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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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)

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!

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)