it snowed.

yep, that's right. it snowed. in Denver. in October. like 400 inches or something. it was ridiculous. i had to borrow Kayla's window scraper. i think i'll have to invest in one. i used to get by with an empy cassette case, but Denver don't mess around.

but it melted the next day. so don't worry - i'm not stranded. didn't even have to go to the grocery store to buy milk and bread and water and vienna sausages. and look - i made it!

Balloons!

Here is my photo essay of the 2006 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, which Kayla, Holly, and I drove down from Denver to enjoy. The weather nearly ruined the whole balloon part of the Balloon Fiesta for us, but forturnately on Saturday we got a window of clear weather, so about half of the balloons took to the skies. Enough talking already - let's look at pictures. The ringleader: the tricentennial balloon. Apparently Albuquerque is 300 years old. Happy Birthday, ABQ.

Kayla is really happy that Albuquerque is 300 years old and that thousands of strange people that have a fondness for large hats and call themselves "balloonists" have decided to come to Albuquerque to celebrate.

Some people volunteer at the fiesta and help govern the timing of rising balloons, thus preventing unneccessary accidents. This is one of those volunteers. Balloonists refer to guys like this one as a "referee." In other circles he is more commonly known as a "sexual predator."

Fire!

 

More Balloons!

These are the spinning light-up portable fans that we got in our search for free stuff at the Fiesta. The lights change patterns and colors every 2 seconds or so, which at 5 a.m. can be pretty hallucinogenic. I was amazed by them, and decided to share in my amazement with the guy at the Qwest tent. I said, "These are crazy! Where do you think they came up with such technology?" He replied, "China." Funny guy.

There were lots of balloons. Yes, that's a balloon shaped like a can of wet Alpo dogfood.

Holly and Kayla either a) pretending to be that turtle in the background, b) under the hallucinogenic effects of the spinny light-up fans (unpictured), or c) providing evidence for jurors in future trials when they plea for lesser sentence due to insanity.

Fact: The balloon fiesta is the most photographed event in the world.Fiction: This lady is extremely happy to be having her picture taken by both her daughter and by me. (A click on the picture will provide full zoom effect of the "E.T. phone home!" desperation in her eyes.)

settling in to a new routine

finally, something resembling a normal schedule. true, i have 3 jobs, but i'm only putting down about 45 hours a week and i have every weekend off now. last weekend we had a little shindig at kayla and holly's new place on friday night - about 30 of their friends came over for the housewarming celebration. it quickly devolved from a conversational get-together into a throw-the-nerf-football-through-the-two-waving-hoola-hoops-to-a-guy-diving-on-the-couch.
this followed by a four-man fruit juggling demonstration, with nic and i being the brains behind the idea, as well as the far best fruit jugglers in town. nevermind the splattered peaches and tomatoes and apples on the walls and floor...we were amazing. however, our prowess faltered in the Colorado vs. Arkansas Egg Toss Competition unfortunately, with the crack of the egg smashing into the pavement being surpassed in loudness only by the simultaneous blow to our egos in the loss. foolish pride...

nothing like the Rockies to help you recover from such a hard loss. we spent saturday and part of sunday camping up near Nederland, CO, just west of Boulder. snow on the ground, chill in the air, trees looking like a very large Jackson Pollock took a big bucket of gold paint and splotched it all over the mountains...hard to beat. the only thing from my weekend that might make me more excited than a great camping trip? oh yeah, i rented my skis this weekend, my very first season rental and validation that no longer (at least not this year) can i be categorized as a "vacation skier". no thank you, you can file Rick White under "ski bum" now.

cheers. (that's how everbody says "thanks" or "bye" or whatever around here. "cheers"...like they're british or something. strange.)