Missouri Mountain

Last Saturday, Jeremy, Kevin, and I climbed Missouri Mtn. This hike is described by photos.

all my photos here. 

From Missouri Mountain

An overflowing creek forced us to attempt Missouri from the east side, a side we knew would be snowier than the west side we'd hoped to climb. 

From Missouri Mountain

The reward for gaining the ridge, a view of Mt. Harvard (I think).

Credit Jeremy Lauffenburger. From Missouri Mountain

Tired but happy to debut the ice axe. 

From Missouri Mountain

Kevin climbs above the snowy couloirs. 

From Missouri Mountain

The final pitch to the summit.

From Missouri Mountain

Sunny summits, Colorado's greatest offering. 

From Missouri Mountain

Preparing to glissade down a 1,000 vertical foot couloir. 

From Missouri Mountain

Halfway down. 

Credit: Jeremy Lauffenburger. From Missouri Mountain

Bahd Ahss! :)

Regina Spektor: Far

As many of you know, I have an absolutely brutal accounting final tomorrow night. This post proves that I lack discipline. But I found a way to preview Regina Spektor's upcoming LP Far and I couldn't be more excited. What can I say? There's no accounting for talent. :) 

My biggest knock against Regina is that in the past, her creativity has gotten in the way of her songwriting. At her best, Regina delivers creative wordplay backed by bubbly and ridiculously catchy piano riffs. At her worst, she sounds like a distracted four year old repeating the same word until someone notices her. 

The four year old has matured. This album (at least the seven songs I heard) delivers some of the most polished of all her offerings. But they don't lose approachable but complex, light feeling harmonies that she's perfected. So far, Machine and One More Time With Feeling are my current favorites. 

My one complaint. Aside from Laughing With, this album seems chock full of cute-sy songs. Is it cruel for me to hope that Regina gets left by her lover sometime in the coming year so that she directs her ridiculously creative self down some darker streets? She'd write the most beautiful breakup album since Fiona. 

Trash Day

ESPN and Brocotalk are reporting that the Broncos have cut ties with LBs Louis Green and Boss Bailey. It wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when. 

TLC

Last night after he exited the $2,000 NL, Paul and I watched Snatch and then Paul called it an early night. Tonight, ____ and ______ ,who live in the Vegas house were DVRing two different shows: Jon and Kate plus 8 and the The Bachelorette. This meant that if I wanted to watch tv, my options were limited to one of the two shows. I have been looking for a show that Amanda and I can watch together and since I’m morally opposed to The Bachelorette I decided to check J&K+8. Also I was curious to see why it garnered such a large following.

I didn’t know this before a few weeks ago but Jon and Kate are married and they have a set of twins and also a set of sextuplets. The show follows their frazzled attempts to maintain sanity while keeping all of their children alive. (This episode turned out to be “Heading South,” which Wikipedia tells me debuted in August of 2008.)

My notes during the show.

Kate walks into some fly paper in the garage and demands that Jon move it.  I would move it to her side of the bed if she spoke to me like that.

Jon describes how he’ll back up the Uhaul trailer. What? Why is this show popular? Who cares about this?

Whoa, passive aggressive wifey.  Ah this is why it’s popular. Kate is approaching heinous human status. This site is much better for passive aggressive (notes) though. 

Kids fighting and wearing crocs. Do the parents really think their kids don’t know their left from right?

They hire a housekeeper/nanny. Appears that I’m squandering 30 minutes of my life right now.

The appeal of this show is that the wife doesn’t respect the husband anymore and the husband is over the marriage. This is obvious even from one episode nine months ago.

Embarking on a road trip with 8 children is completely insane but also boring tv. I miss you Sex in The City.  

Kate wasn’t sure that she would need cooking utensils so she was glad she brought some.  OH. MY. GOD.

Kate, “Now it’s going to be all mildew-ey inside the van. Won’t that be perfect?” It’s not the man’s job to roll up the windows, honey. It’s everyone’s job.

Kate, “It took concentration to pack the cooler.” Ummm…This would be a very difficult show to get into.

Kate, “When in doubt, pull out the snacks.”  The first intelligent thing I’ve heard.

Jon, “I’m not an expert trailer backer-upper person.” This might have sealed the deal for me.

 

After watching my first and only episode, I can think of three possible reasons people might waste their lives watching this:

a. People feel better about their own lives after watching this train wreck of a relationship.

b. It’s Monday night after hockey and basketball have ended. Lesser of 500 evils?

c. The kids look and act alike. (This is quite funny actually).

In short, although Amanda and I had a nice conversation about J&K+8, this will not be the show we watch together. I'm leaning toward So You Think You Can Dance, Weeds (via NetFlix),or Mad Men. Any suggestions?

Rats abandoning USS McDaniels

Adam Schefter is reporting that Broncos Pro Bowl Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall has asked to be traded. 

The NBA Finals are over

Fortunately for me, I was just informed that the Las Vegas sportsbooks have already posted lines for Week 1 NFL games. I'll keep you posted....

Go Kid Go

Current Streak: 1 Loss.

Overall Record: 7-6-0

Current Pick: Stanley Cup Finals Game 7. Will Sidney Crosby score at least one point? Yes

Mitch Morgan

Walker, Jess, Amanda, and I enjoyed a few cocktails at Steubens a few nights ago when someone mentioned a Mitch Morgan.

I love bourbon and I love bacon but it strikes me that some things are probably much worse than the sum of their parts. 

I'm going streaking!!

For money no less.

Now that I have your attention... Recently I have begun playing ESPN's Streak For the Cash. This is a freeroll (meaning it costs nothing to enter), and the winner gets $1,000,000. Essentially contestants have to predict the winning side of various sporting matchups (e.g. LA Lakers vs. Orlando Magic game 4). 

Picking correctly begins/extends your streak. If you pick incorrectly, you start back at zero. Currently the leaders have 22 correct in a row. I have two. I will try to post my picks when they happen. Only one pick may be active at any given time.

Current Streak: 2 Wins.

Overall Record: 7-5-0

Current Pick: IAAF Festival of Excellence. From which country will the winner of the 100m hurdles reside? I get USA or Jamaica. The other side gets Canada. Everything else is a push. 

Long Strange Spring

I generally don't believe in astrology but this is so accurate that it's scary.

Spring has always been difficult for me. Recently I've been oscillating wildly between euphoria and either depression or anger. I've also been setting myself up for frequent migraines--a combination of not stretching and using this laptop from decidedly unergonomic positions. 

Recently Amanda mentioned that she was surprised I'd never been to therapy. :)  While I may not be able to particularly afford human therapy, this W.I.L.T. reflects the schizophrenia I've been feeling. Here ya go:

The Gossip - Heavy Cross

Best known for Standing In The Way Of Control, The Gossip push all my buttons. I hope they push yours. Love the imagery in this video. 

Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk - Paperweight

This mirrors how I feel on the good days. This youtube version is a little weak but trust me, this song slays. 

Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea

I blame the hipsters. They rediscovered boxy plaids; I rediscovered Kurt. He's whiny, he's dark, and for those rainy nights we've been getting recently, he's perfect. 

The Hot Seat

After last night's conversation, it has become very clear that we need to discuss definitions a little bit. 

Amanda: "If anyone is on the hot seat right now, it's you."

Truman (out lout): "Wow, that's a surprise. We should talk more about this."

Truman (internally): "OHMYGOD!!!!!! Have I really done something to be on the hot seat this early? Jeez the stakes are very high right now!!"

Amanda: "You're on the hot seat because my mom knows about your blog." 

To be clear, in Sportsland where I live, being on the hot seat means one thing and one thing only. It means you are dangerously close to getting fired (typical hot seat article here). Yes, having my girfriend's mom find the blog puts a little pressure on me. However, in no way does that warrant the dreaded hot seat tag. From now on, there will be no false hot seat references. Please. 

Oh and hi Mom! :)

Lose some

Five months after I emailed my professor asking for feedback on my first grad school final, I received it. Well half of it. The professor decided to only offer feedback on the second half of the exam. The email included these delightful snippets: " it was difficult for me to arrive at the 4 marks that I did," and " I gave you 6 points for this but may have been overly generous." While I disagree with his assessment, my case isn't strong enough to make fighting worthwhile. I think that continuing will only waste time and perhaps predispose other professors in a negative way. 

" Dear ___,

Thanks a lot for your response. I appreciate your feedback and consider this issue resolved. Of the classes I’ve taken so far, yours remains my favorite. Have a great year,
Truman "

Adventures in Denver

Time flies when you don't blog. As you probably have noticed, it's been a lil sparse around here. That's because I've been spending my time in South Denver. It's amazing how having a girlfriend will decimate one's time online (this is a good thing). 

Most of you know about Amanda. I haven't yet come up with a good lie about how we met but here is a short synopsis of our first few dates:

Date 1: lunch at a hipster veggie restaurant (we both eat meat). 

Date 2: thai food and then drinks at a dive bar (she rarely drinks)

Date 3: church!!!

Date 4: ice cream at Bonnie Brae and hanging out at Wash Park (this ended when I was abruptly booted off the swingset by someone with Down Syndrome)

Since then I have spent virtually all of my available time with her. A blog post is no way to capture someone's life because inevitably they'll come off as shallow--possibly the least likely thing you could say about Amanda. I'll mention a few tidbits though. 

Amanda makes me laugh; she challenges my thoughts (and sometimes my patience). She has the heart of a saint and the waistline of a model. In college, she organized a sit-in to save a women's center. Her adopted dog (snaggletoothed, drooly-eyed, stubby nosed, gurgle-y mutt with back problems and freakish long nipples) embodies the statement 'true beauty is on the inside.' Amanda's chocolate chip cookies could put Otis S out of business. She can be ready in 6 minutes and is addicted to Dr. Pepper. She appears to be the best friend a person could ask for. 

In short, Amanda is great and if you hang out with me you'll probably meet her soon. :)