My hockey team had an exciting win last night over the fourth place team in our league.   My team was in tenth (out of twelve) so it was obviously a big win for us.   We skated right with them the entire game and may have actually controlled the puck for more time than they did.   I was back on defense for this game but managed to get an assist  when one my shots from the point was deflected into the net.   Regulation time ended in a six to six tie, so we moved  on to a shootout.   The other team shot first, and our goalie made a great save.   Our first shooter found the back of the net rather easily.   Their second shooter also missed, as did our second.   Finally our goalie made another great save on their third shooter to end the game.

After another week of the Jenny Challenge  I have fallen a little off the pace I was setting before.   I only put in 18.7 miles this past week, compared to over  28 last week.   I’ve been pretty busy lately, but I managed to put in another four miles over lunch today.   I’m still well on pace to complete the 100 miles by Christmas.

Finally, the regular season of fantasy football is now over.   I am moving on to the playoffs in two of my leagues, and barely missed out in the other league.   I finished the regular season in fourth place in one league, and fifth in the other two.   Fifth place isn’t good enough to make the playoffs in one of my leagues.   I also remain in sixth place in both the college and pro pick’em games.

Last night I had my first experience at a Brewery Bar restaurant.   Prior to our second childbirth class, my wife and I stopped in at Brewery Bar III for a quick meal.   I already knew that the restaurant wasn’t a brewery at all, but a local chain of Mexican restaurants.   Apparently the first in the chain of restaurants was inside the old Tivoli Brewery in downtown Denver.   With that bit of knowledge the name makes a little more sense.    

Margarita along with complimentary chips and salsa.

After reading that the margaritas were on special, I decided that I had to try one.   I wasn’t given an option  to have salt on the rim, but happily mine came served that way anyway.   The drink was good.   I wish the same could be said for the chips and salsa.   The chips are obviously not fresh prepared, and I’m not sure if the salsa is either.   It could have easily come right out of a jar.   If it was in a jar, it would have been labeled spicy.   Perhaps the spiciness was the only redeeming character.   At this point I wasn’t expecting much from the meal.    

Three chicken soft tacos.

I decided to try the special of the day, which was three tacos and a margarita for only $8.95.   I had already ordered the margarita for the happy hour price of $4, so this was an easy choice.   I was given the option of having hard or soft tacos, as well as either beef or chicken.   I went with chicken soft tacos.   At this price I wasn’t expecting too much, especially after the chips and salsa tasting.   Unfortunately my expectations were met.   The tacos were very plain, though I added some taco sauce which did help some.   Still they were filling and very cheap.    

Combo 1: crisp chili relleno and a smothered burrito.

The redeeming dish of the night was what my wife ordered, the Combo 1 featuring a crisp chili relleno and a smothered chicken burrito.   She choose to have it all smothered in both hot and mild green chili.   The hot green chili was definitely hot, but was by far my highlight of the meal.   The chili relleno was also very delicious.   The smothered chicken burrito was as to be expected, but also hit the spot with the addition of green chili.   Green chili makes everything better.   If we decide to eat here again I will be sure to try dishes that are served with their selection of chilis.

This past Sunday I enjoyed my second day on the slopes this season with the same group that headed up two weekends ago.   This time we decided to check out Breckenridge.   The snow wasn’t as good as we had at Keystone on our first day, but it was still pretty good in spots.   Down low on the mountain there wasn’t much snow and even the groomers got pretty rough toward the end of our day.   However, Rob and I found some good snow up higher on peaks seven and eight.   In order to reach these slopes, I had to conquer the t-bar.

I had never tried the t-bar prior to Sunday, but have had my share of falls on rope tows and a platter lift  at Vail.   Before hopping on the t-bar I sat just above it and watched other snowboarders use it so I got an idea of what to do.   Though the t-bar can accommodate  two people at once, the first time up I decided to do it on my own.   Just before grabbing the pole, I asked the lift attendant for any advice and he told me to stand up.   I chuckled quickly before it was time to grab on and go.   I surprised myself by not falling down right away.   After a quarter of the way up my arms began to ache and I struggled to keep the t-bar parallel to the ground.   It was at that point I realized that I had the bar too high and I moved it down lower under my butt.   The remainder of the ride went smoothly.

At the top we enjoyed some of the best snow we had seen all day.   Once back at the bottom I knew it was time to ride the t-bar again.   This time I decided that Rob and I should easily be able to catch a lift together.   While waiting our turn Rob let me know that he had never ridden the t-bar with a snowboarder before.   I think he was a little nervous too.   Again I had no problems catching the bar and starting up the hill.   In fact, this ride was even easier than the first time.   Not only was the bar in the correct position  the whole time, I didn’t have to use my right arm to try to keep the bar parallel to the ground.   It was a great success!   I look forward to many more rides up the t-bar in the future.

Recently we have done a lot to prepare for our little bundle of joy’s arrival.   Our childbirth classes started last Tuesday and will continue for three more weeks.   We are also doing lots of painting around the house, while we still have time to do so.   This weekend we actually sat down for about eighty minutes to prepare in another way, by watching the recently released movie titled Babies.   The subject of this movie has been a hot topic among friends, and this movie came as a fun recommendation.

Babies follows four different children from their birth through about one year of age.   The four come from very different parts of the globe: Ponijao  from Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal  from Mongolia; Mari from Toyko, Japan; and Hattie from San Fransisco.   Though the environments that these babies are brought  up in are very different, they all seem to develop at very similar rates and do pretty much the exact same  things.   Though Ponijao  spends most of her time in the dirt, she actually appears to be the first of the children who learns to walk.   Perhaps since she is left on her own to get around, she develops the skill more quickly out of necessity.

The movie itself has no narration, no clearly discernible  language, just wonderful imagery of the children spliced  together.   The intent must be  to let the actions of the babies tell the story, which I think the movie does pretty well.   I would have been curious to see if some dialog would have made it even more powerful.   As it is hard for me to relate to the children growing  up in underdeveloped  nations, I think more information on the daily lives of these people could have created even more of a storyline.   Regardless, the movie was entertaining enough and easily conveys a message that despite differences, children from different cultures are very similar.

With one week down in the Jenny Challenge, I have completed 28 miles. I am well on my way to finishing the full 100 by Christmas. My dad is nearly leading the way for all participants with 41.2 miles in the first week. He is winding down his training for the Rocket City Marathon in my birth town of Huntsville, Alabama. I’m thinking that he should shoot for 200 miles by Christmas.

I had bowling and a hockey game last night. Bowling was first and I had an alright night. My scores were 106, 103, and 114. I doubt my average of 113 moves down very much. My team has climbed into first place and should remain there after winning all three games last night. Next week is the last week, but I will have to miss it unfortunately. There is talk of another league starting up in February.

My hockey game didn’t go any better. I didn’t play particularly well after the Chipotle dinner and a couple of beers at the bowling alley. We actually played pretty well as a team and only lost by two goals, 5-3.

Finally, I had a couple of wins and a loss in last weekends fantasy football. In the winning leagues, I sit comfortably in third and fourth place and should make the playoffs in both. Unfortunately in the other league, the loss could cause me to miss the playoffs. I need the guy who took my spot to lose, and I need a win, for there to be any chance of making it. I am in sixth place in both pick’em games, so those aren’t looking too promising either.

This past Sunday my wife and I ventured out of the house for breakfast.   We still had a Groupon to use at Breakfast on Broadway so we drove that way again.   We arrived to find  a line out the door and decided to walk over to Bites, a newer cafe that we had noticed a few times before.   It’s only a block or so north on Broadway, so the walk was simple.   We arrived at Bites to find it halfway full.   After quickly glancing at a menu we decided to grab a table for the two of us.  

Biscuit And Gravy

We both started with a chai latte, which came served in a pint glass.   I enjoyed the drink very much, but my wife thought it could have been hotter.   When her chai gets too cool, she doesn’t enjoy it anymore, and she wasn’t able to finish the entire thing.   We both decided to order items from the specials, not from the menu.   I ordered the biscuits and gravy while she ordered the pumpkin and walnut pancakes.   She also added a couple of eggs while I also chose an order of the rosemary potatoes.  

Rosemary Potatoes

Overall, the food was very good.   I could immediately tell that the biscuit was  baked  from scratch, and it tasted wonderful.   The accompanying  sausage gravy was also very good with nearly enough spice for me.   I  added a little Cholula (as seen in the  first photo) to spice it  up even more.   The rosemary potatoes were also  quite delicious, but weren’t served as  hot as I would have liked.   My wife’s pancakes were also very good and didn’t even need to have any  maple syrup added to them.   We will definitely be back to try more of their delicious food.  

Pumpkin And Walnut Pancakes

Saturday was Michael Franti’s semiannual Harvest Ball.   We attended back to back Harvest Ball  shows a couple of years ago at the Fillmore, and this time the single night show was held at the larger 1STBANK Center in Broomfield.   This was my first time not only seeing a show at the 1STBANK Center, but also the first time I had ever been inside the arena.   It was actually smaller than I was expecting it to be, with only one bowl of small seating sections.   Fortunately there was lots of space with the open and standing general admission floor.    

We walked in to hear the sounds of The Motet already warming up the stage.   I saw this band for the first time over the summer at the Mile High Music Festival and was fairly impressed by them.   Despite their lack of vocals and sometimes long jams, I find their sound to be tight and groovy.   Their three-piece horn section definitely adds to my overall enjoyment of their music.    

After a rather long break, Michael Franti and Spearhead finally took the stage after 9pm.   As I expected, the majority of the setlist featured songs from the last couple of albums.   I really enjoy these albums, but I also like hearing some of the older tunes as well.   As always the energy from Michael and the band were unparalleled.   We stood at the back of the floor near the soundboard for the first half of the show and were surprised at how well we could see.   I guess no matter where you stand it’s hard to miss a 6’6″ frontman.    

At one point we took a break for a drink and decided to lounge in some chairs at the back of the arena for a while.   Shortly thereafter Michael and some of his band mates appeared on a platform just in front of the soundboard, very close to where we had been standing before.   They played a couple of songs from this position, before returning to the stage.   It has become a custom to find Michael suddenly appearing in a section full of people, which also happened later in the show, as well as another stop at the platform near the soundboard.   It’s very evident that they strive to entertain everyone in the crowd equally.    

Michael and other band members in a sea of fans.

It is hard for me to believe that I’ve only seen Michael Franti play nine times since 2003. It seems like that number should be higher, especially since how much I love seeing him and the band perform. I always leave each show feeling so good and ready to take on the world.   Be sure to catch this super fun live show if you get the chance.

While chowing down on Thanksgiving dinner, a couple of friends and I made plans to hit the slopes the following day.   I woke up bright and early on Friday morning (5:45am) and met up with two friends at a park and ride along the highway.   We left the parking lot just after 6:30 in the morning and I drove us up to Keystone.   We wanted to be sure to avoid any traffic, which was completely successful, though we may have been even a bit too early.   We arrived at Keystone before eight and the lifts don’t open until nine.

With all the  recent snow that has fallen  in the mountains many of the resorts are opening lifts and terrain much quicker  than ever.   One of these record-breaking  openings was the earliest ever opening of The Outback at Keystone.   Traditionally this is my favorite area of Keystone, so once we were finally on the slopes, we immediately headed that way.   Usually you would take either Mozart, Mine Shaft, or Diamond Back from the top of Dercum  Mountain (the first peak at Keystone) to gain access to both North Peak and The Outback.   On Friday, these  trails  were all  closed  due to lack of snow coverage, so the only way to access the other two peaks was to take a ride on the Outpost Gondola.

Enjoying the snow in The Outback at Keystone.

I don’t think I have ever ridden the Outpost Gondola, but I was more than happy to take a ride this day.   Once we made it to North Peak and then The Outback we were treated to absolutely no lines.   In addition the snow was actually really good, especially for November.   We enjoyed many hours of fun out in The Outback.   The highlight of the day was easily the snow we found after a quick hike to the North Bowl.   My friend Rob and I often hike out to the North and South Bowls to find the best powder.   Friday was no exception, where after a half mile hike we found over half a foot of untouched powder.   It took us both by surprise, but we enjoyed every minute of it.

After noon we decided to work our way back towards the front of the resort.   We took one run down Bachelor, and soon realized that the snow wasn’t very good on the front side of the mountain.   I’ve often found this to be  true.   Rob blames it on the night skiing that Keystone has.   Most resorts in Colorado don’t offer it.    We also  found large lines all along the front side of the mountain.   Those two things put together convinced us to call it a day.   I was so happy that most people either couldn’t figure out how to get back to the other two mountains or just weren’t interested.   It left all the  good snow for us while they dealt with all the icy conditions on the front.   It was a great first day of the season!

Keystone on Dwellable

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.   I know I did.   We had dinner at some friends’ house who were hosting a group of the misfits (mostly from Cincinnati) for the holiday.  

My plate of food on Thanksgiving.

The hosts cooked a bunch of the food, but I volunteered to bring over a couple of dishes to share.   I choose to make the sweet potatoes and a green bean casserole.   After hearing that someone at the party either was allergic to or didn’t like mushrooms, I decided to try something different for the green bean casserole.   I found this recipe  and followed the directions exactly.   This dish turned out great, but I wasn’t overly impressed with it.   Maybe it was just all of the  great food that was prepared, but I think it could have had even more flavor.   Still a very pleasing alternative to the traditional casserole.  

Grandma's Green Bean Casserole.

I settled on this recipe  for the sweet potatoes, mostly because it was the highest rated sweet potato dish I could find.   Let me say that I would have to agree with the rating on this one, it was delicious, and seemed to be  the favorite of many of our group.   With that said, I had a few problems with the recipe, which I again tried to follow exactly.   It seemed that my sweet potatoes weren’t nearly done enough after only fifteen minutes in boiling water.   I removed them from the water at that time and I couldn’t mash them at all.   I returned them to boiling water for another ten minutes, and I still had problems mashing.   Unfortunately  I didn’t realize the problem before I added the sauce to the potatoes.   So rather than  boiling them anymore, I was forced to put them into the oven to cook.  

I baked them for around ten minutes, and finally I was able to start mashing some of the potatoes, though not nearly half as the recipe indicated.   Again, I baked them for another ten minutes and finally I was able to get half of the potatoes mashed.   I think that cutting the potatoes up into smaller pieces at the start would have helped fix my problem.   I had another problem with the last step of adding marshmallows  to the top and baking until brown.   It seems my dish was a little too liquidy, and the sauce was boiling rapidly in the oven, which quickly disintegrated most of the marshmallows.   Rather than trying again, I simply mixed the remaining marshmallows into the dish and watched them melt.   Despite these issues, the sweet potatoes were excellent.  

In rushing to get the potatoes finished, I forgot to take a photo of them.   You will just have to trust me that they looked as delicious as they tasted.

You may recall the running challenge I participated in at this time last year.   The goal was to run 100 miles between Thanksgiving and Christmas.   I was able to complete the challenge last year (week 2 results, week 3, and week 4) with a few days leftover.   Well it is back again this season, and I am signed up to participate.   I don’t actually know Jenny but found out about the challenge through friends in Denver.   It is open to anyone, so I encourage you to give it a try.   To sign up just visit jennychallenge.blogspot.com  and follow the directions.   If you do decide to sign up, let me know, as there are already over 150 people registered and finding someone without scanning the entire list is impossible.   Good luck runners.