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May 2007 News Archives

May 01    May 02    May 04    May 07    May 08    May 09    May 10    May 15    May 16    May 17    May 18    May 21    May 22    May 23    May 24    May 25    May 29    May 30    May 31

What I am listening to as I type this:  DJ Quik - Let You Havit

May 31, 2007

Guess who coded a new PHP contact page which is not penetrate-able by robots and will not allow for me to get spam?  That's right, me.  I made it for the Team Blonde page so I figured I'd update my own as well.

Again in a fantastic mood today.  This will be a great day to get ahead in work and school.  Already had breakfast, rode my bike a short bit, and ate some cake today.  We're off to a good start.

I got a text yesterday saying my official Bolder Boulder time was 47.7.  I had no idea what the hell that meant.  Today I went on their slow-as-molasses website and discovered that I ran it in 47:03 (an exact tie of my personal best, set in 2003).  I am thrilled with the time, but would love for somebody to explain to me how 47.7 translates to 47.03.  My mile splits are as follows:
Mile I:  7:04    Mile II: 7:43    Mile III: 8:01    Mile IV: 7:45    Mile V: 7:23    Mile VI: 7:38    Final .2 mile: 1:29

I read this morning that this chip timer they used in the BB was the official worldwide launch of a new timing technique.  Apparently this new IPICO chip is far superior to any timing chip used in other races.  (I've always used one of these in the past.)  I'll agree, I was pissed off last night because I thought the 47.7 time they text-messaged me was like 47:40 time (:40 = .7ish) ... it turns out my stopwatch said 47:055 and my time was 47:03 ... I think 2.5 seconds of difference between my watch and the chip is perfectly acceptable!  The delay in results was simply because BB couldn't get the new chip's results to integrate with all of the previous years' data.  Being a full-time employee in databases and database management, I completely understand this.

That third mile has a pretty slight incline for most of it, but I would have liked all of my miles to be under 8 minutes.  Again, I am thrilled with my results.  My "Jacob" stats will be out as soon as that website speeds up a bit.  These stats include how fast I was in comparison to: Everyone named Bryan, Everyone surnamed Mack, Where I rank among women, among 28y/o men, 28 y/o women, overall, and what percentage of all people in Denver who choose to run a 10K at 5500 feet of altitude.

School is going good; as you can see I tend to not complain about it when it doesn't suck up 20+ hours of time a week like the last class!  This one is much better.

Laetitia is getting a new fuel filter today; I don't feel comfortable installing this one so it's at the shop.  Hence, this sits next to me in my office today.  I think I'm going to try to ride all the way up to Buffalo Bill's grave over lunch, that'll be a challenge as it's quite far.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Johnny Cash - Understand Your Man

May 30, 2007

Exhibit A:  Me running the Bolder Boulder in 2006

Exhibit B: The March 2008 page of the 2007/2008 Bolder Boulder Calendar.

Yeah, that's right, I'm in the calendar.  I'm that blob of red and blue in the top-right corner between the cheerleaders.  I'm positive it's me, I always run far to the side of everyone else because I hate the crowds on the turns.  The last time I had my picture in a "magazine" was much cooler.  (Check it, I'm the background of the entire page).

While I'm being very sarcastic about being in the calendar (but I do assure you it is me), I truly have wanted to be in that calendar for the past 6 years; it's been a goal of mine -- hence why I'm always pointing at cameras in every run I do.  So it's nice to have somewhat reached that goal!

In other news, Yort Diggidy had a much cooler 15 minutes of fame than I did, (click on "Communities Turn to Stronger Doors to Increase Safety") although it took some shitty news for it to occur.  Regardless, it's pretty cool.  The best part is when they put his name in quotation marks, like he's using some alias or something!

What I am listening to as I type this:  Marilyn Manson - Thaeter

May 29, 2007

This snow in the high country needs to go away, I am just itching to get up a 14er ... this weekend will not yet have good enough conditions for me to scratch my itch.  After having been in two scenic areas so far this year, I realize just how special the views are that a 14er can provide.  I miss being up there.

I ran fast yesterday in the Bolder Boulder; results aren't up yet, but there is an ever-so-slight chance I ran my fastest time ever.  Regardless, I am beyond happy with my 10K performance yesterday.

My throat hurts horribly today, but I'm not much of a person to complain as I can easily live through it, so that sentence will be the extent of that.  Tea time.

What I am listening to as I type this:  En Vogue - Give it Up, Turn it Loose

May 25, 2007

I'm very good with managing money, I will not be modest about this.  We all know I'm huge into taking advantage of credit card companies' discounted interest offers.  I'm preparing to dive deeper into the world of making money from credit cards.  I have to admit, for the first time this idea was not my own, but it makes unbelievable sense.

Step 1) Find a credit card with a 0% balance transfer rate for 1 year and 0% transaction fee on balance transfers
Step 2) Talk them into giving me a credit limit of $20,000 (with a credit score over 800, this should be no issue)
Step 3) Take cash-advance through balance-transfer checks for $20,000
Step 4) Deposit $20,000 into a CD which pays 5% over 1 year
Step 5) Set up bank account to automate minimum payments for a year
Step 6) Cash out CD and pay money back to credit card company
Step 7) Make $1000 in one year by doing nothing

If this works, look for me to do this twice next year.  I think a free $1000 can be a good thing no matter what the situation, don't you?

This weekend will entail biking Vail Pass, going to the movies, hitting up a BBQ or two perhaps, and running the Bolder Boulder.  My friends, another good weekend is in the works.  Life is good to me, life is good to me.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Jurassic 5 - Hey

May 24, 2007

I realized there is no chance of me ever putting up a webcam, so I filled the void by putting up a music player thingamajig.  Don't look for this to last long, though, as I really hate non-self-made pieces of code I can just plug into the site, I prefer to code things myself.

Still staying open-minded.  We went into Whole Foods last night.  Had to get some fruit & veggies and figured that'd be a good choice.  Sure, there are some better things there as far as produce goes, but I would have been perfectly happy at Safeway for other things.  I will say this store didn't make a bad impression on me like that crock-of-shit Wild Oats store did.  It's much bigger, the smells are wonderful of the various kitchens they have, and the store was very clean.  But yeah, after these experiments I'm finding I'm perfectly happy shopping at Safeway.  And I've also come to the conclusion that I truly do get angry simply seeing the word "organic".  I had to prove to you how ridiculous this is ...  I really wonder what percentage of people who shop there go in and just only look for items based on if the word says "organic" or not and don't base anything at all on how something tastes.  I would love to conduct a blind taste test.  Ok, no I wouldn't, because the number of Subaru's I'd have to see to conduct this test would probably make me do something evil.

I watched Lost last night.  Wow, strong finish to a season.  Don't think I'll watch the episodes I missed, but wow, that was a surprise twist at the end!  My only question is when Jack and the new head of surgery were talking, Jack said to go talk to his dad to see who was more drunk ... isn't Jack's dad dead?  What happened here?

My latest project, the Team Blonde website, is up, running, and functional.  Yup yup, sure is.  Pay it a visit.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Stone Sour - Blue Study

May 23, 2007

Oh me oh my oh me oh my.  However can I obtain a life where work is not necessary, 10 hours of sleep is mandatory, and money grows on trees?  Does anybody have this formula?  Be careful as to not confuse the formula with the following one:  E=mc².

To be perfectly honest, the only reason I wrote that last sentence is because I love that I recently discovered how to type the little "squared" text.  You just hold down Control/Shift/+ ^{and then everything you type will be put up here until you again push Control/Shift/+}.  Pretty cool, eh?

I should be able to wrap up all work on the Team Blonde website here today, I'll post a link tomorrow if I get it done.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Stone Sour - Take A Number

May 22, 2007

Tired, I am tired.  I have big projects to work on at the office, there is no room for "tired".  I ran a few miles yesterday, lifted a few weights with the 'ol legs, and Fabi and I went on a bike ride (12 miles or so, nothing huge) after work; needless to say, my legs are sore.  I am going to run about 4 miles over lunch today, then it may be time to rest the legs for a few days.  After a 35-40 mile bike ride Saturday, a hike on Sunday, then running Monday & Tuesday, I think they deserve a break!

I'll leave the news for Andy to announce, but it appears as though I'm in an apartment hunt again, come mid-August, I'm homeless.  I'm pretty sure it's time for me to move over to Golden.

6 days to the Bolder Boulder ... giddy up.  I think we might head out to the mountains on Friday until Sunday night, that sounds like a novel idea.  My next homework project/assignment isn't due until June 10 and I'm pretty sure it's something I can handle :)  I like database stuff.  I was a tad bit upset that I got an A- on my first project, that's my first "minus" grade in recent memory.  They don't have "plus and minus" grades here at Mines, that's quite bizarre to me.

Don't tell me I'm afraid to try new things.  Fabi and I went to Wild Oats (the hippie grocery store; it doesn't deserve a link) on Saturday.  What a fucking joke that place is.  We bought a few energy bars for our hike the next day and a piece of cheese.  We had to take out a loan to buy the cheese.  Everything in that store pissed me off; I think she can attest that I was honestly in a bad mood after we left.  I can't sum it up better than by asking these two simple questions:
1)  Really?  You like shopping at Wild Oats?  Really?  No, seriously here ... really?
2) Who in their right mind thinks "Organic Deodorant" is necessary?!
Absurd, just ridiculous, I'm thrilled her feelings on the store closely mimicked mine.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Tool - Aenema

May 21, 2007

Absolutely fantastic weekend ... Friday night we saw the Royals beat the Rockies.  Saturday we went for a long bike ride (35-40 miles), did some shopping, and went to Old Chicago for awhile (imagine that).  Sunday we went and hiked at Wild Basin, ate & walked around in Estes Park for awhile, went to Hippieville (aka, Boulder) for awhile, sat in the hot tub .... yeah, it was a good weekend.

Pix are up from NYC and hiking.

I swear I will post the Team Blonde website this week.  I swear I will make it to work by 7:30 the rest of the week.  I swear I will get an A in my current grad school class.  If I can keep these three promises, I swear I will be both again see myself as reliable.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Tom Petty - The Waiting

May 18, 2007

Although based upon the tragic event last week, this is one of the coolest articles I've read in sometime, man that whole situation still bugs me.

It's Friday, the Royals are in town, the mountains are calling my name, my bike is calling my name, homework is done (almost), the weekend is here, next week is a 3-day weekend, we pretty much get out of work at 2:30 today, it's jeans day, the sun is outside.  Things are good, my friends, things are good.

My eyes itch, I'm convinced that my allergies get worse every year, my New York pictures will confirm that!  Have a great weekend.

Stupid 500 character rule, why did I do this to myself? This is my 3rd attempt at uploading this damn php file today ... hopefully that's enough characters now.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Tool - Reflection

May 17, 2007

It's time to clear the waters once and for all.  Here is the honest truth.  I ignore phone calls.  I do look at my phone, see who it is, and then choose to answer it or not answer it.  Here is a list of people:  Mom, Dad, Brent, Cori, Fabi.  Any time my phone rings, if I am someplace where I can hear, I will answer if these people call.  Any time, any situation.  Even if I'm on the other line, I will hang up with the non-lister and take the lister's call.  This is not to say some people are more important to me than others, but come one, gotta give special treatment to the family and the girlfriend (yes, Fabi's my girlfriend in case I've never stated that).  Here is another list of people:  everybody else on Earth.  Any time my phone rings, regardless if I am in the ideal situation to answer the phone or not, if I feel the phone call will last more than 30 seconds, I will not answer the call.  Email me.  Seriously.  I was forced to check my voicemail on Monday for the first time in recent memory and it was hell getting to the last message.  Basically, the lady comes on and it says who the call is from and I hit "delete" before I hear the message until I get to the one that I need to listen to for whatever reason.

As a compromise to my stubbornness with the phone, here is a little statement of truth from me.  I will never, ever, expect anybody except those on my above list to answer the phone when I call them, nor do they have to return calls.  Hell, I don't even answer it when somebody calls me back after I call them!! (Just did it to Tyler and Corey in the past 12 hours!  Thanks for the calls back, guys, I just didn't want to talk to you anymore :-) )

Email me any time.  Text message me any time (yes, I've converted to a text-messager).  Call me any time if it's going to be 30 seconds or less.  Other than that ... please, stop filling this guy's voicemail box so quick!  It's been a mere 3 days since I've checked my voicemail and I'm already up to 11 new ones?!!  Seriously here, people.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Tool - Third Eye

May 16, 2007

Fabi and I went out with people from my work last night, good times.

Busy busy busy.  Busy at work. Busy with school.  Busy at home.  Busy with my personal life.  I'm a busy guy right now.  I feel like a fucking genius in my current class, I easily have more knowledge about Oracle than my classmates, that feels very good.  I'm starting to think I shouldn't be so modest with my knowledge of information technology.  Although I'm the furthest thing from a money-hungry person, I'm starting to wonder how much money I can make in this field outside of the not-for-profit sector.  Working towards a masters, 6 years of database experience, major projects managed/accomplished, excellent customer service skills ... I've proven myself. Then I go and get emails like this (that I got today):

You should open your own business!  PS….please don’t quit.  You know too much and you are the best IT guy we have had so far.

I never said anything about quitting, not sure what really provoked that email, but it made me:
A) Smile
B) Think, "Wow, while I don't necessarily care about it, I could easily be pulling in $20K more annually someplace else".

Why am I so content at my job?  I'm not in any other area of my life, I'm always open to change.  I don't think it'd hurt to keep my eyes open.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Tool - Opiate

May 15, 2007

New York, I must admit, you were a much cleaner city than I imagined. The people were nicer than I imagined.  Costs were not as bad as I expected (although still high).  You were a good place to visit.  Key word:  Visit.  I could never live there, that'd be overkill.  I'll post some pictures sometime, quite busy with work and school right now.

Fabi is currently in Denver.  It would be impossible for you to find anything that could make me happier than this.

Posnanski's annual "The Season Is Over" article is up today.  I'm surprised it took this long.

What I am listening to as I type this:  One Side Zero - A Point In Time

May 10, 2007

So busy at work today, I have several things I need to get done, trying to basically plan for next week and get the things done that people need before I take off.  I'm wearing a suit today, bizarre. Leaving for New York City tonight on the red-eye flight.  In case you're stalking me, this is where I'm staying.  Between my 4 hour flight and my early arrival, I think I can complete quite a chunk of homework before Fabi arrives, which would be lovely.  I am beyond excited for this trip, so much to the point where I can't even express any emotion about it as it'd be pointless.

Got my camera back from Duane, but don't know if I have time to put the Kinetics pictures up until I get back from the east coast.  Congrats to the graduating seniors here at Mines ... have a great weekend, I'll be back Tuesday.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Outkast - Swek It On The Bar-B

May 9, 2007

George Bush?  Shitty music?  Dogs?  People invading my privacy?  Yes, it is quite obvious these are the major things in life I despise, but there are two things (that I take hand-in-hand) that bother me more than all of those combined:  Vegans and PETA.  Seriously, people, THE BABY NEEDS REAL FOOD!!!  And by the way, I think they were sentenced to life in prison for naming their child "Crown Shakur", not for forcing such a ridiculous vegetarian lifestyle upon him (which killed him).  By the way, let's take a quick look at the book of Genesis:

	So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
        	created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
        	multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
        	dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
        	air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Hey, look who has control over the animals -- US!!  I have dominion, and I'm hungry for a chicken.  I want the chickens crammed as many as you can fit into one cage.  I want them injected with anything that makes them plump, juicy, and delicious.  This fad of the overuse of the word "organic" and our nation's obsession with it is driving me close to insanity.  Yes, it's a fad, there - I said it.  I get angry when I see the cost of a chicken burrito at Chipotle go up $.50 because they now have "organic" chicken.  I don't care! Seriously, we need a low-cost polar-opposite of organic.  Make them live in even worse conditions and have this "unorganic" chicken cost less.  I don't give a fuck.  We have dominion over the animals, they do what we want them to do.  Cram them in a 2 foot cage by the baker's dozen, I don't care.  I just want it CHEAP!!  For God's sake, it's an animal which we raise with intentions to kill and eat ... does it really matter if it ate grain its whole life instead of fortified grain?  In the end, we're going to chop its head off and eat it anyways.

There are some serious cravings for bell peppers in my taste buds right now, not sure how I can satisfy these.  I've eaten about 7 gallons of peanut M&M's the past 2 days, and for some reason the blue ones taste just wonderful.  I don't even like chocolate, but for some reason I cannot stop eating these damn things.  In fact, I believe that's all I'm going to type today, because I need to spend less time writing and more time eating peanut M&M's.  You know what else would hit the spot right now?  A root beer float.  Maybe with organic root beer. Oh man, yes, that would be the stuff.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Outkast - Aquemini

May 8, 2007

Holy shit, I am beyond shocked and I am at a loss for words ... I did not see this coming at all.  TalusMonkey, aka, David Worthington, passed away last night after a fall on Humboldt Peak.  This man climbed all of Colorado's 14ers in a one-year time span, he was incredibly experienced.  I never met him face-to-face, but we chatted online quite a bit.  He had expressed interested in getting a bunch of 14ers.com members to go stay at Wendl's family's B&B this summer so we could shoot some guns and climb a nearby 14er.  The mans trip reports were the most humorous things I've ever seen.  I mean seriously, who else in the world can climb Mt. Elbert (tallest mountain in Colorado) wearing a purple pimp suit?  The world lost a wonderful person today.  Rest in peace, David.

Here's the tribute on 14ers.com

Here's the article on 9News

May 7, 2007

One of the absolute most popular members of my 14ers.com forum was severely injured on Humboldt Peak (Miriah and I climbed this peak last August, go to the 14ers page for pictures) last night and had to spend the night up there in a snowstorm until SAR (Search & Rescue) could reach him, which they did this morning.  This shocked me, made me re-realize the immense danger of climbing even the "easiest" of the 14ers. (And this guy has summitted them all, already, so he is very experienced.)

Kinetics rocked, as usual.  We ended up meeting up with all of the Quandts, which was very cool.  Pictures will be up tomorrow, if I get my camera back from Duane tonight ... not sure if I'll have time to do that yet.  We stayed in Boulder until the rain came then went back to our place and watched Snakes on a Plane.  It was an excellent day, top-notch top-notch.  Yesterday I was a busy guy ... get this - I actually ironed.  That doesn't happen.  Got a lot of reading done for class, I'm going to just haul ass on this new class this week so I can get ahead, that will probably occupy 100% of my time when I'm not at work or the gym.

Our new gym opened this morning at 6am for the first time, been waiting for this thing to open up for about 2 years now.  I went there around 6:30, nobody there.  Awesome locker rooms.  Awesome free weights, although there aren't as many as there was in the old gym.  I think they sacrificed quantity for quality.  My only issue is that they have WAY too many machines and not enough free weights, I cannot tell you the last time I've used any weight machine other than a lat-pull-down thing.  There is no station to do dead lifts, or clean/jerk, those are a major part of my lifting. The cardio machines are everywhere, way more than they used to have.  And they got arc machines!! Those things are fucking awesome, I haven't used one for a few years but they're as good of a workout as you can get.  We now have huge plasma TVs, a view of the mountains from the cardio machines, the weight room overlooks the 8-lane pool (equipped with diving boards and a basketball hoop, and a huge hot tub), and we have a huge climbing wall equipped with a cave.  Yeah, the new gym is cool.

Anyways, yeah ... busy week at work, busy week with school, busy week at the gym ... my friends, this is a textbook busy week.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Nothingface - Gender Airlines

May 4, 2007

I'm sick of my stupid timer on top of the page ... I think certain aspects of this site that I no longer use are going to start being phased out, eventually it'll probably just be an archive for my pictures, we'll see.  I'm just frustrated with the sense that everyone can go build a damn website anymore with no knowledge of web design or programming, they just copy and paste code and it's sickening to see.

TGIF, and I mean that in the best possible way, this has been a very long week.  Yesterday I ran down by the river over lunch, it was too damn nice outside.  The weight room is almost empty right now, not much I can do in there as all the benches and power racks are gone.  The new rec center will open in a week or so here, that will be very cool.  Tonight I need to get a hair cut (all of them, actually) and then I think we (Bob, Andy and I) might go eat down at the Elephant Bar.  Tomorrow is Kinetics.  Sunday I will likely start doing homework for my new class.  It's supposed to rain all weekend, but if it's nice Sunday I'd like to get another 40+ mile bike ride in, along with a 5 mile run or so.  I'm opting out of the Run for the Rockies this weekend, I just don't feel like I can get a time better than 21:30, which is necessary for me to increase my Bolder Boulder wave.

Anyways, that's all from this end of the table, have a great weekend.

What I am listening to as I type this:  The Black Crowes - Jealous Again

May 2, 2007

Happy hump day!  I love this no-school business, maybe I should just pay off my profs to give me my degree so I don't have to go any more.  Went to BW3's last night for a short while with Bob .... tonight heading to Old C's for awhile after work.  Yup yup, I'm going to have a bit of fun while I'm not cooped up in my room night after night.  Did some Team Blonde stuff last night too, that sight might actually amount to something! Amazing what I can actually do when I have the time to do it!  Speaking of, there are some things I need to get done here, talk to ya tomorrow.

What I am listening to as I type this:  System of a Down - X

May 1, 2007

Yup, got an A in my class again.  1/6 done with my Master's Degree with a perfect grade so far.

Here's how cool I am, everybody.  I have this week off school, so I went to the gym for 2 hours, came home and cleaned while watching the Royals lose (again), did laundry, read ahead in my textbook for my next class, and watched a DiscoveryHD special on polar bears.  I have so much I want to do during my week off here, namely finishing the Team Blonde website and spend a lot of time with my computer-based interactive German tutorials I got from Tim.

Anywho, my life is pretty boring this week.  This weekend I've got Kinetics, and that's always a good time.

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