Toto, Where Are You?
24.Aug.08
1 Comment
We’ve been living near Denver for almost 8 years. Having grown up in the mid-west the wife and I have definitely seen our share of tornados – but we sure never thought we’d see any here in Colorado.
Oh sure, there are frequent tornados around the Denver airport. But heck, that’s way outside of town out on the prairie. Nothing ever seems to be affected by them.
Tonight, however, we had a very rare opportunity to see a funnel work it’s way down to the ground. It stayed down for quite a while too – at least a good 10 minutes.
Not a huge one, but I managed to get a few pictures and they’re uploaded at my flickr account. Here are a couple samples.
Just getting started:
Getting Larger:
Cool, huh? See the rest.
This particular funnel didn’t really get all that large or cause any apparent damage. Lots of dust, but it was out in a new construction / unpopulated area. Heck, we didn’t even see livestock in the air (“cow”).
Sounds like a larger one touched down just a few miles south of us (and a few miles east of the one we saw) and did some damage. That’s a bummer and just not something you expect to hear about near Denver!
Birthday!
13.Jul.08
4 Comments
I turned 40 this past week. It wasn’t quite as awful as I had imagined, but it did seem to leave a very small “psychic stain” behind… I’m still working through some of the stuff from the Upcoming Milestone post but it’s really not all that dramatic.
The birthday day itself was quite nice. Most folks at work weren’t aware and I didn’t spend much time telling anyone. I prefer calm days at work without age insults. Just sayin’.
Months back I had assured my wife that a big bash was not something I desired — especially not a surprise party. My brother and his family drove up from Colo. Springs and we had a nice supper and some awesome homemade carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting) that my wife concocted. It was all quite mellow.
After supper I had to run the middle kid up to TKD. When I got home our neighbors to the north wandered over to say howdy and wish me a happy BD. I went in to get them a beverage and when I came back out the neighbors to the south were walking over. Back in for more beverages. When I came back out again several more sets of neighbors were crossing over.
About then I realized that I was hosting a small surprise party 
Just some of the neighborhood and it was quite pleasant and fun. We have great neighbors and getting some wool pulled over my eyes was just fine by me. I never even saw it coming.
Upcoming Milestone
26.Jun.08
7 Comments
I’m turning 40 in a couple of weeks. That teensy little fact has been bugging me for the past month — and the closer I get, the more I’m bugged. No real reason. Just … antsy.
I’ll spare you the retro/introspection bullshit. Heck, I’ll be the first to admit I have a great wife and three awesome kids. We have a good life, lots of love and live comfortably. The wife and I just celebrated our 19th anniversary last week and there have never been regrets or major issues.
Is the career where I thought it would be 20 years ago? Oh hell no. In fact, you could say I peaked in my early 30’s and I’ve been sliding down ever since. But even there I have to say I’m a helluva lot happier now than I was then. I love what I do and I sleep at night with a clear conscience. What more can you ask?
As far as health goes, I’m definitely healthier now than I was back at the “peak” of my career. However, since we took a little family vacation back in March (an awesome vaca that I regret not mentioning…) I’ve been slacking with the gym and diet plans. I was about 15 lbs from goal when that vaca started. Since then I’ve been more like 25 lbs from goal. I’ve been exercising just enough to compensate for my lousy dietary habits. 
However, since the beginning of June and my awareness of the upcoming birthday, I’ve been back into the exercise. Specifically, bike riding. I’ve had some great rides and really enjoying a nice change of pace from the gym and indoor track scene. My town and surrounding areas is blessed with some great sets of paved bike trails.
Been tuning my 20 year old bike while I save pennies for a “real” bike. My current bike is a Huffy 17 speed (should be 18 but damned if I can get it into 18th gear) that I bought at a Walmart about 20 years ago. She ain’t much, but she’s held together for (literally) thousands of miles over the years. Built like a tank — weighs about the same too, LOL. No frills, but it just keeps on chugging along.
Fun fact: Remember those sweet checkered Vans I got for my birthday last year? Those are my favorite bike riding shoes. They fit so well in my “basket” style pedals — and damned stylish to boot, I must say.
But yeah. I’m turning 40 soon. *sigh*
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On the other hand, I...