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Greetings all!

I have been working downtown for the last few months. While spending time amongst the circus that comprises the people and events downtown I thought that I would capture some of the marvelous things to be had here in the great city of Denver. Thanks to my handy iphone I am able to snap quick pictures of the "goings on". Today while eating at Tokyo Joes on the 16th street mall with Jason we witnessed some crazy shenanigans. Luckily, this will be one of the better examples of things taking place down here in that it is fairly fun and entertaining. Jason and I were seated at a bar like area that sits against a window that faces 16th street, eating our brown rice chicken bowl with California rolls when a hipster guy rolls up on a commuter bike outfitted with HUGE speakers. He parks it just to the side of the restaurant and dismounts.

Meanwhile there were a few other lanky hipster girls standing to the side of a small open space in front of the restaurant, (one of these girls were wearing super short shorts with some butt cheek hanging out, gross)! Suddenly, one of the girls steps out into the open area and starts doing a jazzy little dance (insert eye roll here). Then the bike guy flips on the music bike suddenly we had a flash mob situation. Several other people joined in and began to perform a little number for everyone in the area.

Please note the girl on the far left wearing the cream top and the tiny navy shorts, this is butt cheek girl... I really could have done without that part. Anyway, I suppose they call this a flash mob, I have only been exposed to this through "Modern Family" and commercials. It was kind of a fun little deal but still a fine example of crazy crap that happens in d-town.

My next example is on the opposite side of the spectrum in terms of occurrences. Last Wednesday, my birthday (thank you), Jay and I were again at Tokyo Joes (I know we eat there a lot) and we see a fine gentleman standing out in the rain. He was clearly homeless and found some huge plastic bag that he made a poncho from. He stood for a little while arguing with no one into the air while vigorously smoking a cigarette. What I didn't understand is why he insisted in being right out in the heavy rain. There were plenty of places around that he could have sought shelter, yet he choose to sit there and yell things into the air.

I enjoy the dramatic effect that the plastic bag has in this picture while it blows purposefully with the wind. I think I need to emphasize the amount of rain we received that day. Note that the streets are empty, this is peak lunch hour, everyone had found refuge inside, and when people had to venture out they did so with haste. After standing for a few minutes he sat down and pulled the bag over his head (not a good idea) and just sat for a while. He was like that until I turned around as we were about to leave and I noticed that he had simply vanished. 

He kind of looks like a gnome here. I know that I appear to have lost all compassion for people, which is mostly true, but that is a side effect from working down town. After getting harassed everyday while walking down the street by multiple homeless people, including one that has followed me twice and green peace people asking if I care to save the pandas, you end up with zero patience. 

So that about does it. I am going to try to capture other crazy or random things about down town and put it up here. Maybe people will begin to better understand why I hate it. 

I'm back!

I obviously haven't done this in a while but wanted to do a quick update. I am sure that no one will see this for a while if ever but I kind of like the idea of keeping track of what is going on. I haven't updated my reading list for a while so I thought a good way to catch up is to go over what I have read over the past few months.

I took a quick shot of some of the books I have read lately.

I just started reading this one called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson. I haven't gotten too far yet because I haven't been able to stay up long enough. So far so good though...

I just finished The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. He is one of my favorite authors so I was really excited when I picked this one up. It was kind of a slow read but the story was pretty interesting. I think one of Russo's best writing qualities are his abilities to create a character with a lot of depth. This story I think explored some feelings and thoughts that I have had before but have failed to verbalize. I think he adds such an amazing human element that keeps you invested in the story.

The next two are from the Hunger Games Trilogy, I don't have the first book in the series because I lent it out but I really enjoyed them. I blazed through all three in a pretty short time. It was pretty violent but it was a really interesting story and was kind of a "Twilight" spin on some classics like 1984. These were some exciting books and I would recommend them.

The next one I borrowed from Jay's mom Barb and it is a pretty faced pasted mystery. The book is called Fever Dream by Preston & Child. This was another fun read and I blazed through it pretty quickly too. If someone wants something fun and faced paced this is a good one to pick up.

Ok this next one is called The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells. This is an incredible story about the author's childhood. Her story is about her amazing triumph and success in her life. This book is incredible especially seeing that it is a true story. If you are ever feeling bad about yourself or your family take a look at this book and I am sure you will be grateful.

Finally there is The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro and I was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. These are both collections of short stories about the author's lives. Both were pretty similar and they told their stories with plenty of humor. Although they were a little raunchy at times, there was some serious humor to be had.

Well that about sums it up. I will try to remember to give my feed back about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and let you know what I think.

I got a job and that's it

It's almost been two months since I posted last... and my day to day routine has changed significantly. Essentially I decided that I should go back to work and it would help me take my mind off somethings that have been going on in my life. Hasn't been working to well, instead of thinking about it at home, I think about it while I fill out paperwork. It has consumed me and not necessarily in a good way, as if I were passionate about it, just that I feel like my whole life is sitting in front of a screen in a cubicle. What's new right? Who cares, everyone does it... I think what is really bugging me is that I feel like I am trying to fill up time while I wait, but how long will I have to wait and I don't want to look back at my life and see that I was just filling it with something that I'm not passionate about. It makes my life seem empty. I hate what I do, and it I feel like I am on a road that isn't going to lead anywhere. I am not writing this to incite a pity party, I don't want that, I am just talking out loud. So in explanation of my blogging absence I am on hiatus, in life and blogging. Maybe I will start updating it while I am here at work. That's it for now.

The weather is warming up, and my workouts have to too!

Okay so same old story, but I really, REALLY want to get into better shape. I have been exercising fairly regularly but I need to step it up and I need to improve my eating habits. So because I am clueless when it comes to this stuff so I went to the local library and checked out a cookbook called Cook Yourself Thin. There was some really interesting things in there besides recipes and I think I am going to try some of it out. For starters I am going to write down everything I eat for a week, (which is going to be depressing I am sure), as well as cook a myriad of healthy meals. Additionally it stated that generally you should figure what weight you want to be and multiply that by 10 to figure how many calories you should eat everyday. So there you go, we will see how well that goes!

Chin Faces

Alright I have some explaining to do about this post. I know that Jen wonders why it takes so long for me to make my lists, then these two videos explains why. In high school my friends and I would make videos where we would film a person's mouth upside down and when you watch it, it seems like the chin and mouth are part of a whole thing like a strange creature, as if the bottom of the chin was the top of the head... anyway, I don't think I am making any sense. Well to bring it all back around this is what Jay and I were doing instead of working on my list. Here is the first one...

http://www.youtube.com/user/blackeslash26?feature=mhw5#p/u/1/E0UpOxGvPc4


And the second one...

http://www.youtube.com/user/blackeslash26?feature=mhw5#p/u/0/KfIMLXI2ed4

I know this is so stupid, but this really is a glimpse into what it is like when Jay and I are by ourselves!

Next posting I will talk all about our April Fools joke!!!

The loot

I have been meaning to do this for a while so I figured that since this weeks haul was respectable it would be a good time.

I will start with Albertsons…

There were some really good stock up prices, which I won’t get into, a smarter more capable woman will go over this at castlerockcouponqueen.blogspot.com.

I got 5, 5 lb bags of flour for 1.00 each, regularly 2.99 each

3 boxes of Jolly Time Popcorn for 1.00 each, regularly 3.69

5 cans of Dole Pineapple for 1.00 each with 2.00 in coupons, regularly 2.29 each

1 sour cream for .79

2 Tony’s Pizzas for 1.00 each, regularly 1.49

5.8 lb’s of 93% lean ground beef for 11.56 or 1.99 per lb, regularly 3.49

6 racks of pork baby back ribs for 2.49 per lb, regularly 6.99

1 Hunts Ketchup

bananas at .39 per lb

3 bags baby carrots for 1.00 each, regularly 1.50 each

totaling 61.22

with a savings of 97.14!

King Soopers

I had to do 2 transactions the first was 20 yoplait yogurts for 10/6 with coupons totaling at 9.55, and 2.40 in savings. This gave me 2.00 for my next transaction.

I got 2 boxes of Post Raisin Bran

1 Kitchen Basics beef stock

1 carton large eggs

1 Ken's dressing

1 Oreida fries

1 Tresseme conditioner

1 box cherry poptarts (oh so healthy)

1 pack of Ramen

2 bags of Nestle Chocolate Morsels

1 box Ronzoni Penne pasta

2 packs of Ronzoni Spaghetti

4 braeburn apples

2 12 packs of pop

for a grand total of 23.93 after coupons

with 30.36 in savings!

Sprouts

1, 2 % milk = 1.89

.5 lb Deli Roast beef = 3.71

.5 lb deli turkey = 3.36

Deli sliced swiss cheese = 3.12

5 lb box of cuties = 3.99 – 1.00 cp

4 Pears = 1.40

3 Hass Avocados = 1.00

2 jalepeno peppers = .30

1 lime = .29

3 lb Gigantic navel oranges = 1.06

2 red bell peppers = 1.54

Roma tomatoes = 1.19

1 reusable shopping bag = .99

total = 25.16

savings = 1.10 ( I know that is pretty impressive!)

And finally Safeway… I have to admit that I cannot find the receipt anywhere so I am going to have to wing it!

3 boxes of Kellogs frosted flakes

2 bags of baby carrots (yes I realize I bought these at several stores)

1 can of cream cheese cake frosting! Yay!

4 boxes of Betty Crocker cake mix

and my total was around 11.84 but with my coupons and some spoils from a previous trip I was able to net .64!!! Yes that is right, they paid me to buy it!

So my grand total was $119.22!!!

That is a total savings of around $142!!!

Which puts my savings around 54% savings!

I don’t know how Jen does this every week, it is a lot of work to figure all this out!


Here are some more pictures, luckily my new kitchen set up lets me display even more...

Okay I have been working on this from start to finish for more hours than I would like to admit so it is time that I hit the hay, Jason is currently passed out on the couch so I am going to see if I can carry him up the stairs... 

Road lessons

Okay so I went for my regular run today, after all it did stop snowing finally! However, a lot of people in the neighborhood neglected to shovel their sidewalks so there was some dry running spots and others still resembled the peaks of the Himalayas. Due to these conditions I was forced to run on the road where it was  fairly dry. After ascending the back hill from hell, (that is it's new name) I was descending happily in the sun at a rather good pace, I was listening to some Stevie Nicks and contemplating life when suddenly any evil patch of ice skating rink took me down and showed me whose boss. Luckily for me I get hurt all the time so I am getting better at falling and have learned how to fall and protect the vitals, (face, hair, boobs... etc.) I sacrificed my entire left side, oh yes I am serious, and managed to hobble away okay. The extent of the damage was limited to my elbow, hip/right under the butt area, ankle,foot, knee, and shin. I took a picture of my injuries, but for your sake and my own, I will only post my knee and shin. I have to say the picture makes me look like a weenie, and I am not claiming that this is my worst injury... that happened when I took out that fat girl in rugby (she had it coming she played for Thunderidge, HRHS FOR LIFE :) ).

Note: although the picture looks like my leg is 10 feet thick at the top and 2 inches at the bottom by my ankle, I assure you that it is not. Let us also note my winter tan... you can almost see through my leg! I am disgusted by how my leg looks but I am going to let it go... but I mean really!!! 

p.s. the shower right after was like hot burning torture... and the peroxide... never mind.