Nixon in China

Megan and I met up at Alto for another opera short event. This opera was "Nixon in China". The assistant director explained a little about the opera after the mini-performance. It is in a minimalist style, definitely different then anything I've heard before.

Post-Graduation Trip

After graduation, I flew back to Atlanta and then drove with Eileen to Charlotte.

I had an interesting flight to Atlanta. The flight attendents were serving the drinks when several passengers noticed a burning smell. They put the cart away then started asking if the floor felt hot under anyones' feet. They also opened all the overhead bins and starting feeling the bags. They wanted to know if anyone had brought a curling iron or butane on board... Yeah, so we diverted to Kansas City. I spent the next 4 hrs there until they discovered the short circuit in the coffee hot plate.

In Charlotte, I met Shawn's parents. We went out on the lake in Shawn's parent's boat. I had not been wakeboarding since 2000. It took me 4 times to be able to get up on it. Apparently it's not like riding a bike and it does not come right back to you. See Eileen's blog - she captured a video on her new camera. I also tried kneeboarding which was a little easier.

It's Official - Graduation

Today I graduated from the MBA in Health Administration program at CU Denver. I attended a dinner and awards banquet for the program. I was surprised to receive the Director's Award. Our program director said something to the effect that it goes to a student with a high GPA. I had no idea how my grades compared to my peers - thus the surprise. I was even more surprised when I got home and realized there was an envelope taped to the back of the plague, and the award included a monetary gift.


My aunts Ellen and Joan attended the event with me. We celebrated by opening some champagne at Joan's house. They also gave me some gorgeous earrings by the jewelry designer John Atencio.

Almost to graduation

Colorado GT Alumni Spring Meeting

Tonight I attended the Colorado GT Club spring meeting. The speaker was Robert Cohen who founded the Metro Denver Sports Commission. The commission bids on different sports events to be held in Denver. The committee is also aiming to get the 2018 winter games. He's a clever guy and got the SportAccord 2009 conference to be held in Denver; it's an international sports convention that members of the International Olympic Committee attend. There is a rule when bidding on the Olympics you cannot have members of the committee visit the city up to a certain time. So getting the conference in Denver was a smart way to get the IOC members to see Denver. Now other Olympic bid cities are trying to get the next conference in their cities. They always have very interesting speakers at the GT alum events. Plus, since I was the youngest alum there - I won a door prize.

The View is Changing

The pretty view I have enjoyed from my porch for the past couple of years is nearly gone. They have been building a new apartment complex for the past year. They poured the concrete for the final building today. Too bad they didn't use the plot of land for a park instead.

The Real "Winning" Egg

Michelle's Winning Egg '07 (left). Eileen's egg '08 (right).

In the last several years Eileen has liked to challenge me in a little Easter egg decorating contest. Unfortunately for her...it is no contest. This year she was going to win by my forfeit because I did not believe I would be partaking in any decorating. Eileen boldly sent me an picture of the susposed "winning egg", pictured here, which she calls "Easter Egg Hunt Among the Gardens in March" (which does remind me a little of my egg from last year...)

However, in an unexpected twist - there is no forfeit...may I present 2 eggs for the this year's title.
Egg #1 titled "Bunny" and Egg #2 titled "There are so many colors on that egg how did she do it?"

The answer to the number of colors on the second egg is that in a hurry Joan grabbed a different kind of decorating kit - you put the egg in a tiny plastic bag and put a couple of drops of color in then swosh it around till it looks like tie-die. Our eggs didn't quite turn out like the pictures on the package, but this was one of the best. I still think my egg from last year beats them all. Here are all of Joan's, Ellen's and my eggs for this year. Happy Easter!

Copper Mountain and Frisco

Uncle Fred and Aunt Vicki took their annual trip to Copper Mountain. My aunt Ellen and I joined them for a few days. At Copper I snowboarded on Friday and Saturday; unbelievably it was the first time I had been up this season. I was curious how bad I might have been since it had been a year, but I hadn't forgotten anything and didn't fall down once. I still was wearing my volleyball kneepads though just in case. Joan drove up on Saturday and joined us for dinner at the Blue Spruce Inn.

On Sunday, we tried classic cross-country skiing at the Nordic Center in Frisco. I really enjoyed the cross-country skiing and would definitely do it again. The boots are comfortable compared to ski boots (they lace up and only come to your ankles). And the skis are smaller and light-weight compared to downhills skis. It's an excellent workout; you pretty much can follow the tracks (see the tracks in right-hand corner of the picture with Ellen and Vicki ahead of me). There is also something called 'skating' that looks like someone on rollerblades.You can also see the skating tracks on the main center part of the trail.

Vicki, Ellen and I then had lunch at the Butterhorn Bakery in Frisco.

Opera Shorts!

Megan and I went to an Opera Shorts event. It was put on by the Central City Opera. It's wine, appetizers, and bits from the operas that they are putting on this summer. It was a quick, fun event to fit in right before my law class.

Birthday

I went to my friend Mythili's daughter's 5th birthday. She also has a 3mo old. In this pic, I'm in the background, and Mythili's friend to her left is holding the baby.

Mythili's daughter, Ananya, is the one on the left smiling.

27 Dresses

Megan and I met for a quick dinner after my class and then saw 27 Dresses. It was a nice break in the middle of the week. It was an entertaining movie too.

Where are they now? (Vol 3)

Billy, who I've known since the 6th grade, is now married and - as of Friday - a daddy living in Hong Kong. He is a pilot for Cathay Pacific Airways. In my previous "Where are they now?" blogs I've included a picture from the past. For those of you who don't know Billy, you can at least be amused by the picture from 1989. My friend Mandy on the front row had very nice tight-rolled jeans as well as a New Kids on the Block t-shirt (I heard they were getting back together?!?). I am in there somewhere but have neglected to point myself out. I did however circle Billy. (click on pic for larger image)

Here are recent pics of Billy and his wife Megan as well as William Franklin the IV.

Eileen & Shawn's Quick Visit

Eileen and Shawn were on their way to Montana for a medical conference (aka ski trip) and the layover flight in Denver was overbooked. They volunteered to take the morning flight in exchange for free tickets. Megan, Stephen, Joan and I all went together with them to dinner at Tomayo.

Oceanaire Seafood Room

Megan and I tried a new restaurant in Denver called the Oceanaire Seafood Room. We first noticed it in November when we went to the opera. There are several of these restaurants around the country; the menu changes daily to match the fish they fly in each day.

Megan also noticed we had a Denver Nuggets player at the table next to ours; it was Marcus Camby.

Back to School

I returned to school yesterday for my last semester!
I'm taking the following classes:
Strategic Managment
Health Field Study (Project at The Children's Hospital)
Legal/Ethical Environment of Business
Global Health Studies: Comparative Health Systems

To give you an idea of the last one listed, we spent 10 minutes watching the first half of this video:

National Western Stock Show

My aunt Ellen had an inclination to go to the National Western Stock Show and myself, Joan and Dave joined her. I had been to a rodeo as a kid but that was a long time ago. It was interesting. I didn't like when they wrestled the calves down. One got injured, and they carried it out on a strectcher. We also saw part of an auction of the Maine-Anjou breed (see pic). Prior to the auction we walked through the staging area....you would have thought you were at a dog show. There was hairspray and air blowers...

catch phrase!

I flew to Atlanta on Dec. 27 before another big snowstorm in Denver. I spent the days relaxing at home. Eileen and Shawn introduced Suzanne and I to the game Catch Phrase. Suzanne and I teamed up and totally kicked butt! Suzane could guess the word with my very short clues.

Here were some good ones:

Clue: Not kidney, but _____.
Answer: Liver (Eileen didn't like my clue because she said kidney was not the opposite of liver. But this isn't a medical game).



Clue: Eileen used to throw a lot of these as a kid.
Answer: Temper Tantrum (Eileen didn't like this clue either but once again, Suzanne guessed it immediately. Hehe.)

Suzanne's clue for me: Michelle is afraid of these.
Answer: Clowns

Christmas

We got quite a bit of unexpected snow for Christmas in Denver. I had Christmas dinner with Joan and Ellen. Joan and I then worked off our dinner by shoveling the snow in the driveway - it was about 8 inches deep!

Christmas Eve

Joan, Ellen and I saw White Christmas at the Denver Center for Performing Arts on Christmas Eve. We then had dinner at Restaurant Kevin Taylor which is ranked "flawless" in my Gabby Gourmet Restaurant Guide. I had the four course tasting menu including Pumpkin and Mascarpone Ravioli, Chilled Main Lobster Salad, Kobe beef and Creme Brulee for dessert. It was excellent.

Where will I be in July 08?

And the answer is....

The Children's Hospital in Denver.




It surprised me in the end. I had this interview on Friday and absolutely loved it. It was what I was looking for all along.