The Royal Gorge

As some of you know, we are currently on vacation in southern Colorado. Here is a spectacular video from our travels.

May Day

Since people seem to be giving May Day reports, here is one from the Hamvases:

MAY DAY WAS CANCELLED.

Yes, that dreaded Swine Flu that has maimed, killed, and left millions homeless across the US has struck Colorado as well. We had many concerned friends come yesterday bringing cookies, flowers, and get-well-wishes, but we were unable to open our doors to accept them, let alone leave our home to take anything to the other poor souls affected by the rampant disease. Please keep us in your prayers.

By the way, we're feeling much better today.

My license is a professional portrait compared to these...

What to do...

What to do when you have two big empty shelves in your room:

Step 1. Be crazy.
Step 2. Waste money.
Step 3. Not mind dissolving your teeth.
Step 4. DRINK! (Energy drinks, that is.)

Result:

The less-impressive pop-shelf:

Old Stuff

I forgot to post this back when it actually happened, but it's dumb enough that it's still blog-worthy.

Back in September, we took a trip to KANSAS for a family reunion!
We saw some exciting things, like this Wendy's sign!

That isn't what this post is about though.
We took two vehicles: my parents and Joe in one, Dave, Krista, Steve, and I in another. Dave drove the whole way, after already being awake for 36 hours or so for work. It's amazing we made it there alive.

That still isn't what this post is about though.
Because we took two vehicles, Steve and I were able to go back home early since we had school. YAHOO! No more sleepless nights in the infamous Pink Bedroom!


So, what is this post about?
It's about what Steve and I did while home alone.

First, we had some food.

Turns out, you're supposed to add stuff to mashed potato flakes. Huh...


Apparently plain cinnamon isn't so good either, so we decided to do some serious gourmet cooking.


While we were waiting for the meal to heat up, we played some indoor tennis.


Then we made dessert!


I still can't figure out why our parents were so worried...

Trail Ridge Road

Last Saturday we drove up to Estes Park and Trail Ridge Road (the part that was still open, anyway). No, this isn't the road.

A huge herd of Elksen were out; this is probably a 1/4 of them. (And yes, they are elksen. It's a special breed of elk that only I can identify.)

There were some great views.

But... we quickly got tired of the scenery and built a snowman.

Let that be a lesson to you to always keep vegetable trays in your cars. You never know when you're going to need tomato snowman eyeballs.

From there, it only got crazier.
I'll spare you from the rest.

And I thought I was lazy...

What is it?

Why, it's the Robomow RL500!

Our neighbor, Bob (aka Helmetman), doesn't like to do yard work, so he lets this contraption mow his lawn for him. Usually he lets it loose in the middle of the night, so we don't often see it in action. Today was an exception, though, and I managed to record it right before it finished.

Click here to get yours today!
(The RL500 has been discontinued. You'll have to get the RL850.)

Picture-o-the-Day

The Denver Brass

One of my birthday presents was tickets to the Denver Brass's "History of the Brass World: Part 1."

I guess it was a spoof on a Mel Brooks movie called "History of the World: Part 1" (to which there never was a "Part 2"). Although I've never seen the movie, the concert was quite funny.

Some of the things they played were:

- Also Sprach Zarathustra (the music on the video clip of my room filled with balloons (and 2001: A Space Odyssey))

- Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

- Toccata from L'Orfeo by Monteverdi

- The Ride of the Valkyries (The "Kill the wabbit" song)

- The Liberty Bell by Sousa (Like "Stars and Stripes Forever" but better because it's not played as often... :-)

- Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man

- Star Trek's Theme :-P

- Lots more (It was a fairly long concert.)

They actually wore costumes like in the picture (and more...), and for a few parts, they even got up and played around the audience.

The point of this post --- Brass players are weird. Almost as weird as cello players.

But...if you have the chance to go to a Denver Brass concert -- go! (Unless you don't like fun, LOUD concerts with food during the intermission. :-D)

The Poll

So far we only have 3 homicidal maniacs...I'm quite surprised.

8 of you would just go to a different store? I sure hope you all are joking...

I mean, if you make a big enough deal about the hamburger being out of stock, you get a chance to ride in a fast car with shiny flashing lights! Why would you pass up an opportunity like that?

People today...sheesh.

Oooh, a picture to go with the last post.

This is the kind of thing you come across when you organize the Hamvas's digital camera photos.

Don't even think about saving it.