Colorado
Timelapse of Boulder’s Flagstaff Fire
Colorado has some pretty intense wildfires “of epic proportions1” going on right now. It seems fortunate in that only one person has died thus far (from what I’ve been able to determine) and about 600 homes have been destroyed, but almost 150,000 acres of land have been burned in five separate fires that are still ongoing.
The sunset/nighttime/sunrise sections2 of this timelapse video by Dustin Henderlong are a wonderfully poignant view of the Flagstaff wildfire in Colorado, which is about 30 minutes north of my alma mater.
via Devin Reams
0to paraphrase Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown describing the Waldo Canyon Fire, but really could be applied to all the fires in Colorado ↩
starting at 1’32” and 3’45” ↩
Men Who Stare At Goats on Quandary Peak
One of the three times I went back to Colorado last year was to hang out with the old clan from college, specifically roommates and associated friends from that era. Ben planned it all and we had awesome time hiking, playing paintball, putt-putt golf, have some drinks, and watching movies — basically, just like old times but not.
For whatever reason, we did hiked the 14er on our first day of activities. I’m not in the greatest shape, but I’m couch potato either, so I was prepared to tackle the mountain. What I didn’t take into account was the 14,000 foot elevation gain I was making in just about 12 hours. I started in Seattle (177 feet ASL1) on Thursday night and summited Quandary Peak (14,265 feet ASL) at 10am the next day. It took a bit for the symptoms to set in, but I had a migraine, felt very nauseous, and not really like my self — perhaps even slightly confused. Fortunately, it wore off pretty quick — within a couple of hours — after descending back below 6,000 feet.
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
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Blue River, Colorado, United States
Above Sea Level ↩
24 Hours in Denver
Jeff and Elizabeth were in Washington, DC for the week, but got stuck in made a stop in the wonderful city of Denver on their way back. Jeff asked me:
24 hours in Denver, what should we do?
Here’s my quick and dirty short list of things to do in Denver. I’ve tried order it from north to south, west to east, but this is all mostly from memory.
- Coors Field, 2001 Blake Street Denver, Colorado, 80205
- Wynkoop Brewing Company, 1634 18th Street, Denver, (303) 297-2700
- Commons Park, 15th and Little Raven Street, Denver, CO (kitty corner from REI and across the river)
- REI Denver Flagship, 1416 Platte Street, Denver, CO, 80202-1120, (303) 756-3100
- Illegal Pete’s, 16th Street, Denver, CO
- United States Mint, 320 W Colfax Ave, Denver, Colorado, 80204
- Civic Center Park, West Colfax and Bannock St1
- Denver Art Museum, 100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO, 80204-2788, (720) 865-5000
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO, 80205, (303) 370-6000
- Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO, (303) 273-3000
Anything else worth adding to this list?
0From west to east is the Denver City and County building, Civic Center Park, and Colorado State Capital ↩
When It Snows, We Shut Down
Five years of driving in Colorado winters is great preparation for times like this in Seattle:
40.0 mm || 1/800 || f/4.2 || ISO100 || NIKON D7000
Seattle, Washington, United States
Last week1 Seattle got an amazing 2-5″ of snow.
Unfortunately, while I can get around with such practice, my experience is unable to magically transport itself into others. Thus I am still stuck in a city that can’t clear roads with drivers who still do stupid things:
I digress.
The snow started in earnest Monday morning. We were in a cold snap the previous weekend, so I was pretty sure the snow would stick. I left work early on Monday so I wouldn’t get stuck in the traffic, which turned out to be a good call. I heard it took some people as long as 12 hours to get home.
I decided to work from home on Tuesday, which was a good call as things remained frozen overnight and I heard it was a nightmare to get to work.
35.0 mm || 1/800 || f/4.2 || ISO100 || NIKON D7000
Seattle, Washington, United States
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Seattle, Washington, United States
Meanwhile, I commuted five minutes on foot my local Starbucks and camped out.
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Seattle, Washington, United States
November 22-24th ↩
Scenes from Colorado
I finally broke down and bought Lightroom 3. It’s awesome and definitely worth getting (even if you have LR2). Anyway, I was in Colorado this last weekend for my college roommates wedding. It was pretty epic. I got to see some great friends from my College Days™ — many of whom I haven’t seen in years1 — and meet some new people as well.
I think my favorite part was when Ben was reciting his vows to Kim, he did them in French. This was awesome because Kim was a French/Technical Writing major and Ben does not speak any French at all. I wasn’t part of the wedding party, but I was asked to take video of the event. So of course I brought my camera along too2:
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Ken Caryl, Colorado, United States
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Ken Caryl, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Littleton, Colorado, United States
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Ken Caryl, Colorado, United States
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El Rancho, Colorado, United States
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El Rancho, Colorado, United States
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El Rancho, Colorado, United States
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El Rancho, Colorado, United States
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El Rancho, Colorado, United States
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Boulder, Colorado, United States
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Broomfield, Colorado, United States
Update: Added a photo I forgot to upload. Also, per usual, you can see the rest of the wedding-related photos on Flickr: Sikora Wedding Awesome.
0Vacation Time in Colorado
Sweet merciful days of awesome! Vacation is here! This is my first official vacation since starting work (I’ve had a couple of sick days, but no fun days off as of yet). I can’t help but chuckle that as my first vacation destination, I’ve chosen to return to the scene of the crime my alma mater. I worked so hard to get away and now I can’t help but return, must be some form of Stockholm Syndrome.
I touched down tonight in Denver at 8pm. I don’t really have plans for Thursday, so who wants to hang out?
Friday is an awesome episode of The Feed, but I’m free in morning and early afternoon.
Saturday is pretty open, except for around dinner time.
Sunday is open except for after 7pm when I’m hoping to head over to Merge.
I’ll be around Monday, but I’m hoping to hang out with Brother if he’ll let me.
0Colorado for Vacation
I just booked my first vacation as person in The Real World™, and I’m going back to Colorado! Woo! This will be my first flight since getting back from my Europe Trip in August. I’ll be flying out right after work on Wednesday, November 18th, at 4:20pm (arriving at 8pm local time) and departing on Monday, November 23, at 6:05pm (arriving at 7:59pm local time).
It’s Brothers birthday1 on Thursday, the 19th, and some other familial obligations to attend to on Friday, but that leaves Frinight and the weekend open for whatever crazyness I can stir up with your help. I also want to go to Merge on Sunday night, so plan on that.
Should be a good little respite from work.
On a side note, sorry that updates have been few and far between. That’s sort of the way life is going for me right now. Hopefully that will change and I’ll get back to my usual posting antics.
021st to be precise ↩
2010 Boeing Internships Posted
Just a heads up: the 2010 Boeing Internships have been posted on the external Boeing job site. You can find them by going to http://www.boeing.com/employment/collegecareers/index.html
At last check, there were over 50 internship positions available, most of them in California, Missouri, and Washington State. There’s also about 50 full-time entry positions for college graduates, mostly located in California, Missouri, and Maryland, with at least three in Colorado at the moment.
If you know me and I know you1, feel free to contact me off-blog if you have questions.
I poked around and there are some really cool internships, so definitely apply if you’re even a little bit interested. One last note, you’ll need to be a US citizen for most of the positions…just something to be aware of.
0That is, we’ve mostly likely had at least one meal together ↩
Dear Friends
Dear Friends (and Family) in Colorado,
I’m leaving Colorado tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Leaving Colorado has been one of the most bitter sweet things I think I’ve ever had to do, even more so than at the end high school when I left Seattle for Colorado. The hardest thing for me has been trying to express how I feel. The deep love I have for all of you. The extreme sadness in the fact that I have to go. The giddy delight that I’m returning to Seattle.
I’m sitting in my grandma’s back yard right now, on one of those rocking benches. It’s pitch black out, save the glow from my screen. The wind rustles though the leaves. The wind chime softly sings. It’s one of those perfect moments of reflection, when everything finally comes into focus.
This past year has been amazing. Being a fifth year senior presented a unique set of challenges, and an equally amazing set of opportunities. Most of my friends graduated a year ago, leaving me and just a handful of others left. At the same time, a spark in my faith set me on a journey. I regularly attended church for the first time since leaving Seattle; not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I found an amazing new set of friends through church (both Merge and The Annex). What’s more, this renewed sense of faith found me challenging my beliefs, which is always a good thing, I think. And when I stumbled, you guys were there.
The biweekly Feed1 was often my cornerstone during the week, grounding me when school, and life, was just to much.
At the beginning of this school year, I very desperately wished for school to just be over. However, I’m glad I wasn’t allowed to sleep through these past nine months, as they have easily been my favorite nine months of the last five years. Part of me wishes I could do the first four years over again.
So thank you. To you. To all of you. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for all of you.
With Much Love,
Andrew
P.S. My hope is that this is not the end. Colorado always has been2 and will continue to be a second home for me. I will be back. And of course, you always have a bed (at least for a few nights) at my place in Seattle.
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