Random

Well, it’s definitely been a while since I’ve found time to blog.  I’m sorry for that. There has been so much going on, and I’ve had every intention on giving updates as to my whereabouts.  Unfortunately my lack of computer/internet use preventing me from doing so.  Before Wednesday (and not counting work on Friday) I’ve probably spent a grand total of an hour in front of the computer.  I’ve enjoyed my break and time away, but I’m anxious to get back in the saddle and find some kind of routine again.
In my time away, I celebrated my 25th birthday with a BBQ and Poker tournament with great friends. It was great to see friends I haven’t seen in a while, as well as eat, drink and be merry.  Last year the party lasted until 6am.  This year we did a little better with most people going home around 1.
I had a great 4th, going up to Red Rocks with friends and family to see the Blues Traveler concert.  This is the first July 4th I’ve spent away from Loveland for as long as I can remember.  It was a great celebration, although I was disappointed with the (lack of) fireworks at the show.  We saw fireworks there, but they seemed at a bad angle and far away, leading us to believe that it was a neighboring city’s fireworks.  However, as the night grew later, we were convinced we weren’t going to see any close Red Rock fireworks.  Still, any day spent at Red Rocks is a good day.  I have pictures from the concert, and I’ll get them on Flickr in the next day or so.

I made it!  10 miles and 45 minutes later I managed to get into work on my bike!  I was a bit nervous about the trip, as I’ve never done 10 consecutive miles before.  I realized I didn’t have anything to be nervous about.  The ride went pretty well.  I spent 3/4 of it on bike trails which was nice.  The highway section of the trip was on a back road, so I didn’t have to deal with so much traffic.  I pretty much went the whole way without stopping, and the only issue I had was that I got lost in between trail #1 & #2, but I found my way and got back on the trail at a later point.

I’m looking forward to starting the tradition of biking to work at least once per week throughout the summer & fall.  Hopefully by the end of the summer it’ll be closer to 2-3 days.

The laptop survived the trip, although it does miss it’s protective sleeve.  I went as stripped-down as I could go: taking my laptop (no power cable as I have a Port Replicator at work), my USB stick and my iPod.

A co-worker jokingly reminded me that I’ll need to make the ride home, but I’m not too worried.  My legs are a bit tired, but come 4:30-5pm they’ll be well-rested and ready to head home!

I’ve actually been back since Wednesday the 21st, but with things being so busy I haven’t had a chance to post until now.

Florida was amazing, and in many ways was exactly what I needed in terms of rest and relaxation.  I came back to Colorado refreshed and ready for the rest of a busy summer.  It’s also nice that this will be my last big trip for a while.  After Kansas City, Glenwood Springs and Orlando it’ll be a good month before I’m traveling again, and even that is just a quick 3-day trip.  I’m looking forward to being at home and catching up with everything.

Speaking of catching up…  that’s going to be the theme for the next few weeks.  I pretty far behind in some big projects at work, I have a laundry list of NCSC things I need to do, and my apartment is a disaster.

Some updates on a few things

• I thought it would be a cool idea to try out Windows Vista on my work laptop.  I learned pretty quickly how much it can suck to be an "Early Adopter".  The installation took forever, and gave no progress indication.  After I got everything installed, Vista decided that my laptop didn’t need to access the network.  Both my wired and wireless connections were hopeless.  I got this stupid "Local Only" status on my network connections.  After messing with it for 3 hours, I had no choice but to nuke my laptop and put XP back on.  The rest of the day was spent rebuilding the laptop – what a waste of time.

  Right now I’m pretty discouraged about Windows Vista.  There don’t really seem to be any features in there worth paying the $$ to upgrade.  Also I’m pretty concerned about my ability to upgrade.  This is the third time I’ve tried to upgrade (using 3 different machines), and while I realize this is a beta I’ve never had such bad luck before.  When you’re beta-testing an operating system there a few things you’re willing to live with – but all of the problems have been show-stoppers.  I don’t think I’ll be "adopting" Vista for a while.

• This week is Bike to Work Week in Fort Collins, adding with the national Bike to Work day. For me, it’s a 10 mile trip into the office, so these next few days will be spent preparing for Wednesday’s trip.  I have my route mapped out, it’s just a matter of covering all of it before I leave.  My second biggest issue is what to do with my laptop.  I need it for work (as it’s my only computer), but it may be interesting fitting it into my camel-back backpack.  I don’t want to drive to work the night before just to bring my laptop – it seems like it’d defeat the purpose of biking to work.  I’ll have to play with the backpack and see how things go.
• Lastly, I’m back on the drumming market, looking for a new band.   There have been a few opportunities and people indicating interest.  It’s be helpful putting up a Craigslist posting as well.  In the next few weeks I’ll meet some of these people and jam with them.  What’s funny this feels a lot like on-line dating…  We’ll see how things go.