Archive for October, 2009

So Long KC

My trip to Kansas City is just about over, in more ways than one. I finally got some KC BBQ for lunch today, which pretty much wrapped up the trip. A group of ten of us from work headed to the Summit Hickory Pit. I’ve been many times before and have always enjoyed the food. This time was no different, great lunch!

Now I’m waiting to board the plane to fly back. I’m really hoping to see the sun upon arrival. It’s been hiding the entire time I’ve been in town. And I’m told it’s been missing for an entire week. That’s rough!

Beat The Bulls

Tonight the University of Cincinnati football team has their biggest game of the year so far. Thus far most of the teams they’ve played were unranked, but that will all change tonight when they take on #21 ranked South Florida all the way down in Tampa. I believe that the Bearcats are favored by a few points, and it should be a great game to watch. Tune into ESPN at 7:30 eastern tonight to watch it all unfold.

Speaking of football, I had another weekend of going 1-2 in fantasy football. I can proudly say that somehow I am no longer in last place in any of my leagues. Though I’m not exactly winning anything either. I’m pretty much two or three teams out of last place in all my leagues. I’m doing alright in my pick’em leagues, but of course none of those have any money involved. I’m also still alive in my survivor league, one of only eight guys remaining. Finally, it seems that I’ve figured out a few things with salary cap and I’m now in fifth out of fifteen teams.

Kansas City, Here I Come

I took an early flight this morning to Kansas City.   It is time for my sort of annual trip for work.   The last time I was here was back in July of 2008, so it’s been a little longer than a year.   The office itself hasn’t changed much.   We are in different groups than my last visit, so many people have moved offices and cubes, but the layout is nearly the same as it’s always been.   It’s nice to be able to catch up with some of the people in my group, some of whom I’m meeting in person for the first time.   And it’s also nice to catch up with all of those that I used to work with that are still around.   I’m hoping to see some other folks while I’m in town for the reminder of the week.   It looks like it will be a busy couple of days.

New In Town

So we had our first snow of the year on Saturday. It wasn’t anything serious, but there was a light dusting that stuck to the non-pavement areas. The thing that was scary was the temperature, which stayed in the 20s for most of the day and never made it above freezing. Kim and I never made it out of the house the entire day. We ordered enough pizza for both lunch and dinner, and caught up on all sorts of recorded TV shows. Eventually we ran out of things to watch and decided to get a movie from On Demand.

I was expecting to see some great movie choices, but we were quickly disappointed and realized that we recognized very few titles. I let Kim pick a movie, and after scrolling through the list over and over she finally found one that caught her eye called New In Town. She said that her mom had seen it and enjoyed it. I think her mom enjoyed imaging how out-of-place Kim must be during her work trips to the small towns in North Dakota, Minnesota, etc.

The premise of this movie is that an executive of a company, played by Renée Zellweger, moves from Miami to a tiny town in Minnesota to oversee a plant reconfiguration. The comedy of the city girl in the small rural town starts almost immediately when she is not prepared for the blistering cold of the north. And though the movie is very predictable, especially her   romance with the guy whom she hated at first, the jokes make it a decent movie for a snowed-in night.

Beat The Catamounts

Friday night Kim and I headed to the season opener for the #1 ranked University of Denver hockey team.   Their opponent for the night was the University of Vermont Catamounts.   Despite a huge student crowd, the arena was much less crowded than I was expecting.   Our seats were on the student section end, which we like, but we were down a little to far and would have spent the entire game standing.   Fortunately we were able to move nearly anywhere we wanted in the higher rows to find a good sitting view.


Me and Boone, the unofficial mascot of DU.

The game started off a little rough for the Pioneers with Vermont scoring the first goal of the game.   Denver was able to quickly add a goal of their own, but Vermont added another before the end of the first period.   The scoring didn’t stop there, with Vermont adding another five minutes into the second.   Again, DU was able to score one of their own, only to have Vermont add yet another, making the score 4-2 at the end of the second.   The third period was all DU.   They added a goal within thirty seconds of the start of the period and were able to sneak in two more before the end of the game, the last one coming with two minutes left.   It was good to see a 5-4 win for the Pioneers, but I think everyone was expecting a little more.   Unfortunately they went on to lose the rematch on Saturday, 6-4.

Alaska In Photos: Day 6

We had a late start on our sixth full day but eventually we packed up the RV and headed out of Seward. Before leaving the town completely we made a quick stop past Exit Glacier. This is the only glacier that you can drive up to in Kenai Fjords National Park. From the parking lot it’s a pretty quick hike up to the face of the glacier. I wish we would have had extra time and energy to climb higher up the trail to the Harding Icefield, but we got within 10 or 20 yards of the glacier.

From there we continued driving north toward the Sterling Highway. From there we took the Sterling Highway back south toward the town of Homer. This wasn’t a full planned out day, but since we gained an extra day on our trip we decided to make the most of it. We spotted a grizzly along the drive and pulled over to get a better view. The bear was just on the other side of small river eating a salmon that it had recently caught. I was so happy to have finally saw a bear from fairly close, close enough!

The rest of the drive down to Homer was very pretty, as we paralleled the sea for most of it. We had a wonderful lunch along the way in Soldotna at the St. Elias Brewing Company. Once in Homer, we immediately headed for the Homer Spit, which is a four and a half mile strip of land that juts out into Kachemak Bay. We found a great spot to park the RV for the night and explored the town. I will admit that there isn’t much to do in Homer, essentially it is a fishing village that is famous for their halibut. But the scenery is amazing and it was a very nice place to spend our last night in Alaska.


Homer on Dwellable
New Team: Hockey Guild

Another season of hockey started last night.   I’m still playing with a few of the same guys from last season, whom I’ve played with for years now, but most of the guys are new teammates.   We’ve moved up a division, and the speed increase is pretty noticeable and a nice change.   Our team is partly sponsored by the Hockey Guild, which I hope will provide some opportunities in the future for other teams and/or tournaments.

Our game last night started off really well, even though many players on our team have never played together.   We had a few quick goals to take an early lead.   Eventually the other team started scoring, but we never lost the lead.   I had a nice shot from the point (playing defense again) that another player tipped up for one of our earlier goals.   When it came down to the third period, we started to lose some of our momentum and eventually the game was tied with just over two minutes to play.

Then, one of the referees called a weak penalty on us, which most felt should have let slide in such a close game.   The other team took full advantage of their power-play to get another goal and take the lead with around a minute to play.   We tried our best to tie it up again, but it didn’t happen.   Despite the loss, I felt our new team played really well and we will only improve from here.   I believe we have a week off already, so hopefully we can all remember how to play at our next game.

Season Opener

Today is opening day for one of Colorado’s ski resorts, Loveland. They only have one run open, but have an 18 inch base of mostly artificial snow. This is their earliest opening in 40 years. Next to open is Arapahoe Basin, which is one of the resorts on my season pass. They plan to open this coming Friday, their earliest opening in history. Though I doubt Kim and I head out this weekend, it won’t be long until our weekend plans nearly always revolve around snowboarding. Last year we had around 15 days on the slopes, and I am hoping to have even more this year.

Good Laughs At Comedy Works

Friday night Kim and I headed downtown with a group of about ten others to see a comedy show at Comedy Works. This was the first time we’d gone to a show here, though we had often thought about it before. A friend of ours had discounted tickets (only $10) for the show, but we were still required to buy two drink and/or food items. I guess this two item minimum is standard for the club.

The headline comedienne was Kathleen Madigan and opening up the show was a fella named Saleem. I thought Saleem was hilarious. He’s originally from Dayton, Ohio so some of his jokes were very easy for me to relate to. I would definitely go seem him again in the future. Kathleen took the stage after Saleem and started off a little slow. Eventually she had the room cracking up, but in the end I still thought that Saleem was more funny. I’m not sure that I’d see Kathleen again, though for $10 anything is possible.

Alaska In Photos: Day 5

We woke up very early on our first day in Seward. We had reservations for a six-hour tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park with Kenai Fjords Tours starting at 7am. Before getting on the boat, we stopped for a great breakfast at the Smoke Shack. This restaurant is inside a converted railroad car and has some great biscuits and gravy. Highly recommended!

Our cruise started promptly and though the inside was pretty full when we arrived, there was plenty of room outside on the back deck. We had brought along plenty of cold weather gear and decided to stay outside with a few other brave souls for the entirety of the cruise. Among the wildlife we saw were Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, a Humpback Whale, two species of Puffins, and Steller Sea Lions. These were all just bonus items, as the real destination of the cruise is the glaciers inside the park boundaries. We passed numerous glaciers, including Bear, Holgate, and Pederson.

The highlight of the trip was when we arrived at our destination of Aialik Glacier. At this tidewater glacier, the captain turned off the engines and we floated for a half hour or so about a mile from the very large glacier. Pieces of the glacier fell off pretty regularly, plunging into the ocean with a large splash and a loud rumble. This was such a cool thing to see in person, and I wish I had a video camera to record some of the action. After a quick lunch, we turned around and we on our way back to the harbor. The cruise was pricey, but highly recommended.

From there we stopped by the Alaska SeaLife Center. Here we were able to see many of the same animals we saw on the cruise in an up-close environment. Unfortunately, one of the exhibits was closed, so we didn’t get to see the Harbor Seals. I was expecting a little more from the SeaLife Center, but it was an okay quick stop for the day.

From there we walked up the street from the SeaLife Center through the main street of Seward, 4th Ave, stopping at a few of the local watering holes. There are a half dozen or so all within a block or two, which provided some much needed nighttime entertainment for a few hours. Later we wandered up to Chinook’s Waterfront Restaurant for an excellent meal before heading back to the RV for the night.


Seward on Dwellable