New Shoes

Literally. The Wife and I went to an actual running store and bought actual running shoes yesterday, so that we might continue our attempts at jogging with perhaps a bit less agony. Given that I haven't called myself a "runner" since high school, and The Wife never has, we popped into our local Road Runner store to take full advantage of their know-how on the subject.

I had gone in with a strong recommendation from my mother, whose duck feet I was dubiously fortunate enough to inherit, so I told our friendly shoe salesman that I needed to try on a pair of Brooks Beasts and that my dear spouse might need a bit more help in finding the right gear since she's a former ballerina and nobody really understands what's going on with her feet.

So, he took her over to stand on a pressure pad and found out she's much more "normal" than any of us expected. She tried on three different pairs and settled on a pair of Nike Zoom Structures that felt "like little hugs for my feet!"

Meanwhile, I wasn't so sure about the Beasts. This is typical of me. I can never tell if a shoe feels right. Mostly they just never feel all that great to me, but in particular, I have had so many shoes seem fine in the store only to be totally wrong when I get them home. Luckily Road Runner offers a guarantee for just such issues.

Anyway, I was hemming and hawing a bit. I thought maybe I should stand on the pad or whatever, too, in case anything mysterious would be revealed. Once I stood up in my socks and showed our guy how my feet roll inward, though, he said there was no mystery about that at all. And so I tried on a couple other pairs from Asics and Saucony. I ended up on the treadmill which showed my left ankle trying its level best to buckle in a direction that just isn't normal ("We generally want to try to get that a bit straighter, but I think that's as good as you get..." said my new friend with a baffled shrug.), but also revealed that I straighten my stride out fairly well by the time I push off. Good for me. In fact, we were both happy that nobody looked at us and screamed "What in the world are you doing trying to run?!"

Long story longer: The Beast felt the best of the shoes I tried on, and with some adjustments of the lacing pattern I was mostly able to get it to feel alright in the areas that were questionable.

Now it's just a matter of getting out there more than once or twice a week... (At least the days are starting to get longer.)

Hit 'Em Again

Here's to having MLK Day off from work! Going for my walk/run today in 15 degree (F) temps wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Until my calf started cramping. That had nothing to do with the cold, though. It was ready to go from the activity earlier in the weekend.

Junk I've run across:

Je suis jalouse

A few years ago a new development popped up near my own subdivision. It was called Bradburn Village and was part of the latest urban development trend of "New Urbanist" communities. All I knew was that the houses seemed really nice (more than just "little boxes on the hillside") and that residents would have a pub within staggering distance. Some of the more extravagant houses even had carriage house apartments, which is something that catches my eye since we live with my mother-in-law. Alas, the real estate game in Bradburn is too rich for my blood (assuming we would ever be able to sell our current house -- not likely in these economic climes). That doesn't keep me from walking through the neighborhood (there's open space between us and them) or stopping into the aforementioned pub for black & tans with bangers & colcannon. I still like to grab the "for sale" fliers to see what's going for what and pine wistfully when the answers are "perfect" and "too much".

Then I run across this: The lucky bastards have near-weekly keggers! And of course, everyone who lives there loves it. I'd really like to get a peak in their Yahoo! Group for some real scuttlebutt, but I'm guessing I'd be mostly disappointed.

That social interaction would be a double-edged sword for me, though. Part of me wants to live in a "village" where everyone knows everyone else in at least a cursory manner. The other part of me wishes everyone else would leave me the hell alone. Forever. Give me a glass of beer, though and that second part tends to get out of the way. ;)

As it is, I live in a nice neighborhood in my cookie cutter (though mostly well-built) house. Several of my good friends live within a ~5 mile radius. I have nearby open space in which I can make my jogging attempts. I can still take advantage of some of the amenities in Bradburn, too -- I just don't get to stagger home from the pub, so I take it easy and save the staggering for when I get home later.

Mostly I just like to look at the houses anyway.

BTW: Bradburn isn't the only example of "New Urbanism" in my area. We also have Stapleton (at the location of Denver's former airport), Belmar (in near-by Lakewood), Arista (coming soon in even-closer Broomfield) and probably several others. Prospect New Town, in Longmont, was the first one to catch my notice. Too bad it's in Longmont. ;)

Ring Of Fire 31: Undisputed

We went to another live Ring of Fire mixed martial arts event at the Broomfield Event Center last night. Here are a few notes:

  • We were part of the posse for the wife of the main event title holder, Eliot "The Fire" Marshall, by way of a friend-of-a-friend relationship. This turned out to be both awesome and stressful. Can't beat the seats.
  • Bossman and I made $1 bets on each bout with the loser picking the next fight. I lost $4-5. :(
  • There were three female fights on this card. They were scrappers, too. I think the "Karate Hottie" should have to change her name since she lost.
  • Most of the fights didn't make it past the first round. One that went the full distance ended up 29-27, 27-29, 28-28. In Colorado, though, the 28-28 judge has to actually pick a winner... Weird.
  • I'm still tickled that Brothers BBQ caters the "VIP" tables. They also do a pork sandwich toss (in which the ring sluts and some Brothers folks literally throw pork sandwiches in paper bags into the audience). Awesome.

So the main event was the main reason we were there. Bossman's wife works with Eliot's wife, so we all turned out to support him. He had looked really good the first time we'd seen him in one of these ROF events, so we weren't too worried event though the competition, Rob "Maximus" MacDonald was definitely a step up for him. The rest of the people in the "Fire" posse were great folks, too, it should be said. It really was a nice night out except for the idea of the nice lady down the row from you, whom you've just met, watching her husband getting beat up in the cage.

Which is unfortunately what happened. When MacDonald came into the cage I noticed that his shorts were branded with the Gym Jones logo. I immediately leaned over to The Wife and Bossman to whisper "Oh shit... Gym Jones is super badass." This proved to be prophetic as MacDonald tied Eliot up at will and slammed him to the mat like a rag doll over and over. After round one, Bossman's wife asked me "What's your take?" to which I arched my brows and said flat out "Really bad for Eliot!" It got to be hard to watch. The dude just seemed so much stronger than Eliot.

The commentary on the Gym Jones site sums it up well:

Rob won (referee stoppage in the second round). He was fierce, and shockingly strong; able to take Marshall down seemingly at will. Eliot showed great class and respect both before and after the fight. It was a privilege to see them do battle.

The fight was stopped in the second as MacDonald had Eliot mounted and was pounding him with a full-bore ground & pound. Eliot's wife didn't react well, needless to say (though it probably wasn't what you're thinking). When I got the chance to talk to him at the Foundry afterwards, Eliot admitted that his head just wasn't in it. I realize that you'll have that in this kind of game, but I do wonder how big of a set-back this will prove. He was the ROF light heavyweight champion and seemingly on his way up to the next level -- and certainly a great guy, but he failed at his first defense of the title... I'm curious what will be next for him.

Stuff and Junk

Firstly, it's worth noting that The Mother-in-Law has a new dog. Molly is a blue heeler mix of some sort. She's really sweet, though a bit crazy and fairly untrained. We're hopeful, though, since Australian Cattle Dogs are in the top ten for dog breed intelligence. ;) Next on the docket are the mighty Rockies. Now, I'm not a baseball fan. I root for the Red Sox on principal alone. But c'mon! Who doesn't love a "hometown underdog does good" story? Best of all, I know one Phillies fan who is an extremely sore loser. This could be fun.

In general, Autumn is upon us. The transition seasons always get me fired up in one way or another.

The Wife and I are taking a lot of long walks with Mingus to try to shed some pounds and keep the dog happy.

I've barely been on the Bonneville this year, but it's OK. My favorite riding time is now, so hopefully I'll get in the saddle at least a few times. I wish I was like these guys.

I'm itching to start a home project or a woodworking project (or both) soon. Updates when I do.

I want to play with my ding-a-ling

Good times this weekend. The primary highlight was a video game tourney and home-cooked Korean barbecue at my friend Peter's house. Peter (a former co-worker) and his fiance, Ann, laid out quite a spread of delicious kalbi, rice cakes, kalbi, fried fish, kalbie, kimchi, and some totally yummy kalbi. We also played a bunch of video games, but most of that part of the night is kind of fuzzy. I know I played the wrong screen on 4-man Halo and therefore got pwned.

One part that is clear is that The Wife pronounced "I want one!" almost as soon as she touched the Nintendo Wii. The Wife gets what The Wife wants (especially when it's something I've been forcing myself *not* to buy up to now), so we now have a shiny new Wii and the sore shoulders to prove it. (Here's the tip for those of you searching for a Wii: WalMart. I never go in the place, generally, but our local Wally World had about 10 of the things.)

Now we just have to find something other than Wii Sports to play on the thing...

Oh, and yesterday I came into work for a half day. Boo. Big launch tomorrow, so it's crunch time...

Weekend Highlights

I get the feeling that this summer's going to be a scorcher. That lovely Spring weather I was gushing about has faded into something more akin to a preheating blast furnace. Saturday evening the Wife and I gathered with our mothers and various other posse members to take in a tooth-and-nail roller derby bout with our beloved Rocky Mountain Roller Girls handing a sound trashing to the visiting Angel City Derby Girls from LA. Apparently the ACDG are relatively new and they tried to compensate for the lack of experience by - as our Zoom Zoom Zetta put it to me - "playing sooo dirty". As a spectator, I was thrilled. I was really worried Pinky 500 was going to throw down at some point, though (something I've only seen happen once so far). The night ended on a bit of a down note as Penny Payne needed to be helped off after a crash in the last jam.

Sunday kind of fell into the "too hot to move" category, so we took in Knocked Up. I'll give it a B+. It's not as funny as 40 Year Old Virgin, and a couple of the scenes were so obviously pieced together from hours of improv that they actually threw off the rhythm of the movie. All-in-all it's a great chick flick that guys will enjoy.

And... Yeah... That's about it.

Pili Me Ka'u Manu

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for the ukulele. Yes. Really. From Jake, to Brudda Iz, to Martin Mull... I just can't get enough.

My dear mother knows this about me (nor does she judge), so when she heard about a night of ukulele music at her favorite guitar shop, the Pickin' Parlor in Olde Town Arvada, she pinged me. So it happened that The Wife and I were with our mothers last night taking in a quite enjoyable show centered around that diminutive stringed instrument of the Hawai'ian Islands featuring some local talent.

Uke Night at the Pickin' Parlor

The thing about shows like this that happen at wonderful instrument shops like the Pickin' Parlor, is that they are often accompanied by lessons and workshops. Such was the case this time.

When Mom sent me the email about thee show, I saw the workshop and thought about it for a good ten seconds. The uke is one of a few musical instruments I've fleetingly tried to teach myself, you see. As it turns out, I'm just no good at teaching myself how to play much of anything, musically. When I let my mother know that I had considered it, she went running back to talk to "Uncle" Kit and sign us up for the beginner session.

Despite my musical shyness (based on my years of musical frustration), I had a great time, learned a few nifty things, and my interest in playing the ukulele has been rekindled.

We'll see where that gets me.

Got Plague?

We sure do! Here in the Colorado Front Range, the bubonic plague has long been known to fester amongst the prairie dog colonies that litter the landscape. Lately, though, it's been encroaching on the suburban bliss of our "little boxes" by way of the squirrels that run our fences and the bunnies that ruin our lawns.

And now it's in our monkeys.

Of course, how did the monkey catch the disease? BY EATING A DEAD SQUIRREL! Stupid monkey.

What baffles me is I have yet to see a single flea since moving to Colorado, but it seems they're out there. Guess they grow 'em invisible 'round these parts. Oh, and check this part out:

Although the plague, an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is the same disease that killed 25 million Europeans in the 1300s, it now can be treated with antibiotics if caught early enough. Still, it is fatal about half the time, according to health experts.

Well, which is it, young feller? Treatable with antibiotics or 50% fatal?

Denver. Gorgeous!

It's worth noting that, thus far, this year has featured one of the most fantastic Springs I've seen in the Denver area since 2000. The weather has been alternatingly warm and cool. We've had near-regular afternoon showers and/or thunder storms, which are never enough to disturb any grilling plans you might have, but always drop the approaching-hot temperatures down by a solid ten degrees just when you need it. The foothills are a shade of green not witnessed in these parts for at least half a decade. Heck, my lawn is even doing relatively OK. (I still despise it, though. Stupid grass with it's stupid weeds and stupid need for stupid water.) I gave my sprinkler system its first test run on Saturday. The pop-ups in the front yard are a bit suspect - not sure if the pressure was low at the time or if they just don't pop like they used to. Bitches. Carry on.

Update: A little green... Verdant

Plans

In case you were wondering what's up with the Jakester, I've got some stuff going on...

  • Thursday, I'll be going to the CEO's house for drink, food, and cards (in order of likely importance).
  • Friday, there's a poker game at Matty's house, which thankfully is within close proximity of my joint.
  • Saturday, there's roller derby, to which I may be dragging the boss again.
  • And I believe Sunday is Mother's Day, but there are no plans associated with that as of yet.

This is more activity than I usually have in a month, and I've already been a busy little bee lately. I'm not entirely sure I can keep up. I fear a backlash of hermitude.

Even that won't last long, though, as we already have a party planned for the end of the month. Oh, and I've got Dr. Sketchy's on the 21st, too. Goodness!

A Burning Ring of Fire

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of taking in the Ring of Fire 29: Aftershock mixed martial arts fighting event at the Broomfield Events Center. As I mentioned before, this followed after taking my company founder (I'm not supposed to treat him like "the boss"...) out to roller derby last month. As it turns out, his wife is friends with the wife of the local fighter who was the main event of the night. This fact would turn out add both interest and stress to the night for her. I don't have the wherewithal to run down all of my observations from the night, but the fights leading up to the two big fights were enjoyable. The results are available for those who care. A few highlights:

  • There was one premature stoppage. Dude got clocked but was defending himself "intelligently" by the time he landed on his back.
  • One of the referees looked like The Wife's brother in a couple decades. No worries, he was a handsome devil.
  • The crowd was... Wow. Now that I think about it, it should have been what I expected.

Which brings me to the two big fights of the night, both in the 205lb weight class.

First we had Big Mike Nickels the Denver-based tattoo shop owner who had a short stint on the Spike "reality" show, The Ultimate Fighter. He was fighting a guy named Carpaccio (yeah, that's what we thought) who is Army Airborne. Seven second knockout by Big Mike. Wow. Afterwards, they gave the mic to Carpaccio, who is a great guy, obviously. He apologized for not putting on a better show and then proceeded to tell us that he's shipping out to Iraq, like immediately and asked that "even if you don't support the war, please support your troops". This generated a lot of "Awww, bummer." and even more patriotic applause.

Then Nickels got on the mic... He started off well, letting us know that his next fight may be against Stefan Bonner in the UFC. Then he went completely off track. He was trying to say something nice about his opponent, but it came out as something like "I don't believe in murdering women and babies" at which point the ring announcer snatched the microphone and said "LET'S HEAR IT FOR OUR TROOPS!"

Odd.

Then of course, he got accosted by the two supposed Marines sitting in front of us. (I say "supposed" because they looked like overweight frat boys, not the type of Marine I know.) It was good drama, if you're into that sort of thing. I just hope Dana White doesn't pull the plug on his big fight because he decides he doesn't want any anti-war hippies in his league...

Then we had the main even, featuring the afore-mentioned friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, Eliot "Fire" Marshall. His opposition had such a classic "heel" entrance I had to laugh. Hailing from Las Vegas, Marcus Sursa came out strutting and posing and tossing autographed play money and photos into the crowd. Fantastic. Everyone hated him instantly. The fight itself was good. Marcus made a strong go at it at first, applying good pressure with his striking game, but he just couldn't hang with Eliot on the ground. Eliot finished him off with one of many chokes in the second round of what I would consider a fun fight. Eliot's wife and the boss's wife didn't seem to have a whole lot of fun, however.

Fighting sports might not be the best thing for family participation...

Dr. Sketchy, I Love You

When I read about this my first thought was "Hell yeah!" But that's just how I am. I get excited about the new alterna-burlesque and roller girls and stuff like that. Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School is right up that same alley. Then I read their "start your own" page and actually started to consider it. Of course, the truth is I would have ended up buying the coloring book and that would have been that. Lucky for me and everyone else of my ilk in and around Denver, someone beat me to it. It should be no surprise that RMRG's scariest roller girl, Pinky 500, is involved.

Fantastic, I say.

So, Matty... You free on the 3rd Monday next month? ;)

WTF Was That?

God I love me some Prince. Check this clip. James Brown calls up Michael Jackson, who does a standard little song and dance. MJ tells James to call up Prince. Prince rides a giant white man to stage and proceeds to get freaky. "Check the crazy guitar solo... No wait, I'm gonna take off my shirt instead. Oh! And microphone stand tricks! I can do some of those!" Effin' awesome.

Best part? JB carrying Prince's shirt over to him after he's done.

...

Speaking of surprisingly (but not unpleasantly) unmatched expectations, the April snowstorm I mentioned that was supposed to bring the Denver metro area up to a foot of the white stuff missed us entirely. Don't worry, though, it's fucking shit up on the East Coast, big time.

Prairie Doggin'

There's plenty going on these days, but that's all I can think of to share at the moment.