Disney!

So this past weekend I flew to Orlando, FL to meet up with John, Lena, and Dee Palmer, Ryan West, his GF Clover, Ferri and PTK.  Overall it was pretty great. We went to Universal Studios & the newer Harry Potter world on Friday.  I was thoroughly impressed with the scenery and how good the Hpot stuff actually was.  At night we went to Citywalk which is just a bunch of bars right outside universal where I downed way too many margaritas in way too short of a time.  Then we went to another bar where it was buy one get one hurricanes.  Needless to say, I was in pretty high spirits after it all.  Thank goodness for high altitude beer training. Haha

Saturday was Magic Kingdom and it was everything I wanted it to be.  We went on rides, saw characters, went to shows.  It was absolutely incredible.  It's exactly what I wanted my Disney experience to be.  The best two rides at MK were Space Mountain and the Laugh Floor (which is Monsters Inc themed).  Space Mountain is a roller coaster in the mostly dark and the Laugh Floor was an interactive, animated, comedy show that was absolutely hilarious.  We also got giant Pork shanks at the new Gaston's tavern.  I have to say...probably the best pork shank i've ever had.

Sunday we went to Epcot and drank around the world at their countries of the world.  Normally there are 11 countries but because the food and wine festival, there were more than double that many.  A lot of debauchery ensued.  Before all that though, we went on two of the best rides of the weekend.  The new and improved test track is INCREDIBLE.  John and I designed a car and the ride was based on the specs of the car we built.  Needless to say our car DOMINATED in the amount of power it had and was the highest scoring car amongst our friends.  Plus...it looked badass.  Also, a few years ago, Epcot brought back Captain EO.  It's a michael jackson themed 3D sci fi adventure movie that any true MJ fan would love.  Seriously...it was like they made that ride for me. haha

Monday was a nice relaxing day at Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM).  Rockin Rollercoaster was cool (another mostly in the dark coaster) and Star Tours, the star wars themed ride, had the best 3d of the weekend. Hollywood studios was a good last day because by then, I was kind of rided-out.

It was nice to see people from the east coast and go on vacation.  Now it's back to the grind.

Some pictures HERE and on Dee's facebook page.

Till next time,

j

14,232'

Happy Sunday all. Hope everyone had a good week.

Let's start with the boring stuff. FIrst of all, work has been better.  I maneuvered myself into a position where I do much more programming than mind numbing data analysis.  Thank god for that. Also, as expected, paychecks are nice.

Okay. Enough of that.  On to the good stuff.

Ronnie, my sophomore year college roommate came to visit on Wednesday. I pointed him the direction of a lot of great hiking while I was at work, and then afterwards, we rocked the town. :-p  Okay not really.  Really what we did was watch a lot Breaking Bad and drink a lot of beer. Haha.

Avery brewing company and their tasting room is pretty awesome. They've got a bunch of different kinds of beers including a pretty interesting sour apple beer.  Apparently sour beers are the next big thing.  I find them...I don't know...sour. haha.  If you like that, then try them out.  A bunch of craft breweries have them now and some of them are not bad.  Not really my thing yet, but to each their own.

We also went to Mount Evans which has the highest paved road in the country.  The summit is, you guessed it, at 14,232 feet above sea level.  To get to it, you start at the base (which is at a measly 7,300 feet) and drive up switchback after switchback to the summit.  There are a couple stops along the way for pictures, but mostly, it's just narrow winding roads with no guard rails and an ever increasing drop off that doesn't fail to put the fear of mortality into you.

I hiked a bit at about 12,000 feet (which is also the height from which I sky dived back in CT) and let me tell you, that thin air makes you TIRED.  I only did about a half mile and i was more than just a little winded. Haha.

By the time we got up to 14k, you could feel the effects of the thinner air.  I was a little light headed and the muscles were definitely working hard.  The only way to get to the actual top is to park at about 13.7k and hike up the rest of the way.  I'll tell you what though, it's completely worth it.  The views were incredible.

Check out all the pictures HERE

j

One week down, 51 to go

So I finished my first week of work this week and I can say with utmost certainty that it is by far the absolute most boring job I've ever done in my entire life.  I'm in the data analysis field as a "business analyst."  Roughly what that means is that I extract information from a spreadsheet, plug it into a plethora of different programs, then put some new information into the spreadsheet. It is so so so so so repetitive... I honestly don't know how I'm going to make it another 51 weeks to fulfill my contract.

On the plus side of the job-- flex hours. I can go in anywhere from 6-9am and be done 8 hours after that. THat means I can be done as early as 2pm which gives me the rest of the afternoon to do whatever. I've been going in between 7 and 7:30 and getting out between 3 and 3:30.  Pretty good I'd say.  The other nice thing about it is that it's not a job that I take home with me. After I leave the campus, I don't have to think about it until I return for another mind numbing session the next day.

Also in the positive column is going to be income.  It's nice to not be burning through savings with no sort of replenishment. First paycheck is next Friday.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaand....what else. The people are nice. One lives right down the street from me so we'll start carpooling which'll save money. So yeah...trying to stay positive. haha

In other, much more exciting, news, Bent was here last week and half of this week.  It was great to host a bunch of people and do stuff before work started, and then, after work.  We did some good hiking at Eldorado State Park, went to brew pubs and different kinds of restaurants, and I watched them play a lot of the tournament until it got rained out.  It was nice to see some of my favorite ladies and make some new friends. :)  Kept me sane. Haha.  Don't know what I'm going to do next week...  Check out some of the pictures of the hike on my google+ page HERE.  Till next time,

j

so many things to say...

First of all...right after i wrote that last post, I got a job! Level 3 called me and offered me a position on a team that tracks their rental inventory. If for absolutely no other reason, I'm pretty pumped about it because I was getting bored sitting around at home doing nothing. Haha.  Income is a beautiful thing though.

As a signing bonus to myself, I went out and bought a TV, stand,  and a sound bar.  The apartment is pretty damn sweet at this point.  A few more things and it'll be completely decked out.  At this point, I mostly just need things on the walls. Oh yeah...and cable. That would help on the entertainment front. RIght now, it's a giant computer monitor and something to watch movies on.  To be honest, I might be happy with it being just that...

In other news, I went hiking today.  Drove up to Boulder to scope out the flatirons where I plan on taking the five Bent ladies who are coming out to Denver early.  I wanted to make sure that 1. I could get there without getting lost (I got lost) and 2. that it was actually a doable section of the flatirons.  The nice part about this stretch is that there are a ton of intersecting trails, so we can make the hike as long or as short as we want.  It started to rain though so I didn't get as much in as I would have liked. Fortunately I'll be there again on Friday.  :) Anyway, I'll leave you with one of the pictures I took while on the hike.

j

the goings on

Sorry it's been a while. Nothing too exciting to report.  This past weekend, a bunch of east coasters were in town for various things. Andy/Kendra/Sierra/Brett came out for a wedding, and the New York Masters men and women came out for masters nationals.  It was good to see everyone.

On Sunday, A&K et al and I went to a Rockies game. Good seats behind the third base line.  I haven't been to a baseball game in quite a few years so it was a really good time.  Plus the Rockies won.  Maybe I'll adopt them as my baseball team.  Only problem is baseball is boring. haha


Last week Thursday I had a phone interview with an oil company.  It went very well but inside sources tell me that they may have filled the position before they even interviewed me and were just interviewing me as a gesture.  Oh well. It was good practice.  This Tuesday I had an interview with a company called Level 3. It went very well and seems very promising. I'll know more in a few days. I find it interesting that getting a business-y job is easier for me than getting a restaurant job seems to be.  I've filled out a few applications for restaurants and have heard absolutely nothing from any of them. Oh well.

Next weekend Bent and PoNY are coming out for another tournament. It'll be good to see more east coast friends, especially because I missed them at Wildwood.

Till next time,
j

This weekend i was a loser...

So I picked up with a team for a tournament this weekend and as it turns out, we were all losers. Seriously. We lost every game. It was awful. Haha. This is where typically I'd insert the obligatory, "Well someone had to lose" line, but wow. It was a tough weekend. There was no individual problem-- and many people on the team had talent... but we just couldn't put it together. On an individual level...i played fine. Not great. Not terribly. Just fine.

There were a couple high notes to the weekend though. First of all...look at the picture of where I played. I mean c'mon. How you could you not have a good time in a location like that.  Secondly, once again...I met some decent people. I also met some douchebags. haha. I believe you'll find them throughout the world so no real surprise there. But yeah. Some cool people. I also met up with Trent, a local ultimate organizer, who clued me in to a bunch of stuff coming up. There are a bunch of hat tournaments, for starters, and a "beach" tournament on the sand dunes.  That's super exciting and I'm going to try to put a team together to play in that. I also want to try and see if I can sand surf while I'm out there. It sounds like an awesome time.

I also met up with Aneliya, a girl I knew in high school. She had a low key party where I got to sit and get to know some people. A worthwhile time. She's going to be away for a bit but when she returns, she's moving to Denver (she currently lives 45 minutes away in boulder). .This is a good thing since she'll be able to show me more stuff when she moves closer.

But yeah...that's pretty much it. Applied for a few jobs this past week. Haven't heard back from any yet. Gonna keep on that track this week...

OH. At Aneliya's party, I met a girl who works for a company that is trying to raise educational awareness and they are looking for people to help them.  Pays $10/hr. That'll be good while I have nothing else going on.

Till next time,

j

The Apartment...and life as is

Okay so it's been a while.  Sorry.  I've been setting up the apartment and putting furniture together and the likes. It's coming out pretty well. Here are pics of the bedroom, kitchen, and living room.  You saw the dining room table already.

 

I don't have too much stuff on the walls yet.  I want to fill it up with pictures of new adventures rather than living in the past. That's what this is all about right? New adventures..?  That being said...i did put up a few pictures (and will probably put up a few more) of some of the greatest people anyone is bound to meet.\ Speaking of awesome people...there's this picture from the going away party if you haven't seen it.

Can't believe i left all that behind. Oh well. Upwards and onwards I guess.

That being said, I started job hunting this week. Went on one interview so far.  Definitely not my best interview but we'll still hope for the best. I don't want to take a desk job but I'll probably end up doing that just so I have an income. I'll look for part time work in the restaurant business. I don't know...I'll figure something out.

That's it for now. Hope all is well,

j

Craigslist is Awesome

Yesterday I bought an awesome dining room table and chairs off of Craigslist for $40. It even has a leaf to make it into a full table if I want to.  Overall, a pretty awesome buy.

Craigslist can be a pain because there is so  much on there, but i'll tell you what. You find gems...

One thing about moving to CO without knowing anybody though is that there's no one to help you move stuff in.  That's a large part of why I haven't bought a couch yet.  The table was hard enough to get up the stairs...a full couch would be impossible. Thus, I will buy new and have it delivered. As soon as I have an extra thousand dollars, that is.

In other news, I went to pickup ultimate yesterday and met some cool people. The level of play was frustratingly low, but it's an easy price to pay for meeting cool people. Some of them do improv as well and I might get into that.  I also met this other guy who has a good friend who owns a couple Red Robins a few towns a way.  Do I smell a job brewing???

Anyway...I'm sure most people want to see pictures of mountains, or flowing streams, or me doing crazy things at 10,000+ feet.  Sorry, but I haven't done any of that yet. All I've been doing is watching movies and setting up house.  There's been a bit of going to the gym (here in my building) and ultimate, but we're just not there quite yet.

Soon kiddies...soon.

j

A New Apartment

So I'm finally in to my new apartment. Brian and I got in on Monday, I signed the lease, got the keys, then went and booked a hotel room. Haha.  Funny how not having any furniture makes an apartment effectively  useless...

The apartment is smaller than the model home that they showed me which is pretty annoying.  Still a good size and worth the money but yeah...I feel a bit cheated as far as that's concerned. The central air is nice though...

So Tuesday and Wednesday I went out and bought a bunch of things. Right now I have a bed, dresser, full kitchen, and bathroom essentials.  The living room and dining room are still completely empty.  Oh well...one step at a time.

Burning through cash on large purchases is not a good feeling.  I'm going to up the time table of getting a job.  I am working for SMI still but they're making me go through a whole approval process before I do any work. I guess that's not too surprising but kind of a pain.

Anyway, living alone is cool so far.  I think i'm going to like it.  One goal will be to not become an alcoholic.  It'd be easy to sit here and drink and set things up all day...but that's not exactly productive (in the right way). Gotta get out there and see the world (and get a job).

Pictures of the apartment to come, once it's a little more set up and cleaned up.

j

Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Morning All,

It's 7:30 something here in Abilene, KS.  I haven't quite made it to Denver yet but will be getting there soon enough. The goal is by 3pm mountain time (5pm EST). So by the time you get out of work, I will hopefully be signing a lease and sitting in my furnitureless new apartment!  Today is a big day. :)

The trip so far has been good. Barely any traffic and pretty decent weather. A few times it has rained so hard that you couldn't see the front of the car, but those storms usually lasted 10 minutes or less. Not really a big deal.

So far I've stopped in Columbus, OH, Louisville, KY, O'Fallon, IL, and now, Abilene, KS.  The only thing to report about Columbus is that gas was only 3.17 per gallon (wow!).  Other than that, we didn't see much of it and it was kind of boring.  Sorry LD, your city gets a 3/10 stars.

On the way out of Columbus, we drove through Cincinnati which seemed like a pretty cool city.  Lots of cool architecture (from the highway).  I wanted to stop and get some chili but first of all, it was 10am and secondly, Bryan didn't pick up his phone in time to tell me where to go. Oh well.

Louisville was a good time. I didn't do too much there besides see my cousin AJ and meet his 2.5 year old daughter Abigail.  She's incredibly cute.

AJ is going through a rough time right now but overall seems to be doing alright. He's happy with his daughter and was in high spirits when I saw him.  It was good to reconnect with my long lost cousin (it's probably been a decade) and his daughter.

After Louisville it was on to O'Fallon, IL to see my uncle and his family.  They made some incredible St Louis style ribs.  After several plates of ribs and more beer than i should have had (try the new 6.0% black crown), I went to bed fat and happy.

Upwards and onwards to the Arch in St Louis.  It's pretty freaking huge.  It's pretty impossible to get the whole thing in one picture from anywhere near it, but Brian got a good shot from the highway.

After St Louis, it was on to Kansas City.  Let me tell you...driving through Missouri is pretty damn boring.  If we hadn't stopped off to fuel up, and gotten a little lost off the highway, we never would have found these two guys!

1.21 gigawatts?!?!

Giant gorilla in front 

of an Adult Novelty store.

Andy would have loved them both...

After that, we stopped in Kansas City to get some of the barbecue that I had heard so much about.  Unfortunately, Monty wasn't around so we didn't get to see him but let me tell you what, the pulled pork sandwich that I got might have been the best I have ever had. Jack Stack Barbecue (jackstackbbq.com) ships nationwide, and honestly, I may order it when I get to Denver if their bbq isn't up to snuff.

Like i said, now we're in Abilene, KS.  There's not much here to do but drink so alcohol is super cheap.  Last night I got a $4 liter.  Yum.

So yeah...that's been the trip so far. Like I said...Denver a little later today.  

I miss everyone terribly and can't wait to see a lot of people in late July and early August.  Till next time,

j

Adventure Log- Day 1

There's something incredibly...grounding, about packing up everything you own into your car as you prepare to move across the entire country.  At the same time, it's also very surreal. I say grounding because seeing everything that you own in one 100 cubic foot space makes you think, "this is it...this is everything. this is me (right now)."  I found myself thinking that if i was to get in a car accident or spontaneously combust, there'd be no physical evidence that I ever even existed.  Is that true? who knows.  It's what I started off thinking this morning.

Then I started thinking about money.  If I evaporated right now, what about all the money I have? What about all the bills I have.  I'm not thinking about these things specifically...more in a general sense.  That's something I own that's not in the car.  These thoughts didn't last long.

I found myself thinking about all the intangible things in my life.  Friends, family, enemies...relationships in general. That's who I am more so than all of the things in my car.  It's cliche but the lives I've touched mean more to me than anything in my car.  It's just funny that all my possessions are really what are right there, physically with me, and the people are not.  But they are.  I know they are. They know they are. They're all very supportive and have wished me luck (or not).  I'm not dying.  Life goes on.  "Life, uh...life will find a way."  Everything will still be here and, furthermore, there with me the entire time.

But enough esoteric babble. That's not what's important (or is it?).

I started this blog because people seem to want to know what goes on with me.  I'm interesting I guess (who knew). Over time, there'll be pictures and perhaps videos of my journey to and life in Denver, CO.  If not here, you can check out my google+ page.  Sorry...I'm still not getting a facebook.  If you're curious about something, just ask. I'm pretty much an open book.

So  here's the itinerary for the next couple days.

Today (Wednesday 6/26):
Work for 5 more hours
Drive to Cape Cod to see grandparents before i go
Sleep

Tomorrow (Thursday 6/27)
Pick up Brian so he can drive out with me
Go to Grand Prix NY with Cat & Brian for one last day of northeast fun

Friday 6/28
Start driving west. The goal is to get to Columbus, OH.

Saturday 6/29
Louisville, KY to see my cousin and his baby daughter who I've never met
O'Fallon, IL to see my uncle who I rarely see.

Sunday 6/30
Get to somewhere in Kansas

Monday 7/1:
Denver, CO.

Future:
Live.

Till next time,

j