Week 43 - December 3

haunted house




Hey,

Hope everyone had a great week. Mine was fabulous once again. I went to a "wings event" this past week with somecolleagues. A small committee was formed several months ago to sample some of the best "chicken wings" in Denver. Our 3rd stop for the year was at Hooters. Now despite the very unappealing scenery, the food was fantastic, extremely spicy, but quite flavoursome. Needless to say, I was sweating profusively by the end of the feast.

With the year winding down, I attended my first work Christmas party. It was a fun evening, that took place at a haunted house! The highlight of the evening was the "white elephant" gift exchange. Several exchanges/tactics/fist fights later (only joking), I walked away with a cute little soft toy dog, which I will gladly give to my niece.

Week 42 - November 26

replica of the Titanic


Dinosaur


Chris McCormack

bike that Chris rode to win the Kona Ironman

Greetings from the mile high city,

Wow I can't believe we have approached the final month of the year and I've been in Denver for 10 glorius months! It's been an incredible journey so far. Fortunately for me, I will get to spend Christmas downunder once again, so I'm counting down the days until I arrive back to the Summer heat.

During the week, I went and saw a horrific movie No Country for Old Men with some colleagues from work. Definitely not my choice, otherwise it probably would have been Enchanted or a comedy. I was so tensed throughout the movie, it was simply quite painful to watch. Most of my colleagues loved it. Well all I can say is that there's enough violence in our society today, we don't need more movies depicting this.

On a much lighter note, I met a fellow aussie over the weekend - Hawaiian Ironman champ Chris McCormack. He came across as extremely friendly and relaxed and it was just incredible to listen to him speak about his win/training ethics/nutritional intake etc etc.

I capped the week by going to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It was awesome! There was so much to see and learn, it was fantastic. I spent 4 hours at the museum and I didn't even get to see everything. The highlight of the day was watching a movie inside the Planetarium. This was truly an amazing experience, 360 degree view of the planets!

Week 41 - November 19

Thanksgiving @ Brian & Aileen's place


Infamous Turkey


Greetings All,


Had a pretty short work week b/c of the Thanksgiving holiday. It was actually a fun day since I had to Thanksgiving dinners to attend. I went over to a work colleagues place (Brian) in the morning to help prepare for the big feast. We didn't end up eating until around 3 pm, in which I had already stuffed myself on wine, cheese and crackers!

After leaving Brian's place, I quickly dashed home to pick up the rest of the food and headed off to Jeremy's place. This was more low-keyed as I sat and watched the guys cook an awesome turkey.

So after stuffing myself on 2 fantastic meals, I just had to end the week on a positive note by getting in some runs and MTB in the snow! This was such an adrenalin rush, cruising over some very slick rocks off some very tricky trails in the mountains!

Week 40 - November 12

Panoramic view from Devils Garden trail - Arches National Park


Panoramic view of Double Arch - Arches National Park


Delicate Arch - Arches National Park


Looking down onto Canyonlands National Park

Hey,

I took a wondering trip out to Moab, Utah this past weekend and it was spectacular! I was so amazed by how beautiful and enormous the national parks are out here in the U.S. It's quite deceiving as it's all hidden away off the highway.

We spent a few hours hiking in Canyonlands National Park. This is the largest national park in Utah and we only got a glimpse of it. The most famous spot is Mesa Arch. This is probably the most popular destination and often will appear in every Utah travel brochures http://www.discovermoab.com/whattosee.htm

Arches National Park contains the world's largest concentration of natural sandstones. The park alone contains over 2000 arches. The most famous being Delicate Arch. This was probably my favourite park. We spent majority of our time hiking around the various trails and saw some amazing arches. Most of the trails are categorized as easy, but there were some that we hiked over consisted of slickrocks and often quite dangerous. Nonetheless, this is truly an amazing place to come and visit especially during the winter time where the temperature is around 15-18 degrees celcius.



Work colleagues from CU Online enjoying the food & entertainment


Casa Bonita


A typical mexican dish

Greetings,

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying what's left of this year. Wow, it's been an incredible year for me so far and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here in the U.S

I went to this fun Mexican resturant (Casa Bonita) with plenty of entertainment - puppet shows, cliff divers, dancing gorillas and much more. Although I can't say much for the food, it was edible enough, but very average. I guess everyone just comes for the entertainment.

As you enter inside, it's almost like a "theme park" where you have to go through a line and pay for your food before you actually get inside the resturant. Once you are inside, you receive your food on a tray (cafeteria style) and the hostess will then show you to your table(s).

Week 39 - November 5

baby fox

Mountain goats


I went to the Denver Zoo for the very first time since arriving here. They have a free day every month, so you could image how crowded it was. It was quite educational to learn about some of the Nth American and African animals. They even had some Emus and kangaroos there, although they looked so unhappy. I wished I could return then back home to their natural habitats.




Looking down from Bergen Peak


Bergen Peak trail - Elk Meadows Open Park


Another eventful week to talk about. Went to a great little comedy show earlier on. Various amateur stand-up comedians trying to make a name for themselves, of which so were quite hilarious, and others, well, let's say they should stick to their day jobs.....

Colorado weather is quite tempermental. It fluctuates constantly. One day it may be 25 degrees celcius, and the next, it will drop to 12 degrees celcius. I never know whether to dip out my thermos or not. I still manage to get out and get some form of exercise in, whether it be running, hiking or biking. This week, I managed to do both, running on the trails and also MTB at an extremely difficult trail - Bergen Peak. It was quite strenous, a constant climb uphill with difficult rocks to manuevre through. I probably spent half the time walking my bike up the trail, nonetheless, it was a great challenge and got the heart pumping hard again :)

Week 38 - October 29

Mr Incredible

Holloweener


taking a pepsi shot


the 'ice luge"

Happy Halloween!


I went to this fantastic halloween house party Friday night. It was incredible. Everyone was dressed up, there was a keg of beer in the backyard, unlimited food and hard spirits, jelly shots, candies, etc. I felt like I was back in college again, only this time, hanging out with a much more mature audience!


Capped on the night boogie on the dance floor with Mr Incredible (character from the Pixar movie) and as the designated responsible driver, I took a pepsi shot on the "ice luge". This is definitely a must at all future parties!





Players warming up


Allen Iverson



Allen & Melo


Greetings,

Wow we are approaching the final 2 months of 2007 and it feels as if I just left Melb only a month ago. I've been living it up here in Denver and am looking forward to the ski/snowboarding season. Well after I experience a very "short" summer downunder!

The NBA season just started and I was fortunate to attend the Denver Nuggets game against Seattle Sonics. It was fantastic, even though it took 3 + hours to complete with all the off-court/half-time entertainment, it was a lot of fun.

Week 37 - October 22

92 Honda Civic

I recently upgraded to a Honda Civic. Although I'm sad to depart from my beloved Ford Escort, this black beauty will provide for a more "comfortable" drive in the upcoming hard winters of the mile high city.




Senator Hilary Clinton speaking at the downtown campus

Hey Everyone,

Another eventful week so far. Tried to purchase the world series baseball tickets online, but the server crashed. The Rockies website had 8.5 million hits within an hour on Monday morning, so there are still some very "ticked off" fans. Luckily for me, a colleague was able to get through and order his tickets, so now I'm off to see game 5 next Monday or I could sell the ticket for at least $600. hmm...... Do I go for greed or be part of a world championship history???

I had another brush with fame on Tuesday, well from afar. Hilary Clinton stopped in at the downtown campus to compaign for the 2008 election. Literally we were all surrounded by an army of policemen, CIA, bodyguards, you name it. There were so many barricades set up, and upon entering the event, you were literally body searched! Surprisingly, it was worth the trip downtown as during the 20 mins that I saw her speak, she was astonishing! Now, let's just see whether she will deliver on all her promises for a "better nation".........