The weekend

Today (and last night) have been really nice! Well, for me. Probably not for Chris unfortunately because he has been working :(. His company is hosting a conference in Denver from Thurs till tomorrow. The upside is that it is at a pretty nice hotel and Rachel and I stayed with him last night. First, Rachel and I went out to dinner at Illegal Petes (good food, and margaritas!). Chris met up with us and we had some beers back at the hotel. It was a fun but relaxing evening.

This morning we were all up early. Chris to work, and Rachel and I to go to Veloswap, which is a big convention-type event with a ton of bike-related stuff for sale from any one who has something they want to sell. I've never been before and it was great! I got a Specialized helmet, High Road bib shorts, Chipotle long-sleeve jersey (I love the argyle!), CSC jersey (for Chris), and handle bar grips for $95! Sweet! Rachel got a nice pair of road shoes for $10! It was nice, and we were done by 11:15.

I was feeling good and it has been a gorgeous day, so I went to Cherry Creek Res. for a run. I ran 55 minutes (well, walked for 10 of those)! My longest run since July and I felt pretty good. :) The beauty of where I was running definitely helped. I had some nice views of the mountains, which have a dusting of snow. I ran 3 days this week (about 12 miles), which was my goal, and have felt pretty good for all of them. I am excited about getting back into running! Who knows, maybe I will run tomorrow and make it 4?

I got done running just in time to watch the amazing Georgia-LSU game. I figured that Georgia SHOULD win, but that doesn't always mean anything. But they looked great! I guess the defense could have done better, but other than that I was very impressed. I think they are ready for Florida, which will be an even tougher game. Go Dawgs!

Now I'm hanging out waiting to hear from Chris. Maybe we will have time to eat dinner together. Then I will probably head back to the Fort for the night, although there are a few football games tonight I would like to watch, so maybe I will stay. Who knows. I'm also trying to decide if I should see Obama speak at CSU tomorrow. It will be an all-day affair because of the crowds, but it is also a pretty great opportunity to see the possible future president just a few miles from my house. Hmmm ... I am going to get political for the first time ever on my blog!

I think I am voting for Obama. I was kind of on the fence but you know what pushed me over? I've always been a little leary of McCain because he is old! What if he dies in office?? Seriously. And as I get to know Palin more, I really don't think she could be president. I think it would be a disaster. I think she is probably a fine governor of Alaska, but I can't see her being the ruler of the free world and sitting down with foreign diplomats and using her hockey-mom language with them. So, that is what tipped me. But I like a lot of things about Obama. I like his views of energy and the environment. I like that he wants us out of Iraq sooner than McCain, although I hope he doesn't rush it. I like the idea of universal health care coverage. I don't like McCain's ideas for health care. When was it, 2000, I was hoping McCain would get the republican nomination. I would have voted for him then. But I like Obama. And I don't want Palin to be president. So, there you have it! Politics! Scary! Oh, one last thing, THE SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT in the debates was when Obama and McCain were talking about helping in Darfur. Please, please please, next president, do something to help those people!

ALright that's it. Thanks for stopping by!

Climate Change

I have a little part time job at my department writing content for a website (http://www.cmmap.org/learn/). So far I've written about clouds and climate, and now I'm writing about climate change. I'm posting what I write on my other blog (remember, I am a nerd and have two) http://outwardthought.blogspot.com. I'm interested in feedback. If you are interested in the science behind climate change, you might want to check it out, and let me know what you think!
Thanks :)

"Work"

I haven't had much to do lately. I'm waiting for things to happen so I can make final changes to my thesis and start running a higher resolution GCM on a supercomputer. Today is a prime example of what my life has been like the last few weeks ... very busy & unpredictable at home and just looking for things to keep me busy at work.

6:30 alarm goes off
7:30 wake up, it's 54 degrees in the house!
7:35-8:30 Chris and I planted some bushes and small plants in the backyard. We meant to do this Sunday but instead spent the whole day filling holes in the house/crawl space and cleaning up after some mice who have been visiting us. Turns out Tiger was a great deterrent (way to go buddy!), and we might be getting a new cat sooner than we thought.
8:30-10 Get ready for work, water the plants, ride to work.
10-now (1:15) I'm not sure. Ate breakfast, had some coffee, checked email, bought plane tickets to Georgia for Christmas, talked to my mom, talked to Rachel about Heroes, talked to Nick about the need for a playoff system in college football. Opened a keynote presentation I'm working on - it's for a presentation I'm giving Oct 30. I usually never work that far in advance but I don't really have anything better to do!

Anyway, it's alright, I shouldn't complain about not being busy. It's just weird - especially since there is a lot of stuff going on at home with our landscaping project (we are trying to do some xeriscaping) and the stupid mice. Just wanted to post an update. Thanks for stopping by!