Westword Menu Affair

Westword is equivalent to Atlanta's "Creative Loafing" newspaper. They hosted an event at Invesco Field at Mile High with the proceeds going to the Food Bank of the Rockies. It was held on the club level at Invesco field. I haven't been to a Bronco's game yet, so it was cool to see the stadium. They had about 30 restaurants offering sample dishes and chefs doing demonstrations.

Snow and 5 days later it's 80.

I remember hoping for snow near Christmastime in Georgia. Haha! We hit an all time high a week ago, near 90. Wow, weather changes fast around here. So this is the first snowfall of the season. The leaves haven't even all changed or fallen off yet. This was a picture taken from my balcony this morning. I have a meeting at the hospital that's near downtown today, so I didn't have to get up really early and drive to Boulder. I get to make that drive later today. I was hoping I would be done with driving up there before the snow hit. So much for that plan.
Update: Five days later and it was nearly 80 degrees today. The weather here is fun. I like variety; it makes the morning commute more interesting. All the snow melted within a couple of days; however, the first ski lift opened on Friday! I've bought my ski pass; tis the season to decide ski or board...

Re-Decorating

I've been working on re-decorating my bathroom the past two weeks. I had to avoid the colors blue and green since they are my favorite, and I have a tendency to over do those two colors.
I decided to go with something bright, bold and simple. In the reflection of the mirror above the towel rack, you can see the candle holder I got from Linen'n'things. I got the vase on the counter top from Pottery Barn and the flowers are from Joanne. I also worked on my painting of a rose this weekend. I need to work on the petals a little bit, then I'm going to hang it on the wall next to the linen closet.

Race for the Cure

I ran in the Race for the Cure at 7:30 this morning. Myself and over 63,000 other people ran or walked in the 5K event. These races are held in cities throughout the US; but Denver's is the largest. I was able to meet up with a co-worker, Kassie, and run some of the race with her. I'm also happy to say that I think I've gotten closer to being in the shape I was in a couple of years ago. I really could notice it on this race. The fact that I did a 2.5 hour bike ride yesterday didn't effect me. I was still able to run the entire race at a decent pace.

Colorado Ballet

I went to see Sleeping Beauty performed by the Colorado ballet. It was held in the newly renovated opera house that just opened this month. I had never seen a ballet before; the costumes and sets were beautiful. I've never been in auditorium quite like this one either. The row we sat in was actually curved in a slight 's' shape. I'd be curious to hear the acoustics during an opera performance. Also, each seat has a tiny electronic screen in front of it that you can turn on/off yourself. It flashes up the name of each scene and a short description of what's happening. It would be very useful during a foreign opera.

We got discounted tickets to the ballet at the last minute, so we had a quick meal at the nearby Sam's No. 3 diner that first opened in Denver in the 1920's.

High Line Canal Trail

I went for a bike ride today on the High Line Canal Trail. The trail runs completely through Denver, towards the mountains and is over 50 miles long. An entrance to the trail is only 1.5 miles from my apartment. It's a beautiful trail for running or biking, even horseback riding. There's a wildlife refuge area. You never know what animals you may see. Last weekend there was a snake on the trail. Today I biked past a house that had roosters crowing. I was running on the trail last weekend, and a girl on a horse was down on a dirt trail in a meadow that overlooks the mountains; I just thought to myself that it was incredible that 20 minutes from downtown Denver you can have such wide open spaces with scenic views and horses! I think it's the coolest thing that I can hop on my bike at my apartment or just walk out the door and go for a ride or run through such a beautiful place. That's what I imagined living in Colorado to be, and I haven't been disappointed.

Santana at Red Rocks

I went to the last concert of the 2005 season at Red Rocks with my co-worker, Raj. I can see why the season ends about this time of year. It was a little chilly - around the low 50's. Despite the cold, it was a great concert.

That's Crazy!

I ran in the Colorado Outward Bound Relay this weekend. What is it? A 24-hour 170-mile team relay race through the mountains. When I used to run the Atlanta Thanksgiving Day 1/2 marathon and get up before dawn in freezing temperatures my dad would say, "that's crazy". So when he dropped me off at the start line one year and could see the hundreds of other people out there doing the same thing, I asked what he thought and his response was "they're all crazy." Well this is a race even I was thinking might be a little crazy. But as it turns out, there's a reason why I chose to participate and hundreds of others did also...it's a challenge, something different and most of all - fun. The race started in Idaho Springs; our team was in the last start wave leaving at 9am. My first leg was a short one - only 3.3 miles. If the leg is along the road, the team can follow with the vans, cheer you on and offer water. Here's our team stopped for Susan's leg. As you can see on the sign taped to the car, our team name was "The Procrastinators". I was a little nervous about my 6.4 mile leg at night. I had heard stories about routes being poorly marked and runners getting lost in years past. It had also been awhile since I had run in freezing temperatures. It, however, ended up being my favorite leg of the race. I ran on a bike path through Vail along a river. The moonlight was reflecting in the water; it was an awesome sight. The bike path suddenly ended at some tennis courts. About 5 of us were looking around trying to figure out where to go. At this point I paired up with one guy and thought we'd find it together. I ran the last couple of miles with him and we ended up discussing the crazy theory. It was quite a fitting topic since we were two people with lights strapped to our heads running along a path at 2am getting excited when we saw the next glo stick on the ground. He was 50-years old and on a team with his 17 and 19 year old kids. Perhaps I wasn't running hard enough since I could manage to exchange a couple of words with him, but running with somebody kept me going.
My last leg was 4.6 miles along the river heading towards the finish in Glenwood Springs. Here is a picture of the rest area where it began. The entire leg was along a bike path by the river underneath the highway. By this point I was pretty tired both physically from running and being awake for nearly 24 hours. I had managed to get about an hour or two of sleep around 4am. Our team ended up finishing 5th place in the mixed team category. I would definitely do this race again!

Happy Birthday!

Mom,
Have a very Happy Birthday!

DMB at Red Rocks

I finally got to see a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. When I came out to Denver in July of 2004, we had visited the Rocks. I remember Aunt Joan telling me she had seen a John Mayer concert there. I put seeing a concert at Red Rocks on my list of things to do when I moved here. I was excited that my first concert could be Dave Matthews Band. It was the end of his tour. Originally he was only doing 3 shows, but he added a fourth one on Monday with all profits going to charities supporting victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Sports

I went to Governor's Park to meet up with GT alumni to watch the Tech game on Saturday. Tech beat North Carolina, 27-21. There were only 6 other alumni there. Supposedly the turnout is usually better. I'll probably try to go to another game; it's a good place to watch sports.

That evening Raj invited me to the Rockies baseball game. A friend of a friend works for Coors, so we got to sit in the Coors suite. It was very nice; although I chose to sit outside versus inside the suite, otherwise it just doesn't quite feel like you're at the game. Being able to order food and ice-cream is also a nice perk.

Lyle Lovett at Copper Mountain

I went to a festival at Copper Mountain with Ellen and Joan. Lyle Lovett was one of the headline acts for the weekend. It was a great concert. He has a huge 11 piece band and other vocals. Lyle has a very broad range of musical style...a little country, big band, and gospel.

Race for Research 5K

Another 5K closer to the Colorado Outbound Relay in September. The Race for Research was held in Washington Park. My time got a little faster, 30:40, averaging a 9:54 mile.

Chatfield Park - Kayaking

Raj and I went kayaking at Chatfield State Park.

The Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival was this weekend also, but we got there after the balloon launch in the morning. I had never been kayaking before. It was definitely a good arms workout. Also, notice how safe we were - wearing life vests! I just think it's cool that you can strap these things to your roof, drive 20 minuts and kayak.

Red Square Euro Bistro

Megan and I met for dinner at the Red Square Euro Bistro in downtown Denver in Writer's Square. It definitely has a few things on the menu that sound Russian or at least Eastern European. They also have an entire menu just for Vodka. Megan and I tried one of their Red Square Infusions - basically, it's flavored vodka. We had the strawberry. It sort of tasted a little like cough syrup. I've never had lamb before, so I tried it for my entree. It was good but not my favorite. If I had a choice between lamb and steak; I'd choose the steak.

Rockies Game

Megan invited me to a Rockies Game with her husband and brother-in-law. The Rockies played the Cubs. It's the most full we've ever seen the stadium. Because Stephen works for Anheuser, I found out where the only stand that sells Budweiser in the stadium was (afterall, it is Coors Field). The Rockies won 4-2; they even had a home run! Click on the picture for a larger version.

Jeff's Wedding

Here's a pic of the family at my cousin Jeff's Wedding in Albany, NY.

After the wedding I drove back to NYC with Suzanne. We went to dinner with Jennifer and Tamara who happened to be in town. Ryan joined us later. Sunil and Mario happened to be in town that weekend and their flight out of LGA was
cancelled due to weather so we all met up at a local bar.

Evergreen Town Race 5K

I ran the Evergreen Town Race with some co-workers (l-r: Kassie, Leigh, me). It was an easy course, downhill most of the way. It was Leigh's first 5k and she did awesome. I was hoping to get under 30 min; I was close with a time of 31:16 (10:05 average mi).

Leigh's Birthday

My co-worker Leigh celebrated her 29th birthday with dinner at the Bull & Bush Pub and Brewery near Cherry Creek mall. I tried their Hail Brau Hefeweizen; the menu said it had won at the state fair. I didn't know they still had state fairs...
Bull & Bush is modeled after the London original dating back to 1645. The Denver pub was opened in 1971. I think their logo is pretty funny.

The Wedding Crashers

I went to see the movie "The Wedding Crashers" starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken and Rachel McAdams. The previews give you a good idea of the type of humor to expect. I thought it was very funny. Vince Vaughn's character reminded me a little of his role in Swingers.

Jeremy (Vince Vaughn): Okay, what's our back story?
John (Owen Wilson): We're brothers from New Hampshire. We're venture capitalists.
Jeremy: I'm sick of that. Let's be from Vermont. And let's have an emerging maple syrup conglomerate.
John: Wait, that's stupid. We don't know anything about maple syrup.
Jeremy: I happen to know everything there is to know about maple syrup! I love maple syrup. I love maple syrup on pancakes. I love it on pizza. And I take maple syrup and put a little bit in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up, slick?