This February 25, the American Lung Association challenges you to power through 1,014 steps to the top of the cash register building in downtown Denver for their “Run The Register” event. Usually, the building’s stairwell is closed to the public, but they’ll unchain the doors and let you climb all the way to the 47th floor, where you can enjoy a stunning panorama of the Colorado horizon before taking the elevator back down to the lobby.
A leisurely trip up to Vail with my brother, sister-in-law, and G, made for a real wind-down type of weekend. Of course, a happy hour on Friday with a handful of friends started things out just right. We were able fit in some shopping at the outlet stores in Silverthorn on the way in addition to a lunch at the Dam Brewery. A lot of the time was spent making fun of terrible movies and figuring out how to perfect a panini (I think were getting close).
The highlight was the skiing of course. The runs were wide open because everyone was at home getting ready to watch the suckerbowl and drink ranch dressing. When we arrived back at the condo there was a keg party in the lobby, so, double bonus for us. Below is a video of skiing last weekend at Keystone. We slide down snowy mountains as much as we can during these winter months.
WalkJogRun is a great application for runners, joggers, athletes, and the like. Simply put, it’s a running route planner and a distance/speed calculator.
Wednesday night was a historical event to go down in the annals of history forever and for all time. Breaking a 21 game (or something like that, three full seasons) losing streak, Backwash has won there first regular season game in the history of the league. I couldn’t be more proud of my kickball team. Well actually I could, if the fuckers would actually volunteer to umpire every now and again I would be happier than any proud new parent on earth. Afterwards we headed out to The Toad (which was once called the Horny Toad back in the day. It seems the new millennium is much to p.c. for such innuendo) for a celebration which involved a few pitchers of beer, a pizza bigger than me, and some wonderful karaoke acts.
Last night we hit up Dazzle Supper Club for some free jazz and expensive yet incredibly weak drinks which I am now calling “Dazzle Camouflage” in reverence of the Work Of Terrible Beauty by Lynda Barry. Afterwards we headed over to the Candlelight Tavern for $2.00 hamburgers, which are delectable in every way that a hamburger can be. A large group of us stuck around and played shuffleboard late into the night.
Rules to the golf tournament I played in this weekend:
1. Format is 4 man scramble – everyone tees off, picks the best ball, everyone hits from that same spot, continue this until the little white ball is in the little hole on the green. (That’s the flat place with the flag Caesar!) Team Records one score for each hole.
2. Teams will be picked from a blind draw before the round. Yes I’ll preside, and yes a couple pairs will be predetermined because some guys don’t know or trust the rest of you drunks like I do (besides, they helped us out big time by coming in late, the least we can do is let them play with a buddy. If it looks like we were taken and they intentionally brought in a ringer we’ll blanket party them in the parking lot. Or Julio can take on all 4 of them!)
3. Potter will be running the closest to the pin and the longest drive contests as usual. See Phil about getting into them and the specifics. (He’s not so trustworthy so count your cash at the end – he’s been known to tip the cart girls a little heavy after a few.) Hole 8 will be closest to the pin, and hole 16 will be the longest drive (BTW if you wanna compete here I recommend breaking Timmys arm before he gets there).
4. Each player is allowed 1 mulligan for the round; use it wisely. Ah screw it, use it on the closest to the pin or the longest drive like I know you will. “There ain’t no we in team either!”
5. Drink lots of beer and support your local cart girl – the economy needs the boost.
6. Try not to break anything, and if you do – RUN!
7. No carp killing.
8. Trash talking is not only allowed, it’s encouraged.
9. Get the side wagers rolling, it keeps things interesting when you’re 15 down – shot and/or beers whatever happens first.
10. If you don’t hit it past the ladies tee – you know what to do, and I accept no responsibility for indecent exposure tickets – you hit the damn thing.
11. No cheating, foot wedges, throwing the ball, point shaving, etc. Beer drinking is first and foremost, the golf and tourney are just an excuse to do it. Mostly, Have Fun – Golf is FUN God Damnit!!
12. And for those teams that are lucky enough to qualify for the prizes – 1st Place is $40/player, 2nd is $20/player and 3rd is $10/player.
Friday I worked a little late into the evening and spent a quiet evening at home. I watched How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days. It was cute, laughable, fodder to wind down my week. I can appreciate an occasional fun chick flick despite how generally contrived and predictable it was.
I was up (relatively) early on Saturday and headed up into the mountains for a day of skiing. I met up with A.P. and his wife and the two kids. We all ate an early lunch together and then went out to the carpet lift to play with the kids and teach them how to ski. The boy popped out before he even got his skis on but the girls were gung ho and couldn’t get enough. It was great getting a four-year old and a six-year old interested in the sport. Both me and A.P. agreed the whole secret to getting the youngsters started is just making sure they stay warm and are having fun. Most of the skills and athletics come later. At first you just have make sure they want to come back. Afterward me and A.P. went to take some turns on our own. We got about four additional hours skiing the ‘S’ lift at Copper Mountain. Traditionally, one of our favorite areas. It snowed most of the afternoon and this made for some good skiing but it also made traffic a bear. It took me two hours to get up to the mountain in the morning and three hours to get back. It was a long day.
I spent most of Sunday running errands, grocery shopping, watching TV, and reading. I was a pleasant weekend for a change.
It’s been a pretty active week. I’ve been swamped during work lately but getting a lot done. During the days and evenings I’ve been getting my sport on. Over the weekend, for AP’s bachelor party, I played in a golf tournament at Park Hill . It was a four-man scramble and we tied for first. I won a Park Hill baseball cap that is a little too large for me. It was a blast playing though, and definitely my best round so far this summer.
On Monday I had my last Spring League Ultimate tournament. We ended up tying that too. The team that we met in the finals had been our biggest rivals all season. The final game went well into dark and it became impossible to see the frisbee so both teams agreed to stopping at a tied score. This way we remained undefeated and they got to not lose to us again. The final League standings can be found here (I am on team Chachi).
Last night was the first game of Summer league. This league is much, much larger. We’ll never play the same team twice (there are 24 teams), and there is always couple of kegs of beer after each game. It’s a much more social league, and I’m really looking forward to another great summer season.
Last night I attended a really fun charity event downtown. A group of about ten of us in my office formed a chair-hockey team and entered as a sponsor/team in the tournament. The benefit was for The Bridge Project. The tournament was located on the vacant, 27th floor, of a high-rise downtown. Two “rinks” were constructed with cube-wall partitions. The floors of these rinks were covered in particle board.
The only two rules were: each player had to remain seated in their office chair during the entire game and no high sticking (one guy lost a tooth within the first 5 minutes of the tournament). Other than that it was absolute chaos for 5 minutes when the period ended. It was tons of fun. Not to mention all the free food and beer or wine that we wanted.
We ended up placing 3rd out of the 16 teams and were awarded with cheesy little metals and a free massage. I just got done with the massage and it was incredible. It was in one of those bizarre chair things (you know where you place your face in that weird cushioned toilet seat like apparatus) not a table massage, but I’ve never had a professional massage before and it felt great. I’m hoping that it helps boost my immune system and helps get rid of this cold I have.
More pictures below.
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