Holiday Blessings

It's a little belated, but I wanted to take the time to wish everyone a happy holiday. I was very blessed this holiday season. I got to see several old friends who I don't get to see very often, some of whom I actually hadn't seen in years. It was a wonderful opportunity, despite being short lived. Below are a few pics from the trip. I have said it before and I will say it again, my New Year's resolution is to be in better touch with everyone, so please remind me of that if I start to slack off!

Christmas day was great this year. Amy, Joe, Mom, Dad, and myself had a nice family breakfast followed by exchange of gifts. "Santa" had already been very good to me with help on my new apartment, but I still managed to get a few more nice things including some clothes for work. 'Crazy Eddy' made a guest appearance in Joe's final gift "Christmas in July" It's too long a story to type out, if you are interested you'll have to ask me about that one.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their holiday. Have a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

Back in the Big Apple

Well I made it back to NY yesterday, strike and all. There was a heinously long line that wrapped around the entire terminal to check in at United. Fortunately security was much quicker. Even though we left on time, the 3.5 hour flight took over 4 hours, and then baggage took 30 minutes to start rolling out. At least my bag made it to New York. When I was checking in, I put my bag on the weigh counter, the rep took it, ticketed it, and put it on the conveyor belt. Then she looked back at me and said "wait, are you Tina or Erica?" "Tina" I replied. She ran and grabbed the bag just as it was about to go back into that unknown area behind the counter... ripped off the tag, and put the right one on. It almost went to Philadelphia. WHEW!

Now me and my sniffling self need to pack for another lovely commute up to Greek Peak. The traffic is always awful going over the Tappanzee Bridge, but with the strike I am expeciting it to be even worse. Ugh the packing, the unpacking, the repacking, the driving, the flying, the driving some more.... it's worth it to see friends and family though. Especially during the holidays.

See some of you on the slopes...

Something Old, Something New

Today I saw something old and something new. ,the something new...

On my way to church this morning I drove by Lake Loveland (though there are several lakes in the area, I believe it is the largest lake in Loveland). I saw some people actually ICE FISHING on the lake. Nothing incredibly fascinating about that, I suppose, except I have never actually SEEN ice fishing. So I guess I can add that one to the list.

As for the something old....

After church I made it my mission to find the one local Starbucks. I walked in and saw a bunch of guys playing this game that I played while I was in college. The game is a role playing card game called "MAGIC The Gathering". After spending about an hour in another area of the store enjoying my grande almond latte and doing a few sudoku puzzles, I decided it was time to go. The guys were still there as I was leaving so I went over and asked them about their game, wondered if the rules were all that different from what they were when I played. After sitting with them for a while I gave one of them my phone number and took his... I'll try to find my cards in my parents' attic, and perhaps will have a group to play with again. Some people might think it's dorky, but I always liked the game, and I miss playing. Although they all looked kinda young at first glance, (four guys in all) two of them were 28, one of whom told me he is about to turn 29 in January. Nice to know I wasn't an "old fart" sitting among them. (Made me think of Lynne and her D&D games when she was in grad school playing with H.S. kids)... hehheh.

Ok, well that's all I have to report on for now.

Powdery White Crap

No I am NOT referring to snow... I am referring to this awful substance that I am picking up from my carpet with my vacuum. I got a brand-new vacuum and after 2 times over the carpet I have had to disassemble the thing and clean all the compartments/filters because they have been clogged with this powdery white crap. Maintenance is going to come by on Monday to check it out. (Thankfully).

Oh and I changed my mind, it DOES feel pretty cold out. The 15 degrees supposedly feels like 4 degrees. I might believe that because it felt pretty nippy during my trip out to get my mail.

Steaming Hot

Ok so I forgot to mention in my post last night that when I left the gym in the apt clubhouse to walk back to my apt, I found it interesting that not only could I see my breath steam out from my my head. It was weird, like I was some bowl of steaming soup set out to cool. Haha. It really doesn't feel that bitterly cold out here, though my weatherbug says it is currently 16 degrees. I guess I must have made my body temperature rise quite a bit while exercising and entering the cold right away gave a nice visual that we really do lose most of our body heat from our heads. I was literally steaming hot =)

It is snowing today. I love the white wintery wonderland that snow creates. Good excuse for me to stay in and start working on some lecutures for next semester. It is both exciting and a little stressful to be transitioning from student to faculty. I hope I do a good job. I hope my students enjoy my classes and respect me. I hope I can manage a balance from being too strict and too lenient. Everyone keeps asking me what kind of teacher I will be, I hope to be right there in the middle, but since this is all new for me I can't really say that with much authority without throwing myself into the mix and seeing what unfolds.

TGIF?

Well it is Friday... my second Friday in Colorado, weird! Nothing special about it, didn't have a terribly difficult week, just still trying to unpack and organize and settle in before packing up to head to NY for the holidays. There was a Christmas party at my apt complex yessterday but I didn't know about it because I didn't look through my new resident packet until this afternoon, darn! Haven't really met any of my neighbors yet. I know I have someone below me that likes bassy music, I could "feel" the music tonight.

Last night I went to the Windsor Rec Center and took a TKD and a Hapkido class. I liked them both, but will probably stick with TKD only since I don't want to pay for two classes. Monday nights are sparring classes, I'll go to that too and see how that is. I've never considered myself a great sparrer, but the school I come from is very strong in sparring, so I am hoping that I may have developed enough skill to kick some butt at a new school.

It is supposed to snow here tomorrow. I love the snow, it's so pretty. I don't have anywhere I have to be tomorrow, but it would be nice to get out tomorrow to explore the town some more. Maybe go check out the library, find the local Starbucks (yes I'm a latte fanatic)... I have to start working on some lectures for next semester too. I think I will go to church Sunday, there are two churches in the area that I am interested in seeing. I wonder if either will have as good a choir as Hope Pres. or as good a singles group as The Gathering. Time will tell...

I'm so out of shape right now. I went to work out and can only do about a third of what I once could. I really need to get into a gym routine again. (Especially if I plan on hitting more of the high altitude slopes out here).

Only 10 days till Christmas! yippee!

Weird Newness

As I begin to get accustomed to life out west I have found some strange things about Colorado.

1. The octane levels in the gas are lower. They go from 85 to 87 to 91 rather than the usual 87 to 89 to 93/94. I guess the cars are more efficient in high altitude... just weird. (oh yeah, and gas is more expensive here than in TN - I pay about 2.30 a gallon for 87 octane fuel)

2. Apparently a birth certificate issued by the city you were born in is not good enough for the Colorado DMV. I tried to get a driver's license today only to find out that they won't accept my form of ID. So since I don't have a passport, have never been married or divorced, never been issued a military ID, and don't have any immigration papers, I have no choice but to order a NY STATE issued birth certificate. Processing and handling -- CHACHING a nice $70.00. Damnit!

3. People in Colorado are overly friendly. Being that I have been to several different areas of the country, I can honestly say these are the nicest people I have met. I wonder if it will rub off on me? I hope so.

4. Windshield wiper fluid freezes... haha that didn't happen to me in CO, it actually happened somewhere along the drive in Kansas. But it was so darned cold that the fluid remained frozen for over 24 hours. I went to Home Depot and bought some fluid that can withstand -20 degrees.

Anyway that's all for now. Keep the comments coming =)

My New Place

Since there have been some inquiries, I thought I would post some pics of my new apt... Enjoy!

I Made It!

Well I made it out to Colorado. The drive was long and fridgid... my windshield wiper fluid froze and remained frozen for over 24 hours it was so darned cold. I have lots to catch everyone up on in terms of what I have been doing the past few days, but thought since I don't have enough time right now I would share with y'all a pic of me hitting the slopes. Rob and I went to the Eldora Ski area in Nederland (outside Boulder). Had a bunch of fun, but my muscles forgot how much work it is, and I realized after falling 3 times that I wasn't quite ready to tackle intermediate slopes. I am looking forward to honing my skills some more at Greek Peak in a few weeks.

Here is another pic of a view from my apt... looking out at a neat cloud formation over Hout's Resevoir. It is sooooo pretty out here, love looking at the snow capped mountains everytime I drive west. Maybe that will be more of an incentive for some of you to come out and visit!

End of an Era

It is 1:04 AM as I type this. I still don't have quite everything packed properly... but hopefully it will all make its way into my car somehow. I leave tomorrow for good. My time in Memphis finally has come to an end. How strange it feels to know that next time I sit down to write an entry it will be from somewhere many miles away.

I got involved with some really nice groups towards the end of my time here. I will miss those groups - the Gathering and Hope Choir. Amongst other things I'll miss my friends, I'll miss my TKD buddies, and I will definitely miss the cats.

Tomorrow is Sam's defense. In about 11 hours he will be Dr. Atcherson =)

Congrats in advance Sam!

Arrest Me Please!

I witnessed a very strange thing today. I went to Starbucks (not at all unusual for me) and about 5 minutes after I got there a crap load of police squad cars came by. Two officers came into the store and started questioning this young black male. The guy didn't seem agitated at all. He proceeded to go outside to get his coat, come back in, and then left the store with the police officers. I watched outside as they patted him down against the squad car, cuffed him, and drove him away. Now the strange thing about this whole incident is apparently they guy called the cops himself! That's right folks. Turns out the guy was feeling homicidal and so he called the cops to take him away. GOOD GRIEF! Another sign that I need to get myself out of Memphis. Oh well, I guess we need more people like him... people who recognize when they are headed for trouble and fix the problem before it happens.... still... it was BIZARRE!

Oh yeah and I paid $1.99/gallon for gas today. WOOHOO!