Aileen & Brian's Wedding

Well last weekend was an awesome journey up to the intermountain west to attend the wedding of Aileen Simborio, one of Angel's long time friends from college. She became married to Brian Van Pelt on Saturday, September 2nd in Boise, ID where they both work at TV news stations.

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Here is a snapfish album with our picutres:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=3391157808565531/l=127541965/g=7741791/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

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You'll notice that there aren't really any pictures of the wedding or reception for that matter. This would be my fault as I ran out camera battery and memory :< However we did have a great time doing everything from a pretty mean karaoke session to whitewater rafting. I think it is safe to say that everyone was pleasantly surprised by what the gem state (Idaho) had to offer.

Sweet, I'm Famous

I recently sent an email to Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, the hosts of the Internet talk radio show: .NET Rocks. Not only did they send me a mug, but they read my email on the air. If you want to check it out, listen about 7:00 minutes into this show:

MP3 file of .NET Rocks Show

The Big Three Oh!

So, Vegas treated me well. And it is not just because of the sweet shorts that Lenny gave me for a BDay present -- the gaming tables were also kind. For this trip, specifically it was the poker table. And to drill-down to an even greater level of specificity, the poker tables at the Flamingo Hilton in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jules and I entered a $60 buy-in tournament that began at 10am. We sat down amongst a field of 41 players ranging from seasoned vets to downright hacks like myself. The first half of play saw some tremendous cards sneak their way into my hands including multiple two pair plays, a straight, and a full house -- dueces over aces. The first half also sent Jules packing as he couldn't handle the novice heat at the table :)

I was able to ride out my chip lead through the rest of the tournament and claimed 1st place victory after an exciting heads up match with multiple "all-in" calls against some Canadian fellow. The poker match culminated in a final hand where the Canuk went all in on a J-7 against my Q-9 spades. I called with a commanding chip lead as I smelled blood. When the flop turned over a J, I thought my lunch would be further postponed and I would soon be slurping down another coffee and Bailey's while preparing for the next round of battle. But a Queen surfaced on the turn and victory was just one flick of the dealer's wrist away. I don't remember what that last card was, but I do remember the feeling of winning my first significant poker tournament. Sweeeeeeet.

I'm not going to tell you how much I won, but I will say that 3 places got paid and I got a tax form.

The Resurgance of the Mighty FJ

Over the past couple of days, I have seen several of Toyota's new FJ Land Cruisers around town.



I saw an advertisement on TV for one of these and thought it was ugly as all get out, but then I remembered the first time I saw an Avalanche. I had the exact same thoughts, which were gradually transformed into me owning one, and it is now probably my favorite vehicle that I have ever owned.

If you want to see what the heck I am talking about, check out this article from Edmunds.com:
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=108557

So, for those of you who do not know, the FJ is a classic rock crawler. Growing up in Utah, this was the utlimate in vehicles that could climb up just about anything that wasn't completely vertical. One of the Meccas for testing out your 4x4 was Moab, Utah. Here is a web page with some sweet pics of the famous Lion's Back ridge and other popular vehicle climbs in Moab:
http://student.fortlewis.edu/KLRHOADES/Moab.html

Big Bend?

OK, I have pretty much given up on the comprehensive Big Bend album I had planned on posting. I am just too lazy or too busy, I can't really decide which. If you want to see the pictures, check out the following Tabblo photo album:

http://www.tabblo.com/studio/invitation/151833/b3379cb4072706aabff251950327c0c2

Big Bend 2006 - Day 1

So after years of my only contributions to conversations about Big Bend National Park being "Yeah, I'd really like to get out there", Doc, Jake, and I decided to make the trek out to the gigantic bend in the Rio Grande River (Jackson will have to wait for the next trip :)). Our trip began with a 6am departure from San Antonio. After a seven hour drive that included a stop at Judge Roy Bean's courthouse, we arrived at the Ten Bits Ranch just outside of the park boundaries.

The Ten Bits Ranch is a small collection of themed rooms run entirely using "off-grid" solar power. Although there isn't TV, and only one phone, they do have free wireless Internet!

Our launch point for the excursion was the Bank building, which I must confess had the best views of any of the rooms. However, the impressive landscape all around makes every room a winner.

Of course we had to check out the on-site horseshoe pit first thing, but the awesome rock formations around us called. So after some brief direction from Jennifer and Steve, the proprietors of the ranch, we were off on our first hike of the trip.

OK, so I have been thinking about trying to combine Picassa and a blog for easy posting of pictures with a little bit more text that some of the services like SnapFish and the like tend to provide. After hearing about some potentially exciting enhancements that may come out soon in Google's imaging arena, I thought it would be a good product to stick with for the time being. So... here you go. Angel and I about to embark on a journy up the Virgin River through the narrows of Zion Canyon in Southern Utah. Very, very cool.

 

Virgin River Narrow Contemplation

OK, here is my first test of blogging directly out of Picassa. Seems pretty easy. But can you post entire collections of pictures? That is where the real magic happens....