I Fell in Love at Target

I fell in love at Target yesterday. She was a college student, shopping for a closet organizer, likely for her dorm room. I looked at her, she looked at me, and smiles were exchanged between me and this gentle great beauty.

Then some boy she was with showed up, and the coworker I was shopping with came back, so True Love parted ways.

I fall in love pretty much every time I go to Target, so much so that I think I should start hanging out there more often.

Target, you are the bullseye on my heart.

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I’m getting lazy

haven’t been blogging much, as I haven’t really been in a writing mood. Time for some updates though. Been hanging out, enjoying fall, started a new full time job, working on sexytie on the side (we’re up to about 220,000 views on video 1), and playing a lot of multilayer halo 3 with my dude friends. Have lots of car and financial problems (the latter partly causing the former) and still lifting weights with Casey and Rollie. Going to Las Vegas this weekend and looking forward to halloween next week.

that’s all.

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Fall is here

It’s october 7th and fall has officially hit Boulder!!! We’ve had hints of its coming since early September…..and the leaves have been changing for a few weeks now, but today fall began. There was some sun, but mostly it was kinda cloudy, drizzled a bit, and it felt fallish. I was really dreading the end of summer for a while, but over the last 2 weeks have really relaxed into the natural transition that the seasons bring. Summer has passed, and all its feelings, tensions, and joys along with it.

It’s a new game now. Hello Fall ‘07. Let’s rock.

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Nothing New

Nothing to new or interesting to report! Still working part time, editing Chicago videos on the side. Had our first glimpse of Fall yesterday in boulder, a) because it got fairly cold and b) because I realized it was dark at 8pm!

not sure i’m ready for winter!

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Photo

I’m totally digging this photo I took up at the Royal Arch a few weeks ago.

The pre-thunderstorm charge from the air almost seems visible……

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Updates……including training

Spent a good weekend in chicago filming more videos, this time at Navy Pier. Got a little sunburned, SHAME on me. Flew back Monday morning and went into work, then went straight to the gym for a truly ass kicking afternoon chest/triceps session. Nearly passed out in the Sauna, then headed home for a bit before meeting stan for some drinks in the evening.

Had a good hill run this morning, realizing that winter is coming has made it a bit easier to get up and enjoy the warmth. This year is flying by. Starting to get a fairly good outline/vibe of what the next year or so of life is going to like, and must say it feels pretty good to have some direction again. Still working through some of the issues that came up for me a few weeks ago, and while not really enjoyable, it feels good to be letting go of some things.

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Mount Sanitas in the morning, hiking, growth

Our gym is closed this week for their annual week long “deep clean”. As a result, for the 2nd August in a row, Casey and I are doing our morning Sanitas hikes. It’s such a beautiful, gratifying way to start the day that I am deeply enjoying. I’ve always found that I seem to process and be my sharpest cognitively when I’m hiking. Something about hiking specifically, even more so than walking, really puts me into an open space that often leads me to have some truly amazing discussions. This morning’s was particularly great, covering everything from the dangers of ego at the world centric level, karma, eros/agape, the idealism of romantic love, how deepening one’s secondary sexual essence can often deepen your primary one, and how important it is to be open to pain, as that’s often where the most growth occurs. At least that’s what I think we talked about. ;^)

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Slipping Away

I like this song……..Moby rocks. “open to everything” has been the phrase in my head the last week. I knew it was from a song but couldn’t remember it for the life of me. Feels good to have found it……..and to be feeling it……

powered by ODEO

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Stuart Davis Short I shot

A short I shot for Stuart Davis back in May.

In other news my desktop died this morning. Or at least the RAIDed harddrives that were my system drive did…..power fluctuation killed um. Things I know I lost: All my music (though about 70% is now locked onto my ipod….will have to find a way to rip it off), photos of Martin’s Wedding in Germany, Europe Photos I think…….and god knows what else. (i kept waaaaaaay too much shit on my windows desktop)

t’ah well! it’s like i lost shit……..but i don’t even know what……though, ain’t that always the case?

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A Good Reminder

sometimes I forget how damned amazing some of the people I’m surrounded by here in boulder are.

the stronger the sangha, the stronger the buddha -RM

i think that says it all.

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Training Log: Day 50

Was flying solo today, partner #1 is on Boston for a wedding and partner #2 had a major calf injury playing frisbee on wednesday, he could hardly walk! It was a beautiful morning here in boulder, and I merrily sprang out of bed to head to the gym. Friday’s are back and bicep day, and while I didn’t have anyone to push me today I was fairly pleased with my performance. I think my body has started adapting to our routine a bit, so am starting to feel it might be time to change things up pretty soon and swap in some new exercises.

The gym regulars were great today, people notice now when our whole crew wasn’t there so I got a number of numerous comments. I like my gym, I like the people that are there when I work out. Most of the people there are quite a bit older than me, and I find it awesome that they work out as regularly as they do. Great models of how to make working out a lifestyle, not just something you do to look better.

I’m digging this strength training thing I really must say.

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Travel Sites have launched

Instead of planning out mega huge massive sites that cover everything, I’ve launched both SantaCruzTraveler.com and BoulderTraveler.com blog style. While not as fancy, this format allows me to start adding stuff as I go whenever I can. If anyone is interested in doing some write ups of restaurants, things to do, anything travel related let me know, I might even pay you, though it won’t be much!

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Party Foul!

here’s the scene:

Casey, Steve, and myself head over to Trilogy from the office at 5pm. From 5-7pm they have just about the greatest happy hour ever: a bottomless glass of wine and an appetizer for $8, which really is just unbeatable. As the hours progress more and more folks show up and we’re having a merry old time. Several glasses of wine later they have last call for the bottomless glass….we all down another and decide it’s time to get some real food.

Over to Pizza Calore for a few slices, which we then take up to the Rooftop deck of The Chief Good offices (which we sadly only have till the end of the month!).

We eat, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and make a plan of action for the rest of the evening. A few folks split off, but myself, Keith, and Brian Berger decide to keep the night rolling. While on the roof, we spot what looks to be a crazy happening party on another roof deck about a block down. The game is set, we’re gonna crash this party.

We walk down Pearl, find our way to the elevator of the building, easy enough, no problems so far! While in the elevator, we put our game faces on, decide that we’ll just say “Heather, John, and Joe told us to meet them here”. Fantastic, we’re all on the same page!

Elevator opens and we transform, ain’t nobody gonna stop us from crashing this party….as we walk towards the people and the noise, time slows down a bit…..we hear music, see party decorations, and a lot of short people. An tall older man steps in front of us, and a disgruntled looking older women quickly leaps to our side and asks “Can I help you gentlemen?” Not to be phased, Keith immediately springs into action: “We’re hear to meet Heather, John, and Joe. They told us it’d be cool if we came”.

It’s then we realize, this people aren’t just crazy short, they’re YOUNG!

The older woman cackles “Uh, I don’t think so guys. This is a MIDDLE SCHOOL PARTY“.

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thank you sunshine

for finally making an appearance on frisbee day. my goodness, when the sun is shining at North Boulder Park gently basking the Flatirons in a soft afternoon glow, can there possibly be anywhere better to be?

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office view

view of flatirons from our office.

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One Year Anniversary

This here blog, in-my-tree is a year old today. how the times flies. hope some of you that read it have gotten at least a little enjoyment here and there from keeping up with my boulder escapades…..

Oh yeah, and even though it was like full on 70 degrees most of last week, its been snowing all morning! Gotta love the boulder weather.

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Maxwell House inaugural party

Version 2, I cut out some stuff so its shorter.

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Oscars are this sunday

Why I still let myself get excited by this overlong, boring, predictable hollywood affair, I do not know.

But, alas, I do, and its fun to get semi excited about something. This year’s best picture nominees are actually fairly diverse for once and pretty damn interesting. And although the delight of watching Jon Stewart host won’t be there this year, I’ll sludge through it with a few glasses of wine.

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Happy Anniversary

Twas a year ago today that my sister and I packed up the rented Taurus and headed west to Boulder. What a year its been…..

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Holy Snow Batman!

We’re in the middle of a mighty snowstorm! It’s pretty mad, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

It’s absolutely beautiful out (other than all the stuck cars). I quite enjoyed my walk to the grocery store, which was about to close early because of the mad snow, just made it! The sky gives the snow a slightly blue tint, while the street lights add a warm yellow glow to everything. Watching the flakes fall under said street lights is particularly nice, as there’s a million little shadows to match the million little flakes.

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The Four Horsemen

On Friday, October 27th a momentus event occured. The Four Horsemen, who had all partied together seperately in various combinations in days past, rode out onto the streets of Boulder as one. It was a legendary night by all accounts. Lots of alcohol, jogging, acting, flirting, posing, dancing, scraped knees, tackling each other, breaking into houses, passing out, running needlessly, glowing, and all around awesomeness. We owned this town that night my friends. Already a night of legend with:

The Jesus, a monk, an american apparel model/jogger, and Dr. Freezeout.

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It’s Snowing!

First snow of the year here in downtown boulder…

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Boulderrific Week

Last wednesday, staff rafting trip to Cache La Poudre River. Class 3 & 4 rapids, tons of fun. Dinner at Beau Jo’s in Fort Collin’s, then camping at Estes Park.

Thursday, Alan, Eric, and Nate flew in from IL. Picked them up in the rental, shot back to Boulder and dashed off to the rooftop of the Lazy Dog for dinner. Mosied over to the Corner Bar and the Catacombs to round off some beers.

Friday consisted of chilling as it was raining, then seeing Snakes on a Plane. Excellent movie. Swang by Liquor Mart to pick up 4 Avery beers. Upon completion of drinking them we had 1 puker, and 3 drunks. Off to dinner on Pearl Street at a pizza joint. Then off on our Pub Crawl. Tons of fun, tons of drinking, lots of attractive women. Good times! Ended up at the bustop…..

Watched The Cutting Edge 2: Go for the Gold (the even stevens girl is HOT) Hiked the first Flatiron saturday, then came back to play frisbee before heading up to Red Hill House for a going away party for the coworkers. Pictures in the photo album….

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I love the Weekend

Thursday night: Brutal man night, very agitating conversation about the future of the group. Then 10:15 showing of Superman.

Friday: Work, then over to Broomfield for Rob & Em’s Pool Party! Their apartment complex let them rent out the common room, complete with kitchen, pool table, tv, fireplace, and rocking music….all next to the big joyous pool. After BBQing, beer, pinatta’ing, Em & Ballard performing, and much more we ended up at Ghetto ass Waffle House in Longmont. A night I won’t soon forget!

Saturday afternoon, Casey’s sister and crew of lady friends were in town. Chilling on the town all afternoon, drinking, drinking, and more drinking. Casey’s brother is dating a girl that joined the Ten Club in 1995!!! His brother better marry her soon, A) otherwise I would B) that way they can keep the tickets ‘in the family’. After me foolishly buying rum and cokes and car bombs at the scumdown, I vaguely remember walking home in a very intoxicated state…

Sunday, chilled all morning, watched some shitty TV. Then had a quick bit to eat, an ‘energizing’ jamba juice and then Casey and I cruised off to Denver. Got into town pretty early…so we had a quick pint of Revered at Double Daughter, a bitching little bar not too far from the pepsi center. We then headed back to the arena, picked up my fan club tickets (section 128, row 10, seats 5&6), and then ran to the bar right next to the pepsi center for a quick corona. Met the marketing director for the Mountain, a local radio station, who was kind enough to invite Casey and I to come up to their private box during the show if we so desired. After a kick ass 90 minute power set, (i could have gone for a full length show to be honest) we popped up to the box for some meet and greets, and of course free cold water, beer, and food. Missing the energy of our excellent seats, we bid the ladies farewell and headed back down to our section for the rest of an amazing Tom Petty set, which of course was higlighted by Mr. Edward Vedder on vocals for “Waiting is the hardest part” and “American Girl”.

All in all, a fantastic weekend. And I’m going to the show AGAIN tonight. And tomorrow is the fourth of july. Sometimes, life is pretty sweet.

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Snowballs in June

Yesterday, it hailed in Boulder. It hailed hard. So hard in fact, the car I was in, and most other cars on the street, pulled over.

I’ve always heard how crazy the weather here is, but this was pretty amazing. It only lasted about 25 minutes but the aftermath was considerable; namely lots of flooding and more green leaves on the ground than I’ve ever seen before. The sun quickly came back out for an amazing sunset, which was only accentuated by the incredible smell all the fallen leaves were giving off.

It was pretty crazy experience overall, funny in the fact that we were driving back from the Westin, were as part of the iWet I was attending that weekend, we discussed how weather is an amazing example of a ’state’ experience in the world.

The rest of the evening was fabulous. The ever amazing Stuart Davis had a CD release party at Trilogy, which I helped I-I film. It was a great mix of locals, friends, and seminar participants. His new material is really incredible, and his daughter is just about the cutest person on the planet….

Sunday was a great day as well. The rest of the Wet went very well, I got to meet some of the Integral gang from London which was fun. There was a bit of a party at the brewery across the street, which was a great opportunity to blow of some steam and relax after such an intense weekend!

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Back in Action

My week back after my trip home was busy and stressful, but good. Work’s at hectic as ever, but I think we’re really gaining traction on some important issues. Man night on Thursday was also really good, as the focus of the group definitely shifted and I think we’re really on course to take it to the next level. After that, I set a goal to completely relax this weekend and was very successful. Friday evening I had a great night out with some of the gang, and got far drunker than I expected too.

Consequently Saturday morning I slept in a bit, and was oh so greatful for the little to no sunlight I get in my downstairs room. great for a hangover! Had an amazing breakfast at Lucille’s with my friend Casey, and then spent the great part of the afternoon at the Boulder Creek Festival, which is an annual occurence here in Boulder. Between that and the Bolder Boulder this town is a very lively fun place to be on Memorial Day Weekend. Live music, tons of food, political/environmental groups, and a ton of people and warm sun made for a great afternoon. Then capped it off with an early evening showing of X3, which they could have called X-meh…..as it was pretty meh. I then planned on staying in for the rest of the evening, but somehow ended back at the Sundown Saloon with some of the gang from the night before. I simply can’t re-iterate how much I fucking love being able to walk to bars again!

The rest of the weekend was very chill, and I managed to catch up on my movie watching. I Know I’m Not Alone was amazing, and completely solidified some ideas I’ve been having about a non-profit I’d like to start. So that was cool, some of my longer term life goals are starting to really emerge.

Next was Amos Perros, that 2.5 hour monster of a movie I’ve rented a few times before but never watched, well i finally hit that one out of the park baby. And it was of course well worth it.

So things are going pretty well. Money is definitely still the biggest stress in my life, but I’m holding to the hope that it’ll still work itself out. And if not, I’ll do whatever the fuck it takes to make sure it does.

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All Night

Look’s like I might be about to pull an all nighter! So time to type while I can.

My week in Illinois went by in a flash. It was pretty exhausting really, and brought up a lot of emotions. I feel like I’ve gone through every conceivable mood in the last week: regretful, overjoyed, exhausted, mad, sad, jealous, depressed, anxious, happy, and everything else in between. It was one hell of a ride.

This year is an important one to me that I’m feeling is going to make or break a lot of things in my life. And I’m starting to feel that the next time I blink and open my eyes years will have gone by, not seconds.

The honeymoon portion of my move to Boulder is ending, and all that shit I’ve tried to run away from everytime I’ve moved in the past is coming right back to the surface as it always does.

But I finally think I’m ready to take it head on, and manage to have a pretty kick ass time while doing so. A lot of my ideas about what I’d like to do with myself in the long term started to solidfy in the last few days, and I’m going to do my damnest to use every tool available to me in Boulder to arm myself to be the best damn person I can possibly be.

Things aren’t perfect, and never will be. But I’m learning to just relax and enjoy the ride.

This is my kind of love.

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Sun & Snow

A cold front started sweeping through Boulder on Sunday night, resulting in SNOW on Monday. It had pretty much all melted by Tuesday night, and today it was once again beautiful, sunny, and warm. I’d heard that it had snowed last year on May 1st, which was hard to believe after the warmth of last week. I’m now finally starting to get all the jokes about Boulder weather……sometimes it changes in the same day!

Unfortunately I’m feeling kind of stressed out today, trying to finish some updates for my cousin’s website before leaving for the weekend tomorrow to attend a different cousin’s wedding in Missouri.

More then that, I’ve nearly spent all the savings I brought from Illinois, meaning that very soon I’m going to have to find a way to make ends meet on my current meager salary. I’ve already started scanning monster/careerjobs/hotjobs/craigslist again, on the small off chance I can find some amazing semi high paying job that would also allow me to keep working my current job. The chances of that happening are pretty slim to none, which is really bumming me out.

Since I started college I’ve always had this horrible shadow of debt lurking over me, out of state tuition started it all, and then working for a low pay non profit in a place as expensive to live in as Santa Cruz simply compounded the problem. Thus I wised up a bit at some point and moved back to Illinois for the last year and a half or so. I definitely consider my efforts during that time pretty heroic, 60 hours a week for months on end did allow me to pay off a fair chunk of that dark cloud.

But then the weddings came, and suddenly I had the opportunity to go to both Germany and Chile to attend the weddings of some truly amazing friends. Those trips, the holidays, and the move have sadly put me pretty much back to exactly where I was when I first moved back to Illinois. Except that now my income is less than half what it was last year, even less then in Santa Cruz, and my bills have gone up since I’m living in my own place again. I got a thing in the mail about debt consolidation yesterday that had pretty fair terms, but even they rejected me this morning.

It’s definitely frustrating, as I don’t really regret a single choice I’ve made and wouldn’t exchange those memories for anything in the world. For better or worse whenever its come down to it I’ve always chosen experience over fiscal responsibility. Traveling, concerts, bachelor parties, nights out with friends, I’ve always been of the mind that those experiences are far more valuable to me in the long run then wealth. But now it feels like the consequence of many of those choices is that I’m going to have a decision I’d never have to make; do what I love regardless of pay, or take a job I don’t particularly care for but that allows me to make ends meet. I sincerely hope that oneday my passions will align themselves with a job that also pays well.

I’ve been very lucky in life so far, in that in the end things have always seemed to work out exactly as they need to. I’m still holding on to that belief for now, but sense a growing unease in myself that for once it just might not work out. Either than, or its bread and cheese for the rest of my life. and I might have to quit WoW. NOOOOOOOO! Oh well, enough ranting. I’m pretty sure I’ve enough to cover life and rent through Early June. So doom isn’t exactly imminent quite yet………

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Weeks End

Another beautiful weekend. Friday felt like summer with a nice warm 73 degrees. Went in to the office, got a fair amount done, and then went and got Burritos with some of the gang from work. A few hours and few more tasks later, we declared it was time for a frisbee module and walked up the block to the local park to toss around the frisbee for a an hour or so. It felt great being barefoot in the grass! Hippies do it for a reason!

After work, went home and tidied up a bit then headed out for the evening. It seemed like the whole world was outside as I strolled down to Pearl street, people walking, hanging out on porches, bbqing, running, town was abuzz. Met up with my coworkers Casey and Rollie at The Lazy Dog. Apparently it’s Stanley Cup time in the NHL. Rollie’s from Calgary and quite the avid fan, so it was fun to watch the game with someone who knew what was going on! A few more friends and coworkers strolled down and suddenly we had quite a posse watching Rollie watch hockey.

A few beers, one fantastic veggie burger, and a Calgary win later, we hit the road. Rollie, Eric, and I headed up to Casey’s house for the night to do some hardcore video gaming! Casey’s house is just up in the mountains, and has an unbelievable view! It was silent as could be, and all of Boulder (and even Denver) was beautifully lit up on the horizon. After a few more beers and some nasty Jager we settled in and the 4 of us took on the computer in Rise of Nations. We got promptly whooped, regrouped, and 3 hours later it was about 5am and we were victorious! Hurrah!

After some more egg burritos and Big Lebowski, we headed back into town. I washed up and gathered my stuff together before Ballard picked me up to head into Denver. Our co-worker Robert is an avid Capoeira practicioner, and Saturday was the Batizado for his Denver based group.

If you’ve never heard of it, Capoeira (I heart wikipedia!) is a beautiful practice that integrates communal singing/music playing with an amazing acrobatic dance. (here’s a google video). It’s truly an Integral Practice that I’m seriously considering taking up at some point! It looked like so much fun, and pretty amazing exercise.

Ballard and I headed up the efforts to video tape this amazing event, with him manning the three cameras on the second floor and me handling the main floor camera. My arms and back were pretty exhausted by the end, but time just flew by as each game/dance was like a little story of its own. Capoeira masters from all around the country (and even Brazil) were there, and I feel truly blessed that I was able to witness such an amazing event!

Oh yeah, here’s my front door, if I ever get stuff on my walls I’ll get some photos of my room up:

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Now You’re a Man!

Yesterday kinda blew, I spent the day trying to setup TWiki on Godaddy for our company. Godaddy’s hosting blows, so it was pretty much a wasted day. I then went over to a coworkers house to help her with some internet problems, and while I fixed those I managed to lock her out of her computer, and she didn’t know her administrator password. Consequently I took her laptop home for the night and worked on it until the wee hours of the morning when I finally got everything sorted out. Sometimes IT work sucks because in trying to make things better for someone you can very easily make things much worse. I got lucky this time, but who knows about the future?

Today was much better though. I got a different wiki running (MediaWiki which powers the famous Wikipedia) and then went over to a coworkers for a bit during the afternoon to celebrate the day’s holiday ;^)

Anyways, about being a man. This evening I attended my second (third week, but i missed the first week due to the bachelor party) Man Night. Some coworkers and mutual friends have started a Men’s Group together, which I was very stoked about. We’re loosely basing it on the work of David Deida, specifically The Way of the Superior Man, which is one of my favorite books. I really like David’s work and was actually first exposed to him on Integral Naked. He mainly focuses on masculinity/feminity and how they can inform personal growth and spiritual practice in their respective ways.

Anyways, we spend a little time each week checking in, discussing issues we’ve faced during the week, and setting goals which we hold each other accountable for. The last part in particular is what I think will be most beneficial. We’re just doing week to week goals for now, but discussed incorporating longer term ones in the future which should be excellent. For example, my goals/tasks for last week were to get a book/journal that we could keep meeting notes/goals logged in, and also to join a gym (gym, what’s a gym? oh a gym) which i’ve been putting off since I got here. Our punishment as of now for not fulfilling a set goal is that we get our picture posted on a “wall of shame” so that everyone knows we didn’t fulfill our goal for the week. Other common practices are paying $5 to a fund or have to do X amount of pushups.

Whether it be running, going to the gym, getting up early, or any other challenging task, I’ve found I’m far more likely to get it done when someone else is holding me accountable. As luck would have it, all of us that set goals for the week accomplished them!

So I’m really stoked on the group, as in simple terms its only purpose is for us to challenge each other to reach our full potential. Whether or not we all suceed, it certainly feels good to finally be trying (a little harder that is).

Also, just to make this longer: checkout my google ads, amazon links, and DONATE to NILES movie!

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Beautiful

It’s been an incredible week. Saul Williams came to the CU campus in Boulder this evening. I’ve seen him few times before, twice at Power to the Peaceful and once at Coachella. His spoken word blows me away each and everytime I hear it.

Saul’s done a number of things on Integral Naked in the past, and was kind enough to give us permission to film his show this evening. So not only did I get to see him perform, but I got to particpate in a four camera shoot while doing it. The sun and surrounding clouds were doing some pretty funky things as we were loading the car, providing for my first picture of the day. Fantastic. Even cooler, Saul has been playing some shows with Nine Inch Nails over the last year, and leaked that his new album is being produced by none other than Mr. Trent Reznor himself. An awesome collaboration of two performers who are both tops in their fields.

Afterwards me and some of the gang from work went out to Trilogy. It was pretty crowded but we got a table and some delicious orange tic tac flavored shots. We had a very attractive waitress who was having a very bad day, which my cohort Ballard attempted to remedy by buying her a shot. After paying our tab and crawling out the window…..we strolled down the main strip for a while looking for another bar and somewhere to pee. Pearl street was absolutely buzzing with people tonight, which I was really stoked about. It’s nice to be back in a town that feels alive again, even if half the people are drunken college kids. The annual flowers have been planted as well, so the street was lined with countless beautiful tulips and various other flowers.

We tried to get into a rather swanky bar Robert had been to called “Upstairs”, but they were unforunately closing by the time we got there. As it had been a long day, we decided to call it a night, though not before Ballard was kind enough to bring to my attention how incredibly close I live to the MORK AND MINDY house! I thought nothing would top living next to the former location of the Psycho house (514 broadway i’ll never forget you), but this comes pretty damn close.

Anyhoo, as I began to unload my gear from Ballard’s car I finally realized I had a tripod on hand and tonight’s moon might be a good chance to give my digital a crack at a proper nighttime scene. Not fantastic, but a step in the right direction:

This blogging thing is turning out to be way harder than I imagined it would be. Hopefully the quality of these posts will increase over time……..;^)

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Spring Forward

This last weekend was pretty fantastic all around. I did a lot of work on the new version of BrettDennen.com, which I hope to roll out by month’s end. There’s a number of things I’m hoping to add that I have no idea how to do, but that’s how I’ve found I learn to do things best, out of sheer necessity.

Saturday afternoon I logged on to World of Warcraft, and spent a few hours questing with my guild. The phenomena of online gaming is becoming more and more interesting to me each day, and something I’m growing increasingly interested in studying and exploring. We attempted to clear the Upper Blackrock Spire, and got our asses handed to us by the boss. Nonetheless it was good fun, and an interesting way to spend time with a community of people spread between here and Australia.

That night I went to my second Boulder house party, which was great. This one was a bit closer than the first and I didn’t wake up with a fever the day after, so that was definitely a plus. It was another great opportunity for me to get to know some co-workers a bit better, outside of the context of work and I had a great time overall.

Sunday was an incredible day in its own right. One of the first groups I’ve become involved out here with is a Ken Wilber study group, and one of the offshoots of that we’re forming (tentatively called Integral Seekers) is a group that goes around experiencing the amazing gifts each of the great lineages has to offer. We just started a few weeks ago and have so far attended a beautiful Candlelit Catholic mass that is held near the CU campus every Tuesday night. It’s an amazingly contemplative service unlike any church service I’ve attended before, beautiful music, moments of silence, and a sharing of the peace all combine to make a powerful 60 minutes.

Back to Sunday, however, our group went to our first Kirtan, which is a devotional practice and an important aspect of the path of Bhakti Yoga. It’s 3 hours of devotional chanting set to various melodic ragas, and it really really rocks. It was basically 3 hours of what is usually my favorite part of any great concert: collective crowd energy. The chants are all short and fairly easy to pick up on and tend to last from 5-20 minutes each. I definitely had a great buzz by the end, and its something I’ll definitely be taking part in again. (they do it EVERY Sunday!) It’s truly mind blowing to me that its been done before in settings of nearly 10,000 people.

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My Move

It’s been a little under two months since I moved out to Boulder, and so far so good. I found a place I really like which is just two blocks off the Pearl Street Mall and within walking distance of my job. So far I’m successfully living without a car, and hope to keep it that way. (not that I have money for a car anyway).

I have two housemates, Shawn and Sarah, and Shawn has two cats, Porter & Cash. The four of us are getting along fabulously so far. Shawn owns the place, which makes it convenient as I live with my landlord. Sarah went to school out here and just moved out from Ohio permanently last month.

I’m currently working part-time for the Integral Institute. It’s the job I wanted moving out here, so I feel very fortunate to have gotten it. The pay is the only problem, as its quite minimal. Despite that, it looks like I might be going to fulltime, doing a multitude of things:

• Manage customer service for Integral Naked
• Join the media team producing videos for Integral Naked
• General HTML work wherever needed
• Help with IT/admin related computer fun

So I’m pretty excited, as I’ve always enjoyed doing a multitude of things. There’s a lot of potential for me to contribute a number of my gifts in a lot of different areas.

Outside of work, I’m looking to start volunteering for a local organization that works with Developmentally Disabled kids and adults, which is something I’m defnitely excited about making part of my life again. Even when I was burnt out and left the group home in Santa Cruz, I always knew it wasn’t the work I was tired of, just how much I was doing it.

I’m also hoping to checkout some Boulder Digital Arts events in hopes of networking with some local folks (outside of the ones I work with) that are interested in film production. I’d optimally like to find a group that works together on short films a few times a month, with everyone shifting roles and getting to try out the different positions. And hopefully I’ll finally start to do some writing of my own.

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