JUNE is the...

...name of the sister and WIFE of Jupiter. Man, funny how those Greek Gods became God-like considering their choice of mate. Maybe somewhere in Arkansas there is a community of Gods and Titans?

June was Cycling Month. First off I rode in the Elephant Rock with John Obering, Matt Sodnicar, and an ex-pro cyclist that kicked my ass (and didnt sweat much). Of all the rides that I do during the summer, E-Rock is one of the more technical (see: climbs)...plus it is the first one of the season, so not quite in shape yet. The third weekend was the MS 150 - this ride is the reason we have a cycling team in the first place. This year we had 25 team members, raised over $22,000 for the National MS Society, sported new bad-ass black jerseys, and totally kicked ass. We couldnt have done it without our friends and family that donated to NMSS, our "support-staff" friends that set up/decorated our tent and provided drinks and massages, and everyone else that supported us along our 150 mile journey through the foothills of Colorado.

Inbetween E-Rock and MS150, the ATX Denver Adult Superfraternity put together our first Charity Golf Event. Knowing us, you probably wouldnt be surprised to find out that we did it a little differently than most golf tourneys... The "hackMasters One Club Golf Tournament of Fury" made participants play with only ONE club of their choice (I played with a 9 iron), and allowed them to buy coupons for various "cheats" (ie: mulligan) and "screws"(make a competing team member play with a left handed club). On the third hole you could buy a hole-in-one for $20 (I got my first ACE that day). The fifth hole? Kegstands for Cash. I think my favorite part was the designated "Heckle Station" at the teebox of the 9th: people just stood in the roped-off area and yelled at you while you took your tee shot. Good times - we raised around $2000 for the NMSS, AND learned some ways to improve the tourney next year.

MAY I borrow...

...a cup of sugar?

Since I actually left in April, I guess I could have filed it there - but I didnt, so you'll have to think outside the box. Craig graduated from Brewing School in Munich, so I headed over there to hang out with him for a couple of weeks and do "cultural things"...like drink beer. And ride bikes. And ride bikes while drinking beer. Last time that Craig and I played around in Europe we DID go to museums and various other historical places. This time we didnt beat around the bush. We drank beer. Lots of incredible German and Belgian beer. We went to the sacred places that they make the sacred beer. Including a little known monastery called St. Sixtus in Westvleteran that makes a beer that you probably have never heard of unless you are a beer snob. But we are beer snobs. And we went there.

Also, I took Jess down to Austin for a wedding. She survived meeting my Aunt/Uncle/Cousin, meeting my crazy mom, meeting my Nana/Grandad, meeting my old hometown friends, lots of mexican food, and a fun 4Seasons wedding. She didnt survive the pedi-cab ride home. I mean, she LIVED through the ordeal - but we got ejected at 5th and Congress at about 2am. I was a little embarrassed, Jess was a little concussed. After a really fun ambulance ride to Brackenridge, we realized we were the best dressed people staying overnight in the ER at the county hospital. That's what Texas is all about: Shiner Bock, Blue Bell Icecream, Mexican Food, Barbecue, and spending the night in a hospital after a really good party.

No updates since...

...April? I understand that some people consider my (very important) blog "the news", so sorry to keep everyone waiting. Ill try to fit volumes of information into paragraphs.

APRIL showers bring May flowers:

Jess and I joined a few new friends and a few old friends for a hike up to a remote cabin in the mountains above Blue River, CO. When you city folks hear "hike", you would probably not imagine hiking uphill with skis/snowshoes in 3 feet of snow in a snowstorm for 4.5 miles to reach a cabin with no running water. We had lots of wine and lots of bacon...it was nice.

I bought a house. It is 105 years old, and in a completely bad ass neighborhood near Downtown Denver. Come visit. But bring your work gloves, this is going to be a constant work in progress. I moved a good, solid 3 blocks away from the house that I shared with Craig and JD for two years...so when I moved my mattress I just threw it up on the top of the car and held on while driving down the hill. "Hey North Country Club citizens, your new neighbor is totally classy." Every day it looks less and less like a hobo is squatting there.

I gave my...

...phone the night off last Thursday. Turned it off, plugged it in, tucked it away. Its not that I didn't have to work on Friday, I did. Its not that I didn't need to get up early on Friday, I did. Its not that I didn't need my phone in order to get some late night work done, I did. [Three consecutive double-negatives...a new record].

My phone is always on. Always. Its the curse side of the "blessing and a curse" part of my job. Of my life. I don't think my phone minds too much...maybe at first it was a bit of a transition to be on call all the time, but it has become accustomed to it. And with new technology, my phone gets to do lots of fun things like ski with a bluetooth enabled helmet, fly fish in the Colorado rivers, and bike for hundreds of miles on end.

But my phone is always on. Its always taking calls, making calls, missing calls. Its always receiving emails, sending emails, reading emails. Its always reading texts, sending texts, reading texts. I sometimes question the sanity of my phone. I question the circuitry. I question the battery power.

On Thursday, a peculiar thing happened. My phone acted as though it was operating normally. There was no error message. No strange beeps or noises. No funny vibrations or messages. But the rings stopped coming. The emails continued. The texts continued. The voicemails continued. But no rings.

Strangely, it was comforting. It was relaxing. Soothing.

It was then that I realized that my phone was not receiving calls. It was receiving all other forms of communication. It was sending all forms of communication. It was browsing the internet. Checking emails. Sending emails. But it was not receiving calls. Not listening.

So I gave my phone the night off.

I soon realized, after feeling naked and disconnected suddenly, that I had not turned off my phone in weeks. The reality settled in that I had not turned my phone off in months. Years. Three years. I turned off my phone and plugged it in. Then I slept. I slept not in my own bed, but on a familiar couch. But I slept. Well.

A new toy...

...came in the mail today. A Nikon D90. I had been planning and talking about buying a new rig for a while now. Did some research, checked out prices, etc. But I really couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a camera...especially since I dont shoot pro anymore. Okay, rarely. But alas, my buddy Ryan Eaton was in town last week. Other than having a grand old time catching up, drinking beer, and skiing - he asked if he could buy my camera.

1. I could provide Ryan a sweet camera for a really good price. Heck, indirectly I am paying for the camera that I sold him...so might as well give me a good deal.

2. It gave me an excuse to buy a new toy.

3. Ahhhh, might as well grab a new lens with it.

4. Ohhhh, and a new camera bag.

5. Annnnd a new reflector.

Whoops. Had to stop there though. Gotta buy a house while Obama will give me 8 grand to move into that puppy.

I'm pretty excited, I love to capture my friends expressions and personality on film (sounds better than "on digital bytes"). As soon as I got the battery charged we went on the front porch and snapped a few off. One cool thing about the D90 is that it shoots HD Video with a SLR lens - so that means zoom and focus capability, ah the bells and whistles. I've kind of put photography on the back burner...but now I have an excuse to go out and play. You should go do the same.

It's all coming...

together. The merging of the seasons. The utopia that is Colorado. Check it:

1. I skied on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week. Yup. I don't think it ever dropped below 30 degrees at any given time...for those not familiar with the dry-mountain cold, that is warm. 25 degrees is balmy. 30 is like the summertime.

1a. Er, correction...I mean I was at my desk working diligently all week. Grueling grueling paperwork. Sitting at my desk. Working hard. Work, work, work.

2. Many of my Texas friends were up in the Aspen area for a little trip. I joined and slept on a mattress in the mud room for a couple of nights. Because that is what I do...sacrifice. The longer I live in CO, the more I realize that all the stereotypes about Texas skiers are absolutely true. Nice fuzzy snow boots, ladies...Love to see those guys in Colorado every once in a while.

3. I wore chacos yesterday. Not just any chacos, but new chacos...figured it was time to retire the ones that I have been wearing for 6 years now. As a testament to the quality of the shoe - they are still in great shape (although they have been resoled).

4. KICKBALL season started last night, and the Little Lebowskis did it up right by commanding a 16-6 victory. Suck it, other team.

5. Jess now has a bike. A pink bike. Perhaps the pinkest bike ever created. AND I participated once again in "Bike Manipulation Monday" by sawing off some drops and putting new(old) bullhorns on my singlespeed. Apparently I am the anti-hipster hipster. "Check that out! A republican with no gears?" So now I have all three bikes functioning properly, and we added the pink baby to the collection...thus our house is becoming overtaken by bikes once again.

Summer, hurry.

kpm

I am not...

...freaking out right now. Okay, I am. Not going to tell you why - but I will leave you with this for now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mDeXC6lGjg

While Spring doesn't...

...officially start until March 20th, I'm going to go ahead and say that it has. Take that, Mother Nature!

Okay, it is...

...time to play catch up (ketchup?). I haven't spent too much leisure time in front of the old Commodore 64- so I am going to do a brief synopsis of 2009 to date.
Sushi - Craig and I found an all-you-can-eat sushi place. In Denver. Yes, Denver is about as far from the ocean as you can get...but you know with modern technology and the internets they are somehow able to get fresh fish here. Seriously though, people go to long lengths to make this happen. Kazusan, eat your heart out (and may you rest in peace). Go Fish on Broadway has really good sushi, and there is no buffet - they make it fresh for you as you order. Whatever you want - as long as you eat between 2:30 and 5:30 - as much as you want. We each knocked out about $50 of sushi in about an hour. The madness continues.
ATX Winter Formal - This really deserves its own entry, but I really really want to catch up. AND I think that these pictures speak more than a thousand words. Ill give you a quick(ish) rundown: The theme was "A Very Special Wedding" and we DO love themes. There was a Save the Date, the preparties were separated into Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties, the "limo" was a 60 passenger bus filled to capacity, "rehearsal dinner" was at El Portrero and complete with speeches (and the living legend Jose), "cocktail hour" was held at a Honkey Tonk called Stampede and it just happened to be Mexican Music night (aka "free wedding band"), and of course the "reception" was held at the Rockbar. Not only that, but true to ATX Style we collected a ton of canned foods to donate to a Denver shelter and/or to refugees living in our fair city. Craig and I once agreed that we really need to learn how to throw a party.
Random Facts - I convinced this girl to move to Denver (it really wasn't that difficult in the end), and we discovered that you can buy Pancake Batter in an aerosol can. The rest is history.
Georgia Trip - Jessica (the Pancake Batter Queen) and I went to Georgia to surprise our friend Mike. He is the guy responsible for many good things in my life - most notably my ability to brew that magical liquid called Beer. So what else was I to do but show up at his front door in Jasper, GA at 9:30pm with a 12 pack of Colorado beer? We played Frisbee golf, drank Sweetwater, ate barbecue (real barbecue), drank homemade limoncello, drank homebrew, drank a 2 year old Imperial Stout aged in a red wine oak barrel, talked about beer (a lot), played dominoes, slept, napped, talked about beer, and got to enjoy our favorite people in Georgia. Or the world.
Willy Porter - Had good seats at the Soiled Dove for the Willy Porter/Tony Furtado show. I have been a big fan of Willy P since the first time I saw him...Opened for Toad the Wet Sprocket and The Cranberries circa 1993. I have a mom, and she was there.
Roomie Missing - Craig is learning about how to make the yeast fart and pee, and I am all booked up to hang out with him in Germany and Belgium in April/May. For the first time in three years I will not be reachable by phone. Please don't freak out. And no, I will not be bringing you anything - so don't ask.
Skiing - Yes, I have been skiing. A lot. And staying at the Frisco Castle. A lot.
So that pretty much sums it up. Not really - but it will have to do for now. Its getting warm, so get ready to hear about all the rantings and ravings about the beautiful Colorado spring, cycling season, cornhole victories, and being barefoot in the grass. Out.

Things change from...

...year to year. Some people get older (I don't), some people lose more hair (I do), and some people deny the new year. For me, the biggest change came during the Vail Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines Festival. Here's how the change went down:

2008: We rolled into the Festival with a bunch of friends, and we all got discount tickets because of Craig the Wunderbrewer. After being overwhelmed, naive, and giddy...we all got completely hammered in 45 minutes. Whoops. There was just so much good, strong beer. Stuff that we normally cant get our hands on. Stuff like Sam Adams Utopias. We chummed it up with Anchor's best employee Bob Brewer, and he gave us a little taste of 15 year old Barleywine that he found in the basement. After the fest, we went over to the Arabelle where I stole all the cookies for Neff, and was escorted out by a man in a full-length coat. After eating at a nice restaurant that we should have NOT been allowed to enter, we went pole dancing at an underground club. We stayed in the illustrious Roost Lodge, the only shitty hotel in the Vail area. All in all, the best time of my life. You know, other than all those other good times.

2009: Dr. Phil and Anchor Chris were in town, and Craig wanted to show them the best beer festival in the country (suck it GABF). Craig pulled some strings and for some reason the lady up front let us all in for free. Free is awesome, by the way. After drinking some really, really nice beers (and after Chris making a wincing face at each one) - we rolled out, sober, and headed back to our posh ski-in/ski-out condo in Keystone. You know, a year older and a year more mature...

Just wait until next year where we will most likely make up for this one. See you in 2010 Bob Brewer!

This might be...

...a little late, but I havent been sitting at my desk much. Why? Because I have been doing stuff. What kind of stuff? Well, kick-ass stuff.

Jan 10th: It hasnt happened for a few years, but I went skiing with Dad (aka the Original Dr. Phil, aka Cul-de-Sac Phil), Chris, and Craig in Keystone for a long weekend. We used to make this trip every year, starting in 1983...circumstances were a little different back then, but the idea was the same: ski, eat, sleep, repeat. The last few years the trip was cancelled - I was in Hawaii for work in 2007 (poor me), and Dad hurt his back in 2008. Every year has a little event that the trip is remembered by...in 2006 it was when Chris told us that it would be "better for everyone" if nobody drank at his wedding. Ha. If you dont know how that turned out, let me give you a brief synopsis: I convinced a hotel bartender to stay open until 4am for the Mycoskie cousins, and we woke up with an EXIT sign on our floor and a sink full of beer...I dont know exactly how this year's trip will be remembered, but I think it will look a little like this:

2009 - Chris was tricked into eating artichoke hearts.

2008 Reviewed

All the important things that happened in 2008, according to me.

January: Ah...sweet, sweet January. We started it off with a bang at the Rockbar - I was carrying around my own bottle of champagne. The snow is always better in January and the cold keeps the tourists out, save MLK weekend. Nothing shows your respect for a fallen hero like skiing a few days. But here was the big news of Jan 08: ATX was officially founded on January 26, 2008 with Rokken Winter Formal. Crazy to think that an idea to throw a little party resulted in a community of 150+ Denverites making a difference in the community. And a few big parties. Gatorade G2 was actually released in 2007, but I fell in love with it on the 27th. Apple unveiled the MacBook Air, giving mac heads one more reason to feel the need to put apple stickers on their cars. Oh yeah, and Heath Ledger died too.

February: I didn't take any pictures. None. I just looked on my computer and there are no pictures from February. Oh wait, never mind - found some. The government announced a $168 Billion stimulus package that apparently didn't work. I still did, though. But do you know who didn't? The writers in Hollywood. The big strike ended in February and TV became less shitty.

March: We had an unseasonable fantastic Spring in Denver - with weekend days filled with sunshine and bocce at Wash Park. I started training for my summer bike rides - for the first time actually being serious about it. One of my friends said that I would become addicted...little did I know he was right. The mountains retained the snow and the spring breakers came out to play. For us, this means that we get to make snide remarks about all the gapers wearing the wrong clothes on the slopes. Backwards baseball hats, camo, jeans, Starter jackets - all awesome.

April: Things actually happened in the real world in April, so I don't have to rant on about fun Denver stuff to fill the space. Charlton Heston (aka "Moses") died, which was a big deal because nobody thought he would. And it wasn't from a gun shot wound, so suck it anti-gun activists. The first fight on the (drama-free) front porch occurred due to the "pregnant man." Here is the deal people: Men don't get pregnant, men can't get pregnant. Just because you "declare" yourself a man doesn't make you one. I can declare myself a 7 foot tall black man, but they still wont let me play in the NBA. Hillary Clinton made news because she drank a little whiskey. If I made the news every time I drank whiskey...well, I would be in the news a lot.

May: Sex and the City the movie was released in theatres, and grossed $55.7 Million in the first three days. None of those dollars were mine. The first ever officially sanctioned Lucha Libre match in the United States was held, and I was there to witness it...thus ending everyone's favorite dinner topic "When the hell are they going to let those crazy masked guys wrestle in the States?" ATX had its first fundraiser - and while most organizations have dinners and galas, we decided that a bike pub crawl and date auction would be a little more fitting. It was a success and you will probably see another in '09. And the Stone Temple Pilots played together for the first time since 2003 - the hardest part was sneaking Scott Weiland out of rehab for 6 months.

June: Cycling season was in full effect, and I had two races in 4 weeks. Just six months after its inception, ATX formed a charity cycling team that raised about $14,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. So in one weekend the NMSS gained $2.9 million, and I lost nine pounds. On the other side of things, I broke a personal record: On June 21, 2008 I had a beer at 7:30am while fishing. Earliest beer ever.

July: Its official - the best way to honor the tenets of Democracy, the ideals of freedom, and the hope of utopia is to get drunk and blow stuff up. God Bless America. Randy Pausch died in July, who actually became famous because of his pending death. If you haven't seen/heard his last lectures from Carnegie Mellon, you should.

August: Scientists announced hurriedly that the world was dying as they ran frantically from their respective research centers. Chaos ensued...but it just turned out to be a solar eclipse, no big deal. Isaac Hayes, who was once known as a renowned R&B musician, died and was remembered only as "Chef" from Southpark. Whoops. ATX held its second major event called "SummerWeen," you know, like Halloween but in the summer. We expected less people than Winter Formal, but ended up with almost double the numbers. ATX is contagious. The Democratic National Convention conveined in Denver and officially announced Barack Obama as its candidate. People came from all over the country to invade the city, smell like BO, and protest and rally for no good reason. Oh yeah, and I think there were some speeches or something at some point. And once again the world set aside its differences for two weeks while the heroic athletes competed in the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The most notable athlete from the Games was Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals in various swimming events. People became infatuated with Phelps and his diet, consisting of 12,000 calories a day when training...which isn't a big deal if you have met my brother Craig and seen him eat.

September: The big news was on the cover of People Magazine: Clay Aiken is gay. This was almost as shocking as Sheryl Swoops coming out in '05. C'mon America - this is neither news, nor a surprise. Paul Newman passed away and took his Own recipes with him. I guess Ill have to start making my own salad dressing. Also, I expanded my liquid snobbery to include coffee after I discovered the Clover Coffee Machine. If you haven't had a cup, tough shit: Starbucks bought out the company so that nobody could enjoy it. Hooray for corporate expansion and corporate fascism.

October: The American Judicial System finally righted itself: OJ Simpson was found guilty of trying to steal his own stuff back and sent to jail. Mr. Simpson became famous during the California v. Simpson case in 1995 where the legal precedent was set to make brutal double homicides legal once again. Also, my brother set another precedent by declaring the third week of October as his "birth week."

November: Barack Obama made history by being the first black person to be elected President of the United States. Fred Armisen (of SNL) made history by being the first white person to impersonate the first black person to be elected President of the United States. I made history by being the only person in the country that didn't care what color/race/gender the President is. More importantly, I made my first Turkey this Thanksgiving. It was big. It was delicious. It was so delicious, in fact, that three vegetarians decided it was okay to let it slide for a day. God Bless meat.

December: My dad gave my stepmom a pair of Sarah Palin glasses for Christmas. She might not have been the best running mate, but her choice of eyewear is stunning. Somebody stole $2 million worth of stuff from Paris Hilton's place, boo hoo. And I managed not to step outside on Christmas day. After deciding to skip one of my ski trips, I ended up back in Denver for New Years Eve and did the countdown at the Rockbar. THUS book-ending 2008 getting sweaty on the dance floor at a shady bar in a motel on Colfax. God, I love this town.

See ya in '09.