Colorado to Maine via NYC

Here I sit in the great state of Maine.

After my 12:56 AM departure from Denver was delayed...it was delayed again. I finally got in the air at about 2:30 AM, and slept almost the whole way to NYC. Upon landing in NYC I checked my watch; 7:55 AM; my flight departure to Portland from NYC was 7:59 AM...hmmmm. Out of the plane I ran only to be greeted by a closed gate and a plane on the tarmac. Damnit, I thought to myself, I headed to the counter to see if they could sneak me on. "Oh we have not boarded yet" said the woman, "delayed due to snow." Yes...no!

After another fairly short delay and a de-icing, we took off in the blinding snow and touched down smoothly here in ME.

Hearts on Fire

Yep...happened! After 3 years I finally decided to put a few rocks on the girl's finger, and I ain't talkin' granite. I had been casually looking at rings for a little while, but after researching and seeing the ring pictured above I finally buckled down and shopped, and decided to pull the trigger about a week ago. It is truly gorgeous, she loves it, and I am practically a certified gemologist. I know more about the 4 C's than I ever thought I would...

Although I was fairly set on a Hearts on Fire diamond, they are only carried by 7 jewelers in the entire state of Colorado, so I decided to at least browse some other options. I made a trip to Shane Company. After all, Tom Shane's radio commercials are awesome, who doesn't want a friend in the diamond business? Let the story begin.

Upon walking into Shane Co. I was greeted by an indoor water fountain and hotel lobby-esc type setting. Is this a Marriott? CasaBonita? Some type of spa? Hmmmmm. Nope, jewelery store. The girl attempting to help me was nice, I would come to call her my Not So Helpful Helper, but I could have given her a 30 minute lecture on sales and service. As I browsed their rings and diamonds, many of which appeared very nice (and I know via the radio that Shane hand selects his diamonds from the dealers in Thailand...), I was accompanied to my left by a man wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and a guy to my right in some type of baggy sweatsuit. Where the hell am I, I thought to myself. Is this a rodeo or am I at 24 hour fitness?

After about 5 minutes or so, out of nowhere the cowboy was replaced by a large and in charge newly engaged lady. I felt like I was at a black jack table in Vegas; we are all staring at one case full of loot and new players were constantly coming and going. The girl pulled out her engagement ring and excitingly proclaimed to my NSHH that she just got engaged the night before. Congratulations my NSHH said. Then the girl pulled out her ring and said "but the diamond fell out today." The ring this girl was toting rivaled that of a Super Bowl ring in terms of size, with the cheese and gaudiness factor of a vending machine pendant. Hmmmmmm, this does not seem like a good sign I thought to my self. I decided to browse a bit more. Upon turning around there were more players at the table; a kid with a mohawk and dyed hair and a guy in a Harley Shirt. Alright I thought to myself...I'm out.

Somewhat laughing as I drove away from my NSHH and my potential friend in the diamond business, I steered my Subaru back toward my safe haven, my jeweler in Boulder.

I ended up purchasing the ring I had wanted from stage 1, the Hearts on Fire Bridal Three Leaf. I had the diamond I wanted over-nighted from Boston, and was able to get it set in time to propose before Katie went home to see all of her friends and family for the holidays!

The Old Girl Needs a Tune Up

Quickly and surely this blur of a week is coming to an apex called Christmas. In the midst, I decided to add some pressure to the holiday season by getting some work done on my car. I like to think I can fix a lot of things on my car as well as Katie's, but in actuality, a car does not operate like a bike...thus I do not know how to fix it. However, there is a good feeling about getting dirty and working on a car. My philosophy is attempt to fix it to the point where it is entirely broken and needs to be replaced, then you don't feel like a failure, it was simply a shotty piece or part to begin with.

Even after 3 years I still think Katie believes I know a decent amount about cars, and I am striving to keep it that way, it makes me feel manly. I do things like change the oil, replace bulbs, fill windshield washer fluid, put new wiper blades on, and install CD players, but when it comes to repairs that actually matter...I have no idea what I am doing. I always tell her I can't do it because we don't have a garage (that's setting myself up for failure once we get a house.) So why does she think I know a fair amount about cars? I use generalizations when talking cars, it puts me in a position to feel manly. Here are some of the ones that have earned me the status of mechanic, guys, feel free to use them with your ladies:

• My Mechanic Talk: "You need some radiator work done baby, let me put on my Carhartts and I will take care of it for you."
  
• Translation: "I am going to top off your coolant."

• My Mechanic Talk: "Something does not feel right with the handling and steering of your car baby, let me put on my Carhartts and I will take care of it for you."
• Translation: "I am going to put air in your tires."

• My Mechanic Talk: "Damn German cars are so hard to find parts for, no one sells what you need, I could not even find it on the internet."
• Translation: "I do not know how to the repair, better take it to the shop."
  

After using my first line the other day about coolant with her VW, I decided to pop the hood on the old grocery getter and check the coolant level there as well.

I peered at the coolant reservoir, damn that thing must be dirty I said to myself, I can't see the line. Can't see the line can you Russ? I wiped it off with my bare hands and rubbed the dirt on my Carhartts, once again, manly. I bounced the car a little bit to move the liquid...nothing. I popped it open and peered inside. Zilch, nada, nothing, the reservoir was bone dry. Hmmmm. I hopped online to troubleshoot it. According to the web, I might have a leak in my radiator. It wanted to know if I hit anything or drove over anything recently. Scanning brain.......ohhhh, I did get stuck after driving over those three boulders in Indian Peak Wilderness...bingo.

Fearing my car would overheat or more likely freeze, I scheduled the appointment, and as of 5:00PM today I should have a new windshield and a well functioning radiator!

If you are into this sort of thing...this will make you laugh

Hey Crew,

I found this random drawing on the world wide web, I figured some of you will probably find it funny, others might not know what it means...

What can Brown do for you? For me they can take 3 weeks to get my package to my door...

Ok, so call me crazy, but this ghetto-duck-taped note has been on my door for 4 days now, are UPS and FedEx moving at a slower pace these days? I think back to the good old days of 2008 when packages arrived the second you clicked the "Submit My Order Button" button. Now it seems like Christmas has to sit on a brown truck or white boxcar with a hidden arrow embedded in the name for weeks before it arrives. What's the deal?

Who can move packages quickly these days? Obviously the Postal Service is a bust, it is somewhere in the neighborhood of $46.95 to send a letter these days, UPS and FedEx might as well move their packages by foot, is DHL the answer? Surely these parcel services have seen an increase in sales over the past few years with the dawning of Al Gores internet, but can't they compensate for this with more employees and resources? I just don't get it.

All in all I believe there is only one solution; Google. Not to toot the Google horn, but they do everything right. Gmail, Google, Picasa, Firefox, Blogger, YouTube...the list goes on! If Google starts a company, their slogan could be "Go-ogle" and their trucks could have new graphics painted on them each morning. Lastly, they could probably find a way to move packages for free and pay for the services with advertising...go ogle.

The Tada Stuffed Animal Challenge: Day 1

Yesterday, Katie's school had a staff Christmas party at Dave and Buster, and after about 86 rounds of basketball and skee-ball, mixed with a few tries at that game where you drop the quarters in and see if you can knock some of the other quarters over the ledge with that little sliding-thing-a-ma-bob, we won enough tickets to get Tada some new stuffed animals. Rather than give them to her one by one, or as they wear out, I went with my fatherly instinct and gave them all to her at once. Which one will last the longest? I have dubbed this the Tada Challenge.

Ned from Washington writes "I am going to put my money on the dragon." (Ned, I know you don't have any money)

Becky from NYC says "My money is on the cow...that thing looks pretty meaty" (Meaty? It's a cow not a puma)

Katie from the chair next to me states "The bunny, that is a well made bunny" (I don't think there is such a thing as a well made stuffed animal)

As for my own opinion, I am going to go with the dragon, and if for some reason the dragon is about to loose, I will take it from her until she rips the other ones apart just so I can win the Tada challenge.

Another Go At Blogging

Alright, here's the deal. I know I have tried this whole blogging thing in the past and neglected it after a few weeks...or posts... but I am in it for real this time. I went to the locally-owned pet store today to grab a bag of dog food and cash in on a 20% off coupon I had before it expired, and was greeted by about 30 people and their K9's waiting in line for dog massages. Only in Boulder I thought to myself. Whether it be the person roller skating with streamers down the bike path or the person wearing knee high mountaineering boots to the all organic grocery store...someone needs to blog about it.