Brooke and Mark

Winter, already?

mark — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:06:31 +0000

Since the last time I posted was about how it was summer I’m a little shocked that this post is about how it’s winter! Well it’s fall, but it’s very cold out and no snow. So, what have we been up to since the last post? A quick recap for those who haven’t been paying attention:

Brooke graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Management.
She’s thinking about getting her PMP.
Brooke got a new Honda CR-V with all wheel drive so no more getting stuck in the snow.
Brooke turned 27 or so and I think each one is getting a little harder to admit to.

Mark is still in school with four more classes to go.
He took the fall semester off and if Brooke wouldn’t make him do it, he’d never go back to school as it’s a waste of his time in his opinion.
He’s been busy helping Mike with race4myplace.com, working on his own creation crowdrent.com, talking about continued help with gauto.com, coming up with new ideas.
Mark got a Honda Civic which is affectionately known as the vomit comet since Max gets car sick and it’s not all wheel drive so it should be a fun winter.
Mark is officially a full-time teleworker so we’ll see how that goes.
Mark turned 31 and really couldn’t care less. I think 31 was harder than 30.
Crowd Rent did it’s first transaction and I made my first three dollars in business. Doesn’t make me rich, just happy.
Mark is a serial “wantrepreneur“ but has yet to quit his job and make a fortune on any of the many ideas floating around his head.

Our puppies are a year old and entertaining as always.
We still live in the same house now just passing the two year mark. Longest I’ve ever lived in one spot since I’ve lived on my own.
Our company, CH2M Hill sold our division, EMS, to Golden Gate Capital and we’re now called Critigen.
We’re going to the southern Caribbean this winter for a week.

Oh, and it’s winter again. It has snowed, it’s been literally freezing, never over 32F/0C all day yesterday, lather, rinse, repeat.

It’s summer finally

mark — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:11:14 +0000

Last night was the first day of summer and the first fire. It wa a great night with friends and fire. We also had to kick on the air conditioning last night. Take that Phoenix.

Winter is back! We hardly knew ye

mark — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:29:40 +0000

Well, just as soon as spring showed it’s face winter smacked it and said get back in the basement, I’m calling the shots. And is winter ever calling those shots! We’re expecting literally the first substantial snow fall I know of this season and certainly this year. The snow shovel was getting bored, the gloves were buried since I never used them, in fact, Brooke forgot her ice scraper in my car since she hasn’t used it this entire season. In the season’s defense she doesn’t use it unless it dumps a foot or two. She kind of drives blind and fast enough to “blow it all off”.

Well let’s hope it’s as bad or worse as they say it should be. We need the moisture badly and I just love the snow. And this is big-flake snow too, not that sissy flurry nonsense. This’ll stick to your ribs and pretty much everything else it hits. And it’ll be in the 60s this weekend. I love Denver!

Your Saturday double does of puppy

mark — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:39:02 +0000

Although since there are two puppies and two videos I’d say this is your quadruple does of puppy!

Puppies in snow!

Puppies playing fetch

Farewell Mr President

mark — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:57:21 +0000

And this is why I find it hard to believe anyone will miss President Bush

Regardless of your political affiliation you have to admit, this guy wasn’t exactly presidential.

Status Check

mark — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:33:35 +0000

We haven’t posted in some time so I thought I’d share what we’re up to. First off, we’re taking care of the puppies. It’s amazing how much work they can be. They are doing well and they wake us up between 6:30 and 7 every morning with an immense amount of face licking.

Brooke is in her final push towards a BS in Technical Management. She has three classes left after she finishes up what she’s working on now. She is actively looking at where to go to get her MBA now. The puppies like her more because she doesn’t yell at them. She does, but my yelling scares the crap out of them.

I am back in school after a wonderful Christmas break. I hate school as much as I did the first time around. I wish I had more time to focus on it and actually read instead of doing the homework and just getting by. Some of it seems interesting. I’m also trying to promote Crowd Rent which aims to allow people to rent things they own to other people in their area. Make money off your stuff and help save the environment, it’s sounds good to me. Work is going well with a few trips to Cheyenne now and then. Nothing too bad though.

So there you have it, our lives in a few lines.

Birthdays was the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thirstay

mark — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:25:12 +0000

The title has no relevance to the post but I’m listening to the Notorious B.I.G. Discography and think it’s the best line in Juicy. Anyway, ever had the snot in your nose freeze as soon as you go outside? Doubtful as most of our readers are family in Phoenix! They know all about the smell of burning flesh when you get in your car. So it’s 1 degree today. It stopped snowing but it never really started. It wanted to snow for the last 24 hours but we ended up with like 3 inches. I was out sweeping it off (shovels are for suckers) and my snot was frozen. I think I was about to get frost bite in the hands since I didn’t take gloves. Sweat pants, slippers, and a snowboarding jacket. Even the puppies wanted to go inside. I took them in about 2 minutes after they came out. It seems like just yesterday we had our AC units installed but so long ago at the same time!

Shane Co Bankruptcy?

mark — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:26:39 +0000

Well Shane Co filed for bankruptcy in Denver today. If you know us you’ve probably seen Brooke’s engagement ring. We bought it at the Shane Co in large part due to their commitment to service and lifetime warranty. We paid less than we would have elsewhere and we felt we got a better warranty and better service. The people at the Arapahoe location we’re great and now almost two years later they still recognize us. Part of their warranty says that if it’s stolen, they’ll sell you a replacement at cost. Having a dad who works in the jewlery business I know the cost is dramatically different from retail. They will also replace it if the diamond falls out for free. What happens if Shane Co is no longer around? Will anyone stand behind her ring? I doubt it.

Your moment of puppy zen

mark — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:01:39 +0000

Max empties the water bowl to play with it instead of drink it.

Christmas in Mexico

mark — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:05:39 +0000

So Brooke and I just got back from Mexico. We went to Puerto Vallarta this time after Cabo last time. Now I’d been to Cabo on a work trip before and that was my second time. Both times I was luke warm on it and after Puerto Vallarta, we both can agree, Puerto Vallarta is fantastic. Puerto Vallarta has a better feel to it, it’s more relaxed and there is more to do. While Cabo is a great time and I’d recommend anyone to go there if they’re looking for a good time Puerto Vallarta is my pick for a more mellow and Mexico-like experience.

The vacation started great and got better each day. We ended up doing a time share presentation and got whale watching, zip line, city tour, and snorkeling. The whale watching was fantastic. The people were great and the whales were there almost on command and one even breached. It was amazing to be so close to 50 tons of animal coming almost all the way out of the water.

The next on the agenda was the zip line. Zip line was unreal and one of the most fun things we’ve ever done. It was called canopy chicos and they were friendly and very fun. The zip lines were upwards of 650 feet up and you got going as fast as 40 miles per hour. It was amazing and the views were stellar.

Next up was the city tour which wasn’t bad. It was mainly shopping at prearranged places where I’m sure the prices tripled when the bus showed up. Lunch was not included, it was in the middle of the “country” south of Puerto Vallarta and it was a rip off. The highlight of the tour was tequila tasting at the tequila factory. Juan the guy there was hilarious, the tequila was fantastic and the almond tequila was unreal.

Finally was “snorkeling” which was more of a day cruise. They dropped a handful of us into the ocean to snorkel and gave us 20 minutes so the other half could go. There was virtually nothing to look at in the water and there were jellyfish in the area. So we stop at our first, Quimixto, of two beaches for lunch and a waterfall hike. We skipped the waterfall and waited for lunch. Lunch was blah and we were so late leaving we missed our second stop. Las Animas was supposed to be the reason to go, the most beautiful beach on the trip. We chased some dolphins on the way back but it was boring.

After the tours we settled in for our first “boring” day at the pool. This was Christmas day and quite a good time. The weather in Puerto Vallarta was great and sitting at the pool in 80ish degree weather was even better. Later that night we found what I’ll call the hands down best fajitas on the face of the earth. Fajita Banana was amazing. We’d been the night before and got a sampler platter and then fajitas for other people came out and we regretted our choice. It was like they made the fajitas from pure goodness. They were amazing and I can’t wait to go back. All in all the food wasn’t stellar at the marina but it was good and there was a large variety. Victors was always popular and Victor himself came out and did a shot of tequila when you ordered a beer.

What is obvious is there are many Mexicos. There is the resort or multi-million dollars beachfront homes, there are the poor Mexicans in town just trying to earn a living, and then those in the very poor out in the more rural areas. However, one thing we’ve seen first hand is each and every Mexican from any one of those areas are amazingly hospitable and exceedingly proud of their nation. It may be the cab driver or the man riding the bus pointing us to downtown thinking we were lost. Each and every person there was amazing and very gracious hosts. We can both say we would love to go back soon. Every time we’ve been to Mexico we’ve been very happy.

An photo linkage for those still reading