My Adventures and Travels

This weekend, Toni and I had a very rare chance to get out of town for the weekend! Now that he's officially done with poker, he has weekends off for the first time since we met! His friend Rick, from Montana, was in the state (the other side, but still, Colorado!) for a skiing/family reunion at Powderhorn Ski resort. That's by Grand Junction....about 5 hours and 8 ski resorts away, but we had a great time! The down side: for the first time in weeks, it was actually WARM and sunny in my neck of the woods....we are talking 50 degrees! Of course, we crossed the continental divide and into a snowstorm and windy day, but a good time was still had by all. It is not easy to take pictures while skiing. But, we stayed in Rick's timeshare condo, which literally looks right out at the ski runs and lift ! And we all had some post-skiing beverages after a day on the slopes. Toni got ambushed by his friends as we came back from the ski lodge bar...I got out of the way and took pictures...

This was from the blog Daily Kos , and I think it's a nice wrap-up of a debate! The Republican debates according to a 9-year old (w/Poll) by 8ackgr0und N015e Sun Jan 06, 2008 at 01:59:36 AM PST I've avoided watching the debates until now because I saw them as little more than exercises in media manipulation. This time, I wanted to watch the Republican debate just to hear the other candidates respond to Ron Paul. Unfortunately, I had a scheduling conflict so I asked a kid to take notes for me. As the debate began, I drew a quick seating chart of the candidates to help the kid keep track of who said what and then ran off. BTW - this is not snark. This is a straight rendition from a 9 year old. The only changes I made were for spelling errors (except the names). It must have been more difficult than I thought to keep track of all the new names. That's the only reason I can think of to explain why this reporter devised a new naming strategy to keep track of the c...

When I was at UNC, I joined the fencing team and kept busy with that for 2-3 years. After I graduated, I didn't pick it up again. A couple years later, I took a 12-week course, but again, never found a place to practice regularly. (Hey, the only place nearby only did fencing on my poker night!!) Over winter break, though, I found out that a new branch of the Denver Fencing Center was opening in Golden. Perfect! No driving to the tech center or Boulder during rush hour! Last Monday I went to my first Intermediate Foil Skills class. The snowy drive was scary but worth it. I was the only one signed up for that class, so it was a private lesson. Holy Cow. Fencing in itself is a heck of a workout. Doing so after several years, definitely. But a private lesson too? It was intense and I felt it for days-it was great! I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

"Wake me up in 2008" is a bumper sticker that made me laugh out loud when I read it. Now, 2008 is finally here, and the democrats are strong and energized. According to my friend John , about 234,000 dems in Iowa went to the caucuses last night-compared to 125,000 in 2004 ( US News and World Report ). I am thrilled that Obama won because I like what he has to say, am ready for a change in leadership, and I think he has a very good chance of winning. For political nerds like me, elections are like the superbowl! Thank you, Iowa.

10. Summer hikes 9. Christmas with Mom's side of the family 8. Thanksgiving with Dad's side of the family 7. Camping at Jumbo Lake with Toni & his family 6. Oregon with Toni 5. Watching the Rockies go all the way to the World Series 4. Mom's wedding 3. Graduation from grad school 2. The rest of Peru And the number one thing of 2007... 1. Hiking the Inca Trail and ending at Macchu Pichu Happy New Year!