14ers

On Saturday 10 of us got up between 4 and 4:45 a.m. and drove west to climb two 14ers (14,000 foot mountains). It was a beautiful day, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

The two mountains we hiked up are called Gray's and Torrey's. They mark the second and third 14ers I have "bagged" as the common terminology goes.

I had my trekking poles along which totally helped on the journey, especially on the way down. The one major secret to climbing these...are you ready....is to envision what and where you are going to eat when you are done. Nothing more satisfactory then eating anything you please after completing such feats.

Here are a few pics, such as "Orange Monster". Yes that's me. hahahahhaah And then our group on top of Gray's, the first mountain, and then Torrey's, the second mountain.

Then let's not forget Hazel and Me! hahahaha. Awesome.

Flatscreen

So I got a new flatscreen monitor in my oficina toay. It is wonderful. Since I don't have my camera here, I drew a representation of myself using the flat screen monitor doing two wonderful things, eating grapes and eating raisins. Enjoy!

5 days, 5 shows

I haven't posted a lot on here lately, but I have been going to a lot of shows--5 for 5 the last 5 days actually. Here's a lil rundown:

Thursday night: Went to Illegal Pete's downtown, to see Ghost Buffalo, a Denver band, play. Illegal Pete's has great burritos, and it was Tom's birthday (he's in Ghost Buffalo), which made it even more fun. You can also check out their music here: http://www.myspace.com/ghostbuffalo I liked it, they are pretty rockin', and seem to really love playing together. For ya all in Denver, their next show is July 29 at the Hi-Dive.

Friday night: Hit up the Ogden theatre on Colfax to see Denver band DeVotchKa. It was their CD release party, and the place was packed. Not only that, they had two women hanging from ropes from the very high ceiling doing cirque du soleil type moves. It was so fantastic, and their music is beautiful. The highlight for me had to be the tuba (or maybe it was sousaphone) player with the red Christmas lights on the top of her tuba. They also had an accordion, which was much to my delight. If you get a chance to see a show of theirs, don't pass it up, they're on tour now across the states I believe. http://www.myspace.com/devotchkamusic

Saturday night: Headed down to Larimer Lounge, one of my fave dive show venues in town, to see Tilly and the Wall, an Omaha band whose sole percussionist is a woman who tap dances (their website is very fun by the way). Plus they have two other female singers, who seem to totally enjoy performing, which is always refreshing when you go to a show. Though everyone in the place was crammed up near the stage to see the fab lady tap and dance, and I was near the back trying to avoid the nasty smell of the men's bathroom, it was still great. And I picked up a CD for only $10. Again, totally fun, and worth checking out: http://www.myspace.com/tillyandthewall

Sunday night: Went down to the Fillmore, one of the bigger venues in town, to see the Raconteurs, (a lot of people know of them as Jack White's new band). This show was probably the most rockin' of the ones I saw, and also was kicking of their current tour. The set was short and it was loud (gotta remember ear plugs next time) but Jack White is a really great guitar player, and the intensity he had was quite invigorating. For being a new band that has played relatively few shows together as one unit, it was really fantastic. Their website is awesome by the way, very old school Atari.

Monday evening: Twist and Shout, the most renowned record store in town, has in-store performances from time-to-time, and last night Alexi Murdoch played. It was fabulous--maybe 20-30 people there, and I think he played about 8 songs. I'd never been down to an in-store before and it is totally worth it, though I imagine depending on who plays the crowd size varies a lot. Got to chat with him briefly afterwards, and he said he is planning to come back to Denver in the fall with his band, and I hope he does. Check out "All of My Days" if you can, that's my fave song of his right now. www.myspace.com/aleximurdoch I also liked that he has a very British accent and wore a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. If I'd only remembered my camera.

This is Truth

I came across this today, and I'm sharing it here because it is truth, and we all need a little truth sprinkled in with everything every once in awhile.

I honestly think that some people do just go to the coffee shop so they can have loud, personal conversations in the midst of several strangers. It's quite the interesting phenomenon. I mean if you tried to do that at the library they would boot you out so quick, but at the coffee shop, you just have to turn your iPod up louder to drown it out.

What's worse, is I may have done this before...but I'm sure I didn't talk that loud. hahahaha.

This is from toothpastefordinner, a great website.
Direct link to cartoon, here.