The Final Post

Time for this photo-journal to come to an end. It's been a long, fun winter, but I'm looking forward to the flowers of spring and greener pastures, as it were. This summer I'll be heading to Israel, running the Leadville Marathon (which tops out at 13,200 feet; dear jesus), and flying away to Norway and Iceland. Should be a pretty good time, indeed. To top it all off, I need to go find a new home in Washington D.C. as I've just learned I'll be attending Georgetown University to gain my M.A. in English Literature next year; go Hoyas!




Focker, out!

blog gone crazy

 

 

more

 

to aspen

 

and moving on to New Year' Eve! the boys decided to head to a local thrift-store to buy two-dollar tweed blazors to wear out; that's right, it only took 10 bucks to dress these dapper gents and obviously, it was worth every penny. and in honor and respect for alex, our buddy-in-florida-but-that-didn't-stop-us-from-partying-at-his-house buddy, we made sure to take a picture in front of the family portrait. you were there in spirit, you platinum-haired wild man! 

we made sure to look good... 

welcome to the beer/snow olympics 2006! this year's eve day, we donned 80's-style snow gear and headed to a local middle-school with about 50 beers; don't get the wrong idea now, school is still out and we brought cups to mask our carousal. the games included three-legged races and drinking beer; an egg-toss and drinking more beer; the carry-the-egg-on-a-spoon relay-race and drinking even more beer; sledding and drinking a lot of beer (the most dangerous event); and my personal favorite, the chug 'n tumble (aka yak and roll). this inauspicious event required athletes to chug a beer at the bottom of the sledding hill, run to the top, drink another, and roll down...what a day! 

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but finally, the sun came back 

the scene at night... 

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we were hit with two pretty massive storms. the biggest problem was, and still is in some places, getting around. 

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holy snow. as some of you may have heard, colorado's front range received a little snow recently; here is what the ol' neighborhood looked like... 

Abu-Cho Immortalized in Print!

And here is the photo in print!

Here is the original picture I took last year on a stunning day along the coast in Abu-cho. 

the family once again congregated up in portland, or. for thanksgiving. the holiday was great, the food was great (thanks jay and bree), the company was great, but it was this little gal who stole the show. i give you ms. apple, an eight-week old golden doodle; she was just adorable. hope wherever you all are, american and non, you're having a nice holiday season!

Abe and I and the goldens enjoying some of the last hiking that won't require snowshoes 

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As winter has come on, Boulder has hosted a number of spectacular sunsets. I'm really beginning to miss Japan, but nights like these remind me of how much I love Colorado 

"...if there is a state where the soul can find a resting-place secure enough to establish itself and concentrate its entire being there, with no need to remember the past or reach into the future, where time is nothing to it, where the present runs on indefinitely but this duration goes unnoticed, with no sign of the passing time, and no other feeling of deprivation or enjoyment, pleasure or pain, desire or fear than the simple feeling of existence, a feeling that fills our soul entirely, as long as this state lasts, we can call ourselves happy, not with a poor, incomplete and relative happiness such as we find in the pleasures of life, but with a sufficient, complete and perfect happiness which leaves no emptiness to be filled in the soul. such is the state which i often experienced on . . . my solitary reveries, whether i lay in a boat and drifted where the water carried me, or sat by the shores of the stormy lake, or elsewhere, on the banks of a lovely river or a stream murmuring over the stones."
-- j.j. rousseau