Gosh. Update Much?

Whoa. It's been almost a year since my last update. Sarah and I have two cats (one is temporary), are now engaged, and are sick of paying rent, so we are looking for a house. I'm trying to juggle different music groups, start a new coding project, and have been neglecting exercise for sometime.

I suppose I will cover these soon, as I have access to my blog from work and can update during my lunch break. Hope it sticks, and sorry for the lack of updates on this dead blog!

Tonight Sarah and I are going to take a glance over a house that just came on the market in Alfred.  If it doesn't blow us away, we're going to place an offer on another small house in town. Oh boy...

Cozying In

Just got my internet up and running, my bank account is set, I am currently changing my address at the DMV and  post office.  Boxes still lie about, and I have a lot of work to do putting away the kitchen, but things are getting more and more comfortable.

I start work next Monday, which gives me one last week to study before the FE exams on Saturday, and sometime soon I need to get my birthday photos from Sarah so I can show you the New Belgium Brewery!

Deja Vu

Wednesday, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and got to see the same mountains we saw when we visited in June during our road trip.  Again, before we got to our hiking trail, we saw a huge herd of elk grazing in the valley.  Our hike was only 2.3 miles out to a small mountain lake, but the trek was 96% snow covered, which felt like walking in sand, uphill.

There were no trail markers that we could find, luckily the many footsteps of past hikers was easy enough to follow.  They had packed down the snow, leaving you unaware that you were walking at times 2 feet over the ground.  Stepping slightly off the 1.5 foot wide path left you without a leg.

We got to the top of the trail and ate our lunch on the side of Cub Lake, on large rocks basking in the sun.  Crossing to the rocks would have been a challenge, had the lake not frozen up.  The marshy grass at the outlet shaded the hard ice underneath, so we were able to cross without dunking our feet.

By the time we finished our sandwiches and crackers, a cold wind quickly brought dark clouds over the mountains and straight for us.  Lucky for us we were done with lunch, and started out descent.

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day.  Sarah and I went letter boxing around a nice bike trail that circled the east side of town.  After grabbing two, we found our third at the New Belgium Brewery.  Inside, we each received 4 tokens for glasses of any of their 8 beers they had available for tasting.  It was quite a popular place, understandably.  We may return on my birthday to go on the tour of their facility.

That night, we went out on the town to see the green mobs pile into the bars, especially those that were Irish.  We decided on going to a bar we looked up where Great American Taxi was playing, featuring the violin player from Railroad Earth!  I dawned my green Railroad Earth shirt and went to the show, which was quite a small venue (I saw a much larger venue in Boulder headlining Taxi on the front).

Yesterday we visited the Boulder commons.  It reminded me a lot of Ithaca, NY.  Many shops lining the long central courtyard, which was FILLED with entertainers.  From fire eaters, to blue grass bands, to didgeridoo players, and an amazing street drummer, who I wish I was able to take a video of the first 7 minutes of his performance, but I only caught a little at the end.  He was making quite a bit of cash!

Spring Break!

Okay, so I don't really have a spring break as I've been on a "break" since December, but I'm spending what others are enjoying as spring break in Fort Collins, CO.  Sarah and I have been biking about enjoying lots of food, drinks, and sunlight.  I'm spending 2 weeks here and returning home the day after my 23rd birthday.

The artist Sarah is working for was kind enough to let us borrow one of her bikes for my visit.  Ft. Collins is a very bike friendly town, and there are plenty of trails, so it is sure nice to have it.  Yesterday we met up with two of Sarah's friends and biked several miles to a nearby town for large cinnamon rolls and brunch.  However, due to construction knocking out a bridge along the way, we missed the breakfast menu by seven minutes!

Still on our list of plans is a visit to the Rocky Mountains, Boulder, and maybe Denver, while enjoying some of the area's live music.  Last time we visited the Rockies, we were able to photograph some stunning views.  Hope to share some soon!

Today we photographed some geese as they came over to our bikes to visit.

8 at home, 70 in Florida

Enjoying a week in the sunshine state, visiting my dad's parents.  Yesterday we went to a gallery to see famous glassblower Chihuly's collection they had on display.  You can see a glimpse of his work on his website, http://www.chihuly.com.

Sent in all my paperwork for my new apartment and job from here in Florida.  I'll be moving the first of April.  If you would like to know the address, just let me know.  It's a small two bedroom townhouse just off main street Alfred, NY.

I was hoping to post more but my dad's getting ready to letterbox.  It'll be a nice day for it!

Introduce Me to the Real World

Today I accepted an offer for the position of Application Engineer at Dresser-Rand in Wellsville, NY.  It's very exciting, but I won't be starting until after I take the FE exam in April, to allow myself to study, as well as visit Sarah in March.

Wellsville neighbors Alfred, so I already know the area, and will be able to keep on going to the Alfred Dojo for Karate!  Sarah plans on eventually sharing an apartment in the area.  We hope to find at least a short term  apartment in Alfred to stay near the college scene.

Soon the official paperwork will be coming in the mail.  Now I've got to find a decent apartment!

Dresser-Rand's Wellsville location specializes in Steam Turbines and has both a manufacturing facility and engineering offices.  See more at www.dresser-rand.com.

Don't Let Me Forget!

Looks like he's studying hard too.

Had to stick corks in my ears today to keep all my schooling from draining out.  I haven't completed registration, but I plan on taking the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exams on the 9th of April.  It is the second step to becoming a professionally licensed engineer (the first step was paying New York a large fee just to be eligible to take the test, which costs more money.)

I've scheduled out about two months worth of studying, and hope to rekindle what I've already learned, and hope that it sticks longer.  Getting ready for a world a head hurt.