April Flowers...

Great things happening lately. Conan is well, the job is still here, and my social life has really taken off. Lots of nice hikes, and times at the dog park. Life is good.

Corgis in the Springtime!

I apologize to those of you who like to view my exotic Antarctic adventures, and are bored by my current, rather pedestrian life. I'll continue to post pictures of Conan and other friends, and continue this blog as a way to catalog my life, though it may not contain helicopter rides to exotic mountaintops at the moment.

One of the highlights of my suburban life now is the twice-monthly get-together of the Littleton Corgi Meet-Up. It's such a hoot to see dozens of corgis (32 was my highest count) frolicking around and barking at each other. Conan does seem a little reserved compared to his stubby friends-- he likes the corgi energy, but can only stand so much butt sniffing. He's a people guy, and his dad is learning to be more of a people guy himself. The dog park has started to get much more interesting...

Spring Hiking!

We've had really strange weather lately. Luckily, the weekends have been nice. Went hiking last weekend with a friend from work, and a couple of her friends. We did a six-mile loop around Castlewood Canyon State Park, near Franktown (southeast of Denver). Conan was a trooper-- he would've been ready for another six. The mountains had a fresh dusting of snow, and the plants are just now starting to poke their little green heads out of the dry early-spring ground. We've gotten a light dusting of snow the last couple nights, so it's giving the undergrowth some nice moisture. Hoping for some more nice weather this coming weekend-- I'm looking forward to being more active, and getting rid of some of my winter pudgy layer.

Baby's Got New Shoes!

I've received my income tax refunds now, so I allowed myself a treat. New wheels and tires for the Jetta. The old ones were heavy, ugly, and didn't handle well. They do pretty well in snow, so I'll run them in the winter. The new ones are a lot wider and sexier, so I'll run them in the summer. I know, it's pretty lame to go from globetrotting adventures to getting excited about new tires, but that's just how it is. Life in Denver is going well-- I've been meeting people, and expanding my social life. I had a horrible case of the crud over the holidays, where I actually broke something loose in my ribs, which took two months to heal up. Because of that, I haven't even gotten to go skiing yet this year, and it's already March. Going hiking with a friend this weekend-- should be nice.

Snowy Dog Park

The winter has been very warm and dry here in Denver, for the most part. Just when when Conan and I had gotten used to running around the local dog park in a t-shirt (me, not him...), things got nasty. Several winter storms in a row, with lots of snow and sub-zero temperatures. We never let a little weather get us down, though. One of Conan's very favorite things is to running around in fresh snow!

New Toy, Cont'd

Had a great time working on the odd little car over the weekend, with freaky warm weather. Almost February, and I was with Conan at the dog park in jeans and a t-shirt, wishing for shorts! Spent some real zen time taking the new little car apart and moving toward getting it running. Gunther and Jimmy watched from the dining room window, and Conan was tied to the porch during the great weather. The weather took a wicked turn, and it's crazy cold and snowy now. My usual 25-minute commute was over an hour coming home on icy roads today.  We've had a very summer-like winter so far, so I'm not complaining.
The little car is an interesting story. The seller is involved in software testing, like me. He drives a Jetta, like me. I used AAA to tow the car over to my house (five blocks, free). The tow truck driver noted that the little green car has a 'Ceasar's Auto' decal. He said that was the first dealer where he ever worked as a mechanic. Now defunct, it was about seven blocks from my house. It also came out that he drives the same kind of daily driver as mine-- a VW turbo diesel Jetta. That's a pretty exclusive, tight-knit group of car geeks, for the most part. He gave me a couple of tips about my car, and I told him about the work I had been doing to mine.

The paint job on the little car is a bit odd. It's dark metallic green, with a white faded front end, with pretty intricate, multi-toned gold maple leaves all over it. I wouldn't have paid good money to have that put on, but it's a pro job. The interior is in almost factory-new shape. Not sure how that happened, sitting in the hot sun for seven years and all.

New Toy

I've been getting back into an old mode of appreciating and modifying cars lately. With all my travel to the Antarctic, and other places around the world, my life-long interest in cars has been offline for a while. With a really fast motorcycle, the cars went even farther into the background. With Conan constantly with me, the bike has gotten pretty much zero time.

Now that I've gotten a cubicle job, and haven't had much use for the bike, I've gotten the car bug again. I've put as much money into my VW TDI as I plan to for a while, so I've got some extra energy for projects.

There is a great dog park about four blocks from my house, that Conan and I frequent practically every day. There was this little old Honda CRX parked in a yard just outside the dog park. I spied it from our dog park outings, and wondered if it might be a fun car to fix up. This is a high school kid's dream car, so I figured that they were hanging onto it. I couldn't imagine that they were open to selling it, and it still was there. I stopped by just after dark one day, and let them know that I was possibly interested.

Long story short, I picked up the car for $300! It hasn't run since '04, but it looks good. I've been spending the last couple of days working on the (seized) brakes, and scraping the nasty amateur tinting from the windows. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this car, but I love it to death. I've always wanted one of these. So far, I have less than $320 invested in it, and I'm guessing I could sell it for parts for $500, or running for as much as $1500. More to come!