Changing of the seasons ...

This post probably would've been more appropriate a month ago (when I originally thought about posting it). But alas, laziness is a powerful force.

I'm sad that ultimate frisbee season is essentially over. Sure there is the occasional pickup game, and there are winter leagues. But for the most part, ultimate ended as October came to a close. My ankle still hurts from my last league game more than a month ago. I came down awkwardly after I jumped up to catch a disc. It was against this insanely tall guy, and I remember seeing the guy in my peripheral at the top of my jump. I guess I just expected to hit the ground sooner (not fully realizing how tall this guy really was) because when I did land, I wasn't expecting it and just buckled to the ground. I sorta laid there for a few seconds to make sure I was okay. I thought I had messed up my knee, but after a bit, I got up and walked off the field with a limp. I went back in to play later in the game because I felt fine. And I even played pickup games once or twice after that. It felt fine until about 10 days after that I noticed that there was still a nagging pain. I've been boarding twice this season already, both times kinda wondering if my ankle would be okay. And now that it's been over a month, I'm trying to see a doctor and possibly get an MRI to see what the heck is going on in there. My friend, Shelan, hurt his ankle snowboarding last year, and it was this sort of nagging thing all season. It didn't inhibit him from boarding, so he boarded all season, but it did bother him. Finally, this summer he had an MRI done and had to have surgery on it. I'm worried my thing is the same thing, so I'm trying not to wait too long (unfortunately I'm leaving the country for 3 weeks next week).

Anyway, so here we are at the beginning of December, and already we've had two pretty good snow dumps which seems abnormal for the city. I have my snow tires on and ready to go, but I'm still not quite ready for winter. Maybe it's because I don't want ultimate to end or perhaps because of the bitter cold we had this week (the other day I walked into work in a sub-zero wind chill and a high for the day in the teens). Regardless, I guess I get 3 weeks of respite from the cold as I go on vacation and will return in the heart of ski season.

On another note, I hope to better define myself and my life as this year comes to a close. I've been thinking ... a lot ... rather, it's probably more correct to say that it's been bothering me a lot these last couple of weeks ... because I haven't really tried to sit down and find answers that much as of yet. I think this has been a long time in the making ... questions about grad school ... my mild depression in July. Finally, through a variety of factors, mainly conversations with friends, I realize that I have some higher level philosophical questions to answer about myself. So much like my ankle, this has been nagging me these last couple of weeks. I wrote down some questions on a piece of paper. I spent a few minutes and just wrote down some questions that seemed relevant. I don't know if I got them all, but I haven't really tried to answer these questions yet. I hope to do a lot of introspection on this vacation (although I wanted to do a lot over my Thanksgiving break, but that didn't really happen) ... to at least start finding some answers. I know my brother's going to be busy with wedding stuff, but in some selfish way, I'm hoping he can help me because I greatly value his input.

So I'm not trying to make it seem that I'm this messed up person. I think this is a good thing that I'm going through right now. I could be perfectly content continuing on this path of life for a few more years. But in the end, I'm going to have to tackle this in order to be happy (which I'm not quite sure how to define at this point). So I figure it's better that I address this now than five years from now. Better now when I am single and flexible rather than after I have a family and am more rigid. Ah, life. Isn't it fun?

How sad?

Okay, I haven't watched many Hindi movies in my life. Frankly, I used to think they were a joke. I've been more open to them these last few years and have seen some pretty good ones. I'm trying to watch more because I have wanted to learn Hindi these last couple of years, and many people have told me that watching Hindi movies is a good way to learn (since I already know Gujarati). Well, I've accumulated a lot of Hindi movies based on recommendations: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Black, Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, Sholay ... and others. I haven't watched any of these yet, but I really plan to. I tried watching Veer-Zaara over Thanksgiving, but the DVD was scratched so it wouldn't play properly ... wonderful.

The sad thing is that I went to get my hair cut today, and this Russian lady was cutting my hair. We remembered each other from before (we always seem to have a good ole conversation). Well I mentioned that my parents were en route to India today and that I would be going next week. So she proceeds to tell me how she loves Indian movies! She said she was exposed to a lot of Indian movies in Russia (to which I was like, "Really?"). Apparently she saw a little snippet about this "really good looking actor" who had blue eyes so she went to the Indian grocery store and rented Mission Kashmir (apparently she was talking about Hrithik Roshan because she said his dad was a famous director, i.e. Rakesh Roshan). I remember watching part of that movie, but never finishing it because we were going somewhere (garba, I think). But yea, this lady also knew how Raj Kapoor used to be big. But isn't it sad that a Russian immigrant probably knows more about Indian cinema than me?

It's D's Day!

So we had a birthday party last weekend for me and two of my friends, Jolene and D. A couple of weeks prior, the Democrats took over Congress. What do these things have anything to do with each other, you say? Well, the Rocky Mountain News' cover the Wednesday after election day had in a HUGE font "It's D's Day!"

I couldn't resist. That was just too perfect. I got a little carried away, but here's what I came up with. I printed out a 16" x 22" poster of this for the party.
Me, D and Jolene (from left to right)

Life

So I pretty much haven't read at all in this past month. Since finishing The Catcher in the Rye, I put a hold at the library on this book called Choke that was recommended to me by a friend. It's by Chuck Palahniuk, the same guy who wrote Fight Club. Well, rather than reading another book in the meantime, I waited, even though I should've known it was going to be a while because there were a couple of holds on it. After a couple of weeks, I got Diary by the same author. But, I barely read it at all. I still had my heart set on Choke. I realized that this book is a metaphor for a lot of things in my life.

Incidentally, I finally got Choke today.

Books

I guess I've been reading a lot more lately because there are three books I've finished since my last post. Although, I was already most of the way through two of them.

• Fast Food Nation - I thought this was a very interesting read providing lots of insight into the history and goings on of the fast food industry. It was definitely eye-opening, and I highly recommend it. What I found particularly pleasant was that the author, Eric Schlosser, does not write it as an attack on the industry, per se; he is merely presenting some interesting information to the reader, leaving the judgment to us. Mind you, the information presented is largely negative, but it's written in a way such that it doesn't feel like the author's agenda is being shoved down your throat like many documentaries do. Of note, there is a film adaptation of Fast Food Nation that is set to release in a few weeks.
  
  
  
• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - Another non-fiction book that I found to be interesting. I didn't enjoy this one as much largely because I was skeptical of a lot of what was said. This is an auto-biographical book by John Perkins where he claims to have indirectly worked for the U.S. Government as an economist where his job was to fabricate economic forecasts for countries in order to gain favorable positions with them. His stories reach from foreign policy in Venezuela and Panama to arrangements made with the House of Saud to avoid another "oil crisis" that crippled the U.S. economy in the 1970s. Definitely an interesting read.
  
  
  
• The Catcher in the Rye - The classic story by J.D. Salinger of Holden Caulfield. I just finished reading this about an hour ago. Interesting characterization, but I have to admit: I didn't "get" it. This is so many people's favorite book including one of my best friends (which is the main reason I wanted to read it), but I just didn't see the big deal. Perhaps a book like this about teenage angst would've been more meaningful when I was younger.
  

Goings on

So what's been going on? Let's see. A couple of weeks after hiking Grays and Torreys, D and I did Mt. Evans (along with Mt. Spalding, a nearby 13er) with Joe and his wife, Ruth. Unfortunately, it was a foggy day, so we really got screwed on the best part of doing 14ers ... the view! I only took maybe five pictures that day compared to the 140 from Grays and Torreys! It really was a downer because we couldn't see anything. It cleared up towards the summit a little, so we were able to grab a few pictures, but the view was still nothing like it could've been. It was very cold that day (I want to say in the 40s), and I was worried I didn't bring enough warm clothes. It actually worked out fine. Evans is interesting because you can drive up it. It kinda took away from the whole experience after hiking for hours, making the final push to the summit and seeing SUVs drive up a paved road. The summit was like a tourist stop (which it is) with little kids and people in flip-flops. Eh, regardless, I can check that one off of my list ... 14er number four for me. It actually started sleeting then raining as we were descending, but luckily we were almost to the car before it got bad.

A bunch of us went camping a few weekends ago at Lake Granby. It was beautiful there! A couple of us left early on Friday to do some mountain biking, but the weather didn't cooperate so that ended up getting cancelled. Saturday morning looked like it was going to be more of the same, but it cleared up and we all went our own ways. Some people went biking, some went hiking and some went to some hot springs. I went kayaking in Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Lake with five others. It was my first time, and I have to say: it's harder to go straight than it looks! The weather was perfect! We ate a late lunch in town, and spent the rest of day throwing around the disc lakeside and going on a short hike. I had a lot of fun despite the stints of rain.

Amazing view of Lake Granby from our campsite
I'm kinda having "ultimate" withdrawals right now. I goes back several weeks to August 10 which was my last game in my summer league. We only won one game in that league, so we were one of two teams that didn't qualify for the tournament on the 12th. I went to the tournament anyway to watch my friends' games, and it was fun just to hang out and throw around afterwards. Anyway, so the next Sunday my fall league (U2) started up, but I already had plans for camping that weekend, so I had to miss it. We also formed this team from our friend circle to play in this Wednesday Sports Monster league. So the first game for that was the 23rd, but they said that the league was already full by the time we had registered (which was BS). After a tactfully-worded email about how we have had so many problems with Sports Monster, they expanded the league to make room for us, but we'd have a bye the first week. It was a relief to get the team in the league, but ARGH! I wanted to play! Finally, on the 27th, I got to play in my Sunday league, but we only had one game (U2 usually has two games per Sunday, but I think every team has one week with a single-header). It was just as well because I hurt my knee a few days earlier when we were tossing around at Wash Park. Then, the following Wednesday, I couldn't make our first game for the Wednesday league because I had tickets to Cirque du Soleil. I really hated to miss that game because I was/am pretty excited about this team that we formed. I don't think we're going to be that good, but it's just going to be so much fun playing with friends. And then, this Sunday, we don't have any U2 games because of the long weekend. Wonderful.

So yea, last weekend, Shannon had a birthday party that was pretty fun. That was also the night of the Moonlight Classic, which is a bike ride through downtown Denver in the middle of the night. I was planning on doing that with a bunch of friends, but as previously mentioned, I hurt my knee the day before, so I wanted to take it easy. A lot of people left the party to do the ride, and I wish I could've gone. Oh well ... I still had fun.

This past Wednesday, I went to see Cirque du Soleil's Delirium at the Pepsi Center. It's funny because everyone I talk to about Cirque always says something along the lines of "it's expensive, but it's totally worth it!" And I'd tend to agree. I wasn't totally wow'ed, but it was definitely good with some amazing stuff. The best part was probably with these four guys who were doing some ridiculous balancing acts like having two people stand on their hands, have a third guy balancing on their feet and a fourth guy balancing on one arm on top of the third guy's head (or something crazy like that ... I don't remember the details, but I'm not exaggerating). The show was very visual with so much stuff going on that you couldn't really take it all in. Delirium is apparently meant to be different from "traditional" Cirque shows in that it's more music-oriented. Tonya said that it wasn't as good as others she had seen, but it was still good. All in all a good experience, but I just wish I would've gotten tickets for the Thursday show so I could've played ultimate! Mind you, I did get the tix months in advance ... long before this league was even a consideration.

And now, here's Labor Day weekend. A lot of my friends have left town. I was trying to plan a trip to San Francisco or Yosemite for this weekend, but my friend, Gabriel, in SoCal couldn't take any time off, so that kinda fell through. It's cooled off quite a bit here (tomorrow's high is 69°), so I'm thinking I may take this opportunity to paint some rooms in my place (which I've been putting off for quite a while). I also recently found out that I need to go to India in December, so I've been trying to book a flight for that.

Other random stuff:

• I did end up getting a digital piano a few months back, and it is great! It's so nice to be able to play a piano whenever I want! I'm re-learning Moonlight Sonata, but there's so many other songs I want to learn.
  
• I've been reading some non-fiction lately. I started reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man recently which was interesting. I'm not sure how much of it I really believe, though. Right now, I'm finishing up Fast Food Nation which I started reading several months back but never finished. I think that one is really interesting. It makes me want to never eat fast food again ... and the chapter I'm on right now makes me glad that I don't eat meat.
  
• I bought Finding Nemo recently which I've been meaning to do for a while. I watched it again, and man that's a great movie. I watched the "Making of ..." too, and it was pretty incredible seeing how much research and attention to detail went into that movie.
  
• We had a 5k race at work the other day that I participated in. I never did get my time, but Marc said I wasn't too far behind him, so I think I did it in about 21 minutes which I'm pretty happy with. My goal was a sub-20 when I signed up, but as I did a couple of practice runs, I quickly realized that wasn't going to be possible. So then, I was just hoping for a sub-24.
  
• And football season is here! LSU plays their first game tomorrow. Unfortunately, it won't be on TV ... at least not here in Colorado. And of course, there's fantasy football! Unfortunately, ultimate on Sundays will conflict with a lot of NFL games, but oh well. Ultimate takes precedence for now.
  

Confused

I'm confused ... about a lot of things. I guess it could be described as a very mild state of depression that I'm in. I'm just thinking about the future, and I just don't know ... what it'll be, where it'll be and who with. For the most part, I'm usually happy about where I am in my life right now; I guess I'm just ready for more, and thinking ahead, I'm worried about the pace in which change is coming. Somewhere, there is a piece or two missing. I think I know what they are. Now if only I could fill them.

In other news, D and I did two 14ers, Grays (14,270 ft) and Torreys (14,267 ft), last weekend. They are the 12th and 14th tallest peaks, respectively in the continental U.S. Among other reasons, we wanted to get out of the 100 degree heat in Denver! It was nice and comfortable in the mountains, and at 14,000 feet, it was actually kinda cold at times.

Grays Peak (left) and Torreys Peak (right)
Along with Mt. Sherman that I did last year, these were the 2nd and 3rd 14ers for me and D's 1st and 2nd. Of course, I did Mt. Sherman in May, so it was more like snowshoeing than hiking. That was pretty miserable. These were a lot more straightforward. In fact, we opted to do Torreys first even though it's easier doing Grays first. I think it took us about two hours to summit Torreys. We hung out and took pictures for about 15 minutes before we headed to Grays. It took about 40 minutes to get to Grays, and we spent about 45 minutes up there before we headed down. We were concerned about some clouds that were gathering.

View from Torreys Peak
It cleared up during our descent, so we took our time stopping for a lot of pictures along the way. Towards the base of the mountains, there were a lot of very pretty wildflowers that we took pictures of. I've never seen so many wildflowers in Colorado! All total, I think it took about 5.5 hours from when we left the car.

Rocky Mountain Columbine, Colorado's state flower
I'm currently listening to "All Good Things" by Nelly Furtado. I think I've listened to it 10+ times today. Man, what a good song. Apparently, it was originally supposed to be a duet with Chris Martin from Coldplay, but his label didn't like that, so she performs it solo on the album. I found the duet version online, and it's pretty good too. The whole album is pretty good, actually.

Dentists

So I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned how I never had braces. The hygienist says it's really rare nowadays for someone to have straight teeth without braces. I thought about what she said, as I tend to do. Really, do that many people get braces? I was surprised by what she said. So I thought, by natural selection, humans as a race would get better teeth because the people with straight teeth are more likely to procreate. But now, braces changed the game. Now, people with an unfavorable characteristic were on a level playing field with everyone else. As a result, humans' teeth are staying the same or even getting worse. Thus, more people who need braces, and the cyclical process continues. I don't like the sound of that ... but I'm sure orthodontists love it. The same thing could be said about the drug industry. We're screwing up natural selection!

Sometimes ...

Sometimes I think that there are two types of guys in the world: me and everyone else. I mean, not to be self-aggrandizing, but really ... am I the only guy on this planet with morals?

This concludes quite possibly the vaguest post ever.

Half-marathon (cont'd) ... and other stuff

Okay, there's not really a whole lot left from the half-marathon to say. A couple of things I forgot to mention. After I left the medical tent (but before I met up with John Jost), I got my medal for finishing. It's a pretty cool little medal. I also still had my timing chip around my ankle. Apparently, you were supposed to drop them off after you finished, so I had to go back to the finish line to turn mine in. After I found John, we hung around for a little bit. Marc and John Martin eventually called back, and I talked to them for a bit. Apparently Marc wasn't doing so well by the end either. According to John M., we both looked terrible at the end, but we weren't too far apart. Then again, Marc started a few minutes late. Anyway, so the official times were (taking into account varying start times):

• John Martin - 1:45:09 (8 min pace)
  
• Marc - 1:55:47 (8 min 46 sec pace)
  
• Me - 2:00:45 (9 min 9 sec pace)
  
• John Jost (full marathon) - 3:27:40 (7 min 54 sec pace)
  

That's right: I missed my #4 "dream" goal by 45 seconds! Still, I wasn't upset, but rather very pleased with myself. I didn't expect to get that close to that goal. Had I been feeling better, I might've been able to shave off 45 seconds. In any case, I was proud of myself.

Colfax Half-Marathon
Now the fun part of the story. So the marathoners had to park at the finish line, and the half-marathoners at the starting line. So John offered to give me a ride to my car if could help him find his car. Mind you, he had parked at like 4 o'clock in the morning, so he couldn't remember much except that he pulled up to a grassy curb. I figured that'd narrow it down considering there wasn't much grass in the lot. So we start looking, and we're not having any luck. John is hurting (I think physically from the run and emotionally from not being able to find his car after running 26.2 miles!), and we stop a couple of times for him to compose himself. It felt like an episode of Seinfeld! We ended up walking around the entire mall and eventually found his car like 10 feet in the other direction from where we started (ok, perhaps that's an exaggeration)!

So I get my car, and we head off we go to our Ultimate games even though neither of us have any intention of playing. This was a make-up day from earlier in the season which was cancelled because of weather, and ironically our teams were playing against each other. Both of us were bummed because we wanted to play against each other (even though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to keep up with him). I joked that day that I could finally cover him because he was in a lot more pain than I was.

It turns out our team had a lot of players out, and it looked like we might have to go "savage" (with no substitutes) unless I played. I told them I would play if they needed me to, but I knew that Tim, Mike and Lori were planning on coming after their relay. They showed up shortly after the game started, so we were okay. They were tired but were able to play (there's a big difference between 10k and 13 miles (21k)). I just sat there and watched, but we played amazing! It was the best performance I'd seen from our team, and I really wanted to get out there. But I could see they were fine without me, and there was no point in risking an injury. Our team was getting tired later on (we still didn't have very many subs), but they finished strong, and we won by reaching 15 (first time this season) to their, I want to say, 5-7 points. Needless to say, we dominated them, and I was very surprised because their record was similar to ours, and I expected it to be a close game. Maybe they were really reliant on John. In any case, it was an awesome win. Between games, I went and grabbed my running shoes (I left my cleats at home since I had no intention of playing) in case they got tired again and need a sub for a point or two. The second game was quite the opposite. They never called on me to come in, but we got slaughtered ... getting 15 put on us for only the 2nd time this season.

Afterwards, we hung out for a good while before I had to leave because I was starving! I had totally forgotten about lunch ... and having just run a half-marathon, I was definitely hungry. I stopped by Chipotle on my way home for the first time in quite a while. I stopped going there after visiting this website and learning that my normal burrito contained 141% of my recommended daily value of sodium, 61% of the calories, 81% of the total fat and 92% of the saturated fat. In any case, I figured I could make an exception since I had quite the active morning. Even though I was starving, I still couldn't finish the whole thing. I started getting a headache shortly before I left ultimate and also started coughing, and I only felt worse as the day went on. I ended going to bed pretty early, but the coughing wouldn't stop. I got really hot (yea, I know, I'm pretty hot already ;-) ...) and tried sleeping downstairs where it was cooler. Unfortunately, my coughing fits kept me up most of the night. I ended up getting up around 3am and started looking at the race results and doing some statistics on it since I obviously wasn't going to get sleep. I'll spare you the details and just say that I ended up calling in sick Monday and just rested. I felt better as the day went on. I got some sleep that night, and I went to work the next day (where of course everyone thought I took the day off because of the race ... which I guess was indirectly true). I wore my medal around that morning, but it's actually pretty heavy, so that didn't last long. I was pretty proud. :-)

I got better as the week progressed but was never really completely over it by the time the weekend came. My friends and I went camping Friday and Saturday night. I ended up driving, and I felt so bad for my poor Honda Accord. The last couple of miles were pretty rough, and my car had no business on there. There were a couple of times I wondered what the hell I was doing driving that road. I scraped the bottom of my car a couple of times, and I just sat there apologizing to my car. For the last little bit, D was out guiding me to avoid the larger rocks which worked pretty well. Finally, we reached a point where both of us looked at each other and concluded there was no way my car was making it. I just backed down to a nearby campsite and just parked there. We just walked the rest of the way which was like 10 feet from where I turned around (ok, maybe not 10 feet, but you get the idea). It turns out they were at a closer campsite, and the original one involved driving through a small stream. Yes, THROUGH the stream! I'm just glad I found that spot to park where I did.

The next few days were a lot of fun, but it was pretty cold. If you weren't by the fire or in your sleeping bag, it was freezing. I think it was in the 40s at night and 70s during the day. I was wearing pretty much every layer I brought. We didn't really do a whole lot except go on a short hike on Saturday (there was still tons of snow on the higher trails). It was still a lot of fun, though. Our tent was on a bit of an incline, so it was interesting because we kept sliding down our sleeping bags during the night. Saturday night, we crammed another into our tent, so we were literally shoulder-to-shoulder ... still sliding downwards into our sleeping bags. It was kind of funny but of course also uncomfortable. Still, I slept pretty well both nights. I was afraid my coughing (which was sporadic, but still surfaced at times) would keep everyone up. Luckily, it stayed under control. We pretty much woke up and left Sunday morning.

The gang out for a hike.
After going home and taking well-needed showers, we went to John's for a good carbo-loading dinner. We tried to figure out how we were going to get to the Bolder Boulder because of all the traffic. There were supposed to be close to 50,000 runners! We toyed with the idea of taking the bus, of going there that night and either staying at a friend's place or car-camping, but eventually decided just to leave early in the morning. D had the idea a few weeks earlier that we dress us as the Coyote and the Roadrunner for the race, but we never found time to get that together. Somehow they convinced me to stay at John's place to save time, so I went home and grabbed my things, came back to John's and crashed in an empty room.

We got there in the morning with ease. Parking wasn't a big deal, and we got there with plenty of time. Cara came with us to cheer us on, and we took some pre-race pics: one normal one, and one with our "tough guy" faces which is friggin' hilarious! I can't look at it without cracking up!

Yea, that's our "tough-guy" look. Are ya scared?
I started cramping up by the time our wave started. D and I were in the same wave, and we kept together for the first half of the race. There were lots of waves separated by a few minutes. I thought this would help prevent crowding, but unfortunately, it didn't take us long to run into the wave in front of us (even though we were both sub-60 waves). We were forced to weave through everyone which was annoying. He pulled ahead about two-thirds of the way through, but I figured he wouldn't be able to keep up the pace. He was fluctuating speeds a lot where as I was staying pretty consistent. My goal was to finish under 50 minutes which translated to 8 minute miles. Unfortunately, I never really timed myself, so I didn't know what a 8 minute pace was like, so I had to pretty much wing it. I still had a runny nose, so I was breathing through my mouth a lot which dried it out quite a bit. Unfortunately, drinking on-the-go was still an art I hadn't mastered, so that slowed me down.

Bolder Boulder 10k
They had all these "entertainers" along the race route from dancers to bands. At one house, they had a slip-n-slide set up, and by the time I realized it was for the racers, I had already passed it. The next thing I know, I see D in front me all wet. I just had to laugh. It was pretty impressive that he only lost a little bit of ground by going through there. In fact, he pulled ahead of me pretty good after that, so maybe it was good for him. I overheard from some people at the start that there were two big hills around mile 4 and at the end leading into Folsom Field. It was at this first hill that I caught up to D significantly. Unfortunately, my side started hurting, so I had to slow down shortly afterwards. I had to watch him pull away as I slowed my pace. I think I probably had too big of a breakfast. I'll have to keep that in mind for the future. I still maintained a decent pace as I went up the final hill. A lot of people slowed down which I took as an opportunity to pass a lot of them. As I went through the final stretch, I heard John Jost in the stands call out my name (he was in a wave starting about 5 minutes before ours). I crossed the finish line and wondered how they were going to time us since we didn't have timing chips. At the finish, there were all these people frantically writing down our bib numbers (and I found out later, punching them into a little electronic device). I glanced up at the scoreboard and saw the time was 8:27 and since our wave started at 7:39, I knew I had about a 48 minute time and thus reached my goal despite the cramping. I was pretty happy, and I met up with the rest of the gang at our predetermined meeting point. I saw John Martin as well who was apparently waiting to snap a picture of me as I finished. He was surprised when I came up behind him. He was in a much earlier wave.

It turns out that Cara missed John and D as they finished was ready for me after she saw D. So, she got a decent pic of me at the closing stretch. D, John, John, Cara and I walked around and got our goody bags along with other free stuff including Häagen-Dazs ice cream. We went back into the stadium later to catch Tonya, Shannon and Lyndsey finish. Their wave started around 8:30, and we knew they wouldn't be done in less than an hour. We got there kinda late, so we couldn't get a pic of them. Apparently, they too didn't get their secret costumes in order because they weren't wearing them. Supposedly, they "forgot" them but still wouldn't tell us what they were. So we got the final results that night:

• John Jost - 00:40:33 (6 min 31 sec pace)
  
• John Martin - 00:44:28 (7 min 9 sec pace)
  
• D - 00:47:05 (7 min 33 sec pace)
  
• Me - 00:48:08 (7 min 45 sec pace)
  
• Shannon - 01:01:22 (9 min 52 sec pace)
  
• Tonya - 01:06:31 (10 min 42 sec pace)
  
• Lyndsey - 01:06:33 (10 min 42 sec pace)
  

Random stuff

Okay, I'll finish the Half Marathon story some other time. I just wanted to post some random stuff right now. Firstly, it seems I only post about a few select subjects. There's a reason for that. I'm a generally reserved person except around those closest to me. Thus, I don't talk about really personal matters in such a public forum. My life isn't just about music and doing physical activities. That said, that pretty much is what the rest of this post will be about. I still need to touch on camping and the Bolder Boulder 10k from Memorial Day weekend and the Ultimate tournament today. Man, I really wish I could post to this thing more often. Okay, those will come later, time permitting.

So in those days before the half-marathon in which I was sick, pretty much just stuck at home, I finished reading The Da Vinci Code. It was a good read, but I didn't think it was as great as everyone made it out to be. I don't know. I guess expectation has a big effect on me. I don't think it could've possibly lived up to all the hype (especially since I've heard it for 3 years now). Same thing happens with movies. I'll enjoy a movie a lot more when I go in with low expectations. Conversely, if I've heard a lot of good stuff about a movie, then most of the time, I'll be disappointed in the movie (even though I still may enjoy it). In any case, everyone's told me that Angels and Demons is the better book, so we'll see. I bought it the other day, although I haven't really started reading it yet. I also have Fast Food Nation to read though. And then several people have told me I need to read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man so I'll have to check that out soon. So much stuff to do, so little time!

Now to touch on music a little, I just wanted to list out some of the songs I've been hooked to these last couple of months. I pretty much go through periods (ranging from a week to months) where I have a song that I'm hooked to. So in order from the most recent:

• Fort Minor - "Remember the Name"
  
• Fort Minor - "Where'd You Go?"
  
• Nine Inch Nails - "Right Where It Belongs"
  
• Pearl Jam - "Black"
  
• Coldplay - "Talk"
  

Of course, there are lots of other songs I've liked during this time, but these are the ones that pretty much reached the "I have to listen to this on my way to work" status. I'm sure there are others I'm missing.

On a related note, I really want to get a digital piano. I've been looking to get a cheap used one for like $500, but no luck so far. Yea, they're not cheap, but hopefully I can manage to get a used one for around that price. I have this keyboard that I've had since I was in like Junior High was good enough for a while, but even back then it got be limiting as I taught myself some piano (just not enough keys on it to play Adagio from "Moonlight Sonata"). In any case, I've always wanted a digital piano (or a real one). I haven't really used my keyboard at all in the past year and a half, so it seemed silly to think that that would change if I got a piano. Okay, now flash back a little bit: I've wanted to learn how to play the piano part from Van Halen's "Right Now" for quite some time (a great part and a great song). There was this kid in high school that could play it, and I picked up a little bit of it, but just enough to tease me. A few years ago, I tried to find the piano part online and in stores to buy but couldn't. So the other day, I just randomly think to look again for the first time in forever. I do a couple of searches online, and bam! There it is! And for free, no less! So I print it out, and I start practicing. After a few days, I get pretty decent with it, but again my keyboard is just insufficient. It doesn't have enough keys, and it's not touch-sensitive, so you can't play the bass and treble lines at different volumes (another big problem with "Moonlight Sonata"). So again, I start to think if I should get a digital piano (a real piano just wouldn't be practical getting upstairs, etc). Then at a friend's barbecue one day, I find out that his wife has a Clavinova digital piano (which is really what I would want, if I wanted to spend that much money). So I take a stab at "Right Now" on it, and it just sounds sooo much better! Of course, I had an audience too, so that was cool, but I soo want one of those. So I've been looking on craigslist a lot lately, and hopefully I can grab a used one. That would be most excellent.

Half Marathon

Welcome to another installment of my life. I guess firstly, I'll elaborate on my last post so as not to leave it dangling. So yea, Mike Shinoda is a genius. I recently found out that his side-project Fort Minor had released their album ... in November. Somehow that totally slipped by me (which very much surprised me ... the only thing I can think is that I was in India at the time). Regardless, I've been listening to this album since I heard about it, and it's simply amazing. I mean this isn't some ground-breakingly awesome album, but it just made me realize how much a part of Linkin Park Mike is. I knew that he was the heart and soul of the band, but I have a new respect for his creativity and talent. One thing in particular that impressed me was this line from Wikipedia (which appears to be corroborated from other sources):

As well as producing the CD, Mike played every instrument on all the tracks that made it into the final cut (minus the strings).

Okay, enough on that. As far as being sore and tired that day, that was a busy weekend. We went out for Cinco de Mayo, I ran the steps at Red Rocks, went on the Coors Brewery Tour, play urban capture the flag in downtown Denver and then played Ultimate on Sunday. I was beat. Aside from the first and last item, that was all Saturday, and I was starving all day. CTF was pretty crazy. It was just some thing this guy decided to do as an "art project" (no idea). So there were probably like 200-400 people there playing CTF in this huge area in downtown Denver. I'm surprised no one got hurt because I know when I was chasing some people in our territory, they ran into the streets and almost got hit by cars. Anyway, I had to stop later on, because I just couldn't sprint around anymore without some food.

So alright, the real reason I'm posting ... For those of you keeping track at home (anyone? I didn't think so), this weekend was the Colfax Marathon in which I was running the half marathon with my friends John Martin and Marc (D bailed even though it was his idea in the first place). My friend John Jost ran the full marathon. Yea, he's a machine. So it kinda crept up on me, and I was getting a little nervous about my training. I would've liked to have done another 10-11 mile run, but it was too late. I needed to start resting. So the 10 miler that I chronicled back in March was the longest I had done, and that was 7 weeks ago! I got some new running shoes last week that I'm actually going to dedicate to running, and some people got me worried about that since I hadn't broken them in for a few weeks. I had read that you didn't really break in running shoes, so I figured I'd be fine, but still that was another thought on my mind. But, the worst part is on Tuesday, I had a sore throat.

"Noo! This can't be happening," I thought. I started loading up on vitamin C to make sure it wouldn't get to a full-blown cold. I wanted to do a short run Tuesday, but decided against it because of my throat and also because my right leg was kinda sore (from what, I'm not sure). Wednesday was okay, but I still had a nagging sore throat. Most of the people from work took off early Wednesday to go to the Rockies game (my first MLB game). As I always said, baseball sucks ... but it was an excuse to hang out (and it was fun!). I was fine until that evening, and I started feeling worse. I think I had a fever that night. The next few days the sickness just kinda stuck around. Sometimes I'd feel okay, sometimes not. It never really got that bad, but it was enough to have me worried about the race. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise (ha, I can't even say that with a straight face) because I pretty much did nothing but sit at home those last few days. So, I was able to rest, and being at home made it easier to stay hydrated and to carbo-load. I was drinking over a gallon of water (which may not sound like much, but is 3-4x my norm) and eating 4-5 carb-rich meals a day (somehow I created a new meal in between lunch and dinner).

So it's Saturday night. The race starts at 6 the following morning, which means I have to set my alarm for 4:15 to get there with ample time. Ugh. Meanwhile, I'm still amazed at how much mucus one human can produce. So I hit the sack at 9pm and of course, it's a hot day, so I'm fidgeting until probably 10:30pm. And here comes race day. I've carbo-loaded, I've stayed hydrated and I've rested, but how much will this sickness counter-balance those things? It sure seemed like all the energy I was supposed to be storing up was being sucked out of me by the cold, and all the water I was drinking was just coming out onto my Kleenexes! And I couldn't do my last training run either, but on the other hand, they'd have water stops along the way (which I never had in my training). And I also had my comfy running shoes now. I got to the starting line earlier than I expected at 5:10. I check-in my bag (which will be taken to the finish line), and go for the Port-A-Pottys. I didn't want to waste any time during the run (and I knew that these last few days, I'd been having to go to the bathroom what seemed like every 5 minutes). So I stretch and wait around for Marc and John M. It's approaching 6 and still no sign of them. At this point, I need to go to the bathroom again, but the line is huuuge, so I knew I'd have to just go during the race. I finally meet up with John, and the race starts.

It was actually a really nice day (as they all are in Denver, it seems). This early in the morning, it was in the 50s and was supposed to get to the upper 60s by around 8am. All in all, a good temperature for a run. We start in the middle of the pack. It takes us a little bit to actually cross the starting line which is apparently when your timing starts (we had these little chips that we wore around our ankle that recorded when we passed checkpoints). So we're going pretty slow to start (to warmup and because it was hard to maneuver through the crowd). So I keep up with him for about the first 3 miles before he starts and pulling away. John's done a full marathon before, so I had no intention of keeping up with him. So now I'm on my own. Two things are on my mind at this point: how's this bathroom stop going to work, and how am I going to handle the uphill that the race ends with. Let me start with the latter; while I was checking out the course profile that weekend, I noticed that the last 8 miles was a steady climb into Lakewood. I even compared the ascent using Google Earth to hills I've climbed in my training runs. Conclusion: this was going to be a rough finish. How in the world am I going to handle that at mile 10? 12?! As for using the bathroom, they had Port-A-Pottys every couple of miles, but I didn't want to waste a lot of time, and the first few stops had lines (albeit short ones). So, I kept going. At one point, one emptied right before I got there, and for whatever reason I didn't stop. I could've been in and out in 20 seconds. A couple of stops later, I had to stop before it started affecting my running. I had to wait little bit, but it wasn't bad. I wasted about 90 seconds, I figure. Okay, enough about me and my urination problems.

So they also had water and Gatorade every couple of miles. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get a handle on drinking and running. It sounds stupid, but it's not easy. I actually read an article the other day saying that you should practice grabbing the cup and drinking while running. I got the handoff part just fine, but I just couldn't drink without slowing down considerably. I think I skipped only one water stop even though I had so much trouble getting it down. I'd end up running with my empty cup until I came across a trash can (which most of the time wasn't until the next stop). Everyone else either drank theirs really quickly and tossed them into the trash cans shortly after the water stops, or they just threw it on the ground. Even though I knew they had volunteers to cleanup, I just couldn't litter! So okay, as I'm running, I'm coming up with new goals for this race. I came in with: 1) first and foremost, just finish the 13.109 miles, and 2) don't walk any of it (i.e. run/jog the whole thing). Above all, I just wanted to finish, but I also figured it wouldn't be expecting too much to not walk any of it. Next, I decided a 2:15 time would be a modest goal to shoot for ... slightly above 10 minute miles. Then, the next goal was a sub-2-hour time, which was more of a dream more than anything. That's a pace of 9 minute miles, which is not really that fast, but considering my longest run was 10 miles with a pace of 10 minutes, I didn't really expect to do a full 13 with a pace of 9 ... especially with the aforementioned uphill at the end. And lastly, I decided it'd be nice to beat one of my friends, Marc or John ... which again, I didn't really expect. Though Marc hadn't trained that much for this race, he had done a half before and had ran a lot when he was in school. And as I had mentioned, John M. had run a full marathon before and seemed to run pretty consistently. So in summation, I had:

1. Finish!
   
2. No walking!
   
3. Finish in 2:15 or less.
   
4. Finish in 2:00 or less.
   
5. Beat Marc or John!
   

I honestly only hoped to achieve 1 and 2, though. I guess a 6th goal was to not get lapped by a marathoner, but I would've had to done pretty poorly (or there had to have been a world-class runner running it) for that to happen. They had these signs at every mile marker showing the time (though it was from when the first person started; i.e. not when I crossed the start line). I didn't have a watch, but with these signs I was able to quickly approximate my pace, and I saw that I was doing really well, averaging a 9-minute mile pace. And considering these times were a little high, I was feeling good.

So now I'm at mile 7ish, and I'm starting to question whether I'll be able to run the rest of the way. Either I'm slowing down, or everyone else is speeding up (or both) because I'm getting passed by a lot of people. Around mile 8, Marc shows up! Apparently, he had been in line for the restrooms when the race started, so he started about 3 minutes late. We talk briefly before I tell him to feel free to go on ahead. He's got his watch and is doing the splits and says he's been doing 8.5 minute miles. Now, I'm waiting for this climb that I've been fearing (I knew it started after I-25), and we were well past that at this point. There had been some small hills, but nothing bad. In fact, I started passing a lot of people around this area. Again, either I sped up or others slowed down or both. The climbs started getting more challenging later, but it was nothing like what I had imagined. Most had flat areas afterwards that served as a respite. And when I thought about slowing down, I just thought about my training and how long I've been waiting for this day (though, I'll be the first to admit that my training was less than impressive ... regardless, it kept me motivated). It sounds corny, but the people cheering along the course really helped too. Sometimes, even early in the race, it just brought a smile to my face which was enough to keep me going. The next few miles went by, and I decided if I could get to mile 12 without any trouble, I'd be fine for the last bit.

It was around mile 12 that I started getting a little dizzy. I didn't really notice it at first, but things were definitely getting hazy (in my head and my vision). With less than a mile to go, I knew there wasn't any way I could slow down now. Besides, the last time I saw was under 2 hours, so through some miracle, maybe I could finish in under 2 hours! I could start to see the Colorado Mills Mall where the race ended, and the people were cheering us on. They kept saying, "You're almost there" and "...just one more hill," etc. Knowing that I was almost done was the only thing that kept me going. After every turn, I was waiting to catch a glimpse of the beautiful finish line. Unfortunately, it was a big tease as we kept on running! Surely that last mile had to be complete by now! Finally, I went around a curve and saw it ... a site for sore eyes, although by this time, things had gotten so blurry in my mind, I was just hoping I didn't fall over. I heard John cheering me on at the finish, and I think I looked at him (although in all honesty, I could've been looking at a dog dressed in a pink bunny costume). I willed my way to the finish and somehow mustered a smile for the photographer. That's probably going to be the weirdest looking smile ever!

So I cross through the finish, and they wrap this mylar cape around me. I didn't know what it was; the only thing I knew is that I was hot, and I didn't want anything else on me! I find out later, it's to keep you warm ... yes, to keep you WARM. Apparently, you get really cold after you stop on such a long run. Then volunteers start asking if I was okay, and I said, "Not really" (I'm wondering how obvious it was because I don't think it was as bad as I make it out to be). I tell them I'm dizzy, and they take me to the medical tent. They lay me down, and give me water and take my vitals. Apparently, I had a 102° fever, so they put some ice bags on me. After my temp drops back close to normal, they let me leave. I guess running a half-marathon while sick wasn't such a good idea. Afterwards, I decided that putting that much stress on my body was pretty much the worst thing I could've done while I was sick.

So by the time I get out of the medical tent, I can't find Marc or John. I find out later that they were still there, but for not much longer. In any case, I look around for them while going around all the sponsors' booths. Here are some of the things they gave out: water, Gatorade, Zone Perfect bars, these huuuuge popsicles, bananas, Panera Bread bagels and breads, smoothie drinks, and even massages. I partake in some, and go get my bag. That was interesting. There was this place in the parking lot where they were all just laid out for people to claim with no supervision. This area was open to the public, so it doesn't take a genius how much of a bad idea that was. After I had my phone, I left messages for John and Marc telling them what happened and asking if they were still there. I ran into Mike, Tim and Lori from my Ultimate team, so I said hi to them, and found out they were doing the relay along with two others. I also ran into Chris from work who was apparently there cheering on his wife who in a relay as well. Later, this one guy in the crowd starts talking to me. Apparently, he and I were running next to each other towards the end, and neither of us were doing well. I didn't remember seeing him, but he said that when he finished he went for the medical tent, too, and saw that I was already in there. We talked for a bit about how much of a tease the last bit was.

By now, marathoners were starting to finish, so I was trying to figure out when to start looking for John Jost. I knew his longest run had been around 21 miles, but I didn't know his pace or what his goals were for the marathon. I figured he'd do a slower pace (for him) around 9 minutes, so I started watching for him around the 3:45 mark with my camera at the read. After it got to be 4:10 or so, I figured he had to have finished by now, so I started walking around the booths again. I found him pretty quickly and found out that his goal was 3:30 and that he finished in 3:27! What a machine, man! That's under 8 minute miles ... for 26.2 miles! I knew he was an awesome runner, but geez. Amazing.

To be continued ...

I like Mike

Mike Shinoda is a genius. Okay, I just wanted to say that. I'll elaborate more on that later. Just listen to Fort Minor's album The Rising Tied, and you'll see what I mean. I'm sore, and I'm tired. More on that later too.

Boulder, et al.

My friend Marc had a pub crawl (or Pub Krull as we called it) in Boulder a few weekends ago. It was so much fun! I love Boulder. The whole night I kept asking everyone why I don't live there. No doubt a 50 minute commute would get old quick but still. There's just this feeling about Boulder that's just so relaxing. They don't allow smoking in the bars there, so that's a big plus not smelling like ass when you get home. And there were hotties everywhere that night. We went to a wide range of bars including an Irish pub, a piano bar, a sushi bar and a club-type bar.

I've been really active (and sore) these past few days. We have this short dodgeball league at work that I've been playing in. Thursday was our 2nd (and 2nd to last) day. The first week we nearly had an "incident" with this all-Army team. John Martin from our team went on the opposing court to gather balls after he got out (since they weren't throwing them back in play like they're supposed to). Our opponent took offense and there was a little arguing whether that was allowed by the rules. The ref ruled that it wasn't allowed. We convinced John to let it go, but he wasn't happy. At this point, an Army guy threw a ball at him (when it was obvious he wasn't in the game). John got pissed, of course, and the guy claimed he thought that he was in (which was obviously BS). Now it seemed like John was about to rush this guy and take a swing, but we convinced him to stop. This other Army guy was egging him on telling him to take a swing. I tried to tell him to shut the hell up because he wasn't helping. It wasn't until the following week that I realized that they're supposed to stay disciplined and not start anything. So he was probably egging him on, so that they could fight back in retaliation.

Anyway, so that was a tense moment, but we ended up winning that game even though everyone was so intimidated by them (not to act like some super-brave guy, but I didn't really understand everyone's concern). So back to this past Thursday, we play them again, and Tonya's emphasizing that this is just a game and for everyone to keep their cool. We play, and they start being asses again. We all remain civil. Towards the end Marx is the only person left in on our team. He survives for a while against 3 Armymen and catches a couple to get Bob and Marc in (who get out fairly quickly). I think Marx had another catch to get Leon in before getting out himself. Leon catches one to get me in, and before I know it, Leon's out too. I'm by myself now and look up to realize they only have one person left too. Once I came to this realization, I was fine. I could feel the nervousness on the sidelines, but I knew in a 1-on-1 matchup, I was fine. The refs were really trying to rush the games that day and they kept counting down for us not to hold the balls. Well, the problem was they weren't enforcing this because the Army guys would just hold them even after the countdown reached zero. At one point, she counted down and looked at me. I just made this gesture like "He's had that one in his hand long before I got this one!" I think the refs had given up hope on trying to get the Army guys to follow the rules.

So this guy was obviously trying to pick his throws carefully. I didn't really care. I was moving around, and I didn't just hang out around the back waiting for his throw. Finally, he threw it at me, and I just squared up and caught it. The next thing I know the sidelines erupt and Marx picks me up on his shoulders. I was a bit confused. Leon picks me up on his shoulders too. It was a good win, but I was confused what was the big deal. I thought maybe since they were such asses, it was sweeter. Or perhaps because we were grasping on by a hair at the end of the game. Everyone told me what a great catch it was (even the guy who threw it). But, it wasn't until we finished the rest of the games and people kept going off about the catch that I realized: that guy must've really chucked that ball! Everyone was going off about how fast it was, and how amazing it was that I caught it. I thought everyone was just exaggerating or something because I didn't think it was that great of a catch (except that it was in the clutch, which I love doing). But soo many people were talking about how fast it was that I guess I'll defer to them and just assume that I was just in the zone. In any case, it was a great feeling!

Okay, so back to the soreness ... after dodgeball, my chest started hurting where I had a minor snowboarding injury the week before at Breck (I did my first double-black run! Though, that's not where I hurt myself). I think Marx and Leon might've aggravated it when they picked me up because it wasn't hurting this much even when it first happened. It's actually still pretty sore. So that evening, John Jost, Bob, Marc and I went to play some pickup Ultimate. I couldn't sprint very much without my chest hurting. I got pretty frustrated because a couple of times I was in a full sprint covering someone and just barely missed the disc and got scored on. It was an okay game. It would've been much better had the players been more sociable (they seemed to kinda stick to themselves). Afterwards, we threw around the disc for a while, and I practiced my flick (forehand throw) which has been terrible. That night, I realized one problem that I hadn't even thought of is that I'm ambidextrous with my backhand but better left-handed. But with the forehand, I can only do it right-handed ... which is probably not good since that means switching hands to switch between the two. So I figured I needed to improve my right-handed backhand (which isn't bad, actually ... it's just naturally, I go left-handed). I figure eventually I can use my ambidexterity with the backhand to my advantage to make it hard to defend my throws. Anyway, I took Friday off, and a bunch of us went to Wash Park later in the day to practice Ultimate. It was me, John, Dustin, Leon, Jolene, Tonya, Shannon, D and a couple of guys from Leon's team. It was really fun and helpful. One of the guys really helped me out with my flick, and I tried to practice my right-handed backhand more. We did some drills that were pretty cool.

The next day, a bunch of us went to Boulder to go hiking at Chautauqua. It was John, Tonya, Shannon, Leon, Marc, Annica and me.



It was great being in Boulder again, although a lot of us were still sore. We went up to the Royal Arch and came down and met up with Beth Ann at the Southern Sun for lunch. That place is awesome! Before lunch though, we threw around the disc some more. I was feeling a lot more confident with my throws and even did a few pretty good hammer throws.



Sunday was our Ultimate games, and it wasn't really that great. For one, I was sore ... my chest was still aching, and I knew I wouldn't be able to sprint all out without feeling it. It was a frustrating day for me because it was really windy, so I knew it'd be hard to get me the disc since I'm always the deep guy. You sprint and get open and realize you're not going to get the disc ... it's just disheartening. Anyway, so I didn't really feel like I contributed a whole lot (although I did run my ass off trying to pull in some), and I was hurting pretty bad at times. Some of my teammates asked if I was okay because I was holding my chest after a long sprint. One good thing though was that we played zone defense a lot that day, and I was feeling pretty good about our execution. We definitely caused a lot of confusion and turns (turnovers). It was by no means a dominant D, but I felt comfortable playing it which is good in case we need to play zone in the future.

Black

I'm currently hooked to this song right now ... it's not a new song by any means. It's "Black" from Pearl Jam's first album Ten. I've liked it for quite some time, but I borrowed the CD from a coworker and have been listening to it at work, and I just like it on a whole new level now. The lyrics are so poetic. Unfortunately, it's not really a song you can sing or has any lyrics that are resonant. But still, it's managed to keep me coming back for more for about a week now.

Actually, interesting story about that song. I had heard it on the radio for years and wondered what it was called. But of course, they never say the name of the song on the radio when you want them to. So for years, I wondered ... knowing that it was Pearl Jam, I tried downloading their singles to no avail. I remember hearing it in high school, so I knew it had to be pre-1998. Still, I had no luck. Normally, I just memorize a few lines from the song and Google it to find the song, but like I said, this song doesn't have any resounding lyrics ... just this repetitive beautiful, haunting piano/vocal part at the end. But I can't Google a tune! Then a few years ago, I heard it on the radio in Baton Rouge, and I emailed the DJ and told him the exact time that he played it, hoping that they had some kind of log of what they played. Apparently not. We emailed back and forth a couple of times as he tried to help me figure it out, giving suggestions of possible Pearl Jam songs ... none of which was my white whale. Finally, a few weeks later, they played it again, and my friend Dale was with me. We both memorized some random words in the song ("bitter hands" comes to mind), and after a little Googling, I finally found it! I felt kinda silly actually that it turned out to be on Ten which is only considered to be one of the most influential albums of our time (but I had never heard the whole thing until about a week ago)! Anyway, it turns out that "Black" was never really released as a single. I guess it was just one of those songs the radio started playing.

Okay, so another aside ... while posting this, I did some research on Wikipedia (as I always do) and "found out" that Pearl Jam used to be called Mookie Blaylock. "Found out" is in quotes because technically I had been told this several times when I was younger by my brother. He is such a good bullshitter that for all these years I refused to believe him because it just sounded like an absurd fabrication that he was persistent about. Why would Pearl Jam be called Mookie Blaylock ... an NBA basketball player? Well, for whatever reason, they apparently were. And apparently Ten was named such because that was his number!

Better than Ezra

So I went to Copper this past Saturday with some friends. I don't think I would've gone boarding at all this weekend (it just feels like ski season is over) except that Better than Ezra was performing there. I'm a fan ... not a huge fan, but a fan nonetheless. I've seen them in concert once before when they played at Bon Fete in Baton Rouge. Anyway, they have some good stuff. Plus they're from New Orleans, so that's a plus. :-) Actually I read that the band was formed when the lead singer was at LSU. In any case, so yea, it was a pretty uneventful day. It started sleeting which kinda hurt when coming down the mountain, so we stopped early and waited for the concert. They started kinda late which was annoying because I wanted to get home in time for the LSU game (yea, yea, so the men and women lost in the Final 4 ... still, it was a good run).



So we probably listened to about half their set and headed out. They were pretty entertaining performers, interjecting random comments in their show to keep things interesting. At one point they were talking about after the show, and the lead singer mentioned that the only thing they had to do was to cheer on the LSU Tigers at which point I started cheering of course! :-) The only song of theirs that I wanted to hear that I didn't get to was "Desperately Wanting". As we were leaving, we stopped to hear a few more songs, and they mentioned this interesting story about how before their 3rd album, they were playing at Breckenridge at this "Classical Festival." He described it as "Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Better than Ezra, Brahms" and that someone must've goofed in the planning. hehe ... so anyway, he said that they had this great song, but couldn't come up with a good chorus for it. And that night, at Breckenridge, they came up with the chorus. So then they play the song, and it's "At the Stars" which is probably my favorite song by them! I thought that was really cool.



So we left after that thinking that there would be a lot of traffic. I wish we would've stayed because apparently John Martin was there, and he said it was a lot of fun towards the end. Plus traffic was non-existent so we made it back to Denver in no time. And then of course, I watched my Tigers get slaughtered by UCLA. :-(

Other than that, I'm really getting into Ultimate. I had some pretty good plays Sunday, and I'm feeling more confident in what I'm doing. I threw for my first point for the team, so that was exciting. We have a practice tomorrow which should be fun. It's fun just running around. It really makes me want to play football again! Anyway, once I get some cleats, it's on!

Body worlds, Vail & Ultimate, oh my!

I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with some friends Thursday (the 23rd ... I'm late on my post) to see this world famous exhibit called Body Worlds. It's been controversial in some areas. It's basically an exhibit of human bodies that were donated as art. They are preserved through a process called plastination. Anyway, it was really cool and a lot larger of an exhibit than I expected. They had several whole bodies cut and posed so that you can see the insides. They also had lots of organs, etc. showing various diseases and ailments. I did feel a little nauseous at first, but I was fine later. There were a couple of people in our group who weren't feel so good by the end. The strange thing is that the figures look like plastic models, and it's not until you think, "Hey, these are real people," that you feel weird. Some of the more controversial items were plastinated fetuses at various stages of development and even a full plastinated female with a well-developed fetus (7-months, if I recall) visible in her belly. Some of the cooler things there were these displays with blood vessels suspended in some liquid. Apparently, the vessels were filled with some red dye and plastination agent, and all the other tissue and bones were dissolved away chemically. The result is basically the entire circulatory system of the arm or the head, for example, suspended in liquid with nothing else ... no skin, no bone, but still maintaining the original shape. It's hard to describe, but it looked like a 3D computer model. Anyway, I thought it was a great exhibit, but I could see how people could disagree with it.

We went to Vail on Saturday. It started as kind of a chill day, but then we met up with Marc, Beth Ann and John M. We went down some pretty hard stuff, then Marc wanted to go over this cornice at Blue Sky Basin. To which my response was, "You mean Lover's Leap?!" That's the name of the run, and I knew of it because it's the run I always see going up to Blue Sky Basin from the lift and always wonder, "Who would do that kind of hard stuff?" So the rest of the group went down an easier way, but for some reason I decided to go with Marc, Beth Ann and John. Here is the point where I describe Lover's Leap. Firstly, it is a single black diamond run (even though I could've swore it was a double black). It starts off with about a 15 foot vertical drop followed by a very steep grade run with moguls, small trees and rocks and the occasional small cliff ... yea. It wasn't as bad as it sounds I suppose. The cornice drop off was intimidating, but I was more worried about tumbling down the mountain into rocks and trees if I don't drop correctly. So Marc and John went down with ease. Beth Ann was next in line and was trying to overcome her fear of death. I went around her so that I could go ahead or follow shortly afterwards. Somehow I started slipping, so I ended up going down before I really wanted to. It was a pretty pathetic drop, but I made it nonetheless. I would've liked to have at least attempted it a bit more elegantly. Beth Ann also eventually came, and the rest was fine, albeit a little tricky. And of course, I took some pics of the ledge that we dropped from.


Beth Ann having dropped from the cornice

At the end of the day, Shelan and I hit up the terrain park where they had some interesting ramps. I got a lot more air on them than I would've expected which is the opposite of what usually happens. I felt like I was really high on both jumps, and I was impressed that I was able to land them cleanly. On the second landing, I actually hit so hard that I bounced back up in the air! I'm sure it didn't look as impressive as it felt, but I sure felt like I was 20 feet in the air (ok, maybe more like 10). We did another pass, and again I got way high and landed the first one and the 2nd jump was closed off because someone was hurt behind it (always a bad sign). In any case, I was 3 for 3 on the big jumps, and I was quite pleased with myself. A great way to end the day!

Sunday, I had my first game of Ultimate Frisbee. I got to the park a little early to mingle with my team, and I couldn't find our captain anywhere (who was the only person on my team that I knew besides D). And it was sooo friggin windy! I swear there were 40 mph gusts! Not good Ultimate weather to say the least. We eventually found the rest of our team and went over introductions. It was hard remembering so many names. I felt like a moron asking everyone to repeat their names. Of course, D and I got mixed up a lot being the two "brown" guys on the team which I'm cool with and always find to be rather amusing. Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing. The wind was a drag (no pun intended), but at the same time, it made the games so chaotic that it gave me a chance to learn the basics since everything was so sloppy anyway. We got slaughtered the first game, but the 2nd game was much better. It was close, but we edged out a win, and I had a lot more fun because I started to get the hang of the rules and strategy. I always tend to be the fast guy, so I was getting pretty exhausted since I hadn't sprinted in a while, but it was a lot of fun. I think we have a lot of really cool people on our team, and they're really good about helping new people. Me and this girl Beth are probably the newest persons to Ultimate on our team, and I think we were doing pretty well by the end of the day. Should be an interesting season. :)

Oh, and LSU baby!! In the Final Four for Men's and Women's!! GEAUX TIGERS!

10 miles!

I'm training for a half-marathon that's coming up quickly ... a little over 7 weeks away (up until a few minutes ago, I thought it was only 3 weeks away, but then I realized there's another month in there)! I started out training pretty good, but this past month has not gone well. My longest run to date was around 9 miles of which I probably walked the last mile or mile and a half. My last long run was over a month ago. But today was just too great of a day outside to pass up for a run. Even though I was pretty tired after work, I decided to try a long run. I didn't know how much I could do since it's been so long so my goal was 8 miles, but I had mapped out a 10 mile option if I felt up for it (which I figured I wouldn't). Around the 3.8 mile mark, I had to decide whether to retrace my route back or keep going. I was still feeling good, so I decided to turn South and keep going with the full 10 mile loop. I had thoughts of having to call a friend to pick me up because I couldn't finish. It was also supposed to storm, so I was worried I'd get caught in that. It was really windy (20-30 mph gusts only an hour earlier), and when I turned South I was running right into it. At one point, I really wanted to start walking, but I decided to keep going to the traffic light I could see ahead (which turned out to be about 3/4 of a mile away). I got to the light and was pleased to realize that it was the road that I needed to turn on to head back home. I decided to keep running and after a short while, I was fine.

Long story short, I ended up running the entire 10 miles! It seemed like I wasn't going to be able to run the whole thing towards the end because I had to run on pavement (where I was mainly running on grass and dirt most of the way) which was considerably more tiring on the legs so I thought I'd have to walk for a bit. But, I made it, and I was so pleased with myself. According to Google Maps, it was 9.9 miles in 99 minutes. 10 minute miles isn't impressive, but considering I maintained it for 10 miles, I was more than happy. I could've done a little more, so now I just need to be able to finish another 3.2 miles which I was questioning before, but now I feel confident about. My goal going in to the race was just to finish, and I think I can do that now. :-)

Trying new things

I did some more new things this weekend. I joined the Ultimate Frisbee league that was supposed to start today. My friends and I had a little practice Friday afternoon since a lot of us (including me) have never played before. We went out for St. Paddy's day that night. It was D, Shelan, Tripti, Dustin, John J, Tonya, Shannon, Chris, Jolene, John M, and later on Valerie and Cara ... and possibly others that I forgot. We went to this Irish pub called Fado's. As expected it was packed. The line was huge, and the wait was probably an hour. Luckily, some of them got there earlier, and we were able to sneak in using their wristbands. :-) I had some Irish Car Bombs for the first time. They were really good! I took a bunch of pics. We met this Indian dude who invited us to a party Saturday night. And we saw this Indian girl that we were giving D crap about because he wouldn't go talk to her. It's not very often you see an Indian girl around here, so you gotta take advantage. He eventually approached her and talked to her for a while. She seemed pretty cool.

Saturday, I went snowshoeing for the first time. That was a lot of fun. My friend John Jost ended up driving this big passenger van because they needed volunteer drivers. It was Shelan, Tripti, Dustin, John J, Jolene, and me along with some other people we didn't know. We went to Estes Park, and snowshoed most of the afternoon.



Again, I took tons of pictures! We took pictures and videos of birds eating out of our hands. We had fun going "off trail" and just playing in the snow (the snowshoe rentals weren't really that good in deep stuff). We tried to see how buried we could get ourselves. We got knee-deep several times, but it was fun when someone fell over and got nearly buried.



It was a pretty warm day, so it was a lot of fun. We grabbed lunch afterwards and made our way home. Last night, my friends and I just stayed at home and watched this Hindi movie, Devdas. I thought it was good, but my friends didn't like it. I had to read the subtitles, so I think a lot was lost in translation, but I thought it was done well. The story wasn't anything original, but still.

Today, we were supposed to have our first game of Ultimate, but it was cancelled because of the rain/snow. Oh well ... guess there's next week. I'm excited and nervous to try it out. Supposedly the teams are pretty laid back, so it should be good. So yea, a bunch of us ended up going to see "V for Vendetta" this afternoon. I thought it was really good. I didn't know much about it, but I enjoyed it a lot. Shelan tried to rent "Bride and Prejudice" to watch tonight, but couldn't find it. So I think we might watch "The Count of Monte Cristo" which I've seen before, but don't mind watching again.

Ski-crazy weekend

My cousin, Viral, came to visit to go skiing from Mar 8-13. He wanted to go skiing 3, maybe 4 days and go out downtown a few nights. The problem is that the two don't mix very well since skiing requires getting up early. I had a tough time keeping up with him. Apparently they don't require sleep in NYC. Anyway, somehow we managed to do it even though I was exhausted.

Thursday, I wanted to go to Breckenridge because I really like that place, and I hadn't been in a few months. Unfortunately, when we went to bed Wednesday night, there was no new snow reported there, and it hadn't snowed anywhere for several weeks. The conditions weren't looking good. As luck would have it, when we woke up that morning to go (we were going to play it by ear to see where we were going), Breck reported 7" of new snow! I was pumped! It turned out to be one of my best days of the season. We had a great time. Unfortunately, my cousin was getting tired after just a few runs, and I was questioning how we were going to do 3 days, much less 4 days. I've only done 2 days in a row before, but I was convinced I could do 3 and maybe even 4 if I took it easy. So, we took a lot of breathers that day. I guess it turned out to just be a combination of a lack of sleep for him, not staying hydrated (like I told him to), and not being used to the altitude. He did much better after lunch.

I had to get back to Denver for the playoffs in the dodgeball league I was in. Normally, I would've skipped the game, but I couldn't bail on the team for the playoffs. So he stayed at home and rested while I went to play. I was pretty exhausted having had little sleep, drove like 4 hours and boarded all day, but when that whistle blew to start the game, I had all the energy in the world. We ended up having an amazing game with some amazing plays including Jolene making 2 great catches while she already had a ball in hand (normally, a big no-no) and Leon playing like an animal at the end of two games where he was all alone. He was dodging and diving and was on fire. In one game, he made a catch to get me in the game. They only had 1 or 2 players left, and when they were down to one, this guy was obviously about to throw it at me. I knew he was going to throw it at me, and he knew that I was going to try to catch it. He threw it, and I made the clutch catch. It was a great feeling as our team celebrated! I've kinda gained this reputation for the clutch catch at the end, but this was the 2nd time this season where it was like this where I felt this 1-on-1 showdown where I knew I was going to be the target and the thrower knew that I was going to try for the catch.

In any case, we played great and were up like 4-2, but then somehow dropped to 2 games behind. We only had a few minutes left before time would be called and Leon and I were in the game with 2 of their players. Our team on the sidelines were yelling that we need to win this game quickly so that we could try to get a quick 2nd win to tie it. Again, I made a catch in the clutch to give us 3 players to their one. We timed our throw and got the last girl out as the ref said that there was 7 seconds to go in the game. So here we were, down 1, with 7 seconds before the game is called. I was just telling my team "Reggie Miller time, Reggie Miller!" (which I found out later that no one knew what I was talking about). Of course, I was referring to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 1995 where Reggie scored 8 points in the last 16.4 seconds to beat the Knicks. So anyway, when time is called, the team with the most players gets the point. So basically we had 7 seconds to get someone on their team out (which is not easy). When the game starts everyone runs to the center line to grab dodgeballs after which you have to retreat behind a certain line before you can throw. So given the urgency, we decided to do 3 throwbacks, something that we had been doing maybe once per game throughout the season. With 6 players on our team, we decided that we'd have 3 people run to grab balls and then throw back to the other 3 players who would be behind the line. It was a longshot, but worth a try. The game started, and amazingly we managed to get one of their players out! We were so excited and knew that at this point we just had to stay back and let the rest of the 7 seconds run off. But somehow the impossible happened and my friend Shelan got out! I was speechless. I couldn't believe it. We were surely going to overtime, and suddenly the game was called a tie, so no one got the point which meant that we lost. There was a little arguing afterwards about the end result. We usually try to be good sports about everything, but we thought that time had been called before Shelan got out. Furthermore, I found out that some members of our team thought that we actually got another one of their players out before Shelan got out so it was a moot point. But apparently the ref didn't see that, and the girl in question didn't go out. We decided there was no point in arguing, and accepted the decision. It was an exciting finish, but not the result that we wanted. We went out for pizza afterwards, and my exhaustion hit me again. Everyone said that I looked spent while we were eating. The worst part was that Viral still wanted to go downtown that night! I got home and woke him up and told him that I was exhausted and couldn't go out and passed out. So yea ... that was Thursday!

Friday, we went to Copper Mountain, another one of my favorite places. We met up with my friend Cyndi, her husband (Kevin) and some of their friends. We stuck to the green runs in the morning, and Viral was doing much better having rested and hydrated himself. I was still tired, but when I'm boarding, I alway manage to find energy so I was fine. It was a very windy and cold day, and we got separated from everyone. After lunch, we met up with Kevin and did some harder runs which was soo much fun. We did some black diamonds off of the Superbee lift, and it was great. Viral left to the easier side because he was getting tired, but I did some more runs with Kevin. It was powdery, so it made things a lot easier. We went over these small moguls (which normally are a pain), and I flew through them. I was really surprised how well I did. After I met up with Viral again, we did another 1 or 2 runs. I decided to hit the terrain park and do some jumps. The first one, I barely had enough speed to reach the top and got little to no air. The 2nd one, I was in the air for several seconds. I must've hit it pretty hard because I was surprised how long I was in the air. Unfortunately, I was horizontal after hitting the ramp, so I wasn't really happy that I was that high and was just wondering when I would get to the ground and how much it was going to hurt. I landed on my side, and surprisingly wasn't hurt. I could've easily broke my tailbone or something else. After a few seconds, I met up with Viral again and took it easy for the rest of the run. So aside from that, it turned out to be another great day. We left back for Denver because he definitely wanted to go out that night. That was the worst night. We went downtown, and he said we'd only be out till like midnight since we were going all the way to Vail the next day. No one wanted to come out with us that night because they had other plans or they were also going to Vail so they didn't want to go out (like I said, going out and skiing don't really mix). Long story short, I was a zombie, stumbling around and almost falling several times because I was so tired. I just let him do his thing, and later on, I just sat down at this table. I just wanted to go home.

While I was sitting there trying not to fall asleep, this girl came up to me and told me that her friend thought I was "absolutely gorgeous." I asked who her friend was, and she said that she ran away. Lol ... I asked if I should "chase after her." So I met this girl. I wasn't in the least bit attracted to her, but I figured it'd kill time to talk to her. I asked why she didn't just come talk to me, and she said she was very shy (which I could totally relate to, but it was cool to be on the other side so I could be more confident). She said that I had really nice teeth which I thought was interesting because that's the 2nd person in the last few weeks who's said that. And here I thought I had 'normal' teeth. I guess I better start showing more teeth when I smile. ;-) Anyway, so they left shortly after I met them and said they were going to a hookah bar. I just went back to my seat, and like 10 minutes later they come back and ask if I wanted to come with them. I thought that was kinda weird because I can picture them leaving and thinking "damn, we should've explicitly asked him to come with us ... man, we're so stupid!" And the fact that they actually came back to tell me that was kind of amusing. I told them I had to wait for my cousin, and that I just wanted to go home. So they left. At least that killed some time. So it was like 1:15 before he found me, and we finally left. He told me about what all happened with him, and I didn't really care. I just wanted to go home. So I got home and to bed at like 2. I set the alarm for like 7 something. I knew we'd get to Vail late, but I didn't care. I needed some semblance of sleep. I was more worried about staying awake enough to make it to Vail.

So here's Saturday. The tough part was hopefully over since we were spending Saturday and Sunday night in Dillon which would considerably take away driving time. We hit some traffic and didn't make it to Vail until like 11. One good thing about getting there so late, however, is that we got free parking since all the lots were full. So we got to park on the side of the road and save $16. :-) Once again, I had some friends that were going, so we met up with them. I didn't like getting there so late to Vail, so I was determined to maximize it. Viral wanted to do some easier stuff, but I was pretty annoyed already and didn't want to waste Vail doing green runs. We spent a large part of the day with my friends Marc, Beth Ann and John Martin (my other friends, Tonya, Shannon and Leon split off from us right after we met up with them), and we actually ended up doing some pretty hard stuff. We took Viral down some blacks which he had a lot of difficulty with. Afterwards, he said he was glad he did them though and said it was his biggest accomplishment on skis. I was once again amazed how easily I made my way down. It was really steep, but I was able to cruise down with ease because of the fresh snow. Viral separated from us to go to the bathroom, and I did some runs through the trees with the rest of the group. It was fun, but exhausting. I spent the rest of the day trying to find Viral and didn't find him until like an hour after the lifts closed. All in all, a pretty uneventful day, although the conditions again were great. I think it had potential to be up there with the previous two days, but I didn't have as much fun since we got there so late and I spent several hours trying to find my cousin at the end. We went to my friend Joe's condo in Dillon (it was nice not having to drive all the way back home) and soaked in the hot tub for a while before meeting up with my friends D and Shelan who went to Keystone. We went to dinner, and then they left. Of course, my cousin still wanted to go out, and we settled for Breckenridge since it was so late (instead of all the way to Vail). Breck was pretty dead, so we left after like 30 minutes. I heard the road conditions were pretty bad on the way back to Denver, so it was nice to be staying in Dillon.

I couldn't believe it, but we had made it to day 4 of skiing. Sunday we decided to go to Beaver Creek because I had never been, and I had heard good things. And it was definitely a good opportunity since it's further than Vail and we were staying in Dillon again so both legs of the journey would be considerably shorter than going to/coming from Denver. I was impressed with their main village, and I had heard stories about these fresh-baked cookies they give out at the end of the day. We inquired about that, and they said it's usually around 3pm. So we made a mental note to hit up the village around then. :) We met up with John Martin again who was riding his snowboard today (he's a really good skier, but I had never seen him on a board). He was better than I expected, and could definitely hold his own. It was snowing pretty hard that day, so visibility was pretty bad, but we didn't let that bother us. One of the things I had heard about Beaver Creek is that the conditions are always good and the lines are short. The snow was definitely good (but then again, it was powdery everywhere that weekend), but the lines didn't seem particularly short. They definitely weren't bad though. I got really cold that day, though. We had a great time there, despite the poor visibility. Viral tried to get a video of me doing this jump in the terrain park. The first time, I didn't get enough speed because I had to stop on the hill for my cousin to get the camera ready. So yea, I barely got to the top of the ramp and got a few inches of air. It was kinda pathetic. We took the lift up again, and this time he went ahead and got set up. I came down, and still couldn't get a lot of speed. I got about a foot of air. We got it on video, but I was still disappointed. At the same time, I was ready to go to a different part of the mountain so we gave up on that. We did some more runs and then went for the cookies. It was everything I thought it'd be! These people walking around with trays upon trays of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. It seemed silly, but it made our day. We got our fill, took some pictures of us eating cookies and left to make our way to the parking lot. We were on this catwalk and Viral and John were ahead of me. I had to unbind to skate a little ways, and when I went to bind in again, my bottom strap just snapped. Wonderful. Luckily, I was able to still control the board with just the one strap on that boot. I just took it easy and made my way down the mountain otherwise I'd have had to contact the ski patrol for a ride down. Fortunately, it was our last run of the day ... and the last day of our little skiing spree. If it'd happened earlier, I would've put a damper on the whole trip. While I was still on the catwalk, this skier came by and gave me a boost with his ski pole. Then he passed me up and said, "Y'know what's the hardest thing about snowboarding?". I said "catwalks?", and he replied, "Telling your parents that you're gay." I had to admit that that he got me good. I couldn't be mad. I just laughed. Even though the joke could be applied to just about anything, he definitely got me good. So we were headed towards my car, and one of those gate crossing things (like the ones at railroad crossings) closed onto my head. I didn't know wtf was going on until I saw it. Luckily I had my helmet on, otherwise that could've been ugly. We laughed and took a picture of the gate. We went back to the condo and just took it easy. It was great. We hit up the hot tub again, grabbed a pizza and a movie from Blockbuster. Unfortunately Joe's DVD player was not working, so we couldn't watch the movie, so we just watched TV for a while, and I hit the sack pretty early.

We woke up Monday and hit up the hot tub again before we cleaned up and left. Sunday night was apparently another bad day to be driving home as I heard from John, so again we were happy that we stayed in Dillon. We saw the car from Ghostbusters (AKA the ectomobile) being hauled behind a U-Haul on the way home, so we took some pictures and video of that. That was pretty cool. It had to have been a replica because who in their right mind would transport the original with all the snow and dirt on the roads. We got home and returned his skis to Gart, grabbed some Quizno's and just chilled until his flight that evening.

What a week! Four days of great Colorado powdery skiing/boarding!