Colorado in Pictures 3: Pike's Peak

Colorado in Pictures 2: Royal Gorge Bridge & Pueblo

Colorado in Pictures 1: Great Sand Dunes National Park

Due to a death in the family, please enjoy my retelling of our Colorado adventures in picture form, throughout the week.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Mr. Man guest posts!

I went to Subway today.  There was this guy there that I soon found annoying.  First, he was blocking the doorway when I was coming in.  Why can most people not figure out how to wrap the line around into the seating area, rather than just all huddling in the narrow doorway?  Secondly, he was wearing a polo shirt.  Not just any polo shirt, but one with a print fabric that combined a windblown American flag with the script of our Constitution.  Wow. 

Next he recognized a guy sitting with a sandwich.  They did the normal “how have you been” b.s. stuff.  Then the guy goes straight into “I’m leaving in a few weeks”.  The other guy asks, “were to?”  His fatal mistake.  “Disneyland with the family.”  Then a detailed recap and comparison of all of his trips to Disneyland over the past years, apparently 2 to 3 trips annually.  The summary included crowd volumes, average wait times, weather at the park, weather in Oregon at that time, their hotel amenities, special seasonal events at Disneyland, how much fun they had, what times to avoid going, how to get the best travel deals, and the proximity to natural disasters in southern California at their trips’ given times.  Meanwhile, his acquaintance didn’t ask one leading question, or actually say a single word (didn’t have a chance to).

After the other guy grabbed his kid and made an escape, he started whistling to a Nickelback song that was playing on the radio.  Btw, not the world’s best whistler, or sense of pitch.  “Take me now, Lord.”  I then thought, “this guy is going to order 3 or 4 sandwiches, right?”  I figured he was the guy in the office who others would always get to pick-up lunch by pooling their money to cover his food too.  Then they could all enjoy 30 or 40 minutes without him there.

I was wrong though.  He only ordered one sandwich.  However, he did make a call on his blue-douche while they were trying to ask him what type of sandwich he’d like, and which condiments and veggies he preferred.  When it came time to pay, the guy handed the cashier a five, as he was saying $5.25.  As he dug in his pocket, I got a quarter on standby to get the guy settled up.  Finally he pulled out another bill.  Gosh.  How to you not know how much your sandwich will be?  The menu is a collage of giant posters on the wall you face.  He took his to-go sandwich, and got the f- out!

COLORADO!!

come on fall, hit me with your best shot

I went on a spree at Old Navy... Check it!

Cord Shirt Dress

Basic Leggings

Double Buckle Boots -- Soooooooo Cute!

Boot Socks

Buckled Tote -- 40% off Clearance price... $5!!!

Cable Knit Tunic -- In Store Clearance Price $15!!

All this stuff was on SUPER SALE in the store, because its their 16th Anniversary. I highly recommend you hit Old Navy sometime this week!!

I'm soooooooooooo ready for fall!

wordless wednesday

weheartit

i'm so mother f**ing proud of you c**k suckers.

In honor of my
       onset-vegetarianism
                       -pro alcoholism stance for the month...
I give you my favorite beer commercials of all time. :)

vegetarius maximus

Oh Lord. Its finally happened.

I've gone vegetarian.

For a month.

Stop! Stop!! Don't run away! WAIT!! Here me out!

I'm not a "Meat is Murder" kinda gal. (Although I do think some of the U.S. meat industry's standards are extremely sub-par and unhealthy) When you get to the point that your "fat pants" are now too tight, its really time to do something. A few months ago I was on a exercising kick, which I fell off that wagon with an earth shattering THUMP! So I need to take some drastic measures and get my life on the right track. This includes eating better and smarter. Here's where the vegetarianism comes in...

Everyone always says to stop drinking to lose weight. Now I don't generally drink a lot but I do really loves my beers. I'm a beer afficionado, and I just love beer. Not the Natural Light, Coors, or Budweiser kind, but the craft brew ultra delicious kinds. Can't get enough of 'em. Soooooooo... I've decided to keep my beers, and cut out meat. Mostly red meat, but I'm going to try for all meat except for fish for one month. Hamburgers are the real culprits. Those and chicken wings (soooooo good) so I'm going to give it a whirl. Don't worry, I'm not going to become a tofu/garden burger junkie (no offense to those of you who are *winks*) cause that's just not my style.

I've been doing good so far, almost been one week. What's really funny is, I haven't even had any beer this whole time either, hahhahaa! Double whamey! I'm also doing pretty good with my workouts. Haven't missed any yet, and am trying really hard to stay active even when not working out. Less couch time for me!! I mean seriously, I've been unemployed for about a year now, and have put on about 15 pounds. This is not a coincidence. For serious.

All of these things, on top of the fact that my mom was recently in the hospital for Congestive Heart Failure. Yeah, for serious. She goes on her "Vacation of a Lifetime!" trip to Greece for 3.5 weeks and one week in, she is hospitalized. So not only is she in the hospital for heart problems (scary enough) but she's in the hospital in ATHENS GREECE! So I can't go visit her, she's 10 hours ahead and its virtually impossible to get a hold of her.

She's doing much better now, is home and looks good. There's no damage to her heart muscles, arteries or veins and is on heart medication now. Mom was in relatively good shape and has never had any heart troubles before, so you can see how this was a little unnerving.

So the point of this story is, its time for me to start taking better care of myself! Exercising and eating better. GO ME! I'm hoping I can shed some of this "unhealthy belly fat" and get into a little better shape so that if I need to go for a hike or a bike ride, I won't be passing out after the first half mile. Plus I'm getting old enough that when I get out of bed in the morning I have to hobble myself to the bathroom because my joints are all stiff and seized up. How fun it is to get old!!

Wish me luck! And thanks to everyone for the well wishes for my mom (here, and in person).

brain puddy

I seriously think facebook has ruined me for blogging.

I have been having a really hard time writing blogs recently. I'll hit the "New Post" button, and stare at a blank screen for 20 minutes, and then log off. WTF? I can usually think of 93,495 things through out the day to post, but can't even seem to verbalize them when I get here. I've also been really really bad about reading my bloggy pal's posts. Its nothing personal mind you, but I've just not been feeling it. I'll get about 2 sentences in and click away. WTF! Is that weird? Today I think I figured out why.

Stupid facebook lets me read statuses, articles and whatever in about 3 seconds, all in one single page. I can comment and move on the the next post with ease. Am I getting too lazy for blogging? Please God say it ain't so.

I'm going to try to be more diligent about my blog reading. My friends deserve better than that! :) I think that the lack of stimulation in my life is causing my brain to go soft. Not working has made me so unbelievably brain dead its scaring me. SOOOOoooo

Less internet time! NO WAIT! This is a good thing! Usually I watch movies or TV with my laptop on my lap the whole time. I spend way too much time dicking around on the internet that I really don't need to. So now, its quality internet time only. Like quality family time, but with my blog friends! Hahaa! I'm also going to try to read more books, and IF I'm still unemployed this winter I'm going to take some classes at the local community college to raise up my GPA in case someday I ever decide to go to grad school. At this point my GPA is a little low... so a little help wouldn't hurt. Right?!

I guess the changing seasons are making me rethink a lot of my life decisions thus far. Its fall, so time to turn over a new leaf!

dear high school self

Dear High School Self,

Life is tough, and I have some words of advice for you.

You will lose friends. But you will gain friends. It is not the end of the world. Stay true to yourself, stand up for yourself and don't fret when someone chooses to no longer be your friend.

Stop eating pizza pockets for lunch! Its bad for you, and one day, your metabolism will catch up with you!

Don't go to community college. You got accepted into Oregon State. GO THERE! Just because your BFF didn't get in, doesn't mean you can't go to different schools. You will waste 5 years of your life, and miss out on many awesome experiences by not going there. You're gonna end up there anyway, just save yourself some time and money.

Be nicer to your mom. She's actually really smart, and knows what she's talking about. She gives good advice and really knows how to listen and make you feel better, if you let her. Once you get older, you won't know what you'll do without her.

Don't steal your cousin's car. She will find out. And you're lucky you didn't get into bigger trouble for that, you big dumby.

Please wear sunscreen and don’t tan. It really does cause wrinkles.

Please for the love of God, stop perming your hair. Its straight, deal with it. Also, giant hair-sprayed bangs don't look good, Sun-In is not good for your hair, and don't use baby oil on your skin in the sun.

Don't date DH, SC or CB. Trust me. You'll never fully recover your trust or innocence and will have many self-esteem issues for years after.

It is not the end of the world that you did not make the basketball team. You should however, play on the soccer team. Not only are those girls really nice (hindsight is always 20/20) but you'll be in great shape and learn valuable skills that may actually pay off in the future.

Pay attention in English lit. You do need vocabulary and grammar. However, you were right - you DO NOT NEED Geometry. Ever.

More than anything - love life!!

Signed,

flashback friday: the hell train to prague

Lovely green fields sprinkled with glowers. Wild flowers in fact, of white and lavender. Then we enter the woods, tall green trees with grass and small shrubs scattering the floor. A lot like Oregon in fact. We are traveling awfully slow. I wonder why... This train seems to be dallying, letting me enjoy the views and landscapes of the Czech Republic.

This picturesque train ride is a bit lovelier than our Hell Train to Prague. Boarding in Würzburg, originating in Frankfurt, we boarded at 1 am or so. We enter and find every seat and compartment is filled. Maybe we should have made seating reservations? Oh well, too late now. So, not only are the seats filled, oh no, they are filled with drunken German football players. A whole team perhaps. Drunk, loud, smoking, singing and running from compartment to compartment, car to car. The five of us scurry on and try to find some seats. Any seats. The closest we find is some floor space outside the WC at the end of the car.

Scotty in the stairwell, Ester, myself and Walt, blocking the door to the bathroom. They plan was to sleep on this train, arriving in Prague around 830. We soon realize this plan will be unsuccessful at best. Jeanine and Scotty are sitting in the stairwells opposite each other. Every time the drunkards blow through the doors, they are slammed into Jeanine and Scott's backs. This I do not envy. However our seats on the floor are less than grand, with our boney behinds drilling into the floor, and our backs aching from leaning on the wall. Our backpacks make horrible pillows, but we try to make do.

Ester and Walt and I are all leaning on each other, attempting to leave a path for the drunks to move from car to car. Not that this matter much because they trip over us no matter what. They also try to talk to us, offer us beer, and spill beer on us, even though we are so obviously trying to sleep. They also want to use the restroom behind us, but there is no way in hell we are getting up every 30 seconds. We joke that we need a black marker and tape to put up an out of order sign up. A good idea, except for the fact that none of us actually know how to say "out of order" in Deutsch. Luckily there is a bathroom in the next car that we refer them to. One trip to that bathroom I en counted a man urinating in the stairwell. I guess he couldn't wait; when you gotta go, you gotta go. I however opt to wait, although the situation in that WC is a whole other story.

So we attempt to sleep. I think I may have gotten 20 minutes. Maybe. Walt and I decide to go look for seats. At the other end of the car we find 11 other Americans standing in the same place we are sitting. I realize there are no seats and am thankful that at least we an sit. Poor Jeanine keeps getting jammed in her back by that damn door. And every time it opens we are hit by the stench of smoke, beer and urine like a punch in the fact. So, at around 315 we arrive in Nüremberg. Passengers attempt to board, and turn around and get off. Full house, sorry guys. So we wait. and wait. and wait.

kill meeeeeeeee

Still sitting in Nüremberg a guy makes something like four phone calls to Lord knows who, laughing and yelling at the top of his lungs. No sleeping for us. The dude then attempts to open a beer and sprays half of it all over the floor and the other half on Jeanine. What a douche. Then we sit there for like another 30 minutes, for only Lord knows why. Finally we get moving. Jeanine and Walt talk, Ester and Scotty sleep and I attempt to rest. I am in a interesting state; definitely not asleep, but not really awake either. 4:10 the doors fly open. Passport check. We must be close to the border now. Some German guy runs by, yelling sheisse! Sheisse! SHEISSE!!! (shit!), and something about his passport being in another car.

Then somewhere in the Czech Republic people start gathering their stuff. Some guy drops his bag on me and wakes me up. There are 5 or 6 guys getting off at the next stop. Its only 430 so we definitely aren't in Prague yet. I stand up to make some room. We then realize that these guys WERE sitting and have left empty seats somewhere. I wake up Walt to ask them where. I picked up my bags and told Walt and Jeanine to go for it. What happened next was the funniest thing I've seen. I leaned over Ester and Scott and yelled, "SEATS! SEATS! GET UP GET UP! WE'VE GOT SEATS!" They literally sprang up from the floor, bags in hand without missing a beat. We weren't sure if the rooms really were vacant, but at this point we didn't care.

We piled into that tiny compartment, threw our bags up, slammed the door shut and shut the curtains. They couldn't kick us out even if they had wanted to. After this point we had a more or less uneventful ride into Prague. Arriving on time at 830, with more or less three hours of crappy sleep, we deboarded and tried to freshen ourselves up in the Prague train station restroom. Having the hell train behind us, we exited the station determined to have a glorious time in Prague, in order to make the hell train ride worth it.

The Hell Train? Totally worth it!

July, 2006