Catching My Breath...

Its been a hectic week or so since getting back from Oklahoma. I started my new job at MarkWest, we had a big snowstorm where we lost part of a tree, and I’m a veteran bus rider now among other things.


First things first, the new job…
Things are going very well, although my first 2 weeks are nothing like any other first weeks at any previous job. I have been busy since walking in the door, which is a good thing really. Since MarkWest uses RightAngle, I came in knowing a lot and its just filling in the server and database names. I’m quite pleased with how quickly the RightAngle stuff came back to me, but I guess when you cut your teeth on a system it sticks with you.

All in all the job switch seems to be a huge step in the right direction for me. Everything has worked out perfectly thus far. People at MarkWest are all very nice, and it seems to be a really talented staff which is always nice to be a part of.

Perhaps the strangest part of it all is that I also find that I seem to really enjoy working on the 16th St Mall here in Denver too. I never realized that I liked the downtown working environment until I wasn’t working downtown anymore. In Tulsa I always worked downtown, then in Boulder our office was off the Pearl St. Mall. When we moved to Louisville the commute got much better, but I realized how boring it was when nothing happened in our Tech. Park. So now I’m back to a downtown office with lots of good eating and things always moving.


The bus, AKA the Snooze Cruise…
I absolutely love this bus riding stuff. I hop on the bus about 2-3 miles from my house, and pretty much immediately fall asleep and 40 minutes later I’m in downtown Denver about 2 blocks from my office. I can leave my house at 6:30 and be at my desk by 7:30 and grab an extra 45 minutes of sleep on the way. The Denver area mass-transit system really works well, and the comfy, nice buses make me wonder why I ever drove myself to work before.

The best example was on the big snow day last Thursday, when all the other daily gunners were 10 & 2’ing it down the road worrying about the road and the guy next to them in the 4x4 SUV speeding by at high speeds. Me? I just put the Ipod on, leaned the chair back and woke up as the bus hit LoDo.

My rush hour is the rush to get asleep before the bus pulls out of the depot…


The rest…
Other than the big job switch and my new found love affair with the bus, not too much happening these days.

The time switch has me pretty much riding the trainer at nights, trying to stay in shape for the nice weekend days.

Ski season starts this weekend, although I won’t be there for another couple weeks.

This weekend is a big cyclocross race, as the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross (basically road bikes with treaded tires) hits Longmont & Boulder on Sat & Sun. I’ll likely ride my Roubaix over and check out the action as a bundle of fast riders should be here for the Elite divisions.