Land of Enchantment

Greetings from the land of enchantment, Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I took a little road trip this weekend just to get away.  I started the five and a half hour drive this morning around 9am and reached this sign about three hours later.  Santa Fe was a 2.5 hour hop, skip and jump beyond. As I was driving, I had a lot of thoughts.

First off, I was thinking about the proverbial journey of life. The literal expedition that I set out on this morning made me think a lot about what is more important; is it the journey, or the destination?  I will guess that many people have different answers to that, but for me, it's definitely the journey.  I'm happy traveling.  I'm happy in a car, driving to a new, unexplored location.  I wonder about the many mysteries that the destination holds and revel in all the goings on of getting there.  As I reflect on other trips of my life, I realize this has always been the case.  For instance... the first time I drove cross country, many of the destinations were quite boring.  Take the drive from the Mall of America to Mount Rushmore.  Leaving Minnesota, we got caught in a torrential rain storm and didn't think we'd make it to Rapid City, SD as we had originally intended. We therefore canceled our hotel room in Rapid City, but chose to keep driving, to get as close to it as we could.  The drive was an experience I will never forget. It was one of the first times I had driven in a rainstorm with rains so thick that I couldn't see the front of the car.  There was raucous laughter when one of my companions had to pee so bad (probably a combination of the rain and me, the driver, refusing to stop in it) that she got out of the car, peed on the side of the road, and got back in soaked to the bone, less than 30 seconds later.  And then, ultimately, we made it to Rapid City and tried to get our hotel room back only to find out that it had been sold to someone else.  The only room available at that late hour was the deluxe love suite of a Raddison several miles back.  It had two floors, a heart shaped hot tub, and an open shower.  It was not cheap. Haha... The next morning, after having gotten plenty of sleep for me, I woke everyone up a 8am and made them drive the rest of the way to see the mountain of Presidents.  When we got there, all we could do was say, "Yup. There it is. Take a picture.  Okay got it. Now what?"  It's not that it was a let down...it was just... not nearly as exciting as our pilgrimage from Minnesota.

Cathedral Basilica of St Francis]

I feel very similarly about Santa Fe.  I visited the Chuck Jones gallery today (which I really liked) as well as a few other galleries, an art show, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, and a creperie. Woo.  On the drive here, I listened to awesome music, thought about many things (including what I'm writing here), planned future adventures (Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Sand Surfing at Sand Dunes National Park), and all in all, felt a joy I haven't felt since departing from CT nine months ago.  Don't get me wrong...I liked all the things I did in Santa Fe today but simply put, it did not elicit the same blissful satisfaction as just getting up and going.  Apparently, I'm the type of person that likes to go just for the sake of going.  Again, I can see how people would like the destinations more...but that's me.  I want to DO things.  I want to GO places. I want to LIVE because living is a thing worth doing.  This is something that I think a lot of people don't get, and furthermore, don't do.  Which leads me to my second point...

I wonder how strange I am for wanting this lifestyle. 

When I was explaining to my coworkers on Friday about how I was driving 5.5 hours just for the sake of doing it, and with no clear motivation for doing so, they looked at me funny.  Honestly, probably rightfully so. Haha. 

On the way down here, I thought about online dating and writing a profile about myself.  It's not that I want to be dating someone (quite the opposite actually) but it seems the natural thing for a man of my age to be doing.  In fact, at 29, some would say that I should probably be in a relatively serious relationship that will ultimately turn into a lifelong commitment to another person.  Is it strange that I have no desire for that, right now? I mean I want to get married some day but right now, i'm more focused on living my life for me and not being saddled with another person, and/or a ton of new responsibilities.  It's kind of selfish, I know...but what's wrong with that?  Who says I can't do things on my own for now?  To them, I say, why not?  As a fully fledged adult, I will do what I like, when I like, with whomever I like.  For better or for worse, right now, I want to do things on my own.  Is that really such a bad thing?  Do I even care if that's such a bad thing? No.

I have lots of friends and a great deal of people that I love, and that love me.  With the comfort of that in mind, I'm going to live my life.

Thanks,

j

Being Nice

Blah blah... Haven't written in a long time, life is good, loving Colorado, snowboarding, visitors, blah.

I've been thinking about being nice and how people (myself included) are always so suspicious of it. For instance... today I brought a dozen cupcakes in for my team at work. The initial response from most people was "what's the occasion?" which is to say, "why are you being nice?" After the 11th time of saying just because, I was out of cupcakes. One person out of 12 said, "thanks. That was nice of you," before grilling me on my motivations and suspecting me of something sinister. I appreciated that.

In another unprovoked act of kindness, I sent a friend a very small Edible Arrangement. There was a bit of a mixup because I got it sent to her house and there was no one home (obviously because it was the middle of the day) so the delivery guy called her and delivered it to her work— so she knew it was coming before it got to her. That being said, she didn't actually thank me until she received it but that didn't stop her from meanwhile asking me why I sent it. Again, I responded, 'just because' and said I thought she'd appreciate it. She clearly did.

Fast forward to post nap time that evening. The blinky light on my phone alerted me to a new email which happened to be from my EA recipient. "Thanks again...why did you send it?"

A little irked (probably because I had just woken up) I (hopefully) kindly responded that it was just because and there was no ulterior motive. In her defense, the last time we saw each other, we had a personal, and some might say awkward, exchange in which I said if I didn't live on the other side of the country, I would be interested in pursuing a relationship. But I mean come on! I DO live on the other side of the country, I don't want ANY relationship right now, and sending chocolate covered fruit is not a profession of my undying love! I also don't really think these two things linked as we've talked nearly every day since that night in January with absolutely no awkwardness very little mention of that last in person meeting, and of our mutual love for both chocolate and fruit.

Now admittedly, I may not be the best at understanding or realizing when things I do appear to have romantic connotations, but given the fact that I'm 2000 miles away from the recipient, I thought I was safe from this misunderstanding. Apparently not.

But anyway... back to the topic at hand.

Why is it that people are so suspicious of niceness? Is it because it is so seldomly seen in this world? Perhaps it is a subconscious jealousy that they themselves are not being so benevolent. More likely than that, I think, could it be that when most people do nice things, they actually DO have ulterior motives which in turn make them suspicious of other people's niceties? I don't know the answer and can only speculate, but honestly, it's neither here nor there. The fact is this. I am nice because being nice is the right way to be. I am good because being good is, in itself, inherently good and right. I don't donate to charity to get tax breaks (though it is a perk), I don't volunteer so people take notice, and I'm certainly not the way I am because of anything other than the simple fact that I believe it is the right way to be. It just is. If the world would realize and adopt the inherent goodness that I believe is so clearly visible and easily attainable, wouldn't people be so much happier? It's one of the first lessons we learn in life. Be nice.

j

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