Another session of adult hockey started up last night.  I am back on the same team as last time, Santoro’s.  Only a handful of guys returned for this session from last, so we have a lot of newcomers.  Fortunately many of the new guys are really good hockey players.  Our opponents were a new team in this league, Sports Authority.  They seemed to match up with us really well and definitely had some good players on their team, including one guy who appeared to have played for the club team at Ohio University at one time.

One of our new players scored the first two goals for our team, and the other team quickly added two goals of their own.  I didn’t have any points last night, but did have a penalty (questionable call) that led to another goal for our opponents.  Toward the end of the game it was looking good for Sports Authority as they were clinging on to a 4-2 lead.  My team managed to add a goal with a couple of minutes to play.  Though we dominated play toward the end of the game, we had trouble equaling the score.  That was until 4.6 seconds left.  Our opponents were down a man, we had our goalie pulled.  So with six skaters versus four, a faceoff down in their end, our team won a quick draw back followed by a shot from the top of the circle.  The shot was tipped by another one of our players in front of the net sending the puck between the goalies legs.  The game was tied with 1.2 seconds left!

After the exciting finish to regulation play, the momentum was all ours.  Sports Authority started off the shootout, missing their first chance.  We missed our first chance as well, and they again missed their second with a great splits save from our goalie.  Our second skater flew down the ice at full speed, and quickly buried the puck in the back of the net.  This was the same skater who scored our first two goals.  Finally our opponents had their chance to score, otherwise the game would be over, and they once again missed the opportunity.  We had won a very exciting and fun game, hopefully the first of many to come.

We woke up early two Sundays ago to start the drive north to Yellowstone.  On the way up we decided to take I-25 to Casper and then US-20 all the way into the park through Thermopolis and Cody.  We had lunch at the Thermopolis Cafe, which was a nice little home cooking place.  We also stopped near Cody to check out the Buffalo Bill Dam.  From there it was on to Yellowstone, which we entered through the East Entrance station.

Once inside, we continued the drive along US-20 toward our destination for the night, the Old Faithful Inn.  We stopped along the way at the Lake Butte Overlook, Mary Bay, a hike along the Storm Point Trail, and some wildlife spottings around the Fishing Bridge Junction and the West Thumb Geyser Basin.  Eventually me made it to the inn, though it was a little later than I was expecting it to be.  The park had already captivated us and we had only just begun.  Fortunately we were able to catch an eruption of Old Faithful just after sunset, before having dinner at the Old Faithful Inn Dining Room.  From there it was off to get some sleep for an early morning again the next day.

Cody on Dwellable

Since starting the season 1-2 in my fantasy football leagues, I’ve gone on to win back to back games in all three leagues!  That takes me into third place of twelve, fifth place of ten, and second of four in my one league that has divisions.  Things have definitely improved since a very rough start in week one.  I’m also happy to report that I am still alive in the survivor game, along with five others.  I’m amazed that twelve others have already lost by picking a losing team, six were actually eliminated in the first week.  I am in third place in college pick’em but doing poorly in pro pick’em sitting at twelfth of fourteen.

Last week Kim and I traveled through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  We also made stops along the way in Bozeman, Montana and Victor, Idaho, my forty-seventh and forty-eighth visited states.  Idaho was also Kim’s forty-eighth visited state.  Now we both have Oregon and Delaware left to see to complete the full fifty.  Here is a map showing the route we took and some of the places we visited along the way.

View Yellowstone in a larger map

I have a bunch of pictures on my camera, but I haven’t had the time to start sorting through them yet. I will slowly post them over the next week or two, as I did with our trip to Alaska last year. For now here are a few videos that I took on our first full day inside of Yellowstone.

Old Faithful:

Riverside Geyser:

Fountain Paint Pot:

Wyoming on Dwellable

I’ve joined a bowling league at work and last night was our first night.  I don’t think I’ve bowled in a couple of years, and last night it really showed.  In the first game my score was 96.  Prior to last night I thought that I nearly always scored over 100, but I guess my memory is bad.  The second game was even worse with a score of 93.  Finally in the third game I bowled a 113.  I thought that typically my second game in a night was my best, but last night it was my worst.  Fortunately no one else in the league is really good, and we have a number of players who are considerably worse than me.  It is a handicap league, though I’m still trying to figure out what exactly that means.  I think our handicap is determined by taking our average and subtracting that from 230.  My average last night was just over 100, so my handicap should be around 130.  I’m hoping to improve as the twelve week league goes on, so I’ll provide updates in the future.

Tonight starts the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver.  Though my session isn’t until Saturday, I’m already excited for it.  I missed the Beer Fest last year while we took a trip back to Cincinnati.  To make up for it, I am doing the members only Saturday afternoon session.  Just like years past, I put together a list of breweries that I must hit, but I am always open to other suggestions.  Just take a look at the list of breweries that are participating.  I’m bummed to not see 75th Street Brewery on the list, but I’m sure there will be plenty of others to make up for it.  Obviously Kim will not be partaking this year, but fortunately a friend of mine is in town so I’ll likely tag along with him.  Cheers!

Fantasy football has started up for yet another season.  I am participating in three money leagues, all hosted on different websites.  So far I still like Yahoo! the best, but maybe that is just becuase it is the one I am the most familiar with.  Either that or it’s the only won that provided me a win this past week.  I had the lowest total score in both of my other leagues, so I definitely have some work to do.  In addition to the regular fantasy leagues, I am also playing Survivor Football, as well as both College and Pro Pick’em.  I’m hoping to repeat my wins in these games, wishing that there was money involved in them.  I’ll be sure to keep my standings updated on my blog as the seasons progress.

While back in Cincinnati two weekends ago, I also got the chance to ride in a glider plane.  A friend of Kim’s family has asked me multiple times to take a ride with him, and I finally found the time to do so.  I also brought along my dad for a ride, and he actually got to go up twice!  We met up with a big crowd of members from the Caesar Creek Soaring Club in the early afternoon, and waited our turns.  It can take a little time as they only have a handful of gliders and only two tow planes, but we eventually got to take our rides.  I must say that it was really cool!  Once you are up in the air, it’s amazing how the glider can still gain altitude using ascending air currents.  My ride was just about an hour-long, with perfect weather, and lots to see from three of four thousand feet up.  The most amazing part is how quiet gliding can be without an engine making all sorts of noise.  Here is a video of my dad taking off in the yellow glider.

Also a couple of photos I took during the day.

This past Saturday, the Tour de Fat came to Denver bringing it’s traveling festival full of bikes, entertainment, and of course New Belgium beer.  Kim and I decided to bike up to the starting point, City Park, early in the morning to arrive in time for the 10am bike parade departure.  We barely made it in time, and found some friends of ours along the route.  The parade is just a really large bike ride, covering around six miles of the downtown Denver area.  The large crowd and many stop lights made it rather difficult to actually ride a bike at times, but we all made it to the end around two and a half hours after starting.  After the parade everyone headed back to City Park for various performances, exhibits, and beer from New Belgium.  I would have expected more beer booths than provided, which led to really long lines, so we didn’t stick around for too long, but we had a good time anyway.

The fall TV season is right around the corner.  I’m so excited to watch the next season of Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Survivor, and Amazing Race, just to name a few.  The question becomes which new series will be worth watching?  I spent some time programming the DVR last night to include The Event, Mike & Molly, Raising Hope, and Chase.  I also plan to try My Generation, $#*! My Dad Says, Outsourced, and No Ordinary Family.  I don’t plan to regularly watch all of these new shows, but I figure they are worth an episode or two to decide what are keepers and which should be deleted forever.  Are there any others that I’m forgetting?