct you on what to do next.
7. DETOUR: Gold or Sold (choose one of these options below – you will NOT get extra for doing both)
   Gold – Take 3 different photos of the word “GOLD” written on any album cover.
   ~OR~
   Sold – Take 3 photos of 3 different “SOLD” signs.  “FOR SALE” signs will not count unless there is a “SOLD” sign on it.  Teams may NOT create the “SOLD” sign.
8. Wake me up before you go go…this restaurant, located within a 1/4 mile of Coors Field is probably the most often used as a function on an alarm clock.
9. Are you smarter than an 8th grader…figure out angle C of the isosceles triangle below (you’re doing 8th grade math).  Angle A equals 40 degrees and sides 1 and 2 are equal.  Take the answer to angle C THEN ADD Rockies’ Helton and Giambi’s jersey numbers THEN ADD 379 to find the numerical address located on 18th Street in downtown.
10. Nothing can stop…THE ANIMAL! It’s off to Commons Park where you’ll need to meet an Animal Fitness staff member in front of the park by the stone wall.  They will direct you through a fitness obstacle course.  When you’ve successfully completed each task make sure you take a photo of your team along with t he Animal Fitness staff member. You WILL have 2 photos.  If your team only has 1 photo, you will incur a 20 minute penalty.

There were also two bonus questions.  We solved the first one but not the second:

1. Find a license plate (does NOT have to be attached to a vehicle) that has the letters “C” and “S.” The letters needn’t be in consecutive order, but MUST be part of the actual license plate number.  You’ll receive 10 minutes off your time for completing this bonus.
2. Since Denver is a pretty active city your team needs to find ALL of the following:
   Sign that reads “hiking”
   3 people on bicycles
   Bumper sticker with “skiing” on it (must be a bumper sticker, but does not have to be on a vehicle)
   You’ll receive 15 minutes off your time for completing this bonus.

We had a little help from our friend Ken for some of the puzzles, which is also allowed.  By the time we reached #9, we had most of the clues solved and mapped.  So we just followed the map along the planned route and snapped pictures.  We solved the remaining in this order: 5, 1, 4, 7, 2, 6, 10, and finally 8.  Yesterday I calculated the total distance covered to be over 6.5 miles.  It was a tiring race, but well worth, especially when we arrived and finished in 3rd place!  There were nearly 100 teams, so this was a pretty solid performance, and it gets us free entry into the national championship in New Orleans if we decide to compete on Halloween weekend.  The winner there takes home $5,000.

We’ve spent a bunch of time on home improvement projects recently, as well as spending some money on it as well.  Kim has wanted a new front door since we moved in, and we finally had that done a couple of weeks ago.  Adoor removed our old door and put in a better fitting solid wood door, along with cleaning up some of our trim, and they will soon be weather-stripping the entire thing.  I found them through servicemagic.com and decided to use them out of the three different offers we received.  I’ve been impressed with the full process thus far and will likely use servicemagic.com again in the future.

Yesterday, Kim had a friend of a friend come in and put in six new drawers in our built-in china cabinet.  The old ones were falling apart, so we had brand new drawers built and placed into new slides.  I still have to paint them and put on new hardware, but so far again it was another great job.  I’m not sure if John has a website or not, but if you need some carpentry type work done in the Denver area I can pass along his contact info.

I’ll be sure to get some new photos of these projects soon.  I wish we had some before photos, though I may be able to dig through some old pictures and find some.  Hopefully I can do some work this weekend and post pictures next week.

Last night I made the trek up to Boulder for the first time in awhile.  My destination was the Rock N Soul Cafe, where Russ and Anton of SoundRabbit would be playing and recording an acoustic duo show.  I had yet to see their duo performance live, and with an official release resulting from this show, it was as good as time as any.  The venue was a cool little coffee shop, restaurant, and bar.  The stage and sound-system were more than adequate for the intimate space.  The husband and wife owners were very friendly and quite handy.  The husband runs the soundboard, while his wife takes care of the drink and food orders.

As far as the performance goes, I was amazed by how well the normally full-band songs of SoundRabbit transitioned into the duo format.  Russ and Anton’s playing styles and vocal harmonies complimented each other very well.  Even songs that are normally played on piano, or that rely heavily on drums and bass for the back-beat, sounded really good.  I don’t think any of the songs sounded out of place in this different style.  I talked with both guys after the show and they both hoped to play more acoustic shows in the future.  Anton added that there are some challenging parts and that was what kept it exciting.  The parts in the songs that are normally loud and peaking, they have often quieted down and downplayed for the acoustic setting.  Here’s a sample from a recent radio show Story Of…

The full band is heading out to Virginia tomorrow to work on their next studio release.  Best of luck fellas!

Kim and I are going to be on the Amazing Race!  Well not exactly, but this could be the next best thing.  Yesterday I registered us for the CitySolve Urban Race, which takes place this Saturday in Denver.  “Where brains beat brawn! Teams of 2 solve clever clues and face fun challenges all while navigating the urban landscape via foot or on public transportation! It’s a scavenger hunt, with all the thrills of the amazing race, mixed in with trivial pursuit, throw in a mini road race and add a dash of cat-and-mouse. And voila! You’ve got CitySolve Urban Race!”  I found some half-priced entries from LivingSocial.com yesterday, and soon enough team Paff Finders was registered and ready to race.  This should be a blast.

Have you ever wondered what beer might have tasted like before prohibition?  Well now you have your chance.  Coors has just released Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition Style Lager.  Based on a recipe that is over 90 years old, this beer delivers a “bold, hoppy flavor that is surprisingly well-balanced.”  From a recent 5280 blog:

Keith Villa, the MillerCoors brewmaster behind Coors’ Blue Moon, explains: ”When Prohibition banned beer in 1919, breweries went under and recipes were lost. In our case, the archived logbooks with these old recipes were stored in the basement of the brewery and forgotten about, until a small flood prompted me to move them to safety. When I realized what I had found, it was something I knew I had to brew. This recipe is part of our history, and I think beer fans will really enjoy a chance to taste the past.”

Unfortunately the brew is only available in five cities: Chicago, San Fran, San Jose, Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee.  I’m disappointed that it won’t be offered in Coors home of Denver, but perhaps that will change in the future.  I know that I’d like to give it a try.

After a few weeks off I made my return to the ice rink for a charity hockey tournament over the weekend.  I was filling in for a team that shares a few players with my normal adult league team.  The action started off on Friday night against a team that I’ve played against regularly.  The problem was that normally our team plays in division C, and the team I was playing on for the tournament normally plays in division E.  Take that fact along with a few ringers that our opponents added to their normal team, and it’s easy to see that we didn’t stand a chance.  I was just happy that we managed to get a couple of goals in the 7-2 blowout.

One nice thing is that the team I was playing on was loaded with defensemen, so I was able to actually play offense for once.  I nearly scored one of the goals in our first game, but one of my line-mates got to it first.  However, I was able to add goals in the following two games on Saturday.  Our first game on Saturday was against a team that was more on our same level.  The game was a good one, but in the end it was a 3-1 loss, with one of the goals being an empty-netter in the last-minute of play.  Obviously, our lone goal was one that I scored for us fairly early in the game.  It was a disappointing loss.

We had quite a bit of down time between the first and second games.  Most on the team stuck around for a few cups of free beer and some free brats.  After awhile a handful of the team headed over to one of the guys house to watch some of the NHL action.  I would have hoped that our team would be inspired to win a game after watching the pros.  But as most were rooting for the Blackhawks, I think the Hawks poor performance rubbed off on us.  It was either that or all the beer.  The second game on Saturday night was rather brutal.  I don’t recall the final score, but it wasn’t close.  I did score one of our goals, which I think there were only two.

Saturday evening’s game wasn’t over until midnight.  Unfortunately our poor performance caused us to be scheduled for our last game at 7am on Sunday morning.  In the first three games we always had a solid number of players, perhaps too many as we often filled up three lines.  On Sunday morning we were lucky we could field two lines of skaters.  I was moved back to defense due to the absence of some players, and was hoping I could help to keep the scoring down and finally get a win.  Unfortunately, this game ended the same as all the others.  As this game featured the worst two teams in the tournament, we matched up with them well, but their goalie played amazing.  I’m sure we out-shot our opponents, but they went on to win a rather close one.

Even with the four loss performance it was still a good time and I was glad to be back on the ice.  Summer league starts next week.