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| June 18, 2006 We had Orlin, Bea and Honey over for Father's Day. Pete barbequed a pork shoulder on the grill, and I made pasta salad, fruit salad, and a peach pie. The nicest part was that we surprised my Dad with the bean-bag toss game we made for him, and we played the game all afternoon in our back yard. We had decorated the boards with the Colorado flag at the top, and mountains at the bottom. After a thunderstorm forced us to come inside, we had dinner and played pinochle. |
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| June 17, 2006 Pete and I attended a very nice wine-tasting party in Evergreen, hosted by Ron and Rebecca Nicks. I know Rebecca from the Girls' Dinner Club. She has quite a flair for entertaining. The dress code specified that everyone was to come dressed in an animal print or a flowered Hawaiian shirt. Safari hats and large flowers on barettes were provided for each guest to wear, as well as jungle-print name tags and wine glass identifiers. I tasted three wines from South Africa, and also ate a lot of delicious food. We mingled with the guests and also played a little pool. |
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June 11, 2006 We had such a good weekend. For the first time in three weeks, we were finally at home and project-less, so we were able to do our regular weekend chores and get the house clean, the lawn mown, the laundry done, the menus planned, and all those other things that make the work week proceed more smoothly. We drove to Ft. Collins on Saturday night for a very fun martini party at Ann Sellers's house (more pics here), and we played 500 with our card group on Sunday. Pete and I had the highest scoring round of the day during the round where we were partners. Pete won second high score for the whole day overall (which was pretty impressive for someone who had a few too many martinis the previous night). Linda L. won first place! (Conrgats!!) |
| June 8, 2006 We attended a concert by Eric Hansen, an amazingly talented singer, songwriter, and acoustic guitar-player. I first became a fan when I saw Eric perform at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in 2004. His voice is great, and his guitar work is so good, it's just mesmerizing to watch his fingers work their complex magic on the guitar. Tonight's concert was held at the Rock-N-Soul Cafe in Boulder. It was a small audience, and, in addition to his music, we really enjoyed the humorous stories he entertained us with in between the songs. To hear samples of his music, go to www.erichansen.net/emporium.htm. |
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June 2-4, 2006 We celebrated Dad's birthday, June 2nd, at the three-day Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar. On the first morning, he and the other June 2nd birthdays were brought onto the stage and a crowd of 2,800 people sang happy birthday to him. It's hard to summarize what we learned in three intense days into one paragraph, but I'll try. We learned money management techniques, examined our psychological attitudes towards money, and did a variety of exercises to replace non-supportive beliefs with "millionaire mind" attitudes. It involved hypnosis, singing, hugging about 100 people, high-fiving about 500 people, delving into childhood memories, and even breaking stuff! (Something for everyone.) I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in building and structuring their finances so they earn enough passive income to be able to quit their day job. (As a graduate, I was given some coupons to let some friends come for free -- let me know if interested.) Pete and I were so impressed that we have decided to save-up for some of the company's advanced seminars, and possibly re-attend this one. |
| May 29, 2006 Over Memorial Day Weekend, we stained the deck in our backyard. It was a 3-day project, requiring us to remove the old stain with a chemical stripper, scrub the wood with a brightening solution, and then apply new stain. This picture shows the newly-stained deck (but we hadn't yet removed the drop cloths, blue tape and protective plastic). Meanwhile, Casey took a mini-vacation to Grandma and Grandpa's in Arvada, where it was safer for him to be (and safer for the deck, too). We visited Arvada ourselves on Saturday night to see Nicky's relatives, Al, Anna and Karen Schneck, who were in town briefly. |
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| May 22, 2006 Pete and I started bicycling for the summer again today. Day 1 this year was much better than Day 1 last year. I made it three times as far before wanting a break. I do think the Pilates classes have helped improve my leg muscles. There is an especially difficult hill on one of our routes that last year I nick-named "The Hill I Hate". Last year, it took me a month of training before I could make it up that hill without stopping, even in lowest gear, and today I climbed it all the way to the top before stopping. My bicycling goals for this summer are: |
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Today, I rode 5.14 miles, averaging 9.0 mph. It took 34 minutes (not including stopping/resting time). Our bike paths are intersected by many streets, and we have to come to a complete stop, or at least slow way down, to wait for traffic. This unfortunately lowers our average mph. I will try to post cycling updates about once a month, and hopefully making it "public" will motivate me to improve my speed and endurance. Wish me luck! |
| May 20, 2006 Happy Birthday, and Farewell We visited Pete's relatives in Ft. Collins, Jay, Dorinda and Maren Bredbenner, to celebrate Maren's first birthday and to see the family one last time before they move to Virginia this summer. Maren (rhymes with "Karen") is an adorable one-year-old! Her hair is starting to get curly, and she had the cutest little blue and white dress. Including Maren, there were five babies there. I had forgotten how cute babies are! |
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 Interim Chancellor Gregory V. Stiegmann, MD, Commencement Marshal Linda deLeon, and CU President Hank Brown were kind enough to pose with me. For more pictures, click here. |
May 13, 2006 Major milestone accomplished: I have now finished my master's degree. For those of you who don't know, it is a Master of Science in Information Systems, from the University of Colorado (Downtown Denver Campus). Information Systems is a business degree, a hybrid between computer science and business administration. In addition to computer-related classes such as programming and database management, I took business-related classes such as accounting, management, and law. During my time at CU, I also participated in Phi Chi Theta, a national professional business fraternity, where I had the privilege of rubbing elbows with some of the brightest and best business students in the state, doing service projects, fundraisers, educational events, and social events. I served as an officer (Treasurer) during the 2003-2004 school year, and was honored to receive the Phi Chi Theta Educational Foundation Trustees' Scholarship in 2003.  Like any new graduate, I keep getting asked variations on the question, "So, are you excited to get a real job now?" So, I thought I would take this opportunity to remind everyone what I am doing these days... I am finishing writing my book on personal organization (it needed major edits based on my focus group's feedback), developing a web application to support and cross-market with my book, managing our real estate business, and working part-time as a contractor for Davio Media (my role is to help affiliates integrate their web sites with the Davio web site, update the database, and do a little targeted marketing to the music artists in our catalog). |
| April 22, 2006 Pete and I learned how to slice and dice like professional chefs today at a knife skills class we took at The Passionate Palette cooking school. See how pretty our vegetables look? |
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April 20, 2006 Ryan Gets Promotion! I was proud of my little brother before, when he was the director of the live morning news program at KJCT Television Station. Now, I'm extremely proud to learn that he has been promoted to the position of PRODUCER! Congratulations, Ryan!!! KJCT is the ABC affiliate located in Grand Junction, Colorado. This position (along with the other positions he's held there) should look great on his resume! |
| April 11, 2006 I got measured for my cap and gown today. Graduation is coming up on May 13th! |
| April 3, 2006 Tracey and I started Pilates classes again, at the Goodson Rec Center. Classes will be 90 minutes long, each Monday night. I am hoping it will firm me up, improve my posture, and give me stronger leg muscles for cycling up hills when Pete and I start riding our bikes next month. Maybe someday I'll be able to do the advanced exercise pictured here. (It might look easy, but seriously, try holding this pose for even 30 seconds!) |
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