A few truths...

...about Texas, according to me.

1. Central Market is far superior to Whole Foods. Its big, its gourmet, and it has superior products. Its not pretentious, its not exclusive, and its NOT EXPENSIVE. You can really walk out of there with all of your fresh ingredients for about the same price as your run-of-the-mill grocery package store.

2. Taco Cabana is shitty, but its still better than most of the "Mexican Food" that you can get in Colorado. They have a salsa bar, and half of the salsas will melt your face off. Fantastic.

3. Girls are pretty here. I still have no idea what it is, but every woman here is stunning. I forget about it sometimes. I mean, I know some pretty girls in Colorado - but its a different pretty. The women here are drop-whatever-you're-drinking-and-stare-open-mouthed pretty. I dont care why, I just enjoy it. Thank you genes.

4. Stuff is big here. Everything really. Cars. Grocery Stores. Malls. Stadiums. The state itself. Everything. Its hard to find good beer here, but when you do you find LOTS of it. Stockpiles. (see: #1 Central Market).

5. Pearl Snap Shirts aren't a fashion statement...its just what you wear.

6. The accent is contagious. Add a syllable to a one-syllable word. Drawl it out. Good.

Merry Sweet-Baby-Jesus Birthday.

Dumb People that Ruin the Snow 2

"Grenade Stickers"

Hey guys, lets get together and revolt. Revolt against the man. Revolt against society. Revolt against industrial standardization, banking, and business. How can we do that?

Buy a grenade sticker for $6.00. That will show them. Why? Because..."you have become exactly what THEY want you to be." And "we will still be listening to rock and roll and coming to work hung over. We are here to live on, join us!" Yeah! Join us! Join us in taking a few months inbetween our private educations and taking a job in daddy's office. Join us in "slumming it" in Vail for 6 months. Join us in sticking it to the man, until our parents stop sending us checks...whereas we will then let the man stick it to us.

I'm sure that the guy selling those stickers isn't sitting at a desk in a corner office wearing a suit and blowing his nose with the money that all those punk kids are sending him. I'm sure he isnt laughing at "the movement" as he calls his driver to pick him up. "I have reservations at Mortons tonight" he says, "so step on it."

Like I've said before - if you want to change something, do something about it. You know, something more than putting a trendy sticker on the back of your [insert foreign eco-friendly AWD automobile]. Get a job. But thanks for helping me get on the lift.

Sometimes I don't...

...know what happened until I look at the pictures on my camera. I dont mean mind erasing, black out drinking - I just mean it all happens so fast. And so many crazy things. And, well, yes, sometimes I just have a hazy night.

Monday - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, and Oasis. Funny thing - Ryan Adams plays a bad-A version of Wonderwall. He didnt that night. BUT he DID ask where the closest Taco Bell was.

Long week at work - my Los Angeles-based rep Kasey was in town all week for training. Lots of cases. Lots of training. A few opportunities to show Kasey Denver's claim to fame: beer.

Friday night - a cup of hot tea, a couch, and a serious movie. Didnt make it all the way through.

Saturday night - Sidecars. Its both the name of a holiday beverage and a party. I found out that taxis actually run at 4am in Denver.

Sunday - Craig and I went up to the Frisco castle to prepare for a big day of skiing. Highlights:

-7 degrees Monday morning (thats negative seven farenheit)

Grilling brats at 11760ft

Thigh deep powder at Vail

A bluetooth-enabled ski helmet so I can keep working

World Ping Pong Championship

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Shazam.

The weather really...

...dictates your everyday, extracurriculear life here. Maybe that is why it gets mentioned so often here on "the schedule." If its warm, cycling. Snowing, skiing. Raining...wait five minutes, go cycling. Cold and dry, football in the park. Warm and dry, frisbee in the park. So on, so forth.
But then there is the "I did it because I could..."
I go skiing in October. Not because the pickin' is good - but because I could. Arapahoe Basin and Loveland start blowing man-made as soon as the dial starts dropping below 32 at night just so they can compete to be the first to open. When they do, we run out there once or twice just to make a few turns. Just because we are blessed to live in the same place that God does (Colorado), and just because we can.
During the summertime, I cycle. I ride a lot. I do it because I love it, but I also do it to train for the next race - whichever that one may be. If you go ride once a week, sure, its better than sitting on the couch - but its not going to get you into shape. But if it is December, sunny, and 60 - you just do it because you can. Take that, mother nature.

It helps to...

...have friends. Friends that have friends. Friends that have access to things. Perhaps it is the recession that we are facing. Perhaps it is the weakness of the USD. Perhaps it is just the way that we roll in Colorado - but the barter system is back. And a subsection of the barter system - the hookup system - is charging its way to the front of the pack.

1. My brother Craig is a brewer. Not the kind that makes up silly concoctions in the basement that will never see a retail shelf (thats me)...but the kind of brewer that works in a brewery. A brewery that makes hundreds of gallons of the beautiful bubbly stuff daily. I swear, that guy can walk into any store with a growler of beer and walk out with something for free.

2. My roomie JD works at a ski shop. He can wax the shit out of a pair of skis. He likes beer, too.

3. I have a friend that works at the Denver Convention Center. That is where they have the Great American Beer Festival. Ive never paid for a ticket, ever.

4. An unnamed friend works at an unnamed high-end restaurant in Denver in a hip neighborhood. If I go eat there with him, it costs about as much as a burrito. But way fancier. In return, we let him hang out at the crib and drink off of our taps.

So, basically, this is what I am trying to say: The Dollar is down, the Draught is up. Buy low, sell high. Prost.