Wednesday, December 27, 2006

More Snow and Christmas

Looks like another round of snow is headed for Denver. The Raindancers here at work are saying that between Thursday night (12/28) and Friday night (12/29), the Denver area should be expecting 12-18 inches. AWESOME!! I was already planning on taking a vacation day on Friday to go skiing, so this works perfectly. I get to ski some big Colorado snow and the Denver area gets pounded too! I love snow, if you haven't imagined.

On to my rant of the day. . . education in America. This story may not reflect the state of education in America, but it shows that sometimes people fall through the cracks. Last night, Sarah and I wandered over to our friendly, neighborhood Old Navy. She had a gift certificate to spend and I didn't want to sit at the apartment watching Spanky lick himself. As Sarah meandered around the store and I followed obediently behind, two employees (one male, one female) were having an exchange in the section in which we were browsing. The two of them were making plans for dinner after the store closed. Apparently a group Old Navy employees wanted to grab a bite to eat after all the stacking and folding and talking into the walkie-talkies of the day. The girl (high school age) kept insisting that they go to Starbucks. The boy (also high school age) was adament that they do not go to Starbucks because Starbucks does not satisfy the hunger of a high school boy. After a little bit of a debate over the quantity of food at Starbucks, the boy called the girl a communist. The observer of this interchange (me) laughed at the humor in his statement. I, too, enjoy calling anyone who annoys me a communist. It was great. Well, the girl laughed too and wandered off. A minute later, she returned to start the debate again. Sometime during this part of the debate, she asked the boy what a communist was. SHE DID NOT KNOW WHAT COMMUNISM WAS!!! How unbelievable is that? Who were her social studies teachers through middle school and high school? They should be fired! Have her parents been waiting to have "the talk" explaining communism with their daughter until she reaches an appropriate age? She had to have been at least 16, because she was talking about driving to Starbucks (or wherever else they may go). How did she not know? It really bothered me that people can be that oblivious (or stupid, I don't know which one). Enough with ranting. Let's talk about something else because I'd rather be in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Can't wait for the flakes to fly. . .
See you in the blizzard,
Mike

Friday, December 22, 2006

Delicious Snow

After a day and a half of being home, I finally made it into work today. Hip-hip-hooray. Work sucks incredibly hard after a fun, snow-filled hiatus. So here I am.

Based on my guesses, it looks like my apartment got about 2+ feet of snow. It seems like more, but I know that the drifting made it look bigger. In most areas around my place, the snow comes up to at least my knees. Awesome. Absolutely awesome. I love snow, so this worked out perfectly. I really wish I would have gone skiing today, though. It would have been a better idea. However, I have done nothing the past few days, so I had to get some stuff done before the holiday.

Speaking of the holidays, I'm getting pretty pumped about them. We are having Christmas Eve dinner with Sarah's immediate amily, Christmas morning with her whole family, and Christmas afternoon/evening with my family. Should be a good time.

Once we get through the holidays, it is off to New York City for me! Mike Dunham is (surprisingly) getting married and his bachelor party is the first weekend in January. I leave early, early, early on the 5th of January. I think I land at JFK at 6:30 am. I have a little bit of time to kill before I can meet the next people coming in, so I was thinking about hitting up the Brooklyn Bridge (which I have yet to be on) and Ground Zero. Last time I was in New York, I did not have the chance to stop by Ground Zero and I really want to see it for myself. I don't think the pictures and the video do it justice. And as an engineer, it is sacreligious to be in New York for the third time and still not have checked out the Brooklyn Bridge. So I will go that morning before Rosie shows up around 1:00-3:00 (somewhere in there). It will be nice to see NYC again. I'm not sure if Rockefeller Center will still have the tree up at that point, but if it does, I'm hoping to make it over there too. Fortunately, the Rockefeller Center is only a few blocks from the hotel that we are staying at. However, with all the bachelor party activities that may be planned, I don't know when I will have time to check that out. We will see when I get there.

Back to work for now. Hope everyone in Colorado is enjoying the snow like I am!!

Thursday, November 30, 2006

NFL Corrections

I was wrong. There are more Rams out there than I thought. In addition to the ones listed in my last post:

Mike Brisiel - Texans
Eric Hill - Panthers
Blaine Saipaia - Lions
Jason Craft - Saints

I apologize to those four because I am convinced that they all read this blog and were extremely disappointed that I left them off the list.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

My new favorite NFL team

After a short hiatus, Bradlee Van Pelt is once again a professional football player. The Houston Texans picked him up after Sage Rosenhaus broke his hand making a tackle on a weird play. Rosenhaus is the holder and they attempted a 59 yard field goal. They were short and the opposing team returned it. Sage made the tackle and broke his hand in the process. Enter the BVP.



That makes three CSU Rams on the Texans. BVP, David Anderson - who was picked up by the Texans after the draft, and Dexter Wynn - who was cut by the Eagles and picked up by the Texans at the beginning of November.




Let's hope the Rams can represent themselves in Texas well. I believe that 3 is the highest number of CSU alums on a single NFL team. This is the list as I know it:

Broncos : 2 (Cecil Sapp, Erik Pears)
Steelers: 2 (Joey Porter, Clark Haggans)
Seahawks: 1 (John Howell)

I think that is all. Eight players currently. Hopefully Kory can make it too.




That is all from Flickville right now. One of these days I will sit down to give everyone a good update on my life. Stay classy, people.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dirty Ol' Uncle Flick

This past weekend I turned 24. Wow. It's really hard to believe that I am almost 1/2 way through the 20's. One more year and I will finally get a break on my car insurance!! Boo-yah!

I think:
The Broncos better start playing better than they did against the Raiders. If not, they are in some big, big trouble against the Chargers.
As much as it pains me to say this, Jimmie Johnson has the Nextel Cup wrapped up. The only way it won't happen is if someone wrecks him early and he ends up 43rd.
"Cars" is a great movie. Clever, funny, and entertaining. I'm mad I hadn't seen it sooner.
The election in Colorado really got my blood boiling. It bothers me that people vote for some of the obviously flawed ideas. If only people would read about the issues before they stepped into the voting booth.
Thank God those stupid political campaign commercials are done. I don't know if I could take any more of that crap. Just tell us what you think, you sleazy, dirty, stupid politician.
Ayn Rand has become one of my favorite authors. I can't say enough about "Atlas Shrugged". Easily one of my favorite books of all time. It is only time before I finish off the rest of her collection.
It's funny how you put up a whiny post saying that nobody reads your blog and within hours you get responses from people saying they read it. It's good to know that this blog actually is used!! I don't like the thought of doing this completely for my benefit. There are definitely better things I could be doing. . .
Nothing in this world aggrevates me more than Rubik's Cube. I just can't solve that stupid thing. And thanks for all your help, Jorge. I still am stuck!!
I can't wait for Sarah and I to be able to travel. There are a ton of places I would love to go that I have never been before (Seattle, Alaska, Mexico, Europe, Hawaii, New England, Djibouti). When they are working, there are no items better than a computer. However, when they are not working. . .
Spanky is going to get his balls chopped off on Saturday. He is also going to get some shots and some teeth pulled. Poor little guy. I don't envy his position!
I want to get a new dog. It will have to be something fairly small until I have a house with a yard. I'd like to hear some sweet dog names for both boy and girl dogs. Any suggestions?

And although it is not even baseball season, I have some baseball news for Timmay. This week, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, and Matt Holliday were awarded the Silver Slugger award for their respected positions in their respected leagues. Those three absolutely killed the ball this year and they all deserved it. However, Jamey Carroll did not win the NL Golden Glove for second base. His fielding percentage was incredible. I think he was robbed.

Monday, November 06, 2006

(I can't think of any clever titles)

Here it is November already. Damn, time flies by so quickly. So here is the update of the world that is Mike Flick. . .
Sarah got herself a job. Thank God. I don't have to support her any more!! She is excited. It is with two surgeons that work out of St. Anthony's Central and Lutheran Hospitals. Very very awesome. She was getting sick of not working, so it will be nice for her to be working for a while. Because she got this job, it looks like we won't be moving to Phoenix. Like I've said before, I'm torn on that issue. While I'm happy to be closer to both of our families, the mountains, the cold weather, and the Rockies, I'm a little disappointed that I'm not doing something new and exciting like moving to a new state with just Sarah and my truck. Either way, Sarah and I will do great. Plus, I love my job and the people I work with, so it would have been tough to leave them.

Random thoughts for this Monday evening -

  • I hate the Raiders with every ounce of my being.
  • I wish more people would read this thing. It feels somewhat like a waste of time, but I do get to update the few peeps that read it (Dunham, Fitz, JB, Timmay, Mandy)
  • Catholic weddings are ridiculous in their cost and preparation.
  • Michael Dunham has officially raged me in the race to the alter.
  • I'm glad the Broncos finally got their offense going. If only both sides of the ball would play during the same game. . .
  • I miss having a garage. This apartment thing is completely overrated. I can't even change the oil in my Xterra here. I have to go over to my parents' house to do that. So lame. Give me a garage anytime!
  • Robby Gordon is switching to Fords next year. Not sure how I feel about it. He'll get better equipment, but it is from the enemy. I think I have to stick with the driver and not the manufactorer.
  • Let's hope Jimmie Johnson blows two engines in the next two races.
  • Ditto for Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch.
  • The civil engineering market in Denver is exploding. Hopefully, HDR will keep me moving up with it.
  • I have a constant urge to go buy a puppy. Spanky is just not enough any more (he is still a badass dog, I just want more).
  • Thankfully, ski season has begun. I can't wait to get my first turns. Don't know when that will be, but hopefully soon. Get back here Rosie!!
  • There are Christmas commercials on the TV already. It is the first week of November. I love Christmas, but not quite yet. Let's get through Thanksgiving first.
  • Voting tomorrow. Make sure you get out and get your voice heard.
  • For all of you Coloradoans, vote yes on I. It's not marriage, it's just basic human rights.
Talk to you all soon (I hope).

Sunday, October 22, 2006

I'm Back in the Saddle Again

Apparently I suck at life. And by life I mean updating my blog. But I am updating now, so that is better than 95% of my friends who have blogs. I don't feel so bad now. Right now I am sitting in my apartment amazed at how fast this weekend went. Just a little bit ago it was Friday afternoon and I was leaving work. Now I'm on the brink of another work week. This week should be a pretty good week, though. Tomorrow I will be in the office until about 11:30 or so. Then it is off to the airport, where I have a 2:00 flight to Phoenix. I will be driving up to Flagstaff for the night. Then it is off to the Grand Canyon again. Tuesday morning, I have meetings with the people from the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) and the National Park Service (NPS). Then the rest of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning I will be walking our project with the same people. Thursday afternoon I head back to Phoenix for my flight. Then Friday is Sarah's birthday, Saturday is my mom's birthday and the CSU game. This week should fly right on by.

Since the last blog, the Twins have been swept out of the ALDS by the A's who were, in turn, swept by the Tigers in the ALCS. Wow. What a way to go out. But whatever. Next year, it will be the Twins beating the Rockies in 6 games in the World Series. Remember, you heard it here first.

Wedding update - Sarah and I are finally on our way making plans for our wedding. We have a date, a church, and a reception hall. Now all we have to worry about is the rest of the stuff. Which happens to be a ton of stuff!! Damn. On we go. . .

Sarah's still looking for a job. The Denver market is so, so, so, so, so bad. But she has two interviews tomorrow, so let's hope for the best. In the meantime, I have found myself surprisingly ok with moving to Phoenix if a job in Denver doesn't work out. I have never really had such a big life-changing event and I think it would be a good time/place/situation to have one. We shall see. HDR has already told me that they would allow me to transfer down to Phoenix. They are desperate for help, so they are more than willing to work with me. We would both like to stay in Denver, but if nothing works out, we are both excited for the prospect of a new state, new jobs, new everything. I'll keep you posted as things progress.

That's all I have for you guys right now. If there is anyone still reading this thing. At least it keeps my ADHD brain concentrating on one thing for a little while!! Hope everyone is doing well with whatever they are doing.

Monday, September 25, 2006

So much has happened

I last posted on the 8th, right before our triumphant day at INVESCO Field at Mile High. I was fairly upset with the way that our running game played, but a win over CU is always nice. Since then, however, there have been a plethora of monumental things that have happened in my life.

First, and most importantly, Sarah's grandfather died in the early morning hours of September 11th. He was an incredible man who had fought, scraped, and struggled with lung cancer for 2 years. Let me put that into perspective. The average life span of a human who is diagnosed with lung cancer is 6 months. He lasted 4 times longer than that. Needless to say, the disease finally defeated him and he died in his house at about 1:30 on Monday morning. This morning was the same morning that Sarah was scheduled to sit for her national boards. Excellent timing all around. Well, her grandmother had made me promise that I would make Sarah go to her test. She did go, even though she was very upset. Sarah and I spent the rest of the week with her family. It was tough, tough week. The visitation was tough, the funeral was tougher, and watching Sarah's grandma go through all this was the toughest of all. But she, like her husband, is a fighter, so she will make it through.

Back to Sarah and her boards. It usually takes 1-2 weeks for boards results to come back. After a week, Sarah started getting antsy. This past week, she got the results back and she had passed!! I wasn't too worried about it, she is a smart girl who had studied her butt off for that test. But she wasn't in the best state of mind when she took it, so she wasn't sure how she did. But she passed and is now a certified physician's assistant. Now, it's time to find a job!! She currently has four offers from doctors in Phoenix. None in Denver. However, she has had a few interviews, so hopefully something pops up. Not that I would be against moving to Phoenix. It would be a good time and a new experience. But Sarah and I would both prefer to live in Colorado. Plus it is so damn hot there all the time!!

Timmy - it has been a while, so I thought I would give you a belated baseball update. Twins rule. Rockies drool.
The Twins are just two victories away from securing a postseason berth. They are also only 1.5 games behind the Tigers. Not bad considering they were 12.5 games back at one point in the season. With only 7 games left in the season (6 for the Tigers), the Twins need some help from the Blue Jays and the Royals. Then it is postseason time!!
On an individual basis, Joe Mauer has continued to rake. He still leads the majors in BA as he attempts to become first ever catcher to win the AL batting title. Justin Morneau has also been on a tear and has solidified himself as a top 3 MVP candidate. Meanwhile, Torii Hunter has been turning on the jets as of late, leading the Twins for that postseason spot.

As for the hapless Rox, they have fallen faster than my jaw when I found out Dunham was engaged. They are currently out of every race. It is impossible for them to make any sort of playoffs. None. They are 1/2 of a game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, so we are not cellar dwellers yet!! And they won their last three against the Braves. On the plus side, Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins are for real. Those two can really mash the ball. Hopefully, the Rox don't pull their normal tricks and let them go for nothing!!
Matt Holliday - .332 average, 107 RBIs, 32 HR, .391 OBP
Garrett Atkins - .321 average, 114 RBIs, 27 HR, .398 OBP
Tell me those numbers aren't sick!! If only Helton could regain his form from a few years ago, it would be the most deadly 3-4-5 in baseball.
That's enough for now. I'll update everyone on my "business" trip to the Grand Canyon next time around!! Hope everyone is doing well.
Mike

Friday, September 08, 2006

Hippies - remember that I hate you


Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year. HIPPIE BASHING DAY!!!! (aka the Rocky Mountain Showdown) For those of you not schooled in Colorado football, tomorrow is the CSU-CU football game. This year, the contest is being brought back to INVESCO Field at Mile High in Denver (where the Broncos play). The last two years, those crybaby hippies from Boulder have refused to play at a neutral site. Apparently, their ovaries couldn't take the neutral beating that CSU had been unleashing on them, so they tried to get any advantage they could. Like home field advantage. Not this year, sister. We are going to be in Denver, in INVESCO, and insane at that game. I'm already resting my voice (hard to believe, I know) for tomorrow. I have to be ready to yell at my ultimate capacity from 11:00 AM until at least the end of the game. Should be an incredibly good day. Plus, CU just lost to Montana State, a Division I-AA team. Montana State had not defeated a Division I-A school for 30 years or something like that. Totally embarassing for them!! But I enjoyed it, for some reason!! We plan on being in the parking lots when they open. We plan on Flickergolfing like crazy. We plan on eating some burgers and hot dogs. We plan on drinking some beers. We plan on yelling at the hippies. And we plan on winning the game. Simple as that.

Fight on you stalwart Ram team
On to the goal
Tear the Buffalo's line asunder
As down the field we thunder
Knights of the Green and Gold
Fight with all your might
Fight on you stalwart Ram team
Fight, Fight Fight!
GO RAMS!!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Boulder Sucks

It looks nice, doesn't it? The Flatirons right against the town. The red roofs of the University. Too bad the city of Boulder is trying to keep a secret from all of us. Fortunately, this secret has been revealed to everyone in Fort Collins. . . Boulder sucks. Hard. Really, really hard. Let's take a serious look at that city the past 10 years. What good has come out of that? You have the JonBenet case. You have the Churchill issues. You have the recruiting violations. You have Katie Hnida. Gary Barnett. Ricardo Patton. 4:20 celebrations. The worst fans in college sports. The Boulder Police Department. University officials owning liquor stores. Betsy Hoffman. Riots. Burning couches. The "term of endearment". Racist CU athletes sending racist emails. Number one party school rankings.

The crazy thing is that I'm sure I'm missing a lot more examples. What a dirty, hippie-filled, terrible place. Every day that I hear more crap about that school, the more thankful I am that I am a Ram through and through.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

InRoads

I am creating this post at work. Yes, I am at work. No, I am not wasting company time. I am currently in training for InRoads, a roadway design software. I have been using InRoads for a while now and this is the "advanced" training, but we are still talking about things that I already know how to do. This makes for a boring time. I figured I would make my time worth something and blog for the first time in a while.

There are a couple things of importance going on in my life right now:

My CSU season tickets came to my house yesterday
I leave for Vegas one week from today

That is all.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Broken Google?!!

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of taking the three hour car ride (one way) to Torrington, Wyoming. HDR is doing an Environmental Assessment for the Town of Torrington to determine the environmental implications of a new bypass that would go over the railroad tracks through town. These EA's require public involvement, so every once in a while HDR representatives head up to the towns for these public meetings to present information to the townspeople, to listen to any comments the townspeople might have, and to answer any questions. Since my direct boss is managing these projects, I get the opportunity to join her in Wyoming to get yelled at by small-town people for ruining their towns!! (That actually only happens in one of the six towns we visit. Torrington people are really nice.)
So back to the story. . . the town reporter for Torrington always comes to the Torrington public meetings. I have found, through my various trips up there, that he is not the brightest person in Wyoming. And I am not the only one who has noticed this personality trait. A member of the Wyoming Department of Transportation deals with this reporter on a fairly frequent basis. Apparently, last week, this reporter called this WYDOT person three times in one day. The first time, the WYDOT guy answered all his questions. The second time, the WYDOT answered all of the same questions from the first call. By the third call and the third set of similar questions, the WYDOT guy really stressed a certain piece of information that the reporter didn't seem to comprehend. On this call, the reporter started to understand what the WYDOT guy was getting at. The reporter asked where he could see the information. The WYDOT guy told him that the easiest way to find the information is to "Google" it and it should pop up. The reporter told the WYDOT guy that that method would not work because "his Google wasn't working very well".
Yes, the reporter did say that his Google wasn't working very well. Does anyone have any idea what that means? Did he mean that his internet was slow and as a result his Google search was expectedly slow? Did he mean that the version of Google that is brought up on his machine was not working properly? Can this happen with any website at any time? Will my ESPN.com not work well some day? I sure hope not! Please let me know what this means, if you have any idea!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Weekends

I have decided that they go far too quickly. Seriously. I am sitting at my computer and it is 10:30 on Sunday night already. It was just Friday. I need some time!!!

Also this weekend, I decided that I need a digital camera. I don't take nearly enough pictures in my life and I think the major reason for that is the lack of a good, quick, and painless way of dealing with photography. Take some pictures, plug into computer, upload, view. That simple. Then I could add some pictures to this incredibly boring blog site. Don't get me wrong, I would love to get my hands on a Nikon film camera that I can mess around with. But for everyday stuff, a nice D50 would be quite handy. . .

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Wow, I'm a slacker.

Sorry all three of you who read this. I have had a very hectic last few weeks. After the Flick family reunion, we returned to Denver for a week. On the 24th, my grandmother (my Dad's mom) died from her quickly spreading cancer. Thankfully, my Dad and his 10 brothers and sisters were all out there the weekend before she passed away. They were all able to help my grandpa and each other cope with the loss. Mom, Dad, and Matthew were still in the Twin Cities, so Sara, Katie and I hopped on a plane on the afternoon of the 25th for the funeral. On Wednesday, we had a visitation in the church preceding the funeral mass. We then processed out to the cemetary and had the burial. After the cemetary, we went to a local church for a luncheon that my family had set up. After dropping off my Grandpa at his home so he could get some sleep, we headed over to my aunt's house for some family time. We didn't leave there until late into the night. All in all, it was a sad day. At the same time, we got to spend a ton of time with the family and we got to hear story after story about Grandma, Grandpa, and all the exploits of the 11 children. Needless to say, I was exhausted after that day. Plus my flight out of Minneapolis was at 6:00 the next morning. I got home Thursday morning, went into work for just a few hours, and called it a day.

Friday was already a vacation day, as it was the day before Robert and Natalie's wedding. We played golf in the morning and then had the rehearsal and dinner that night. (As a sidenote, I hit a 310 yard drive on one of the par 5's at Englewood Golf Course. I am just as amazed as you!) Saturday was Robert and Natalie's wedding. Sunday, I flew to Phoenix. After an early dinner with my uncle and a giant bucket of balls at the local course, I had a couple days of HDR's Transportation Conference. Almost 800 of HDR's transportation staff came to Scottsdale for presentations and networking and social time. I had a blast, learned a ton, and met more people than I could possibly hope to remember. Thankfully, that will be my last trip for a while. The only thing I have in the future is a trip to Vegas the first weekend in September. Poor me. I have to go to Vegas!

As for the last week, I have been working and watching the Rockies. That is about it. Not too much time for anything else. Thankfully, tonight they finally won against those red-hot Dodgers. That puts them at 3 games out of the NL West lead. And the Wild Card is just as easily within their grasp. As for the Twins, they keep slugging out wins. After tonights victory (coupled with the White Sox loss to the Yankees and the BoSox loss to the Royals), the Twins now lead the Wild Card race by a 1/2 of a game. On June 8th, they were 11 games behind the Wild Card leading White Sox. They have made up a little ground since then. The biggest baseball news for me, though, has to be Justin Morneau's 30th home run this season. The Minnesota Twins have not had a 30 home run hitter since 1987 when they had a few. It was the longest streak in the major leagues by over 10 years. It was pathetic. Justin Morneau has changed all that. Thank you, you monster of a Canuck!

Big congrats to Cake on their engagement. I wish you both the best.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Family Reunion Weekend

Well, I (and more importantly, Sarah) made it through our whirlwind Minnesota/Family Reunion weekend. She was a champ, met a big chunk of my dad's family, and still managed to remember most of their names. Excellent work, Little One!

The bad news is that while we were enjoying the high temperatures (95-100) and the higher humidity (500-600% at least it felt like it), the Rockies were moving themselves back into the cellar of the NL West. So much for competing for a playoff spot. Seven straight losses spanning the All Star break is not the way to grab top spot in the West. They better be above .500 at the end of the year, or I will be greatly upset. They played far to well in the first half of the season to throw it all away now.

On a slightly better note, the Twins have won three in a row (taking the last three of a four game set with the Indians). Hopefully, they can continue to stay hot and get back into the Wild Card race. And if Detroit starts losing, maybe the AL Central race.

Next weekend, Sarah and I finally get a weekend off. No weddings, no trips, not much of anything. I have to coach my softball team on Sunday afternoon, but that is it. So I think we might go camping. It will be the first time all year. Don't know where we will be going, but it should be a good time. I'll probably fish while Sarah studies!! The weekend after is Robert and Natalie's wedding. Also should be a fun time. That is enough for now. Time to get back to work!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Bada Bing

It is incredible to me how fast summer is cranking by. It is already halfway through July. Amazing. It doesn't help that I have had very little free time on the weekends. I don't feel like I have any breaks at all!

Last weekend was the wedding of my best friend, John. We had a great time. It is still a little weird to me to see people my age get married. I know that I am just a year or so away from that, but it still weirds me out. At the same time, Johnny and Vicki were both extremely happy and I am happy for them. Now I have two weddings down and three to go (one of which I am in and one of which is in Vegas, woe is me). Next in line for the ball and chain is Robert. Another one bites the dust. Unfortunately, I hooked him up with Natalie, so I guess that I am to blame for him getting married!!

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEKEND - I found out that the CSU-CU game is a different weekend than my Vegas trip!! I am pretty excited about that. All of you Denver/Fort Collins/Colorado Springs people - be prepared for the hippie butt whipping that we are about to watch!! I believe tickets go on sale on July 17th. Let me know if you are going to the game. We shall tailgate and play Flickergolf and be happy.

This weekend is the Flicknic, the annual Flick Family Reunion. This year it is in St. Paul. It is usually a good time and I'm looking forward to it. This year, we have a couple additions. Sarah and Jorge (dating my sister Katie) will be joining us for the festivities. Should be interesting as they meet my dad's 10 siblings, their spouses and my 40+ first cousins. Add in the grandparents and some second cousins and we will have ourselves a party!! I am supposed to be making a family tree for Sarah and Jorge so that they can attempt to follow along!!

As required, the baseball update. Not too much to report here. Yesterday was the Home Run Derby, which was won by Ryan Howard. That kid can mash. And since I had picked him before the Derby began (honestly), I was happy to see him win. Better him than Big Papi (just because he plays for the Red Sox). Tonight is the All Star Game. The AL has dominated this game the past 15 years or so. We probably will see the same tonight. Of note: Francisco Liriano deservedly (is that the right word?) made the roster after Jose Contreras was removed. That puts 3 Twins (Liriano, Mauer, Santana) and 2 Rockies (Holliday, Fuentes) on the rosters. Not bad for a couple of teams not on the coasts!!

Friday, July 07, 2006

Florida Aftermath

So let us just say that my trip to Florida was not as smooth as the original plan. Basically, United Airlines screwed me over and then screwed me again. They made me miss my connecting flight to Chicago, made me go through Atlanta instead, made me sleep in the Atlanta airport that night, then to top it all off, made me late for my training. Fortunately the rest of the week went much better and I got home on my original itinerary. I did end up learning a lot, so it was a productive week.

And now - a baseball update for all of you named Timmy who whine and moan and cry about it. The Rockies continue to play some pretty decent baseball. As of today, they are in second place in the NL West and only 1/2 of a game back of the Padres. They kick off a three game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at Coors Field to finish up before the All Star Break. Plus, Matt Holliday has been mashing the ball, Jamie Carroll has been a pleasant surprise, Todd Helton is starting to raise his average, and Atkins and Hawpe can swing the sticks.

The Twins, since I last blogged, have become one of the hottest teams in baseball. They had a couple long winning streaks, including a stretch where they won 11 in a row. They had won 20 of 22 at that point. The bad news is that they hardly made up any ground in the AL Central during that run. The White Sox and the Tigers keep playing good baseball to leave that gap between them and the Twins. But Johan Santana is returning to his brilliant form, Joe Mauer is an incredible talent, the bullpen has the best ERA in the AL this season, and Francisco Liriano is a badass.

As for the rest of my life. . . Johnny's wedding is this weekend, Flick family reunion next weekend, Robert's wedding two weekends later. Two more weddings in August and September, and we have ourselves the busiest summer of our lives.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Jacksonville

Ah. . . Florida. The big news from the Flick front is that I will be heading to Jacksonville, Florida next week. I will be heading down there to do GeoPak training (a third party software add-on to MicroStation). We have a Federal Highways Association project coming in that requires using GeoPak with MicroStation to do the roadway design. Long story short version - I need to know how to use it for work. So HDR is shelling out a crapton of money to get me down to Jacksonville for training. I leave Monday afternoon at 4:00. Because no one flies direct from Denver to Jacksonville, I have to have a 40 minute layover in the worst airport in the world - Chicago O'Hare. Then on to Jacksonville where I will land at 12:30 EST. My training starts at 8:30 EST. So I have 8 hours to get from the airport to the hotel, get some sleep, and still leave myself enough time to get to the HDR office down there. Lots of fun. I have training Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday all day and until noon on Friday. I leave Jacksonville at 3:00 on Friday. Then my adventure takes me to Washington-Dulles Airport in DC. I have a layover there before I head back to Denver. I guess DC isn't too far out of the way! They were going to send me through Fairbanks, but that fell through. I have never been to Jacksonville, so it should be a good time. I already checked with the rain dancers at work and they assured me that I will be there in between tropical storms. So the weather should be warm and humid. No hurricanes, I guess.

Monday, June 12, 2006

I feel like a Rosenbaum

Why might I be feeling this? Because I have waited almost a full month between blogs. It has been a busy month, though, so there is much to talk about.

First and foremost, I have moved out of my roommate-filled house and into my lonely-all-by-myself apartment. Don't get me wrong, my roommates were great. We seldom had issues and they always paid me for the utilities on time. However, there is something to be said for living by yourself. First, you never have to worry about who ate your food. It was you. Or the dog, but lacking the opposable thumb required to open the fridge, it is hard to place blame on the canine. However, the best thing about having a place of your own - the air dry. You all know exactly what I am talking about. You take a delicious shower. You are cleaner than you have been all day. You finish, step out of the tub, and walk right past the rack of towels. A few minutes and a couple laps later, you are dry as every and as happy as can be. (One important word of warning for all you first time air dryers out there - make sure the blinds are closed BEFORE getting yourself wet. It sure makes the neighbors uncomfortable when you realize the open blinds after a grand stretch.) That being said, it is a two bedroom apartment with one of the bedrooms acting as an office/foosball room.

I unfortunately had to miss the 2nd Annual Memorial Day Bike Ride/Reason to Get Drunk on Our Day Off Trip. As unhappy as I was to miss such an incredible event (I promise I will make it next year), I was having a pretty good time in Nevada. We visited a little city called Las Vegas. You might have heard of it. They allow gambling and drinking and all sorts of debauchery. It was grand. Nine of us went out to Vegas for Robert's bachelor party. We stayed in the downtown area, had a great time with the blue hairs, and I ended up winning some money. After a weekend of paying cash for everything (drinks, clubs, food, gambling, a sweet hat, etc), I had $50 missing from my original stash. Very, very successful trip. When we were down there, four of us played a round of golf at Legacy, a fairly inexpensive golf course in Henderson. The greens fees were still $120. But it was inexpensive compaired to every other course within 100 miles of the strip. I will say, though, that playing at a nice club does have its perks. First, we were met on our way up to the clubhouse. A man grabbed our bags, threw them on his cart and set up our carts for us. We walked to the clubhouse, made sure they had received our payment, and then walked out of the clubhouse. Our clubs were waiting on our carts on the backside of the clubhouse. Each of the carts had tees for both players, water bottles, and a wet towel. Very swanky. We checked in with the starter, who informed us that we each had a bag of range balls to warm up with. Very nice. After nine beautiful holes of golf, we swung by the clubhouse to grab some food. This place had a drive-thru cafe for the golf carts. Totally radular. The rest of the weekend was a blast. I had the required In-N-Out Burger, played blackjack, craps, and roulette, drank a few beers, and had a grand old time. I can't wait to go back.

Shortly after landing in Denver (just a day and a half later), I took off with Sarah, her parents, her grandparents, and her little sister to Phoenix. Sarah had her graduation down there on the 2nd. It was very cool to see the womanpiece get her hood and all that. It was a fun trip and I managed to win $150 down there (and all I needed was 30 minutes at a blackjack table on a reservation). Although she had her graduation ceremony, she is not quite done, as she has two more rotations to finish up, but she is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. On September 11, 2006, she will take her boards and be on her way to be a licensed physician's assistant. Pretty exciting.

The next Monday, I was down in Pueblo doing construction inspection for work for a week. It was hot, but it was still better than sitting in the office all day. Let's just say that I haven't been home too much since I moved in!!

Also, Gutter and Michelle got married (the wedding was a blast), Sarah and I have been busy every weekend with something. I don't think that we have a free weekend until the end of August. And by then, she will be studying incredibly hard for her boards. It's just been crazy. I'm going to try to keep updating this on a more regular basis, but with the hectic weekends and the busy work schedule and my trips coming up, I can't promise anything.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Changes all over

I haven't updated you all on baseball for a week now, so I thought I would get the changes up.

Colorado Rockies (21-17, 2nd in NL West, 1.0 game behind the Friars)
After coming off a tough 1-2 series with the Cardinals, the Rockies lost another 2 out of 3 against the Astros. Andy Pettitte held the Rox to 3 hits with no runs to win the series. However, the Rox are 4-2 this season against the defending NL Central champs.

Minnesota Twins (17-20, 3rd in AL Central, 7.5 games behind the Sox)
The Twins had won the first 2 games out of a 4 game series going into Sunday. After giving up 3 runs to the White Sox in the top of the first, the Twins pounded out 7 runs against the "Twins Killer" himself, Mark Buehrle in the bottom of the inning. That was not enough, apparently, as they lost by a final score of 9-7. Hopefully the Twins can rebound and take 3 out of 4 against the division leaders.

Friday, May 12, 2006

The Office Season Finale

Well, the season finale for Season 2 of "The Office" was last night. As always, I was thoroughly entertained. I can't wait for Season 2 to come out on DVD. It is one of those shows that gets funnier every time you watch it. Hilarious. Plus Jim finally found his guts.

This weekend, I'm planning on hitting up some graduation parties (already went to one Thursday night for Sarah's cousin). I also am hitting up the 'rent's house for Mom's Day brunch. Other than that, I hope that Sarah and I can get some wedding stuff figured out. We need to get a date, a church, and a reception hall before they are all gone. I'm guessing that it will be a busy weekend. Not a problem, though. A busy weekend ALWAYS beats a work day!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Random Thoughts for a Tuesday

The Rox are for real.

The Twins are not.

Packing in order to move is the worst idea in the world.

My love for my Xterra increases every day.

I have no idea how I'm going to live in an apartment.

I have no idea how I'm going to fit everything in my apartment.

I need to win Powerball to stop working forever.

Memorial Weekend can not come sooner. (May 26 - Rehearsal Dinner, May 27 - Gutschick and Michelle's Wedding, May 28 - 11:00 Flight to Vegas, May 30 - Fly Back to Denver, June 1 - 7:00 am Flight to Phoenix and Formal Dinner at Midwestern University with Sarah, June 2 - Sarah's PA Graduation Ceremony, June 3 - Fly Back to Denver)

Kyle is crazy and I want to be there to watch him prove it.

Spanky is one fun pooch.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Still First Place

I guess it's time for another baseball summary. . .

Colorado Rockies (16-12, 1st in the NL West, 1.0 games ahead of Arizona)
Jeff Francis pitched seven scoreless innings and Jose Mesa and Brian Fuentes combined for two shutout innings of relief to lead the Rox past the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds. Matt Holliday continues to be hot at the plate, going 3-4 with a double and 2 RBIs. Danny Ardoin drove in the another.

Minnesota Twins (11-16, 4th in the AL Central, 8.0 games behind Chicago)
The Twins pitchers look like they are finally turning their season around. After Santana's great performance on Wednesday, Brad Radke turns out a one-run game yesterday. Torii Hunter hit his sixth homer of the year.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

David Anderson - WR - Houston Texans

Ah yes. . . the NFL Draft weekend is finally over and I can resume my normal daily activity. It was a good weekend, with DA getting drafted (finally) by the Houston Texans. The boy has skill. He should have gone higher. But what do I know? I found it funny that the Texans drafted him. This is why - Gary Kubiak is the head coach of the Texans. He is the former offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos. His son is named Klint and he plays safety for none other than the Colorado State Rams. I'm guessing that Kubiak might have had a little bit of a bias towards Anderson. Wouldn't you?

Colorado Rockies (15-11, 1st in the NL West, 1.5 games ahead of San Fran)
The Rockies continue to control the NL West. This weekend, they swept a series with the Marlins. Unfortunately, they were one-hit last night against the Braves to end their winning streak. However, they are still on top of the West. GO ROX!!

Minnesota Twins (9-16, 4th in the AL, 9 games behind the Sox)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Twins suck. Just plain suck. There is no way that I can sugar coat that at all. They are just terrible. This past weekend, they were swept by the Tigers. For the entire series, the score was 33-1. The Twins scored 1 run in three games while giving up 33. Unfortunately, the game that they scored that run, the Tigers scored 18. Good Lord. It is pretty amazing. Don't you worry though, I'm still wearing my Twins gear!! I supported them in the 90's when they were so bad, why would I stop now?

Professionally, I've been doing well. Work is. . . well. . . work. If I really loved it, I wouldn't have to get paid to do it! But I am enjoying what I am doing. Lately, I have been working on a few cool projects, including some in Castle Rock. We are re-designing I-25 at the Plum Creek Parkway exit. I haven't done much with interstate highways before now, so I am learning a ton along the way. We are also designing I-25 from Meadows/Founders Parkway to 5th Street (also in Castle Rock). Again, my experience in highway projects is pretty minimal, so it is very interesting.
On the other side of the scale, I am also working on Weld County Road 33, which is just south of Evans, CO. Evans is just south of Greeley, so you can imagine how little traffic that road gets. Nonetheless, it has been a pretty interesting project.
We just finished up a roadway design project down in Pueblo that will provide access to the Xcel power plant down there. They are increasing the size of the plant significantly and they need a wider road system coming into the plant to allow access to the bigger trucks. Next month, I get to go down there for a couple weeks doing some sort of asphalt inspection.
Finally, I am doing anything that they throw at me. I've been to a few public meetings, a pre-construction meeting, several client meetings, and everywhere else you can imagine. HDR has been great at letting me get involved on whatever level I want to be involved.

On a personal side, things are going great. Sarah and I are just getting our feet wet in wedding planning stuff. It is going to be a ton of work, but it will all be worth it in the end. We are discussing an August wedding next summer (2007). That is over a year away, so we should have no problems getting everything put together by then. We shall see.
In a couple weeks, I am moving again. Since the roomies are all getting hitched, they apparently want to live with their wives. Lame. So I found an apartment in between Wadsworth and Sheridan north of Hampden. I have never lived in an apartment before, so it should be interesting.

That is probably all for now. Hope everyone is doing well wherever you are reading this!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Just another Tuesday

Things are finally starting to settle down after this weekend. It's amazing how many people need to talk to you when they find out you are engaged. Unfortunately, I have been swamped and I haven't been able to talk to everyone. I'm sorry if I've been hard to get ahold of. I'm working on catching up with everybody that called me as soon as possible.

Colorado Rockies (10-9, 2nd place in NL West, 1.0 games out of first)

Minnesota Twins (7-11, 4th place in AL Central, 5.5 games out of first)

Monday, April 24, 2006

Big News

Well, the big news of the weekend. . . Sarah and I are now engaged. It happened Saturday morning. Here's how it went down. I had arranged for a private tour of INVESCO Field at Mile High. I told Sarah that because HDR had season tickets, they got a private tour every year. I then told her that my boss had raffled off the tour to anyone in the office who was interested. Amazingly, I won the tour!! So we went to the tour and were shown around the stadium. We went into both the visiting and the Broncos locker rooms, the Monday Night Football booth, Pat Bowlen's suite (I don't think we were supposed to go in there, but the security guard let us!), on the field, and all over the stadium. We ended the tour on the east side of the south stands. It was the exact spot that Sarah and I had met almost four years ago at the CSU/CU game. I proposed there and she said yes! The best part is that she had no idea that it was coming and she was floored. Hoo-wah!

Colorado Rockies (10-8, 1st place in the NL West)
The Rockies just won a weekend series with the Giants. Although I was at the game in which Barry Bonds hit a home run (I almost puked) and the Rockies lost, they came out of the weekend with a series victory and some steam heading into their next road trip.

Minnesota Twins (7-11, 4th place in the AL Central, 6 games out of first place)
The Twins just got swept by the White Sox. What a weekend for them. They need to stop the bleeding!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Overzealous

So I may have been a little high on the Rockies early this year. Right now, they have been playing SO bad. I have never said this before, but I can now. . . I can't wait for a road trip!!! Apparently, the Rockies are refusing to hit at home until attendance drops to an all time low. Good plan, guys!! Meanwhile, Jeff Francis and Zach Day are making a run at being the most worthless person on the Rockies' roster. They basically guarantee a victory for the opposing team. When you lose at least 2 out of 5 games every time through your rotation, it really puts pressure on the three guys that can win games. Does not make for a fun season.

Meanwhile, the Twins are making me go crazy. The last several years, they have provided some of the best pitching in the league while producing a maximum of 2 runs a game. This year, the Twins pitching staff has the worst ERA in all of baseball. That's right. Worse than the Royals, Tigers, Marlins, Devil Rays, and my lowly Rockies. Worst!!! It is making me sick. However, their bats have come alive a few times. Seven times, to be exact. All seven victories have been come from behind wins. This baseball season might just push me over the edge. Hopefully a few people come and visit me when I am in my padded room at Fort Logan.

Colorado Rockies (8-7, 2nd in the NL West, 0.5 games out)

Minnesota Twins (7-7, 4th in the AL Central, 2.5 games out)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

French Fried Potatoes

So this weekend was a bit of a sweet and sour weekend.

The Sweet:
  • Getting off of work early on Friday
  • Sarah came home Saturday night
  • Easter Sunday (aka lots of eating)
  • Twins almost sweep the Yankees

The Sour:

  • The Rockies lost another home series, this time to the Phillies

So there you have it. Short and sweet. Now onto Monday. Monday was a great day. Despite the fact that I had to work, it turned out fine. Mostly because I got to play some old man softball. Man, I love the old man softball. It was a pretty crazy game because the wind was blowing the whole game. And it was blowing hard. Straight in from left-center. It was really holding balls up. It did make for some interesting plays, though. For instance, I was playing right-center. This guy belts this fly ball straight to left center. The wind held the ball up, so the guy playing left center came charging in. By the time he tracked down the ball and caught it, he was laying in front of me. I had charged straight in and probably should have caught the ball, if not for the huge collision that would have transpired. It was crazy. The wind also did not play into my strengths. My typical bloop singles and gap line drives were hanging up in the wind. 1-3 with a single and 2 flyouts. Did have a few RBI's though.

As of right now:

Colorado Rockies (7-6, 2nd in the NL West, 1.5 games back)

Minnesota Twins (6-6, 4th in the AL Central, 1.5 games back)

Friday, April 14, 2006

Finally Friday

Well, it is finally Friday and I cannot be happier that the weekend is upon us. This is going to be a pretty busy weekend. Tonight, my brother is in a "living" stations of the cross, so I will be attending that. Then, Sarah comes home Saturday night. This time, she won't be leaving any time soon! Of course it is Easter weekend too, so I will have plenty to do on Sunday. Sarah and I are going to go to church in the morning followed by brunch at my parents' house and then finishing it off with dinner at her grandparents'. Lots of eating, I would imagine. Thankfully, NASCAR takes a week off for Easter, so I don't have to worry about catching the race during all the craziness.

Colorado Rockies (6-3, 1st in the NL West)
Rockies retook sole ownership of the first spot in the West with a rubber match win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Minnesota Twins (4-5, 4th in the AL Central)
The Twins completed a three game sweep of the Athletics. The Yankees come to the Metrodome this afternoon.

Finally - Grant sucks.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

April 13, 2006

Colorado Rockies (5-3, 1st in the NL West)
The Rockies dropped a close game to the Diamondbacks to end their win streak at 4. Ray King took the loss and earned the first Rockies' blown save of the year.

Minnesota Twins (3-5, 4th in the AL Central)
The Twins got a big day from Justin Morneau, who blasted a 3-run shot in the 3rd inning. This was the Twins' second straight win over the Oakland A's.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Daily Baseball Update

Because baseball is the best sport around, I figured I would start doing daily updates as to the status of the two most important teams in the Majors - the Minnesota Twins and the Colorado Rockies. So far, this season is going exactly as I expected. The Rockies are showing everyone that last year's second half of the season was not a fluke. And the Twins' offensive "upgrades" (if you can call them that) are really not that much of an upgrade. So here is the status:

(5-2, First in the NL West)

The Rockies won a 6-5 game against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix. Aaron Cook pitched fairly well, allowing 4 runs over 6 innings. The bullpen allowed 1 run over 3 innings, the lone run being a home run in the bottom of the ninth against Brian Fuentes. Brad Hawpe had an incredible game, falling a single shy of the cycle. Todd Helton also had his first home run of the year.




(2-5, Fifth in the AL Central)

The Twins won their first home game of the year against the A's by the score of 7-6. The Twins exploded for 6 runs in the third inning. The last three runs of the inning came off of the three run home run by Tony Batista. Brad Radke earned his second win of the year. As anybody can figure out, with a 2-5 record and with Radke having two of the Twins' victories, no other Twins pitcher has earned a victory. Chalk that up to lack of run support. Welcome to Twins baseball.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

New Flava

I was sick of the old layout of my blog, so I changed it up a little bit. Added a little color. Hopefully somebody actually reads this once in a while. . .

Friday, April 07, 2006

Bullets

Why do my bullets on my last post look like flowers? I am pretty sure I just added regular bullets!! I guess that blogspot.com is trying to tell my that I am gay.

Holy Crap!

Jesus poop! Allah turd! Where the hell did the phrase "Holy Crap" come from? I was just typing in the title of this latest posting, which was going to be "Holy crap, it has been a long time", when I found myself asking that question. Where is the connection between fecal matter and the greater good? Usually, there is some sort of connection that can be loosely made, but this one has me stumped. So I head to the easiest source of quick information - Wikipedia. I searched for "Holy Crap" and it came back with the episode of Family Guy called "Holy Crap". Awesome. And that is why I love Wikipedia. Straight shooters, those guys!

I'm not really sure what all has happened since my last post. February 20th. Damn. That has been a while. I won't tell you everything, but I've done some stuff. To make it short and sweet:
  • Went to Phoenix on February 23rd. Hung out with Sarah (as she studied) that night. I was supposed to play golf with my uncle who lives down there on Friday, but he had to work at the last minute. Sarah had testing all Friday, so I was on my own for the day. Luckily I had her car, so I was able to leave her apartment. Since I couldn't golf, I did the next best (or maybe even better) thing - SPRING TRAINING!!
  • I drove to the Brewer's camp, watched some players hit off the tee and in the cages for a while, saw how short Prince Fielder truly is, talked to Corey Koskie (who is a badass), watched drills for a while, called my roommate and my sister who were working, called my grandparents who are Brewers fans, and then called it a day. On the way home, I stopped at In-N-Out Burger. A most delicious treat. Double-double animal style with animal fries. You can't beat it. Since Sarah doesn't really like In-N-Out (how do I date her?), I had that for lunch before she was out of her tests. That afternoon when she finished up, we packed up the car and headed for Denver. Stopped in Albuquerque for the night and finished the drive on Saturday.
  • The next week, I was in Wyoming for most of the week for work. Tuesday morning, we drove up to Gillette (go Deppe!) for a public meeting that evening. After the public meeting, we took a few WYDOT employees out to dinner. Then my two most direct bosses and I went out on the town. What a crap town that is. Did meet my bosses future, toothless wife, though! Stayed there that night. Drove the next day to Douglas (few hours south). Had a meeting there in the morning and then drove back up to Wright (one hour north of Douglas). Had a public meeting there that night. Then we drove back to Douglas to stay the night. Next morning, we headed back to Denver, dropped off a couple people, picked up a guy and headed to Pueblo. We had a meeting with a client down there that afternoon. I didn't get back to the office until late (9:00) that night. Let's just say I was sick of driving after that week.
  • March 24th (I think?) - I went up to Fort Collins after work and spent the evening hanging out with MyHouse, G-Spot, Bitch, Liz, the Papantonakipiece and others. It was a good time.
  • April 1st, 2006 - UCLA wins their Final Four game to advance to the championship game. I lose all interest in the tournament because I had already been guaranteed victory in my office pool ($90) and the Robinson family pool (undisclosed amount).
  • I went to the Denver Auto Show on 4-2-06 with John, Robert, Jamie, and my brother Matthew. It was awesome, as usual. They had a Dodge Challenger there, so that made my day. Plus some Russian guys took a picture of Jamie getting out of a trunk. We think they were Russian mafia and they were researching trunk/human interaction. Totally frickin' sweet.
  • The next day was Opening Day. Guess who didn't work that day. This guy. I was at the Sports Column (greatest bar ever) by 10:30, feeling good by 12:00, in Coors Field by 1:45, first pitch at 2:05, Rockie Dog at 3:00, Rockies' victory in the 11th at 5:30. Great day. Far better than working - I would recommend it.
  • Took Sarah to the airport the morning of the 5th. She had to go to Phoenix for a week and a half. They have their final, end of the year tests starting on the 6th and going until the 14th. She comes back the 15th. The good news is that this is the last trip she has to make to Phoenix for testing.
  • Planning on going skiing both days this weekend. Should be warm weather, spring skiing all weekend! Plus it is snowing there right now, so it will be warm with fresh snow! Can't beat it!
  • Not much else new. I'm trying to find a place to live after all my roommates get married. I'm also trying to watch as much baseball and car racing as possible.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Seemingly worthless title

I just realized that my title of my last post had nothing to do with the body of the post. I had originally intended to rant for several days on the idiot that took Kyle's skis. As I started typing, I decided a couple things:
(a) my version of the story was partly secondhand. Although I was there for the theft and the use of the other rentals, I only heard about the encounter with the morons from Kyle. I wasn't there, so Steve should tell the story.
(b) in order to tell the story, I had a lot of details that were pretty mundane and boring. Not good material for a blog that no one reads already. Don't want to chase off the people that randomly come across this thing!!
(c) I found a few other things to talk about. By the time I finished talking about all those, I had forgotten about the ski incident. Imagine that - Flick forgetting something.

Things that I think I think. . .
- I think I become more libertarian every day. It seems like I stumble across stupid people or stupid events or stupid laws or bills or stupid ideals every day that could be amended with a few more people thinking with a libertarian philosophy. Here's an example of my rage - the show "The Book of Daniel" was cancelled by NBC after an incredibly short run. The major reason for this cancellation was the large amount of pressure to cancel the show by the group Focus on the Family. Damn Focus on the Family. Damn them. Do they understand anything about this country? This is a country that was founded on freedom. On liberty. Yet, Focus on the Family bitched and moaned about the content of a television show enough to get it cancelled. So much for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. The show did conflict with many of the groups central and core beliefs. The pastor's son was gay. The pastor smoked pot. Jesus literally sat and talked with the pastor throughout the day. I'm sure there were more "atrocities" in the show. But just because the show doesn't portray your particular beliefs, does that make it a show that no one should watch? Personally, I have a different approach to television. If I don't like the show or if I don't agree with the show, I don't watch it. Nothing says, "CANCEL ME" like poor ratings. If I'm not watching the show, I am helping the ship go down. That philosophy wasn't enough for Focus on the Family. They decided to encroach on everyone else's rights to appease themselves. To me, that is the greater of two evils.

- Figure skating is far too hyped up in the Winter Olympics. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't need to watch every freaking figure skater do every single event for the entire Olympics. Please, show me something more entertaining (like more curling).

- Working on President's Day is a crock. I am one of the few suckers that is actually required to work today. What a load of crap. Everyone else gets off school or work except my company. Way to go team.

- The Daytona 500 was far too anticlimactic for me. This is the first Daytona 500 that I have watched where there wasn't "The Big One", or the huge crash that takes out a large chunk of the field. There were several small crashes and one car pileups (if you can even call them that). Nothing big though. The good news from Sunday's race is the resurgence of Robby Gordon and DEI. Robby had moved himself up to 7th place before his right front tire blew out and put him into the wall. His crew did a great job in getting him back out onto the track. Robby then moved himself up to a 13th place finish. Add another 20 laps or so onto the end of the race and it would have been a top-10 (or maybe a top-5) for Robby. Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to get a top-10 finish as he finished in 8th place. It could have been better, but there was no help for Junior on the top of the track in the final laps. It is still a better looking team than last year. Finally, Martin Truex had an early crash and worked himself back up to 16th. Add in a top 5 finish from Smoke, and it was a pretty good day of racing in my house!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Stolen Skis?

I've taken a huge step up here and decreased the time between posts to half a month instead of a full month. Baby steps, I guess.

The Olympics are going on right now, and I have concluded that they have an interesting effect on me. The biggest of these is that I root for people that I normally would never think about cheering for. First on the list is Jeremy Bloom. I despise Jeremy Bloom. I think he is a moron and a tool and I hate his hippie ass. And all that is just because he went to CU. Take all those emotions and multiply them by three because he played on the CU football team. I am just filled with rage toward him. Yet, when my roommate John asked if I would cheer for Bloom in the Olympics, I told him "yes" without even thinking about it. It's funny to see how quickly one's feelings change when a person changes teams. He plays for CU? I hate him. Wait, the same guy is skiing for my country? I love him and I hope he rages everyone.
The other people I don't normally cheer for are the snowboarders. I have never been a big snowboarding fan and I don't like the stereotypical snowboarder attitude and manner of speaking. "I totally nailed a wicked 1080 backy fronty grabby douche pick." I have no idea what they are saying. Yet, I was pulling hard for Shaun White to make the finals and dominate everyone in the half pipe last night. When he fell on the first run, my cheering just was that much louder the second run.
Lastly, the figure skaters. Worst "sport" ever. I'll admit that it is a hard thing to do, that figure skating. It takes skill and strength and conditioning. I just don't think you can classify it as a sport. You have to judge it. And it is lame. Completely lame. Yet, when Olympics time rolls around, I find myself glued to the TV, yelling at the East German judge, willing the Russian couple to fall on their heads, and cheering for the Americans. What a strange sporting event to make me love things I normally hate.

I went skiing again this weekend (this time with Kyle and Amy and Dunham). I've been up 9 or 10 times now, and I can feel and see the improvements in my skiing. The problem is that I am slowly getting more daring. More daring means more crashes. Twice this weekend, I came flying over a ridge to catch some air and I landed (going fairly fast) in a mogul field. Speed and moguls and Mike do not go together well. Twice, Kyle skied down to find me in the middle of a huge snow explosion. One time I kept everything with me. The other time, I had to climb back up the hill to collect both skis. Today, I am sore. On the positive side, I am feeling much more confident about moguls and jumps. I'm still not that good, though.

Monday, January 30, 2006

It's Been a While

It has been quite a while since my last post (almost a month!). So I should fill in the 1.5 people that read this blog every 3 months. As of the last post, I have been skiing several times, have been to Phoenix for 3+ days, and now I am currently in Grand Junction, CO. Let me tell you how fun that town is. But first, the other places.

Skiing - I have been up several times this season (both at Breckenridge and Beaver Creek) and I have to say that this snow is incredible. This past weekend, I skied in the softest snow I have ever encountered. Absolutely amazing.

I was down in Phoenix (visiting the womanpiece, of course) from January 19th until January 22nd. Sarah and I had a good time. We didn't do much. Pretty much just spent some time together and took it easy. It was a great time.

Now I am in Grand Junction. I have been here since last Wednesday (January 25th). I'll be here until Thursday (February 2nd). It is a long time to be (a) in a hotel room and (b) in a crappy little town with little to offer. I apologize to anyone from Grand Junction, but your town sucks. Let's go over the activities of the past half of a week. On Wednesday and Thursday night, I went to dinner and then watched TV in my room. On Friday evening, I walked the entire Mesa County Mall, bought a new pair of ski pants that I desperately needed, went to dinner and then watched the Nuggets game in my room. Saturday, I went skiing at Beaver Creek. It is about a 2 hour drive, so just like driving up from home. Skiing was great. That night, dinner and Walmart. Thankfully, Walmart was having a sale on cheap-ass DVD players, so I bought one for pennies. I watched a movie that night. Sunday, repeat Saturday with more hotel room time and less skiing. Now we have reached Monday. I'm almost done out here. Only a few more days to go. At least I have my DVD player. That will keep me busy tonight. I think any more than a week out here and I would have to shoot myself. It is that painful. Wow.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Holidays are over. . . sad day.

You may read that title and think, "Oh, Dirty Ol' Uncle Flick is getting all sentimental on us." You could not be more wrong. I am pissed the holidays are over because it will be another year before I get two four-day-weekends in a row. They are the best invention ever. And I won't see the likes of one for a while now.

Christmas was good. Spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas driving to and from various family events (both mine and the womanpiece's). I did put a crapload of miles on my car that weekend. It was a good weekend, though. Plus I got some pretty cool stuff (a new ski jacket, for one!) and I think everyone liked the stuff I gave them.

New Years was uneventful, but that was fine by me. No trouble, no cops, no ridiculous hangover. New Year's Eve night, we made dinner at my house. Delicious burritos with even more delicious green chile on top. Robert, Natalie, Keith, Melissa, Sarah, and I spent the rest of the night doing various forms of debauchery, including Scene-It, Catch Phrase, and Cranium. Plus drinking Jack and Ginger, some 7&7, and a few beers thrown in. Add a little (huge) New Years doggie boner (complements of Spanky) and we had ourselves a fun night. New Years Day consisted of more family related stuff and a lot more eating.

Monday morning, I took Sarah to the airport to head back to Phoenix. She has eight more weeks down there and then she will be back in Colorado for a long while. I sure can't wait. I have done enough of the distance relationship thing to know that it sucks and I hate it.

That's about it for now. I'm currently at work trying to come up with excuses as to why I don't have to work. I just thought of one.