Interesting Discoveries...

Check out what J-Dawg discovered about the separation of church and state, and charitable giving among various groups of people (go conservatives!!).

4-Day Weekend!

What an awesome weekend! It's been a long while since I've had a 4 day weekend, and this was the FIRST time I've ever been paid for taking 2 days off!! Thursday, Thanksgiving, some friends and I attended the 4th-Annual Thanksgiving bouldering day at The Millenium Boulder We warmed up on a couple V2-V4 problems. The V4 was a pretty good route that had a pretty tough first move and a very committed top out. Then we worked Ghost Dance (V6), one of our friends finished it (it's a pretty intimidating route purely due to how high it is, approx 20ft). And then we pretended like we knew what we were doing on Purity Control (V10).



Thanksgiving dinner was incredible! Turkey, taters, green beans, stuffing, Greek salad (made by my wife's Greek grandfather!), and lots and lots of pie! We ate at 1, and needless to say, I wasn't hungry for dinner.



My dad and I fished the South Fork of the South Platte on Friday, it was stinkin' FREEZIN. Due to the fishing regulations on this particular stretch of stream (all catch and release), there were fish all over the place! But since they've all been caught numerous times, they've all got PhD's. I ended up catching a couple fish, one brown and one rainbow, both only about 10". Not what I'd call a world class tail water, but I think that the cold was limiting a lot of the bug activity so the fish were effectively hibernating. Oh well, it was a beautiful day, and the river is very picturesque...but I forgot my camera...



All last week a friend and I were trying to organize a winter accent of Mt. Bierstadt (14er), but due to time constraints and gear limitations (on my part)w e were only able to climb Bear Peak. Bear Peak is one of my favorite local climbs. It's very close to Boulder, it's only 3-4 hours round trip depending on the route you take, and the views from the top are spectacular. You can see a great deal of the continental divide and all of the front range and out to Kansas (at least it LOOKED like Kansas). Once again...I forgot my camera...



I have climbed Bear Peak several times from both Eldorado Canyon and NCAR, but I didn't know that there were actually two routes out of NCAR. The one I'd taken a few times before goes more-or-less straight up the East face, the one we ended up taking this time, since I missed the turn off, goes far to the West past the peak. It then branches to Green Mountain and the West Ridge Trail which leads to Bear Peak. We ended up covering a lot more distance than we would have on the other trail, but I think that it took roughly the same amount of time because we were able to move much more quickly over the less steep trail. In any event, we reached the top and enjoyed the view for a few moments before rushing back down to our car.



My world-traveling sister and brother in-law are in town for a couple of weeks and we've been having a ball. Saturday we saw "Casino Royal"-The new James Bond. Not the best...maybe the worst. I'd give it a C+ at best, and that's only because the action scenes were REALLY intense! The story line was mediocre, the new Bond character is a little unbelievable, and there were some obvious inconsistencies in the movie that made me scoff.



We went to a park yesterday and threw a boomerang that they brought me from Australia! It was really cool, and very funny to watch the ladies try to throw it :)







Last night, Nathan and Amber came over and we watched a stupid movie ("Girl with the Pearl Earring"). Not going on my top 5 list anytime soon... The ambiance was lovely though, we lit most of the candles in our house and turned off all of the lights. When Nathan and Amber were leaving, Nathan and I walked around the house blowing out the candles by waving our hands over them rapidly. I may have gotten a little TOO excited about doing this, and I knocked a candle over...a red candle...that was hanging on the wall. As you can imagine, we then had a very nice streak of red wax on the wall from about 5 feet high all the way to the floor.



A quick visit to the all knowing internet, and we soon had the solution for removing the wax! (This if FYI that I think everyone should know...everyone that does stupid things like blowing out candles with their hands that is...) Just hold a steam iron close to the wall and steam, steam, steam. Them wipe the wax away with a cloth. INCREDIBLE! The wax was all gone in about 15 minutes!

Un-be-stinkin-leavable!

Wha...bah...gah...hah....

Ok, I have now crossed the line of being envious to EXTREMELY JEALOUS BEYOND BELIEF. I just read my sister and brother in-law's Nov, 16th entry, and I...well...heck, read if for yourself!

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I'm going to be a pseudo uncle!!!

My bestest friend in the whole wide world is going to be having a baby! Well...his WIFE will be having the baby, but he is most likely the father. (Just kidding, there's no doubt he's the father) I'm so VERY happy for them, a new life and all of the fun things that come with having a child.



This wonderful occasion has stirred a multitude of feelings for me. I am overjoyed for them, and for their new little one whom, based only on the ultrasounds, appears to be a miniature Charlie Brown. However, it also has made me wonder...how can this be!?!? When did I become old enough to have friends with children??? I mean I'm only...24!?! HOLY COW! When the heck did I turn 24?? My mom was 22 when I was born, so I'm actually BEHIND in my child bearing duties! Blech! I'm definitely NOT ready for kiddos of my own. In the words of Sid the Sloth, from Ice Age, "I choose life." Not a new life, my life. There is still much to be done, many crazy adventures to be had before I embark on that very crazy and expensive adventure known as parenting.



Nevertheless, this will be a very good experience for me. I will learn how people my age can be parents by watching my best friend and his wife, and 5...10...7 years from now maybe I'll be warmed up to the idea of having a little rug rat of my own. Yikes, gives me the chills! Obviously not ready yet!

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All work and no play makes Derrick something something...

Go crazy? DON'T MIND IF I DO! BWAH HA HA HA HA.



As usual, I have been keeping to par with the amount of updating that I am known for (not much). However, the reason is now much different. It used to be that posting to this blog simply slipped my mind, and that the crazy adventures just weren't getting reported. Sadly this is no longer the case. The crazy adventures have now been replaced by work and darkness.



This is my first winter season as a full time employee (a.k.a. real-world employee), and I've got to say, "What the crap is up with this!?!?" I wake up, go to work, and by the time I leave....darkness has fallen upon the land. For some reason, my will to go do anything is instantly shut down by the fact that it's already "night time." Not to mention that it's stinkin' COLD out there. If there was a good helping of snow piled up outside the door, I could easily come up with SOMEthing to do, but Colorado weather is known for being fairly dry, and if it does snow, it'll be gone the next day when the temperatures rocket into the 60's or 70's.



Perhaps this weekend will provide a story and hopefully a SWEET picture of someone...doing something awesome!



In the meantime, check out the link to my sister and brother in-law's blog. They've been traveling around the world for the last 2 months as part of a 4 month "round the world tour." I'm not jealous or anything...

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Bloggermeister

Ok, it's been 6 months. Time for an update! There's been a lot of goins on since the last post, and hopefully I'll find some time to share some pictures. FFXI is no more :( Sadly I gave it up in March, and am now far too busy to start it up again. I graduated from CU Boulder in May with degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. I thought that graduation would be bitter-sweet, but so far it's only been sweet. Perhapse I'll change my tune after a few years.


I took two weeks off after graduation to go to Lake Powell. There was much fishing, water skiing and wakeboarding. It was my first time at the later two activities, and I was surprised at how easy it was to pick up. I'd like to go some more to try to do some tricks on the wake board (I was only able to switch the direction of the board (from right foot forward to left foot forward), and that seemed fairly difficult to me! Near the end of the trip I jumped in the water with my prescription sunglasses on my head. Before I realized that they had come off, we were already on our way back to the dock. That night I lamented the loss of my sweet Oaklies, but awoke the next morning with a mission: "Opperation Sunglasses Recovery." In case you, who are reading, have never been to Lake Powell, you must first understand that much of the lake's shoreline is cliffs. This was not entirely the case with the location at which my sunglasses had slipped from my head. We did a sounding to determine just how deep the water was, and found it to be approximately 15 feet deep at about 5 feet from shore. At about 8 feet from shore, the depth was immeasurable. Nevertheless, I decided to take a chance with my $5 face mask (purchased that morning for this very purpose). 15 feet down an about 12 inches from the edge of the abyssal clif laid my sunglasses. Mission Accomplished!


I've been working at Ball Aerospace full time since graduation, and am enjoying the responsibility (and stress) that comes with being a full time employee.


The MOST exciting event that has transpired since my last post was my wedding! I was married to Lesley July 25th at Stonebrook Manor. We had decided long ago that we wanted an outdoor wedding, and this particular establishment has excelent grounds for outdoor weddings. The week prior we'd experienced very dry and hot (~95 F) days, but the two days before our wedding were wet and hot. We, and many others, prayed intently that the rain would hold off for the ceremony.


Before the ceremony, while the pictures were being taken, we were given excelent lighting as the clouds began to roll in. This made for great pictures, but also made us all very nervous for the ceremony. While the could cover gave us very pleasant temperatures (I estimate that it was somewhere in the low 70's), we began to prepare ourselves for the worst. Our ceremony lasted for almost an hour, and God was gracious enough to hold off the rain until the very end. As soon as all of the guests were seated in the pavilion for dinner, the rain began to come down. The pavilion was already set up for a rainy event, so most people didn't even know that it was raining unless they exited the pavilion. The food, cake, dancing, and company were all wonderful during the reception, and we're still recieving numerous complements about how lovely the wedding was.

We stayed in town for a couple of days before leaving for Alaska on a 7 night cruise. We visited Juneau, Skagway, Icy Straight, and Victoria(B.C.). We saw two humpback whales, two grizzly bears, a seal and a handfull of bald eagles. In Juneau, we flew through the canopy of the rain forest on ziplines suspended between trees, and ate in the Red Dog Saloon.  This place was really cool!  They had about 4 inches of sawdust on the floor, and the whole place was decked out with gold rush era decorations.  We got Lesley some very nice Jewlery in one of the local stores.

In Skagway, we hiked and floated the Chilkoot trail (if you've ever seen an Alaskan licence plate, there's a squiggly line that runs down the center. That line is actually people hiking along the Chilkoot trail which was very famous during the gold rush era.) We headed back to town and had a bite to eat at a little cafe off of the main strip.  The buffalo chili was superb, and we discovered a new flavor of Henry Winehards (for those of you who aren't aware, my friends and I are known for frequently buying out Safeway's entire supply of Henry Winehards rootbeer).  The new flavor was Black Cherry, and although I'm not usually a cherry flavored fan, I found that the sweet cherry effervesance complemented the tangy spicy buffalo chili quite nicely.  We stopped in at a little smoke house that was reccommended by our Chilkoot tour guide and purchased some smoked salmon and halibut.  We got Lesley some very nice Jewlery in one of the local stores.


In Icy Straight, we hiked along a nature path and saw a lot of cool wildlife, including a HUGE slug (about 5 inches long and 0.5 inches wide). I chatted briefly with a man who was fishing from shore and he offered me a fishing pole to fish along side him. HOW COULD I RESIST!? I caught two fish (I don't know what they were...char maybe?).  We ate crab and clam chowder in one of the local restaurants (oh so excellent!)  I also ate a Vulcan burger(Two patties of beef, lots of cheese, pickles, mayo, tomato, chili, the kitchen sink, etc.)  I was hungry! It'd been almost an hour since we'd last gorged ourselves!  We got Lesley some very nice Jewlery in one of the local stores. 

Then, we moved on to Victoria (Canada).  From our cruise ship we could choose to either take the bus into town, or walk a couple miles to town.  We chose the latter, deciding that we could probably use the exersize after the midnight chocolate buffet.  On our way into town, I spotted a stand where a man was renting out Vespa scooters.  "Oh, Heck Yes!"  was my exact quote, I believe.  Within 10 minutes Lesley and I were off cruising around Victoria on a couple of scooters.  We were able to see a large portion of the island, including the costal neighborhoods which were very nice.  We wanted to have lunch in a tea house, so we traveled to the far side of the island to try to find the "Tea House".  We saw a sign directing us where to turn to go to the "Tea House" and arrived at a small hut on the beach with a sign that said "Tea House".  However, I believe that Canadians must have a different definition of what a "Tea House" ought to be.  One would THINK that they would have a wonderful assortment of local and exotic teas...right?  Or should I say, "eh?"  Anyway...this place was your basic burger and hot dog stand with plenty of soda and fried artery cloging finger foods.  They did have 5 different kinds of tea...Stash tea (which anyone can purchase here in the states).  Major dissapointment.

After that we headed back into town to do a little shopping.  We got Lesley some very nice Jewlery in one of the local stores.

Ok, so...I've been updating this post off and on for a month now...so I don't really remember what I've talked about or what I've missed, but I think it's best that I just post it, and get on with the crazy adventures.

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Up and Coming: The Worlds Longest Blog

I realize it's been a long...long...long while since I've made a post.
(Ignore the date of the last post...that was back in February) Many of
you may have come to believe that I was in fact dead. However, this is
not true, I simply don't think about Blogging all day long. The White
Skinned Goddess on the otherhand...
http://www.katietimothy.blogspot.com/ is a very reliable blog. She
pretty much lives for blogging, I don't know how she has time for
anything else! My lack of posting is all about to change though...for
I have discovered a new bit of software caled Performancing. It's an
add in for Firefox that sits at the bottom of your browser that you can
bring up at anytime, write a bit, paste a picture here or there and
post. Bam! Done! It's rediculously easy! I HIGHLY advise you all to
check it out. If you're not using Firefox...well...I'm surprised that
you're even able to use a computer if you don't use Firefox, so check
that out as well (it'll take your browsing experience to the next
level).

Anyway, I've been working on a blog for several days now
(a bit here and there) to catch up on some very exciting happenings:
gradumication, vacations, wedding, honeymoon, more vacations, climbing,
mountainbiking, aggressive eating, etc. So stay tuned, it'll probably
only be a couple days. I just need to up load several hundred pictures
off of my camera to prepare for the worlds biggest and longest (which
is no indication of quality, mind you...) blog.

While
you're waiting, check out this site: www.mountainbikingbill.com and
check out the video of the guy falling off the cliff.

Very entertaining to say the least. I almost barfed.

Climbing at Green Mountain (The Sacred Cliffs)

Lesley, Nathan, Amber and I went climbing at Green Mountain last Sunday after a fine morning of church. The hike in was approximately 1 mile, and was fairly easy until the last quarter mile or so when the trail quickly ascended to the top of Green Mountain. Nathan and I found a boulder that was not in either of our bouldering books (Colorado Bouldering vol. 1 and The Best of Boulder Bouldering). It was just to the north east of the "Sub-Boulder." We did a little adjustment of the natural state of the route (moved the dead tree away that was leaning over the top of the route, removed a dead bush that was at the base of the route, and brushed the lichen and moss locally from the foot and hand holds on our soon to be sent route). The route's first move is a dynamic move with the left hand, no feet to start. Once you find your feet on the minute little features down below, the next move is to reach for a small crystal protruding from the boulder and adjust your feet such that you can get a high right foot. The last difficult pull is to a fairly large pocket for your left hand. Find the rail for your right hand, and the route is done. I was the first to send, so I named the route "Obstruction" (thanks to the help of Lesley, who noted all of the trees obstructing the top-out of the boulder) and give it a rating of ~V4 not a real difficult one, but fun nonetheless.



We started the hike back to our vehicles once dusk was creeping upon us
and most of our extremeties had gone numb. The hike out seemed much
longer than the hike in, and it was fully night by the time we got back
to the road where we parked. The moon was very helpful in enabling us
to follow the trail. After this little adventure, I thought about how
blessed I am to have a future wife and good friends that have the same
love for crazy adventures as I do, and I look forward to the many
adventures that lie ahead.

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