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Jul 23, 2011

331 Miles

our trek to Buena Vista, Parker, and back to Longmont

Julie and I slowly working our way up to an overnight ride to Durango CO. It's about 370 miles from Longmont to Durango and Julie's motorcycle has a range of about 120 miles per tank so we have to break that up into several smaller segments. We don't like to push it, so we usually only do 60 - 80 miles per stop.

Our first "big" trip was to Sidney NE. It was 168 miles. This last Friday, after a crazy and difficult week, I gave myself the day off and Julie and decided to ride up into the mountains where it would be a little cooler. We chose Buena Vista CO since we'd never been there before and had heard it was an amazing place.

Our first stop was in Conifer CO for gas. Then we made our way to Fairplay CO. The next stop was Buena Vista. What a quaint little place. Had no idea it was one of the hottest (not temperature wise) whitewater rafting destinations in the country. We had ice cream at Punky's and while sitting there decided to see if Jes and Paul wanted to have dinner at a Cheddars they had found in Aurora/Parker. So after tooling around Buena Vista for about 45 minutes we headed to Cheddars.

Then after a great dinner we headed home. 331 miles total. That was almost Durango distance. We were really exhausted when we got home though so we have some riding stamina to build up still.

Oh, the chicken nachos at Cheddars... WOW! Still the same and LOVED them.

Jun 20, 2011

Father's Day Hikes

Father's Day Hike 2011

Yesterday was our second annual Father's Day hike for the extended Kendall family. Two years ago, contemplating what I wanted to do with the family for Father's Day I realized I wanted to depart from the normal let's have a meal somewhere and watch a movie. I wanted something simple and something that afforded us the opportunity to take advantage of the gorgeous Colorado we moved back to in 2007. The idea for a short family hike was conceived.

Last year, our first we went to Chautauqua near Boulder. It was a great trip. The day began with us meeting at a local grocery store to purchase simple meal items and throw them into a backpack. Then a short drive to Boulder and off we went. It was a great experience.

Yesterday we all hit the grocery store or made our lunches before we met at our place in Longmont, CO. Then we took off through Lyons, CO on our way to the Sleepy Lion Trail in the mountains just West of Lyons. The drive was less than 30 minutes and then we ventured on foot into the gorgeous mountains. The Sleepy Lion Trail is moderate beginning hike for anyone who has not been hiking much. It's got some great inclines as well as a really nice meadow of grass and flowers you hike through. Vistas include the view of Ralph Pierce Reservoir along much of the trail. The spot pictured above is a huge outcropping of rocks/boulders where we stopped to takes some fun photos.

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It was a great time. Can't wait for next year!

Apr 4, 2011

Temple Grandin

Me and Temple Grandin at lunch Occasionally you see a movie, read a book, or hear a story about someone inspiring and hope to meet the person. Then there are the once in a lifetime opportunities you have to not only meet that person, but to get to work with her (or him). Late last year I found out there was a project on which I might be working with my friend Dan (of Vendor Hippo). The project was amazing in and of itself. But then came the part about the "talent" for the video project.

I had never heard of Temple Grandin till that day. About a month ago, as part of preparing the shoot I viewed the Made for HBO movie about her life and was moved to tears by -- well, many things in the movie. Today I got the rare privilege to direct a shoot with Temple explaining the ins and outs of handling sheep. What an amazing morning.

It was awesome to hear her explain the things the movie depicts but related to sheep. Her passion for helping people understand livestock so the handling of the sheep is less stressful on the animals and the humans was evident.

Claire Danes... I'm impressed. What a great job of portraying this special person. You definitely deserved the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Mini-series or Movie Oscar you won for the portrayal of this bigger than life lady.

Those of you who even think you have a tough life and need a leg up to move forward in this life... see the movie!

Mar 2, 2011

Teaching, teaching, and more teaching!



There haven't been many posts here on my site/blog in quite some time. That's because I've been busy!

From sheep, sheep, and more sheep to teaching, teaching, and more teaching. I was all poised to teach four courses at Front Range Community College here in Longmont (their Boulder County Campus) when Colorado Mountain College asked me to teach one of the same courses I've taught at FRCC for them online. They had several students who needed the course for their certificate or degree and couldn't find anyone to teach it. That was one week before the course was supposed to start. So I've been pretty busy converting the classroom experience into screen casts, discussion topics, exercises, and assignments that can be completed through a Blackboard interface.

Then, I was excited to meet yesterday with the folks over at Boulder Digital Arts (http://www.boulderdigitalarts.com) about teaching some PHP and MySQL over there. It looks like that will begin just as the FRCC and CMC gigs are winding down for the semester/summer.

Whew! I love it but it's definitely a schedule killer!