Silver Liningness Sunday for Saturday

First of all, I have not yet revisited Zach Galifianakis' portrait.  I do like him though, and he does have a nice full beard,  no?

Yesterday's hike proved to be the right choice, however.  BEAU-tiful day for it.  We hiked the Palmer Lake Trail which we'd been to once before.   It's a nice out-and-back hike which travels to two (upper and lower) reservoirs for the city of Palmer Lake.  It's a friendly elevation gain of about 1250 feet, ending at an altitude of about 8300.

As usual, my climbing mates were not big supporters of my getting photos.  I managed this one by innocently jogging ahead of everyone, then turning with the surprise snap:

Chaco, realizing what was happening, reacted by taking off running towards me, but not before I got the rather West-Side-Story-esque image.

The uncooperatives at the lower reservoir...

...and the upper reservoir...











By the time evening rolled around, we still had some play left in us.  Wolfgang and a couple of friends went to go longboarding while Meego and I opened up our redneck "pool"...

Wolfgang returned from longboarding a while later and says, "So... I crashed...", and I turn to see him standing there with a big old bandage on his right elbow.

"They gave me this because it was bleeding all over"

Then I look him over and notice he's wearing someone else's clothes...  "Yeah, mine were all bloody".

He lowered the waistband of the borrowed shorts to reveal a good patch of road rash... "Totally ruined the underpants"

                               

Other than the sacrificed skin and clothing, he's pretty much none the worse for wear.  He pointed out that his glasses got a bit scratched, but he still has all his teeth.

And here we are in the weekly recap, with one day taking up the whole thing!  Really, there were OTHER good things this week, but in order to keep this from getting any more lengthy, those will have to be continued...

I'm going to chillax a bit.

beard (NOT)

That's it.  That's all I got.

I FINALLY got out my art toys to join in the Illustration Friday fun again this weekend and started this sketch of Zach Galifianakis.

But then it looks like we are going for a hike.  What?  The whole family is in easy agreement on a weekend activity?  What?!

So Zach will have to wait, I'm heading for the great outdoors.



It seems appropriate since this IS Pikes Peak International Hill Climb weekend.  A variety of categories of motorized vehicles race up the mountain.  It's a popular annual event, and the last two years, it was postponed because there were nearby things burning.

But not this year, hooray!

So we're going to go out and climb a hill.  It won't be Pikes Peak, and it won't be very fast.

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and it feels so good

I ended up giving the Its-Not-You-Its-Me speech:

Dear You

Really.  It's not you, it's me.  You seemed like a good mate in the beginning, looked pretty good on paper anyway.  And I won't say we didn't have any fun together.  But actually, I saw signs early on that this wasn't going to work out.  We just didn't seem to be on the same wavelength most of the time, and I grew tired of waiting for you.  It probably shouldn't have even lasted as long as it did, others told me I should probably get out sooner.  But I felt we deserved more time to see where this would go.

To be honest, my eyes started roaming several months ago when I felt our connection slipping.  I started talking to other people, just talking.  I just had to think about my future, and more and more, it just didn't seem like you would be a part of it.  Really, it's not you, it's me.  I think, among other things, you're just too young for me. 

I do want to thank you, however.  My time spent with you really helped me to realize what I truly wanted.  You introduced me to new things and also reawakened parts of me that had been dormant for quite some time.  I admit now that the more I was with you, the more I thought about my ex.  About how I made a mistake in tryiing to put the ex behind me forever.  

I was thinking about my ex so much, I ended up talking to someone to investigate a reconciliation.  I saw that my separation had not caused as big of a division as I'd thought.  In fact, my on-the-side activities served to foster a timely reunion.

I'm getting back with my ex.  I hope you can be happy for me.  *fake tears*

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Yeah, I broke up with the teacher licensing program.   I think they were trying to be all things to all people, but in the end, it's really a better program for undergrads who THINK they MIGHT want to be teachers.   I found the courses very rudimentary and tedious.

Some of my classmates dropped after the first semester.  They were similar to me in that they were older and already had teaching experience, just wanted to get licensed.  I decided to give the program one more make-or-break semester.

Break.

I started looking into other programs about a month into last semester - there are many ways to get licensed.  I'd almost settled on one program, but I found my thoughts straying back to being an engineer.

So I got with a program advisor at the university to discuss an engineering masters program, did the application, and got approved.  Start in the fall.

“Alice Abby came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked.
'Where do you want to go?'...

Back to Nerdland!


p.s.  With this degree, I can also be a teacher - wheee!

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Silver Liningness Sunday

Happy first weekend of officially summer!  Gosh, the days feel so much shorter now.

Another fine week was had.  First of all, Meego FINALLY agreed to let me cut his hair.  Afterwards, he actually confessed to liking it.

    

We'll see if it adversely affects his guitar-playing.

Also, I FINALLY went to the "squishy place" this week.  Recall that I got a bit of a nasty-gram from my doctor a while back because I hadn't gone in for that mammogram she'd ordered several months ago.  Well, I got another nasty-gram a couple of weeks ago because I still hadn't gone.  Fine.  Now it's done, so hopefully the mail stops.  I have to admit, the place is very efficient as far as most medical places go.  Get in, get squished, get out.

We watched Catching Fire this week.  I'd never read the book after reading the first Hunger Games.  It's not that I think the story/writing bad, just the opposite really.  I find the whole premise so disturbing.  Magnum says I'm supposed to find it disturbing, and I DO.  Anyway, I was glad I hadn't read the book because the big reveal at the end totally threw me.

And in general, it's just been a pretty productive week.  I'm switching programs at the university - that's a whole 'nother story.  My application for the new program was accepted, and I'm looking forward to getting going in the fall.

I'm slowly getting to know my new PEO sisters, and they're a fun bunch.  We had a meeting this week at the Colorado chapter house - I think there are only 3 chapter houses in the country - which I'd never been to.  Nice setting.  AND, we're making inroads into the mainstream!  Broke into Jeopardy last week.  "I'll take initials for 600 please, Alex!" (actually, I know neither the category nor the dollar amount, I just got the screen shot in my e-mail).

Anyone?  (Not you, Judy)

foback fursday

I have this ziploc bag of old photos that I plan to put into an album.  It's been sitting here near my desk for - oh - about three years?  Yeah, I'll get to it.

In the meantime, it's come in handy for this week over at Mama Kat's!

2.) Throwback Thursday! Find and share an old photo and let it inspire a blog post.

So I reached into the ziploc bag and pulled out:

[a naked baby picture of my brother - not sure which brother, to be honest]

So I reached again into the ziploc bag and pulled out:

Hmmm... okay.
This one does have a safe enough story.  It's my 6th grade school pic.  I remember it well because I was sporting brand spanking new teeth.

I've told the story of how I lost my front teeth and won't rehash it now.  The Cliff Notes version is that I fell off a skateboard toward the end of 5th grade.

The worst part of the ordeal was walking around with dental remnants where there should have been front teeth.  And it seemed like it took forever to get all the necessary dental work taken care of in order for me to have teeth again.

I was thrilled when I finally got them.  A week or so prior, my dentist gave me the one-size-fits-all temporaries.  They were huge and made out of rough plastic.  But even that was an improvement.

But then, my own personally fitted teeth arrived, Mr. Dentist whacked out the one-size-fits-alls and put on my new pearly whites.  I was giddy!  They were smooth and small!  They were mine to keep!

During those long weeks of jagged chipped front teeth, I was self conscious.  I hardly smiled in public because it seemed like the public would wonder "wtf??".  I couldn't eat certain things properly.  I had to scrape the innards of Oreo cookies with my bottom teeth - the horrors!  Apples were pretty out of the question unless they were cut up.

So when we returned for a new school year, I could smile rightly again.  When I had the broken teeth, it was awkward to smile.  Pictures were an ordeal, I didn't know what to do with my face.  But on 6th grade picture day, I sat on that stool and happily flashed my (just about) million dollar smile.

Then the photographer gave me the okay to leave.

What?  Just like that?  Didn't he notice my TEETH?

Well, no.  Of course not.  I looked pretty much like most of the other kids.

Just like I wanted.

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fishnado

Yesterday I thought I might draw something.  Or blog something.  Or both. Then an online learning site I use enticed me to play over there for a while.  And I thought, okay, just for a little bit.  PFFFT.

I camped out over in my left-side brain for too long.  My drawing/blogging right side brain went to mush.  Does that happen to anyone else?  It's hard to strike a balance.  Is that how my kids can play computer games for so long? And then are unable to clean up their own messes?

Maybe I should set a timer or something

In the end, I guess it was a good thing.  I went to PEO and was recruited to act as treasurer since the official treasurer was absent.  Yay!  I am somebody!  I have a purpose!   I can do numbers!

Thus my excitement of yesterday.

Another project on the to-do list is to refurb my fish aquarium.  Except the evil fish are still living in there.  Recall how they took over and totally wiped out the tank civilization?  They have continued to thrive, but I can't bring any other tankmates in, lest they become murder victims.  Remember Jansen the plecostomus?  How he totally vanished overnight?  Never found any trace of him.  I don't dare buy another pleco, it just seems cruel.

My only consolation has been that the plants have flourished under this post-apocalypse regime.  Well, that all went out the window over the weekend.

See, I didn't do anything special for the evil fish when we shuffled off to Comic Con.  I made sure they were fed before I left, we'd be gone for two days, they could scrounge the tank.  I think I was secretly hoping they'd eat each other.

They didn't.  They ate the plants instead.

My previously lush tank flora has been reduced to a few scraggly leafless stems.  Like a few skinny grass noodles and nothingness.  However, the algae continues to prosper because there is no resident plecostomus, may he Rest In Peace.

I've quietly contemplated serving the evil fish up as a treat for Reese the snake.

But they'd probably find a way to kill him too.
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Silver Liningness Sunday

Full Moon.  Solar flares.  Friday the 13th.  Father's Day.  All in one weekend!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there, including Magnum and my own dear old dad.  I actually haven't called my dad yet today, as he's not a fan of Hallmark Holidays.  But he seems to like it when I call, so I'll probably rebel.

As a special gift to Magnum, we took a weekend getaway.

Well, actually no.  We were going away for this weekend anyway because it was Denver Comic Con weekend!  Welcome to Nerdtopia!

It was a little iffy since Chaco was gimping around on his bad ankle.  Recall that he rolled it post-Incline a couple of weeks ago.  Just as the ankle was getting back to normal, Chaco and some coworkers were returning from lunch and dashing through a parking lot, dodging a rainstorm.  He planted his foot in some mulch and...  back to square one.

But, he'd had a few days to rest it, and he was willing and able to take one for Comic Con.  Once we entered the convention center and made plans for our rendezvous, Chaco and Wolfgang ditched the parents.  Meego was happy to keep us company however.

As expected, there was a good crowd.  Last year, I think the popularity of the event overwhelmed the staff, so this year, they seemed well-prepared for the masses.  Check-in and moving around went pretty smoothly all things considered.

The cosplay was impressive as always.  I noticed that there weren't as many zombies as previous years, so maybe that theme is waning.  Other genres were well represented - Dr. Who, X-Men, Star Wars, Serenity/Firefly, and various other comic book, video game, and anime characters I'm ignorant of.

Bender!  And his little sand person?

Lego Batman was very popular.
I was checking out his abs.

So a good time was had by all.  There were several geek celebrities there, but that wasn't my focus.  I enjoy the people-watching, the cosplay, and the Artist Alley.  There is some impressive artwork there, but I never buy any of it.  What would I do with a watercolor of Wolverine or Daryl Dixon?  Nevermind...

So a big thanks to the people of Denver Comic Con - workers and attendees alike.  Nice bunch for a geek weekend.

SOURCE

Same time next year?  Hopefully so, unless the veloci-rapture occurs...

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