AtomJohnson Blog

I certainly can’t complain about this past weekend except maybe for the fact that it has left me completely exhausted. It all started with a neighborhood Halloween party that turned into a late night in the hot tub/beer drinking session. It continued with a long bike road bike ride on Saturday that left me totally exhausted and curled up on my living room floor begging for a full recovery. There was a James Blunt concert somewhere in there. And ended with an amazing day of alpine skiing at Arapahoe Basin. Here are a few pics from the biking and skiing…now I’m going to bed….

Before I get into the great evening I ended up having tonight, let me first put out a public safety announcement…when the blue cheese dressing gets moldy, throw it out…it can no longer be considered ‘lunch’. It seemed a great topping to my lunch broccoli at about 2pm. Had I known I would be spending 2 and a half hours in a packed auditorium at CU tonight, I probably would have eaten something a bit more ‘agreeable’. Top it off with mexican food and dark beer for dinner and you’ve got a volcano ready to blow, a race car in the red…in any case, a really uncomfortable situation.

While I was out walking Sadie tonight, I ended up meeting two other guys at the open park in the larger Holiday neighborhood. After chatting it up a bit and letting our dogs run around together, they ended up inviting me out for mexican food and an avalanche safety seminar on the campus of CU. Dinner was great…these guys are incredibly fun and very much into climbing, backcountry skiing, rafting…and all of the other things that I moved out to Colorado to experience. It makes sense that they were heading out to an avalanche course.

The course itself was extremely informative. I figured that you were pretty much at Nature’s mercy with an avalanche. If it is your time to get hit with an avalanche…then it is just your time to get hit with an avalanche. This course was great in talking about the signs to look for…picking the safetest route…and worst case, what to do if you or your buddy gets caught. I think I’m going to take the field avalanche course later this winter as well.

On our way back to the car, we noticed two guys running across campus who seemed a bit more naked than clothed. It was dark where they were running, but I could distinctly make out cheeks where there are normally pockets. A few minutes later I get passed by a completely naked girl running along the sidewalk. For a moment I was a little upset because I realized that the entire night was probably just a dream. Then came more naked folks…. It all started to make sense once I found out that tonight was the annual Naked Mile in Boulder. It is always best to plan this around a large snow storm.

Seeing all the naked people running through campus was great, but by far my favorite part was seeing two incredibly excited, incredibly nerdy guys running back home with a camera full of naked girls. It was amazing how excited they were…they were giggling while jumping up and down practically slapping each other. The last thing I heard before they faded out of range wasy, ‘dude, that chick was hot!’….

This snow has got me all out-of-sorts. You see, I’m from Georgia. It doesn’t snow much in Georgia. In fact, they call it ‘Hot’lanta….its a play on words. When it snows, we all rush to the store and stock up on milk, bread, batteries and toilet paper (aka TP). Then we go home and prepare for the ‘big one’…the storm you’ve only heard about in the Bible.

Well, after the reports on the radio news last night, I rushed out and did my duty as a Georgian. I bought as much milk, bread and TP as I could fit into the Civic. I came home, placed my new emergency supplies within arms reach and prepared for The Storm.

Well, the storm came….in fact it is here right now. There is still a bit of snow falling from the sky. I just looked out the window to see the last bit of snow sliding off my windshield. The roads are totally clear. If I wanted to, I could hop in my car and drive anywhere to buy just about anything.

What the heck am I to do with all this milk and TP? Does anyone know a good recipe that calls for 2 gallons of milk and 12 rolls of toilet paper? Any lactose intolerate folks wanna come over for a giant bowl of milk and a movie? I’m just looking for answers here people….

The now just keeps on falling here in Colorado. Yesterday they were calling for 3 to 8 inches. We’ve got about 6 on the ground in Boulder. Colorado Springs has basically shut down completely. They are describing blizzard-like conditions down there. I’m perfectly happy to be inside my new, warm house with my new Mr. Coffee coffee robot. Drop in some water and grounds…10 minutes later you’ve got a dark-roasted laxative. It is a true union of science and medicine.

Two of the ski resorts are already open here in Coloroado. I’ve got a season pass to one of them. Guess what I I’ll be doing this weekend?

Things are finally starting to normalize here in Boulder. I have my new condo unpacked and mostly organized. I still need to get some things into storage and get some artwork on the walls, but the place is definitely ‘livable’ now. The ultimate test was when Sadie was able to walk around downstairs without looking as if the ceiling were about to cave in on her.

Most of the drive to get the place livable is the fact that my father was coming into town as my first guest in my new place. I flew him out here for his 2nd 30th birthday. He flew into town on Thursday night and flew back to Atlanta yesterday in the early afternoon.

We had a blast while he was here. The weather was a bit questionable on Friday, so we opted to stay out of the mountains until we new what the snow was going to do. Instead, we drove up Highway 25 about an hour north to Ft. Collins. Ft. Collins was just rated as the number one small town in America by Money magazine. It is basically an agricultural and university town…somewhat similar to Harrisonburg, VA. The main difference with Ft. Collins is that is has the most breweries per capita than any other town in America. It was just screaming out for a Friday Brewery Tour.

So, Thursday night I investigated all of the breweries online and decided on Odell, New Belgium, and of course, Budweiser. Odell was a good one to start with because they handcraft the entire brewing process. There are hoses from this-a-thingy to that-a-thingy all over the place. The ‘how beer is made’ educational aspect of this tour was very enlightening. It also made me thirsty. We finished up Odell with a sampler tray of each of their beers.

The second stop on the tour was New Belgium. I had heard about New Belgium through their very famous Fat Tire Amber Ale. This beer appealed to us on our 1998 cross-country bicycle tour. If any beer could serve as a mascot for our journey, there was none more qualified than Fat Tire. So, for years I have admired the label and the beer itself, but it wasn’t until this tour that I realized what a phenomenal company they are as well. They are completely commited to being a responsible, sustainable corporate citizen. Back in 1998, the employee-owned company unanimously voted to give up their annual cash bonuses in order to invest in 100% wind-power. Then, when they realized what a burden they were to the water treatment facilities in Ft. Collins, they built their own water treatment plant, where they now recapture methane for 15 - 20% of their power. Also, on any employees 5 year anniversary with the company, they take a beer tour of Belgium with the founder of the company. The only requirement on the trip is that you have fun. It makes sense that they average 250 applications for every available job.

Full set of pics from Brewery Tour here… 

The rest of the trip was great too. On Saturday evening, we went to Mile High stadium to watch the Colorado Rapids take on FC Dallas in the first round of the MLS playoffs. Then on Sunday morning, we drove up to Brainard Lake and went snowshoeing. Neither of us had ever snowshoed, so it was alot of fun to figure out how to walk in those arctic clown shoes together.

Full set of pics from snowshoeing here… 

Finally on Monday, it was time to return to Hotlanta. I certainly can’t wait for the next visit when we can hopefully do some downhill skiing.

I love mornings after a snowfall!

The weather has certainly changed here in Boulder.  Yesterday I was in shorts and a t-shirt with the fans on.  Today we got snow.  What is up with that?

I turned on the radio this morning and heard mention of snow tonight.  About three minutes later, I looked outside to see flurries.  Five more minutes and we had a fairly healthy snow fall.  An hour later, the sky was dumping snow as quick as it could.  Meanwhile, I was nestled warmly at my desk, enjoying the view….

The move in is going well. I have been working nonstop since Thursday to get the place setup. I’m probably about 80% complete. I’m pretty sure that everything is now out of its box. Unpacking the boxes was a choir, but the bigger pain is folding all of the packing paper and breaking down the boxes. I also have very little storage here (2.5 closets), so trying to find places for everything has also been tough. After a trip to Lowe’s and Target, I was able to get some shelving assembled.

As I had to start work again today, the most important room to setup yesterday was the office. I was able to build a really nice L-shaped desk out of two doors. They offer much more room that I had with my other desk and the holes from the door knob offer a great place to gather and run the cords.

There is still alot of work to do before my father shows up on Thursday. I ordered replacement couch cushions today, so hopefully I’ll have those as well by Thursday. I definitely can’t wait to get everything in place and start relaxing and having guests.

Here are some pics of the main floor on Friday night. It was like a bomb went off full of books, dishes and packing paper. Peace keeping troops are currently on the ground trying to rebuild the infrastructure and get all of the dishes put away…

The are is looking a little better as of this morning…

Things are shaping up better in the loft (office.) Here are some pics of the office this morning. The ‘outside shot’ is the view of the Flatiron Mountains from my office…you gotta love the view!

I am completely out of Denver now. Bryan and I drove his truck down to Denver this afternoon to haul up the remainder of my belongings and clean the place. As always, it took about four times as long as I thought it would, but it is really great to be completely out of there. It will be even better when I get my place in Boulder set up. I have made a ton of progress though. I’ve been working pretty much nonstop since Thursday. I finally purchased and setup shelving in my new place, so I can start to get alot of junk out of the way.

Tonight I was able to take a break from unpacking. Bryan and Dale (the couple who sold me my house) had a house warming party at their new place (about 50 yards from my place). I got to meet alot of folks that I had not yet met and hung out with some folks who I had only met briefly. I must say that I genuinely had a great time. I love the idea of the community that I’ve moved into, but I was wondering if I was going to mesh with my neighbors. Tonight I realized that most of the folks living here are very similar to me, so I think we’re going to get along royally.

Well, I am totally exhausted, so I’m going to grab a little shuteye and rest for another allday unpacking event.

It has been a long day of moving and I am incredibly tired. I just took a shower for the first time in my new place and am feeling much better. I started sweating at 5:30am this morning while loading up the car in Denver and pretty much continued througout the day. I wasn’t able to find the shower curtain before my shower, so the bathroom got a free cleaning.

I definitely miss the days of just having the solo fuzzy, green chair. All of this stuff really is an energy drain. I’ve been feeling a bit in a funk tonight while unpacking, but the thought of getting this stuff either put away or donated makes me fell alot better. I worked for about 4 hours tonight on unpacking and feel like I’ve barely made a dent. There is a stack of empty boxes and folded packing paper that tell a different story, but all I know is right now I can barely maneuver around my new place. I look forward to getting more stuff packed away tomorrow so that I can get around my condo without having to scale boxes.

So, all in all the move went very smoothly. As I unpack the boxes, I’m sure I’ll discover some stuff missing or damaged, but I think it comes with the territory. One thing I have already discovered missing is half of my couch cushions. I was so looking forward to getting my living room setup so I could at least relax and watch a movie, but I’m missing two top cushions and two bottom cushions. I’m hoping I can order replacement cushions from JC Penny. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Well, enjoy some of the pics of today’s move….I’m going to bed…