SB - Day 6
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
Only Madge and I went skiing today. The bottom of the Peak 7 lift said that there was 7" of new snow from the previous day. It snowed for most of the day also...so there weren't many people on the slopes. The powder made the slopes kinda slow...but it was a nice cruise to the bottom. Even though I generally like going fast, the change of pace wasn't bad. I went by the race course again and ran it for free, but they didn't time me. Although, I think I was faster this time...mostly because it was still fairly early and the course was still mostly groomed.

We skied until around 4, then headed for the condo only to find that two in our group rented a car and headed for Aspen and a few other places. It kind of reminded me of a little movie called "Dumb and Dumber!" Since one of these people was the one that fell off the cat track...and couldn't read the trail map...we are curious to see how they did.

We went to eat at Mi Casa in town. The margarita Gold was good...strong. And the shrimp quesidillas I had were rather tasty. Then we froze on the way back to the car, drove to the condo and went to bed.

SB - Day 5
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
With Leo having had one lesson, and Claudia having had two...we decided to break them in right and took them down mostly blues. We didn't do any bad blues...these mostly had a couple of steep parts but generally flattened out. They did really well...Leo was doing great by the end of the day.

Al and I went by the NASTAR race course and took a run...he got 28.84 seconds...I got 27.99 seconds. Now in a straight away run, he would beat me...but throw in some tight turns and it's close.

About lunch time the snow started coming down pretty hard. We stopped to eat a little and when we came out there was already an inch or so of new snow on the ground. We headed over to the peak with lots of nice blue runs, but the snow was coming down really hard...it wasn't nearly the white out we had last year in Vail, but it didn't help that Madge's and my goggles were frozen over...not just fogged...but frozen! We couldn't see very well with them on, but trying to ski in that with nothing on hurt too much to go very far. So we fell behind the group fairly quickly.

When we made it down, we were running out of time to get the lifts back that we needed to get home. A couple of us went into the warming hut to try to defrost our goggles. We split as a group, and two people headed for home in case we missed a lift, they could bring the van back to get us. We headed for home after 10 minutes or so, and made it with a few minutes to spare.

We got back to the condo, but the hot tub wasn't working...so that kinda sucked. We also found out what happened to Claudia, she disappeared after lunch on our way to Peak 7, she apparently fell off the cat track and slowly made her way to the bottom of the mountain. She claimed that she didn't know where we were headed even though we talked about it before lunch, showed her a map of where we were going during lunch, and talked about it after lunch just before we headed to Peak 7.

We didn't do much after that but watch some TV and then go to bed.

SB - Day 4
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
Leo took his first lesson, Claudia took another lesson, and for the first time in like five years...Madge & I both took lessons. We started in a level 6 group, but Madge dropped down to level 5. My group was split into two groups, so I got in the "aggressive" group that they called 6.5! This group wasn't very aggressive by my standards...we started out learning how to make wide turns. I generally go faster and turn smaller...I don't like going slow. But I stuck with the group because our motto was "let the skis do the work for you." I generally sit back and my legs burn because I'm not balanced. I did get a few tips to work on to decrease my fatigue.

We came home and hopped in the hot tub for a couple of hours...and had a few rum and cokes. Later we played a little Cranium...but we didn't get very many answers right...so after we made it to the first Cranium...we called it a game.

SB - Day 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
Two of the group, Claudia & Reina, weren't feeling good, so they stayed home. The other three of us went to the slopes! We had a great time...busted a few times...two nice ones for me and a couple of lay downs. The three of us accidentally went down a run that had lots of big moguls! Not fun!! None of us care for those things...two of us like to go fast, the other just likes to zigzag across the mountain. We skied until around 4 and then headed in to grab a rum and coke, hit the hot tub, then get ready to go for dinner.

The last in our group, Leo, arrived around 3 or so. He had never skied before...but he lived in Chicago for some time.

We went to a place called Whale's Tail...the host was kind of an ass. The wait staff basically told us that they couldn't stand him either, but that we was a friend of the owner. So we were all stuck with him. I had a seafood pasta Alfredo that was pretty tasty.

SB - Day 2
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Life
We got up around 8 and wandered toward the base to get gear and pick up our lift tickets...we ordered those early and basically got one day free. I like that part! We then signed up for a lesson...we haven't taken a lesson in like 5 years or so...so we thought it was about time. We didn't end up getting up the bottom lift until almost 10:30. Our ski school class was supposed to start at 10:10 and by the time we got there, they were long gone. So we went back to the bottom and found out that the ticket was still good for any other day we were in town. So we headed back up the mountain and started skiing.

I'm not sure how many runs we did...but we had a good time. I fell twice...nothing spectacular though. We skied until around 3 or so and then headed to the bottom to meet a friend of ours, Claudia, that had taken her first ever ski lesson. She was already at the base so we grabbed our stuff and headed back to the condo to meet another couple, Al & Reina, that were arriving about that time. We ended up have great timing, because just as I was getting to the condo, I saw the shuttle pull up and drop them off. Madge and I hit the hot tub for a little bit and then we showered up and headed out to eat. We drove around town for a little bit and found a place called the Horseshoe II. It wasn't bad, I had a burger...big and tasty.

SB - Day 1
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
We had an uneventful flight into Denver...except for the last five minutes when it felt like we were on dirt road in a 4x4.

We stopped at Applejacks and only spent $42 on alcohol. We are getting old...but with my sister not there to take what ever was left over, we thought it would be wise to limit our inital purchase and buy more if needed. Then we stopped at Chili's, our usual stop before heading into the mountains.

We hit Walmart before the condo and stocked up on some stuff for breakfast and some snacks. We had an early night...we were all tired by about 7:30...but held on till about 8:30!

Spring break baby!!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Grad School
Well tomorrow we are off for spring break. We are going out to Breckenridge, CO for a week of skiing and drinking and all around good times!

When we get back, I'll retro post to fill yall in on what all we did...at least those things that I want on the Internet!! :)

My first poker night.
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Life
I got invited to a poker night tonight. This was the first time I've ever played for money with real people.

I'm not sure if I'll get invited back though...I cleaned everyone else out. It was a $10 one time buy-in...I walked out with $50...not bad for my first time!

Port Deal
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Politics
I finally decided to comment on the US Port deal that has been in the news everywhere recently. Here is how I see it:

1. Out of most of the areas in the Middle East, the UAE seems to be the most capitalistic, or the most Westernized.

2. They have also made great strides in helping us with the war on terror, at least more than many other Middle East countries.

3. Out of the 300 or so terminals in US ports, the UAE will only be running 9...and we still retain control of the terminal and port security. Yet, if you listen to the Left, we are giving up all security control...can you say liars?

4. It's not like this is the first foreign country or company to take over terminal operations at a US port...why do the Democrats make such a big stink now? Could it be because this is an Arab country? But I thought they were above looking at people's skin color/race? I guess not huh?

5. The UAE gave almost 4 times as much money in Katrina relief ($100 Million) as every other country combined ($26 Million).

Now by no means am I saying that the UAE is perfectly loyal to us or that they are completely safe, but no company could honestly claim that. We find spies in our government...people can be bought in every facet of life. But I don't think there is enough evidence out there to support the left's position that this is a bad deal for us. We have given up control of most of the terminals in our ports...why not have the one country in the Middle East that is trying to become westernized be here?

Hockey is back again!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Sports
I think I watched about as much of the Olympics as the next guy...which was about 15 minutes. That also figures in time that I saw it as I surfed the channels. But really...I think I watched about 10 minute of women' curling...until I realized that I didn't have a clue what the announcers were saying, and they weren't going to explain anything. I'm also not sure that curling is a "sport"...it is a game...like shuffleboard, but I don't consider that a sport, do you?

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I consider ice (figure) skating a sport either. It's just something about it...if it puts you to sleep, it can't be sport in my opinion. Maybe that's why I don't like baseball...yawn city.

Hockey on the other hand is hard to sleep through...the checks...the slap shots...the goals and then the horn and then the screaming fans!! I can't wait to get home tonight and watch some more hockey!!

Go Lightning!!

Got a good joke?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
As I stated earlier, I'm going to be adding a joke area to the site. If you have a favorite one, add it as a comment...I'll accept them and put them in my list. If I don't already have it on my list, I'll mention that I got it from you...if you want.

You have got to be kidding me!
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Grad School
Yesterday was the last day that I could order my cap and gown without a penalty. So I went to do it and nearly had second thoughts about going into IT.

It cost almost $60 to RENT the cap and gown, with nothing fancy, to wear for a total of a few hours! I'm thinking of opening up my own cap and gown business...you only have to work three times a year...and if you can make $60 per student times 5,000 students times 3 ceremonies...that's $900,000 a year!!! And that's for working only 1 school!

Insane!!

Too funny.
Mood:  cool
Topic: Work
Well, I know I said I wasn't gonna talk about people I talk to on the phone at work...but...

I answer the phone today, and I get some hick on the other end asking to talk to the owner of the line. Well, I work at the answering service, so I told him I could take a message. He then proceeds to rattle off something...his phone was pretty crappy, I could barely understand him...I caught three numbers and then the rest was a complete guess. So I stopped him and asked what it was that he just said, then he gets all pissed off and says "It's my phone number, what are you, a stupid nigger?" At first I was kinda stunned, then I replied that if he was talk that way I was going to end the call...and promptly hung up on his inbreed, redneck, Arkansas ass.

Then I laughed like hell for a little bit. Some people are just plain dumb. Here he is calling because he wants some one to buy his muddy lot with his trashy trailer on it, and he can't even be nice to the person trying to help him.

Don't you just love people?? I do.

I can't take any more! ! !
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Grad School
Oh boy, I had a feeling that my Information Security class was gonna be a problem the very first day when the professor made snide remarks about Bush and the "Domestic Spying Program." She brought it up twice, and I turned to a friend of mine in the class and told him if she continued this way all semester, we would have problems.

Well...we now officially have problems. She made another comment last week, and I asked her why she was opposed to us spying on our enemies. She gave me a strange look...you know the kind...where she was surprised that some one would question her all-knowing power as a professor. She made some Democrat-like answer that made no sense, so then I had to throw out the tiny little fact that we weren't spying on "Average American Citizens" like she tried to claim. Let's just say, the debate didn't last long...she quickly changed the subject.

Then today, she made another comment, but I guess she checked out what I said because she conceited the point I made previously and also correctly identified that we have been tracking International calls...not Domestic ones. The debate stopper this time was the little fact that out of the billions of calls that have been made since 2001 when this program started, less than 2,000 have been tapped. It is kinda hard to make the point that the government is abusing its power in this matter with that little tidbit.

Another testing
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Life
Tomorrow I have another testing for TKD, I'll be getting my stripe...blue belt decided.

Its another step to black. I'll have just about a year left after this testing.

I missed a week or so because I've been fighting off the sickness that has been going around...at work it is referred to as the Plague.