Another day, another stack of meetings.
Meetings that got moved, nuked a planned lunch ride from the Nob Hill up to Corrales Brewery for lunch and ride back. Thus, Raul and I had to settle on just having a quick bite at Blackbird Buvette. The food, as always was good.
The weather threatened rain and delivered strong winds late afternoon, so I met some of the team at Marble Brewery. They switched out the Triple IPA that I enjoyed so much during the week in favor of a new beer to me. It was called a Maibock. It was a nice, tasty change from the IPA, I must say!
I later met Adam, Mark, and KT at O'Neils in Nob Hill. I had finished my typical meal there with my B&B with bread pudding. I can say with certainty that I don't wish to step on a scale anytime soon after the week I've had here in NM.
Given the hell of the previous day, I cancelled my plan to head up to 10,000 waves spa. Instead, I had a nice bath and just relaxed at my home in Cedar Crest.
We had endless rain showers during the night and I actually went for a drive in the rain just for the sake of enjoying the rain.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
20100415
I continue to and will probably forever hate thursdays. At least in the translational neuroscience business. I don't know what it is about this field, but they all seem hell-bent on meeting on thursdays, which means one never gets anything besides meetings accomplished on thursdays.
The day started out with a flat on my road bike. Enrique planned to join me on a sunrise ride on Tramway. We tried to change the flat and caused another flat.
I left in frustration and drove to MRN and swapped out bikes (I switched over to my touring bike). I did a bosque ride heading north instead of south this time. Once I got into the ride, the frustration disappeared. It was a glorious way to spend part of the morning, oh I did have another flat but I just pretended it didn't happen...
Yes, so the day sucked, mainly because I misplaced my wallet. When it was all said and done, it was just _way_ at the bottom of my camelback. But that didn't stop me from frantically searching for it, driving up and back to cedar crest looking for it, driving to replace my New Mexico drivers license and Bank card. Not fun.
Alas, I managed to find it. I met Jessica and Matt for dinner at a new Persian place in Albuquerque. I had a Kurdish dish that was simply amazing. The spices and texture were so different. I would love to try some other things the next time I'm in town.
The day started out with a flat on my road bike. Enrique planned to join me on a sunrise ride on Tramway. We tried to change the flat and caused another flat.
I left in frustration and drove to MRN and swapped out bikes (I switched over to my touring bike). I did a bosque ride heading north instead of south this time. Once I got into the ride, the frustration disappeared. It was a glorious way to spend part of the morning, oh I did have another flat but I just pretended it didn't happen...
Yes, so the day sucked, mainly because I misplaced my wallet. When it was all said and done, it was just _way_ at the bottom of my camelback. But that didn't stop me from frantically searching for it, driving up and back to cedar crest looking for it, driving to replace my New Mexico drivers license and Bank card. Not fun.
Alas, I managed to find it. I met Jessica and Matt for dinner at a new Persian place in Albuquerque. I had a Kurdish dish that was simply amazing. The spices and texture were so different. I would love to try some other things the next time I'm in town.
20100414
Work at MRN continues to progress.
I had some good news, I think, today, in that I should be able to drop down to contractor status soon. This will help, as I have TOO MUCH TO DO. I had a day chocked full of meetings and work.
I did not get a ride in, as the weather did not cooperate much.
In frustration, I met some of the team at Marble Brewery after work.
I continued to enjoy the fine Triple IPA. Can I just say that they need to make bombers of this one, soon! And please ship me a case to Iowa.
I met Enrique for dinner at Los Cuates. Good stuff! Nothing like fajitas and margaritas and lots of chips and salsa.
I had some good news, I think, today, in that I should be able to drop down to contractor status soon. This will help, as I have TOO MUCH TO DO. I had a day chocked full of meetings and work.
I did not get a ride in, as the weather did not cooperate much.
In frustration, I met some of the team at Marble Brewery after work.
I continued to enjoy the fine Triple IPA. Can I just say that they need to make bombers of this one, soon! And please ship me a case to Iowa.
I met Enrique for dinner at Los Cuates. Good stuff! Nothing like fajitas and margaritas and lots of chips and salsa.
20100413
First day back working onsite at MRN.
It was a bit overwhelming, so much had queued up. My team seems stressed as I've had little availability recently due to the audit taking every waking second.
I went to The Bicylist shop with Raul and his friend Dennis hooked me up with a vintage, circa 1990 road bike. It's a Specialized steel frame, great components and wheelsets all for $450. The bike rides like a dream! Dennis has this thing tuned wonderfully.
I did my inaugural ride in the bosque (southern loop).
The work day ended at Marble Brewery. I tried the Triple IPA and the Barley Wine. Both were outstanding!
I later met Enrique at Farinos to celebrate his 26 birthday. We had a nice meal, I actually really like that place and can't believe I never went to it when living full time in New Mexico.
It was a bit overwhelming, so much had queued up. My team seems stressed as I've had little availability recently due to the audit taking every waking second.
I went to The Bicylist shop with Raul and his friend Dennis hooked me up with a vintage, circa 1990 road bike. It's a Specialized steel frame, great components and wheelsets all for $450. The bike rides like a dream! Dennis has this thing tuned wonderfully.
I did my inaugural ride in the bosque (southern loop).
The work day ended at Marble Brewery. I tried the Triple IPA and the Barley Wine. Both were outstanding!
I later met Enrique at Farinos to celebrate his 26 birthday. We had a nice meal, I actually really like that place and can't believe I never went to it when living full time in New Mexico.
20100412
Today was a travel day, flying from Cedar Rapids to Denver, and then Denver to Albuquerque.
I cleaned the house, did laundry, and a bunch of work prior to sneaking in a ride at Sugarbottom.
I had terrible food at DIA, kind of made me sick and/or I was already still sick, not sure. On top of that, my flight from Denver to Albuquerque had some fairly major turbulence, so that portion of the day was suboptimal.
I finally made it to Cedar Crest at about 12:30am and crashed...
I cleaned the house, did laundry, and a bunch of work prior to sneaking in a ride at Sugarbottom.
I had terrible food at DIA, kind of made me sick and/or I was already still sick, not sure. On top of that, my flight from Denver to Albuquerque had some fairly major turbulence, so that portion of the day was suboptimal.
I finally made it to Cedar Crest at about 12:30am and crashed...
20100411
Still being fairly sick, I slept in today.
I did some work, but then decided to get some mountain biking in at Sugarbottom.
I had a great ride, but then came home to do more work.
I did some work, but then decided to get some mountain biking in at Sugarbottom.
I had a great ride, but then came home to do more work.
20100410
To say the least it was an interesting evening after long day of work.
I spent the entire work day, at a NA-MIC workshop, tutorial event at the UIOWA college of engineering.
Later on, I met Matt at the Fieldhouse to meet a group to play walleyball.
Picture this, 10 gay men together playing volleyball on a racquetball court.
Choosing teams, sides, and following the rules of the game, all were interesting to me.
It was fun to play, but would have preferred to have actually played by at least a portion of the rules of the game rather than making them up as we went along. We did play for over 2 hours, though, so that was good. I wish I had had my voice though, it was hard to yell out scores and talk to people without my voice. Also, MAN was I tired from the week of work I put in.
I met Matt along with the group at Sam's Pizza after the match, it was pretty good pizza, but I was underwhelmed by the beer selection. Should have just trotted over to the sanctuary where both the beer selection and pizza are much better.
I spent the entire work day, at a NA-MIC workshop, tutorial event at the UIOWA college of engineering.
Later on, I met Matt at the Fieldhouse to meet a group to play walleyball.
Picture this, 10 gay men together playing volleyball on a racquetball court.
Choosing teams, sides, and following the rules of the game, all were interesting to me.
It was fun to play, but would have preferred to have actually played by at least a portion of the rules of the game rather than making them up as we went along. We did play for over 2 hours, though, so that was good. I wish I had had my voice though, it was hard to yell out scores and talk to people without my voice. Also, MAN was I tired from the week of work I put in.
I met Matt along with the group at Sam's Pizza after the match, it was pretty good pizza, but I was underwhelmed by the beer selection. Should have just trotted over to the sanctuary where both the beer selection and pizza are much better.
20100409
Work, work, work, and more audit work.
Very little else is occurring right now.
I am still very sick, actually feel worse today.
I did get a walk in with Tyler and road the trainer.
Very little else is occurring right now.
I am still very sick, actually feel worse today.
I did get a walk in with Tyler and road the trainer.
20100408
Nothing but work, work, work, and more work.
My voice is completely gone on top of everything else.
I think it's laryngitis or sinusitus or both.
My voice is completely gone on top of everything else.
I think it's laryngitis or sinusitus or both.
20100407
More audit work today, things continue to progress.
I got to play racquetball with Matt in the evening.
I got to play racquetball with Matt in the evening.
20100418
I slept in until 10am today.
I think it was the first time in two weeks that the sinus infection let me actually sleep, relax.
After a quick detour to recharge the caffeine meter, I picked up a very happy beagle from Julia's Kennels. Tyler was ecstatic to see me. Once we made it home, we ran around the acreage a bit and just played outside and relaxed for a couple of hours.
At 2pm, I met Matt at Sugarbottom Bikes in North Liberty. I behaved and didn't buy a bike. Let me tell you though, there is a $2,000 bianchi road bike that has my name on it. For that matter there's also a Jamis hard tail as well. Somehow I managed to only buy a spare tube for the old Trek 6000, and we were on our way to a ride at Sugarbottom.
What a spectacular day to ride! We did nearly an entire full loop using the High Water access entrance from the main park. The 305 trail was still under water, and 204, hell trail, was still closed for renovation. Aside from that, we did the rest of the trails. The entire ride is located here.
After riding, I got to drive the jeep with top and windows down, good music playing after a nice long bike ride. Could life get any better?
Perhaps, I met Matt for some beer, and pizza at Reds in North Liberty. I had Maudite to drink. We ended up walking down the street to grab some ice cream.
a day of awesomeness!
I think it was the first time in two weeks that the sinus infection let me actually sleep, relax.
After a quick detour to recharge the caffeine meter, I picked up a very happy beagle from Julia's Kennels. Tyler was ecstatic to see me. Once we made it home, we ran around the acreage a bit and just played outside and relaxed for a couple of hours.
At 2pm, I met Matt at Sugarbottom Bikes in North Liberty. I behaved and didn't buy a bike. Let me tell you though, there is a $2,000 bianchi road bike that has my name on it. For that matter there's also a Jamis hard tail as well. Somehow I managed to only buy a spare tube for the old Trek 6000, and we were on our way to a ride at Sugarbottom.
What a spectacular day to ride! We did nearly an entire full loop using the High Water access entrance from the main park. The 305 trail was still under water, and 204, hell trail, was still closed for renovation. Aside from that, we did the rest of the trails. The entire ride is located here.
After riding, I got to drive the jeep with top and windows down, good music playing after a nice long bike ride. Could life get any better?
Perhaps, I met Matt for some beer, and pizza at Reds in North Liberty. I had Maudite to drink. We ended up walking down the street to grab some ice cream.
a day of awesomeness!
20100417
I woke up to an absolutely beautiful morning from my home in Cedar Crest.
It had literally rained all night, and the mountains were glistening.
I reluctantly went down the hill to Albuquerque, as I entered the Rio Grande Valley, I immediately noticed that the high desert had come alive! Wow, the rains had changed everything! There were so many colors, shades and it just felt clean. This made it very hard to leave New Mexico.
I dropped both of my bikes off at my office, deciding against trying to ship the vintage road bike to my home in Iowa.
After returning my rental car, I was able to hop on an early flight to Denver, but learned that I had an unexpected late flight to Cedar Rapids from Denver. This ended up affording me nearly 4.5 hours of lay over time in Denver. I got somewhat bored, but took it as an opportunity to read and relax with my iPad.
I did learn that the wireless receiver in the iPad seems to be very finicky, it did not manage to use the free wireless at DIA from the iPad, my Droid and MacBook Pro had no trouble at all, so I am not certain why the iPad struggled. Thus, I need to research this and figure it out, as I would like to eventually NOT have to travel with a laptop, as the iPad seems ideal for short trips.
When I finally made it to Cedar Rapids at 830pm, I rushed home, changed and hung out with Matt. We watched the majority of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is based on the Stieg Larsson book. I liked it, but we both decided it was better for me to read the book, the movie just moved too fast to catch all of the needed details to understand what was going on. Matt and did manage to split a Marble Reserve. Wow that is a good beer. I do think I prefer it though in colder weather, it was nice to share it nonetheless.
The day ended well as it had started.
It had literally rained all night, and the mountains were glistening.
I reluctantly went down the hill to Albuquerque, as I entered the Rio Grande Valley, I immediately noticed that the high desert had come alive! Wow, the rains had changed everything! There were so many colors, shades and it just felt clean. This made it very hard to leave New Mexico.
I dropped both of my bikes off at my office, deciding against trying to ship the vintage road bike to my home in Iowa.
After returning my rental car, I was able to hop on an early flight to Denver, but learned that I had an unexpected late flight to Cedar Rapids from Denver. This ended up affording me nearly 4.5 hours of lay over time in Denver. I got somewhat bored, but took it as an opportunity to read and relax with my iPad.
I did learn that the wireless receiver in the iPad seems to be very finicky, it did not manage to use the free wireless at DIA from the iPad, my Droid and MacBook Pro had no trouble at all, so I am not certain why the iPad struggled. Thus, I need to research this and figure it out, as I would like to eventually NOT have to travel with a laptop, as the iPad seems ideal for short trips.
When I finally made it to Cedar Rapids at 830pm, I rushed home, changed and hung out with Matt. We watched the majority of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is based on the Stieg Larsson book. I liked it, but we both decided it was better for me to read the book, the movie just moved too fast to catch all of the needed details to understand what was going on. Matt and did manage to split a Marble Reserve. Wow that is a good beer. I do think I prefer it though in colder weather, it was nice to share it nonetheless.
The day ended well as it had started.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
20100406
More crazy work, auditing data today. We've hit about the 95% completion point. I think all of us are ready to be done.
I managed to sneak out after work (that is if work ever ends) to look at three houses.
This link contains a photo gallery of all of the houses.
The first house (the full listing is here) I looked at is the the Hickory Hill neighborhood. In general, I really like this neighborhood. This house has a few quirks. The sunroom addition is a bit odd, the manner that it was added was a bit odd, but workable. The shed/shop is awesome! The back yard is awesome. There is already a dog door and small dog run area already set up. It could be improved, quality of kitchen cabinets, counters, etc. I like the corn burning furnace!
The second house I looked at is not yet listed, although there are pictures of it in the above photo gallery. This house is nearby the first, still in the Hickory Hills neighborhood. The yard is more private, there are some nice finishes, floors, cabinets in this one. The master suite bath is a bit small, and the basement is unfinished.
The third house I looked at (listing here) is in the Lake Crest Manor neighborhood.
I managed to sneak out after work (that is if work ever ends) to look at three houses.
This link contains a photo gallery of all of the houses.
The first house (the full listing is here) I looked at is the the Hickory Hill neighborhood. In general, I really like this neighborhood. This house has a few quirks. The sunroom addition is a bit odd, the manner that it was added was a bit odd, but workable. The shed/shop is awesome! The back yard is awesome. There is already a dog door and small dog run area already set up. It could be improved, quality of kitchen cabinets, counters, etc. I like the corn burning furnace!
The second house I looked at is not yet listed, although there are pictures of it in the above photo gallery. This house is nearby the first, still in the Hickory Hills neighborhood. The yard is more private, there are some nice finishes, floors, cabinets in this one. The master suite bath is a bit small, and the basement is unfinished.
The third house I looked at (listing here) is in the Lake Crest Manor neighborhood.
20100405
Another day of audits, but reaching the 90% completion point on the legacy data.
It was another day void of workouts, but I did, finally, manage to squeeze riding my bike on the trainer (since it rained again) for 20 minutes. I need to get the pool schedule (swimming lessons) figured out. I've had 3 times in the 6 days where the entire pool was closed for swimming lessons. If this issue persists, I'm most certainly not going to get my yardage in.
I watched the pull pilot of Breaking Bad this evening.
Wow, it's eerie seeing Albuquerque area as the setting for a show!
I literally could drive to each of the houses shown this evening (one was most certainly in Taylor ranch, and I'm fairly certain the other house was in the northeast heights). I also think I recognize the area where they cooked the first batch of Meth up.
It was another day void of workouts, but I did, finally, manage to squeeze riding my bike on the trainer (since it rained again) for 20 minutes. I need to get the pool schedule (swimming lessons) figured out. I've had 3 times in the 6 days where the entire pool was closed for swimming lessons. If this issue persists, I'm most certainly not going to get my yardage in.
I watched the pull pilot of Breaking Bad this evening.
Wow, it's eerie seeing Albuquerque area as the setting for a show!
I literally could drive to each of the houses shown this evening (one was most certainly in Taylor ranch, and I'm fairly certain the other house was in the northeast heights). I also think I recognize the area where they cooked the first batch of Meth up.
Monday, April 5, 2010
20100404
Today was Easter Sunday, I took off at 9am for brunch at the IC Catholic Church Hall in Fairbank. The plan was to have mimosas and play bocce ball. I managed to forget the bocce set. Boo! I stopped at the Cedar Rapids Walmart on the trip up to Fairbank, but they were, of course, sold out of sets.
We, the Madeline and John Kerns descendants, had a very nice meal together. This event had been scheduled prior to Grandma K getting very ill earlier in the year, mainly as an event for her to look forward to. Our Easter gatherings in the past I think were among her favorite times, certainly I have fond memories of them.
I think everyone in attendance immediately missed grandma K. It just seemed empty without her. I'm glad we had the gathering, but after the Easter Egg hunt, everyone went their separate ways. I stopped out at my mom's place and hung out with my sister, the twins for a bit... mainly i took a nap, while Jess played with the iPad for awhile.
I drove home, hit a nice spring thunderstorm.
After hanging out with Tyler, I hit the audit work again.
It was a pretty good day, all things considered.
We, the Madeline and John Kerns descendants, had a very nice meal together. This event had been scheduled prior to Grandma K getting very ill earlier in the year, mainly as an event for her to look forward to. Our Easter gatherings in the past I think were among her favorite times, certainly I have fond memories of them.
I think everyone in attendance immediately missed grandma K. It just seemed empty without her. I'm glad we had the gathering, but after the Easter Egg hunt, everyone went their separate ways. I stopped out at my mom's place and hung out with my sister, the twins for a bit... mainly i took a nap, while Jess played with the iPad for awhile.
I drove home, hit a nice spring thunderstorm.
After hanging out with Tyler, I hit the audit work again.
It was a pretty good day, all things considered.
20100403
work, work, work
what? yeah, I managed to not work for a bit today, I called up Best Buy and found out that the Coralville store had received 100 iPads. WOHOO! So I scurried over there and grabbed one. So far, I love it!
I put on the iWork suite, iBook, Pandora, netflix, and many, many more.
So far, I don't see as many of the limitations being discussed.
This device can most certainly be used effectively for buisiness travel, one can edit/present documents, check/send/respond to email while having access to most forms of media, reading books, PDFs, etc. It's absolutely ideal. It's smooth, intuitive, and pleasant to use. The screen is very large and beautiful. Having adjusted to the DROID, I forgot just how nice the iPhone interface was (this is pretty much the same, just on a larger scale). Truly the only disappointment thus far, has the apps that have not yet been converted. Facebook definitely needs an upgrade, as it currently is just the iPhone facebook application (the fonts are fuzzy if it is interpolated up to fill the screen).
I'm certain I will mention the iPad in upcoming posts, both the good and the bad.
Again, no workouts of any kind today. I fear I'm falling off the wagon!
I was also able to sneak a game of settlers in with Hans, Lisa and family. Overall, is was a pretty good day.
what? yeah, I managed to not work for a bit today, I called up Best Buy and found out that the Coralville store had received 100 iPads. WOHOO! So I scurried over there and grabbed one. So far, I love it!
I put on the iWork suite, iBook, Pandora, netflix, and many, many more.
So far, I don't see as many of the limitations being discussed.
This device can most certainly be used effectively for buisiness travel, one can edit/present documents, check/send/respond to email while having access to most forms of media, reading books, PDFs, etc. It's absolutely ideal. It's smooth, intuitive, and pleasant to use. The screen is very large and beautiful. Having adjusted to the DROID, I forgot just how nice the iPhone interface was (this is pretty much the same, just on a larger scale). Truly the only disappointment thus far, has the apps that have not yet been converted. Facebook definitely needs an upgrade, as it currently is just the iPhone facebook application (the fonts are fuzzy if it is interpolated up to fill the screen).
I'm certain I will mention the iPad in upcoming posts, both the good and the bad.
Again, no workouts of any kind today. I fear I'm falling off the wagon!
I was also able to sneak a game of settlers in with Hans, Lisa and family. Overall, is was a pretty good day.
20100402
We finally started pushing production data into the system today.
Wow, has it ever been a long road. I'm hoping this push is finished soon, although, we'll likely hit several more snags. No workout of any kind was possible today, nothing but endless hours of work...
Wow, has it ever been a long road. I'm hoping this push is finished soon, although, we'll likely hit several more snags. No workout of any kind was possible today, nothing but endless hours of work...
20100331
Got another bike ride at sugarbottom in this evening.
I am absolutely loving the pleasant weather and riding after work!
Work is still crazy, but we are making progress on fixing problems in the data.
I am absolutely loving the pleasant weather and riding after work!
Work is still crazy, but we are making progress on fixing problems in the data.
20100330
Got another bike ride at sugarbottom and a swim in today.
It was a crazy day at work, still auditing the data for errors, fixing problems.
It was a crazy day at work, still auditing the data for errors, fixing problems.
20100401
Crazy day at work, it was 85°F. Wow! That is warm for early April. Hopefully, this is a sign of a warmer and hopefully drier summer here in Iowa as compared to last year.
Went mountain biking with Matt, his first outing of the year, at sugarbottom.
We essentially biked this route. We had a blast riding, and had a nice bite to eat at Reds after we rode.
Went mountain biking with Matt, his first outing of the year, at sugarbottom.
We essentially biked this route. We had a blast riding, and had a nice bite to eat at Reds after we rode.
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