Pooks Canyon

I spent last night getting well aquainted with my sister-in-law's guest bathroom. Lovely start to our Texas vacation. Tonight I managed to make an appearance at the dinner table and was give this substitute.

We're in Texas for Thanksgiving and Axel and Ben have become fast friends.

Winner: Last week, while perusing the "other" wine section at our local liquor store, Pettyjohn's, I came across a Hungarian wine called Bull's Blood . Seeing as Jon is one quarter Hungarian I thought, why not? Admittedly, I was put off by the price (7.99 - not on sale). Can you really get decent wine for less than 10 bucks? Apparently yes, at least in my opinion. It is nothing fancy but it is light and clean and if you let it breathe it tastes pretty good. Its name implies a richness that it doesn't have- it is actually kind of watery but in a good, drinkable way. I bought a case for the cellar (aka bar in the basement). The link above has the interesting history of this wine, which first was made in the 1500's. Runner Up: While I was at it, I also bought a case of the Cycles Gladiator Syrah. A 2007 "Top 100 Wine", this one will cost you 8.99. While I've gotten headaches from their Cab, the Syrah is pretty nice.

I told some friends I thought Jon was just a little ahead of the curve on this one. Now George Clooney's got one!

I went to the president elect's website , last week and shared my opinion that President Obama will continue to call on his constituency via email and the web - as he did in his campaign. We have a motivated country and a president that can mobilize us. Everyone should share their vision or story there, I think Obama's people will be reading this stuff to stay in touch with the real America. Today I read the newly added "America Serves" tidbit: "Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will [also] encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55." The service...

And the chicken hat is 6 months... It should be crawling soon. Happy Birthday Leah!!! Tonight is the big Film Festival party/sleepover for Leah and her closest friends. Leah received Snowboarding gear from us, Grandma Robbin, and the State of Colorado (5th graders ski/board free here at all the resorts) as well as video games, an outing to Coors field (already taken), and a rubber stamp with the image of a chicken. The stamp has been Leah's favorite gift.

My neighbor (the one that had the election party the other night) called me yesterday and said her and a few others decided to start call us the McCains. Because our names are Jon and Cyndi (John and Cindy). I can't believe no one pointed this out until after the election.

We rang in the age of Barack tonight with our neighbors. This was the banner at Amy's house. Thanks Amy!

This weekend was as interesting as I thought it was going to be! We started out at Boulder Reservoir on Saturday for the first installment of the UCI Boulder Cup Weekend. From a spectator perspective, DBC Events’ Cyclocross races are the closest thing you’ll get to the real Belgian experience this side of the Atlantic. Of course the beer tent was a beer garden (no rain here!) and you could only leave if you hid your beer past the gendarmes. And no one was serving shots of Genever. But if you swapped out the bratwurst for frites and mayonnaise you could’ve fooled me. As for the racing action on Saturday- Jon raced hot and fast in the top five for several laps then a bobble by Wells (eventual race winner) gapped the two of them. They chased for the next lap, Wells got back on but Jon didn’t quite make it. Later, a flat tire really set Jon back, allowing Wicks to come up to him and take 5th. I watched it all from das biergarten where I ran into some great people including Jon’s ne...