Hi. How are you?

So the big news of the past few days is the hot water heater saga: Last Thursday evening The Wife and I went out in Boulder to the Rio with a gaggle of my new coworkers. After a lovely evening discussing the possibilities of attending a roller derby, a mixed martial arts bout, or a minor league hockey game (or all three) with the company founder's wife, we came home to discover that we had no hot water. A quick trip downstairs revealed that our twelve-year-old tank was done and dead and pissing itself on the basement floor. Off go the water valves, and I know what I get to do Friday (hardly a worthwhile day off work, if you ask me).

Long story shorter than it might be: We actually had the funds on-hand to do the upgrade to a tankless water heater like I've wanted to do. Now I'm a proud owner of a Rinnai unit hidden away in my crawl space. The old space for the water heater is now only filled by a wall-mounted control panel. Best of all, I can take a shower all friggin' day long if I want to.

There are couple downsides: the hot water is mighty slow to come at first; the hot water pressure is noticeably lower than that of the cold water. But neither of those bother me much -- the continuous nature of the hot water (I can now happily take my shower after everyone else in the house!) more than balances them out, IMO. (Oh, and I guess I get $300 next tax season...) Also worth noting: David at Oasis Plumbing rules me - highly recommended.

Other News:

Scatter Shot

Man, I keep wanting to do a conherent post one of these days, but whatever...

  • Brozo turned me on to the Amy Winehouse, and holy shit is she good! (She uses the lyric "What kind of fuckery is this?" How genius is that?) She may also be a train wreck, which adds some flavor. Lots of vids on teh YouTubes.
  • The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls have announced their 2007 schedule. Good times for cheap, right there.
  • Rod and I still swap snarky emails about the 24, but it's just not the same as our old Tuesday IRC chats. I still think I need to set up a BBS or something. I miss my boys (and my Boo).
  • That football games was crazy, eh? Good for Peyton. He can stop whining now. The commercials sucked eggs, generally, though I give the win to CareerBuilder. And Prince doing Hendrix doing Dylan for the halftime show... Surreal.
  • My BU Ice Dogs are in the Beanpot final again. They shut out Northeastern yesterday and will meet arch-rivals, BC, next Monday.
  • Check out this Desperate Astronauts soap opera. The details of it are awesome.
  • Ryan O'Neal has quite a soap opera going on in his family, too. The money quote: "He hit his own girlfriend in the head."
  • Hang on... The name of Turner Broadcasting's ad agency is "Interference, Inc."?! No wonder they dig on the guerilla marketing!
  • As far as iPod cases go, these little honeys are super hip.

There's probably more in the buffer, but that's all I can be bothered with for now.

Hugs & kisses.

Shotgun

OK, so... Sorry about the week an a half of nothing. I wish I could say I've been busy or some such, but no. Mostly I've been sitting around alternately playing World of Warcraft and watching TV while trying out new and exciting pillow-influenced hair styles.

I suppose I can blast out a short list of tidbits for you though:

  • The big news is that not only did Rod and I jump ship from my old place of employment; now Brandon has followed suit. He's working for an interesting new company, too.
  • Oh, yeah, I start my new gig today. I'm psyched.
  • Related to that, I had the best intentions to try and learn Ruby on Rails this past week that I've had off. That didn't really happen. I've got time, though. ;)
  • I did try to get right on switching my 401(k) plans to an IRA, but only got as far as opening the IRA because the 401(k) people didn't know I'd quit yet. Super...
  • Last Thursday, The Wife and I took in a matinée of Pan's Labyrinth -- totally frickin' awesome. Funny how Fascism and faerie tale allegory goes hand in hand so often.
  • Rod got my hooked up with a private torrent tracker site... Now I'm obsessed with keeping my upload/download ratio above 1.
  • Last night we mixed up a pitcher of martinis and took in the Screen Actors Guild Awards. It was generally an inoffensive evening of festivities, though I can say that some of my favorite shows (24, Weeds, ... that may be it) got robbed, but whatever. They did show Dennis Weaver in their "fallen soldiers" tribute, reminding me of the time he popped into a gas stop cafe in the middle of nowhere (aka Western Kansas) while Miracle Ed and I were having breakfast and trying to get our collective shit together at the tail end of a 31 hour single shot drive from Boston to Denver. Let me tell you, having a bunch of flatland hicks (remember, I'm somewhat of an expert in the field of recognizing and categorizing hicks) freaking out about how "that was the feller that played on that show!" really turns the surreal dial to 11.
  • Ever heard of "Toddy" coffee? Neither had I until the other day. I don't think I buy it.

I guess that will have to do for now.

Birds Flying High, You Know How I Feel

Near the end of August in 2001, after a four month period of being unemployed, I finally found a job with a Boulder company called e-InfoData.com (Holy internet cliche overload!). We'll round the ensuing passage of time up to five and a half years for the purpose of this discussion. In that period the company changed it's name to InsightAmerica, moved its office to Broomfield, and eventually was acquired by a corporate giant (name uselessly withheld). The basic "job" of the company never really changed, and the work was mostly interesting on a nuts-and-bolts level (I still think we regularly pushed ColdFusion well beyond its normal bounds and managed to make it work.), even if the bigger picture at times gave me the heebee-jeebees.

At a more micro level, I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing people (particularly within the technology teams - but outside that, as well). In fact, most of the people I currently consider my best friends were first coworkers.

On a work level, there have certainly been ups and downs, but on a personal level this job has been nothing but positive.

You've probably already guessed that I've decided it's time for me to move on.

  • I'm going back to Boulder. (meh. I'll miss my 10 minute commute, but I only think I'm doubling it.)
  • It's a very small company. (sweet! I enjoy the dynamic of a small company much more than a megalocorp.)
  • I'll be working with an old friend. (yay! This is actually the only reason I applied for the job when I saw it come across the wire.)
  • I'm going to be working daily on a Mac. (w00t! This excites me unreasonably. Not to mention the HUGE monitors they use.)
  • I'll eventually get to work with Ruby on Rails professionally. (double w00t!! I've been a fanboy since the early days, though I've never actually done anything with it.)

I'm also leaving a lot of friends behind. Hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch - the Denver Metro area isn't a very big place, really. Some of us already have outside-of-work connections, but I want to cultivate more of those.

So, yeah... That's what's going on with me.

Let's have Nina Simone carry us out, shall we?

Its a new dawn Its a new day Its a new life For me And I'm feeling good

We got weather! (AGAIN)

So, we haven't had the You Gotta Be Fuckin' Kiddin' Me Snow Event of 2007 (yet), but we've got some interesting stuff going on this morning after a fairly restful weekend. This morning we have a wicked wind blowing. Blowing so hard, in fact, that I got introduced to a new weather phenomenon: the ground blizzard. This hurricane force Chinook pretty much closed Boulder this morning. Supposedly, there's an 18 foot deep snow drift right down the road from my office. Along the way to work, I saw a couple cars that were actively stuck in snow drifts (plus a giant 4x4 that had gone off the road) and a couple that were abandoned overnight. A large hanging street sign was hanging from only one hinge at Wadsworth...

It's like a friggin' apocalypse out there.

Oh, and there's snow in the forecast for Friday.

High Ho, High Ho

I have no idea how long it's been since I've actually been to work. I had the week between Christmas and New Year's scheduled for vacation, but then we had the Hanukkah Blizzard of 2006 so things got started off really early for me. I guess two weeks ago today was the last time I was in the office. Take a guess at my motivation level... ;)

Thanks to the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa blizzard combination, we ended up spending the holidays doing a lot of sitting around and staring at each other. We did get out to the tattoo shop to get the Mother-in-Law a new piece (of which I should really get a better picture) and for The Wife and I to get some touch up done.

Other than that, not a lot to report. We did watch some DVDs:

  • Nacho Libre (B) -- Jack Black, yo. Plus I love me some Lucha Libre.
  • Talladega Nights (A-) -- Best Will Ferrell joint ever. Period. John C. Riley is a king.
  • Aeon Flux (B+) -- I was a big fan of the animated shorts on MTV's Liquid Television, but I kind of like this better. There was actually a storyline available without creative interpretation. Plus Charlize is badass.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (B-) -- Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow was weird in this one. Not nearly as good as the first one.

One quick link, while I'm at it: I like this guy's style.

Let's Get This Pahty Stahted. Right?

Last Saturday, the Wife, Mother-in-Law, and I hosted a holiday dinner soiree at the Sutton abode. Good times were had by all. A few notes/highlights:

  • The slate tile was a big hit. It even survived a couple drunken games of darts.
  • The menu was primarily Italian-style fare. We did have crab rolls in split-top hot dog rolls that we'd had shipped from Boston -- they were a big hit.
  • We made waaaaaaaaay too much food. Should have forced people to take doggie bags.
  • I doubt anyone else even noticed, but I felt the music mix was spot on.
  • We had, at one point, three Asians in our house. In Colorado, this is actually worth pointing out. Sadly, though, that was the (almost) full extent of our ethnic diversity.
  • I'm actually impressed with how long it took the crowd to get into "Hey! What's this?!" mode at our bar/liquor collection. Absinthe and Japanese Whiskey were the most exotic samples that were poured.

If you didn't get invited and think you should have been, I apologize deeply.

Don't take it personally, though, OK? Good. ;)

Avs RULE!

Thanks to Brozo and his dad, I had the extreme pleasure of taking in the Colorado Avalanche vs. the Dallas Stars on the NHL's opening night from the Xcel Energy suite in the Pepsi Center last night. (Avs lost 2-3 in OT. They owned the first two periods - up 2-0 in the second intermission, and then Dallas took it all away in the 3rd and the extra frame.) Freakin' good times, yo.

Love the Bucket Originally uploaded by Jake Sutton.

Highlights:

  • Matty's dad, Dennis asked "What happened with Leopold?" (the new Avalanche defenseman we got in trade for Alex Tanguay, who is starting the season on the Injured Reserve) Matt's cousin Nels answered, "He broke his pussy!"
  • The suite steward came in occasionally to make sure our free (to us) beer and nacho/fajita feast was well stocked. At one point he came up behind me as I sat in one of the plush leather chairs with a bucket filled with ice and beer: "Here, why don't you just put this down by your feet." I love that guy.
  • There was a dude a couple rows in front of us who would occasionally stand up with arms raised and holler "AVS... RULE!!" We found this hilarious. He was obviously trying to start a chant, but instead he got catcalls and Macho Man-styled echoes from Matt's buddy Aaron. One of the guys in the suite next to us was amused enough by our taunts that he suggested maybe "Beer... RULES!" would be more appropriate.
  • That suite next to us belonged to ClearChannel and featured a veritable rainbow of alternate lifestyles and hipsters. At one point a gal joined the other weirdos and exclaimed, "How did all the freaks end up in the suite tonight?" Matty and I aggreed that her sentiment also applied in our suite.

Thanks again, Men of the Brozovich Clan. I had a hell of a time.

Derby Girl Press

There's a great feaure on our Rocky Mountain Rollergirls in the Coloradoan: Rollergirls ready to make their own thunder in the Rockies

Practice also includes learning to get up quickly using just the legs. Hands just get squished under a passing skate if they hit the rink, explained Fifi, an accountant who's been with the league for only a month or so but said she has already learned this very important lesson, wiggling five of her digits.

That's right - Fifi's an accountant. Underneath the tattoos, piercings and fishnets are court clerks and business owners. Not exactly what you'd expect of a "derby chick."

Icy U Hurtin' is a Loveland trauma nurse and mother of four. Lucky 7 is a business development specialist with Turner Media Group. And Gwen A. Flattenya' is an attorney.

There's some weird overlap with a different story at the end, I think... Nevertheless, it's good stuff. I think this is at least the second story I've seen in which the Rollergirls have basically adopted a female reporter, resulting in a glowing review. It's totally infectious, I guess. ;)

Derby Night, Aug 5th

Tonight we were fortunate enough to witness the Red Ridin' Hoods of the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls put on a clinic versus the always game (but outmatched this night) Sugar Kill Gang. The stars of the night were She Who Cannot Be Named (aka SHEEEE-WHOOOOO!!!), jammer extraordinaire; Peaches & Scream (PEEEEEEACHES!!!), who was on loan from the Pikes Peak Derby Dames league and put on a show both offensively and defensively; and my new secret sweetheart: Pinky 500 (PINKEEEEEEE!!!! - I know she heard me at least one time.) with her Mighty Ass of Defense and her Jammer Whip power move. (That's her in the striped stockings below.)

Good times.

Hoods Vistory Lap 2 Originally uploaded by Jake Sutton.

Update: John Eisel is much better at taking roller derby action shots than I am:

Photo by John Eisel

The Weekend that Was

The big event of this weekend was of course, Matt & Jen's wedding. Some highlights from our perspective:

  • The entire wedding party was looking as sharp as ever. The happy couple were especially foxy.
  • Speaking of foxy, Matt's mother, Mary, was looking dynamite. She was representing her Italian roots in full effect.
  • Matt told me at some point during his bachelor's that we were to be seated at the so-called "Fun Table". Of course, that comes with some downsides:
    • For one thing, we were among the last to get "released" to the buffet.
    • For another, our table was actually sacrificed for room on the dance floor, so we lost it all together.
    • Finally, there's the pressure to perform, which turned out not to be a problem -- I really hope someone with a good sense of humor has the job of going through the disposable camera pictures...
  • The Wife has always had a problem coordinating outfits with me when we've gone to things like this. I would often get annoyed because our outfits would often even clash -- it's one thing to not match, it's another to go all black & white while I'm in earth tones... ;) Well, this time we worked it out: I wore my brown sharkskin suit with a red/purple shirt that matched Hezzy's top fairly closely. It paid off, too. The Wife was super-pleased by all the comments we got about our outfits -- the best of which was when one of the photographers came up to us and said "You guys are without a doubt the best dressed couple here." Score! So let that be a lesson, ladies: Treat your man like an accessory and take the time to coordinate his kit to yours (at least a bit).
  • At any rate, good times were had by all. Congrats to Matt & Jen on a fine wedding.

Other than that, I didn't do much. I ended up riding the Bonneville for about 70 miles yesterday, so that was cool.