Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today the most influential, number one man in my life turns 60!!!

I love you dad and hope you have a great b-day!!!

BASEBALL!

The Rockies have finally done it!!!

WORLD SERIES here we come!!!

YAY!!!!

Hit and Run Driver Kills Cyclist

Today on my drive into work, I heard something very disturbing but not at all surprising. A cyclist was killed in a hit and run accident yesterday.
Since commuting to work on my bike, I have been hit by one car and run off the road twice. Lucky for me, all three incidents happend with no injuries. This town by far is the most un-bike-friendly town I have ever lived. Sometimes it feels like cars aim for cyclists. How many more people will have to die before we see changes?

To give you an example of how backwards thinking people in this town are, read this article in our local paper The Gazette. In response to a bike lane being added to one of the downtown though fare streets, where one citizen is eloquently quoted as saying: “We’re not Europe. We don’t need bike lanes.” Who wants to bet this person has obese children suffering from ADHD and drives a Hummer, (or gas-guzzler equivalent) across town to get to work, back across town again to pick up McDonalds for dinner, then again across town to pick up their kids Ritalin at wal-mart, before driving home to suburbia? Cursing gas prices the entire time. Of course they would never consider an alternate form of transportation. That is for those god-dammed liberal minded hippy type people, Not the average god loving, good Americans that live in Colorado Springs, support our troops, and go to New-Life Church on Sundays. Lets not even get into the hypocracy of the Christians of this town. RAR!!!
(wow, little tiny tirade there—whoops,sorry if I offend. Wait, No I am not. People in this town piss me off, and this is a perfect example of the typical Colorado Springs resident) I need a bigger soap box.

I looked in the newspaper and saw nothing about the cyclist that was killed. I then looked at the police blotter on line and read that this accident happened on garden of the Gods Road, a road I ride on every day I commute.

This whole situation hits way to close to home and has me all angry. I hope they find the woman that did this and the family of this man is able to find some peace. My heart breaks for them.

How did Monday get here so quickly?

Saturday morning E and I decided to tempt fate and the weatherman predictions and head to Rampart Reservoir. We had a great MTB ride around the reservoir. I only crashed three or four times. The only blood was when I cut my finger at the end of the ride while pushing up on a rock after crouching down near a stream to splash water on my face. Figures.

The weatherman had predicted that the afternoon was going to bring in cold, gloomy fall weather. During the ride we did have some cool spots but all in all it was great. Afterwards we drove the back road to Monument and then Castlerock to shop for running shoes for him and a birthday present for my dad. (this is when the rain, sleet, thunder lightening and hail started--Thunder and Lightning in October is weird!)

I made a side stop into the Coach store. Most the purses in Coach were disappointing to me. I prefer the classic styles and designs, not the new loud trendy purses they seem to sell in the outlet store lately. Also, I know Nuclear Mom is in the market for a new purse, I had an eye out for something she may like and I could take a pic and send it to her since she is not near a coach outlet store. Sorry, nothing looked that great, hopefully the Christmas season will bring a better selection. E found his running shoes but I was striking out in all the items I was shopping for.

We headed back to the springs in hopes of getting to Criterium before they closed. I was able to acquire a kick ass b-day present for my dad there. Also ran into a few friends there also. It is alwasy a nice surprise to randomly run into friends you haven't seen in a while.

After bike riding, shopping and driving most of the day we stopped at a little Thai restaurant, Bhan Thai, we had both heard about from multiple people. Not new in town, but in an area of town I don’t normally go. It was not the best Thai food I have had, but definitely better than other places I have had in town. The prices were very reasonable too. My all time favorite Thai food is Tommy's Thai in Denver.

After dinner, we stopped by my house to shower, clean up and look up movie times. Both E and I had wanted to see the movie ‘We Own the Night’. Knowing E’s dad also mentioned he would like to see this, we called him and invited him to go with us. The movie was different than I expected from the previews but still good and entertaining none-the-less. If I was a critic that could award stars I would give it 3 out of 5…Not bad. The cold gloomy weather the weather man predicted was rolling in at this time, so curling up in a movie theater was the best option after an action packed day.

Sunday morning I woke up at an hour that no one should wake up for on a weekend. Unless of course you are participating in a favorite sport, pass-time or drive two hours just to surprise your father for breakfast. Wednesday of this week marks my dad’s 60th birthday. He wanted this birthday to pass quietly with not a lot of attention. Normally his birthday does. Not this year. My step-mom did a great job planning a surprised brunch for him. The plan was that we (all of his children, grandchildren and close friends) would be at a designated restaurant, after they left church she would suggest that they go get brunch. Something they normally do. I have never seen my dad so surprised when he walked in and saw us all there, me especially. He was so shocked he threw his hat at me and started to tear up a bit. (I have pictures of all this but a low battery so I will have to wait to upload them) – it was a great surprise for my dad. It was also neat because I got to see some family friends I hadn’t seen since before I moved away for Fort Collins and I was able to have some good play time with my youngest nieces and nephew. I also was able to catch up with my other niece who is going through the turmoil’s of high school, and my nephew who is starting his freshman year at my alma matter, CSU. My oldest niece was unable to make the party for reasons unbeknownest to us.

After brunch I went and spent a couple hours visiting my parents and the stopped by my brothers house to see the play house my dad, brother and brother in-law built for my young nieces. My niece Natalie was very excited to have me as a guest in her playhouse and was an excellent hostess. She served me pretend tea with lots of sugar and pretend food (hot dogs and peas). After our tea party then I departed to head back to Colorado Springs in time to get home and settle in to watch the baseball game. Sunday evening ended with E and I cooking pasta primavera with shrimp and a bottle of wine and watching the Colorado Rockies win game 3 of the National League series. One more win and we are on our way to the World Series!!!

Plans for tonight? Another bottle of wine, and another Baseball game…GO ROCKIES!!!

Corporate Girl

As much as I may have denied it in my past, I have come to terms with, and quite comfortably, I may add, that I am a Corporate Girl or a Business Woman through and through. Considering I am in my tenth year of working in the corporate world, it may seem odd I am just now really embracing this (again). For many years I struggled with this and strived to escape corporate life. I could go on a long description of my career history up to this point. Let’s just spare you the reader, gory details and leave it at--- it was not pretty. Today, I embrace it and look forward to the challenges that lay ahead.

I was talking to my boss today about some of the challenges I am having with my new team. I expect bumps in the road, and these challenges I am experiencing I could have predicted before I stepped into my new role. I have been in my new position for just over a month now. I am not here to make new friends; I am here to deliver a product to our customer, at a value that we as a company (the one I work for) makes money and our customer sees value in our services. I am not here to make everyone happy all the time. If you state that you will deliver something to me or another person on our team, I will hold you accountable for that. This philosophy is not making me many friends in the short term. On the same note, I feel I am being fare, professional and trying to show people I am doing the best job I can. As much as I hold people accountable, I do so with myself also. Being a team lead means just that to me, leading a team. Not managing.

I am hoping in time I will prove myself and gain the respect among my team. I know I am on the right path because I have had feedback from both my manager, PM’s and ADM that we are making our customer happy and the account team have seen a change for the positive in the past month. I would like to think that I am making an impact. We shall see.

First Day of Ski Season

Is today!!! A-basin won the race and opened up first thing this morning. Time to wax the boards and pray to snow gods.
Although the snow looks…well, a lot to be desired by viewing this webcam.

I Have Succumbed to the World of Blogging

Fact be told, I am tired of the childish antics of myspace and blogs are what I enjoy most, so I ask myself why not?
Now If I would have started this back about 4 years ago when Nuclear Mom started, then I could have a kick ass blog by now.
From here on out..Adios Myspace, hello blogger.
Now lets see if my family and friends will read my posts here.
More to come when I figure out what I am doing here.