the globe rover

Denver, CO

My spring/summer adventure led me to sign up for the MS150 which is a 150 mile bike ride from Denver to Ft. Collins and return over two days. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking but I signed up, convinced a friend to sign up, bought a new bike, and started training.

I haven’t been on a stellar training program but I have managed to go from riding 15 miles to 60 miles in about a month. The long rides are new but are mostly enjoyable. On Saturday, JD and I rode out to Morrison on the trails from Wash Park (Cherry Creek to South Platte River to Bear Creek Trail). It was invigorating to know that I could ride that far and I actually felt pretty good after (save the sore rear from the saddle).

Fifteen more miles to add and then the ability to do it two days in a row. At least I know that I’m helping raise money for a good cause (and hopefully managing to get myself into a bit of summer shape).

One month and counting…

Morrison, CO

The Cure is one of the bands that takes me back to my high school and college days - every time I hear them I am flooded with loads of great memories! The show they played at Red Rocks last week was amazing. Robert Smith sounds every bit as good as he ever did - amazing to think that 15-20 years later he can still perform like a superstar. Red Rocks is such an amazing place to see a show - and this one was no exception. It was a fantastic show. Thanks to
Josh and Brian for being great company!

Here’s the set list (amazing three encores with ten songs):

underneath the stars
prayers for rain
a night like this
the end of the world
lovesong
to wish impossible things
[unknown new song]
lullaby
maybe someday
the perfect boy
from the edge of the deep green sea
hot hot hot
the only one
the blood
the walk
push
friday i’m in love
inbetween days
just like heaven
if only tonight we could sleep
never enough
wrong number
one hundred years
baby rag dog book

Encore:
plainsong
disintegration

Encore 2:
freakshow
close to me
why can’t i be you?

Encore 3:
boys don’t cry
jumping someone else’s train
grinding halt
10:15 saturday night
killing an arab

Here are a few pics and some videos I uploaded to YouTube (sorry for the shaking but I couldn’t keep the feet still :).

Denver, CO

From Barnes & Noble:

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard

Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools-especially for girls-that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

Greg Mortenson is one of my new modern day heroes. What an amazing man that has given back so much to humanity and is fighting an uphill battle to educate children in a struggling culture.

After a failed attempt to climb K2 in Pakistan, Mortenson accidentally wanders into the village of Korphe where his life will be changed forever. He is literally exhausted after the attempted climb and insists that he must find his guide. But the villagers take him in and provide care and nourishment. And in so doing introduce him to a culture that is so rich and yet so neglected by the local government. There are no schools for the children - the government keeps promising but leaves an empty promise. And thus, begins Mortenson’s new life as he promises to find a way to build a school in Korphe.

Greg is a nurse and struggles to keep costs low (in his early years he lives in his car) so that all his extra money can be saved to put toward building the new school which will cost a mere $12,000. Greg continues to fight for the cause including launching a letter campaign sent to 580 people (which produces one very important check). Through each setback, he continues to push forward until he has saved enough for the first school. Along the way, Greg also meets an amazing man that decides to fund Greg’s cause (together they start the Central Asia Institute). Again, Greg faces challenge after challenge in Pakistan trying to buy, store, and transport the materials to the village of Korphe. But Greg keeps pushing on.

Through death threats after 9/11 and lack of funds, Greg continues to fight for the children that deserve an education. One of the biggest obstacles was the local Pakistan government that thinks the “American” is trying to push Christianity in schools in Pakistan. But Greg has to prove time and again that he is not pushing any religion but yet a basic education. Without which, the local children might be forced to attend the madrassas (radical schools built by fundamentalist Islam groups) as that is the only option to avoid poverty and life without opportunity.

Mortenson is an amazing man, educator, hero, and citizen. He has made tremendous progress in a land that is misunderstood by most Americans. He continues to advance and build schools for the deserving children of Central Asia. His principle is simple - kids deserve education. It is the key to our future and to removing barriers between cultures that live so differently. It is the power to create a unified and peaceful world in the future.

Cheers to Greg Mortenson and a mission that can change the world!

Denver, CO

From Publishers Weekly
This haunting novel, which just failed to win the Booker this year, is at once McEwan at his most closely observed and psychologically penetrating, and his most sweeping and expansive. It is in effect two, or even three, books in one, all masterfully crafted. The first part ushers us into a domestic crisis that becomes a crime story centered around an event that changes the lives of half a dozen people in an upper-middle-class country home on a hot English summer’s day in 1935. Young Briony Tallis, a hyperimaginative 13-year-old who sees her older sister, Cecilia, mysteriously involved with their neighbor Robbie Turner, a fellow Cambridge student subsidized by the Tallis family, points a finger at Robbie when her young cousin is assaulted in the grounds that night; on her testimony alone, Robbie is jailed. The second part of the book moves forward five years to focus on Robbie, now freed and part of the British Army that was cornered and eventually evacuated by a fleet of small boats at Dunkirk during the early days of WWII. This is an astonishingly imagined fresco that bares the full anguish of what Britain in later years came to see as a kind of victory. In the third part, Briony becomes a nurse amid wonderfully observed scenes of London as the nation mobilizes. No, she doesn’t have Robbie as a patient, but she begins to come to terms with what she has done and offers to make amends to him and Cecilia, now together as lovers. In an ironic epilogue that is yet another coup de the tre, McEwan offers Briony as an elderly novelist today, revisiting her past in fact and fancy and contributing a moving windup to the sustained flight of a deeply novelistic imagination. With each book McEwan ranges wider, and his powers have never been more fully in evidence than here. Author tour. (Mar. 19)Forecast: McEwan’s work has been building a strong literary readership, and the brilliantly evoked prewar and wartime scenes here should extend that; expect strong results from handselling to the faithful.

I was provoked to read this book after seeing the preview for the movie (as usual, I have to read the book before watching the movie). This is an engaging and very sad story of the power we have as people to take things away from others whether right or wrong.

The underlying story is of a little girl, Briony, that is coming into adulthood and in doing so witnesses an event that she misconstrues and turns into her own fictitious story. Briony is a storyteller always creating short stories and plays. And what she witnesses between her sister and the hired help’s son provides a plot that she can turn into her own story. And because of the story she creates in her mind, she is led to tell a lie that will ruin two people’s lives. And of the continued and delayed pain that it causes for Briony and the struggle to undo the wrong that she has committed.

The story is a brilliant story of one lie ruining lives and the power and endurance of that lie. McEwan is an amazing fiction writer. I am looking forward to seeing this movie although I know it will be a sad and riveting story to watch.

Denver, CO

From Barnes and Noble:

What are the secrets of happiness? Which traits or habits do happy people share? This book, combining personal narratives with scientific research, reveals the nine choices that truly happy people make–and explains how such joy-producing principles as intention, accountability, appreciation and truthfulness can be applied in our daily lives to help us join their ranks.

Readers will meet happy people of various ages, backgrounds, and walks of life–from a corporate manager balancing career and family to a Holocaust survivor to a cafeteria worker struggling to make ends meet–and, using the self-assessment tools and practical suggestions in this book, will discover new ways to find genuine happiness for themselves.

I started reading this book a while ago after it caught my attention at the book store and then suggested it to my book club. The book chronicles the nine choices that happy people exhibit:

1. Intention – the active desire and commitment to be happy, and the decision to consciously choose attitudes and behaviors that lead to happiness over unhappiness
2. Accountability – the choice to create the life you want to live, to assume personal responsibility for your actions, thoughts and feelings, and the emphatic refusal to blame others or view yourself as a victim
3. Identification – the ongoing process of looking deeply within yourself to assess what makes you uniquely happy, apart from what you’re told by others should make you happy
4. Centrality – the non-negotiable insistence on making central to your life that which brings you happiness
5. Recasting – the two-step process that transforms stressful problems and trauma into something meaningful, important and a source of emotional energy
6. Options – the decision to approach life by creating multiple scenarios, to be open to new possibilities and to adopt a flexible approach to life’s journey
7. Appreciation – the choice to appreciate deeply your life and the people in it, and to “stay in the present” by turning each experience into something precious
8. Giving – the choice to share yourself with friends and community, and to give to the world at large without the expectation of a “return”
9. Truthfulness – the choice to be honest with yourself and others, and not allow societal, workplace, or family demands to violate your internal contract

One of the best things about the book is that it isn’t just a list and explanation of these qualities but yet includes examples of real life people and how they do and don’t exhibit these traits. The little vignettes of people make the book an engaging read that is much more applicable than simply an explanation of the qualities.

This is a book that I’d like to pull out every year to refresh my memory and ensure that I am focusing on the right things to help make my life as happy as can be.

Book club selection

Denver, CO

From Amazon:

It all started with a mysterious letter left at a tiny bookstore for authors Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Its closing lines: “We just want people to know about this. The stuff that has happened to us could happen to anyone.” Little could they imagine the remarkable adventure that awaited them as they followed Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace and a strange old book into a world filled with elves, goblins, dwarves, trolls, and a fantastical menagerie of other creatures. The oddest part is in entering that world, they didn’t leave this one!

This series of books was a great read that took me straight back to childhood. They are young adult books and easy to read - all the better for some great entertainment. The characters are wonderful and lead the reader on exciting adventures through a world so unlike our daily lives. I haven’t seen the movie yet but can’t wait to see these great characters on the big screen!

Denver, CO

Description:

In How to Get a Date Worth Keeping, Dr. Henry Cloud gets to the heart of the issues dating raises for many readers and gets them on the road to fun and fulfillment in the single life. He explains both stagnant dating (it’s virtually nonexistent) and unfruitful dating (you keep attracting the wrong types or have other unhealthy patterns). But Dr. Cloud doesn’t leave you after giving you explanations; he offers you a program designed to solve your dating woes. If you are single and dating is not working for you, it’s time you find success. Get ready for lots of growth, healing, stretching, and dates!

A friend of mine sent me this book to read after one of our dating conversations. It is definitely an interesting read with some great and valid points (common sense but things we don’t necessarily “think” about on a regular basis).  The book leans to the religious side but doesn’t push it which is refreshing. I think for anyone that is single and dating, there are points to learn from. There is a “plan” that is suggested for starting to date effectively. It is pretty encompassing, forward, and time consuming - and I’m quite sure with that much effort it must work. There are valid points and thought provoking exercises for anyone in the dating world.