Oakland, CA

I spent the past weekend in Oakland with M, who has lived there for some time now (ever since she got back from four years in Japan), but I have thus far neglected to visit. It was a short trip (you might be able to tell that I've taken a lot of time off work lately; I didn't want to take off any more days than I absolutely had to in order to make the trip happen).

It all started out with a 6:00am flight. Why have there been so many of those lately? I had a layover in Denver, and my flight from there to Oakland was delayed. I pondered hopping the CME and heading off to Breck for some more skiing, but decided instead that I should carry on as planned. I can go to Breck any old time, but it's not every day I make it all the way to Cali, so on I went. I arrived about an hour late, to cold temperatures but lovely west coast sunshine!

M had to go back to work for a few hours that afternoon, but not before she showed off her shiny new computer!

Hopefully you all recognize me. And for those of you who don't know her, M is the one next to me. H, with the glasses, is M's roommate; P, the dude, is H's fiancee.

While M was at work, I did some reading for my sociology class. She got home and out we went with her dog Zander to the Point Isabel dog park to enjoy the last hour or so of sun. And boy was it lovely!

The Golden Gate

The view towards the city

Z having a rollicking good time in the mud...

...and getting a bath afterwards.

In truth, the dog bath didn't happen until after dinner. Zander's muddy self got to hang out in the car for a couple of hours while M and I went to Berkeley for dinner at House of Curries (oh my god! They have a never-ending chai bar! It was heaven!), and down the street for dessert at Ici. I had creme fraiche ice cream with bourbon winterfruits, in a house-made cone. Delightful!

We headed home, then came the dog bath. We finished up the night is a disastrously fabulous fashion, and I daresay I now have M to thank (or blame) for the fact that I'm totally hooked on Glee! Uh oh spaghettios.

Saturday morning began with a lovely brunch at La Note with M, H, and their friend S (who is very cool). Overall my breakfast was good, but there were a couple details that really stood out - sourdough toast with butter, and whole cloves of roasted garlic in the homefries. Quelle magnifique! We made a quick stop at the Berkeley farmers' market, did a little shopping at Jeremy's, then headed home to relax for a bit before our night out.

Unless I already told you, you would never believe what we did on Saturday night. We went to see a roller derby match between two of the teams in the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls league, and it was totally awesome! Doors opened at 6, and we probably got there around 7. It was flat-track derby (not to be confused with the banked-track derby of Whip It fame), so the closest seats were on the ground. A bit farther back there were some bleachers, but the track is actually pretty small, so we wanted to be as close as possible.

M and I left our seats for a bit to do some shopping at the booths that were set up, and decided to toss some money into the pot for raffle tickets to win better seats. At the corners of the rink, they had positioned couches, and you could win the privilege of that primo seating. And we won! Hooray! So the four of us (we were there with M's friends F and C) got comfy seating seating with a good view of the rink for the duration of the match.

M with our lucky tickets

I didn't know all the rules of derby going in, but I think I managed to pick up most of the major ones along the way. There are 10 girls on the track at a time. When the first whistle blows, 8 of them start skating. At the front, one girl from each team wears a helmet with a big wide stripe down the middle; she is the pivot, and it's her job to set the pace for the pack. The other six people are called blockers, and it's their job to block the other team's jammer. Shortly after the first whistle blows (maybe 5 seconds? 3?), there's another whistle and the two jammers, one from each team, start skating to catch up with the pack. The jammers can be identified by the star on their helmets. It's their job to try to pass the blockers and break through the pack. The first jammer to break through becomes the lead jammer. Every time the jammers lap the pack, they gets points for their team, one for each opposing team member she passes (not including the first time through the pack). If the second jammer manages to catch up with the lead jammer, the jam is over. The lead jammer can call off the jam at any time, which usually happens if either (a) she's tiring out or is unsure she'll score more points, and/or (b) the other team's jammer is about to score a bunch of points. A jam lasts a maximum of two minutes; if the jammer hasn't called it off by then, the ref does. Then they rotate positions, realign, and start over. The game we saw was played in two 30-minute halves, although I've heard of other set-ups as well.

Pre-game stretch

All the nerdy refs hanging out before the game. I can see why they need more than one ref (there's a lot going on), but I'm pretty sure the extra three or four were just there for kicks.

The match was between the San Francisco Shevil Dead and the Richmond Wrecking Belles

Since M lives in Oakland, we decided to display our East Bay pride and cheer for Richmond (they're in blue and yellow in the pictures)

The jammers lining up for the second whistle

Lots of contact, including hip checking and blocking with arms, to keep the other team's players from passing

The Wrecking Belles' jammer breaks out of the pack

The big monitors showing the score, time remaining, and jam count. We were losing at that point, but ended up winning 127-86). Go Richmond!

While at the match, we enjoyed the lovely goodies from the Milk Money booth (chocolate peanut butter pie and a chocolate whoopie pie!), as well as the Haywire hefeweizen from Pyramid Breweries. (It was either that or PBR, which I seem inclined to drink only in - of all places - New York. Thanks for that, S.) We closed out the night with some more Glee, and now I'm desperate to find the first season on DVD so I can finish it! Anyone have it and willing to lend?

And would you believe it? My trip was almost over - so short! M and I left for the airport the next morning around 5:45, because my flight was at 6:50. Very early...again! I few from Oakland to Kansas City, which is a long flight, but I was sitting next to a lovely woman from Michigan by way of Florida, with whom I chatted for a bit to pass the time.

When we landed at KCI there was snow on the ground and it was so foggy you could barely see the wingtips. I had a window seat and couldn't see the runway at all until just a couple seconds before we landed. Thank goodness for modern instrumentation! The flight attendant greeted us with a cheery "On behalf of Southwest Airlines, we'd like to be the first to welcome you to Anchorage." Very cute.

I didn't expect much from the Kansas City airport, but it was even worse than I thought. The gate area is sealed off, and if you want to go into the terminal to, for example, get food, you have to go back through security to return to your gate! Thankfully my layover was only two hours, and I had an uneaten packet of peanuts from my earlier flight, which was enough to tide me over. (Love, love, LOVE that Southwest still serves honey roasted peanuts! 10,000 times better than the sanitized pretzels served on most other airlines. Actually, the snacks were great overall - lots of tasty choices; the flights attendants, with one exception, were lovely. I haven't flown SW in a while, but might have to give it another chance.) Until...

I thought it would be a good idea to use a full-sized bathroom before getting back on the plane. It's a short flight from KC to StL, and given the nasty weather, there was a fair chance the seat belt sign would never be turned off. But get this: for our gate area (which probably consisted of six or seven gates), there was ONE women's bathroom, which had TWO stalls. Are you flippin' serious? Who designs these places? Obviously, the answer to that question is "men." The response of the woman in line behind me when we finally made it out of the gate area and through the door (after about ten minutes of standing in line) was, "Two stalls? This is an international airport and they have two stalls?" Amen, sister.

Thanks to M for the weekend, for letting me borrow your space heater, and for getting up very early! You're the best!

Oscars Recap

It's late and I'm tired, so this is going to be brief.

-Hooray for The King's Speech (which I saw)! Best picture, best director, best actor, and best original screenplay. Nice work fellas.

- Jennifer Lawrence looked stunning!

- Mila Kunis looked like she was about to fall out of her dress, but was great and totally natural on stage. I want to be her friend.

- I still need to see Black Swan, The Social Network (maybe), True Grit, 127 Hours, The Fighter, The Kids are All Right, Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole, Inception (I actually currently have this one in my possession, I just haven't watched it yet), and most of the foreign language films and live action shorts, so that I can tell you all about them.

- Anne Hathaway did a great job bringing some "young" to the show all on her own, not to mention picking up the slack for James Franco, who was totally drugged out and useless. James, what's up? I just said how much I like you. You let me down dude. I no longer want to be your friend. But I do want to be Anne's. Oh, and she can sing.

- I did rather enjoy the video montage of Anne and James added in to scenes from all the best picture nominees that they opened the show with. Quite funny.

- I could have lived without the school choir, but they did a good job, considering they were 10 years old.

- Not too many crazy surprises as far as the actual award winners, all in all. A little surprised The Social Network didn't win a big award, after all the buzz it garnered (it won best original score, best adapted screenplay, and film editing). But despite the young host and hostess tonight, I guess it pays to remember that the average Oscar voter is in his or her fifties, and probably doesn't give a hoot about a movie like TSN. I'm still debating whether I give a hoot about it or not, and I'm half that age.

A list of the full winners is available here. Sorry it's not more exciting, but that's all I've got for now. Time for bed!

TSA

In case you had any doubt, you can rest easy: TSA still sucks.

The Song I'm Loving Today

Bat Out of Hell (Meat Loaf)

So, this song. Not the best of all messages, I have to say. But still, there's something about it that just sucks you in. I think Meat Loaf (Meat Loaf? Really? And why do you think he picked that over some other equally awkward name, such as Beef Tenderloin?) hit the nail on the head with this song in terms of building to a musical zenith. It's long - nearly ten minutes - but the longer it goes on, the more I find myself rocking out as I'm cruising down the road, until I'm shouting the last few lines about the my heart, still beating, "breaking out of my body and flying away" at the top of my lungs. Awesome.



Sirens are screaming and the fires are howling
Way down in the valley tonight,
There's a man in the shadows with a gun in his eye
And a blade shining oh so bright.
There's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky
And a killer's on the bloodshot streets.
Oh, and down in the tunnel where the deadly are rising,
I swear I saw a young boy down in the gutter,
He was starting to foam in the heat.

Oh, baby you're the only thing in this whole world
That's pure and good and right.
And wherever you are and wherever you go,
There's always gonna be some light.
But I gotta get out, I gotta break it out now,
Before the final crack of dawn.
So we gotta make the most of our one night together,
When it's over you know we'll both be so alone.

Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes.
When the night is over, like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone, gone, gone.
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes.
When the day is done and the sun goes down and the moonlight's shining through,
Like a sinner before the gates of heaven,
I'll come crawling on back to you.

I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram
On a silver black phantom bike.
When the metal is hot and the engine is hungry
And we're all about to see the light.
Nothing ever grows in this rotten old hole
And everything is stunted and lost.
And nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls
And nothing's ever worth the cost.

And I know that I'm damned if I never get out,
And maybe I'm damned if I do.
But with every other beat I've got left in my heart,
You know I'd rather be damned with you.
Well if I gotta be damned, you know I wanna be damned
Dancing through the night with you.
Well if I gotta be damned, you know I wanna be damned
Gotta be damned, you know I wanna be damned,
Gotta be damned, you know I wanna be damned,
Dancing through the night,
Dancing through the night,
Dancing through the night with you.

Oh, baby you're the only thing in this whole world
That's pure and good and right.
And wherever you are and wherever you go,
There's always gonna be some light.
But I gotta get out, I gotta break it out now,
Before the final crack of dawn.
So we gotta make the most of our one night together,
When it's over you know we'll both be so alone.

Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes.
When the night is over, like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone, gone, gone.
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes.
When the day is done and the sun goes down and the moonlight's shining through,
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven,
I'll come crawling on back to you;
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven,
I'll come crawling on back to you.

I can see myself tearing up the road faster
Than any other boy has ever gone.
And my skin is raw but my soul is ripe
And no one's gonna stop me now, I'm gonna make my escape.
And I can't stop thinking of you,
And I never see the sudden curve 'til it's way too late.
And I never see the sudden curve 'til it's way too late.

And I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun,
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike.
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell.
And the last thing I see is my heart, still beating,
Breaking out of my body and flying away,
Like a bat out of hell.

And I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun,
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike.
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell.
And the last thing I see is my heart,
Still beating,
Still beating,
Breaking out of my body and flying away,
Like a bat out of hell,
Like a bat out of hell,
Like a bat out of hell,
Like a bat out of hell,
Like a bat out of hell,
Like a bat out of hell.

What I Watched -- Tristan + Isolde

It all started when his book came out. James Franco wrote a book of short stories called Palo Alto: Stories, which is where he grew up. It got mixed reviews - a few saying it was great, most saying it was a good start for a new writer, and a few saying not to bother - but it piqued my interest. He's a talented and workaholic guy, but seems to be handling things quite well. James got his undergraduate degree in English with a concentration in creative writing at UCLA in 2008. He got an MFA from Columbia University's writing program, spent some time at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and is currently working on a PhD in English at Yale and attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Holy cow. And I thought I was busy! The buzz about the talented Mr. Franco continued when he and Anne Hathaway were chosen to co-host the Oscars, which S has gotten me watching.

So I guess that is a long-winded way of saying I've been hearing a lot about him lately, so decided maybe I should see some of his movies. This one is a dark ages Romeo-and-Juliet saga, except instead of faking her own death, this Juliet (played by the lovely Sophia Myles) marries Romeo's adoptive father. By accident. Oops. You know that's not going to go well.

A quote that I totally loved - Isolde says this to Tristan not long after they meet: "You're so sure of things. Your certainty is like armor. I wish I had that."

Bottom line: other than seeing the pretty faces of James and Sophia, there isn't much reason to watch this movie. (Actually, Rufus Sewell looks decent too. He's an odd one - sometimes he looks super creepy and weird, but sometimes he looks rather handsome. I think the buzz cut suits him.)

P.S. Does it bother anyone else when they have the names and images backwards on the movie cover? See how it says "James Franco" above Sophia, and "Sophia Myles" above James. I hate that.

Is that pathetic or what?

If only he could understand the English language.

What I Watched -- Eclipse

Yes, it's sad but true. I have continued watching the Twilight series, even the movies are not good. It's for the same reason I continue to watch Desperate Housewives, even though it's not good: my brain needs a rest.

There, I said it. I am not a genius, and sometimes my brain needs to fry a little bit. And this is exactly the kind of junk that it needs to do that. Someday, I hope to be refined enough that my brain can relax by reading Shakespeare, but that is not to be just yet.

But, I guess I should say something about the movie. This is all you get:

Bottom line: Bella is still irritatingly needy, but I think this was the best of the three so far, for what that's worth.

What I Watched -- Alice in Wonderland

I'm on a kid/teen movie marathon, it would appear. And I have to say, I'm pretty sure this one falls into the teen category.

It's been a while since I read the book, saw the original movie, or even heard the fairy tale of Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Maybe my memory is off, but this movie is scarier and less-for-children than I remember any of those being. I suppose it's the Alice version of Harry Potter, which made The Wizard of Oz look like it was written for a three-year-old. To be sure, in the old version, the Red Queen still loves to shout "Off with his head!" just as she does here. But I don't remember Alice having to cross the Red Queen's moat by walking over the floating heads that had been so impulsively chopped. Was that in the book? The original movie?

In terms of visual excitement, this movie rocked my socks. Maybe it's just characteristic that the combo of Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton bring with them when they do kids (teen) movies; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the same way. The costumes and visual effects were great fun; it was a little bit like watching a carnival.

[As an aside: Depp and Burton have a substantial amount of overlapping filmography. Perhaps they admire the other's wild hairstyles.]

The cast is varied. There are superstars like Depp, crazy Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Anne Hathaway. There are people you'd know if you could remember who they played in other films: Mia Wasikowska (Jodi in The Kids Are All Right); Michael Sheen (David Frost in Frost/Nixon, Aro in the Twilight movies); Timothy Spall (Winston Churchill in The King's Speech, Wormtail/Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter movies); Martin Csokas (Celeborn in The Lord of the Rings). And there are relative unknowns, including a number of Brits who appear to have started their careers on the small screen: Crispin Glover (but what a great name!), Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, and Barbara Windsor, to name a few.

Bottom line: most people can skip this movie and live a perfectly full and contented life. But if you're in the mood for something a bit off the wall, this just might suit you.

Quote of the Day

"Never celebrate tomorrow what you can celebrate today."
-- Scott Huler

What I Watched -- Toy Story 3

As usual, the category of Best Animated Feature at the Oscars is going to be Pixar's to lose. How do they always do such a good job?

Since this is a trilogy, a little background: the first Toy Story was the reconciliation of Andy's favorite toy cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and his toy box mates with Andy's cool new birthday toy Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). And let's not forget the battle with the evil neighbor boy Sid (voiced by Eric Von Detten, who played the crush object of Anne Hathaway, co-host of this years Oscars, way back in The Princess Diaries). Toy Story 2 sees the crew gain more friends, including Jessie (Joan Cousack), Slink, and Bullseye, the horse who acts like a dog. In that one, Woody is kidnapped by a toy collector and needs rescuing.

In this latest version, Andy is all grown up and going off to college, and the fate of his favorite toys hangs in the balance!

Bottom line: totally worth seeing.

What I Watched -- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I have seen this trilogy probably a million times - okay, maybe not a million, just a few hundred thousand - but that doesn't make it any less awesome to see it again. It's a great movie, a great trilogy, about nobility and bravery and pride and humility and greed and good and evil and friendship and fortitude and loyalty and a hundred other things.

T and I were just getting ready to pack up and head to bed one night when we heard Cate Blanchett recite the opening narrative of The Fellowship of the Ring on TV. I knew I had to get ready for bed, so I headed to the kitchen to clean up what was left from dinner. Dad said he was going to bed too, but fifteen minutes later he was still watching. Eventually, he shut it off, right before I went upstairs.

But then, not two nights later, we were just finishing up dinner one night when we heard Cate Blanchett recite the opening narrative once again. Perfect timing! I got to see my boyfriend!

The only problem with seeing one movie is that, not only do I want to see the other two now, but I also want to re-read the books. What I am going to do? I can hardly keep up with my school reading! Perhaps I'll just have to get my fill by playing on the One Ring wiki, which has such a wealth of information, it's practically like reading the books anyway, just without the great prose. There are so many great quotes, even in the movie, that I want to put them all here - except that would be silly. Instead, I'll just give you a link.

Bottom line: see it. See all three. Read the books first. Do it!

Me and My Valentine

My night with Karl.
We drank bourbon and debated the finer points of social stratification. I won. I am awesome.

Happy Birthday, J!

Take some time away from writing to celebrate!

What I'm Reading Now -- Dracula

I've never read Dracula before. So what better thing to do on a dark and snowy night in Breckenridge than read a book that will freak me the heck out?

Okay, that's only 1/3 of the reason I wanted to read it. The second is that it's a classic, and allegedly a good one. I'm not a big supporter of reading the classics just to say you've read them. You should read them if you think you'll enjoy them.

And the last reason I want to read it is because I read Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian four or five years back, and very much enjoyed it. It's a story of a girl's investigation into, and subsequent carrying on of, her father's hunt for the real Count Dracula - Vlad the Impaler. Great stuff, especially for a first novel.

Those are the reasons I wanted to read Dracula. Unfortunately, I don't typically have chunks of time that allow me to really lose myself in a book. So far, I've made it 16 pages. I think it's going to get freaky soon, but so far I am decidedly un-terrified. I'm sure it won't last.

Breckenridge

Skiing! Hooray!

Wait, let me back up and thank K again for picking me up at the airport at 11 p.m. And then taking me and T back to the airport at oh-dark-thirty the next morning. You are a rock star. Or PhD candidate. One of the two.

I lucked out two flights in a row in terms of capacity. Our flight to Denver wasn't remotely full, and it just so happened that Dad's reading light didn't work. He went and sat in the row behind me, which left me (again) with three seats to myself. So I took a nap for a couple of hours. I didn't even hear them come by with the beverage cart, or I would have asked for seven cups of coffee.

We (Dad) rented a car, and off we went, headed towards Breck. On the way there, driving west on I-70, we passed through charming Silverthorne, Colorado, where it is very cold.

Brr. It was significantly warmer in Breck, don't worry. We arrived, did a grocery run, and got me some skis. The afternoon was lovely, sunny and relatively warm, and we had a good few warm-up ski runs. It takes a bit to get back into the swing of it, especially if you're like me and ski once a year. I finished up the afternoon with the usual dip in the hot tub.

Dinner that night was at the Southridge Seafood Grill, and was quite tasty. We split the blue crab dip as an appetizer, and both had lamb for dinner: I had the special, which consisted of three lamb T-bones on goat cheese polenta with asparagus; T had the Colorado lamb meatballs, which had a very Mediterranean flair.

Friday was my big ski day. Dad set me up with a lesson with G, who is an incredible skier, and never laughed at me when I fell down :-) Which I did a couple times that day, although I think I avoided that fate for most of the rest of the weekend (see below). Skiing with G was great! I learned a ton, and could see some big improvement, even over the course of a single day. Don't get me wrong, it's not totally intuitive yet. Most of the time I still have to think about what I learned, but it was definitely better by the last day!

And perhaps best of all (sorry Dad!), G and I took the T-bar up to the lower section of the North Bowl to do some runs I had never done before. We did probably the easiest ones up there - Pika, Ptarmigan, and Four O'Clock - but still, I did it! It was great fun. It was awfully windy on the ride up, and it had started snowing maybe half an hour before we took our first ride up. It was cold, but so much fun I didn't care! (This is a video a guy took of his ride up the T-bar. It's not particularly interesting, but about 10 seconds in, he (she?) sweeps the camera to the right, and you get an idea of how wide open it is - and hence, how you get monstrous, howling winds crossing from the right. Brr!

Above the T-Bar with Gene

Friday night brought dinner at Le Petit Paris, a delightful little French bistro (which doesn't appear to have its own website). My appetizer was a bowl of French onion soup, because how can you not get that when you're at a bistro, especially if you've been on a cheesy soup kick like I have lately? I had a light dinner - a salad with goat cheese and some other stuff (but the goat cheese was the most important) - because I had seen that there was a molten chocolate cake with creme anglaise on the menu for dessert. It was delightful, and so big that I couldn't even finish it. I couldn't finish a chocolate dessert. Whoa.

Saturday I skied with T in the morning, and we were totally diggin' the righteous pow! (Haha! I am so not a snowboarder.) It hadn't stopped snowing all night, and there were probably ten to twelve inches of fresh powder up at the top of the runs, although down lower there was maybe half that. I played around on Peaks 8 and 9 by myself that afternoon, just practicing my new skills. Dad and I had breakfast for dinner - french toast - and Graeter's mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. There was some good eating that weekend!

Sunday brought - surprise! - more skiing. And more snow; it just didn't stop! T and I skied Peaks 9 and 10 in the morning, and then stopped for lunch. I was pondering whether or not to go out and ski the afternoon, standing by the windows and checking out the weather. Just as I concluded it wasn't too windy and would probably be a nice afternoon, she blew a gale and there was a complete white-out as snow came pouring off the rooftops and mountainside. Perfect timing!

But I didn't let that stop me; I had a good feeling about that afternoon. Here's why: it was still snowing, and not only were there no lift lines to speak of, but the mountain was completely empty. There's only one lift on Peak 7, the Independence Superchair, and each chair seats six. There were multiple runs up the mountain when I was the only person on my chair! The reason: it was Super Bowl Sunday. Peak 7 is great though - long runs, rolling hills. I got lots of practice using my new skills. It was still windy though, and I went in when I could no longer feel my toes. We had another at-home dinner that night, and sure enough watched the Super Bowl. And by "watched the Super Bowl," I mean the TV was on, but I had to ask T the next day who had won. Turns out, Green Bay won, in case anyone out there doesn't know.

Monday morning brought more of the same: snow and wind. T and I almost bailed, but at the last minute decided to bundle up tight and give it a go. And boy was that a good idea! We took a couple easy runs to warm up our legs, then skied some real hills on 9 and 10. We skied the moguls on American, and made it down with only a few minor disasters. I fell and lost a ski, and I don't think I got locked in all the way, because just a bump or two below that, I threw the same ski again. But no injuries, and it was my first full mogul run (and T's too, I think). But then things got even better. Our last two runs of the morning, down Double Jack and Four O'Clock were awesome! For both of us, which makes it even more awesome. I was just all coming together, and we were skiing! Like, really skiing. Which was wicked. What a way to end the trip.

And end it we did. It had been snowing long enough that the road cams showed snow accumulation on I-70, and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get to the airport. Good thing, too!

Traffic on I-70 headed back to Denver

Despite the busy roads, we made it in plenty of time. We even had time to stop for a late lunch at Mesa Verde, a Tex-Mex restaurant at the airport which, despite marketing itself as a smoking lounge, has some pretty good food and a non-smoking section. The flight home delayed by about 45 minutes, but was otherwise delightfully uneventful. K picked us up at the airport (again), this time in Dad's car, and look what happened just as we pulled into the garage when we got home:

All in all, it was another great vacation - what a great way to spend the miserably cold midwinter!

Happy Birthday, E!

Saturday is a great day to have a birthday! What are your plans?

More of S's NYC Pictures

You can tell S is a mom because she does that thing that all moms do: take pictures of people when they're walking ahead. She also took a bunch of pictures of me trying to keep up with life on my Blackberry. Witness:

Leaning against the wind in Central Park

Heading back south on 5th Avenue

Yes, I was eating one too. They're delicious!

Watching skaters at Rockefeller Center

Headed from Battery towards Wall Street

Oh, and she also took pictures of me taking pictures

Again

And again

Apparently trash pickup was a little behind because of the snow. S couldn't get over the piles on the sidewalk

Leaving our hotel in the morning

More trash

Reorganizing myself after buying my ticket at the AMNH

On my Blackberry

Still on my Blackberry. By now it was Tuesday, so I was feeling a little behind on work and trying to catch up

Leaving the Times Square subway station, which is huge

Leaving the ICP

Headed back to our hotel for the last time

S's NYC Pictures

As promised! And believe it or not, there are more to come...

Day 1:

In the airport in STL

Flying into La Guardia, looking west towards Manhattan

Me, in front of the Prada store on 5th Avenue

Me in front of the Plaza Hotel at 59th and 5th

Snacks at the corner of Central Park

The guy across the street from the Plaza blowing enormous bubbles

The Delacorte Clock at the entrance to the Central Park Zoo

Snowy Central Park

Shoe shopping at BCBG on Madison

A slightly fuzzy version of me in front of Radio City Music Hall

Me and S at Rockefeller Center

Times Square

More Times Square

Me in Times Square

Drinks and dinner on Saturday

Day 2:

Going out with S on Sunday night

Day 3:

Battery Park scenery

Me at the Battery, in front of Pier A

S and me

The other side of the NYSE

Student life in Greenwich Village

Our pedicab driver? Rider? Whatever.

And why not?

Me (in case you couldn't tell), after our day of marathon walking

Day 4:

Breakfast, coffee, and the NYT at World Coffee

Entry hall of the AMNH

African Mammals exhibit at the AMNH

Asian Peoples exhibit at the AMNH

Asian Mammals exhibit

Triceratops, I think

Our hotel, from across the street

Day 5:

Me in the subway station at 79th and Broadway

The ICP, and the very small exhibit I told you about with the postcards of river baptisms

The southwest corner of Central Park

Why drive when you can take a cab?