¡El otoño está aquí!

Yea! I get to have the man turn off my sprinklers today! This is a truly special day every year, in that it marks the last weekend in which I have to do yard work. It may also indicate the approaching winter, which I am also happy for, as the sooner we get to December 31st, the sooner I am one more semester away from being let go of the prison which is grad school.

¡Feliz otoño!

Big Sis gets High!

I guess I just couldn't help the sensational headline. This past Labor Day my sister came out to visit me and my wife in Denver! Thanks to the good people at United Airlines for overbooking my flight, I was able to bring her out for virtually nothing to spend the weekend with us. Gotta love the "compensation" airlines give you. If you are flexible, you can make out like a bandit. Anyway, had a great time with her, though the time was limited. We spent that Saturday just "seeing Denver" - fortunately the Dems had left town the day before and the roads were reopened for us. First we headed out to that mecca of a concert arena that is Red Rocks to finally "tour" the place properly. Then we headed down town, making the obligatory stop in the Democratic Party's souvenir shop, making donations in return for buttons. Go Obama! He's not an old white guy.

Luckily, we happened upon the "Taste of Colorado" fair that was taking place in down town. The gated off streets made for easy traversing of the square and really gave us something to do! We didn't "taste" anything, because that requires tickets, which are easily procured but frustratingly spent. A "taste" is something like one or two tickets (note that the exchange rate is something along the lines of the Belgian Frank - $5 USD = 13 tickets) but the lines are so long that by the time you get to the front, you are hungry as all get out, and you don't just want a taste...you want to EAT! Sooo...instead we traipsed around town until we were tired and headed home.

After a day that couldn't be beat, we headed home and delighted in sharing a little piece of what we do whenever the wind isn't blowing and it is nice outside. This most venerated pastime involves three chairs, a deck, a fire pit, several beverages and a beautiful sunset over the Rockies.

We had a great time and I can't wait to do the same thing in her neck of the woods.

The Best Radio You've Never Heard

Ok - big shout out to my friend Shannon for this link to an amazing poscast/music blog called "The Best Radio You've Never Heard". Check it out.

80 minute long free music compilations which feature intriguingly mixed rock and rock-based music from a variety of artists that in other contexts might be considered incompatible. Genres, rhythms, moods and artists are seamlessly blended together to produce listening experiences you can only dream about finding in traditional radio. BRYHNH includes favorites and new discoveries from both familiar artists and those you wish you'd heard before, downloaded twice monthly to your computer or iPod. Ranked #7 in The Digital Podcast Top 100 Podcasts for 2005 and # 3 Classic Rock Podcast for 2007 by about.com
Compiled and Mixed/Edited by Perry Bax/Chicago/USA. The Best Radio You Have Never Heard Podcast might just be your ticket to radio paradise!

Only here can you find a host who gets out of the way of the music, posting high quality (no high end hiss on this podcast) music in hour long show format that really is stuff you've never heard before. And before I hear from you that this music is all weird stuff that noone wants to hear anyway, I urge you to check it out. Only here can you find Tesla doing a cover of the Stones' "Mother's Little Helper", or Tori Amos playing "Smells Like Teen Spirit". But its not all interesting covers - as I type this, "How Soon is Now" by The Smiths just came on. Gotta love it.

The good news is that this guy is up to 89 volumes, so by the time that the RIAA stops him for some unknown reason, we'll all have about 100 hrs of interesting mixes on our ipods - just remember to change that setting to "keep all episodes" as this may not be around forever.

Honeymoon Book

Check it out here. (Beware, it may take a long time to download)

Weird

So I am sitting here on a Sunday afternoon, weeding through my pictures (somehow during the Mac adoption process, we ended up with many duplicates in our iPhoto book with no good way to remove them, save for looking at every photo one by one...but I digress), and I came upon the most surreal picture of my dog.

This was taken by my wife at the Conifair - a nice little community fair in Conifer, CO *get it?.

She seemed cool with these rabbit dog things petting her - still kinda weird though.

Honeymoon Pictures...at Last!

Hello family and loyal readers! Elizabeth and I are back from our Island getaway and are finally getting around to getting these photos out on the web.

Given the number of photos we took, and the storage on blogger, I've opted to post all of them to albums on Facebook. Below are links to each of the increasingly misnamed albums from our Honeymoon:

Album 1 of 2, Album 2 of 2, Album 3 of 2

Check them out and feel free to make comments!

Beer of the Month

One of Elizabeth's coworkers is massively perceptive. She figured that two kids of German ancestry would enjoy a subscription to the Beer of the Month club as a wedding gift! So, as a service, I have decided that the least I can do is advertise these under-appreciated microbrews in a short post when I enjoy one of the craft brews that arrives at my doorstep.

First up is a mixed six-pack from Hook & Ladder Brewing Company. The first bottle I pull out is "Backdraft Brown". Now before I go on, I understand that this is ripe for areas of abuse "backwash brown" if I don't like it, et cetera. I will keep this to a minimum.



Backdraft Brown is described as "smooth, refreshing and loaded with flavor." "Specialty malts balanced with just the right amount of cascade hops give it a roasted taste and beautiful brown color."

At initial pour, I am surprised at the body it has - so many of these microbrews are thin when bottled, letting the drinker pound one into the back-end of a glass with no ill effects. As you can see, I inadvertently ended up with quite a head!

As for taste, the label does not misdirect. The taste is full but smooth, with a mellow roasted taste that doesn't leave a bitter aftertaste behind to nag you into eating something to clear your palette.

This reviewer gives it two beer bottles up!

I am wed.

Howdy loyal readers. Many of you may know that I have been engaged for over a year now. Well I am happy to say that the process is now complete! Elizabeth and I were wed on the 26th of April in an awesome outdoor wedding at the Muckenthaler Mansion in Fullerton, CA. The day was just perfect. A little hot and bright during the ceremony, but that made the evening that much more enjoyable as it didn't ever get cold.




And then the after party began...25 or so of my closest friends and family got onto a shuttle bus we chartered and headed to the Rocking Taco and then the super swank Continental Room in downtown Fullerton. To keep the queasiness at a minimum, I have only posted pictures were we look bright and shining.

Ok. Blogger is being a bitch, but you can check out more here.

My lack of activity on this blog should not leave my readers with the false sense that I no longer see or hear the humor that is the real world around me. In fact, every day there are a number of ideas that are internalized, chuckled at and placed on the shelf entitled "I should blog that". Alas, getting ready for a wedding and going to school leads me to not have a lot of time for anything but those two tasks.

With one of those items nearly behind me, it is timely that I post something funny...or at least funny to me.

Doing my homework the other day, I came across a string of titles that, at least in my own perverted mind, made me chuckle.

The following strategies appeared, in print..

Synthetic Short Put
Bull Put Spread
Top Butterfly Spread
Top Straddle
Strangle

hmmm... should I be repeating these?

and finally...
A Short Zero Premium Collar Using Oil

I'm a long way from Jr. High, but I couldn't help laugh at these.

Oh, and by the way, these are all legitimately spoke of strategies used on Wall Street using option securities.

I really have nothing to say that is funny...

I promise. When something interesting or funny happens to me, you all will be the first ones to know. Right now I have high hopes for my bachelor party (which I am off to in a little bit). Once I come back, I am sure that I will have pictures of surf, sand and 30 year olds drinking like they are in their 20's.

Peace.

Yahoo! and Microsoft - All But Inevitable?

While I tend to not put a bunch of stuff on my blog related to what I do, I thought that this one was particularly interesting, while serving the dual purpose of being a placeholder for the video while I write my midterm on the subject....

Enjoy!

Sorry to be so silent!

So I know that I have been so silent that I have probably lost all of my 2 readers, and for that I apologize. I have been very busy in school, as well as the holidays, etc....and I guess I just lost the desire to write. But for those that care, I am now officially done with half of my MBA program - yea!

I have been meaning to post this picture - I love technology! I live 1000 miles away from my niece, but I can watch her via webcam and interact with her. It is especially funny to see her peer behind the screen to see if I am back there.

Anyway, will try to post more stuff as it happens.

Promise.

Funny Headline of the Day

I know that most bloggers have a rule about not reblogging things they read, but this one was too funny to pass up. The headline "Mr. Potato Head in Australia ecstasy bust" says it all.

Craig - do you still have connections in Ireland that we don't know about?

Big shout out to my dad

Hey Dad - thank you for raising me right. Thank you for putting a wrench in my hand and having me learn how to fix a sprinkler system. Today I spent a few hours replacing a busted zone valve. While I probably could have just replaced the innards, it was too old to find replacement parts. So I dug in and replaced the whole thing. And it works. Pretty darn well. And for $20.00 it is a lot cheaper than a plumber.

Star Sighting!

So anyone who knows me knows that I generally don't go ga-ga over movie stars, but I have to share with you the following story. It's a beautiful sunny summer day in Denver, and I am early for a golf game at a municipal golf course in the northwest part of the city. It isn't a bad course, but let's just say that it wasn't designed by the Golden Bear...think $40 with a cart and that's the level we're at.

I go into the "clubhouse" (loose terms here) and find the restroom to change into a pair of shorts and who do I find tending to the loo? Bill "its in the hoolee" Murray! And then immediately I realize that this is a terrible place to meet a movie star. It's nearly impossible to reach out and shake a hand, or say anything, without being super-duper weird.

Fortunately as we came off of the turn at 9 holes, he was finishing 18, and one of my partners had the balls to bother him. So with the groundwork laid, I calmly approached him and thanked him for "Lost In Translation" - which if you haven't seen it, check it out. He has come a long way since Caddyshack.

Ironic* Garbage

It has been about a year since Liz and I decided to experience the great outdoors that is Colorado. We marvel at its beauty as we drive down the highway. We regularly just state, outloud, without provocation that this is simply the best place in the world to live. So with this in mind, we packed up our things in the family truckster and set off for the wilderness. Those long time readers may remember the stories of last year's venture into the woods, and those that don't, find the soaking wet tale here.

As for the camping trip, this year the weather was much more enjoyable, and proved to be just as picturesque as we remembered it, save for the wetness. We did enjoy a fantastic six mile hike through the park, and it was returning from this hike that we both spied the worst piece of litter either of us had ever seen.I think that the label is self explanatory. What kind of idiot procures a bottle of water from the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, and then litters with it???

* I hesitated to use the word ironic because of its elusive meaning, and the fact that almost noone, even those with multiple college degrees can seem to use it correctly. To those grammar nazis (most of which are my near and dear friends and family - I don't care if I use it wrong...)

Today's Creepy Ad

Recommended Reading

If you are a nerd, like me, you will love the this site

I only really get about 75% of the jokes, but the ones that I do get are hilarious.

If you are not a nerd, forshame. Come over to the dark side. The side of hilarity.

New Stuff to Read

If you are under 30, or use the Internet even half as much as Liz, this is hillarious!

For one day only!!

So today is the day! As a few of you may know, by brother has recently taken a job as a flash animator, and his current assignment is to create a short 15 minute interactive game for the internet. So, a new reoccuring post here at the blog will be a notification of when there is a new game on the site authored by Ken.

So point your browesers to http://www.dailyrage.com and build your own Frankenstein. And do it fast, as it is only up for one day!