The MrsAdventures of Beki

2012-01-30T23:51:00.002Z

Vacation Journal

Day 1: Wednesday January 25

Denver to Atlanta - uneventful
Atlanta layover: We met up with Gathering friends Kelly and Megan and their Gathering friend John, who was not going to Wales this year, but actually just on his way back to Oman for work and had a layover same time as us.

Atlanta - Manchester: I've never had such awful wine on a plane, or anywhere actually (except maybe in a college dorm room in the 80's), and what's up with no tvs in the backs of the chairs? Watched Moneyball edited for airplane passengers and fell asleep, then awoke with a horrible feeling that all was not well with my body, so quite logically headed for the bathroom.

Halfway there, I remember thinking "I'm doing great. No one can tell I feel sick..." and then heard "Ma'am, are you on any medication?" as I realized that I was laid flat on the floor of the plane with flight attendants surrounding me. Someone must have caught me as I collapsed because I escaped with only a rugburn on my elbow and slight embarrassment. We asked for lots of prayer heading into this trip so if you've been praying for me to be slain in the spirit--well done; if not, how about upping those prayers for safe travels and my health?

Day 2: Thursday January 26

Caernarfon Jetlag Day!
Upgraded to a Volvo family station wagon with the quirkiest GPS ever. Randy drove very well and only swore once.

We stayed at the Travelodge for a whopping £12.00 and I tried the roasted aubergine with honey marinated vegetables at the Black Boy Inn. Both were risks that paid off.

Day 3: Friday January 27

Caernarfon Castle - a fun return visit with Kelly & Megan
On to the Gathering. Despite all the hype about Pontins being a dump, our apartment was warm and toasty when we got there, and we didn't find Classic to be such a downgrade from Club accommodation. They all need updating and a good clean, but we're not expecting the Ritz. It's punk rock after all. I was convinced for a while that we were in this EXACT apartment, but upon watching again, I see from the view that it's a different one with the same iron stain and bathroom floor issues.

The Alarm's ACOUSTIC SET was full band with the bewildering addition of Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet) on tambourine and guitar.

A very fat drunk man decided to start a personal mosh pit with Kelly and had to be manhandled away from us by security when Randy nearly punched him after several stern warnings. While we tried to handle things ourselves and without too much distraction, apparently, at least two people who were on stage inquired about it the next day to either see if we were ok or to commend us for holding our ground. The whole thing was disconcerting and a big distraction from an otherwise enjoyable set.

More to come...

Day 3: Saturday January 27 - How many Chinese food eaters can you get in a Pontins chalet? How late did we stay up?

Day 4: Sunday January 28 - Beach Walk and goodbyes to Gatherers and Joe.

Day 5: Three trains to Phil & Sarah

Ramblings on my personal musical history...

2011-12-10T22:25:00.003Z

Last night, I got to sing with Danny Byram, a fantastic musician who has been part of my life and my family's life for over 25 years now. It was really fun to be a backup chick again and learn some challenging oooh's and aah's with a bunch of very talented musicians. In addition to opening the concert with Randy, my favorite part of the night was the big carol singalong. I am a nerd for a big carol singalong (especially if I get a microphone). It must have something to do with my parents' Christmas parties in the 1970's.

My mom's family is very musical and while my dad's guitar skills left something to be desired, he was better than he ever claimed to be, and he always surrounded himself with good musicians. In fact, Danny was one of those. He came to stay and work at the camp my dad ran when I was about 15 and gave me some of my first voice lessons.

Growing up in Buena Vista was pretty boring, but Danny would entertain us by coming over and playing cool pop songs on the piano and letting us all sing along. My best friend Roni always made sure she was spending the night if my parents were out late and Danny was in charge so we could sing Huey Lewis and Billy Joel songs with him. ;)

Speaking of the 1970s, another highlight of last night’s concert for me was singing “Two Hands” with Danny as an encore. I have a very distinct memory as a three year old of being held up by the hips by my mother at a concert listening to this song (originally recorded by Love Song) performed live by a group at our church, one hand up in the air and the other reaching forward and thinking that it would be cool to be in a band. I may have been singing along. It was my first live show.

My mother today informed me that the band I saw that night was "Mr. Jeff's band." Mr. Jeff was a musician who moved in with my family when he was about 30 and I was 6. The deal my father made with him was that he could live with us rent free following his divorce as long as it was okay with my mom, but he had to write down one of his songs a day. He had written and performed hundreds of original songs but never written them down!

I had to move out of my bedroom and share with my sister so that he could have a room, so I made a deal with him that he had to sing me any new material first. He taught me James Taylor songs and was the first person ever to tell me that I was off key and show me how to work out a harmony. He was very frustrated with that process and so was I because everyone tells a 6 year old that everything they sing is beautiful but I will forever be grateful for the moment he looked at my little 6 year old face and said, "You're off key! Stop going sharp!"

He put of a few of the poems I had written at age 5 to music, and wrote me a bluesy song about my stubbed toe which became a hit with the neighborhood kids, then went on to write some kids' songs and a musical called "Doodlebugs" after he left our home a year later. I like to think we helped him learn to work with the kids' market.

At rehearsal the other night, Danny told me I was going sharp as I completely botched his arrangement of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Dangit! It still happens all the time. I am fortunate to have friends with perfect pitch and lots of patience.

Getting the metal out!!

2011-09-01T21:18:00.001+01:00

For the first 12 years or so, four different dentists told me nothing was wrong. Finally a few years back, the x rays at Endodontics of Cherry Creek found it!

"It" was a broken dental file lodged in the tip of my root canal since a procedure in the early 90s.

Not only did it mean I had a foreign object in my mouth, but it also meant the original infection was blocked from being completely cleared. Every 4-6 weeks for the past 17 years or so, my body loses the fight and I experience the symptoms of an abcess tooth for a few days til I can fight it off again. A second root canal proved unsuccessful.

Yesterday Dr. Ellen Sachs removed IT.

If you want to gross yourself out, look up apical surgery on youtube; otherwise just take my word for it.

At the moment, I'm recovering well but a little frustrated that the only way to rig an ice pack involves a gag order. Randy must think this is hilarious!

Fall Fell Fallen

2011-08-26T05:05:00.006+01:00

FALL!

I am soooo ready for fall! I already have pumpkin scented votives purchased and am longing for weather that is boot friendly! This summer has been one of the hottest I can remember in Denver, with more days than not lately in the 90s and a big tease of a sky that looks like it will rain but never does.

MUSIC NEWS
There is an ep written. Put a scratch vocal down tonight. Randy is strumming away in the other room. I hope we can make it available in January. So far, on the list of songs up for possible inclusion there are four songs that start with the letter L, and two that include the word "bound" in the title.

NOT SO FAST...

THE SUMMER IN REVIEW:

Here are some things that happened this summer, in random order:

On 7/20, we celebrated our 20th anniversary. We got a whole 36 hours to do so, so we drove to Glenwood Springs for an overnight, but first...

PICTURES

Our friend Kristol Kumar took some fun pictures taken for our 20th anniversary. I think we still look in love...because we are.

Since these pics were taken, I have cut all my hair off and signed up for boot camp. Thanks Groupon. I am probably going to die, and there won't be a ponytail to provide relief, but I'm going to die trying because with 42 looming (I hate the even numbers!) my thighs are betraying me.

On our anniversary getaway, I was pretty excited about the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park Alpine Coaster. So worth it! I wish I had done it ten times!

On the way home, I took a picture of the scenery but the windshield caught the reflection of my feet. It made me think of that worship song...

Finally, the rocks are gone! The gravel in our front yard has been removed and Randy being the nurturer that he is has gone Hank Hill all over our little patch of land. It's green and beautiful and passes the bare feet test!

Red Rocks has been a frequent hangout for me between tours and volunteering for Love Hope Strength and corporate events. The only show I actually bought tickets to was Peter Gabriel, but I wound up there for several rainy evenings anyhow. Here's a brightly colored crowd in their rain gear waiting for the storm to pass.

and a shot of the first-ever dinner seating for thousands IN the amphitheater itself. So bright it could be seen from the highway.

The pianos returned to the 16th Street Mall!

Kathy finished her ep "Little Seasons" and we had the release party at Solid Grounds. CDs arrived last minute as they always do, and this UPS guy had no clue what to think when he was greeting with cheers and a camera by three women--one with a mandolin and one with an accordion!

It was tons of fun and Kris flew in for it, which meant we had to rent an accordion from Alice who teaches accordion and you can bet her students have a good time.

Another of my events jobs had me petting an 800 lb. pig named Lola.

My brother Matt & his family came to visit and we had a good time catching up with Matt, Kate, & Asha. Uncle Randy and Asha acting all mature at a happy hour...the owner gave Asha some dough to play with.

Asha in the dustpan downtown. We went to the art museum but it was closed, so we played checkers at the Children's Library and went to the top floor of the Hyatt Regency where we met some German tourists and took the stairs down.

In other work-related news, the big construction box was finally removed from the airport! No more fountain, no more construction mess. No more people rolling their eyes at me when I have to push past them because they have blocked the only narrow entrance to the TOE. I'll miss my righteous indignation a bit.

I had my first lobster at Ocean Prime when a group was under their guarantee. Not bad. Better than crab. (The steak was better though).

Two Days After

2011-08-07T02:20:00.001+01:00

Lately, I've been interested in the A&E show Hoarders., primarily because I live next door to some. After more than a year of consistent contact with neighborhood inspections along with several other neighbors who are fed up, significant progress has been made and the complaint regarding outdoor storage was closed two days ago.

No sooner was it closed than this trailer full of used tires rolled into the back yard! The sad part...this is the best this yard has looked in three years. Behold! The view from my kitchen window!

Here we go again.

Great Lyrics

2011-06-18T06:02:00.002+01:00

I was really struck by these great lyrics this week:

The last remaining high leaves me low down and alone
-Justin Currie, "Gold Dust"

I knew a man a refugee
Survival was his art
All that he had valuable
He carried in his heart

-Sam Phillips, "Same Rain"

I love my job.

2011-05-31T01:37:00.003+01:00

I just finished a long streak with no days off. I count 16, and because I am a contract worker for several companies, on some days, I wore three different uniforms racing from shift to shift. My little Honda became a makeshift studio apartment with polo shirts hanging from hooks, my makeup bag on the front seat, phone charger in the backpack, layers for every kind of weather (It's Colorado after all), and granola bars and bananas anywhere they wouldn't get smooshed. I downloaded a new app called Timesheet that lets me keep track of time spent on each project. Receipts were meticulously scanned with the cell phone the moment they were obtained. Clipboards were everywhere. I ran out of cell phone minutes.

The thing is...I don't mind at all.

Don't get me wrong. I'm so happy to be off this weekend and spend some time with Randy & Diego, and I slept a LOT on that first day off, but my job is cool. I am a people person and I get to interact with all kinds of people as well as see events and eat food that I could never afford.

Here are some highlights:

-One on one time with a retired civil engineer from Wolverhampton, England (where I just was in January).

-A free Rockies game with $25 in concessions credit.

-Seeing U2 not once, but TWICE, and getting paid to do it!!!

(a) Friday night, U2 gave a full dress rehearsal for the private jet company that supplies their jets and Special Olympic kids. I worked coordinating transportation for the jet company (and inadvertently got recruited to help coordinate for Broncos player Tim Tebow as well). In-between, I got to see all but the encore of U2's dress rehearsal with just a few hundred others.

(b) Saturday, I gave a city tour for a group of Venezuelans who had flown in for the U2 show. Actually, my translator was quite confident that he knew everything so I just let him give the tour and sat back waiting for questions he couldn't answer and telling the bus driver where to turn.

Afterwards, we went to Cherry Creek Mall where they shopped and I got paid to read a book, have lunch with Randy, and shop around myself. In the evening, we were given suite tickets to the U2 show to escort them to their seats and invited to join them there. Because of this, I gave Randy my ticket, which turned out to be just three rows outside the suite window. I spent the show hanging out with him, my co-workers, and back and forth to the suite to check on the group and grab a soda.

-Getting fed fantastic Italian food at Venice Restaurant, not once, or twice, but three nights in a row. Not every restaurant I do "dine-arounds" with is able to feed me so often I sit in a fancy restaurant in a dorky polo shirt sipping water because I cannot even afford a side salad in places like these! The assistant manager at Venice insisted on feeding me every course every night...calamari, bruschetta, bread, salad, pasta or salmon, tiramisu. Mmmmmm. And somehow, miraculously, I lost 5 pounds!!!

This was an especially good week, but often I find myself getting paid to mostly people-watch in the airport alongside my co-workers who are generally interesting and really fun, hanging out a museum, meeting people from all over the world, and learning more about Denver. It's really tough to beat.

So, with a few days off, I've sent out several invoices, and all there is left is to get paid and gear up for the next wave of conferences, meetings, events, and tourists. What's not to love?

2011 Shows

2011-04-14T04:25:00.010+01:00

2011 CONCERT BLOG

This is already shaping up to be a great year for concerts. It's costing me a fortune due to the following:

-My first concerts of the year were in WALES & ENGLAND!

-Tickets now come with unconscionable CONVENIENCE CHARGES!

-Tickets are unobtainable at the box office due to SCALPERS snatching them all up and wanting ridiculous prices for them.

-A 1-2-3 PUNCH in the rare occurence that Duran Duran plays a small venue, U2 plays a mile from my house, and Peter Gabriel plays Red Rocks within a THREE MONTH WINDOW.

I shall prevail...

-Peter Gabriel tickets in hand. I sucked it up for the inconvenience charges.

-U2 ticket sold at face value from a Chicago friend whose friend happens to be due that weekend. (I had a friend here in Denver in the 80's that went to see U2 on her due date!)

-Duran Duran tickets are nearly negotiated via craigslist for $5 above face value + fees.

4/15 Update: Duran negotiations fell through the full band show at the Ogden; however, I won a radio contest for the exclusive Mix Lounge acoustic performance at the Hard Rock Cafe on the following day. Still working on the "real" show tickets.

Sheesh!

1/27-29

The Alarm

Big Country

Glen Matlock & the Philistines

@Pontins Prestatyn Sands, Wales

1/30

Justin Currie w/ Heidi Spencer

The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton, England

2/18

The Wedding Singer starring Ben Dicke

Fox Theater, Aurora, CO

Surprise: During the show, I noticed that the last name of one of the cast was the same as Randy's mother's maiden name. When we went to karaoke with the cast after the show, Randy figured out that this guy is indeed his 2nd cousin from his Cedar Rapids branch of the family.

3/12

The Hollands & Katey Laurel

Edgewater Coffee, Edgewater, CO

4/5

Wanda Jackson & the Dusty 45's

The Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO

High points: Lots of high points..."Cool Love," because I used to sing it with This Train. Wanda giving her testimony--we should all be so graceful. Wanda singing one of her hits recorded in German acapella especially for a few Germans in the crowd.

4/20

Duran Duran

the Ogden Theater, Denver, CO

SETLIST:

Planet Earth, Hungry Like the Wolf, All You Need Is Now, Notorious, Misled, Leave a Light On, Friends of Mine, Blame the Machines, Ordinary World, Girl Panic, Careless Memories, Reach Up for the Sunrise, Rio (Encore: View to a Kill, Girls on Film w/ band intros and a bit of Lady Gaga's Poker Face).

High Points: Friends of Mine, and the dance moves Simon gets away with. Seeing Roger play!

Low Points: Too short, and opening with videos for about 7 of the songs on their new albums. Lame.

4/21

Duran Duran

Acoustic mini-show @ Hard Rock Cafe with Q&A

Leave a Light On

All You Need is Now

Hungry Like the Wolf

High Points: Seeing Dave Casillas (D2 security) again and finding out he got married to his girlfriend and has two kids! Hearing Simon answer a question about the lyrics to Box Full of Honey - "It's basically about the love of my life, Yasmin, and well, fucking up...and being forgiven."

Low Point: Simon wearing sunglasses inside and not saying hello to anyone on the way in or out...then again, maybe he's just trying to be a good boy.

Upcoming:

4/29 Able Archer & Yellow Second

This was a super fun show. My brother Josh plays in Yellow Second, loud catchy pop music that stays in your head. Scott Kerr has a real way with melody and phrase, and our friend Chris Callaway plays in Able Archer, but I think this show will be best remembered for the screamy metal bands that got booked on the same bill, one of whom was fronted by a former inmate who recognized Randy as the "coolest deputy in the joint," and then looked me up and down and asked "Who's the babe?"

Notable: First show with John Warne, who also plays bass in Relient K.

5/20 U2 Dress Rehearsal

An unexpected bonus! I was hired by a limo company who was shuttling the private jet company that supplies U2's jets while in the States to the U2 dress rehearsal open only to them and a few busloads of Special Olympics kids. In addition to being able to get in, eat, drink, and see all but the encore of U2's dress rehearsal, I also got my friend Melanie in! A serious blast.

Celeb sightings and near misses: Scott Hamilton was standing very near us at the show. When I went down to get Melanie in, I made arrangements for Tim Tebow's golf cart to the show but never saw him AND I missed Bono's appearance at the party upstairs. :(

Bono whizzes by Adam during dress rehearsal.

5/21 U2 & the Fray

It was U2. It was amazing, of course. Although I have never seen them in anything but a stadium, the big ones are always a little less "something." Bono has the incredible ability to create intimacy in a huge space, but 80,000 is a stretch. The music and video content was really fantastic though.

I was coordinating transportation for a group of Venezuelans who were in the US for an incentive trip and scheduled their Denver time around the U2 show. This gave me & my coworkers suite access to sodas and snacks, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the suite was only three rows away from where Randy and our friends Keith & Rebecca (who provided us with a free ticket for Randy) were seated!

Notable: To avoid parking issues, Randy, along with Keith & Rebecca walked the 1.5 miles each way to the stadium from our house. First big walk since total knee replacement on 2/23.

6/13 Peter Gabriel & the New Blood Orchestra

The day before this show, I had a job to do the airport greet for the "PG Orchestra" and my paperwork specifically said Passengers: PETER GABRIEL/JULIE GUERRON. I worked very hard to be composed when I went to the airport, only to find that there was no PG. Just the orchestra. The French tour manager Julie was unimpressed with everything so no love on the "guest list" aspect of things either. I was a little heartbroken, but I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and prepared for the next day.

After making an Asian salad and a pitcher of white sangria for the occasion, Randy had some knee troubles & I wound up going with Kathy.

As we cleaned up the picnic, my friend Ian who was the New Blood Orchestra's Denver driver, pulled up and offered us a ride.

I have mixed reactions. The show itself was punctuated with lightning storms and a short rainfall under a full moon at Red Rocks. That alone is worth the price of admission. Gorgeous. The orchestra was amazing, but I still think I would have preferred a band. So much of Peter Gabriel's stuff has such a great groove and I missed that.

Certain songs were magical with an orchestra though--highlights were Red Rain, Don't Give Up (though seriously, the Norwegian girl singing it just didn't do a thing for me. Despite my jealousy, I am just being honest when I say I can easily do better! Call me Peter!), Blood of Eden, and Mercy Street.

7/9/11 - LHS Volunteer

Avett Brothers

@Red Rocks

Didn't stay for the whole thing, but loved what I did stay for.

7/10/11 - LHS Volunteer

Sarah McLachlan with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra

@Red Rocks

Saw the second half of her set and enjoyed it a lot. Glad that Butterly was in the band but sad that she didn't get to open or do any of her stuff. She's coming in October w/ Sandra McCracken tho. Promising...

7/22/11

Christina Aguilera

Nickelback

@Red Rocks

Due to my work requirements for a Microsoft convention, I regret that I must include this if my concert calendar for 2011 is honest and complete. Transparency. Yikes.

8/5/11

Lee Ann Rimes

@Red Rocks

Another work requirement. She was really good though.

9/30/11

Colin Hay

w/ Chris Trapper

@L2 Events Center

So good!!! Love Colin Hay.

We thought Chris Trapper was really good too. He used to be in a band called the Pushstars who had the same college agent as us so we're pretty sure we were at the same Tulsa NACA showcase.

Made an idiot of myself talking about Pontins, but got a great story from Colin about how he won holidays for his family by winning diving competitions in freezing cold Scotland, and he even posed for pictures. Kathy had him sign her CD "Goats appear and fade away."

10/6/11

Duran Duran

Neon Trees

@1st Bank Events Center

Broomfield, CO

Melody & I scored last minute tickets under face value in a great spot.

Um, I could say how great they were but I'd just be repeating myself. Duran. Duran. Stunning.

10/15/11

Howard Jones

performs "Human's Lib" and "Dream Into Action"

@Summit Music Hall

Denver, CO

I had lots of fun going to this show and dancing and singing with my friends Fred & Tracy and their friend Steve. Still, it should have been better, and it didn't help being so close on the heels of a Duran Duran show. HoJo didn't seem to excited about doing his mid-80's hits 25 years later and his band members looked like they might have been just about as happy in a dentist's chair. Howard sounded good tho, and I still love those songs!

FEB 4-7 LONDON, ENGLAND

2011-04-09T13:42:00.009+01:00

FEB 4-7 Last Stop: LONDON

Well, this has taken entirely too long to finish up, so I'll just sum up by saying I had a wonderful time in London with good friends Phil & Sarah and let the pictures do most of the talking. Phil at one time was our bassist, and his wife Sarah is from London. They are fantastic hosts!

They took me all over London...

First, Sarah & I went to Liberty Department Store where we played dress up with high priced jewelry, scarves, and sunglasses, prompting one or more clerks to ask if they could help us in that "Don't touch" kind of way.

Liberty has beautiful displays in a great old building. Since it was February, they were getting ready for Valentine's Day...

After shopping, we went for cake in the crypt--Phil & Sarah know I like to read gravestones so we had some cake & coffee and walked around reading the gravestones that covered the walls and the floor.

Sarah ponders whether her coffee is too beautiful to drink...

Our favorite gravestone discusses the piety and virtue of the late Edith Bilson but does not leave out mentioning her "conjugal affection." Way to go Edith!

Afterwards, we had a walk through Trafalgar Square and Chinatown on our way to a dinner splurge at a great little French restaurant. If I had been blogging about this in a timely manner, I might even remember the name of it.

Street performer in Chinatown:

I took this picture without looking, because contortionists really freak me out. This guy dislocated his shoulder to get his entire body through a tennis racket and I can still hear the sound it made. Ick.

The next day we went to Camden Town, which is possibly the greatest stop on the Tube, and the best people watching spot I've ever encountered.

You see all types there and it's crowded and there are all kinds of stalls of cheap t-shirts and cool bags and shoes and hippie dresses, and God knows what else. It's insane and at one point got to be a bit much so I decided that it was time to relax and try smoking the shisha for the first time.

It was Phil's first time too. We went with apple.

After a bit, we were pretty chilled out. If I lived in London, I might take the tube here every Saturday and watch the world go by. You can't see it, but from where we're sitting here, we heard the Grease soundtrack playing from the hot dog stand next door, saw punks, hipsters, tourists, business types, hippies, etc. walk by, with a view beyond them to a rave fashion store with bouncers and lots of metal fabrication on the outside. It was like several worlds colliding.

Later that day, we made our way to the Tate Modern, where Phil educated me on some modern art pieces and we both got really freaked out by a video installation that ultimately gave me a migraine.

This double-decker bus pulled up in front of St. Paul's Cathedral just in time for my perfect London photo:

The Sunflower Seed Exhibit at the Tate Modern.

(The artist has since been arrested by the Chinese government. Boo.)

Viewed from above:

And up close...

A look across the bridge...

And there you have it. Another great vacation. Planes, trains, and automobiles in the reverse order got me back to Denver where I was happy to see Randy & Diego.

FEB 1-3 BATH, ENGLAND

2011-02-27T19:11:00.006Z

February 1-3-

BATH, England

Whenever I am traveling alone, I like to leave a few days free for whatever sounds good on the spur of the moment; however, I've learned that budget-wise planning ahead can really help, so a couple weeks before leaving, I decided to plan my "alone" days.

A travel director that I worked with this year told me that if she had three days to spend by herself anywhere in the UK, she would most definitely choose Bath. Known for its ancient Roman ruins and the only natural hot springs in the UK, there's a lot of history dating back to the Roman era in the first century AD. Who knew? Prior to this conversation, the only thing I knew about Bath was that Tears for Fears is from there.

It's also not far from Stonehenge, but going to Stonehenge without Randy seemed like going with Melanie to see the next Bourne Identity movie. Some things you gotta save for the "date."

I stayed at Pratt's Hotel which was pretty similar to the Britannia in lots of ways, except they had a better breakfast in a fancier room. For $28, the Britannia made me happy. For $100 per night (on a hotels.com "deal"), Pratt's was less than I had hoped for, but it was adequate and the location was amazing..a short walk from the train station, and right around the corner from the Abbey, the Roman Baths, and lots of shops.

Determined to be the ultimate tourist, I settled in when my delayed train arrived and went to the tourist information center, where I found out that there are free walking tours every day in Bath...truly free--no tipping allowed even.

After that, I walked into Bath Abbey, which is also free but suggests a donation for the very expensive upkeep of this 1611 building, whose floors and walls are lined with tombstones. I love to read the mini-obituaries carved into tombstones from the 1500-1800s. They had such a way with words.

Walking near all the shops, I heard beautiful opera singing from a street performer raising funds for animal welfare.

Dinner was simple. I went to M&S Simply Food to pick up some basic snacks & groceries for the room and stayed in watching tv once it got dark. This is budget travel, after all.

ROMAN BATHS, CROSS BATHS, & WALKING TOUR!

The next morning, I was up bright & early for breakfast and a walk around the corner where I was the first guest at the Roman Baths. This meant I couldn't really get any pictures that I was in until other tourists showed up...

It's amazing to me to see something that dates back to the first century and realize what a central religious and social site this was to the community. The museum inside had a lot of information. I found it very interesting and slightly disturbing to hear about how the names of gods were changed and personalities of gods merged into one god to suit the combined cultures in the city. There are probably long and intelligent articles that could be or have been written on that, but I don't think I'm the one to do it. Instead, I will show you a freaky picture of how they reconstructed what this guy looked like using his skeleton.

Floors were heated by raising them with stacked tiles and letting the hot springs flow through.

Cross Baths across the street from the Abbey, frequented by royalty in the 16th-18th century. Rebuilt in 1789 this is how they look now.

The Roman Baths took up most of my morning, and after a quick lunch at the hotel room and a visit to some shops, I walked back to the Baths to meet up with the free walking tour. Our tour guide Roger was hard to hear and a bit dry, but seriously knowledgeable about the history of Bath, and he walked us all around the city for 2+ hours. We saw the Royal Crescent

the Pultney Bridge, a 1773 bridge over the river Avon, which happens to also be the only bridge in the UK with shops in it.

and got a general feel for the city.

THE BATHS = NO PHOTOS PLEASE!

The Thermae Bath Spa is the modern hot springs spa, and despite my fear of swimsuits, and forgetting to pack one, I felt that I wouldn't really have "done" Bath without visiting. Over lunchtime, I had stopped into the major department stores to (ugh!) shop for a suit--swimsuits are sold year round in Bath. After several trips to the dressing room, I found a good one at M&S, so after dinner I grabbed my hotel towel and my suit and walked around in circles until I found the spa.

What a great decision! I was feeling pretty alone so I prayed for friends again, and when I walked out of the dressing room, someone said, "I almost bought that suit today." I made fast friends with Nathalie from Swindon and her husband's cousin Pervina - Sri Lankan, but from New Jersey these days. We explored the four scented steam rooms, the rain forest shower, the roof top pool, and the tidal pool in the lower level of the spa. I haven't felt that clean since the sauna at Jonathan Rundman's grandpa's UP cabin followed by a jump in a lake. I slept great that night.

After all this activity, I was beat and craving Indian food so I stopped in a local take away and the let the Indian on duty tell me what I wanted because although I like Indian food, I don't know my way around the menu well. This worked out great because they wound up giving me more than I paid for, and I had the spiciest vindaloo I've ever eaten over a long phone conversation with Randy.

DAY 3

FASHION MUSEUM

Ok, although there is a lot of talk about hot water in Bath, there is also the Fashion Museum, which I had to visit. My Day 3 mission was to find my way back to the Fashion Museum which Roger had pointed out on the walking tour, and see all the clothes.

About a 15-minute walk from Pratt's later, I arrived too early and thought I'd try to find some free wifi, which I found at Jika Jika. This was a GREAT FIND. The atmosphere was cool, and the smell of coffee was amazing. I take cream & sugar in my coffee but I ordered an Ethiopian blend that recommended it be taken black, so I rolled w/ the punches and was served personally by the barrista at my table who came out to thank me for not bastardizing this blend like so many of their casual customers. I could see it meant a lot to him, which I found heartwarming and a little disturbing all at once.

FASHION MUSEUM

Note: They had audio guides but they weren't really working on many of the displays as they were in transition. Worth asking ahead if that is a big deal to you. I just wanted to see the clothes.

The Fashion museum , known as the Museum of Costume until 2007, displays clothes from long ago, like this dress which would have been worn in the presence of royalty. That would definitely camouflage a big butt--or maybe it was meant to give the impression of wide child bearing hips! Perhaps there is a hidden drink holder somewhere in the hip section?

...to modern trends and iconic fashion. Remember the J-Lo dress? (Using the term loosely of course?) We all saw it, but did you really see it close enough to notice...

the bedazzled undies that keep it from showing everything? It's really hard for me to believe that anyone would wear this in public!

I tried a few of the more "old fashioned" accessories on, and quickly realized why this era of woman typically had someone help her get dressed!

On my way back, I spent some time talking to a street paper vendor whose dog Ike reminded me a lot of Diego.

and then I packed up my bags and got on a train to LONDON!

Justin Currie - Wolverhampton 31/1/11

2011-02-23T19:04:00.005Z

Monday morning I went solo...first stop, a train to Wolverhampton to see Justin Currie! I found a hotel for just $28 per night that was less than half a mile from the train station and less than half a mile from the venue. The heat worked fine but I don't think it had been dusted in a while...

Also, my room had a trouser press. I'm not really sure if people still use these, but it gave my room a nice vintage feel.

All in all, the Britannia Hotel served me well. The location was perfect, the price was right, and I felt very safe. Free wifi in the lobby allowed me to skype call and check in at home, and catch up on emails before heading out to the pub for dinner and the show.

Wolverhampton is not far from the industrial town of Birmingham (where Duran Duran is from!)

View Larger Map

and from what I could tell, there wasn't much going on there, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are some great shows coming through...

Of course, that's why I was there. I was a bit disconcerted (no pun intended0 to find that the venue had moved so I got a little turned around, and when I finally found it, I couldn't help but notice that the block was mostly adult book stores. Although I really like traveling alone, I did not relish the idea of walking home late by myself on this block. I sent up a prayer for reinforcements.

When the doors opened, we raced to the front, and I felt pretty alone up there having experienced a slightly cold shoulder outside from the strangest looking set of fans I've ever seen (and you have presumably just seen my Gathering photos! We're not exactly a normal bunch).

Then, Jen & Ben arrived...having a conversation very much like one Randy and I would have. She wanted to be right up front; he wasn't sure...it's hard to describe but felt instantly familiar. We became fast friends, and I found out they had been married 10 years with 2 kids and Ben was a worship leader. They insisted on walking me "home" after, and I recognize this as yet another prayer answered.

Justin took the stage and everyone sang along. The set list was pretty different from when we saw him in July in Denver. Justin is a bigger star in the UK since his band Del Amitri had more hits and sooner over there. It was fun to hear unfamiliar songs and feel the energy of everyone knowing them.

We hung around for a bit afterwards and were invited to a meet & greet with Justin. He was fairly accessible in Denver, but I wasn't sure if he'd be in the UK; Jen was truly shocked, and it was really fun to witness their first meeting. I'm stealing a pic from her FB page...

...and Ben took one of me & Justin, this time NOT BLURRY!

The next morning, I met up with Adam Dacey, a couchsurfing contact who has just embarked on his own musical career. We discussed playing in the States and life in Wolverhampton over coffee before I headed to the train station for my next adventures in Bath.

More Gathering...

2011-02-23T18:21:00.009Z

I missed this photo from the first night...hanging out with Tim & Kelly at the Queen Vic:

and the Mastermind Quiz...our team, the Wasters!

Saturday, the big show was great. (Former Sex Pistol) Glen Matlock & The Philistines opened up. I downloaded his new release before going and have been enjoying it. It's pretty straight ahead punk rock. There were three backup singers -- two larger and older blonde ladies, one who reminded me of Blondie, and then a skinny brunette who looked like maybe she was on something or had an eating disorder. I'm always fascinated by a three-backup-singer lineup and it usually makes me miss being a backup singer lots.

After Glen Matlock, the Alarm took the stage and for the second year running (a Gathering tradition), I found my friend Mick from Manchester to hang out with on the edge of the mosh pit. Mick is great fun and good protection too!

The Alarm takes the stage:

I stepped away from the crowd after the encore--in my opinion, there is nowhere to go after

"68 Guns" followed by "Marching On" (or was it the other way around?). BUT there was another encore featuring members of The Skids, Big Country, Sex Pistols, and the Alarm. They did some old punk songs and there was a mad rush back in during which I got soaked by someone's beer.

Also, I bought Randy a souvenir t-shirt, but wound up wearing it myself...

On Sunday morning, we all took a walk to the beach to sing some songs together with Mike Peters. Last year, we didn't even make it to the beach since we had to leave a bit early, but this year the weather was great and it felt nice to walk off some of the greasy food we'd been eating all weekend! Here's a shot of our shadows on the shore.

At the Meet & Greet on Sunday morning--we said hello & goodbye to Mike.

...and then we were off to Manchester where we had a great Italian dinner with other American & Canadian Gatherers, and stayed at the airport Hilton to rest up for everyone's flights. In the morning, we returned a complete unscathed "people mover" to Avis, and I said goodbye to Mitch, Kelly, & Emma. Another great Gathering!

28 January 2011 Travel Journal

2011-02-11T20:16:00.007Z

28 January 2011 - Prestatyn & Conwy, Wales UK

Welsh rock - it's what we came for!

Mitch, Kelly, Emma, and I got up and drove to Conwy to see the castle ruin there. After stopping in one cafe for lunch where the overwhelmed young server said he "wasn't taking orders" right then, we moved to a small cafe that we assumed was good because it looked crowded but actually just had a large group in that was running the staff pretty ragged. It wasn't bad though--I had a full breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, fried bread, toast, tomato, tea, and sometimes beans, but not this time). You really can't go wrong with a full breakfast in the UK.

Emma tries on the plastic helmet.

Back at Pontins, just as I was asking one of the Scottish guys if he knew Doug Watson, Doug appeared on the lawn below the balcony where I was standing. Hooray for perfect timing. He was duly showered in Broncos gifts (an oven mit from me and some cups from Kelly) which he received joyfully.

Doug & me

Singalong - Every Friday night at the Gathering, Mike Peters comes out and does an acoustic set in the round which every sings along to at the top of their lungs. (That's me on the bottom right of the screen--please refrain from dancing jokes.)

Mitch & Emma at the sing-along

This year it was a bit different. The whole band joined in about halfway through and they did most of the Strength album. The new drummer Smiley played with the Skids and a couple other punk bands that I'm not cool enough to know. He seemed like he was having a great time and definitely lived up to his name.

Singalong in the round - note scary dude dead center has made his own t-shirt of himself singing with Mike and worn it to the show. Real or Photoshop?

Big Country - was fun but the sound could have been better. Mike did a great job fronting the band (the original front man Stuart Adamson died in late 2001) and there was a lot of energy in the room.

Most Americans don't realize how many hits they had in the UK, but there were two busloads of Scottish men in the front that sang louder and pogo'ed higher than the rest of us. (Later they nearly got expelled from Pontins and turned over to the police for their late night party with their own light system, sound system, dj, and bonfire by the gocarts but Jules Peters intervened on their behalf.)

Don't think this rule got followed.

Kelly & I didn't even get a chance to visit before they got shut down. Instead we stayed up talking until 4am. I like Kelly--for not knowing each other very well prior to deciding to be roommates, we had an easy time talking about anything and everything. She's very cool.

Me & Kelly in flannel for Big Country.

PS - It was on this day that I met a real live soccer hooligan who has not just been ejected from games, but literally banned from the entire country of Luxembourg. He seemed like a teddy bear to me.

Travel Journal - 27 Jan 2011

2011-02-09T03:55:00.006Z

27 Jan 2011

We got to Manchester about 11:30am and it took an hour before we got our car due to some billing confusion a lack of "H class" vehicles. Leave it to me to wind up behind the rental car counter working the guy's computer to straighten out the confusion! I think I scared him. He gave us an upgrade to an automatic transmission, which made us both feel safer; however, it was a large minivan. I was terrified but determined not to sweat in front of my other four passengers...Mitch, Kelly, and Emma...and adopted Canadian Lynn Lyons. I'm sure that my hands firmly planted at 10 and 2 and my stiff back was probably a giveaway.

The Renault "people carrier" -- too big for Welsh roads!

Mitch & Kelly are brother and sister and I met them last year at the Gathering. This year, Mitch brought his daughter Emma for her 16th birthday present. They were all great traveling companions and very supportive of my driving adventures. Our mantra was "All we have to do it stay alive!" and later, after hitting the windshield wipers instead of the gear shift a number of times, "Beki is a stickler for a spotless windshield." Since I am here writing this now, I'm sure you figured out that I stayed alive.

Mitch & Kelly at Gathering 18 (2010)

After arriving in Prestatyn, we settled in at Pontins and dropped Lynn at her room, settled into our apartment and hit the town for some sausage and mash at the local pub and a trip to Aldi for some basics. Pre-Gathering at the Bells of St. Mary Pub was pretty dead for a while, but picked up later and then moved to the Queen Vic (the on site pub at Pontins), where just Kelly & I stayed on until about 12:30am.

We would have left sooner but Kelly inadvertently entered a dart contest and I met a tour guide, humorist, and travel writer named Dave, his partying stuffed moose Sven, and his Norwegian "host brother" Maurice/Marius(?) from exchange student days. Dave and I talked tour guide, and Maurice told me about his recent winter stint as a doctor to a crew of 6 in Antarctica. Since there were so few patients, he said he wound up working on a human waste disposal project...interestingly, he said he'd like to go back, but not for the winter.

Sven, the world-traveling moose

On our way back to the room, Kelly & I sneaked through the big empty performance room...

Big Country's drum kit

Kelly takes the stage!

Bags packed!

2011-01-26T03:04:00.002Z

well the purple suitcase is all packed and i leave tomorrow for wales. just testing now to see how my phone will do for on the go blog entries...

sso far nto great. pix dont work. looks like its facebook for me.

Travel Bug - Biting Again

2010-12-11T22:25:00.002Z

I want to couchsurf my way around the world. I get the impression that this is something Randy thinks I will grow out of, but this desire never goes away. Stupid day job and medical issues. I wonder how other people get around this stuff to make it happen.

Pike's Peak Photos

2010-08-30T02:27:00.009+01:00

Oops! I am very very very late in posting these photos from the Pike's Peak climb. It went much better than I thought. I made it in the first half of the group and although it was very hard, it was very beautiful!

My day started with a 3:30am wake up and a van ride to the trailhead. Miles Zuniga (Fastball) who had played a set for us in the hotel lobby the night before (much to the chagrin of the wedding party who had reserved the adjacent space in the bar), sat next to me in the van and we chatted about guitar practice discipline and songwriting stuff and a bit of personal get-to-know-you kind of stuff. It was kind of cool to have a rock star conversation when I was too sleepy to be nervous about it. If I had been smart, I would have gotten a picture...but did I mention it was not even 5:00am?

At lunchtime, I arrived just a few minutes off the leader pace--at least that's what they told me. We had a nice long break here for food and rest and music. A folk singer played a few familiar songs and then John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light played. I was soooo impressed by them. They are really fantastic and to see a cello being played in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful view is an experience I won't soon forget.

I left with the first group from lunch because I knew I would need to go slower and didn't want to fall to the very back. When I couldn't keep up with the leader pace, I fell back but was still quite a way ahead of the next group. I was all alone in between and it was very solitary--in a good way. I put the Alarm on the ipod and thoroughly enjoyed that phase of the climb.

Speaking of the Alarm, I am in this video though you can't see me. I can make out Mick Thomson who was standing right next to me during this show back in January at the Gathering.)

When we got to the summit, Chris Carraba from Dashboard Confessional played us a few tunes, and it was pretty good. "Vindicated" was my favorite since it's the hit and the one I recognized. I confess that I'm not too familiar with DC.

The ride down was actually the hardest part. I made the mistake of sitting in the back seat of a large van on a long and winding downhill climb. My new friend Alan, who grew up in Wales til he was 9 and the only other Alarm fan on the trek, offered support, but I was just trying not to embarrass myself by hurling. I must have looked greener than my shirt.

I went to the after-party at Red Rocks and admit to being "not disappointed" when Brett Dennen could not perform due to the late arrival of the party bus and his impending stage time as opener for Michael Franti. We were entertained by an 8 year old named Jordan, who plays very well! After the party in the Rock Room, we walked the prayer flags down to the stage through the crowd where they were hoisted up to fly just before Michael Franti and Spearhead took the stage.

This was a fascinating experience for several reasons:

1. It was quite a trip walking through the crowd at Red Rocks at a Michael Franti show where many people's experience was, um, enhanced. They thought the pretty colors of the flags were irresistable and were dancing around us touching the flags, etc.

2. Usually, when I sneak through the crowd at Red Rocks to get closer to the stage, security gets involved.

3. It is fascinating to look up at the crowd from the Red Rocks stage. I felt a sense of sadness that I probably will never be able to sing from there to a full house, but it was nice to see what it might have been like.

4. Most importantly, it was moving to know that we were carrying the names of so many cancer survivors, cancer victims, and those whose fate is still undetermined to send up prayers for them.

That's the report, folks. Thank you again for all your support and encouragement. I can now say I've climbed a 14'er in memory of my friend Bryan and for a great cause.

Pikes Peak Looming...

2010-07-30T05:59:00.005+01:00

Ok, I am officially nervous. Two days to go - 1 and a half really because it's already Thursday night, isn't it, and we start at 5am on Saturday. Eek. Tonight, I borrowed a Camelbak for water, a rain jacket - I left mine on a Delta flight a few days ago and it never was found.

The best way for me to prepare and wind up on the pre-climb stuff here on the blog for tonight is to post this...

a photo of Bryan Mitchell, in whose honor I am climbing. I don't want to repeat myself because I know anyone paying attention has read my letters about who Bryan is/was to us. Say a prayer for his wife and kids left behind if you think of it and say one for me too!

I am pleased to have raised, with your help, over $1800 to help fight cancer and will post pics from the top once I get there.

SPONSOR LIST (in no particular order with amounts not given for reasons of privacy):

tippers @ Laughing Goat show (CO)

Fiona Templin (CO)
Jodi Thomson (CO)
Lindy Cichowitz (CO)

Mick & Jeanette Thompson (England)

Willie & Isabel Smith (Scotland)

George Mamo (IL)

Kelly Creek (KS)

Al Tauber (IL)

Deane & Erika Johnson (GA)

Gary & Melanie Aronhalt (CO)

Laith Keilany (TN)

Mark & Kathy Swezy (CO)

Ramsey & Therese Marzouk (CO)

James Craig (IL)

Jon & Weez Borchardt (IL)

Daniel DePriest (IL)

Sarah Hemingway (SC)

John & Michelle Thompson (TN)

Josh Hemingway (CO)

Doug Davis (NC)

Melissa Niccum (CO)

Ron & Margie Hemingway (SC)

Phil & Suzie Bauer (?? - Where are you these days Sooz?)

Mike DeLong (CO)

Chris Bland (GA)

Randy & Laura Zeron (SC)

Terryl Lofgren (CO)

John & Sarah Warne (CO)

Regina Olivero (CO)

Margaret Vitalis (MN)

Matt & Kate Hemingway (KS)

Jeff & Jennifer Daniels (TN)

Allen & Amy Persons (IL)

Marolyn Kinnie (CO)

James & Celie Addy (SC)

Jerry Chapman (NC)

Dave & Deb Beckman (in memory of Debra Elaine Beckman) (CO)

Roxborough State Park

2010-07-17T03:11:00.003+01:00

This morning, Regina & I met up near Roxborough State Park for a short hike before the workday. The trails we hiked were a combo of the Willow Creek/South Rim trails. It was supposed to equal four miles, but it felt like way less. Am I getting more in shape or did we read the map wrong? Btw, if my mother is reading this, she just fell over as I referred to a four mile trek as a "short hike." Study the map while she regains consciousness.

Roxborough is beautiful with similar formations to Red Rocks and Garden of the Gods.

At one point on the trail, we had a view that went on forever and hungry hawks circling overhead closer than I'd ever seen before. They're huge!

...and a very blue sky too!

After all that, we went to Panera for brunch, put on our uniforms and loaded some very grumpy (and some nice) people into buses following their attendance at a 5-hour meeting! I'd be grumpy too--but mind you, I would not take THAT TONE with me even if I were that grumpy. Ok, I'm done venting...and glad to be working.

Meanwhile, Randy was taking Diego to the vet. He is forbidden to exercise over the next few weeks as he had to have his injured dew claw removed today and has several other nail issues. The nurses say he did very well and sent him home with painkillers, anti-fungals, and lots of instructions. :(

Pikes Peak Summit!

2010-07-16T06:47:00.002+01:00

Hey, did I tell you that I made it to the top of Pike's Peak the other day????

It was just on a train with a tour group, so it doesn't really count. There was a lightning storm and my group couldn't even go outside the Summit House and check out the view. They were happy enough despite their views being of t shirts and coffee mugs but it was snowing and crazy up there. I hope the weather holds for the 7.31 trek.

Here's something cool that happened: Two of my tour guests--a mother/daughter from Adelaide, Australia gave me a $40 tip and said, "That's for your Pikes Peak hike." Lauren, the daughter, is a cancer survivor.

2010-07-13T06:07:00.005+01:00

On Friday, I met up with Regina in Boulder to hike up the West Ridge of Green Mountain. It's about 3 miles round trip with some challenging climbs. It was not as hard as some of the other trails we've done (or the one Regina actually had planned), but I had limited time because I had to study for a 4-hour city tour the next day.

Route Description

The shortest path to the summit of Green Mountain. (Beki: Well, THAT makes it sound easy)

From the trailhead on Flagstaff Road, follow the Green Mountain West Ridge Trail for 1.2 miles to the junction of the Ranger Trail on the left and the Green Bear trail on the right. Continue straight another .2 miles to the summit.

Distance to summit: 1.4 miles
Roundtrip (assuming descent of same route): 2.8 miles
Elevation gain: approx 600 ft

This summit has the distinction of being the second summit register I've ever signed...and if you don't count that time Melanie and I wrote our names on the top of Arthur's Seat in sharpie (Edinburgh 2006) then it's my first.

Regina & me at the summit.

I can see for miles and miles and miles...

To top things off this week, MY FUNDRAISING GOAL OF $1500 was reached--tonight actually while I was volunteering for Love Hope Strength at Red Rocks.

This was the second time I went to Red Rocks this week--the first time was on that tour mentioned above, and I took time to do the stairs for a workout while my tour-ees took their photos. Tonight, I got a great sunset as Kris Allen opened for Barenaked Ladies. I also signed up several people to be on the bone marrow donor list. Life is good, but I'm super tired.

I'm going to bed, but you go ahead and enjoy the links above.

Day Off!

2010-07-08T23:44:00.003+01:00

Today I got a day off from hiking/working out to flex my vocal muscles. Randy & I worked on a previously unrecorded song called "Lay It Down," which we hope to have posted somewhere soon for downloads.

I am overwhelmed with gratefulness to all who have sponsored me. I am almost at my goal for fundraising. If only my body would cooperate with the physical demands of the mountain climbing goal that accompanies those gifts.

Tomorrow, I am back on the trail with Regina...this time I will remember my camera.

Today's Hike

2010-07-06T22:04:00.007+01:00

Today's Hike:

Round-Trip Length:	3.2 miles
Start - End Elevation:	5,710' - 6,915' (6,915' max elevation)
Elevation Change:	+1,205' net elevation gain (+1,417' total roundtrip elevation gain)
Skill Level:	Moderately Strenuous
Pet Regulations:	Dogs Allowed

Moderately strenous??? Moderately? My legs feel like spaghetti. We got started at 9:15am shortly after I finished a grande Pike Place coffee and a Starbucks protein plate (saving the peanut butter for my big reward at the top of the trail.)

This trail goes up up up and then down down down and up again, gaining more than 1,000 ft. in elevation in the 1.5 mile ascent to the top. Now multiply that by four and you have what I have committed to on Pike's Peak! Oh, and make just a wee bit steeper. One blogger very appropriately called this trail "Boulder's Stairmaster."

It's a great sense of accomplishment to go up up up and then sort of frustrating to see the trail go down again. It should be a relief, but you realize that's going to be UP on the way down. Did that make sense?

The payoff was this:

Update

2010-07-06T06:10:00.002+01:00

So...it has been quiet here for a week or so! Regina went out of town, I worked a bajillion hours (because in addition to Regina being my trainer, she is also about one phone call ahead of me on a lot of people's staffing lists.)

There hasn't been a lot of hiking going on, but I have been walking and doing some crunches. My mom came to town last Tuesday and is here until tomorrow morning. Most days we have been walking from my house to Sloan's Lake, around the lake and back home. I think that's about 3.5 miles. It has been a good time to catch up with her and get some exercise too.

I was supposed to go hiking with Regina today but after a rainy rainy night of camping for her, and a morning migraine for me, we postponed til tomorrow. I'll be heading back up to Boulder to see what she has in store for me--probably something hard!

For all the "extra" working out I've been doing (and by extra, I mean any exercise at all), I'm surprised not to see better results. I'm increasingly aware of my belly and I don't like it at all. Waaah. I'll stop whining and just mention that I did get up and down the stairs of Red Rocks a couple times tonight when I went to see the Colorado Symphony Orchestra with Mom & Josh. I'll be back tomorrow evening for Film on the Rocks: Raising Arizona as a volunteer for Love Hope Strength.

More tomorrow after the hike...

You'll just have to believe me.

2010-06-25T12:01:00.004+01:00

Wednesday, Regina and I went on a hike with our friend Pam outside Boulder on a great trail. It was beautiful and shady and had lots of little creek crossings. Undaunted by the "Mountain Lion Habitat" sign, we enjoyed about 4 miles round trip of great scenery followed by pupusas at a little El Salvadorian restaurant.

We took a picture, but we're having technical difficulties so you'll just have to believe me.

34 days til Pikes Peak Rocks!

Food for Songs

2010-06-14T20:47:00.003+01:00

I'm sure everyone who reads this blog is well aware that Neil Finn makes my knees weak from sheer songwriting talent and that voice. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a perfect pop song, BUT someone I love for all the same reasons is Justin Currie and I don't talk about it as much because not many people know who he is.

When he was just in his teens, he formed the band Del Amitri in Glasgow. They are one of those bands that you love when they come on the radio but often forget to go buy their records. We were outraged when they did not make the list of Scotland's Top 50 bands of all time. Robbery! Justin's solo career is even more obscure, but the songs are just as good, the lyrics are sarcastic and slightly toxic at times (which I like) but always poetic, he has a great sense of alliteration and the voice is perfection.

Seconds before midnight at the Toad Tavern:

I have been obsessed with Justin's new album The Great War since it came out, and was actually super-torn when U2 was scheduled on the same day as his Denver show. Ultimately, I did not have to choose due to the U2 date being postponed because of Bono's back surgery (Get well soon!).

Saturday night was the show, and Randy actually got off work early to come with me. We bought a ticket for him while standing in line to get in and made some new friends, sisters Karen & Jane, in line who had much in common with me musically. We discussed the Neil Finn obsession, the Hoodoo Gurus, and how great that Alarm show at the Rainbow Music Hall was.

My Glaswegian friend Doug has met Justin a couple times and told me that he had said he would no longer be performing Del Amitri song, but to our surprise, Justin mixed several Del Amitri songs in the set. I was glued, and probably looked like a real geek from the permanent smile on my face throughout the show.

Afterwards, we went up to say hello and discussed a bit of Glasgow neighborhood geography. It made me homesick for our "other" hometown and the simple life we had there for just a short time in 2004. I told him we lived near the council flats in the shadow of the Finnieston Crane.

"What a weird neighborhood to stay in," he said. "There are definitely some neighborhoods you wouldn't want to walk in at night in Glasgow."

"We felt pretty safe there until we told a Belfast man that we heard no gunshots and he told us the knives don't make any noise unless they hit a rib."

"Oh, for f^(k$ sake!" he said laughing.

I really miss hearing Scottish people swear. Something about that accent makes it seem right instead of wrong. Is that bad?

Mostly, though, the show inspired me musically.

Since the show, I find myself conflicted between feeling a real urge to pick up the guitar and write better, more poetic lyrics, and the sinking feeling that I will never ever do it as well as this guy. Yesterday, I picked the guitar up and gave it a whirl. Nothing solid yet, but I am listening obsessively to the entire Del Amitri/Justin Currie collection in hopes that something intangible will sink in.

Setlist (not in perfect order)

Always The Last To Know
Never Too Late to be Alone
Just Like a Man
A Man With Nothing to Do
Home Is Anywhere (I'm Away from You)

Move Away Jimmie Blue
Why Would I Do That?
Not Where It's At
The Way That It Falls
Tell Her
What Is Love For
Driving With the Brakes On
The Fight to Be Human
Whiskey Remorse
Nothing Ever Happens
Can't Let Go Of Her Now
No Family Man

Be My Downfall
No, Surrender

Problem + Solution

2010-06-14T20:41:00.003+01:00

It has been a slow week due to lousy weather. Regina is in Ohio so my coach isn't nagging me to work out, and I slowed down considerably. Still, after realizing that our road bike was going to cause all kinds of sore (and not the good kind), I decided to scour craigslist for a good deal on a bike with a "ladies" seat. I found a shiny red bike in good condition for $60 and it has been purchased.

No sooner had the bike been bought than rain started pouring down. We've had the most "Scottish" weather for the past few days, and riding around the park just didn't seem possible, but thanks to a loan of a bike trainer from my brother Josh I am back on the horse. Randy set this up a couple days ago and I got a good indoor workout yesterday. I didn't time it but I watched a sitcom and a half--so that's gotta be at least half an hour of straight pedaling. Don't laugh--that's good for me.

Red Rocks and Rattlesnake!

2010-06-06T23:03:00.004+01:00

06.03.2010 Red Rocks/Diamond Ridge

What better way to train for Pikes Peak Rocks--the combo of rock and roll and mountain hiking, than a trip to Red Rocks?

Red Rocks Trail meets up with Diamond Ridge Trail to make a 6.5 mile challenge of ups and downs and beautiful views. We organized a little group from work to take a hike starting from the Lower North Lot of Red Rocks Amphitheater on the day of the second Tom Petty concert...

Left to right--the "pink ladies": Me, Regina, Michelle, and Stacie. Carrie, behind the camera goes to school with Michelle. She has already climbed several 14'ers and her mom and my husband are pretty much the same age. That made me feel kind of old!

The trail was really pretty--like so much of Colorado. I am starting to feel less pathetic on these narrow trails and doing a little less heavy breathing. This time, I brought TWO water bottles. Smart move!

When we broke for a snack at the picnic area near Matthews Winters Park, we kept joking about what to do if we saw a bear or mountain lion (wave arms around and make loud noises) vs. a rattle snake (Back away slowly!), making sure we knew the difference. I added that if we are getting shot at, it's best to run in a zig-zag. We laughed again when we saw THIS sign:
However, we did NOT laugh when we heard a rattle right by the trail! It is hard to see from the pic below (mainly because I appreciated a safe distance after having to knowingly walk past a coiled rattlesnake), but coiled just beneath the bush sticking out at a 45 degree angle is the offending snake. We waited forever and he wouldn't budget so eventually, we all had to make our way past. Scary!

A scene from the trail...

Feeling triumphant and just wanting to capture the moment. Red Rocks Amphitheater is jutting out to the left in the distance...

After finishing the trail, we made it back to the parking lot where we shared a beer and watched the first few Tom Petty tailgaters arrive. This guy leaning up against the cooler was riding a unicycle with no shirt on and a red bandana headband around his shoulder length blond hair. It was so "Damn the Torpedos" era and I wish I had grabbed my camera sooner.

Workout #2 - Healing...

2010-06-03T01:04:00.002+01:00

Not much to report for the last week. Very frustrated that the twisted ankle held me up a week, but I didn't miss working out at all. Wish I could find that thing that makes people like physical exercise.

Today, Regina and I got up at 4:30am and worked at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. We hoped to check out the Seven Falls Trail, but thunderstorms hit just as we finished our shift and grabbed some lunch. Mission cancelled.

When I got home, I took the bike for a spin around Sloan's Lake (about three miles) just so I could say I did SOMETHING to better my condition.

Sloan's Lake is pretty great since you get the Denver skyline going one way and the mountains going the other, but my head was down because of the way the street bike I was riding is built.

Tomorrow, we are going on a group hike of the Red Rocks Trail. 6 miles near Red Rocks Amphitheater. Perhaps we can hear some of Tom Petty's soundcheck during the hike! Fingers crossed.

Training Log - Mt. Sanitas

2010-06-03T00:48:00.004+01:00

05.22.2010 - THE FIRST CHALLENGE

Mount Sanitas Loop Trail

Trailhead-Mount Sanitas

Roundtrip distance-3.1 miles

Difficulty level-moderate to difficult;

Approximate one-way hiking time-1 hour and 30 minutes to summit;

Restroom facilities-no

Elevation-6,863 feet at the summit;

This is my friend Regina, who has agreed to coach, nag, and otherwise train me for the Pike's Peak Challenge. Regina lives in Boulder and hikes several times a week. She is brave and she is tough, and she is a tree hugger.

Randy said I needed new shoes. Since he is more familiar with exercise than I am, and since new shoes never upset me, I believed him and invested in some New Balance 645 walking shoes (tan), which I found on sale at Nordstrom Rack.

The trail was beautiful. The sun was hot. I could not stop huffing and puffing. Boy, am I out of shape. Note to self: Bring more water next time!

Since this was the first outing, Regina let me take a break halfway up. This is more like it.

We ate lunch at the top and made our way back to Regina's place. About halfway down, I twisted my ankle. It hurt for just a few seconds and then it was back to work. They say going down can be more dangerous than going up. When I got home, I noticed that my ankle was very swollen so I spent the rest of the night on the couch with my foot elevated and the Cryo-Cuff on.

As the week went on, my ankle stayed swollen and I developed two black and blue racing stripes on either side of my foot. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't so you'll just have to believe me.

A break for the Present: Pikes Peak Rocks!

2010-06-03T00:32:00.002+01:00

I missed an important detail on the last day of the Gathering in one of my previous posts...

At the meet and greet with Mike Peters, he mentioned an event called Pikes Peak Rocks, the symbolic climbing of this 14'er to raise funds for Love Hope Strength, the charity he co-founded with James Chippendale.

Mike has twice beat cancer and currently lives with the knowledge that although he is in remission (again), he will need to find a bone marrow donor match to completely beat the disease.

I did not realize how easy it is to join the bone marrow donor registry, nor did I understand the nature of Love Hope Strength until I was educated at the Gathering. After learning about this cancer charity and their efforts to build cancer centers, provide screening equipment that saves lives, and build the bone marrow registry, I was also excited to find that their HQ is in Denver.

At the meet and greet, Mike mentioned that Pikes Peak Rocks would be happening in July and encouraged me to participate. Well, I'm a sucker for that kind of encouragement, and I think Randy nearly passed out from shock when I said I would do it.

I have never climbed a real mountain--well, I drove up Mount Evans last year, but that doesn't really count. I'm a very sore sport about exercise in general. I cannot touch my toes and complain about long flights of steps. BUT...2010 is the year of new challenges.

Since returning home to Denver, I have become a volunteer for LHS and I am committed to climbing Pikes Peak. I wil try to be accountable to train by means of this blog. Deep breath!

Ireland Part 3 - Galway to Antrim Coast

2010-05-20T21:07:00.008+01:00

06/02

There was no plan for this day and that was nice. Two days to get to the Antrim Coast through Donegal. The morning was spent walking around Galway's street markets and sweater shops. We decided the rental car needed some CDs for the player, so we found a sale and bought:

The Annie Lennox Collection
Tom Jones compilation
an 80's hits compilation
We were going to split the cost, but Laura said she didn't like Annie Lennox, at which point I nearly disowned her but decided to give her another chance and bought it myself. The other two turned out to be crappy live recordings. Boo. Besides all that, the cds regularly got stuck in the rental car's cd player, so I learned to give the "Fonzie-and-the-jukebox" move to remove cds. Mostly we left Annie in and switched to the radio when necessary.

We spent the night in Killybegs since no reasonable lodging was to be found for under €100 in Donegal. It was only 15 minutes away and all we really wanted to do was eat more fish and chips and relax, which is exactly what we did--at the Tara Hotel. We had a view of the water and a semi-fancy room with breakfast included for €38 total. Score.

The next morning we drove into Donegal to do some souvenir shopping and check out Donegal Castle. I look like a real tour guide here, don't I?

While we were wandering around in the castle and hamming it up in the otherwise empty dining room, my camera died and has not recovered. It still takes pictures, and the screen shows pictures that were taken just fine before the "incident" but the screen has gone black and no further pics werwe allowed. The rest are from Laura's camera.

Although we just got hot chocolate and tea here on this day, this pub across from the castle made me a mind-alteringly good tuna sandwich in 2001 which has not been topped, duplicated, or forgotten. I considered a 10:30am lunch just to savor it again, but alas, those Irish breakfasts are just so big that I couldn't the courage.

ON TO BALLYMONEY

In the afternoon, it was on toward the Antrim coast and Ballymoney specifically. We took our time getting there and arrived in time for dinner at the Loughridge's house. Trevor and Emma along with the two children they've had since I saw them last (Angus & Emily) welcomed us with a home-cooked meal. In a moment of wonderful synchronicity, Duke Special's "Freewheel" came on the radio as we neared Coleraine and the coast of Northern Ireland.

08/02

Sunday on the Giant's Causeway--nothing could be better! Laura and I had great weather and took a long time to climb to the top of the stones, do the Shepherd's Walk and generally take in the greatest place on earth.

Afterwards, we took the obligatory trip to Bushmills Distillery where Laura could not be coaxed into drinking the whiskey straight, but she was a sucker for the whiskey cheesecake. I myself splurged on a wee dram of one of the more expensive varieties of whiskey, but just had the one since after all, I was driving (and on a budget).

We still had time to do one more thing--the rope bridge or Dunluce Castle. We opted for the castle and were not disappointed. It's a beautiful ruin right on a cliff that has views to Scotland on a clear day.

After this PERFECT day, we drove to Belfast and checked in at the Stormont Hotel, where we found another great deal for £44 per night. We decided to stay for two nights! We sunk down into our comfy beds and watched Dirty Dancing on tv.

Ireland Part 2

2010-05-20T20:04:00.004+01:00

05/02/2010

Earlyish the next day, we ate scones and drank tea in the room, and checked out of the Travelodge to make our way to Galway.

Hotel Review: It really wasn't bad for 19 euro per night. It wasn't fancy and gets very mixed reviews, but for the price, I have zero complaints. The trick was booking early when Travelodge ran their specials. Someone checking in ahead of me paid 75.00 euro for the night. There's no way it was worth that, but if all you need is sleep, you could do worse.

Galway was even more fantastic than I remember. We made our way from the east side to the west side of Ireland via the new motorway. The M6 stretch from Dublin to Galway had recently opened ahead of schedule. This in combination with the fact that our GPS had not been updated in a while resulted in "Jane" thinking we were driving through a field and repeatedly saying "Turn around when possible." We just had to turn it off but not before Laura did her best vintage SNL "Jane, you ignorant slut." We couldn't stop laughing.

After a quick stop at the tourist info center for directions, we made our way to the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher have long been a must-see attraction, but there had been some changes since I had been there years ago, and I wasn't a fan of the changes. A "mall" built into the side of the hill with Irish souvenirs and some kind of "experience" on offer for 5.00 Euro per person. Parking seemed further away and free parking was no longer available. Instead we got to pay 8.00 euro for the privilege. Still, it's a gorgeous view, even in the cold misty rain:

Laura and I checked into a twin room with pink walls at the Sunrise B&B early, and our hosts were so nice and maybe even overly attentive. They helped me to pay the toll for driving on the motorway (There are few indications of the toll and no booths in places. Signs exist, but I nearly missed one which left me wondering just how many tolls I drove right through. Tolls are paid online, but the website makes you tell it how much you owe, and I wasn't sure how many I'd driven past since most signage is just painted on the highway. Our hosts knew just how many and how much between Dublin & Galway and let me use their computer to take care of business.)

The Sunrise was only about 10 minutes walk from city centre and Galway is a fantastic town to spend an evening in. We found a great pub (Tig Coili) with live music and the moment our American accents were heard, people just started talking to us. One whistle player from London talked our ears off, then I met an American fiddle player who told me she lives in Galway part time. Every time I turned around to talk to someone else, I lost Laura to some old man trying to pull her on to his lap or give her a hug. We met two young men who were "in a band" at the pub. Their set at another bar didn't start til 10:00pm so we decided to see them play after a late dinner.

We stayed at Monroe's for a set from Steven and the-guy-we-call-Brett-because-we-can't-remember-his-name-and-he-looked-like-that-guy-from-Flight of the Conchords and band before making our way back to the B&B, which turned out to be a 30 minute walk home since we got lost and found ourselves strolling along Galway Bay at midnight. Eventually, we found our way back for a great night's sleep and woke to a huge breakfast and best of hospitality.

Ireland Part 1

2010-05-18T21:46:00.006+01:00

4/2/10

First tasks of the day: Pick up Laura from the airport, return rental car, and send Randy off. My sister arrived ready for Irish fall in her awesome new reversible raincoat.

After breakfast together at the airport and a trip back to the hotel where Laura & Randy napped and I caught up on emails, we made our way back to the airport where Randy's flight was leaving for home. It was a little sad to say goodbye to Randy for two weeks, but having never taken a "sister trip" with Laura, I couldn't wait to show her Ireland!

Luckily, she was up for an adventure right away. My first full day of driving in Ireland! Randy & I had just finished the series Ballykissangel which I found out was filmed about an hour outside of Dublin in the small village of Avoca, so Laura & I drove down there for a pint at Fitzgerald's pub, one of the main filming locations.

The church is the other central location in the fictional village of Ballykissangel.

Even though the series ended about 10 years ago, the pub has remained the same for the most part...

We had lunch at the pub and walked around the village a little bit in the rain. I felt kind of shy there because I was so obviously an American tourist who came to the Ballykissangel party a bit late.

Avoca is also the home of one of the oldest woolen weavers so we took time to visit that. The stuff they make is beautiful but expensive, so we stuck to looking--other than a postcard or two and a pair of socks that say Avoca for Randy.

We drove back to Dublin and I missed a turn which resulted in a downtown drive in rush hour. Awesome for a newbie to left hand driving on narrow roads! We saw lots of those brightly painted Dublin doors. Later, we went out to grab some groceries and fish and chips in Malahide, the Edge's hometown. This is the pub where his mom supposedly drinks:

Day 1 - No wrecks, Ballykissangel, woolen mills, good memories, fish & chips, and Dublin doors. Not a bad start!

Before leaving the next day, we made time to stop by Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, a beautiful church where Handel's Messiah had its debut and several people are buried in the basement crypt, along with some pretty cool church artifacts.

31/1 - 3/2 Scotland

2010-05-18T20:52:00.007+01:00

31/01/10

After the goodbyes at the Gathering, we went on to Darvel, a small vilage outside Glasgow--about a 4 hour and arrived at Gowanbank just in time to get ready and go to church at Darvel Gospel Hall. It was great to be reunited with our friends and our "Scottish family" the Smiths there. We got a great surprise when Jimmy & Janet Milne showed up at church, having driven in from Ayr to have dinner afterwards at Gowanbank.

01/02/10

After a lazy day around the fire catching up with the Smiths, we drove the rental into Glasgow to meet up with my friend Anne. I met Anne at a car show in North Carolina a few years ago and when I heard her Glasgwegian accent, we talked about her hometown a bit. Kind of random, huh? Anyway, we've kept in touch and she has since moved back to Scotland. We met up at the Universal where I pigged out on this creamy pasta with lots of bacon and Randy had a few pints. It was gloomy and rainy just like you'd expect from Glasgow and we were happy to see that we hadn't lost our downtown Glasgow sense of direction. In fact, I think I might do better than here in Denver sometimes.

When we got back to Darvel, I got a headache and Randy went to the next village of Newmilns to reconnect with our friend Mathew Smith (not related to the Smiths of Gowanbank). Since we last saw Mathew, he has gotten married and become a father. For his honeymoon, he and his wife went to see U2. He's pretty fanatical about U2 and we can't wait to take him to Red Rocks. They are saving up to get here.

02/02

Another great laid back day at Gowanbank. Randy went back to see Mathew and he discovered that our rental car had a dent on the driver's side--something that might have happened while we were parked in the busy Glasgow streets the day prior? We were not happy as we did not have the full coverage and worried that it would cost us a small fortune despite it being very hard to see.

In the evening, we went over to Chris & Elaine Smith's (the oldest Smith son) home for dinner with the "kids." Chris & Elaine have continued to have kids since we left, and the house is now full of laughter and toys. Callum and his wife Zara have gotten married and taken a year to travel the world since we were last here, and we gave them endless grief for driving through Utah rather than Colorado. They didn't really know their geography enough to realize how close they were to us. :( Lorraine has also married since we were last in Scotland. She & her husband Al (who we knew before) were also at dinner playing aunt & uncle to the little ones. It was so fun to see how time has marched on in such good directions for all of them.

03/02

The last remaining Smith child at home is Kellianne and we got more time to see her at the house since we were staying there. She has started working at a cafe in Kilmarnock (15 minutes away) and we got to stop in and see her the next day on our way out of town.

We woke up to a bit of snow and the reality that our rental car was being turned in and we'd have to see what the damages came to. Those of you who know me know that I am a fastidious budgeter so going over budget on vacation was not in my plan and I didn't like it at all.

When we got to Prestwick Airport, I grabbed the paperwork to turn the car in and noticed that there was a pen mark right where the damage was! Maybe it wasn't us after all... The agent informed us after an inspection that the damage had indeed been there prior to our posession of the teeny weeny rental car, and we were in the clear. Hooray.

We left the airport and spent the afternoon in Ayr with Jimmy & Janet Milne who stuffed us with a great meal and good Scotch. Janet gave me a lesson on how to cook salmon and helped Randy to rearrange his carry-on situation to comply with the strict Ryanair regulations. Jimmy dropped us at the airport and we took the late night flight to Dublin. For some reason, we failed to take a picture of them. Here is a "stock photo" of Jimmy & Janet from a previous trip.

Before catching the flight, we spotted our favorite beer at the airport bar. It was more like a convenience store with restaurant seating just around the corner, and we were charged €3 extra to "sit in" despite there really being no other option. Still, worth it. Innis & Gunn is fantastic.

Our first Ryanair experience was just fine thanks to our studious reading of the fine print. I know people have had nightmares on the airline so I just want to say we had an ontime flight and managed to avoid the extra fees. I was not happy with all the advertising on the plane--scratch and win tickets, overpriced food, and more were peddled to us while we sat there trapped and helpless thousands of feet above the ground (or sea).

We picked up a rental car in Dublin, which I spent extra on to spring for TOTAL coverage and an automatic transmission. Randy heartily approved of this budget deviation since I would be doing all the driving for the next week. After nearly getting hit by a semi for driving on the wrong side of the road (there's my investment paying off!) I got the hang of the thing, and got us safely to the Travelodge where we booked two nights at €19 a night.

30/1/2010 Gathering Day 2

2010-05-03T22:01:00.002+01:00

The rest of the Gathering is a blur of music and guitars and friendship. Randy's inner Alarm fan was released and everything worked out great because he met people he enjoyed and even tried on one of the Alarm guitars on display at the Alarm guitar show. Most people were thrilled to hold the guitar used for this or that video or tour, but Randy just went to the one he thought was best.

Due to his bad knee, picked a good spot to enjoy the shows from while I went right up front. This freed him up to take some photos...

On night 2, The Alarm played for about 3 hours! I never got tired of it, which is really saying something now that I am (ahem) 40, and tend to hang out in the back where I can lean against something these days.

And after that...they put on goofy costumes and played as Children of the Revolution lots of glam rock covers like Bowie & T-Rex til about 1:30am. Of course, they were a little hoarse by then but that didn't take anything away from the fun.

(Music starts about 0:58)

There were good times in the pub getting to know new people, great chill time in our little apartment--naps even! It was also great just to be off the road for a few days and not have to drive through crazy hedgerows down very narrow roads.

Sunday morning, there was a beach walk with Mike Peters, but we had to take off before they began the hike so we could get to Darvel (outside Glasgow) by the time meetings started at Darvel Gospel Hall, where Randy attended church during his stay there in 2004.

We made time to get to the meet and greet so we could thank Mike & Jules for a great weekend and snap a photo or two (of course).

And thus ends my brief notes on the Gathering. Well worth the trip!

My next entry will be a quick summary of several days because it's April already and lots has happened since I got back! I need to "get with the now" so to speak.

29/1/2010 The Gathering

2010-05-02T04:34:00.006+01:00

The Gathering...

I don't know what to say about the Gathering. It was fantastic, but honestly I feel sort of geeky talking about it. It WAS like a Trekkie convention for Alarm fans. There were trivia quizzes about the Alarm about things as crazy as what song started the set three years ago or who joined Mike onstage in 1994 at this club in this town -- things I didn't have a clue about. Should I have known these things? Am I a bad Alarm fan? Nah, I didn't feel that way at all.

I was HAPPY to be there! On the first night, Mike Peters played solo on a small round stage. Since the Gathering is limited to 1000 people from all over the world this night, it is easy to crowd in and join the party. Everyone gathers in a circle around the stage and Mike blazes through acoustic versions of the hits and fan favorites. I know every word and am singing at the top of my lungs, but that is what we all do. He lets us sing a lot of it for him.

I think this is the part that makes me happiest. I watched a youtube video from this acoustic singalong at Gathering 17 and I'm going to come clean--it made me cry. It was then that I knew I had to go to the Gathering. It took until Gathering 19 to get me here but we had been planning and saving all along.

So... of course, I bought a hat.

From 1989-2002 we went to nearly every Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. It gave us a way to mark our year and see our Cornerstone friends and gave me a real sense of belonging. It has been 6 years since we decided to stop going and while I don't regret that, I miss having that yearly marker, good musical kindred spirits, and a sense of belonging to something. The Gathering felt like it could be my grown-up Cornerstone.

In addition to the goofy quizzes, the pub next door was a great place to meet up with friends, the time with our good Glaswegian friends Doug & Kerstin was food for the soul. Doug really helped to motivate me to go to the Gathering in the first place, and has to be Mr. Popularity at the Gathering. He has gone to a few and knows absolutely everyone. Doug made sure we got apartments next door to each other in the upgraded section too. ;)

It also woke me up to a great cause staring me in the face:

Mike Peters of the Alarm is a leukemia survivor living with it now after beating cancer twice, and looking for a bone marrow donor to essentially save his life. I knew he had done some charity work for the cause but was completely unaware that Love Hope Strength, the foundation he co-founded to provide cancer care and treatment facilities in places of need as well as organizing bone marrow drives to build the registries internationally, is based in DENVER! Duh. I learned about how easy it is to become a bone marrow donor and really felt kind of sad that I had been asleep at the switch all this time. I determined to come home and volunteer for LHS as well as become a donor. I have since signed up to be a volunteer and am anxiously awaiting my first assignment at the Mile High Music Festival (unless something else comes up earlier).

Here are some of the people we met that I mentioned in the blog entry prior to this one:

Warren & Lisa

Kelly & brother Mitch

Mitch & Jeannette

Doug & Kerstin

A note from my mom: Update on Torlands

2010-04-05T23:29:00.005+01:00

I sent the blog link to my mom and she sent the following update on my post about visiting my first home ever:

Saw the pics of Torlands again and thought I'd take a detour and explain. The home belonged to a Royal Marine who was, at that time, stationed in the US. So the government rented it out from him and charged us $75 per month, that included maid and utilities. It was a SWEET time for the exchange rate and we enjoyed our time there. Consider that we had a really upscale one-bedroom apartment in the Washington area for a whopping $169 a month and that will help you compare costs. It was a fantastic deal even then.

The place had 6 bedrooms, several baths, and large grounds. Most baths had sinks in them--I think they adapted it and rented out rooms during the war. It's the place where several familiar stories originated.

The night we moved in, some burglars broke in, evidently thinking it was still vacant. With everything still in boxes, all dad could find for a weapon was his Marine sword. He crept downstairs, and they heard the creaky steps and fled. Drawers were still open and French doors open with curtains blowing in the breeze. Naturally, I slept through the whole thing and was awakened when Dad came back up to the bedroom, turned on the light, and said, "We've had burglars downstairs." Through my sleepy stupor I looked up, and he had on his boxer shorts, a flannel plain shirt (it was cold in the house) and his sword. I burst out laughing at the sight, and then realized he was serious! The police came the next day and concluded that we didn't really have anything worth taking.

It's also the house where the cows all wandered into the yard when I forgot to close the gate. I yelled and screamed at them and they didn't even blink. I got my English neighbor to come over, and she did the same thing in an English accent, and they all fled. Go figure.

28/1 Caernarfon Castle & on to Prestatyn

2010-04-04T05:21:00.006+01:00

After making some toast and coffee for breakfast, we were off to storm the castle! Caernarfon Castle made Randy exceptionally happy. It was very impressive and historied, and houses the museum of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers so there was a lot of cool "military stuff" to look at.

I had a great time walking the grounds and goofing around in the gift shop...

That round circle in the middle of the grounds is where Prince Charles was "princed" in 1969, just a couple months before my birth.

When we were done looking around the castle, it was time to get back in the little car, which had to be parked by the water since the hostel had no parking. We packed it up and headed up to Pontins at Prestatyn for the Gathering.

Our tickets to the Gathering included lodging for Friday & Saturday night, but we got a note about a week ahead of time saying that if we were coming a long way for the Gathering, we were welcome to stay Thursday night at no additional charge. Thanks Jules! That was super cool. We couldn't resist so we made our way to Pontins Holiday Village to see just what was in store for us.

When we got there, it took them a while to find us, so we waited while one office called another office, and eventually we were given our registration package. Upon driving the grounds I was thrilled to see the Alarm flags flying at Pontins.

We had read several horrible things about Pontins on tripadvisor.com but were pleasantly surprised. If we had been expecting a hotel or resort, we would have surely been disappointed, but going in with a "summer camp" kind of attitude, we found the club level accommodation was just fine. We had a table & chairs, a couch, twin beds, and a small kitchen. In fact, it was very summer-campy and I kept humming the Kellermans theme song from Dirty Dancing when I wasn't singing Alarm songs.

I began to get a bit nervous. I have wanted to go to the Gathering for several years, but knew it was impractical to go to Wales for a concert, even if it was like a weekend long concert. There was part of me thinking this was going to be like a Star Trek convention for Alarm fans, and that I must seem like a total geek. I am usually comfortable with my geekiness but sometimes when it comes to music, I would just as soon look cool in front of Randy. He has NEVER gone to a Duran Duran concert with me, for instance, as we have decided that would just be weird. I started to wonder if Randy should have stayed away from "Alarm fan Beki."

Despite all reservations, we went to the Bells of St. Mary's Pub for a few drinks and the pre-Gathering gathering. We made some friends here - Kelly, Mitch, and Catherine (KS), Tim, a sports writer from NJ, and Lisa (CA) & Warren (Welsh, but now in CA with Lisa), and they became part of our core group for the Gathering. Randy talked sports with Tim all night and Warren explained the intricacies of the Brains beer distribution system (or lack thereof) and the different types of Brains beer, so he was happily occupied while I heard about first Alarm shows and how many Gatherings everyone had been to, etc. I'll post pics of these people later.

Thus ends Thursday.

27/1 Caernarfon

2010-03-27T19:00:00.007Z

27/1/2010 On to Caernarfon

If there's one thing Randy needs to see when he goes overseas, it's a good castle. With this in mind, I made plans for us to stop in Caernarfon on the way to the big music festival. Caernarfon Castle is possibly Wales' most famous castle built in 1283. It looked pretty awesome when I googled it.

So...on the 27th, we had our big breakfast, and were called "wussies" by our B&B host when we could not eat all the sausages. If you are unfamiliar, a standard UK B&B breakfast consists of two eggs, 4 pieces of toast, bacon, two big fat sausage links, baked beans, a large mushroom, and half a fried tomato, plus tea or coffee and juice with cereal and fruit and yogurt being optional.

Example:

We just couldn't do it that day but we came close. Anyway, after that, despite the urge to take a nap, we hit the road for Caernarfon.

It was a pretty drive, and the scenery was much more photogenic than I was on that day!

We arrived at Totter's Hostel late in the afternoon--a cold and rainy afternoon. The hostel is right in the shadow of the castle, and very near the water (right through the arch behind me).

Not only was Totter's friendly, but parts of it were super old and cool looking...here is Randy by the kitchen storage area where you can see newer walls put over the ones that are from the 1600's.

This is the dining room, where the stuffed moose with one antler up and one antler down made us miss our beloved Diego just a bit.

And the town itself was a good-looking town...

Even non-castle parts of the town looked kind of castle-y.

Alas, the weather and the time prevented us from getting to the castle on Day 1 here, so we opted for the local tavern and were kind of pleasantly surprised to find that the locals spoke Welsh much more often than English.

Although I had been using a phone app called "uTalk Welsh," I didn't really get the opportunity to speak Welsh to anyone, but I was quite pleased with myself when standing in line at the post office and again at the pub, I was able to tell Randy, "Six! That guy just said six! I understood it!" - Woo hoo. Small victories.

The pub's English name "Black Boy" might not go over too well in the States, but it worked here and when I told Randy he needed to try Brains beer because it was Welsh, he was a bit apprehensive, but ultimately delighted.

For most of the afternoon before hitting the pub, we wandered around the town, got some groceries and watched some movies in our room. We had the attic room so while most of the guests at Totters stay in a bunk room, we had the whole top floor to ourselves. Here' s a pic:

After the pub, we rested up for a big visit to the castle the next day. And so, for now, I will end this entry and bid you Hwyl fawr.

26/1 Into Wales...

2010-03-11T21:48:00.006Z

On Tuesday, we didn't make any real plans other than to drive north into Wales. Before we left the south of England, though, I decided that it would be pretty cool to find the house that I first lived in...

We texted my mom who remembered that it was called Torlands and was in a village called Yelverton. She didn't remember street names, but thanks to our trust GPS, we found Yelverton and asked at a small real estate office if anyone knew of the house. At first, we got very puzzled looks, but at last, one of the realtors said they thought it was on "that street over there past the petrol station."

Within a few minutes of driving around in circles, we arrived. So...when I was brought "home" from the hospital, this was "home."

This house was very large, and I still need to ask my mom if it was multiple units or if they were living like royalty on the USMC's dime. The yard was huge, the trees were covered in moss, and the neighborhood looked way out of my price range. It was kind of a special feeling to see this place, and I am grateful that Randy encouraged me to follow up on this whim.

After the pilgrimage to Plymouth (that sounds sort of backwards, doesn't it?) we drove north through more narrow narrow streets with tall hedgerows on either side. Here is an example of the superhighways of the English countryside:

(Note the Cadbury's on the dash)

Entering Wales over the bridge to Chepstow

(€7.00 toll. Get your wallets out!)

Our first stop in Wales was Tintern Abbey. It was as gorgeous as we had heard and we got there as the sun was beginning to set. We took about a million pictures, but here are just a few:

While we were walking around, we met this Welsh couple, who had recently bought a membership to Cadw (say it Cad-oo), an organization that helps to keep all these historic national sites maintained, and thought they'd come check out their investment. Cadw literally means "to keep." Anyway, they were chatty and friendly and it was our first interaction with actual Welsh people with Welsh accents in Wales (who weren't taking our toll money).

Also, they knew who the Alarm was! Everyone in Wales does. That is so cool. Anyway, we got them to snap a picture of us:

Lastly, here's another nice shot of the Abbey ruins.

The tourist information center was closed by the time the sun had set on Tintern so we weren't sure if there was a good place to stay in Chepstow and we figured we may as well keep driving. We drove on and on and on toward the north of Wales, and finally decided to stop in a little village whose name I cannot remember. We were hungry and tired, and had waited too long to make any kind of plan.

We wandered into a pub that had a sign advertising rooms for rent upstairs. When we asked if they had a double, they said they only had a twin room, but referred us to a B&B nearby. I called to see if they had rooms, and they informed us there was no room at the inn.

At this point, I was ready to take the twin, but just as I walked back up to the bar to say we wanted it, they sold it to a couple backpacker looking guys. Still, I cannot complain. The folks at the pub (including the customers) began trying to find us a room. The lady who told me she couldn't put us up at the B&B received a call on her personal cell phone from a guy at the bar, and he made one more call for us after that. Alas, the town was full!

Onward we drove on narrow roads with tall hedges, round the roundabouts, and finally to Bronwye B&B in Builth Wells. Randy negotiated a good price on a room that had a picture window looking onto a field of rugby players.

Around the corner, we had dinner (finally!) in the pub at the Greyhound Inn where Randy vowed to send a Denver glass if they would only let him keep the pint glass with the Welsh red dragon on it. The deal was made (but the postage on the trade glass he sent was over $10 so we're not sure how good a deal he made).

We slept very well that night at Bronwye and we covered a decent amount of ground.

View Larger Map

The very next day...

2010-03-10T22:15:00.007Z

MONDAY 25/01/10

So...where was I? Oh yes, couchsurfing. Well, we did it a second night--this time in Gunnislake, a small village in Cornwall, not too far from Plymouth, the place of my birth.

Plymouth, while not a very time-consuming part of our plan, was an important part as this trip was in honor of my 40th birthday, and having never seen my birthplace, we decided back in the early planning stages that it should be a stop. Freedom Fields Hospital where I was born has since been demolished and turned into a housing estate, but we were able to see the site where the Mayflower took off for the US and some other interesting things around the harbor area.

Does anyone know what "tomb-stoning" is? I looked it up because I did not!

(British) The practice of jumping into the sea or similar body of water from a cliff or other high point such that the jumper enters the water vertically straight, like a tombstone.

This view was a bit surreal...

And it is unfortunate that you can't see the sign below "Luncheons" in this photo of the Strand Tea Rooms right on the harbor. It reads "Hippies use SIDE DOOR!"

After our afternoon in Plymouth, we headed to Gunnislake to meet Jo, Jem, & Bridie (pictured here the next morning are Randy, Jem, and Jo. Jo is an artist who has done commissioned work for royalty, and has two great kids, Jem (19) and Bridie (15?).

They live in the middle of nowhere and down some of the steepest "roads" that wouldn't be fit to be called alleys here in the US of A - at least outside of Arkansas. We and the mini car made it, but something about that drive, and the wrong turns which necessitated backing up steep "roads" produced a smell in our car that resembled rotten fish and 3 day old farts. It was really embarrassing when Jem got in the car to direct us to the Cornish pub where we dined amidst some Burns Night festivities.

After dinner, we hung out at home and watched the Disney movie Hercules. Is it me or are the gospel singers in that movie really annoying? Anyway, we had a good chilled out night and were fed some kind of waffle-y chocolate-y caramel-y cookie that hooked me instantly. Of course, I was unable to find it elsewhere in the UK afterwards...or I would have brought you some.

We slept on a futon in the middle of the living room, which was crowded with art supplies and laundry and laptops, etc. Every square inch of that house was being used, and while it would have put OCDs and type As in a frenzy, I have to say that the futon was good for a very comfortable nights' sleep, and the company was really good. It was great to be welcomed into a family so warm and easygoing. They made us feel instantly at home for our overnight stay, and we headed out the next morning for the drive north to Wales...

Vacation - Part 2

2010-02-26T11:20:00.000Z

After we left the Birds, we headed for our first couchsurfing experience, arriving in exactly the right alley address in Cirencester, England at approximately lunchtime thanks to Jane, the voice of our borrowed GPS who seemed to say "Turn around when possible" to us quite a lot!

SIDEBAR: COUCHSURFING.org is a site that I registered on before this trip. It is a network of households and individuals willing to share their space with you simply because they enjoy meeting new people and travel themselves and would like the favor returned. It is a very well organized and convenient system.

I wanted to try it out this time because having never been to some of the areas we were visiting and knowing we'd be breezing through, the idea of staying with a local had great appeal from the standpoint of getting "local knowledge" from our host and the fact that it's free helped with our budget.

Randy was skeptical about this arrangement at first because he works with inmates and doesn't trust strangers quite as easily as I do. He rightly worried that it could be awkward, but this was a risk I was willing to take. Thankfully, he was too.

FIRST HOST: Neil , 40, musician and teacher.

TOWN: Cirencester, England

REASONS FOR THIS CHOICE: The prospect of doing an open mic with Neil sounded fun and Cirencester wasn't too far out of the way of our travel route.

Our host Neil was waiting for us and had made us a delicious Sunday roast--chicken and potatoes, carrots, and turnips, followed by a walking tour of Cirencester. Unfortunately, neither of us thought to bring the camera.

Cirencester turned out to be quite an interesting town with a beautiful church dating back to the 1100's in the center of town.

It is also the seat of the Earl of Bathhurst, whose impressive house is on the edge of town with land that is so vast you could walk 5 miles through the park path open to the public and still be on his land. We learned that this earl's estate also boasts the world's tallest yew hedge. It sounds weird and not so interesting but I found it fascinating because it's way taller than you could imagine!

Neil's friend helps to trim it, and apparently, this stuff is being used in the fight against cancer.

Late afternoon found us napping, goofing around on Neil's guitars, and just shooting the breeze. We found out that Neil is a science teacher who, in addition to be in two bands, has aspirations to build his own home that would be part of a community of sustainable green-built homes with shared facilities for laundry, etc. in a central building. What a cool idea.

We talked music too, and once the name Neil Finn was mentioned, we were on common ground. We are both big fans and would conside NF a songwriting hero of ours. After our nap, we found Neil cooking again. After realizing that the lentils he had prepared might have some poisonous qualities, he shifted to a pasta dish and we had another great meal before heading to the pub for some music.

Walking through Cirencester on a Sunday night at 9:30pm is like walking through a Hollywood movie set. There was no one on the streets. It was beautiful and completely silent except for the three of us trudging with two guitars to the Nelson Inn. Once again we forgot the camera!

When we arrived, only Neil's friend Kevin (one of the trio called the Tourettes that Neil plays in--they do covers of songs you know by bands like Squeeze and Foo Fighters, but on mandolin, guitar, bouzouki, with three-part harmony) was there.

By about 10:30pm, the small pub was full and we took turns doing songs until about 2:00am. We were given a warm welcome by the owners who bought us a couple drinks, and an unforgettable cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" by John and his mandolin.

Neil left for work before we were awake the next day so we did the dishes, and left the door unlocked according to his instructions, and after running a few errands around town, we set off for Cornwall. Neil was such an excellent host and we hope he will make it to our guest room in Denver sometime.

Vacation in Review - Part 1

2010-02-20T23:37:00.013Z

Hmmm...where to begin. I got back Wednesday and hope to get the whole journal in one blog with the best of the photos. I wonder if that is possible. For the most part, I stuck to the plan outlined in the blog prior, but I added a few days in Prague where I had ??? posted. Nice, huh?

THURSDAY 1/21
LEAVING:

AM Denver - Chicago...uneventful. Josh dropped us off at Market Street Station and we took the RTD Skyride to DIA. Arrived at O'Hare where Randy's sister Amy & her husband Al were waiting in an airport bar to catch us up on things and share some pizza and drinks during our layover. It was great to see them, and I wish we had taken a photo.

PM Chicago - Dublin: Not much to report.

FRIDAY 22/01 (Yep, now I'm doing dates that way)...
ARRIVING IN DUBLIN...
we took a 10 minute walk to ALSAA, a pool and athletic club near the airport--nothing fancy but a place to take a shower. They let me shower for free and Randy got a €7 day pass so he could work out as well as shower. Note: Bring your own towel! The day was spent taking turns napping in the very comfortable food hall before an afternoon flight to London Heathrow.

FYI: Sleepinginairports.com rates Dublin not-so-great for sleeping, but that's only at nighttime. During the day, if you have a retractable cable lock for your luggage, you can sleep off that jetlag very nicely in the food hall. I recommend the green padded bench.

After arriving in London, we took the tube to the Farringdon stop where our old bassist and current friend Phil and his wife Sarah were waiting to take us to a late dinner at a pub called the Fox & Anchor, a traditional pub where I had fish & chips, of course. We hadn't met Sarah before, but quickly decided that we like her very much!

The next morning, Phil & Sarah sent us off after an excellent pancake breakfast. On the way to the train, they showed us the cafe that they started at their church, and the first place that the Who ever played...

Pretty glamourous, huh?

We really got to know the London tube well since we rode it for nearly 1 1/2 hours to get to Heathrow where we picked up our teensy weensy rental car. After driving several circles around the airport on the left-hand side of the road, it was off to see the Birds:

On one of our previous trips, we stayed with the Birds on the recommendation of my brother Matt and his wife Kate. They are excellent hosts and have become friends. Recently, Richard retired and they have subsequently moved to the countryside in a place that, frankly, is pretty impossible to find! After showing up a few hours late, we could not make any good argument for not accepting their offer of a loan of a GPS for the remainder of our trip. Marriage saver! I will never drive in unfamiliar territory without one. It is high on our wish list.

Their new home is great, and the village is charming. They took us to a local pub for a before-dinner drink with an ancient floor (stone & dirt) and a coal-burning open fire. After that they, fed us an awesome meal, then dessert and coffee, then English Stilton (that's cheese) and port...we knew then that those vacation pounds were going to pile on and be totally worth it.

In catching up with them, we learned that their son has now landed a pretty sweet job flying helicopters for the royal family. That would explain the towels in our guest room:

And since I know you are way too polite to stare, I'll just tell you that says "BUCKINGHAM PALACE" in gold embroidery. How cool is that?

The next morning, we hooked up the GPS and went bravely into the new (to us) world of couchsurfing. Stay tuned...

40

2010-01-18T00:24:00.003Z

Can't believe it has been so long since I wrote something here. I turned 40 in September with little fanfare but many good birthday wishes, and an extended series of little happy hours with friends--one or two at a time, we celebrated the milestone with margaritas or cheese & wine.

Randy bought me a very unique bracelet - unique in the good way, ecclectic, special, made by a local artist and centered around a vintage door hinge, incredibly thoughtful and romantic. There may have also been some lingerie in that birthday gift, but I would never say because I am a lady!

At 39, I had asked him for a month to travel when I turn 40 and he said if I could make the math work, that would be fine. Well, since then, we have both worked very hard to make the math work, and on Thursday we leave. He will join me for 2 weeks and my sister will meet me for Week 3 in Ireland. Week 4 is just five days long and I'll be on my own.

Highlights of the plan:

London - Meet up with former bassist and current friend Phil
Billinghurst - THE BIRDS!
Cirencester - Pub open mic with local musicians there organized by our host Neil. First couchsurfing.org experience.
Plymouth - See my birthplace for the first time since I was 9 months old
Wales - Drive up to Caernafon Castle with Randy
Prestatyn, Wales - The Gathering (the Alarm's music festival)with Doug & Kerstin
Gowanbank/Glasgow - Old friends, new good times
Dublin - Goodbye Randy. Hello sister Laura!
Avoca? - The real Ballykissangel
Galway/Cliffs of Moher
Coleraine- Visit friends & the Giant's Causeway
Dublin - Jonatha Brooke @ Whelan's
5 days - ???

A WORK IN PROGRESS: LIVE BAND LIST

2009-05-21T06:06:00.012+01:00

Several times in my life I have attempted to list all live concerts I've attended. Chronological order would be way too hard. Alphabetical is going to win. The line between rock stars and friends' bands is blurry sometimes. This will be a work in progress. Maybe 10-20 a day...

10,000 MANIACS
AIMEE MANN
ALANIS MORISETTE
(THE) ALARM
ARC ANGELS
ARETHA FRANKLIN*
(THE) B-52s
BARRY MANILOW*

BIG COUNTRY (with Mike Peters on lead vox)
(THE) BO-DEANS
BRENT BOURGEOIS
CAEDMON'S CALL
BRUCE COCKBURN
CHRIS SUMMERHILL

COLIN HAY
CROWDED HOUSE
CYNDI LAUPER
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
(THE) DIVINE COMEDY
DUKE SPECIAL
(THE) DUSTY 45'S

DONNY & MARIE OSMOND
DURAN DURAN
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
EMMYLOU HARRIS
ENGLISH BEAT
ERIC JOHNSON
EXENE CERVENKA*
(THE) FEELIES
(THE) FIXX
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL
GLAD

GLEN MATLOCK & THE PHILISTINES

HEART
HOTHOUSE FLOWERS
HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
INDIGO GIRLS
INNOCENCE MISSION
JAMES HALL
JASON MRAZ
(THE) JAYHAWKS
JELLO BIAFRA
JOE JACKSON
JOHN MELLENCAMP
JOHN WESLEY HARDING
JOSH CLAYTON FELT
JOSH ROUSE
KINGS OF LEON
KING'S X
KY-MANI MARLEY
LOVE TRACTOR
MARIA MCKEE
MATES OF STATE
MATTHEW PERRYMAN JONES
MICHAEL MCDONALD
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT
MIDNIGHT OIL
(THE) MIGHTY LEMONDROPS
MIKE PETERS
(THE) NYLONS
ONE BAD PIG
OVER THE RHINE
PADDY CASEY
PAT METHENY
PETER MULVEY
PETRA
PFR
P.I.L.
(THE) PIXIES
(THE) POLICE
P.O.D.
(THE) PRETENDERS
RELIENT K
RICH MULLINS*
RICHARD THOMPSON
RON SEXSMITH
SAM PHILLIPS
SANDI PATTI*
SHAWN COLVIN
SHEILA WALSH
SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER
SOUL ASYLUM
STEVE TAYLOR
(THE) SUGARCUBES
SWITCHFOOT
TAKE 6
TEARS FOR FEARS
TEN OUT OF TENN
TERRORISTEN
TIM FINN
TOM JONES
TORI AMOS
TROUBLE
U2
VERBOW
VICTORIA WILLIAMS
VIGILANTES OF LOVE

WANDA JACKSON

WATERDEEP
ZIGGY MARLEY

*indicates an abbreviated performance,such as a television taping, movie set or festival pop-in.

BOLD indicates multiple times.

shared the bill

Car Trouble

2009-05-14T22:11:00.007+01:00

Time to document the 2008/2009 saga of my car troubles--not really for your reading pleasure (though you are welcome to read) but because it is all adding up and I'm beginning to worry that I will lose track.

SUMMER 2008: Time to sell the Ford Crown Victoria. It has served us well. Time to get something with better gas mileage, better in snow, etc.

FALL 2008: A few bites but still no sale. Wonder how low we should go?

OCTOBER: I had a dream and awoke with this random thought:

GOD WANTS US TO GIVE OUR CAR TO A SUDANESE REFUGEE FAMILY.

There was nothing to prompt this thought. There was nothing in the dream overtly related to this thought, but I woke up with such a certainty that I immediately told Randy who has learned to believe my dreams.

SATURDAY...
Randy looked for a charity that could make it happen and did not find one. Instead he found one that catered to battered women starting a new life after leaving abusive situations. We decide this would also work. We will wait until Monday to make the call just in case something becomes clearer.

SUNDAY...
At church, small groups report on what they are doing. One is working with two refugee families from Burma to help them get established here in Denver. I ask the pastor if either family needs a reliable car. He will check. We will hold off on the other phone call.

LATER THAT WEEK...
A note from church says that neither Burmese family can use our car; however, would we mind terribly if the car went to another local charity helping a refugee family in desperate need of a car--the husband has just lost his job due to a lack of transportation and without a job, they may lose the house. They are from Sudan.

In November, our car became the property of this Sudanese family. We hope it serves them well and thank God for working in mysterious ways.

11.19.08
I fly out to South Carolina to purchase my aunt's Honda green CR-V "the Pickle." It is my favorite car yet. She made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

02.14.09
Someone hit & totaled the Pickle in front of our home, then fled the scene before I noticed that 3/4 of my car were in the front yard. A police report was filed. Details are scarce but all signs point to a neighbor.

03.11.09
After receiving insurance money for the Pickle and scouring ads for good deals, I settle on a silver 1999 Honda Civic, a great car which I love.

05.14.09
I wake up and notice that my car has been stolen. Police reports are filed. Insurance claims are started.

Random: I find myself thinking of the house we almost bought at 1100 S Xavier. We won the HUD lottery for an Officer Next Door home but were denied on a technicality--long story. Anyway, I don't know why I am thinking of this home, but remind myself I am much better off where we are and it's foolish to be thinking of it since the car was far more likely to be stolen from that home!

05.15.09
This evening the police found my car abandoned in an alley at the 1200 South block of Utica, 3 blocks from the house we nearly bought. It is in the city impound now and I can pick up tomorrow.

05.16.09
Josh took me to the impound and the car doesn't look as bad as I had expected. It will be assessed but should be repairable. I am concerned about what papers may have been in the car at the time of the theft since all contents were stolen. Goodbye Patty Griffin CD, Goodbye new Sam Phillips CD. Goodbye $500 deductible.

SHORTLY THEREAFTER...
My car will be fixed by a local body shop that I found when I had a fender bender due to a stupid incident that we aren't discussing. (Notice it went completely unmentioned above.)

After it arrives, I get a call from the body shop. suggesting I come down to the shop with a digital camera. After removing the fender, they have iscovered that despite a clean Carfax report, this car is a "rebuilt wreck." Bondo everywhere in the back end. I'm too tired to do anything about anything. Randy takes some pictures. We aren't sure what recourse we have.

JUNE 2009
Well, I got my car back but it took 3-4 weeks by the time all is said and done.

Despite my turning down rental coverage, in the case of theft, USAA covers me for up to $30 a day for a rental car. What a lifesaver. I had no idea that I was covered, or that it would take so long to get my car back. I almost bonded with the red rental Chevy Cobalt. I tried to get the rust colored Kia Rio at first because I figured it would be the least desirable thing to steal, but alas, someone had smoked in it. In the end, no one really wanted the Cobalt either.

ME & THE HONDA NOW:

They left a scratch or two on one panel--barely noticeable and did not replace the cloth in the trunk. This saved me a few hundred dollars. Also, in a bizarre twist of fate, the pink pillows that Randy has wanted me to throw away for ages and that I kept forgetting to bring in after Melanie's birthday party turned out to have a ridiculous replacement value, which further offset the deductible. Thank you Urban Outfitters for having obscene prices on floor pillows.

Somewhere along the way, I got a postcard from our local police telling me that they were closing the case with no suspects. I am pretty sure I know who totalled my CRV and that there are telltale fingerprints on my Civic's steering wheel which might reveal the thieves' identity, but of course, there are bigger fish to fry in the city of Denver.

LESSONS LEARNED:

-DPD doesn't really care who stole my car, but eventually, and sadly, these kids will probably find their way to Randy for some other reason.
-Always leave something of high replacement value that you might have thrown out anyway in your trunk to offset your deductible in the event of accident or theft.
-Do not trust Carfax alone. Take a potential car purchase to your local body shop for further investigation.
-A car is just stuff, after all, so don't get too attached.
-NEVER forget to put the club on the car!

Rainbow Music Hall...RIP

2009-05-13T23:28:00.004+01:00

I had to laugh when I read this quote by a concert-goer in a newspaper article. To set it up, Bob Dylan had recently converted to Christianity. The year was 1980 and this was his first tour post-conversion. Dylan was only doing his new Christian songs when one frustrated fan yelled:

"Hey Bob, Jesus likes the hits too!"

I saw Dylan once, and he didn't speak one word to the audience. It was at Fiddler's Green amphitheater in the suburbs of Denver and the only reason I went was because the Alarm was opening. Have I mentioned that I love the Alarm? Well, now Fiddler's Green, like so many other corporately named venues is called Coors Amphitheater, and as Dylan himself said, "the times they are a changin'"

I missed the article in the Rocky Mountain News, which ran right before that paper went belly-up, which tells of the end of the Rainbow Music Hall. The Rainbow Music Hall has been a Walgreens for about 20 years now, but in the 1980s it was the best place to see a show in Denver, and despite the sadness of it being a Walgreens, at least the building was there, thesign remained, and when I drove past, I could smile and wave at the stripey concrete dated design and remember the good times there.

Yesterday, as I was driving to Melanie's to watch American Idol, I was dismayed by this sight:

Yep, that's what has become of my beloved Rainbow Music Hall...My first moshpit...the place where I caught Steve Taylor's drummer's drumstick, then later joined a band with the guy who caught the match...the place where I caught the 10 of diamonds at the Alarm show, then dated the guy who caught the nine of diamonds in San Francisco, where I nearly got smothered to death at a Midnight Oil show...the place where I camped on the sidewalk for good seats, skipping college classes for my music education, where I bribed fellow fans who camped on the sidewalk with pizza from my college waitress job so I could be smashed against the stage alongside them when my work hours didn't allow me to sleep side by side with them.

Check out all of this rock and roll history made at the Rainbow--maybe you were there for some of it. If so, please share.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/11/the-last-waltz-for-site-of-rock-history/

I don't know how to wrap it up except to say that driving past the corner of Evans and Monaco will always be a bittersweet thing for me. Good times. Rest in peace, Rainbow Music Hall.

Can you say stoopid?

2009-04-30T04:12:00.006+01:00

I don't know much about the swine flu. In fact, I had to look up the meaning of pandemic today to make sure I understood it.

pan⋅dem⋅ic [pan-dem-ik]
–adjective
(of a disease) prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.

I do, however, know the meaning of the word contagious, and I got a better than passing grade in math. Actually, I got straight A's in math. I was a nerd. I was in gifted classes, but that is not the point of this blog.

Seriously...how does this work out?

Swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people in Mexico and sickening over 2,400 there. WHO has confirmed 105 cases in seven countries, not yet including Germany. Over half of those are in the United States, but Mexico is the only country where deaths have been confirmed.
-Fox News (4/29/09)

"At this point, (health officials) have not recommended a border closing," he said. "From their perspective, it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States."
-President Obama (4/29/09)

It seems to me that if I had a few horses get out of the barn, but several horses were still "containable," I'd shut the damn door. It seems to me that if there are thousands of cases bordering us to the south, we might want to do a little screening of those we're inviting in (and those sneaking in--ahem!). To be so nonchalant at the borders and airports while every day our government tells us that the threat is growing and spreading throughout the world is slightly infuriating (though I suspect this strain will weaken soon and most of us will be ok regardless), but today the little English freak in me is outraged by this:

-THAT IS ONE STUPID ANALOGY.

Stupid analogies are one of my pet peeves. Boo.

If someone doesn't talk to Obama soon and stop the madness, stupid analogies could persist for four to eight years and spread! If you don't believe me, just listen to all the people now saying "Nuke-you-lar" on AM radio following the Bush presidency.

FOLLOW UP:

A couple excerpt from a CNN article on the spread of swine flu...

(HISTORY REPEATS)

In each of the four major pandemics since 1889, a spring wave of relatively mild illness was followed by a second wave, a few months later, of a much more virulent disease. This was true in 1889, 1957, 1968 and in the catastrophic flu outbreak of 1918, which sickened an estimated third of the world's population and killed, conservatively, 50 million people.

(A COLORADO BORDER CLOSING)

Markel describes a dramatic example in the mining town of Gunnison, Colorado. In 1918, town leaders built a veritable barricade, closing down the railroad station and blocking all roads into town. Four thousand townspeople lived on stockpiled supplies and food from hunting or fishing. For 3½ months, while influenza raged in nearly every city in America, Gunnison saw not a single case of flu -- not until the spring, when roads were reopened and a handful of residents fell sick.

HMMM...SO IT WORKS. BUT IT'S DRAMATIC.

Visit LIFE.com for photographs of the lethal flu pandemic of 1918

Unpopular

2009-01-01T20:25:00.002Z

Here are a couple interesting articles that surfaced today from the UK. I found them kind of interesting:

An unpopular but more prevalent view than one might think:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/environment-minister-sammy-wilson-i-still-think-manmade-climate-change-is-a-con-14123972.html

And since Al Gore certainly gets mixed reactions from Christians both politically and concerning his environmental views, I wonder how English churchgoer's feel about ₤150 million of their offerings being entrusted to him!

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=3568

I think it's wonderful that the church in America seems to be taking the call to be good "stewards of the earth" more seriously, and there are so many things we can do that don't cost a thing to take better care of the environment. For instance, we are very blessed in Denver to have the recycling (and soon composting!?) programs made so easy for us.

But is "green" being over-marketed to us in the form of guilt and panic? I can honestly say that I haven't done my homework, and I know there are two sides to every story and I have yet to hear both sides out. We shouldn't follow any trend blindly. It is a goal of mine to do a little more research on both sides of the global warming debate in 2009.

Your informed comments, please.

Stuff This Week

2008-11-14T18:27:00.002Z

Mildly Exciting:

We met with a financial planner and I feel more on track with goals and ideas. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Disappointing:

Several of my post-op Percoset and Codeine pills are missing from my medicine cabinet. After going over and over it with Randy, we fear the only explanation is that a friend has stolen drugs from us.

Very Exciting:

I leave Tuesday to pick up my "new" car. It's a 1999 Honda CR-V that I'm buying from aunt in South Carolina. This means that I'll have a better car for snow (We woke up to first snow in Denver this morning!) and I get to see my sister, brother-in-law, nephews, and mom, plus aunts & uncles before driving 24 hours home. Along the way, I can visit friends in Nashville, Atlanta, and my brother and his family in Kansas City.

Bonus:

Trader Joe's in St. Louis means I can stock up on two buck Chuck.

Worth mentioning:

Randy is mopping right now. What a guy!

A Sign on My Door

2008-11-04T18:31:00.005Z

ELECTION DAY BLOG -
IF ANYONE PUTS A SIGN ON MY DOOR, IT WILL BE ME.

I am mostly posting this here for posterity, and have worked hard to be civil and hear all my friends' views out because I have a network of very diverse and intelligent friends, but maybe it will explain why I take it a little personally when people use my own house as their advertising space.

I have not put any campaign signs up in my yard. The only one that got offered to me said "I'm Latina & I Vote!" but I'm not, so I couldn't really use it. Anyway, after being canvassed and having about a jillion large Obama poster-sized fliers put on my door-knob, I now feel the need to respond, so the is going on my door. This is not the sole basis of my voting decision. Many other issues factor in, but this is the stuff that I get emotional about:

We have voted and do not want any fliers put on our property. Please do not leave any.

At the age of 6, my sister’s life was threatened by Black Panthers following the teachings of people like Khalid Al-Mansour, who has been pulling strings for Obama for some time. These Black Panthers were connected with international terrorists and took their orders from them.

Khalid Rashidi (former PLO press) both received funds for his organization and gave funds to the campaign for Obama. His former organization, the PLO, pointed many guns at my own father's head threatening his life.

These threats were made because of the work my father was doing to stop people like Bill Ayers from blowing up American buildings & to keep the PLO at bay, work which kept many Americans safe without their ever knowing it.

Enjoy your freedom today & vote your conscience, but
PLEASE DO NOT KNOCK ON MY DOOR & ASK ME TO VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO BEFRIENDS AND RELIES ON THOSE WHO HAVE POSED A DIRECT THREAT TO MY FAMILY’S LIVES.

no, I'M breaking up with YOU!

2008-11-03T23:35:00.003Z

WHY OH WHY CAN WE NOT GET MARKETING RESTRAINING ORDERS?

A while back we decided to cancel our DirecTV service.

The Goal:

-Watch less tv. Write more songs.
-Watch only what WE pick out (thru Netflix) and skip the advertising.

The customer service department at DirecTV seemed bewildered by this lifestyle choice and I tried to break it to them gently:

"We are not dissatisfied customers. You have delivered what you promised, but we just no longer want IT. Oh, and please be sure to put in our notes that we are very resolute about this decision and do not want to be asked again."

She informed me that they usually did not come back to remove the satellite dish which they installed on our roof because "we might change our mind."

"We won't. I just told you we are very resolute and do not wish to discuss this further."

"Yes, but we're not coming to pick it up in case the next people who live there want it."

"Ah, but this is MY house. I own it, so there are no 'next people' for many years to come."

"We still aren't coming to take it down. If you want it down, you'll have to do it yourself."

I informed her that I was NOW a dissatisfied customer.

Three hours later, I got a call from a salesperson asking me to come back. I told him that his company was worse than a whiney ex-boyfriend and really shouldn't be trying to win me back because I had expressed my explicit disinterest in retaining their services and reminded him that I was on the Do Not Call list.

Now they have taken an aggressive stance with me, sending me at least one piece of paper mail per week, threatening that this was my "last chance" to come back on the outside of the envelope, but alas when I open it up so that I can recycle the envelope and shred the letter, the letter takes that "Baby, I'm sorry it will never happen again" tone, promising me a free DVR, free HD access, and vague "upgrades." It's textbook behavior inviting me back into the cycle of abuse.

Does anyone know how to stop this cycle?

It's almost as if DirecTV can't handle the fact that I have broken up with them. Each week they must tell me it's my last chance to come back so that they can say, WE'RE breaking up with YOU!!!

HOW MANY TREES MUST DIE SO THAT DIRECTV'S EGO CAN BE SPARED?

Siouxanne

2008-10-24T05:13:00.002+01:00

In 2002, Randy and I wrote a song called "Siouxanne." He was just playing guitar in the living room and I was kind of humming and thinking aloud about a friend I lost touch with. It is always weird writing about people you know.

One of the first big shows we did in Denver was at our friend's art studio just after our friends' wedding. For the wedding, they asked us to learn a secret dedication from each one to the other. At the reception, we sang their surprise dedications to each other as a special gift. Well, bride & groom showed up. Let me back up and say that the bride and I had fallen out of touch for several years, and in the meantime, I had written a song called "Simplicity" about some of the things the bride in my story was going through at the time and my part in how the story might have unfolded differently, etc.

Knowing all of this, you can understand my puzzled look when, at the art studio show, my friend yelled out, "Do my song--you know the one you did for me!" and I suddenly thought she knew...In front of a crowd of people, I told her I didn't realize she knew I had written a song about her. She said she didn't know that either. And so, after many years, I confessed on the spot and sing "Simplicity" followed by the original misunderstood request of "Tupelo Honey." Yikes.

Well, thanks to Facebook and myspace, tonight, I sent an mp3 to Siouxanne (now just Zanne) of her song. I am nervous, nervous, nervous, but I have been wondering if she was alive, how she is, and if the day would come when I'd have to tell her that this song exists with her name on it.

New Duke Special!

2008-10-08T03:36:00.001+01:00

Yaaay! New Duke Special album out soon!

One Week In

2008-10-08T01:00:00.002+01:00

I have lost my voice. All the songwriting I was hoping to do has been put on hold because my throat is killing me, and when I can manage to make a sound, it's the sound of a frog. Apparently, surgery can lower your immunity to viruses and I have one. I'm tired and lethargic.

Yesterday, I got out of the house and ran a bunch of errands and felt pretty good, but today I am wiped out.

All this time alone in the house makes me question the meaning of life, my purpose on earth, and every question leads to fifty more questions. Google is no help and I am drowning in "possibilities" but not sure what action to take.

The presidential debates are on tonight so that should further frustrate and confuse my sense of justice and truth. Maybe I will skip it for a Monarch of the Glen marathon. Thank you Netflix.

2008-10-02T02:39:00.005+01:00

Hysterectomy

Back in January, I finally went to see a doctor about pain I was experiencing every month. Yep, the girl kind of pain, but worse.

Doctor #1 sent me for an ultrasound and then called me on my way out the door to catch a plane to inform me that I had a birth defect - something called a septate uterus. The best way to describe this is to say that if a woman's womb is the home for her unborn child, then I have a duplex without enough square footage on either side for a kid to live safely. She suggested something called an oblation. She also said this would not explain my pain at all so this explanation did not sit well with me. Her non-chalant attitude in telling me that I was deformed also didn't charm me much.

Doctor #2 looked at the ultrasound results for a second opinion, and correctly diagnosed me with something called a penduncular fibroid. This thing was apparently pushing into my uterus and splitting it in half (without breaking it). THAT explains the pain! She ordered a laparascopy and hysteroscopy to be sure.

Surgery #1 was in April (with Doc #2) and confirmed this diagnosis along with the discovery of endometriosis. Conclusion: I need a hysterectomy.

After reading up on all the different kinds of hysterectomy (total, supracervical, laprascopic, abdominal, etc. etc.) I made a decision to go with an LSH (Laprascopic Supracervical Hysterectomy) - the conservative choice with the least scarring and recovery time. When I informed Doc #2 of this, she said it was a newer operation and she did not perform it and promptly referred me to Doc #3.

Doctor #3 was a laid back but thorough and knowledgeable guy who made me feel instantly comfortable and confirmed that I had made the right choice about which kind of surgery to have. He even scheduled my surgery on his day off since I had been waiting a while. Of course, he loses points for saying when Randy came in to the room for my pre-op appointment/exam, "Oops. I forgot to do a breast exam! I'll just do that now." AWKWARD!

Monday, the surgery went very well and I was done by 1:00pm. They told me I could go home as soon as I "peed." Of course, with nothing to drink or eat for 12 hours, this was no easy task. The anesthesia made me incredibly nauseated, and I had a migraine going in, so I wound up there until 5:00pm because they maxed me out on nausea drugs and I was still sick as a dog. At last, I lost my liquid lunch and felt okay enough to get out of the backless gown and head home.

Once home, the process started again and it was a long night of migraine, nausea and soreness. Randy is taking amazing care of me. Our church is bringing meals by three days a week right now, and lots of love is being sent my way. I feel lazy and spoiled but very glad to have this behind me.

This morning I looked at all the photos from my surgery. Randy is easily freaked out by this stuff, but I am fascinated. They're really gross though. I found some other photos from a similar surgery online tonight that helped me figure out just what I was looking at, and I feel like I have a good understanding of why my body felt the way it did for so long. I look forward to much better health in the coming year.

I'm sure there is a lot more to say about the emotion of losing something as significant as my womb, and the finality of it all, but for now, I'm just grateful to have a solution without major complications.

Postcard from Invesco Field

2008-09-24T23:17:00.004+01:00

Last night, I worked a teambuilding event for RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) who rented out Invesco Field. Part of the fun was a relay race covering lots of the stadium. My job was HEAD CHEERLEADER. (I have never been a cheerleader, but I did play Patty Simcox in our high school production of Grease.)

I sat alone in the Visitor's Locker Room, most recently inhabited by the New Orleans Saints, and waited for teams to find me so they could perform their cheers for me. If I approved, they got a hole punch on the score card. I get paid for this stuff!

One or two middle-aged male bankers who may have had a few beers or perhaps just didn't possess the greatest social skills looked me up and down and said with a little frown, "Oh, I was hoping to meet a REAL cheerleader." Yeah, well, I was hoping to work with a gentleman, but such is life. You have to live with me--some people love fake cheerleaders.

Afterwards, I had Bob, the photo guy snap my picture in one of the quarterbacks lockers. Why not?

Life Happening at the Airport

2008-09-23T21:53:00.006+01:00

I'm kind of an airport geek. When I was a broke college kid, I used to go to the airport just to watch people. Parking was the only expense and parking was pretty cheap back at Stapleton. On September 12, 2001, Randy and I rode the blue line to O'Hare to see how airport life had changed overnight...

This is where I have been spending a lot of my time lately. Meeting and greeting people -- just to the right of that fountain at the top of the escalator by where the train lets people out at Denver International Airport. This kind of work suits me just fine.

Greeting people changed a lot (probably forever) in those 24 hours following 9/11. Suddenly no one got to meet their sweetheart at the gate with roses. Since that day, all the greetings (from domestic flights anyway) happen in one place at DIA--right there by the fountain. This means I don't have to roll the dice to see where I think something interesting might happen. I'm right there. Here's just one day:

-met Doris, a tour director with a British company who may be the only person I know who moved from Wheaton, Illinois to Colorado Springs, Colorado in the mid-1990's without being relocated by a Christian organization!

-greeted Eric, whose wife is back in Houston waiting for the power to come back on after hurricane Ike swept through town more than a week ago.

-saw a Colombian exchange student meeting his host parents from Kansas for the first time.

-learned that the French onion soup at Pour le France pretty much rules!

-asked my local police lieutenant to stop by and let my dog out and he agreed! (It helps that he is married to my college roommate).

-met Sheila & her husband who moved to Glenwood Springs 35 years ago to build ther dream home. They said I could stop by anytime.

-talked to a man who had been in Moscow in 1981 with the federal government...Hmmmm.

-watch a grandparent and three young siblings give the sweetest welcome home to parents and the new addition to their family from China.

-saw a lot of Saints fans coming to cheer against the Broncos.

-talked to people from Brazil, Spain, Japan, USA, India, Indonesia, Kazhakstan, Tajikistan, and Viet Nam.

And I used to sit at a desk all day.

This House is Not a Dome.

2008-09-13T18:08:00.002+01:00

One question I get a lot when giving tours of Invesco Field is why the field does not have a dome. The Broncos play in all kinds of weather and I honestly don't know the real answer as to why they do not have a roof for their stadium. Maybe it makes them look tougher to play in the snow, or maybe it's just that after $400 million, they were done spending.

Speaking of the Broncos, I worked at the airport Tuesday and was amazed at the number of people wearing Raiders gear. What gall...don't they know we killed them the night before!? Hooray for the Broncos. I am not so much Bronocomaniac as I am anti-Raider, and specifically anti-Al Davis. It makes me happy to see them get beaten so badly by our home team.

So...back to the roofless concept, I went with my friends Gary & Melanie to a Rockies game on Labor Day. It was blazing hot and our seats were definitely without cover. The reason for the occasion was to see my friend and college roommate Cheryl sing the national anthem at the beginning of the game. She did a great job!

It was so fun to see her up on big screen. I was really proud of her, and selfishly, I wanted to tell everyone how we used to practice together in college and be awfully critical (in a constructive way) of each other's singing so we could get better, how we used to sneak into that tiny echo-ey room in the music building of CCC and find songs to harmonize on. But of course, I kept mouth shut, stood up, put my hand over my heart, and tried not to cry. She really nailed it, and I didn't want to sing along so I could listen.

Afterwards, we relocated to a spot in the shade at Coors Field--to the purple ring of seats, the mile high row. The staff at the stadium said it would be fine since the stadium wasn't so crowded on Labor Day due to Taste of Colorado going on downtown. Not only was it cool to sit in the purple seats but the overhang shading us from the sun made the whole thing much more bearable. Everyone needs some cover...

Now it's all fine and good for stadiums not to have roofs, but homes need them, and yesterday when it started raining, I noticed that what had been a small crack in our ceiling was starting to get bigger. By mid-day, we were watching the ceiling peel away! Here is what we had by the time the rain stopped. A soggy mess of a ceiling and obviously, an imminent roof repair.

My brother Matt and his family were staying with us so it was a good chaotic morning at our place, but thanks to the company he works for (ServiceMagic) we had two quotes by evening and we should have things repaired affordably - the necessary stuff, not the cosmetic stuff - tomorrow or Monday. Let's hope it doesn't rain between now & then.

More DNC Photos

2008-09-13T17:50:00.004+01:00

Here are some photos taken on my phone during the DNC. Like my memories, they are blurry:

Our messy LOGISTICS OFFICE:

Can't tell you how happy I am to see these up for grabs as "trash."

A golf cart ride was a real luxury after hours on our feet. Here comes Q to give my feet a rest!

Look! Michael McDonald. Again! And Bucky Bronco overhead.

Candlesticks. Candlesticks. Candlesticks.

Leftover fruit from the boxed lunches.

The bus lot. It was my responsibility to help with staging Route #6 buses in three straight lines some days so this is the fruit of my labor...

Flags waving inside Invesco Field Thursday night:

I'm Like Reba--A Survivor!

2008-09-01T04:46:00.003+01:00

I survived the DNC but just barely. I stayed safely out of the T-zone for most of the rest of the time, and enjoyed working w/ Kishan and Quentin my real bosses.

Both Randy & I put in 75 hours each and I seriously thought some of those delegates were going to punch me on the last night when things went awry. Our volunteers ditched, sending thousands the wrong way, flooding our bus lots, crippling transportation, and then the Secret Service shut down Federal Boulevard where the cabs were supposed to be to help with overflow. It was a nightmare and I truly thought we might have a riot on our hands.

I heard Dennis Prager say that although he disagreed with the Democrats on many points, he found the Dems in Denver to be very polite and pleasant, even wonderful people. I might have agreed up until Thursday night in Lot J. Fortunately, the sheriffs showed up (not Randy--he was out at the jail), and everyone calmed down a notch. So...we got them where they were going but it took some time. I got home at 1:30AM.

Somewhere in the confusion, I packed a city bus full of delegates before realizing that it was not one of ours. I wasn't about to unload them! I sidled up next to the driver and explained his new route and told him if he wanted to survive this ride, he would do as I said! Ha. I sort of hijacked an RTD bus...oops.

I did get in the stadium for about half an hour...just long enough to see Michael McDonald (seriously, how many times can I see this guy for free?!), Susan Eisenhower's speech (very classy), and Joe Biden's speech - I find him VERY annoying.

With all this work, I did not get to go stalking with Melanie and saw no one famous despite the fact that Denver was crawling with celebs. AND I got really sad that I was missing everything by not having a tv to see the recaps at least.

SO WE GOT TV...TWICE.

I got one of those converter boxes Saturday because my coupon came in the mail during all this hype. Then, of course, the same day, my brother Josh upgraded tvs, so we decided to buy his old one from him - it's a 42" HD number and way better. It takes up less space even though it's way bigger, and doesn't have a green spot in the picture. So I found out some of the stuff I missed. Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner were here. Bono was not photographed anywhere that I could see. Kanye West did not try to steal Obama's spotlight as I predicted.

My college roommate arrested Randall Terry, head of Operation Rescue. She said she did not like his demeanor. Randy saw him in the jail because, well, he was working at the temporary detention center that night. He said that most of the OR people were very nice though.

Then, John McCain picked Sarah Palin for a running mate, and whaddayaknow? History gets made no matter who gets elected in the whole woman/African American thing. Poor Hillary. And how sad is it that Tina Fey is no longer on SNL to play Sarah Palin?? It's nice to have history made, but I think I'd rather have the country sorted. Maybe both can happen.

SO, I am glad to close the books on this DNC and I am off to watch my new big awesome tv. Vote wisely everyone.

Too Close to See

2008-08-26T05:51:00.002+01:00

Today it started, AND it occurred to me that between my job and the fact that I do not have TV, I have seriously no idea what happened today in the bigger picture.

-I heard something about Obama picking a running mate.

-I read that Bono was in town to do something with his pal Kanye (who is somewhere probably preparing to step onstage at Invesco Thursday and tell everyone why he is the one who should have gotten the Democratic nomination).

-Someone said the Clintons are at the Brown Palace.

-Melanie saw a few protestors downtown.

-I saw a flash of John Legend singing some pie-in-the-sky-solve-all-the-world's-problems song from inside the Pepsi Center

-and I delivered directions to shuttle drivers, and proofread lots of route maps for the move to Invesco Field on Thursday.

This blur of moments is my experience at the DNC. The bus depot I live in right now is a hard-secured zone which means we have to be credentialed to get in, but we see and hear very little about what is happening outside our zone, and it's separate from the zone that the delegates are dropped into when they arrive.

Furthermore, as a member of the Invesco crew, somehow I managed to make my way out of the T-zone today (yaaay!) and to my real leaders thus relieving me of bus-wrangling, loading, etc. duties and limiting interaction with the delegates/passengers to none.

As a result, I have not a clue what happened today in Denver. I'm in the middle of it all with absolutely no view and no big picture. I couldn't be more insulated and isolated from the action. It's like a blurred vision version.

DNC Training Day 3

2008-08-25T04:47:00.004+01:00

Not much to report to day--I worked a shorter day today and drove there twice because certain streets were newly barricaded and I had to go almost all the way back home to find a new route.

My migraine finally subsided in the afternoon after I got home from work, and I learned hand signals for guiding buses into tight parking spots.

Today, my supposed supervisor "T" referred to himself at least 5 times in third person, as in "You're in the T-Zone" or "The T-Bird will take care of you," or "T-Man says..." My breakfast very nearly landed squarely in the T-Zone!

L to R: Quentin (my real supervisor) and someone else basking in the T-Zone.

Mid-day it occured to me that T was the only one who informed me that T was my supervisor, so I checked w/ the lady who hired me, and she informed me that the buck stopped with someone else named "Q." Seriously...

T had said to come in at 7am but I went to Q and he said 9am. Ha! Yaaay. I like Q better!

So, I have everything together for work tomorrow (at 9!) but I don't know if that's the same thing as being ready.

Small world news: I bumped into a law enforcement officer helping with crowd control/protestor duty who actually attended youth group with Randy in Illinois. Thankfully, there were fewer protestors today than expected and less than 10 arrests made. If only that would keep up!

Day 2 DNC Training

2008-08-24T03:10:00.005+01:00

DNC Training Day 2:

Dry run for busses.

My work schedule is out the window.

Drivers ate almost all the pizza.

Splitting migraine.

Tomorrow is another day.

The DNC Hits Denver

2008-08-22T04:51:00.002+01:00

It seems like ages since Denver started buzzing about the Democratic National Convention hitting town, and now, like a big fat tidal wave, here it comes. Somehow it still seems to have sneaked up on us. Perhaps it is because so many details that directly affect our household have been left to the last minute...

The change of venue to Invesco Field (from the Pepsi Center) for the Obama speech Thursday puts the crowds less than a mile from our home. Road closures have been changed around us and our work schedules and job descriptions are daily redefined.

My part-time job as a tour guide at Invesco Field for the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame will be traded in for full-time transportation coordination for the delegates, and Randy is Mr. Overtime and Mr. Overnight with no days off for about 11 in a row. Our friend Melanie is helping with concierge service for people leasing downtown lofts from her real estate firm and she will be camping out with us to avoid all the crazy commuting.

Some people say that Denver is ill-prepared for this convention and it's going to be a nightmare while others are assuring us that Denver is ready for it and all has been planned well. Today, I am acutely aware that when they say "Denver," they mean us: a law enforcement worker, an event worker, and a real estate administrative assistant. Our household of three this week is bracing to be part of the execution team that tries to make the second group of people right.

Pray for us!

Winter in August!

2008-08-19T06:20:00.006+01:00

After surviving a heatwave in Denver these past couple weeks, the weather finally broke and we enjoyed some Scotland-esque grey and gloomy rain. It was fantastic and it made me feel like heading outdoors again.

Yesterday, Randy's sister Julee (who has been visiting from Oregon) and I decided to drive up the Mt. Evans Byway...the highest altitude highway in the USA. It was a beautiful drive straight into winter, even if the road was closed at Summit Lake. Just as we hit snow, songs we had put on a mix CD from the Narnia soundtrack started playing...perfect!

We drove up past the treeline and saw marmots, deer, and on the way home, bison. Diego wasn't too sure about the leash laws but I think he had a good time too.

The full set of photos is viewable by clicking HERE.