olympics

I am fired up about the olympics. Watching them is absolutely an inspiring event, and this woman, Dara Torres, is the most inspirational of them all. She is 41 and has already been to 4 olympics. Most 41 year olds would sit back with their kids, polish their medals, and watch the games this year. But not this one. To top it all off, she broke her own world records in the trials for these games. Just goes to show: never give up, never give in and you will achieve your goals. Awesome. I will def be watching and pulling for her.

Georgia on my mind

Gotta say, fired up to hit GA this weekend. On top of seeing our family, which always rocks, we get to go to the beach and hang with our old school crew (for Anne
Dorsett's wedding) ...which is a MAJOR treat these days. Doesn't happen much, but man, when it does it's the bees knees. Can't wait, just one more day of work then funtime!

work

Heres a couple favs of mine from this summer's Use only what you need campaign for Denver Water. We came up with the idea a few summers ago (first years work here), and have just expanded and morphed it each year. You can see the rest of this year's stuff and the explanations/rationale here.

Assssssssssspen

What a great weekend. We had a sweet condo up on the slope overlooking the town, and man, what a beautiful place full of beautiful people. We played a really cool course in Carbondale (just outside Aspen) called River Valley Ranch, hiked to Maroon Bells, sampled foods and drinks, cruised the art festival, checked out the farmers market and spent the weekend reciting lines from Dumb and Dumber. Our pool looked up the ski slope, and we were a short block away from Aspen's many stores, restaurants and nightlife. It was choice. I've been to Aspen before, but never to just hang and experience it for a relaxing weekend in summer, and I was really impressed. I can see why all the rich and famous have places there. I would if I was rich. I also cannot wait to go back for Aspen Jazz fest and Widespread Panic next month. YES!

All in all, was so great to see Dad and Chris- the first time since cancer. We lived it up and I truly enjoyed my time with them. Already looking forward to whenever the next time we hang is.

Where the hell is Matt?

This is actually really cool. Check this video out. Some guy named Matt travels the world (thanks to Stride gum funding) and does his horrible dance with all kinds of people. Man, I LOVE to travel, so I'm jealous he's managed such a sweet deal. The vid is entertaining, even tho his dancing skills are somewhat limited. Click the link to go to his site and read about him and how this all came about. Good stuff.

First time back to the doc's

Today was my first time back to the doc's since my last chemo. I gotta say, I wasn't super psyched to be back. More needle pricks and pokes and prods.

I won't know anything bout the blood tests until a few days, but hoping all is well inside me. I get another colonoscopy and PET / CT scan in three more months. Can't wait.

Separated at birth

Hilarious site that shows folks and who they look like...worth a scanning if you need a chuckle. Check it out here. Thanks to the Denver Egotist for the heads up on this.

Public pools

If you live in Denver, you can hit public pools. They are not near as quiet and uncrowded as a private number, but it's a pool and it's free if you're a Parks and Rec member, which we are. And, they have slides. And adults can use them. Pictured is Justen as he pulls the slide to cannonball move. Mad style points, yo.

Churchy

Granted, living in downtown Denver means you gots no yard, hardly. But, what is lacking in real estate, you gain in cool old architecture. Lots of victorian homes and sweet old churches. Mere has been on a quest to shoot the churches since we've lived here, and this weekend we finally shot a couple while biking around. I hope to capture more soon.

A farewell to Kevin

Well, I gotta admit, saying goodbye made it all real. The memorial for Kevin was really nice- lots of people said great things about him and everyone recollected their best time with him. Truly everyone seemed to be pretty shocked about the whole thing, and yes, also sad that he had to live with such hurt inside.

While most of the stories and the slideshow made you feel so sad and angry that such a great life was ended so prematurely, the event truly was a celebration. We celebrated Kevin and the great person he was. He was truly infectious, as evidenced by the way he really affected us all- even those that barely knew him, and including his business partners. To cap the celebration, his folks decided to share his massive wine collection with us all, and we toasted to him (well done toast by Timmy Brown. Very well said, my friend) and truly enjoyed his fine taste in wine. Kevin was no slouch- he had the good stuff and always shared with everyone, so drinking it here just felt right. The reason I put that picture of the smiling Hoovens and Mere up there was to just show that the day ended in smiles, and to maybe symbolize the re-birth of Kevin in to a painless existence in heaven (speaking of birth- damn that little Hannah is cute).

I felt sadness and relief to say good bye and throw that flower into the river. It's always hard to say bye to those you care about, but sometimes it just has to happen to create some closure. I made the unfortunate mistake of trying to go work afterwards, and all I could think about was Kevin.

3 day weekends should be every week

What a weekend. We did it all: golf, biking, park party, bbqs, baseball, fireworks, etc. So much fun.

Public Transportation. Radical.

Mere and I had our good pal Panz in town this weekend from SF and we were excited to see her. She organized a sweet park party up in Boulder (park parties rock: PBR, kickball, bocce, croquet, frisbee, etc). So, we decided to make it an adventure and biked over to the main bus stop in downtown Denver. They have bike racks on the front of the buses (and spots under the bus if the racks are full) and you can bus it up to B-town so easily with your ride. We then biked to the park, then reversed the process to get home. It was so sweet and really fun (we stopped at Coors field for a Rockies game on the way home, too, as the bus dropped us literally at the front door). The public transportation situation is so great around here, I'm glad we're finally taking advantage and venturing out farther and farther on our bikes. Loving bike-friendly living.

One last parting shot of our boy Kevin..

I felt it fitting to post an image of us having a wonderful time....after all, we pretty much only had good times with Kevin. This shot is from possibly the best time ever with him: last summer we all saw Widespread Panic at the base of the slopes in Winter Park and we shared a SWEET condo that overlooked the stage. Talk about pimpin' it, our spot was the very best condo in the complex, literally a 1 minute walk to the entrance to the show. Anyway, we all had an epic weekend and a very memorable time together. Pictured above is one of our many wild elevator rides to other pals condos in the complex. Good times.

A good day...

The last year has been packed full of expenditures: cancer is expensive.

Then, today, I was paid back for overpaying two large medical bills (when does this ever happen?!), got our economic stimulus package and received a rebate check for a printer we bought, all in one day. Can you say heck yes? I sure can.

RIP Kevin Haythe, a very good man

They tell you when you're a kid that you'll have at least one friend who is gay, one friend who will get cancer and that you will know someone who commits suicide. Unfortunately, as of today, the last of those statements has come true for me. This isn't my first friend to pass, but the first that's taken his or her own life, and I have to admit it has created so many opposing emotions inside my head and heart.

First off, I feel for Kevin. Outwardly so social and easygoing, he just seemed like he had it all figured out. To me, he was so successful and smart and someone I really looked up to. But, obviously, there was a lot of pain and anguish inside there that I just never picked up on. I knew he was having hard times, but nothing like this. Of course, I truly believe that to become suicidal you must just be experiencing epic amounts of pain and dispair inside. It stings me to think of any of my friends living with such hurt.

Then, I cycle the other feelings: how could a good god let this happen, why didn't he call someone and just talk about it, what could I have done, did he say something this weekend I should have picked up on, and how could you give up a life willingly (after all, I've been fighting like mad to keep mine this last year)?

Ugh, it all just feels bad when I think about it. One thing I know for sure is that Kevin Haythe was one quality guy and I'm a better man for having known him. He will truly be missed and never forgotten *pounds fist to chest and points to sky*. I will remember him for his good nature and friendliness, not for his final and most upsetting act.

Life is so damn crazy, you just never know what will come up next. This was sure a shocker and a really saddening turn. But, as I've learned, you grit your teeth, endure the heartache and try to move forward, keeping a hopeful attitude that maybe, just maybe, this all plays into some master plan that I'm not in charge of, but am very much a part of.

Good bye, Kevin, good bye, friend.

Red Rocks + WSP = fun

Yee Haw! What a fun weekend we had. Mere managed to smuggle our camera in one night and we only took these few shots before the show, then put it away and forgot about it until after the show. oops. I wish I got a shot of the massive rock walls that shoot up on either side of the venue: I forget how amazing they are until that first trip there each summer (friday was our inaugural mission in 08'). You can kinda see the reflection of the rock point shooting up in my shades. I'll re-attempt some better shots when we go for MMJ.

So, this weekend at Red Rocks was my first time to see a lot of good friends since before the whole cancer thing took affect. I gotta say, boy was it nice. Mere and I roamed around all night and saw so many quality folks and just rocked out to some great tunes. Reconnecting with such great people felt real nice.

Good Times.

Street art:

Does your town seem to have a ton of terrible taggers writing their names all over? Well, Denver is filled with pathetic attempts at graffitti. Where I work has repeated offenders and it's such a problem, that we have a "graffitti brigade" in this town that will come out and paint over your most recent tags if you just give 'em a call. Don't you just wish it was all cool and clever like those examples above? Then, it'd be interesting to see the newest works when you came into work each morning.