So I just got back from Denver. I admit, my attitude prior to arrival was not the best. I have a ton to do and will only be back for 2 days before taking off for vacation in Oregon all next week. I am dreading the work pile up! Anyway, it all turned out to be better than anticipated.

I arrived Saturday afternoon to spend time with my aunt who lives in Denver. On Saturday we got our nails done, had dinner, and opened wedding presents they had not yet gotten to open since the wedding 2 weeks ago. On Sunday, Aunt Susan and I went to Breckenridge which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away. We had a GREAT time! Breckenridge is beautiful in the summer time. Lots of cute shops and little restaurants dominate the main street. An art festival was also taking place. However, we were at 13,000 feet and the altitude began to get to me so really only stayed about 3 hours.

By Sunday evening, all the Account Managers from across the country with my company, Great-West Healthcare, (www.greatwesthealthcare.com) had arrived and my aunt dropped me off at the hotel. I got to spend time with friends from my office and those from other offices across the country. My dear friend from the Dallas office, Kelly Mason, was also there and it was SO good to see her for free!

The first evening of the conference was Casino Night. Now, I know how to do nothing but play the slots, and since there were no slots, I spent the night talking to old friends and making new ones. If you know me, I was perfectly content with this.

But the best of all was... Drag Racing at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO!











I was really nervous at first because I saw one of my coworkers fishtail at 85 MPH... but I still went out to give it a go. I won 2 of 3 times - I hit 1/4 mile in 14.7 seconds, 97 MPH (the fastest was 14.6 seconds). I lost the last race to the manager of the Chicago office. My reaction time was too slow at the initial "go" light -- .5 tenths of a second whereas you really need .2 to .3 -- super hard to do!


All in all, I had a great time but am glad to be back home with my husband! Love ya, Al!

We've been experiencing reversed situations the past few days. The typical routine is for me (Allen) to be out of town for work and Sarah at home. However, Sarah has been in Denver over the past couple of days for work and I have been here.
I've tried to make the most of my time here by myself by hanging out with friends that are owed some overdue hang out time. I even squeezed in some karaoke last night! (the beatbox is always a crowd fav)
But, I'm ready for Sarah to come home.
We've got a trip to Hood River, OR coming up soon!
I'm looking forward to morning walks, time outside, and catching up on reading.

I thought with 24 and LOST ending, we would not be tempted to watch so much tv due to a lack of intersting shows. Why did I attempt to underestimate network television?

Sarah and I are both vastly entertained with Last Comic Standing. We watched the first two seasons (season 2 was the best), skipped the third, but are now totally hooked on the 4th.

There are several comics that can make you laugh, but our favorite (and probably one of America's favorites) is Josh Blue.
Josh has cerebral palsy and uses his situation as the source of his comedy. If you watch Josh do at least 30 seconds of comedy, he will make you laugh and when he walks off stage you find your self cheering for him. We'll see how far he goes. He'll definitely have to employ some comedy outside of his disability if he wants to win. But, everyone will love him.

Another show I think I will love is Treasure Hunters. Its kind of like Amazing Race in that teams will travel in order to advance, but each step involves a puzzle that has to be solved.
This past week the as the teams were figuring out where they needed to go, their bus driver would accept either Mount Rushmore or Mount Theodore Roosevelt. I was thinking that Rushmore would have been too obvious a guess. You know what one other team reasoned like that as well? The geniuses! Too bad the Geniuses were WRONG. Oh well, we can't get everything right.

Looks like Sarah and I will have our Monday and Tuesday nights booked up for a couple of months. Ok, we do have tivo so I guess we could watch our shows later if we had to.

This past Monday and Tuesday nights my cousin Sean and his band stayed with us. (We are really getting a lot of use out of this condo now!)
Last year The Elliot Project (the band) did a west coast tour and stayed with us a night. This year the band has 5 members and a great new sound!

The guys got tickets to a taping of The Tonight Show. They got a little bit of camera time. We even saw Sean clearly shaking Jay Leno's hand. So, i guess this was The Elliot Project's national tv debut! :)
Sean, Bryant, Stephen, Chance, and Alex were fun to have around. Check out their music on iTunes. The latest album is called Angel.

(meant to post this like a week ago!)
My family came in town this past (extended) weekend. April, Brett, and Caden came in on Thursday, while Mom and Dad came in on Friday night. It was a full house, but the condo worked out great. Brett and I went hiking on Monday morning. Then on Tuesday, Brett, Dad, and I went to Magic Mountain to ride some coasters. The girls went shopping of course.

Brett and I went hiking at Point Dume and Solstice Canyon. It was a lot of fun and we got some cool pics from it.


While at Magic Mountain, our two favorite coasters were "X" and "Goliath". X is fun, because your chair can get flipped backwards as the track changes. Its hard to explain, you'd just have to try it. You just don't know what to expect the first time you ride it. Goliath was the favorite of Dad, because it was a more traditional coaster. But, its just HUGE. Such a big drop.

when they left it was definitely a lot quieter and lonely around here without a full house.

A lot has happened since the last post, so several postings are due.

I (Allen) went to the wedding of one of my coworkers (Kelly Sirko, now Miksa). It was a blast for those in our office who went. Got to see old friends, spend last moments with good friends, and quality time with friends who aren't going away soon. I ended up filming the wedding and enjoyed getting to be "artistic". Oh, and we got to grab Chick-fil-A on the way to the wedding! Yay, for chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, and killer Lemonade!

I spent most of last week at WACAC (the professional organization for admissions folk and high school counselors on the West Coast). I have met some absolutely wonderful people in the field of admissions. Some are first year counselors and some are old veterans. WACAC was a blast for me because I got to see so many friends and make new ones. I got to make two different presentations during the conference. The first was a session for new counselors just wrapping up their first year. I teamed up with Keith Kelly from the University of the Pacific and Jessica Nettinga from Soka University of America. Both are top notch counselors and excellent presenters. Our session was packed and seemed to be enjoyed by all. The second presentation was a repackaged presentation of what I did at the College Board Western Forum in Vegas back in February. This time I teamed up with Pat Coleman from Sierra Nevada. Pat has been in admission for quite a while and has experience at several different schools. She is a great mentor and a wealth of knowledge and experience.