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.
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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