The Life of a Nomad: Experience the Unexpected

So I am not exactly what you would call a baseball fan. I tend to be bored, almost to the point of napping, at the mere thought of watching a baseball game on TV. However, ghttp://www.justinandnatalie.com/nomad/2007/10/04/the-missing-month-september-that-is/oing to a baseball game is a whole different story. Although I do not care for baseball, it does feel uniquely American to go to a ball park and take part in Americas most sleepy obsession. Of course, it helped that Natalie and I went to the Rockies game with a bunch of people, including Phil and Sarah, from BlueSky. The Rockies won the game and made it into the playoffs. Apparently that is important.

One of the more exciting things that occurred during the month of September is that Natalie chopped off a bunch of her hair. For those of you who are concerned, Natalie is not sporting the Natalie Portman V for Vendetta look, as that would be a bit scary. Natalie simply chopped several inches of her hair off so that most of her hair is about jaw length. I like it. Natalie likes. Everyone likes it.

In the middle of September Kevin and Debbie, Natalie’s parents, flew out to spend the weekend with us. While they were in town, we took a road trip through windy mountain roads to get to Aspen, Colorado where Natalie’s Uncle Fred and Aunt Paula have a home. The drive was beautiful, although quite lengthy, and I enjoyed Aspen (it was my first time). Having only briefly met Fred and Paula the day Natalie and I were married, it was nice to have the opportunity to re-meet each of them in a more low pressure setting.A word regarding dogs. For the most part I do not mind dogs. I usually like other peoples dogs but, when thinking about having a dog of my own, I am am not interested. Yogi however, may have ruined me. Not only was he cute, but he did not shed or bark, for the most part, and he was the perfect companion. To keep myself from getting a dog I had to do research (actually Natalie did it) about the cost of owning a dog. Dang, dogs are expensive! Alas, my recently acquired dream of owning a laberdoodle of my own now resides on the back burner (along with my dreams of owning a crotch-rocket, living in New Zealand, and never needing to use a Window Operation System).

While Kevin and Debbie were in town we decided, because spending 8 hours in the car the previous day did not seem like enough, to drive to Fort Collins for dinner. (They were not impressed, and lets be honest, I have a hard time faulting them on that one. Money Magazine voted Fort Collins the best place to raise a family in 2006 but I personally think they were paid off.) We also took a small side trip to Boulder. It was mine and Natalie’s first time in Boulder and I have no trouble telling you that I was very impressed. It reminded me of Kalamazoo. Only it was near the mountains. And it was quite a bit larger. And it was more established. All in all, we had a great time with Kevin and Debbie. It was a bit like a crazy whirlwind (we were tying to do a great deal of stuff in a small amount of time) but it was grand. Kevin and Debbie please, come back anytime. (Next time we will not spend nearly as much time driving around. I promise.)

Some time later, (do not ask me when the whole month has blended together like some type of primordial soup) we wandered up to Fort Collins to go on a brewery tour. I have never been on a brewery tour but I had heard it was educational. What we found was a huge drunken college festival where everyone appeared to be doing one or more of the following. (I assume they were all reading from the same script). Keep in mind that, in most cases, all individuals observed seemed to being accomplishing the following tasks in numerical order.

1. Dress as bizarre as possible. Suspenders, florescent colored wigs, fish netting etc.
2. Drink beer. In large quantities. On empty stomachs. In the hot sun.
3. Ride a bike.

In short, due to my large aversion to sticky, hot, drunk, crowds of people, we did not stay very long. Natalie however tracked down this bike and attempted to steal it. I had to forcefully pull her off the bike. I swear. The day was not a total bust however, because we ended up going to a different brewery and sampling a vast number of excellent micro-brews. (One of the days I am going to write a post about why I like micro brews).

Near the end of the month, Natalie and I also had the opportunity to help our friends, Phil and Sarah, move into their first home. Now I have moved a large amount of people in my time but this was the easiest move I have ever participated in.
The ease of this move could have to do with the amount of people who helped, or the highly organized way the move was managed. These however only contributed to the ease of the move. The real reason the move was a breeze was because Mike, the guy we go rock climbing with, brought a large flat bed truck and trailer. And life was good. So a big congratulations to Phil and Sarah on their first home. We hope that it is everything you want it to be.

Okay. I know that it has been over a month since either Natalie or I posted anything on this blog. As I am not Natalie I am only going to address, briefly, why I am a slacker. Here it goes. Are you ready? Basically I spend 40 - 50 hours a week sitting in front of a computer. I am not complaining about this (it is a great job and it pays the bills), rather I am attempting to point out that I spend a vast majority of time sitting stationary at a computer. When I am not working I like to do other things. (Yes, I am aware that reading is, in most cases, a stationary activity).

All of that to say, sometimes spending time at the computer when I am not at work makes me feel like I am still at work. This is why I have slacked off on the blogging. In the future, I will attempt, mostly because I want to remember this part of my life, to blog more frequently.