I know I said I was going to take the summer off, but ….
A friend told me I can’t stop writing my blog. And yesterday, for some reason, I got the urge to write some of what I’ve been doing. So, no one, besides the friend who told me I can’t stop writing (you know who you are!) has to read it, but I’m going to write it anyways.
My Boulder experience hasn’t turned out to be too different from what I expected. I probably haven’t gone out to as many restaurants as I expected, but I’ve been able to listen to a fair amount of live music (Lyle Lovett, the Neville Brothers, the Colorado Symphony, Bob Dylan, free concerts, and more to come) and I’ve checked out a fair number of restaurants and bars/pubs. I’ve had a few visitors, which has been fun. I’m happy with the great selection of organic and natural food stores despite the fact that there is no Trader Joe’s. I have managed to get TJ’s care packages from 2 of my visitors, though! I’ve taken a number of miscellaneous classes and met some interesting people. I have some great neighbors, actually they live in my house. Mike, a pilot for United, lives above me. He is single, though he had a friend, Gwen, living with him for a few weeks while she found her own place. She just moved out from Chicago and also works for United. I have been doing a lot with them including hiking, biking and just hanging out. They’ve been great to have around. Doss and Susan live upstairs, but they use the garage as their factory. They make and sell hemp ice cream. It’s really not that bad, though I’ve only tried the cookie ice cream sandwiches. They sell them at various places including Red Rocks Amphitheater, a great place to see a concert. It’s an outdoor amphitheater built among these natural red rock (of course) formations. The other night Mike and I volunteered to help them so we could see Bob Dylan for free. They originally thought they were going to be shorthanded, but it turned out they didn’t need much help. We stayed for about 45 minutes of Dylan, but he turned out to be a bit disappointing. At least when he dies, we both can say that we have seen him. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to wear the hemp hats and walk through the crowd. Maybe next time. Speaking of concerts, this area has a TON in the summer. I’m in heaven. I saw Lyle Lovett with k.d. lang at Red Rocks last week. I became a big Lyle fan when I was in Austin. I just love his quirky style and something about his voice…. I usually say that about female singers. He’s the only male singer that I feel that way about. He put on a great show. Then I went to the historic Chautauqua Auditorium right here in Boulder and saw the Neville Brothers. It was hotter than hell in there, but they’re from New Orleans so it wasn’t humid enough for them, but they still managed to bring down the house. I have tickets to a few more shows (I’m killing my budget while I’m here), so I’m pretty excited music-wise.
I’ve met a decent number of people here, but besides Mike and Gwen I don’t feel like I’ve made any friends that I’ll keep in touch with. But there’s still time, so who knows. I found a website called meetup.com which sponsors groups for anything from hiking groups to singles groups to single mothers with 3 or more children. I stay away from the latter. Anyways, I’ve found a couple of good hiking groups that I’ve done outings with and also a climbing group. I’ve been wanting to do more climbing, but unfortunately I’ve only been once. Part of that has been the lack of confidence I have in my back. I found, through my friend Bonnie Gibbons, a new chiropractor here that I really like. He has a slightly different focus than most other chiropractors I’ve been to, and he also doesn’t have you come in 3 times a week for umpteen weeks. He’s given me a number or exercises to do and they seem to be helping so far. I think it’s a good start, at least. How far it goes is up to me.
I’ve also been doing some volunteer work for an organization called Engineers without Borders. One of my favorite organizations has always been Doctors without Borders. Since I’m not a doctor, or even in a medical field, I found the next best thing. Actually, though, there’s not much I can do for them in the way of field work. They mostly need civil, mechanical or traditional electrical engineers. They do engineering projects in developing countries and work with the locals to get them involved. I found out their main office is in Longmont, which is less than a ½ hours from me, so I asked them if they need any work done in the office. So far I’ve done a little work for them, and hopefully they’ll be more during the rest of the summer. The office is nearly all women, except for one of the summer interns, and now me. So, as you can imagine, they ask me to do all the computer-related stuff that noone else wants to touch. It’s a rough job, but someone’s got to do it. I’m just doing my part!
One of the things I’ve been doing a lot of here is getting good exercise. Besides hiking and walking Abbey every day, I’ve been going to yoga class. I’ve been trying to go twice a week and have hopes of bumping that up to 3 times. I first signed up for a 10 week class at the rec center. It’s a good class, but I’m the only guy (not so unusual for yoga) and I’m the only one under 50. If it weren’t for one woman, I’d be the only one under 60! I should’ve known signing up for a weekday class that starts at 9:15AM. I also go to another place that has a better mix of students, at least as far as age is concerned, and I’m not the only guy that goes. Luckily, there’s only one other guy. Wouldn’t want to make the ratio too even. So, between the chiro, hiking and yoga, I’m hoping my back and the rest of my body is in pretty good shape by the end of the summer. It is feeling better for the most part, but it still needs more work.
Well, that’s about all for now. Here are some hiking pictures. One of these days I want to get out and take pictures of Boulder and it’s crazy inhabitants. I’ve got to get a picture of the Hippo House. It’s right in my neighborhood. The crazy inhabitants are what gives Boulder it’s charm in my view. Yes, it has grown a lot, but it is still a fairly unique place once you look past all the touristy and gentrified places. It reminds me a bit of Austin, though on a smaller, and much more compact scale. In Austin you’ll see people wearing “Keep Austin Weird” shirts, or their cars sporting bumper stickers of the same ilk. In Boulder, you won’t see that (though you’ll see a million other bumper stickers), but I think it’s because they don’t need it. Despite the influx of yuppies and chi-chi stores, and, gasp, a mall, I think Boulder will always have its weird side. That’s what makes it interesting to me. I mostly sit on the outside and look in, but it’s usually with a smile on my face.
