I actually had a very positive experience with Comcast support on Friday.   Early that day I had noticed an increase in the frequent outages I was having with my Internet service over the last week or so.   I complained about it on twitter and was nearly immediately contacted by a member of Comcast’s support team (@ComcastDoug).   Through some back and forth messages on twitter, he determined that there were some issues and my report was escalated up to the local tech team in Denver.

Later that afternoon someone on their support team called and setup an appointment for a tech to come out between three and five.   That tech arrived promptly around four and immediately got to work.   He tested the line at the modem first, and then I showed him to all the splits and connections around the house.   He also spent some time out on the lines outside and later told me that he made some fixes there.   He also provided me with an updated cable modem and even threw in an improved remote control for the TV.   I was really impressed with his service, and so far today I haven’t seen any outages.

This is the last post of photos from our trip to Alaska. There are a few photos from our drive along the Sterling Highway from Homer back toward Anchorage. We made a slight detour along the way to have lunch in the tiny town of Hope. The only restaurant on the one block long town was the Seaview Cafe, and it provided yet another opportunity for Kim to have some fresh fish.

After lunch we continued along the Seward Highway back along the Turnagain Arm and toward Anchorage. We made a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This allowed us to get a closeup view of Elk, Muskox, Moose, Bison, Bald Eagles, Grizzly Bears, and more. We had a free coupon from our cruise at Kenai Fjords, and it was a worthwhile stop. I would even say that it would be worth the $10 admission price per adult.

From there we continued back toward Anchorage. Our last stop before returning the RV was at Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. Our lunch was later than I had wanted it to be, but we decided to stop here anyway.   Several people told us that it was a great stop to make in Anchorage, and we were not disappointed. The pizza and beers were fantastic! And the leftovers were a great meal once on the plane back to Denver. That wraps up one of the best trips I have ever been on. I would highly recommend a trip to Alaska for anyone!

Hope on Dwellable

Based on last night’s game, my new hockey team has a long way to go.   I’m told we played the defending champions from our new league, and they were good, but our team never quite clicked.   By the start of the third period we were down by five or six goals, and though we managed to cut their lead back to a couple of goals, I still feel like we need a couple more games to really get to know our new teammates.     Hopefully we can keep some lines together so guys start learning what their line-mates are going to do in different situations. I’ve been playing defense so far, but hopefully I’ll be able to move back up to forward on weeks where we have a smaller turnout. Last night we had three forward lines and two pairs of defense. I don’t believe I added any points to my assist from last week.

This was the first game I’ve played on the new second sheet of ice at the Ice Ranch. They’ve also had a second sheet, but it was much smaller than normal, and they only used it for three-on-three games and curling. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t have just put a regular sized rink in when they first built it, but I’m glad that they have two now. This allows us to play almost all of our games at this rink, which is one of the closest rinks to our house. Plus they have a bar for post game team building.

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats continue their undefeated season and have moved all the way to #5 in AP Poll and the first BSC Standings. Their game last week was on Thursday night, and I had to watch in from Kansas City while Kim watched with a large group in Denver. Fortunately my good friend Phil offered to watch the game with me. It was also nice to stumble upon a couple of other UC fans at the bar, who helped cheer the Cats to a commanding 34-17 win over then ranked South Florida. We are hoping to get another gathering together to watch the homecoming game versus Louisville this Saturday, so let me know if you are in.

The winning also continued in my fantasy football leagues, as all three of my standard league teams won! That’s a first for this season. I should now be in playoff contention in each, though I definitely still have room to move up. I’ve moved up to third place in one pro pick’em league and remain in first in another. I am also tied for fifth in college pick’em. In the survivor league, I am one of only five people that are still alive. And in the salary cap game I’m in third place, after making some great roster changes. Somehow Kim remains undefeated in one of our leagues, but unfortunately this isn’t a money league. Bummer.

Saturday morning, Kim and I drove down to Colorado Springs to meet up with our friends Amy and Corey and attend an Air Force football game.   We arrived plenty early to take in the pre-game festivities, which included many cadets marching onto the field in formation, a group of skydiving paratroopers, and a flyby of multiple F-16’s.

Cadets on the field before the game.

Paratroopers entering the stadium.

Though the game wasn’t the most exciting ever, Air Force walked away with a win over Wyoming, and the pre-game and halftime ceremonies more than made up for it.   At halftime they had a falcon fly down from on top of the press box and perform a number of passes over the crowd at very high speeds.   The bird makes repeated stoops at the baited lure swung by the cadet falconer.     I wish I would have gotten video of this, but the bird was too small and fast to capture.

Nearing a big win over Wyoming.

After the game we headed up toward the famed Cadet Chapel.   A wedding had just ended in the Catholic Chapel, so we were able to sneak in for a quick look before some of the retaining ropes were back in place.   This chapel is down on the basement floor of the building, so it doesn’t feature as much stained glass as the Protestant Chapel upstairs does.   The Protestant Chapel is much larger, the biggest of all the chapels, and is very colorful with the stained glass lining all the spires.

Outside the Cadet Chapel building.

View of the Cadet Chapel from the side.

Catholic Chapel

Protestant Chapel – both the south and north ends.

I apologize for the lack of better quality pictures, but these were all taken on my iPhone. I brought my good camera with me, but in my rush to get ready I accidentally left the memory card in my computer.

After Kim picked me up at the airport on Friday evening, we decided to head to Lala’s Wine Bar and Pizzeria for dinner. Kim was nearby the night before and decided that we should try it out. It was pretty crowded upon our arrival, but we were told that we could be sat immediately at the small bar overlooking the kitchen. I immediately noticed how loud it was inside, which I definitely could have done without, but fortunately the food and drink more than made up for it.

We first opted for a bottle of Quattro Mani Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, after we were given a small tasting that we both enjoyed. For a starter, we split the Pollo Salad which was a very tasty mix of chicken, dried cranberries, candied pecans, blue cheese, apples and cider vinaigrette over a mix of greens. The large serving was more than enough for the two of us to split.

We also decided to split a pizza for dinner, Il David, which was sauce-less and topped with three cheeses, herb grilled chicken, artichokes, oven dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and Peppadew peppers. The pizza arrived warm and perfectly cooked.   We thoroughly enjoyed all of the food and drink and will definitely be back in the future, despite the loud room.   I did notice that they do deliver, but I doubt they’d make the drive down to our place.

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!

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.

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.

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.