Friday, July 29, 2005

work work working

Got up early this morning and started working. I had to mail some things in NZ to get reimbursed for my Finland trip. Finally got that taken care of, now I just need the money.

Didn't end up playing disc golf with Dan, but this afternoon I might play with Jeff up on top of Vail. After that I am heading to the Ultra 100 registration dinner with Jeff and Jeff in the evening. Can't complain about a free dinner.

Working at Jeff's has been pretty sweet even though I feel like a jerk being here all the time. I have been taking Tasha out for a 2 mile run every time she gets too active. That gets her all paid out then she goes to sleep for a while.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Buffehr Creek

This morning Jeff's friend Jeff Lapp and I were supposed to ride the Buffehr Creek loop, but we ended up waiting for each other at different locations and never met up. We rode the loop separately, but still had a great time. I love that ride. The uphill climb is pretty tough and steep, but the downhill is so much fun. It is fast, gentle turns. It is so fast that I had to stop about half way down and shake my hands out from squeezing the brakes so much. Jeff Lapp said his rotors were so hot he couldn't touch them.

I am working now at Jeff's for the rest of the evening. Good times.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

At Jeff's for another week

I finally got my front brake fixed on my bike. I had to take it to the shop this morning because I couldn't figure it out and I wanted to go for a ride. Ended up not going for that ride though.

Last night when I got home from work I just crashed out. There is more talk of me going back to Finland, but I don't know how much of it will pan out.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Heading home

Finally back in Vail and able to relax a little bit. My internet is still not working and Comcast says they can't come out to fix it until August 2nd so I have to spend another week working mobile... This sucks.

The past few days in Denver were cool. Sean says he might come back out here. Who knows...

Monday, July 25, 2005

sweet Denver vistas

I am working today from Ryan's apartment in Denver. Ryan has gone to work, Elena has gone to get her wisdom teeth pulled, and Sean is still sleeping. Here is the view from Ryan's place out towards the mountains:

The past few days

The day after Kris, Sean, and I got back to Vail we biked Vail Mountain. Here is a shot of Kris at the top of the first climb of the Vail Village Trail:


The next day Kris and I biked over 30 miles over Shrine Pass:






Sean hiked up to Deluge Lake when Kris and I were doing Shrine Pass. We went up there on Friday to meet up with him after he stayed overnight:


Yesterday we drove down to Denver and played some wiffleball with Meghan and hung out with Ryan and Elena. I am staying here all day so I can take Sean to the airport tonight and I will head back up to Vail in the morning. I can't wait to get back in the mountains...

Friday, July 22, 2005

Why do I do this to myself?

Yesterday Sean took off for Deluge Lake. He camped in the cabin by the lake. This morning Kris and I hiked up to the lake to meet up with him. It took us 4 hours to get there and when we finally got there we were so cooked. Riding over 30 miles yesterday was bad enough, then adding this steep climb to it... ugh.

So, we get there and look around and can't find Sean anywhere. He wasn't in the cabin and there was no sign of him. After hanging out for a while we decided to leave and hope that Sean had gone down and we missed him or he took a different trail or something. Just as we were leaving we heard him start yelling from way up one of the peaks. He had been sitting on top of the Gore Range. I can't believe he climbed all the way up there in Birkenstocks.

After our hike we got some dinner at Pazzo's and now I am doing some work before Ryan shows up.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Longest bike ride...ever

Current music: Cake - Love You Madly

Kris and I got up this morning with intentions of doing a bike ride. When we got to the hotel to pick up a bike from Jeff he suggested that we take a ride with the activities van up to the top of Vail Pass and ride over Shrine Pass. So we did...

Shrine Pass was amazing. The ride was a lot of fun and the views were spectacular. We rode all the way down to Red Cliff then had to climb up Battle Mountain Pass and ride down Route 24 to Minturn. At that point Kris and I were tired. We still had to ride all the way up from there to Vail.

The entire ride was a bit over 30 miles and took us about 3 hours of riding time. Kris is sleeping right now at my place. He and Jeff are going on some "Hummer and Martini" tour/party thing tonight with the Sonnenalp. I have to work...

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Back to Vail

Current music: Air - Cherry Blossom Girl

Not posting for almost a week... That is unlike me, but I have made it back to Vail now. It feels good to be back. So, since I last posted I left Finland. I was sad to leave Marjo, but glad to get back to New York to see the family.

After multiple delayed flights and a night in a hotel in Copenhagen I made it home at about midnight on the 15th. My grandparents came in from Florida on the 16th in the evening. My cousin, Jaime, had her high school graduation party on Sunday. My parents picked up Sean to come to it. I was glad he could make it. He has been living with his 20 year old girlfriend who has 3 kids. He lost his job and is really struggling. I asked him to drive back to Colorado with Kris and I so he could have a bit of a break and clear his head and make a decision. He had told my mom that he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. I don't think where he is now is great for him. He said he would come, but then his girlfriend talked him out of it when he got home that night.

Monday morning Kris and I went to the airport and picked up the rental car. When we got back to my parents' house Sean called and was saying he decided not to go. My mom talked to him for a while and right when Kris and I were getting in the car to start the journey my mom said Sean was coming with us. Kris and I repacked the car to make room for Sean and then I drove to Warsaw and picked him up.

We left Buffalo at about 2pm after eating Mighty Taco with Jeff. The drive went well and we made it to Chicago to see Dan Lindsey and his girlfriend at 10pm. We had some dinner with them at a deep dish pizza place then hit the road again.

Kris and I traded driving the rest of the way and made it to Denver at 4pm the next day. Ryan and one of his friends met us out for a drink then we drove the rest of the way to Vail. Of course, the first thing we did was meet Dan and Brienne at La Cantina for dinner... The best mexican as usual.

This morning Kris and I took the car to the Eagle airport then we came back and got Sean to do some mountain biking. We got some bikes for the guys and hit the trails. We rode the Vail Village Loop Trail up to the base of Chair 10 then took South 6 down. They were pretty paid. I think they are at home sleeping right now. I came down to Jeff's because the internet at my place isn't working again. Damn Comcast...

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Goodbye Finland

Yesterday was a good day. I finished fixing my bugs I am in Finland for. Then after work Marjo met me for pizza. It was much cooler yesterday because it rained in the afternoon. We went to a concert, the Rotuaari Piknik. Some good Finnish bands played and I didn't know any of the words, but it was still fun. After the concert we rode our bikes for a little while down near the water and just hung out until late into the night. Goodbye to a face like this really sucks...

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Poets shmoets...

Finland rocks in the summer. Since the sun doesn't really go down it stays warm all night. Last night Marjo and I went out to a really nice restaurant on the water for dinner. I had some really good lamb and she had an ENTIRE chicken! After dinner we called Hulsey so he could hear her Finnish accent and hear her speak Finnish. Pretty funny. Later in the night we went out to a pizzaria and met up with her cousin and her cousin's friend. It was a good night.

I tried to change my flight so that I fly to Copenhagen in the morning on Friday then back too hte US in the afternoon, but there are no flights available for Friday morning to Copenhagen. I will have to leave here tomorrow afternoon and head to Copenhagen, then spend the night there and fly to the US on Friday afternoon. Kinda sucks, but I will get another half day of work done, so that is good.

Well, back to the debugging...

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Finnished

Another great night with Marjo. Had dinner at an excellent Italian place in the center of the city then just hung out the rest of the night.

I had to buy some clothes because I don't have anymore clean ones. It was pretty much the same price to buy them or get my cleaned because the hotel says that the only way to do it is drycleaning. I have a hard time believing that there are no laundromats, but whatever...

Monday, July 11, 2005

Finland Forever

Well, the customer has asked me to stay here in Finland for a few more days or until we solve the problems we have found. I have tentative flight arrangements for going home on Thursday.

This is kinda bad because it means less time with my family and puts a bit of stress on the drive out to Colorado with Kris. On the other hand it is good because I get to spend a few more all-night sunsets with Marjo:

Weekend in Finland

The best beach in Oulu on Saturday:


The same beach, but at 10pm (notice the sun is still shining!)


You probably think the Arctic Circle would be cold, but it was over 80 there... Yesterday at the Arctic Circle:


The Arctic Circle town of Rovaniemi from the top of the ski slopes:

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Bed time

Just got back from an amazing night with Marjo. We rode down into the city sqaure and had dinner, then rode our bikes all around the city. We went to some island called some word which is similar to the Finnish word for penis.

Anyway, we found a nice place on the river where there are fountains and stayed there until the mosquitoes carried us away. She hates photos, but I managed to get one almost decent one of her almost smiling:


Finally we rode back to the hotel and now she is riding home. Time for bed for me because I have to be up in 5 hours to catch the taxi to work. Hopefully we will see each other again tomorrow night before I leave on Tuesday.

Ahhh... Scandinavian girls

Yesterday I got a bike and rode all around. The women here are awesome. I always heard that Scandinavian women are beautiful and you see the Swedish women in magazines and TV, but whoa. They are amazing. Anyway, I met this really cute girl at the beach named Marjo. We rode our bikes in to town together and hung out at a bar all night until closing. I met some of her friends. Everybody was key...

Today Marjo and I have been texting all day. I was up at the Arctic Circle, but we made plans to get dinner when I got back to Oulu. She is riding her bike here right now, then we are going out. I don't think of Oulu as a place I would like to live, but meeting her makes me want to stay here past Tuesday for sure.

Friday, July 08, 2005

It's been such a long long time

Chris' party in Peconic, Long Island was a blast. A little more low key than years past. Jesse Shoemaker showed up and it was awesome to see that face. We got some good sunsets at the beach and had good times together:




After that 3 days of party, Tor and I drove to Syracuse. My parents picked me up there and I went home for 2 days. I thought I would be staying there all week, but work decided I needed to visit a customer in Oulu, Finland. I flew out on the 6th in the morning.

Now I am in Finland and I have been here for two nights. I have to stay for another few days, but its cool. I am having fun here. The first night, since the sun never sets, I woke up about 2am and went out for a walk around the city. Believe it or not, but I took these shots at about 2:40am:




Yesterday, Jouko and his girlfriend took me on a boat cruise in the sea in the evening. It is amazing that the sunsets can last for so long. The entire time we were on the cruise it was setting (4 hrs) and it still hadn't set when I went to bed at 11:30pm.




Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Back in Penfield Public Library

The party this past weekend was a blast. I will try to post some pics later. I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet.

Yesterday Tor and I drove from Peconic to the Christmas tree farm in Poughkeepsie, then on to Syracuse. My parents were awesome enough to pick me up in the 'cuse. Now I am back in Rochester for the week staying with them. Since I have to work all week, I am at the public library for a quiet place to use broadband. My parents don't have it...

My mom's parents are here for the week and it will be good to spend some time with them.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Mapage

This is where Mario and I are driving from. We are leaving in a few mins... Ugh.