Those crazy Japanese

Apparently these bikini jeans are getting popular in Japan. Hilarious. They are supposed to be a conglomeration of low rise jeans and a bikini bottom (duh), but I think they look more like some kind of denim wrestler leisure pant. I will admit, though, after visiting Tokyo, those Japanese are VERY stylish, and somehow amidst the populace and everyone's stylish/strange attire there, these jeankinis would actually prob not be the strangest clothing you'd see while strolling the streets of Tokyo. Yes, we are boring, yet sane, dressers here in the ol' U-S of A.

Best Tees of 08

I know not everyone wears T-shirts to work, but if you do, you may like this post on Coolhunting. One of their guys has picked out his fav shirt places of 08. Might have to stock up on 'work shirts'.

Skate furniture

Even though once Mere and I get a house we'll be too broke to buy furniture, I still like checking it out. I also love it when people find new ways to build traditional stuff, like this skateboard truck lazy susan. Really clever. If you're in need of a lazy susan, check it here.

Apply for the best job in the world

The job requirements are to 'stroll the white sand beaches, snorkle and take care of a 'few' taks". And the pay? Try 105K. Yep, not kidding. Read more about it here, the application link is lower down. Am I applying? Darn right I am.

I can't believe this is real

Ok, I found this on Boingboing today. I cannot believe it's real. It's cheese that, when translated, means "rotten cheese" and is LITERALLY cheese infested with maggots. Yeah, for real.

Here's what boingboing said:

Casu marzu is an illegal Sardinian cheese that is served riddled with writhing maggots that try to jump into your eyeballs as you eat it.

Casu marzu is considered toxic when the maggots in the cheese have died. Because of this, only cheese in which the maggots are still alive is eaten. When the cheese has fermented enough, it is cut into thin strips and spread on moistened Sardinian flatbread (pane carasau), to be served with a strong red wine.[6][7] Casu marzu is believed to be an aphrodisiac by local Sardinians.[1] Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed,[5][8] diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping into their eyes.[3] Those who do not wish to eat live maggots place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a "pitter-patter" sound. When the sounds subside, the maggots are dead and the cheese can be eaten.[9]

Neat.

Mere and I do a lot of urban bike riding here in Denver. The bike culture is quite present, comparatively, to living other big cities (ahem, Atlanta, you could learn a thing or two about being bike friendly). There are an adequate amount of bike lanes and paths and ped bridges, but still, occasionally when you're in the heart of downtown, cars get RIGHT up on you. I get it, though, it's hard to always make room for everyone (thank god the sidewalks here are are never full besides rush hour and you can always poach one).

Seeing as how many of us fossil fuel non-users (i.e. bike commuters) are still in danger on the roads, the people at Altitude, Inc have created LightLane. It basically projects a bike lane around you as you ride. Best part: it uses Lasers (say 'lasers' in your best Dr. Evil voice). In theory, this gadget provides drivers with a boundry to stay out of when dealing with bikers. Read about it here on Good magazine's blog (Good mag is very cool, btw).

Other places are colder than Colorado

First off, I gotta say, it's been amazing here this weekend. 55 degrees and sunny, hard to believe it was cold and snowy a week ago. I found this vid on youtube of someone spraying a bottle of hot water outside in Minnesota when it's -21 degrees. Thank freakin' God I don't live in Minnesota. We have vowed to only go warmer from Colorado! Check out the spray vid here.

House me.

The time has come for Mere and I to have a house. We've been married for over 3 years and have been living in a VERY small apartment ever since, saving away any extra money we can in anticipation of buying a home. We kicked it around a few years ago, but took a break from looking for a while, then cancer came (and went!), and well, it just never happened. Now that we know we're gonna be in D-town for a while, we figured it's time to take the plunge. So the last three or so weeks our excess time has been spent surfing home sites and driving the streets of hoods we like. Not a lot of fun, really, but also somewhat exciting. We go thru series of ups and downs, finding something we like, only for it to not work out, then to drive all day and not find anything, then to finally look at something we love. Well, we looked at something we love. And we put in an offer. Yay.

The house is an OLD victorian with massive amounts of charm and potential. It's really neat and in a GREAT hood. Pretty much one of the three or so 'hot' ones in Denver, and our offer is 15K less than the current owners bought it for in 02'. Sweet. The big drawback is that it's a short sale, meaning the bank is involved, and lots of people have to accept the offer. And banks move slow. We've already got the approval of the owners, but are still waiting on the bank. The worst part is that the whole time we are waiting another party can put an offer in. And, after the inspections, we'll surely wanna renegotiate due to things they'll find and we'll have to go thru this all over again.

So, buying a house is kinda freaky, right? I mean, we saved all this cash for this, but to finally give it away is scary. Where is that little monetary security blanket I've grown so accustomed to seeing my statement? Bye bye good friend. It's scary, but we know this is the right thing to do. So we're excited. Real excited. We also look forward to whenever it is that you come visit, b/c we'll finally have a guest bedroom for you. See you soon!

Weathermen.

So, do you ever wonder if weather men/women just make stuff up? Honestly, they are so off. When they say it'll snow a ton, it almost never does. Last night they said the storm would prob not even touch Denver. Guess what I woke up to? Yep, lots of snow. Hey, I love a good snowstorm as much as the next Georgian in Colorado, but man, it's comical how these guys are so errant with their jobs. Thank god surgeons have a much smaller acceptable margin of error.

Farewell good pal

Yesterday was a sad day. It was the day Will moved out of the apartment above us. We moved into this apartment because Will owned the house and he lived upstairs. And there was no lease to sign. It was all supposed to be temporary. The months turned to years and suddenly it's been 3 years of having Will upstairs whenever he was in town or not working. It was perfect: Will worked 10 or so days on, working all night long, then would have around 10 days off where he'd hang around with us some and some up in Steamboat with Chris. So, we essentially had a second apartment upstairs that was mostly empty and functioned as our guest apt. When it wasn't vacant, we had Will around to hang out with. Now, that is over and we have nowhere to go borrow milk or have our visiting friends stay. And the worst part: there's no Will. He's been one of Mere and I's best friends for as long as I remember having good friends, and we're both very sad to say good bye. The best part, tho, is that he's following his dreams and moving to Hawaii in a few days. I know we'll be visiting him there and loving his new location, but we're selfishly sad he won't be hanging around us as much. I'd wish him good luck, but I don't think he needs luck, I just know he'll be sucessful wherever he ends up.

NYE, wooo hooo!

Man-o-man, what a good time. To me, both shows were really rocking and I just gotta give Eric Pretto some big thanks for hooking Mere and I up. We got to go into the bar with free beers and he had us up on stage to see some of Yonder Mountain String band (opener) the first night and up there for the champagne toast and for the first three or four songs of the second set on New Years. Wow. Sitting up there that close was really super amazing, and Mere and I couldn't believe it. I was so wishing I had a real camera and not just my phone camera. The best part is Mere always wants to ask Pretto for them to play Arlene, and it's almost sort of a joke b/c we never end up seeing it, and she always wants to ask him (he works for the band). While on stage Pretto gave me a glance at a small section of the setlist they were gonna play, where the only song exposed I could see was, in fact, Arlene. We kept it a secret for Mere, but needless to say, when it happened the girl was giddy.

What a good time. I, personally, am so happy to see 2009. Parts of 2007 and 2008 were some of the hardest moments of my life, and I'm happy to see them go and hope I never go back there. Sitting on stage at the last WSP concert for a long time (they are on break after those shows) to ring in the year was about as epic a moment as we coulda had, and I'm convinced it's a harbinger for amazing, epic, unforgettable moments in '09. I am ready for a full year of growth and forward movement, of positive changes and wonderful new experiences. And best of all, owning a house. We can't wait. We are so happy to see what the future brings and more than anything just excited to be alive and happy. Best wishes to everyone for an amazing, fullfilling 2009. I hope it's filled with everything you are hoping for.

free sepia

My buddy Ryan clued me into this iphone sepia app. So, i took a few shots over xmas up in Steamboat and put 'em up there. They look sorta crappy blown up, but small they are a-ok.

Strawberry Park

If you are ever in or near Steamboat Springs, CO, you should go check out Strawberry Park Hot Springs. They are amazing. Nestled up in the hills above steamboat, naturally heated water bubbles out of the ground and cascades down into pools, then the pools cascade into other pools, the temps getting cooler as the pools go down. The hottest one is almost unbelievably hot, but some of us seemed to like the hot one better. It's fun in summer to go b/c you can jump into the river and the cool pool, but when we just went it was just about 2 degrees out and the cool pool was REAL hard to get into. The hot pools were magical, though, and we lounged about and drank some prosecco (ps- they say no alcohol, so sneak it in a nalgene or something). The air was so cold our hair froze while we were floating around, it was wild. Once it becomes dark the pools get clothing optional and it's a more adult affair, but if you've never gone, going during the day is nice b/c you can check out the beauty.

turns for xmas.

We decided to stay in Colorado for the holidays this year. After doing Guatemala and Honduras in October, we thought we'd try to save some cash and we did turkey day and xmas/NYE here. While I must admit, we missed our family on Christmas morning, we still managed to have some fun. We stayed in Will's wonderfully comfy home in Steamboat and made some serious turns at Copper Mountain, Steamboat and Winter Park. It's been dumping up there like mad, and we found all sorts of powder stashes. It was awesome. Even tho we all missed our families a whole lot, we really had some great times hanging with Chris and working up some sore legs.

Merry Xmas to all those we love and miss and wish we were with over the holidays.

I now live in the future. sort of.

I'll first say that I've been eyeing this iphone thing since they released it a few years ago. And being an apple guy, it's always seemed like something I'd get but could never rationalize getting the thing. I mean, I work on a brand new Mac at work and own a nice Mac laptop that's never too far at home, why do I need another computer to keep in my pocket for those few times I'm away from my other ones?

Well, I finally gave in and gifted myself with this beaut for xmas this year and I gotta say: it's the coolest thing I've ever owned in my entire life. Yes, it cost a decent bit to break my Verizon contract, yes, AT&T works worse inside my studio, yes, my monthly bill is a little more. But, guess what? It's all worth it.

I can't even begin to list all the cool stuff this phone does, because the list is too great. Everyday I figure out some other amazingly intuitive function, and people keep clueing me into all kinds of neat little tricks. I can tell there's tons and tons more stuff I'll keep discovering on it and that makes me giddy. The apps you can download, alone, are constantly entertaining. I highly recommend this to any gadget person, you will be very entertained. Only disapointments so far: have to email pics you take vs picture message to a phone and I can't seem to copy and paste text. Aside from that- this thing is future.

Hi again

Well, hello again, blogworld. In the midst of the pre-holiday crush I've seemingly forgotten completely about writing on this blog. I think the last I even logged on here it was thanksgiving time. Since then the seasons have finally changed in frontrange Colorado (and thankfully the mtns got crushed with snow), and we've done all kinds of things that rock. I'll do my best to see what I can add here in the next day or two when I get some time and recoup my gray matter from NYE. Happy holidays to all and a fantastic '09 is in store for us all, I just KNOW it.