australia and new zealand - week 1

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long absence. Things have been pretty hectic since we got home. I wanted to get some photos from our trip up, so I'm going to do it in a few bits. Up first, our week together in Far Northern Queensland.

We stayed in Palm Cove, about 20 minutes north of Cairns. This gave me lots of practice driving on the opposite side of the road. It was much stranger than expected. Unfortunately, there are no pics of this, as Kristie was shaking with fear everytime we got out of the car, and the one's she took didn't come out.

At our Hotel in Palm Cove.

The super-hot Vegemite sales girl at the grocery store.



Australian cheese is the most truthful example of product labeling ever.


Kristie Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.


Scott Snorkeling


Kristie and Sienna the Koala


Scott Feeding Kangaroos


Scott spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital after Kristie offered to pour him some of this locally brewed rootbeer.


On the road to Port Douglas


Relaxing on the beach at the Frankland Islands.


Four Mile Beach

Thanks for reading, here is the link to more of our pics from the week.



The whole week was amazing. The great barrier reef is sooooo cool. The pictures and video we'd seen before going didn't even come close to the real thing. We hope you all get a chance to go. Even though you aren't as attractive as us, you will probably still have a good time.

Up next: New Zealand

Home at last

Hey everyone. We made it back. So, if you were planning a break-in, you'll have to wait til we go to work, now. (and remember, no shoes on the carpet, jerkface.)

We took lots of pics and made tons of great memories. Our week together in North Queensland was the obvious highlight of the trip, but Kristie had a great time in Sydney, while I was at class in New Zealand. (The class was pretty incredible, too).

I will post some pics in the next day or so. It's late, though.

Great Barrier Reef

Here are a few pics from our trip out to Moore Reef on the great Barrier reef. It was amazing. We have some more underwater photos that we'll post when we get back.

Kristie and Wally the Maori Wrasse
Scott and Wally

greetings from Far North Queensland

Hola everyone. We are here safe. hope this finds you all happy and well. Pics to come.

jim and maggie visit colorado

Well, this took me way too long to post, but life has been pretty hectic around here.(Sorry Jim and maggie for making you wait too long.) We had a pretty laid back time catching up, and going a few places. (We were at the tail end of their trip to the Tetons/ Jackson Hole and Mount Rushmore, both tough acts to follow, no matter how awesome we are.) For the most part it was pretty rainy here, which was nice for us after the record heat we had in July and early August, but a bit cold for them. Here are are some picks we took from the visit. Too bad we didn't have any of Kristie's parents destroying us at disco bowling, then again, I was so pitiful its probably better not to remember. Here are a few we took at the Parade of Homes.

Kristie and Jim (nice purse.)

Kristie, Jim and Maggie

Cool little girls bedroom (for meg-o).

Awesome rubber tiles and fake grass to look like a little garden path.

Super creepy dude who stood at the end of a hallway in one of the homes. When people walked past him, he'd half whisper, "Hey, hey.... You like soft water?"After asking, he would give an inconspicuous head nod toward an unfinished storage room on his right in the picture.

It was fun having them, and hopefully it won't be as long before the next time we get to visit. Lacey was good and worn out, and misses the extra people to play with.

our precious planet

its time to take a long hard look into our backyards america. The prodominence of rainbows is the growing every day, and we can stop it if we would only....... um..... water at night?

our front patio

Now that I am out of school, I've finally been able to get some projects on the honey-do list taken care of. One of our first projects was to make some inprovements to the front yard/ patio area. We thought it would be good to remove the rocks/ weeds, and lay down some pavers. They aren't perfect by a long shot, but I'm still proud of what we got done in a weekend.

Sorry, no before pics. Just imagine weeds and rocks.

Because meg asked.... here are the basic steps: We started by shoveling out all the rocks and pulling up the old fabric (that didn't work at all to stop weeds.) There were a lot more rocks that we thought, so as an added bonus, our neighbors got rocks in their yard, which used to be dirt.

Step 2: Have your pet walk through your level lines, and "christen the project."

Step 3: Back fill the area with paver base to a depth 3" below what you want the finish to be. The depth of the rocks resulted in us taking our 3rd trip to Lowe's to get 8 more bags of base than we originally thought we needed. Oh well. Be sure to tamp down the base with a tamping square, and keep this all level using a 2x4 for a screed, with a slight slope (1" for 48" of run will be sufficient) down away from the house/ anywhere else you don't want an ice pond in winter.

- End of Day One (Officially the 2nd hottest day ever in Denver. No good. Lots of breaks.)

Step 4: Add new fabric, and at least 1" of paver sand. Be sure to level out, and lightly tamp the sand.

Step 5: Place some test pavers to see how level things are coming out.

Step 6: Lay in the rest of the pavers too fast and uneven because you are excited about finishing the project.

Step 7: After some corrections.... a newly paved patio. Make sure you get an extra bag of sand fill in low spots and sweep into the spaces between the pavers after they are all layed in.

Final tally: 6 trips to Lowe's, 16 big pavers, 94 small pavers, 20 bags paver base, 12 bags paver sand, 1 tamping square. Special thanks to Dave and Janel for letting us borrow thier rake and shovel, Aaron, Jeanne and Isaac for helping unload some of the sand and pavers, and of course Kristie for doing tons (literally) of heavy lifting with all the sand and pavers.

all done

I finished my summer studio on thursday. Our jury went really well, and the comments from the jurors were pretty positive. Thanks to Brydie for being a good partner.


Our project was a series of temporary/ changing structures that could be built in a favela (shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro. The idea was that we could have a positive effect on the community in a way that wouldn't be too heavy-handed (ie: most of what the government has tried to do there in the past). Our proposal was meant to be built by the people who live there over time, and would gradually take ownership of the paths within the favela away from the drug lords that currently control them, and return it to the more positive elements of the community. We proposed systems of activity in four areas (community, culture, education, and commerce) overlayed along the path and designed to occupy the space at different times of the day, as needs change. Ya, it was really complicated, and I'm finding, very difficult to explain without a big presentation.

Anyway, Its done, and with a little luck, so am I.



To catch up:

A special note to congratulate Lane and Elena on the birth of thier daughter, Gabriela. She is super cute, and we're really happy for you. Hopefully, we'll get out to DC to meet her (and sample some her parents' fantastic cooking) sometime soon.

Also, a special thanks to holl for posting the lideshows of our neices and nephews over the last week. That was really cool of you, now if you could just get lamy and josh to post pics from thier trip to Alaska, Mark and Melinda to Post some from Lake Powell, and Mom and Dad to post from Disneyland with Mego and Aaron.... we'll be all set.

Congrats to Mindy on passing her exam. Good luck Barrett.

I've been been out of school for 10 days now, and it has been so refreshing to be home with Kristie and Lacey. We've been having fun being a family, and I'm stating to make some dents in the Honeydo list finally. Last weekend I took all the rocks out of our patio, and put in pavers. More on that later. This week will bring new blinds, and hopefully some progress toward a new coffee table. I'll update with pics in coming posts.

Work for both of us is going well. I am working on a lot of healthcare stuff, right now, and they are starting to keep me busy now that I've been full time for a week. Kristie just found out that her group is hiring another person so they wont have more 12 day weeks like the one she just finished. We have been carpooling more, together with our neighbor, Aaron. Today it was just us, which was especially good.

We'll be carpooling a lot more in the coming weeks, with the Democratic National Convention coming to town. I work right across from the Pepsi Center, and my normal parking lot is going to be the convention headquarters for Fox News or NBC, I can't remember which. My boss was in the paper last Sunday talking about our offics plans for the convention, because we are so close. Here is the link to the story, (btw, I work at BWG.)http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10002391

I have no idea how I will actually get to work, because all the roads around us will be closed off, and the police barrier starts literally 15 feet from my desk. Hopefully it will be such a hassle on the first day that they'll just let us work from home for the rest of the convention.

In other work news... They just hired a receptionist that is a dead ringer for Shannon Sefton.

All in all life is good. To those who responded to my from you to me... thanks. My replies are being compiled, and will be arriving shortly. To those who are still reading... More stuff you should know is also on its way.

This was not the best post. Second best maybe, but I shoot for the top, and in reading back what is above, this is not the mind-bogglingly high standard of excellence I usually exceed. Lo siento.

in response to batman

I have not seen batman, and do not intend to, now that I have done a little research.

My primary concern in going to see batman is that I will yet again be dissapointed by the incomprehensible lack of an update to batman's primary means of crime notification, aka, "the bat signal". Several reliable sources have told me that, yes, in fact, despite having a new costume, several new gadgets, and a totally sweet new ride, the caped crusader still lacks a secure and reliable channel for recieving urgent and critical alerts when he is needed.

So there you have it. Buyer Beware.

I give it a B-.

dim sum

This is for meg-o and anyone else who doesn't know what dim sum is:

I should have explained a bit. Dim Sum is Chinese food. Its like spanish tapas in that the appetizers are the meal. The food is USUALLY served from carts that are wheeled around the restaurant from table to table. The server opens the cart and shows you the different dishes, and you pick which ones you want to try. They stamp your sheet with what you got, and then tally it up at the end to give you your bill. Potstickers are dim sum. So are bbq pork bun (bao), chinese spare ribs, and fried wontons.

If you are considering going, here is some stuff I really like (you might have to save the picture to read the text. Sorry.):

King's Land

Tonight kristie and I had a dinner we will never forget. When I worked at Studio C, we used to go to this dim sum place for lunch, and I hadn't taken Kristie, so I thought it would be fun to go tonight.

I am much more adventurous about trying super sketchy locations and different foods than most, and understand that I need to prepare people before they get to the restaraunt for what they will likely experience. I told her about the run down strip mall this place is in, about the questionable bingo hall-esque interior that is not in the best shape. I countered this by telling her about the tasty food, and great reviews it gets.

Then we got there.

First of all, the place was packed, which is not the case at all during lunch. Second, after we were seated, I realized they had given us menus, and no carts were to be found. We got the server's attention, and asked about the dim sum. The answer was for her to walk away and talk to another server. After about 15 mins of back and forth involving some serious translation, and a good deal of guessing, we were told they weren't doing dim sum for dinner, but if we wanted, they could do a limited menu. They gave me a menu, and honestly, I had no idea what to do, because I usually just point at what looks tasty, or let the asians I normally go with do the picking. I just eat it. I have no idea what its called.

I made some guesses and after some more back and forth, we got our order in.

Ok, so you might be wondering what the big deal is, right? Well, to put it simply there was a vietnamese wedding reception going on in the back half of the restaurant, and it was loud. And awesome, and totally unlike anything either of us have ever experienced. It was amazing and familiar and crazy and awesome all together in one.

The band was rocking tv theme songs from LA Law, Dynasty, or The Love Boat, or maybe a mix of the three. There was a guy in traditional ceremonial dress acting as an MC, who was yelling in Veitnamese, and then giving english translations to everyone. The bride and groom seemed confused by the whole thing and spent the whole time we were there walking around aimlessly. People were dressed in some awesome threads, including one dude in what I think was the outfit Eddie Murphy wore in RAW. The ladies were something else entirely. It was like they came straight from an anime convention.

Things were out there to begin with and then the MC began mixing in singing with his talking. Not normal singing that went with the music, but like childrens songs. He would do that for a while then introduce a different singer for one or two songs in vietnamese. After one childrens song, a white dude got up there and started singing in Vietnamese. Apparently this dude knew the hits, because the guests started clapping after the first line. Some how vietnamese singing coming from a middle-aged white boy was wierder than coming from a chick dressed like a fairy princess warrior.

As we were waiting for the check, Kristie and I were talking about how wierd and foriegn it was, and I could just imagine these same people staring at a bunch of white people at a different reception, trying to make sense of the chicken dance or the hand jive. If they'd been at our wedding, they would have been writing about the interesting ceremonial music/dance where everyone got in a line, put thier hands on the hips of the person in front of them, did this dance/ walk around the room.

Anyway, it was an unforgetable experience, so if you pass a dim sum restaurant and notice a car out front with just married on the back window. Go in.

from you for me

By now fans worldwide have a good idea of what makes me tick/ groove/ generally get down.

So I am curious to hear what sorts and types of things you think would suit me. what I'm failing to get at is a request for names and links to musicians you think I might, or might like to, dig. As a bonus/ retaliatory strike, I will reply with a suggestion of my own for you and yours.

Send em' in. I'll listen/ buy/ delete this post (and cry) if no one responds.

Winner gets to tell people they know me.

Scott

up for air

Scott is in school right now. He will be done in late July. For now.... a quick update:

Kristie is starting to get pretty busy at work, and likes working downtown. She moves into a new office a few blocks away soon, and won't have to park in the crazy haunted house garage that she goes to now. Thats good because lately there have been bricks falling off the place, and the elevators randomly send her to floors she doesn't want.

She just got back from seeing the new biofuel plant her company opened in Wood River, Nebraska (Population: Corn, and thats pretty much it.)

She got to go up on top of the grain elevator high above the Nebraska Plains. Its said that on a clear day you can see all the way to even more fields.

I think this explains a lot about her real motive for taking the trip.

Scott's new job at BWG is going well. He just finished Construction Documents for an Elementary School, and is working on a few hospital projects right now. Studio is rough, as usual, but he's getting through it. His project is in a Favela (shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro. He's designing a series of spaces for a pathway that include a School, Outdoor Theater, Restaurants, a Samba School, Artist's Co-op, Community Garden, Market, Health Clinic, Daycare Center, and Substance Abuse Recovery Center. All the spaces will be temporary and changeable as the users see fit during the day and over time as needs change. Four more weeks and it'll be all done.

Lacey is happy her mom is home again, and has resumed her old job of following Kristie around the house, and laying on her every time she sits down.

More soon, hopefully.

Last weekend

Last Saturday I went to an auction with our friend Dave. It was pretty cool. Some interesting stuff and amazing deals to be found. It was my first time, so I was just checking it all out, and didn't get anything. There were some ladies there that got a little over-excited, I think, and ended up paying like 30 bucks for stuff you could get at michaels for 20. At one point two sisters were bidding against one another, and the winner of the two ended up paying like 50 bucks extra. Not too bright. Anyway, it was fun hanging with Dave, and hopefully we'll go again soon.

I got home and was watching tv or something when Kristie asked me what time I wanted to leave to see the Brian Regan show down in Denver. I had totally forgotten that Kristie found us tickets because we got them back in march, and s much has happened since then... We drove down, and got there just in time after a quick, super sucky burger at Johnny Rockets. It was so funny. I was hoarse from laughing at the end of the night. We will definitely be going to more comedy shows. The crowd is so much more diverse than at music concerts. It was really cool. And... guess what? You can see the show too, because he was taping for a Comedy Central special that night. I'll remember to post when I hear about it being on. And... its going to be his new DVD, too, so there are lot of little extras that he did after his usual encore just for that. You might even hear me yell, "Hey, I have a mouse, you jerk!"

If you hadn't heard of him, here is a bit from Youtube.

all good things

Good-bye my old job....

Its doubtful anywhere else will have the same penchant for putting a single song or Album on repeat all day the way Studio C does. Some personal favorites... 2+ days of the Charlie Brown Christmas Album
Obscure Culture Club
The Top Gun Soundtrack
Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" all afternoon and the next morning, complete with boss kareoke.


NOWHERE will have a basement quite like Studio C. That perfect mix of Ping Pong Table/ Conference Room/ room with piles and piles of random crap like plastic baby dolls, fake bags of money, a player piano, a ton of old office phones, and lots of places to hit your head/ trip on something.


Its equally doubtful I will ever work somewhere with such wonderful lunchtime excursions. Ho can you go wrong when you have choices like:
Zuni Kitchen
Los Carboncitos
Baby Egg Rolls/ Bun/ Lunch Special (all the same place)
Chinese bakery (Will's Grandma)
Pho
Chow Fun
Other Chow Fun
Other Other Chow Fun (that isn't as good)
Super-authentic Korean food (for the company Christmas Dinner)
Dim Sum

Nowhere else will have a fridge so fully stocked with mounds and mounds of string-cheese like studio C. Nowhere else will have such a ready supply of swiss cake rolls, animal crackers, or gross slightly-flavored carbonated water. Nowhere else will have such a rigorously designed coffee maker/ beans/ grinder/ water dispensor setup.

Most of all, though, I will miss that unrepeatable experience of walking around in the basement, and realizing the trap door in the ceiling was directly below my desk.

Studio C was an amalgum of the fascinatingly ingenious, and the amazingly infuriating. I'll go back sometimes I'm sure.... for lunch, mainly.