Another brief update...

Sunday, March 9, 2008 - Chris Rock concert in Denver at Wells Fargo Theatre (Charlie, Ai Lee, Matt, Allison, and Avi):


March 13-18, 2008 (Pensacola, FL) - Ryan Shininger, Allison Plute, and I went down to Pensacola, FL for the McGuire's 5K Prediction Race (largest in the nation). While down there, Ryan and I got open water SCUBA certified. Met a lot of Ryan's old friends from when he lived there. We stayed with his friend Bruce and borrowed a van from Clint.

My contribution to the "borrowed" van:


Nice sunset:


Karaoke at the "gay bar":


Crowd after the 5K (outside of McGuire's Irish Pub). All you could drink beer and Irish Wakes until about 11:30 AM:


Getting SCUBA certified (welcome to the gun show):


Some pretty girls at McGuire's:


Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008 - We had our traditional Easter dinner at Angie Johnson's place in Denver. Made the usual "bunny" cake and this year we insisted on coloring easter eggs.

My Easter egg contribution (on the left), Charlie's on the right:


Saturday, March 29, 2008 - Our old friend Brian Kerrigan got married to Amanda McMillion. The boys:


The bride and groom's car (after we were through with it):

Last few weeks in a nutshell...

I've been silent on this blog for a few weeks now...so I thought I should throw some pics on here and report in.

A few weeks ago (2-18-08), Angie and I went to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera. While there we saw Tara and Derrick (friends of Angie from way back and pictured below). We gambled, clubed, rode roller coasters, saw an IMAX film, ...

Ryan Shininger had a birthday gettogether in Boulder, CO on 2-23-08. I got to see my buddy Brian Braeckel (going to school at CU) while we were clubbing. He got a job with Microsoft in Redmond, WA--so he'll be making some cash one of these days...


The Jack Quinn's Running Club Steering Committee met in Frisco, CO at a condo for the weekend of 2-29-08 through 3-3-08. About 11 of us were present. We all did different things throughout the weekend. I hit Breckenridge with Charlie on Saturday (an absolutely beautiful day). We met Avi and his friend Zack there as well.


Sunday was somewhat miserable weather-wise. Ryan, Stacey, Allison, and I did some snowshoeing Sunday afternoon:




Josh, Matt, and Ryan showing off our stupid "temp tattoos":


Sunday afternoon/evening, most people tried to brave the bad weather and drive back to Colorado Springs. Ryan, Harold, Allison, and I had better judgement. We decided to stay up one more night and finish off the keg:




After recovering from an absolutely crazy Sunday night, I decided to skip the entire day of work on Monday and go skiing with the crew at Vail. The snow was awesomely deep!

Stay tuned for what comes next in the life of Matt/BLOS... ;)

Visiting college buddy...

Went to Breckenridge Saturday night to meet my old friend Riedel from college days. We stayed with a dozen or so other people at a very posh, 5-bedroom condo up Boreas Pass. We then hit the slopes Sunday early morning. Best snowboarding I've experienced yet this season.

Fujiyama and Reggae...

After Jack Quinn's Running Club on Tuesday, we went to Fujiyama for some sushi, sake bombs, and martinis. This was Allison's "real" birthday. Company included Bloody Z, Allison, Chris, Nikki, Crazy Karl, Tara, Oznur, and myself.

Pay no attention to the pictures on the wall...


Step two was going to Jose Muldoon's to watch Basil Reid (a Bob Marley tribute band) and continue the partying. We joined up with other Quinn's runners and hashers there. We closed the joint!

Mardi Gras and Keller Williams...

Hashers and friends alike assembled down in Manitou Springs Friday night and Saturday morning to celebrate Mardi Gras and Allison Plute's birthday week! Saturday night we hit the Keller Williams concert at the Fillmore in Denver.

Jack Quinn's Running Club Tradition...

After-run snack...

Week in Vancouver, BC...

I spent a week in Vancouver, BC, Canada at a company conference. Below is a picture out of the 26th floor of the Rogers building (where we attended the conference). This was taken on one of the days that the fog lifted and the sun was actually shining (pretty kick-butt view). The Vancouver/Burnaby area is really pretty interesting--but I couldn't imagine living there where most days are rainy (would get depressing I would think). We hit Cypress mountain after work on Wednesday to do a little snowboarding/drinking (but I didn't get any good pictures). Other nights were spent exploring the city and eating at good restaurants.