Crazy Lawsuit Game

So let's pretend we're in the South, probably the Deep South, say SC or AL. There is a winter storm warning predicting snow from Tues. night through Wed. evening, 6 to 12 inches. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria! No bread, milk or water to be found in a 50 mile radius. Schools, businesses, everything closes.

Now let's pretend this is in Denver. No one cares. People ask the newbies if they're ready. Newbies inquire if they ever cancel school or close anything. Nope, only if there is 4 feet of snow in a day or something.

So yep, that's what is on the horizon for tonight. I'm not super worried. Trains don't slip and slide in the snow too much and I have warm clothing. We'll see how many students show up; some were already working on their Thursday "too much snow, live too far away" excuses.

I'm going to consider this our first "real" snowfall. There have been 2 already but both melted within hours or never really stuck much to begin with. The snow falling is really pretty though and it means the slopes are getting better and better.

No skis yet. No snow tires yet. No snow shoes yet. But hopefully soon. If someone would give J a job those things could be purchased MUCH sooner. Please? Anyone?

Labels: Denver, job search, snow

Oh yeah, it goes towards exploring Denver by bike and car, grading, getting lesson plans together, cooking and cleaning.

So Denver is very cool. Kinda screwball weather though. For example it was in the high 50s, low 60s on Saturday. Then it snowed on Sunday. The high today is in the 50s again and yes it's snowing on Wednesday. Crazy.

I went to Veloswap, which is a massive bike expo and swap meet, on Saturday. Tickets were $6 beforehand or $8 at the door. What really caught me off guard was the 7 freakin' dollars for parking!?!?! This was nowhere NEAR downtown or any sporting event. Paid more for parking than my ticket, blerg. So next year I think I'll park a tad further away and then walk or bike to the place, which was the National Western Complex. Subaru is the title sponsor and they have some other vendors and what-not but it's mainly a place for bike shops and people to get together and sell some bike stuff. There were also a few tents, packs and clothes, which seemed a little weird. I picked up a more street oriented tire, new seat (saddle), some pedals, a headlight and some nice ergo grips for a grand total of $39, which brought my daily total to $52 with ticket and parking. It's a great place to find some cheap used items, cheap new items and some discounted bikes. I saw complete bikes ranging from $50 to $3000.

My absolute favorite of the day was Panda Bicycles out of Fort Collins, CO. We're growing bikes is their slogan and they are. Bamboo bikes. $1250. Done. Gorgeous bamboo with a 2-part epoxy slipped into metal joints. Really pretty and if I'm spending that much on a bike, it might as well be out of bamboo. I've heard they ride really well to boot.

How cool is that!

So yes I've been bad about maintaing this blog. Still haven't updated it or done a "Best of" series like I've been promising for ages. But I'm still here! I'm still blogging! And I'm out of grad school! And I'm a reluctant teacher who actually cares and wants to get better!

So we'll see what direction the blog takes. Obviously it'll still be in my voice, still about hiking, biking, the outdoors, the environment, cars, Focus, Tercel, J, Leon and Foxy, with the new added twist of being in Denver.

Upcoming posts:
Denver restaurants
Denver neighborhoods
F1 watching in Denver (I'd like to start a group if possible, so please email me if you're interested, my email address should be over there on the left)
Still not having cable but watching TV and sports
Bicycle commuting in Denver

Labels: bicycle, Denver, environment, Subaru

Luckily those are things that have never come out of my mouth in any of my classes. I did medium yell at some whiners who were complaining about an ambiguous question on a quiz. Of course I caved and just wanted them out.

This isn't becoming a "teaching" blog, but since that's how I'm paying the bills now, it'll probably pop up every once in a while.

Upcoming post preview:
Denver restaurants
Denver parks
Ford Foci (Focuses)

The Denver Public Libraries are AMAZING! Check out whatever you want, and return at any branch. We picked up 5 DVDs today and paid nothing! Ah. Also Blockbuster does 1 day rentals of non-new releases for $1. Great for burning through TV shows if a certain significant other is addicted to say, Desperate Housewives. I wouldn't watch it on TV, but on DVD it doesn't make me want to kill myself. The dark twists keep me mildly interested. And Marc Cherry did a cameo on Arrested Development, so he gets my professional support, and Blockbuster support.

We Netflixed Order of Myths by Margaret Brown and watched it last night. It's about Mardi Gras in New Orleans and how race is related to it. Very interesting insider look into Mardi Gras and race relations in Mobile, Alabama. Not many people know the first Mardi Gras took place in Mobile, 15 years before New Orleans (or Nawlins) was a city. Great history of Alabama, Mobile, race relations and Mardi Gras. I highly recommend it. Also another little known fact, the last slave boat to come to America sailed into Mobile, after the slave trade was abolished.

Labels: Denver, movie, preview, restaurant reviews

Wow, so far we abso-freakin'-lutely LOVE Denver! What a neat place, and we haven't even seen most of it. J and I found an awesome place that is near the light rail, so I can commute to work downtown easily and it's near a really cool street with coffee shops, restaurants, pet supply store and even a garage/auto repair shop!

I'm still wrestling with corrections and revisions. The current snafu is converting from old Word (no online pdf converting service recognizes Word '07) into a pdf file. The text moves around a bit, which moves figures and captions. Of course the free online converter (courtesy of the National Institute of Health and the National Library of Medicine) is slow and takes about 15 minutes to convert my massive 234 page document into a pdf file. Then I review the pdf, try and predict what changes are needed, predict how to make those changes in Word so they look right in the pdf, convert, wait 15 minutes and do it over again. And of course we're in Mountain time now, so it's early afternoon back in SC and Clemson shuts down at 4:30. Ugh. I don't think they'll take away my degree for this, but I'd rather not tempt fate.

Upcoming post preview:
Template change?
Previous post highlights?
Driving 1800 miles in a Penske truck full of stuff, towing a '92 Tercel, being followed by a '04 Focus with 1 wife driving and 2 cats periodically sleeping and howling
Getting to know Denver

Labels: big moments, cats, Denver, moving, road trip, South Carolina, writing

Just got done reading this gem of an article from the NYTimes about how the unemployment rate is 9.5%, the worst in 23 years, and the fact that this is the economy in which I'm looking for a job. We're planning on moving to Denver, which I just calculated will cost about $2300, but we'll have all our stuff and enough money saved up to live for 2 to 3 months. CO has a stronger economy right now, especially compared to circling the drain SC with a top 3 unemployment rate in the nation, and it just seems like a really cool place to live. Southwest flies out of there, so I have a cheap way to get to B'ham if a family emergency comes up, or want to see my folks this fall. Plus J and I want to get out of SC and the South and experience a real winter.

So far our plan tentative plan is to load up the U-haul and head towards St. Louis, where PoP has graciously offered a place to stay (I think and I hope the offer still stands!) on Sat. night, then after lunch or so, head to Omaha and see J's sister and newly moved Mom, then probably Monday or Tuesday, head to Denver with 2 chemists, 2 cats and a small houseful of furniture.

Of course all this hinges on my defending my dissertation successfully on July 20th, and getting it formatted, reviewed, and printed at least a week before that and then the same process after, then we'll move. Yikes. Send any positive thoughts you can spare my way. The small upside is that I'm mostly done with my writing, so I actually have a bit of free time so I can physically exert this stress away!

Labels: moving, writing

I'm tired of writing and being tired. This too shall pass.

Labels: writing

4 out of 8 chapters are written and need to be reviewed.

We're at Beef 'O' Brady's, which is a wi-fi hotspot for free!, in Clemson and I'm surrounded by TVs. J is at the bar for a better view and I'm in a booth working, and honestly I'm ashamed to move because I'm working on J's pink Dell laptop. There I said it. It's yet another personal motivator. Plus I want her to be able to be the primary user instead of me.

The job search has been unfruitful so far. It will kicked in to hyper-drive once writing is done though.

Congrats to Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel on 2nd and 3rd for Team Red Bull in Istanbul, Turkey this morning. Nicely done! Huge congrats to Jenson Button and Brawn GP on their 6th win out of 7 races!

Labels: F1, J, Red Bull