Bike to work week

This past week has been the "official" bike to work week for the state of Colorado. Wednesday being the "official" day of all days. I managed to to ride in on monday, wednesday and today, the other days missed because of school restraints. I have biked to work in the past but not this frequently. What I have come to find is that I enjoy it a lot. It makes my commute time my work out time so I have more time to do other things and I plan to keep this up on the days that I don't have school.

I don't typically have crunchy thoughts....well occasionally I do but.....I was thinking on my ride home on Wednesday how crazy it would be if a quarter of the population of the Denver metro area rode bikes to work. There would be a designated bike lane on the highway, people would definitely be more healthy....and it would be pretty cool too. I would say not even 5 percent of the population biked to work on Wednesday. Yeah...pretty crunchy but it was something to think about on my way home.

The Boettcher Mansion

Last night we went to a wedding at the Boettcher Mansion. I have lived in Colorado for over a decade now and always wanted to see the place but never have. The wedding was great and the building and site were beautiful as well. They had this cool band and though the wife and I are a pretty sad case when it comes to formal dance and swang, we still had a lot of fun.

Cherries....what a genius idea. They had these nice little bags of cherries everywhere...really good cherries too. I must have eaten 10 or 11 bags.

So about the mansion. It was really cool. The spaces all felt really nice. The stonework in the main room was amazing. It made me really want to try my hand at stone masonry. The only downside, which I assume no one in the whole place but me noticed, was the inevitable horrible retrofitting of necessary equipment to bring a historical building up to code. Yeah exactly.....I'm probably the only person who noticed it.

Overall, the evening was great. I haven't been to very many weddings but the ones I have been to have all been very fun. My conclusion.....I am a fan of weddings.

Carpet & standing water don't mix

We live in a basement…and for the most part it hasn’t been that bad. The rent is cheap, the space is big and the temperature is a constant 68 to 70 degrees year round. Over the past couple of days we have noticed a little water coming up through the carpet along one wall. I was pretty sure we had a problem with the out door faucet just up above. I wasn’t too worried about it….just called the landlord to come have a look. It is times like these where I am glad I don’t own a house.

The landlord instructed us to clear out the area and he would have a plumber come around the next day. A friend and I cleared the area and then I decided to pull up the carpet to check out the crime scene and to try to start the drying out process. Oh what a mess. Apparently this had been leaking for quite sometime. The carpet pad was completely saturated and mold was forming. The stench was horrible and within minutes the stank-aroma covered our whole house. I wanted to begin the drying process though so we left it uncovered and turned some fans on.

We closed off our room and opened the windows and slept quite nicely but one step into the rest of the house was met with the same familiar stench. No drying had taken place.

The problem is now fixed but our place is still in dissarray. We hope to have things back under control within the week.

Spandex & Chainsaws

Often times after work I am torn between the numerous options of how to spend the remaining 3 hours of daylight (in the summer). Yesterday I was trying to decide whether to go on a bike ride or tune my chainsaw. Last trip up to the cabin I couldn't get the chainsaw to work and I left my carburetor adjustment tool in town. I have been meaning to get it working again for over a week now.

I came to the conclusion that I could actually fit them both in. I went on a nice 30 mile ride and came home. I jumped right into working on the chainsaw...I was already sweaty and didn't want to end up changing twice. A few minutes into my work and shortly after getting the engine going, revving it and causing quite a seen, it hit me. What kind of scene was I really creating? If my neighbor were to look outside he/she would have seen my lanky self clad in spandex shorts, flip flops and a bright jersey with chain saw in hand full throttle. Oh what a sight!

So yeah, chain saw's workin' and I am one step closer to getting in the cycling condition that I am aiming for.

"What have you been up to man?"

"Uhhhh, well....I guess...uh....nothing really. Been working, school, and......that's about it."

My response would be the latter, the previous being the question I am asked fairly often. When we don't place enough value on the individual experiences in life it all tends to blend together and the reoccuring day to day actions are all that stands out. I haven't written in two weeks and I think what have I been up to......refer to line 2 for answer. But no, that isn't what I have been up to...there has been so much more.

- Had an excellent BBQ at my house
- Had a birthday celebration for my sister and sister-in-law.
- Went back up to the cabin site with a friend, dug pier holes for the foundation (which would have
been absolutely impossible without his help) and also squeezed in a beautiful bike ride while up
there.
- Swore to get on my bike a whole lot more and have somewhat succeeded in doing so
- Taught a large group of children at church
- Tended to our lovely garden which seems to be really healthy despite our total lack of experience
in this realm.

I could list so much more as I think about it. What it comes down to is....I find some happiness at work and at school but it is completely outshined by the happiness I find in these other experiences yet I still answer "nothing" to the inquiry of how I am spending my time. I will work on that.