Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.

Jill & I took off last Friday morning for a brief trip back to Oklahoma, for the first time in nearly a year. We had a lot of people to see, lots of things to do and seemingly not enough time to do it all. Of course our vacations/trips are always like this so I'm not sure why I would expect something different.

Friday starts with a quick flight into Oklahoma City from Denver. Yack picked us up from the airport and we hit Charleston's (first stop on our food tour of Oklahoma) for some lunch with Martha & Georgia. Choke down some food and off we went again.

Next destination would be Bartlesville to see Jill's parents and Grandma. We stopped over in Tulsa long enough to see a couple of the Solarcers. In BVille, we were treated to some mighty lasagna, as we continued our assault on our waistlines.

Saturday had us spending 1/2 day in BVille then heading to Stillwater to catch the OState/Texas A&M homecoming game. Duke had hooked us up with some ridiculously good tickets, so we'll be enjoying super views of the game. On our way to the game, we snagged some Eskimo Joe's pasta salads, which we snarfed down as we walked to the stadium.



I won't go into details on the game, as the wounds are still fresh. Two missed extra points and a OT loss is enough details. I've found its much easier for me to be an OState fan from a distance. The game was a great game, entertaining and kept you interested, but the outcome pretty much sucked. Oh the life of a Pokes fan...

After the game we took off, grabbing a bed at Shorty's in Yukon before arising and spending the better part of the day with my parents around Oklahoma City. We hit another food destination, Abuelos, to round out the trifecta of restaurants on our trip. Sunday night we settled for some Chilis as we were all still too stuffed from lunch, but we were joined by two more extended pseudo-family members Tony & Denise Baustert.

After dinner we gathered at Shorty's place for a bit, before turning in. We had a flight at 7am the next morning, which meant we'd need to be on the road at 5:30 CST which would be equivalent to 4:30 for us Mountain Time Zoners. We made the flight, Jill went to work, and I ran some errands.

Great to get back, even if it was a whirlwind tour. I started my new job at MarkWest the following day, so I've been a bit behind but trying to get caught up. The new job hasn't been the typical slow start, its been a "hit the ground running" experience thus far, which is great as my days literally fly by.

More on the new job and all that later.

Stepping out on the town.

For Jill's birthday, we had purchased tickets to go see The Lion King musical that is currently running in Denver. I had no expectations, but it was a story I was familiar with and figured would be more my style than something like Les Mis or the like.



So we pulled out the fancy duds from the closet, and got spruced up for a night out. I broke out the suit and tie, and it only took me 2 or 3 tries to get it tied correctly. It was a nice change to get dressed up for a change, especially when you've got a great looking date.

We arrived at the show, and made our way to our seats, which were about 3 rows back, just to the left side of the stage. Soon after we got settled, the lights dimmed and the show started. The opening scene was a booming visual and auditory experience, with characters literally appearing from every direction. The costumes were remarkable and the music impressive.

Words, pictures, descriptions really wouldn't describe the incredibly innovative costumes. The storyline follows the movie pretty closely, but takes on an entirely new life with the actors and their elaborate costumes. So I'll not ramble on too much, but tell you that if you get the chance to see this show you should definitely go see it.

Turn out the lights, the party is over...

And so the 2+ year experiment at Outlaw draws to a close at 3:59p.m. MST today, leaving Michael with his new self chosen Dwight (I picture myself as more of a Jim or Ryan character). It was a great opportunity that slowly started to close into a place where I had nowhere left to go. The great news is that with every finished opportunity is a new opportunity, and I'm very excited about the new job (start Tuesday).

The great part about it was how many "You won't believe this" stories that I'll take with me. I truly believe that I would never have appreciated NBC's series The Office (my favorite show on television) without this experience.

Yep I have worked for Michael Scott, but now I'm off to a new office.

Signs of winter

Its as reliable as the sun, this time of the year I start to get an unexplainable seasonal depression. This syndrome has lessened considerably since moving to Colorado, due to ski season, but its inevitable that it will happen. Today marks the first real signs that it is 6 months till consistent warm temps.

The signs:
1. Snow falling on the Front Range
2. Big snows (8-16 inches) headed for the mountains
3. High country epic mountain bike trails accumulating snow that won't be gone till June 07
4. My bike on the trainer
5. My Winter Park/Copper Mtn season pass paid for but not used

Yeah I know that this "slack time" really is only about a month, as the ski resorts are opening in rapid succession right now, but I'm so spoiled here that I can't handle a month going by without instant outdoor gratification. In the spring/summer months we have "mud season" where you can't ski anymore, but some bike trails aren't dried out but that coordinates with warming temps and longer days. Jill & I have been driving to work in total darkness for several weeks now, and the sun rays after work are getting harder to catch.

But hope is there. Fresh powder, a new job and a renewed determination to build a fitness base over the winter (even if it means a lot of time on the bike trainer) have me already primed for skiing and mountain biking next summer. Now its time for me to hibernate for a month and start mapping/graphing/researching all the places I'm going to go next spring....

I should quit my job more often

Its increasingly common knowledge that I'm a short-timer at Outlaw, and by this time next week I'll be unemployed (for a couple days). While playing out the final two weeks of my time here, my duties took me to Pittsburgh with the boss/owner. Two years have passed since I started, and I think its been a good two year run for both myself and the company.

So the boss decided to give me a "last supper" while on the trip, which I took the opportunity to select Morton's Steakhouse. What a tremendous selection it turned out to be.

We sit down and they immediately bring a huge loaf of sourdough bread, which happens to be my favorite. This was a no expense to be spared meal, so we start perusing the menu for pretty much one of everything. The waitress tells us about their specialty desserts that take 30+ minutes to prepare and need to be ordered with dinner. Knowing fully we'd be too full to even think about dessert, we throw caution to the wind and order a couple of these special chocolate cake fudge filled over ice cream concoctions.

Now its time to get serious about selecting a steak. Morton's is a big time steak place. I settle on a NY Strip, which commands $40 something dollars ala carte, add on a caesar salad and some mashed potatoes. Not thinking that would be enough to kill us, Nowell adds some broccoli and sauteed mushrooms.

By the time that my salad arrives, I've already eaten about half the loaf of bread. As I get about half way through my salad, which thankfully showed up with no fries on it, I think to myself "I'm already getting full". Uh oh...

Before I can regroup from the salad, the biggest NY Strip I've ever seen shows up on my table. I take one look at this steak and realize its probably not reasonable for one person to eat this steak, but I'm going to give it the old college try. The steak is cooked absolutely perfect medium-rare, and its as tender as melted butter. Before I know it, I've killed about 3/4ths of it and then I realize there is no stopping with that little left.

Joel 1, Steak 0.

Belly 110% full.

Then dessert arrives. I'm not a big dessert fan, and I really don't like chocolate at all, but despite being chocolate with a warm fudge center, this dish was pretty incredible. I do my best to eat the cake with a minimal amount of the uber-rich fudge, but alas I throw in the white towel with about 1/3rd of it left.

As we stand to leave, I think to myself that I've ever been this full, which says quite a bit since I am a considerable eater. The pain doesn't subside on the short walk back to our hotel, and it only gets worse as I lay around. As I lay on my hotel bed feeling like Takeru_Kobayashi on July 4th, I realized after only 4 days in Pittsburgh I had been assimilated.

Time to get back to Boulder and get on that bike, I've got some work to do.....