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.