Today is Amanda’s birthday. (It’s also Susan’s birthday.)
She wouldn’t let me take a picture of her, so this is as good as it gets. Maybe when she makes herself more presentable she’ll let me take more. (Dad, you’re so annoying!)
I took the three days off while I was in Sunnyvale. But I still managed to swim a little more than 2 miles, bike a total of 35 miles, and run 10 miles for the 4-day week. I’m right on track for the Double Triathlon challenge at work.
I went to Sunnyvale (San Jose) Monday through Wednesday this past week. Knowing in advance that I was going to take this trip, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the San Jose Opera was currently performing Verdi’s Opera, Rigoletto. I bought tickets for myself and the guy that was traveling with me. We went on Tuesday evening, and even attended the lecture before the performance. It was very powerful, and a fantastic production.
Here is a link to a review from the San Jose Mercury.
The marquee.
Our view of the stage from the second row balcony.
The program and my ticket stub.
A self-portrait reflection in the mirror in my hotel room after the performance.
Okay, I understand the kid is spoiled.
We went to the bicycle store one day last weekend because I need to get a few cold weather things. Whilst there, Boomer became enamored with this little Schwinn bike with training wheels. As I finished by shopping, I damn near couldn’t get him off the bike. He was not happy, to say the least.
So two days later, I went back to the shop and bought the bike for him.
Brittany’s birthday was the 8th. This is the only photo we got of her.
By sheer dumb luck I saw a special on Country Music Television featuring Allison Krauss and Robert Plant. They played a lot of stuff from their duet album, but they also covered a few Led Zeppelin songs.
Here is a link to You Tube with them playing When the Levee Breaks. Allison sings and plays the violin solo, and Robert is playing guitar in the background.
Pretty hot stuff.
Damn it was cold.
I left our house at about 7:15 this morning and road my bike through the back streets of old Littleton in order to avoid the ice and snow covered Highline Canal, and get across Santa Fe to reach the Platte River bike path. This route still didn’t provide me with a clear and dry path, as most intersections were covered in ice.
I then went south on the River path, which also had occasional patches of ice, and stopped at the intersection with Mineral Avenue to wait for my friend Arne. Here is my bike at this point, with a snow berm in the background.
Looking south along the river at this same spot you could see where the ice had covered all the way across the path. You should be able to see a guy fly fishing along the bank – right in the center of the photo.
Arne arrived about 10 minutes later, and we continued south into Chatfield State Park. In the park, we took my favorite leg and lung buster up and over the dam.
We stopped briefly at the top, and I took this shot looking west at the reservoir. The big white swath through the bottom third of the photo is the lake – frozen solid. The little black specks are hoards of ice-fishermen. And the hot-air balloon is skimming the surface of the ice. Pretty amazing scene.
We headed down the other side of the dam, picked up the bike path and back to our rendezvous point. We split here and I pedaled slowly back home, pleasantly tired, and really quite cold.
22.27 miles in all for me, and it took 1:43:36. 12.9 mph average
Tami has a bunko game tonight with her Creative Memories consultant crew. She felt creative enough to make these red velvet cupcakes with pink frosting and sugar-cube dice. She’s crafty.
Wednesday night Tami and I went with Tim and Jeanne downtown to see a performance of the play, “Plainsong.” We rode the light rail to and from the theater complex on a bitterly cold night. Our tickets were courtesy of mom and Vern, who volunteer as ushers.
The photo below shows our train tickets, our tickets to the performance, and the cover of the program.
