The Book Challenge-- from Goodreads

Good Reads is one of my favorite sites. Not only do you have a community of book worms to share your favorite books with, but also a large database to find new books to read and an easy way to catalog/record your reading process. Simple put, it's a great site for book lovers. Heck, every time I log in, I discover a new feature. Today (being Sunday although this will be posted on Tuesday) I discovered a book group called 'The Book Challenge.' The originally idea for this group was to verbally comment to reading a self chosen amount of books. A couple of it's members made the challenge a little more difficult-- read 26 authors (or books) each starting with a different letter in a years time. Of course, everyone said it would be difficult to find an author with a name that started with 'X.' But I think it's doable (especially with Chinese names). I think I might start this goal at the beginning of the year.

Yes Man by Danny Wallace

Danny Wallace creates a fun and witty way on presenting his life as a 'Yes Man' for almost a year. When Wallace is told to 'say yes more' from a stranger on a bus, he decides to take the man up on the offer and ends up saying yes to everything until the beginning of the next year. He gets himself in situations that no one would ever want to be in. Very funny, although it did have a lull in the later part of the middle. Overall, great book and I can't wait to read more by him. This is a great read for everyone :)

Upcoming Events for the week of December the 1st

Comedy for Cats
December 4, 2008,
Presented by Bovine Metropolis Theater
As part of the "Comedy for a Cause" series, Bovine Metropolis is hosting an evening of laughs to benefit Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance. Come experience Denver's premier improv theater while supporting RMACA.


The SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris
December 4th-22nd
Presented by The Bug Theatre.
Adapted by Joe Mantello and directed by Donna Morrison, “The SantaLand Diaries” chronicles author and NPR host David Sedaris' stint as a disgruntled Christmas elf at Macy's in New York.
Now in its tenth year, “The SantaLand Diaries” is the perfect antidote to all the holiday schmaltz.

9NEWS Parade of Lights
December 5th, at 8:00 and December 6th at 6:00
The 9NEWS Parade of Lights is presented by Southwest Airlines and the Downtown Denver Partnership. The Parade starts in front of Civic Center Park and the City & County Building on Bannock Street at 14th Avenue.Watch the Parade along the two-mile route, as Downtown Denver's skyline provides a stunning background for the lights and sounds of the parade.Purchase A Grandstand seat convenient Grandstand seating is available at the start of the parade route across from the beautifully lit City & County Building.

Winter Wonder Lights at the Wildlife Experience
November 28th- December 28th 5:30-9:00 P.M.
This holiday season, take a magical journey to the North Pole for a whimsical light display. Enjoy: sparkling light displays along the museum's Nature Trail, Festive holiday crafts, The Merry Winter Wonder Ville, How the Grinch Stole Christmas on the Extreme Screen, Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The Wildlife Experience is also having Santa breakfast December 6th, 13th, 20th, and 24th.

writing prompt-- A box and a discussion

I got this at the writers' conference I did a few months ago. Funny, my friend Amanda and I actually did this one without having it as an exercise.
write a scene that begins with 'What's in the box?' Make sure you have at least two characters in the scene and that your reader knows the relationship, the age, the gender, etc. of the characters through the discussion that they have.

writing prompt-- amnesia in an igloo

(From Writer's Digest website):
You awaken with amnesia in what looks to be an igloo. You have $4 and a rock in one pocket, and a toothbrush in the other. Someone is staring at you. Write this scene.

Writing prompt--What I want to write

(Think this one comes from Natalie Goldberg's Writing in the Bones but I'm not sure)
Free write for 10 minutes starting with the pharse "I want to write..." brain storm everything it can vage like 'I want to write about truth.' or something that's very particular like "I want to write about our first camping trip when I was five.' If you get stuck just start again with 'I want to write' or you might want to do 'I don't want to write...'

Writing prompt-- A different type of writer

Every writer I know has their special type of writing. So lets try and branch out get out of those old comfort zones. So if you write non-fiction articles try poetry. If you write poetry craft something for a short story. If you write romance novels try your hand at a crime story. The results might surprise you.

Writing prompt--Your personal island

I awake up to Mix 100 hosted by Dom and Jane. Dom Testa is not only a radio star, but also a published author of young adult books and an advocate for young people striving to be their best. He has even created a website named Big Brain Club. This site has articles that Testa has written on peer pressure, a teacher forum, and writing exercises for budding authors.

lifted from the Big Brain Club website:
For many people, the idea of getting away - or escaping - is a powerful emotion. That's why the concept of being stranded on a deserted island is so powerful in literature and film. This month you're going to be that castaway. Here's what you'll do...
Gulliver, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson...they all told stories of people who found themselves stranded in a far-away location. For many people the fantasy involves a tropical paradise, with sandy beaches, palm trees, and perfect weather.
But what would that life really be like? This month's exercise will have you living alone on an island, and you'll write a two-page journal entry (or longer if you get caught up!). Perhaps your island is different; maybe it's cold, or maybe it's inhabited by fierce animals. With the Big Brain Club we always ask that you use your imagination and think of settings - and situations - that nobody else has thought of. Your journal will describe what life is really like.
Will it be dangerous and haunting? Will it be rather funny? Will it be suspenseful, perhaps with a mystery involved? Your journal is a blank slate, and the finished product will be going into a bottle and into the sea, ready for the rest of us to read when it washes ashore.
Have fun!

Writing Prompt-- Personal Ad

So of late my mom has been really pushing for me to start dating again. And one of the new suggestion she has is going an online dating service. I've played around with the idea but, lets face it how do you present yourself to complete strangers with just a picture, a list of interest, and a written paragraph about who you think you are? So this exercises is all about writing an interesting, fun, and truthful personal ad about yourself in 700 words are less. Avoid boring verbs and helping verbs and think of a creative way to present yourself. This is all about tooting your own horn-- so lets make some beautiful music.

Writing Prompt-- Writer's Block

There are hundreds of books out there telling people how to begin a story, what to do when you have a blank page in fornt of you. But to tell you my opintion, the blank page is the easiest part of the whole writing process. You don't have to worry about if your voice is the same through out the piece, you don't have to worry about if what your character said goes with their personality and you don't have to worry about tone or little details about characters, events, etc that has already happen. But what do you do when you're mid-story and even through you know your ending you just don't know how to connect the dots?
Yeah, Natalie Goldberg suggest stepping aside and getting a big glass of water and thinking about it. Stephen King goes on long walks. But really that's the only advice I've received on this little problem... until I read What If? A great little book. One of the authors points out that most writers-block is due to either not having enough information, just plain old confidence issues, or you just don't know what happens next. If you're having problems with the last one, the book suggest that when you get stuck think of three ways to get out of the scene or problem. For example, say your main child hero just stole candy from the store. What are some ways to move the scene forward
a.) the clerk catches him and they have a conflict.
b.) our hero's starts feeling bad about stealing the candy and tries to return it.
c) our hero doesn't get catch and this starts his life of crime.
write on each path for at least 10 minute and see which one jumps out at you. so brush off some dust on an old scene and see if this method works for you.

Writing Prompt-- Scrabble Anyone?

Grab some friends and play a game of Scrabble. Make sure to write down all the words that are used in the game. Write a short story using all of the words on the list.

This writing prompt has been brought to you by Mrs. O'Connal's advance creative writing class. I did this prompt when I was in high school and I had to admit that it will changelle you it figure out how to place non-related words together.

NaNoWriMo is finally here!!

That's right, November is National Novel Writing Month. Although I've known about this little holiday for a few years I've never attempted it. I mean you have to be a die hard writer to even think you could possibly write 50,000 in a month. Of late I've been reading Jack Kerouac's journals (Windblown World) where he writes about his daily life and more important about his writings and how much he does in a day. He calls 2,000 words a day pitiful-- wow I feel achieved when I write half that in a couple of days.

But I figure this year I'll try it... with alterations. I bought a blank book and the goal is to complete it by the end of the month.

So what am I going to write about? Originally I just figured I would write on random things: my series of one acts, making Dirty Virgin into a novel, writing an update screen play of If a Man Answers. I realized that I've never really finished anything longer than twenty pages and a part of this experience is to have something completed by the end. So instead I've combined a few of my ideas into one story about 'finding love' after a divorces. I know, it kind of smells like Open House by Elizabeth Berg (great book by the way), but I'm planning on following both characters (the divorce couple) and they're search for happiness. I'm also adding in an idea I had a few years ago about a robber falling for a women due to the content of her house. But instead of a robber-- it will be a maintenance man at the apartment building she's renting from. Yep I'm writing a romance novel, folks.

So what are you writing for NaNoWritMo?
I'll be posting writing prompts that I found useful in the past or one's that I've read and thought were interesting to help you if you get a stuck.

An Evening with Dave Barry-- Sept 25th 2008

An Evening with Dave Barry was held at the Wildlife Experience and was hosted by the Douglas County Library Foundation. Dave Barry is an humor writer who has written over thirty books including the Starcatcher series, a young adult series that explores the history of Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Neverland. Amazingly enough Barry has also won the Pulitzer Prize and formed a ban with Stephen King and Amy Tan. Overall, Barry was delightful and interesting to listen to (even if I couldn't see him since we were in the back of the room) His 'stand-up' act entertained and he pretty much saved the Q&A session that wasn't nearly as fun since the questioner didn't have interesting questions.

Rock Solid Writer’s Conference-- Sept 20th

The last couple of years the PSM library in Castle Rock has hosted the Rock Solid Writer's Conference. It's an all day experience with key speakers, classes taught by published authors and the opportunity for people to pitch their books to agents. this year my mom was kind enough to get me a spot in the conference. Overall, a wonderful experience. The speakers Margaret Coel and Jim Sheeler. Coel used humor and charmed to win over the group talking about her Native American mystery novels and her non-fiction book on Chief Left-Hand. Sheeler moved the audience with his powerful slide show on his new book Final Salute which takes a close look of the morning families of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Everyone signed up for four sessions of classes; mine were:

• "Make Your Poetry Come a Live" taught by Gail Waldstein
• "The Care and Feeding of Editors" taught by Marni Jameson, Sally Stich and Carol McAdoo Rehme
• "Structuring the Screenplay" taught by Ryan Kelly
• Dialogue and Setting in Fiction" taught by Todd Mitchell

Overall the first and last one fall flat. Waldstein was unfocused and used the time to talk about personal manners which wasn't helpful or professional. and ended the class with an exercise that she got from the second worse writing conference she attended plus an exercise she didn't even try herself. The last class taught by Mitchell just didn't add anything to my knowledge and felt like it was geared towards a young/less experience audience. The only interesting thought he presented was using dialogue to hide the truth.

The other two classes were fantastic. I singed up for 'The Care and Feeding of Editors' because of the name. What a creative name-- how couldn't I reward these ladies for such wit!?! Two of ladies (Jameson and Stich) come from a freelance writing for magazine background and spent they're 20 minutes on what editors want/don't want, your relationship is always going to be one sided, and fresh is important to any sells pitch. McAdoo Rehme's background deals with editing collection of short story books such as Chicken Soup for the Soul. The one piece of information that really stuck out to me was that the writers sometime shape the collection. A wonderful punctual, precise, and focused presentation. Finally, Ryan Kelly's 'Structure for Screen Plays' blew me way. Kelly's enthusiasm propelled the whole class and carried our awkward answer to a new heights that added to the discussion. Kelly focused on the plot structure of a good screen play and gave helpful advice as when key events are suppose to happen and what moves a screen play is a characters desire/need and the bigger the consequences the better the movie. Both classes was worth the entry fee for the event.

Burgundy vs. White Scrimmage

So in an attempt to be more social (and to avoid another chest hurting belly dance class) I went with friend Michelle and her friend Dee to the Avalanche pre-season scrimmage in Colorado Springs. Where we had a great time making silly eyes at our favorite picks. since it's been years, and I do mean years, since I've gone to a game I had a great time scooping out all the guys and picking my favorites (#16 Darcy Tucker). The White team totally beat the Burgundy team during the actually game, even though Burgundy had Captain (and Michelle's future husband) Joe Sokic on it. The shoot out at the end was a different story. All and all a great time and I'm glad I missed out on a Belly Dancing class to experience it.

Kansas Trip

So friend Labecca was in need of a computer, and it turns out that my job gave us great deals on our old computers. So we did a friendly exchange in Hays, Kansas. I wish I could say we had a great night on the town but really we just got to the hotel, drank at the bar, and then drank again in our room later. I tried a new beer called Shock (very similar to Blue Moon) and played what can we order that the kitchen actually has (apparently it was off season to visit Kansas). I also enjoyed the amazing bill board signs that advertised six legged cows and over 20 pound prairie dogs. On the boarder of Colorado and Kansas there is a McDonald's with video games for the kids (looked like Mario go-cart) and although everyone says the drive to Kansas is boring (which it did drain me more than driving to GJ which is the same distance) I did find many thing that were beautiful and photograph worthy-- unfortunately I was driving and couldn't pull over to take shots of everything that I wanted to. How can someone say that sunflower fields, black birds, old rusty trucks, grain elevators are anything but beautiful?

Upcoming events for Halloween

The Firehouse Ghosts
October 25 - October 26, 2008
PRESENTED BYDenver Firefighters Museum
The Denver Firefighters Museum invites the whole family to bring their sleeping bag and learn why things still go bump in the night at haunted old Fire Station No. One. This old fashioned sleep over in a haunted fire station built in 1909, is anything but old fashioned. The evening will open with a traditional firehouse spaghetti dinner and progress with spooky movies, titles early on such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, and get spookier as the night wears on. Ghost stories, children's crafts, Halloween cookie making, and a behind the scenes tour by flashlight of the basement haunted house will conclude the evening. For those that survive the night, a continental breakfast will be served. The evening is designed for all ages and costumes are encouraged! Important Information Children under 18 must be accompanied by a guardian.

Trick or Treat Train and Railroad Halloween Town
October 25 - October 26, 2008
PRESENTED BYColorado Railroad Museum
Catch a ride and visit all the town's special stops to fill your treat bag, visit the kid friend haunted house and silly graveyard, the pumpkin patch, and Hobo campfire with kid-friendly storytelling.
Helpful Information: Train departures every 20 minutes between 10:00am and 4:00pm.


Boo at the Zoo
October 25 - October 26, 2008
PRESENTED BYThe Denver Zoo
Discover "spooktacular" Halloween fun at the Denver Zoo. Costumed kids get a real treat as the zoo fills with mysterious creatures and lots of sweets!

Bikes On Main Street

Sun Swirl

Clock on Main

High Heeled Feet by Clee Richeson

"Can I keep him?"

A New Adventurer-- Belly Dancing

What can I say? Since my college days I've been dying to try out Belly Dancing. We had a group of older ladies that would shake their stuff at every event and I always wanted to be as beautiful as these ladies. So I signed up with a local place that offers Belly Dancing for an once a week two month section. So far we've learned Ciro walk, shim, freeze, grape vine, ball in chain, step ladder, hula ring circle, camel, head slides, and the many different ways to move one's hips. And I've learned that I differently do not have any skill in this type of dance at all. She keeps on telling us 'have strong inter thighs" and although I get the idea I have no clue how do it-- and control my movement because of it. For the most part I look like a lanky five year old roughly playing at a princess dance. And my chest hurts horrible while doing most of the moves.

I'm afraid I'm really looking forward of this experience being over with.

Train on GJ's main street

Grand Junction Trip

At the beginning of September, I visited my old college town. Main Street has always been littered with beautiful art piece. Also on Main Street is Main Street Bagels; a Bagel shop that was very important to me the last few months I lived in Grand Junction. The last few months I had been craving they're Skyway Bagel (spinach cream cheese, tomatoes, and melted Swiss). I stop and wrote a little while listening in an old folksy group play their banjos.

Upcoming events for the week of the 13th

Kim Barnes
October 15, 2008
PRESENTED BY Tattered Cover Book Store--Colfax location
Barnes will read from and sign her new novel A Country Called Home, a luminous story in which she returns to the great forests of Idaho to offer a powerful tale of hope and idealism, faith and madness.

Refuge Roundup at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
October 18, 2008
PRESENTED BY Rocky Moutain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
Free family celebration of the American West and National Wildlife Refuge Week featuring bison tours and hayrides, a singing cowboy, square dance exhibition team, Aztec dancers, Buffalo Soldiers mounted cavalry drills and more!Important Information: Reservations are required for bison tours and hayrides.

The Emerging Filmaker's Project
October 16 - May 21, 2009
PRESENTED BY The Bug Theatre
Held the third Thursday of every month, the EFP focuses on really independent short films by local filmmakers.

Daniel Sprick Solo Show
September 19 - October 31, 2008
PRESENTED BY Gallery 1261, LLC
Daniel Sprick produces paintings where objects appear familiar at first glance, but upon closer examination, one notices that some key attribute has been withheld or altered. His engaging images will be featured in a solo show at Gallery 1261 in Denver this September, allowing viewers the opportunity to delve into the translations of what he sees around him in everyday life. His images surround the process of contemplation - the odd associations one makes, and the way one's inner world may spontaneously ignite as a result of one's prolonged interaction with a fixed subject.

Noises Off
October 3 - November 1, 2008
PRESENTED BY Denver Center Theatre Company
This side-splitting farce chronicles the misadventures of a bumbling theatre troupe as it struggles to rehearse Nothing On, a seedy British sex comedy. As the action spins out of control onstage, even worse chaos ensues backstage. The plots collide head on, resulting in a hilariously disastrous final performance. Performance Location: The Stage Theatre

Mr. Marmalade
October 3 - October 25, 2008
PRESENTED BY Next Stage Theatre Company
Lucy is a four-year-old girl with a very active imagination. Unfortunately, her imaginary friend Mr. Marmalade doesn't have much time for her. Not to mention he beats up his personal assistant, has a cocaine addiction, and a penchant for pornography and very long dildos. Larry, her only real friend, is the youngest suicide attempt in the history of New Jersey. Mr. Marmalade is a savage black comedy about what it takes to grow up in these difficult times. Important Information This event requires attendees to be at least 16 years of age or older.

Upcoming events for the week of the 22nd

Exhibit Darfur
August 25 - September 26, 2008
PRESENTED BY Ditto Gallery
Ditto Gallery is honored to present Exhibit Darfur, a multi-media experience that will take visitors on a photographic journey through the lens of four astonishing artists: Mia Farrow, Brian Steidle, Izabela Lundberg, and Aaron Cohen. The artists' personal experiences of the genocide and slavery in the Sudan provide unique perspectives on the conflict and serve to make Exhibit Darfur an unprecedented opportunity to view their collaborative efforts.


Dr. Seuss For President
August 15 - September 30, 2008
PRESENTED BY Gallery One Writer's Square
Coinciding with the historic 2008 Presidential election, Dr. Seuss throws his hat into the ring by releasing the first-ever political print editions to the public. Featuring imagery from politically charged artworks, books and editorial cartoons, the Dr. Seuss for President art exhibition offers an unusual glimpse into the sociopolitical-minded imagination from the world's most celebrated icon of popular culture.


IMAX Film Festival
June 13 - September 25, 2008
PRESENTED BY Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The Museum will host an IMAX Film Festival featuring the most loved IMAX films of all time as selected by the public earlier this year. The festival will feature: Alaska: Spirit of the Wild, Beavers, Coral Reef Adventure, Greece: Secrets of the Past, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure and To Fly!


Eye Believe Independent Filmmakers Competition
September 26, 2008
PRESENTED BY Denver Public Library
Partnering with Denver Open Media, and sponsored by Westword and Westwood College, Fresh City Life launches its newest interactive, community venture.


Cafe Nuba Spoken Word and Music Showcase
September 26, 2008
PRESENTED BY Pan African Arts Society
Cafe Nuba is a multi-award-winning monthly microcinema, poetry and music showcase set at the historic Roxy Theater in Denver's Five Points neighborhood - featuring local, national, and international artists and performers, independent films, and live music. Some past guests of note include; Oscar Brown, Jr., Dead Prez, Amiri Baraka, Staceyann Chin, Ursula Rucker, The Last Poets, and Suheir Hammad.

train by Fortune Valley Casino

Chair Garden in Central City.

accompied plaque reads:

Chair Garden: this Chair is a replica of the hickory chairs which were placed in the opera house in 1932. These Chairs were in use until 1999 when new seating was installed.

The Plaques on the wall recognize the major donors to the chair campaign. these generous patrons made the new chairs possible.

Opera House's Garden

Central City's Fire House and Church

Day Lilly at Central City's Opera House Garden

Central City

Central City Up the Street

Events for the week updates

So it occurred to me that it might be helpful to have a weekly Event Blog for people that are actually interested in going somewhere and not just reading about it after it's over. So I decided to add a weekly blog about upcoming events with (that is if I'm not lazy) links to the event's site. I haven't really thought of the layout (say splitting things up by type of event or by day). For right now it's just going to be Denver events but maybe if I get into it and seems to be beneficial to people I might include the surrounding areas too. We'll shall see.

Central City

I took a week off from work and did small adventures around Colorado. Central City was one of them. Mom was a true sport since she not only drove in horrible weather but also followed me around with an umbrella so I could get the shots. We took the Teller Hotel and Opera House tour. I loved the whole thing to Teller being the best hotel this side of the Mississippi in the 30's and that President Grant almost, but didn't stay there even though the redecorated a room for him and created a walk way of silver that he ended up not using. In the Teller Hotel, there is this bar that a painter painted a face of a girl on the floor. There is a tale about how this old man painted it to pay for beer and ended up having a heart attack and dying right after he finished. This of course wasn't true. Apparently, an artist was hired to paint the bar, but was going to be fire-- so out of out of spite he painted the face as graffiti and the building owners left it.
The following weeks photos will be my favorites from Central City. On a side note, I decided that over cast days are the best for photographing.

For more information about the Opera House click here.

My Life in France by Julia Child

I don't really read bio's; so when I saw a special about Julia Child on Food Network I thought she was a very interesting person/cook and wanted to learn more about her. A few weeks later, I saw this book at the library and had to get it. It's a beautiful piece that starts when Julia and husband Paul move to France a few years into their marriage. The book follows through her first cook book, many moves, the beginning of her TV show career, and the death of her beloved husband. It has a few recipes in the book that I might try and this book has differently made me a fan of French cooking. The book also has some black and white pictures that her husband took. Overall, an interesting and inspiring read (specially since she didn't start cooking until while in to her thirties)

Square at Castle Rock

Columbine Memorial at Clement Park, Littleton

Wall at Columbine Memorial

Festival Park, Castle Rock

McKinley Carson Park, Greenwood Village

Changes on the Site

Recent changes:

• Probably the most noticeable change is the color scheme. I don't know if I'll keep it this way or not; we'll see. It was getting hard to figure out colors that looked good with the background in case I wanted to change the color of the text in blogs.
• I add hangman to the side bar. I've been trying to get him bigger, but at least my poor computer skills have caught up with me, and my attempt of improving this have failed.
• I changed the look of a list. Now the blogs that I read will show when they were last updated. I also added a few blogs I read outsider of blogger.
• I figured out how to schedule posts!!! This means easy picture posts will be popping up during the week.
• I added another site www.sspr.org to the 'About the Cities' list. It pretty much is a community hub site for Centennial, Littleton, and Lone Tree. Complete with recreation centers, parks, and trails that are in these towns and trust me when I say there's many parks to choose from.

That's pretty much it for now. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave them in a comment. You don't have to be a member of blogger to comment.

Statue at G.M. Wallace Park, Greenwood Village

Fire House, Castle Rock

Strength Finder 2.0

I read the first book (Now, Discover Your Strengths) in this serious about a year ago when my sister bought it for me. Both books Are Gallup Books and focus on building on individuals strengths instead of their weakness in business and school. Both books allows the reader to take an online test to see which traits are they're strength off of a list of 36. Since I borrowed Strengths Finder I wasn't able to take the test attached to that one which apparently more in depth then original. Since Strength Finder was small and short I decided to read traits that weren't my own and read the whole book. An Added bonus that Strengths Finder has that the Now, Discover didn't was actions one could take to help nurture/play on their strengths and actions one could take if they work with someone with those strengths.

Dock at Clement Park, Littleton

2 Do Before I Die

The book’s title kind of tells you all about this book. The aim for the book is for people to make a to do list of things they want to accomplish before kicking the bucket. They have short couple page accounts of other people doing things and how/why it was important to them. Some where big like sky-diving and deep sea diving-- others simple like growing a beard and donating money. At the end of each chapter the book has a list of questions to help the reader come up with a list of their own. AT the bottom of the pages the authors add another list of possible things to put of the list. Over all inspiring and I think everyone should make a bucket list.

Some of the items I have on my list are:
Donate Blood
Take a photography class
see the Taj Mahal
Go skinny dipping
Complete a novel in Novel Writing Month (November)

What are some of the items on your list?

Fred Factor

Mr. Sanborn spoke at one of my company's meetings. We all received 'You Don't Need to Have a Title to be a Leader' (One of Sanborn's other books). He did mention this book in his speech and I thought the story of Fred the mailman was interesting/inspiring. Sanborn has quick and easy reading style and give some wonderful examples of the Fred Factor or amazing customer service and the importance to apply this to everyday life in the work place and outside of it. But there's the thing I dislike about Sanborn's books the message in both of them is "Settle for the job you have and be happy about it.' Don't get me wrong, I believe that people should take pride in their work and try to be the best at that position and if they hate they need to quit. But Sanborn doesn't seem to get further than 'be a good, happy employee for your managers.'

The main problem I have with help books is the fact they have such a wonderful idea and the never really tell you how to apply it... they give you little acrostics to remember and vague tips like 'Give value to other people' (which is kind of common sense in the customer service world right?) Sanborn harps about 'being a Fred' for the right reasons (because you want to make people feel valued and you want a relationship with them) and don't try to do it for the wrong reasons like recognition and rewards because it won't work. But here's the thing if wanting to give value to other people isn't innate feeling/trait in someone this book wouldn't inspire it out of them or even convenience them that this was worth the read. It was just mediocre at best.

Buffalo Bill's Museum & Grave, Golden

Location: Take I-70 west to Exit 256 (marked Buffalo Bill Grave), then follow the signs. or take 6th Avenue West to Golden and turn left onto the Lariat Trail (19th street). Follow the scenic winding road to the top of the mountain.

Cost: $3 per grow up (cheaper for children and seniors).

It's a good price for this little museum. You watch a 30 minute film about the life and death of Buffalo Bill. and then they have a good hallway for a timeline of his life, a whole section of the Wild West Show, a small corner for Sitting Bull information, and an area for Native American lifestyle. They also had a few interactive area's for kids to play to make it a little more interesting to them. The two surprising information that I learn was a) Buffalo Bill was a poor business man with many great ideas-- he just didn't know how to get them going and he ended up in debt for majority of his adult life. b)We had to fight for his body. A town in WY named Cody was founded by him and they believed the body should be buried there and Buffalo Bill's hometown in KS thought likewise. The city of Denver actually hired a tank to watch the grave yard until the cemented it when his wife died and was buried with him. there was a plan to build a large building over/around the grave with a library about the wild west and other things; however, not enough money was donated and they did without.

They also had a large tourist shop full of wonders that any six year old would love. So if your family likes history, I think this would be a good spot. You can also hike up to the grave and place coins on it; however, we didn't do it since the weather was turning. This is a good little detour if you're in the area.

Golden Gate Park, Golden

Friend Rachel and I headed up to Golden Gate Park this last weekend. It costs $6.00 for a day pass And I believe it is well worth the money. We did the Raccoon trail which had some nice variations of sights (mountain views, tree paths, fields, and a most deforestation area at the end) And other than a little bit of walking up a hill in the middle (Which just reminds me that I'm truly am out of shape) an easy trail. Although it seems that this park isn't as big as the Rockey Mountain National Park Rachel and I visited a few months back, it does have a nice spread, friendly park rangers at the visitors' center, a shallow pond at the visitors' center with fish, and helpful marks during the walk to let you know what trail you are on and what way to other locations. Overall, a fun time.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Source of recipe: Recipes: Douglas Public Library District recipe's name: Shelia's Blueberry Coffee Cake submitted by Joyce Rovetta

Food course: breakfast or bread

Quantity: 2 9 inch pans worth (16 pieces if your cutting the traditional 8 pieces per pie).

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cups + 2 T sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

2 cup well drained blueberries, canned, frozen or fresh (i found that frozen berries do better in this recipe than fresh)

Topping:

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

Blend all ingredients except blueberries and tipping in mixer. beat vigorously about 1 minute. Carefully stir in blueberries. pour into greased, 9-inch, large cake pan or 8x8 inch or 9X9 inch square pan.

mix lightly the topping ingredients. sprinkle topping over batter. back in preheated 375 degree oven about 30 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

Some side notes about this dish: first of all this dish does wonderful in the freezer so feel free to make the whole recipe and place one of the pans in the freezer for next Sunday's breakfast. If you don't have a mixer (which I don't) feel free to mix it by hand the results will not be affected by the smoothness of the batter. You may find this recipe needs a little extra flour in the batter if you're at a higher altitude; however, I ended up adding more milk to counter the extra flour I up it so play it by ear. also, the batter is not going to be like cake mix batter. It will be thicker; and when I tested it out for myself, it was cookie dough consistence-- and the end taste/texture was still perfect.

Pond in Williow Creek off of Dry Creek Road

Crowfoot Valley Coffee

Crowfoot Valley Coffee

The one thing I miss most about my college town is the Mom & Pops coffee stores. that's right were Starbucks is despise and the walls aren't covered with shiny merchandise that needs to be sold. Crowfoot (located in Castle Rock) is just the remedy for such disillusionment. Here the signs are hand written, local art is shattered across the walls and 'different' music/soundtracks can be heard. Even the shop has it's regulars. The Ice Chi I ordered was a little on the watery side, but tasted much better than the burnt gram cracker stuff they serve in Starbucks. If anything towns need more independent coffee shops and restaurants so the next time you go out think about going to somewhere that's more real then Starbucks.

Jalapeno Poppers

Source of recipe: Former Boss Deb

Food course: Appetizer

Quantity: if you follow the amount on the recipe 40 units; however, the recipe is an easy one to change the amounts on to the amount you need/want.

20 Jalapenos
1 container (8oz) of Regular (or low fat) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
a packaged of bacon (around 20 pieces)
toothpicks



Preparing Jalapenos:

• Rinse jalapenos
  
• Cut of tops


• Half jalapenos.


• Scoop out ribs and seeds
  

The seeds and ribs are what give the jalapenos the heat-- so if you want a little kick to this recipe, leave some of the ribs in and mix the seeds into the cream cheese. Also, jalapenos juices are very irritable to the skin. either make sure you don't touch the seeds and ribs when removing OR wear plastic gloves (or if you're like me, use plastic sandwich on you hands.)

• Scoop cream cheese into each half jalapeno.
• Cut the bacon strips in half.

Take bacon strip and wrap around cream cheese filled jalapeno and secure with toothpick.

Repeat steps for all jalapenos.

• Place all jalapenos on a cookie sheet (the bacon with left off grease so a cookie sheet with a lip would be best)
• Preheat oven to 350*
• Bake for 20 minutes or until bacon is brown and crispy.

For best result on carrying/reheating: place paper towels on the bottom of a microwavable bowl. When you microwave these they bacon will sweat of some more grease and the paper towels absorbs (if you don't have them in the container, the bottom poppers will be bathing in a pool of extra grease.) After letting the jalapenos cool, stack them on top of each other in bowl. Put in refrigerator until you need to reheat. place in microwave for 3 minutes on high, or until you hear the bacon sizzle and poppers are warm to the touch.

Yutaka in Parker

Yutaka located in Parker is one of the newest sushi places in the area. Now, since my father and I have been big fans of Junz (across the street from this place) I haven't really bothered to try this place out yet.

Yutaka, like many Japanese restaurants lends on a modern look with open ceiling, fun use of metal, art, and design. The tables are covered with white paper and accompanied by crayons, so that children (or us children at heart) can draw on the paper while waiting for food.

The sushi menu is versified with many speciality rolls and the normal menu has many soups, tempera, and already created platters of sushi and sashimi. However, you'll need to ask your waitress what is in some of the rolls because it's not always listed on their menu. Among the interesting items on the menu there is an imported soda with the name Reasume (spell?) that has a crystal ball in the middle of the drink-- a couple of the kids seating next to us order this and I have to try it out for myself the next time I'm over here.

We ordered Edamame and Miso soups to start the meal off. Edamame was well cooked (I know that probably doesn't mean much to most people, but I've actually been to place were the edamame is dry, unsalted, browning and gross overall). The Miso was good but not amazing. Granted the first Miso I've ever had was on the salty side and therefore, I always assume that this soup should be on the salty side because of this and maybe that's a poor assumption. However, Yutaka soup taste good but is seriously missing the salty taste.

We ordered five rolls: the standard California Roll, Alaskan Roll, River Roll, Wadsworth Roll, and the Volcano roll. Now with sushi you need to wait a little longer than with most foods I know, but with this place it took extra long to get our rolls. Granted it was early in the week and they only had two sushi chiefs and two waitresses. However, by the time we got our cold sushi (the CA, Alaskan, River, and Wadsworth) the sushi was already lukewarm. We didn't even get the Volcano until we finished all the others ones with another ten minute wait-- granted by the time we were full and we didn't know if we could even get the Volcano down. I might also mention that they use sesame seeds on most of their rolls (which I'm not a huge fan of but doesn't ruin the roll) and their Alaskan was more or less a California with just a piece of Salmon instead of crab. The River and Wadsworth were great and beautifully done. The Volcano was differently hot and with a sweet spiciness and cooked fish. After waiting for another 15 minutes they finally gave us the bill and our complimentary dessert: orange slices.

Let's review on the pros side- good unique rolls that are better grade sushi then most sushi places, fun atmosphere that has an add plus for children with the paper table clothes, a descent wine/drink list with new/imported items, fair price on most of the rolls (we did five rolls, edameme, and misco soup for under $50), and a healthy complimentary dessert.

Con side- service was poor and slow, sushi was served lukewarm, sushi didn't come out together and there was a long wait in between dishes, waitresses had strong accents and didn't understand English that well.

Overall, if you can afford to wait and don't mind it this place is worth a try.

Castle Rock and Mill

Coors Brewery in Golden

I haven't visited Golden since my childhood doctor check-ups. So lets just say my memory of the place was very limited. I found the visitor parking lot for the Coors' tours a good 45 minutes before the meeting time with my coworkers. So I drove around this historic and cute town. Many of the buildings downtown are (or fashioned) to look like late nineteenth century architecture. The streets are narrow and the cyclist were out in force which made the drive a little stressful. But the town is beautiful and I'm looking forward to more Golden adventures the future.

Coors trip with the coworkers

The Coors' tour starts in the guest parking lot on 13th and Ford. From there a shuttle will pick patrons up and do a quick couple block tour of the town pointing out historical buildings.

One of my coworker's husband works at the brewery so we had our own little tour guide-- who really knew his stuff. We did the free tour--which is accompanied with an audio player that is easy to follow/use. At the door they scan in your ID and print of a wrist band with your name on it-- used for your three free drinks at the end. Coors offers another tour (the VIP tour) where you get orange vests and hard hat and you actually get to step on the floor with a personal tour guide.

Here are some facts about Coors:

• The Coors' Brewery was found in 1873 by Adolph Coors.

To date, Golden is the largest single-site brewery and is one of the only sites who malts their own grain and makes their aluminum cans on site.

Some Coors brands are- Blue Moon, Keystone Light, Killian's, and Zima.

Molson isn't created by Coors; however, Coors has a deal with Molson that Coors will distribute Molson in USA and Molson with distribute Coors in Canada.

Golden was picked for the brewery's site, because the most important ingredient in beer is water, and the water in the Rocky Mountains is superb.

Coors gained popularity during WWII because many of the solider did basic training near by and Coors provided them with beer. However, at that time Coors wasn't national yet so many of the soldiers went back home and couldn't get their new favorite beer.

• Coors and Miller merged together in 2008 the company is official known as MillerCoors.

Coors survived Prohibition by selling soda, makings of milkshakes, and other non-alcoholic drinks.

Coors invented the aluminum can (the cans before it changed the taste of the beer) and also start the recycling trend in the late 50's.

It takes approx. 55 days from start to finish to produce beer.

Beer has two fermenting stages.

Copper is used for the kettles because it doesn't throw off the beer's taste.

Coors creates it's own energy through a generator run off of water.

Coors recycles most of their materials. For example, used grain is reused in cattle feed.

Beer is like wine in the sense that light and heat ruins the quality.

train tracks are built around the plant so that trains can haul the beer.

Another thing that makes Coors remarkable is they actively seek out veterans to work for them. Roughly 25% of Coors working forces has served in the arm services at one time or another. Coors also is the only cooperation that has a memorial for all five arm services.

Overall, Coors Brewery is a fun and informative experience. The tour feels short (but that might be the group I was with wasn't really into listening to the whole audio player and just asked questions to our Coors worker that was with us. Aka they were ready to drink). And if you are planning on going out of your way to Golden you should plan on a couple other activities to fill the rest of the day. You definitely can't beat the price of free-- especially three free beers at the end, which can make anyone who appreciates beer very happy. The gift shop was well stocked and had items at an reasonable price. Although I don't know why you would bring children to this, it is family friendly with videos, hands on displays, and easy to follow path. Also at the end where the grow ups can get free beer they also have non-alcoholic drinks of water, soda, and lemonade. However, I think it would be hard for most children to get excited about and/or interested in this type of outting.