Nuggets of Denver

Well, a few weeks ago, I won a free night's stay at the Adam's Mark hotel in Denver.
It happened at the "Care Rally" that we had, when the general manager read a letter from a customer to the hotel, and the letter was about how I personally had taken care of him. So the GM had me come up and spin the wheel of prizes, and I got a good one.

Sarah and I had plans for the next few weekends, or responsibilities, so we put it off for awhile. This weekend, we were free, so we decided to go out Friday night, and spend Saturday wandering around. Our hotel was really nice, and we were on the 15th floor, so we had a good view. Here's a pic from our hotel room, as well as a picture of the 16th street mall (Which you can see from our room.) and a pic of a sculpture outside, and a few downtown buildings.


The night was good. It was cool to sleep in a king bed. We ate dinner at Chilis on the 16th St. mall, and went over to the theatre to see Benchwarmers. The next morning, we got up around 9 or 10, and ate breakfast/lunch at a little place called the Extraordinary Egg. Very good service, decent food. Then we wandered around the downtown area. It's a beautiful city. There was a building I remembered from when I'd been here back in 97, and I was able to get directions to it. It's an ornate catholic church at the corner of 19th and Broadway called the Church of the Holy Ghost. A few years back, they were offered a big deal for the land they're on. A corporation wanted to put a skyscraper there, and the church was in the way. Well, the church had been there forever, and didn't want to move. This happens alot in cities, but not necessarily the resulting solution. The church and the business met a compromise in that the church sold the airspace above them, and enough surrounding area to put the base of the skyscraper for 2.5 million. They used the money to build a youth center for kids in the poor area of the city. The resulting image is one of architectural ingenuity. I'll post a few pics, but it's really something to see.


Finally, I was taking a few pics around the house the other day, and got this one of Sarah. It's really cute, and I thought I'd share it.

Pictures

Took some pictures this last week.
Here's me at my hotel...







Here's a montage of photos from the interior of the hotel, with a picture of Pike's Peak in the background.

The pic of the mountain is from the back parking lot of our church.

Weakerthans

Last night, on my way home, I was listening to the album "Left and Leaving" by the emo/indie band The Weakerthans. Many people I know will overlook any album connected to emo, despite how good it might be, and I can understand their reasoning. (For the uninitiated, "emo" is a genre of music that has sprung up in the last 8 years or so. It is short for "emotion" and is basically hard, screamy music, with enough emotional content that some bands in the genre cry on stage. It started out as something original, very quickly got copied, just as quickly got annoying, and it has turned off as many fans as it has generated.) I would not consider the Weakerthans emo, but they are on an emo label, and that's enough for most people to hate them.

I cannot stress enough, the lyrical quality on this album, and it is strongly supported by an incredibly talented musical base. The drums on the last 30 seconds of the song "This is a fire door, never leave open" are amazing. Easily some of the most engaging drums this side of the Mississippi.

Needless to say, I want to post a few lyrical excerpts from the album. If you have the chance, pick it up. With an open mind, and a few listens, I have the feeling that you'll love them too.

From the song "Left and Leaving"
- "My city's still breathing but barely, it's true. Through buildings gone missing like teeth."
- "Wait for the year to drown. Spring forward, fall back down. I'll try not to wonder where you are."
- "I wait in 4/4 time. Count yellow highway lines, that you're relying on to lead you home.

From the song "Pamphleteer"
- "How I don't know what I should do with my hands when I talk to you, and you don't know where you should look, so you look at my hands."

From the song "Exiles among you"
- "She shoplifts some christmas gifts, and a bracelet for herself, and considers phoning home. Has some quarters in her hand. But she sits down on the sidewalk, and bites her bottom lip, and spends the afternoon willing traffic lights to change."

From the song "My favourite chords"
- "They're tearing up streets again. They're building a new hotel. The mayor is out killing kids to keep taxes down. And me and my anger sit, folding a paper bird, letting the curtains turn to beating wings. Wish I had a socket set, to dismantle this morning. Just one pair of clean socks, and a photo of you. When you get off work tonight, meet me at the construction site, and we'll write some notes to tape to the heavy machines. Like 'We hope they treat you well', 'Hope you don't work too hard', ' We hope you get to be happy sometimes.'"

From the song "Aside"
- "And I'm leaning on this broken fence between past and present tense. And I'm losing all those stupid games that I swore I'd never play, but it almost feels ok."


-----------------------------•••-----------------------------•••-----------------------------

Other bands neglected for the same reasons that deserve a listen:
• Last Days of April
• The Helms
• Jimmy Eat World

Hoist that rag

I feel like a pirate today. I am listening to the ultra-awesome song by Tom Waits "Hoist that rag" off of his 2004 album Real Gone. It's gotta be about being a pirate. At least a little.

Things have been going very well, but busy. Real busy. It's kinda nice, because now we won't fly into babyhood straight from boring, slow, lonely life. We have had alot of events at church, doctor appointments, and good times with new friends... which balanced with a really weird new schedule makes for a very tired little duo.

Sarah's been having a harder time lately. She pretty uncomfortable. Cute, but uncomfortable. Here's a picture.


I've been working 4:30 am - 1 pm. It's got advantages, but I'm just bushed when I get home. It's hard to get to bed before 8, and so most days I get 5 hours sleep. Sarah's dealt with it, and we've been making the most of our time together, but she's tutoring 4 days a week now, as Halie needs to catch up on her studies. So I get home, we get a few hours, and then she's off to tutor, and by the time she's back, I'm in bed, or getting there.

I am so excited about the baby. He's almost here! It's so cool to see him move, and know what he's doing. He's had hiccups the last few days. It weirds Sarah out, but it's pretty funny to me.

I'm almost to the point when I can announce our cool new news. It's just not all together yet.

Well, that's it for today, oh, and for the gullible out there, that was not a picture of our church event. It just looked funny, so I put it up.

cya.

Funny picture

Haven't posted in awhile. I have some possibly exciting news on the way, but I'll wait till it's a bit more solidified before putting it up here. Woke up this morning for a men's breakfast with the guys from church. Cracker Barrel. Awesome. I love Cracker Barrel. Their apple butter is great.

Oh, anyway. I was browsing through some pictures in my iphoto collection and came across this gem from last Halloween. It stars some of my good friends from Starbucks back in Woodridge, IL.

George is the dinosaur.
Mike is Mr. Incredible.
Michelle is an angel.
And Emily is the plastically endowed nascar racer.

It's priceless.

Cool quote

Found this cool quote the other day. Definitely the man I want to be.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly... who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."

- Teddy Roosevelt

Day off.

Ahhhhh....

It was so weird waking up when it's light outside. Feels good though.

Woke up this morning and made breakfast. Bacon, scrambled eggs and biscuits with raspberries inside. (I took regular Pillsbury biscuits, and cut them down the side before cooking, spread a mixture of raspberries and sugar inside that I had microwaved for a couple seconds, and pinched the sides shut again. Regular baking time, and they were ready to go.) It turned out great, and was a fun way to start our day off together.

Sarah tutors Halie tonight. Oh! I didn't mention. Now that Halie is back from the Olympics, she needs to catch up on her studies. This means that Sar will be tutoring every weeknight, except for Wednesdays, and that means alot more money. And some alone time for me before the baby comes. I beat a computer game I've been playing for a long time, and I've had a chance to catch up on some reading.

Currently, I'm reading a book on preaching by Haddon Robinson. It's really great. Very eye opening. I finished a book or two by Origen, an Alexandrian theologen in the 200s. He was a bit off on quite a few things, but some of his ideas, and ways of explaining things are still used today.

Well, if I'm describing breakfast, and what I've been reading, it's proof that I don't really have a whole lot to say right now, so I'll stop for today.

Peace and thank you.

Back in black.

Well, these last two weeks have been exhausting. I've switched to a 4:30 am to 1 pm shift. It's nice because I'm off work so early, but it's been taking a toll on my body. Once I get adjusted to it, I'll be fine.

Needless to say, I've been too tired to write, and I couldn't think of anything when I did have the energy. Since I was needed at work last Sunday, I have a three day weekend this week. My boss has been great about scheduling me what closely resembles a regular work week. Next week, I'm Monday through Friday, all 4:30-1. That's the most reliable and regular schedule I've had in years. It feels nice to not have to worry about working a night here, and morning here, and midshift here... It lets me adjust, and build up a routine.

We've been doing a bit of shopping with the gift cards we received from the shower. We got a carseat the other day. It's very safe, and looks nice. I think we got one that will be easy to manuever and easy to clean. We never did get that camera. The offer expired, so we'll get one when we find another offer as good or better. But it'll be hard, that was a great deal. It's disappointing, but it's more important to pay bills right now.

We started parenting classes at the hospital last week. It used to be called Lamaze (sp?) and has to do alot with being informed along with relaxation and breathing techniques. We had fun, and met some nice couples. I am so excited about the baby, it's not even funny. I've been working on my sign language, and studying up on baby signing. It's really neat... Babies can understand you, and communicate with you using signs long before their vocal chords are mature enough to handle language. Signs like "More" "All done" "Pain" "Where?" and "Milk" are just a few of the everyday signs you can use with your baby. They generally start signing back around 6-8 months old, not to mention that they're essentially learning to be bilingual.

This week at work, we had several conventions in. One of which was a space emposium, which brought astronauts, mission control specialists, rocket scientists, and folks from every aerospace company you can imagine to Colorado Springs. Buzz Aldrin was here yesterday. I didn't get to meet him, and he wasn't staying in the hotel but was out to eat in the downtown area with friends who were staying at the hotel. I met the mission controller who was in charge of the flight directly following the Colombia tragedy. It was so interesting to spend time hearing what happened from a man who was in mission control when it happened. His office is across the hall from the mission controller of the Colombia, and he was very involved in the efforts to have NASA investigate the damage before reentry. He went to school with Onizuka of the Challenger tragedy back in 1986, and works in Houston. Today, I met a teacher from Florida who runs a space simulator camp for teens. She has a mock-up shuttle and mission control. She gave me a tee-shirt. I think I'll send it to my dad. He'd love it. It's named Challenger something or other. Needless to say, it's been a pleasure having so many intelligent people around. Just listening to conversations has been fantastic. Let alone the ones they've had with me. They're so excited about going back to the moon. There are so many natural resources that they're ready to start evaluating, and habitation... it's gonna be cool.

Well, tonight we're going to a party for a bellman who's moving to Georgia. He's been real cool, and it'll be sad to see him leave. It's at a Jamaican bar in the area. It's run by a waiter from the restaurant in the Antlers, and is called "Irie." (For those of you who are not familiar with the term, it's Jamaican for "alright.")

Hopefully, I'll be writing more. Thanks for hanging in there.

Peace.