The First Snow Day I’ve Had in Years…

You see, it all started this morning with me gliding through a 4-way intersection on a sheet of ice (my light was red, of course)…and now, instead of being at work, I’m relaxing at home and the sun is out!

Maybe it was all a dream…?

Merry Christmas!

From Buffalo (where there is, surprisingly, very little snow!)…

Peace and joy!

Having fun yet?

I can’t believe it’s December already, which means that next time I poke my head up it’ll be 2008

I walked in the December holiday parade this past weekend! It was SO much fun and lots of people in the community came out to show their support and have a good time. To make it even more exciting, my group marched behind a local Chinese drum group that showed off amazing drumming skills and a HUGE, colorful 20′ long paper dragon! SaaaWEET!

The temp outside actually got up to 65 degrees today! The sky was beautiful at sunset.

Catching Up

Hi folks, sorry for the extended absence. I’ve been feeling more introspective than usual lately, which means a lot of fast and furious scribbling in my written journal but not much on the blog. I also managed to catch a yucky cold last week, and that has slowed down the mental progress a wee bit While I go sip on some homemade chicken soup, here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on:

• During a visit to my advisor’s office a few weeks ago, we concluded that I can graduate in December!!! Woo hoo! I’m really excited and much of my attention has been absorbed with what comes next. My future prospects seem limitless, as deciding on what to do is both liberating and daunting. Being about the business of a having a career that has meaning and purpose is important to me. This begs the question, what exactly do I want? And how do I fit that into a reasonable goal? All circumstances point towards being absolutely clear on the answer and not being afraid of going after it. I predict more entries on this subject will follow.
• In my last entry I wrote about big plans for volunteering at the local hospital, but so far nothing has happened on that front. I had an interview last week Friday with the volunteer coordinator, but wrote it into my calendar as happening THIS Friday (doh!). I didn’t realize the discrepency until last Friday when I was in an airplane cruising at about 35,000+ feet above and a couple thousand miles east of Denver. Oops. Fortunately for me, the coordinator was very understanding and has re-scheduled my interview for two weeks hence. Whew.
• I’ve broken down and decided to purchase a car. I’ve been in Colorado for a little over 4 years without one, but the time has come. My schedule is so tight nowadays that the additional 4 or 5 hours I’ll save by driving to work/school a few days a week instead of riding the bus will be wonderful. This means more time at the gym, playing the cello or doing whatever else makes me happy and sane Ahhhh, sigh of soothing relief.
• A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Stiles African-American Heritage Center in the Four Points area of Denver. It was an amazing visit, and I am eager to return and foster a closer relationship with its founder, Ms. Grace Stiles, and her community. I also made a quick tour of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library just 2 blocks away and was blown away by the rich history of the Four Points area. I regret that I’ve lived in the area for so long and have not connected with the community–and now, I’m preparing to leave it! I have the wild idea of interviewing several members of the Four Points business community and making a documentary as a testament to their acheivements and as a record of my experience there.
• Another tip of the hat goes to Denver for a wonderful spot in town called the Mercury Cafe (thanks Micah!). The decor, wine and food were awesome! I highly recommend the place to anyone who is looking for an eclectic, subdued dining atmosphere.
• Due to popular demand…well, okay, just one person’s comments (smile)…I’m working on adding a book review page to this blog. I’ve had the pleasure of reading several really good books lately, many as selections from a couple of book clubs I belong to. Stay tuned for that.

That’s it for now. I’m so happy to see the sun shining bright in Colorado again, so I’m gonna go out to get some fresh air. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

An Imagined Winter

Or maybe not so imagined…

Our most recent snow drifts have inspired me to look deeper into some terrain rendering software I stumbled across while surfing the web one day. It’s called Terragen and it’s pretty neat what one can do with it. Here is an image I rendered after playing with the software for an hour or so (click on the image to see it in finer detail):

A few other images I’ve made can be viewed here.

2007

The new year has begun! December ended with several laughs, hugs and smiles, and I was in the company of dear friends. After the second storm that hit Colorado, travel back home from the east coast was fairly trouble-free, except that none of the shuttles were running from the airport out to where I live. That was problematic, to say the least, and had only a few very costly solutions.

Alas, I made it home and felt at peace when I saw my front door.

Happy New Year to everyone!

More Snow in Colorado?

The weirdness:

Inches of snow in Boulder, CO: lots

Inches of snow in Buffalo, NY: zero

I just received an email from the airline carrier I booked my return flight with, it says if the current storm continues through the weekend my flight will be re-booked! No! After waiting for a taxi for FOUR hours very late on Sunday night, finally giving up and hitching a ride part of the way out to DIA, and being re-booked THREE times after I got there so I couldn’t fly out until late on Monday, I just can’t make it through another airport fiasco.

List #2

Things I have to do while I’m in Buffalo:

1. Go to the Lexington Co-op and buy Earl Grey and Green teas
2. Have cup of delicious coffee and slice of yummy dessert at Spot Coffee
3. Go to Amy’s Place and have “the usual” (ham, broccoli and cheddar cheese omelette, with english muffin, home fried potatoes, sweet tea and strawberry jam)
4. Find old bass classical string method lesson book
5. Find out whatever happened to last year’s Christmas and Kwanzaa gifts that were supposed to get boxed up and mailed to Colorado; box them up and mail to Colorado
6. Dig out old Organic Chemistry (Orgo) molecular modeling kit (in attic???)
7. Dig out old Orgo text book (refer to number 6)
8. Consider likelihood that numbers 4-7 are all in the attic
9. Add numbers 4, 6 and 7 to box in number 5
10. Find out if rumors that Niagara Cafe has closed are false (keep fingers crossed)
11. Visit with old professor/PI from Biochemistry department at UB
12. Visit Albright-Knox Art Gallery
13. Finalize a few wedding plans with Nic
14. Have dinner with family and friends at Happy Jack’s in Erie, ON (don’t forget to buy extra bag of fortune cookies)
15. Sleep