A Year of Change

Well. we’re home. It was a quick trip but turned out really great. We were up early yesterday and getting ready for the party. Lori and Kristin took off around 8:30 in the morning and then the boys and I and Dan headed out at 10. The place looked great, and people started showing up right on time at 11.

Lots of cousins and family and friends from all over. We had about 60 people in total. After 30 minutes of mingling, Lori and Kristin stood up and started the video. It was a great 5-minute tribute to Dix who was one of a kind. Lori held it together really well and after the video, a few people came up and told a few stories. The most moving though was Annette, who came up and said how thankful she was for Dixie and how they had become such great friends. Not easy (great job Annette!) but it was really touching and heartfelt.

The party then went on for another hour with everyone visiting and of course, having cake! The boys then left around 1 in an Uber to catch a 3:41 flight home. We moved them up so Jag could make some graduation parties. Lori and I and Dan (who was riding with us) went back to the hotel to change and grab our bags. We then went downstairs where Kristin and Dan had a martini. We hung out for around 30 minutes before heading to the airport. The drive was quick, and we walked right on the bus after dropping our rental car. When we walked through security, I said, “look, the boys flight leaves in 12 minutes! Want to see if we can get on?” Lori looked at me and we ran down the concourse. Dan, who was on our 6:20 flight, was still going through security. We ran to the gate, and I yelled to the attendant, “is this the Denver flight?”. She said yes and to hurry. She called down, saying 2 more people and we ran down the ramp, but the door was already closed. Super bummed as we were so close, I said, “oh crap, our kids are on that plane” the super nice gate attendant then said, hang on and knocked on the window to the pilot and they opened the door for us and let us on! Not sure if you know, but this never happens! Normally they have to call operations and jump through all kinds of hoops to open a door once closed. So, we ran on and Jag looked up from his First-Class seat in shock saying, what are you doing here? Ty was a few rows back and saw us too. All was great as we even had the exit row.

This meant we were arriving at 6:45 instead of 9:30! On the flight a guy walked past us going to the restroom or something and Lori said, “that’s Jeff from Tesla”. Tesla is a super popular band from Sacramento that’s been around for 40 years or more. Lori was a waitress at a club called the Oasis when she was 18 and all the big bands played there. She wasn’t sure but he was a few rows behind us, so I said, let’s wait until he gets off and say something. When he walked off the plane I said “Jeff” and he looked up and said yea, which is when Lori said, I’m Lori from the Oasis! He said, I thought I recognized you! We talked for a few minutes with them catching up. They were on the way to a show in South Dakota. Looks like we’re going to their show in Denver June 11th. What a small World for Lori to reconnect 40 years later.

We grabbed our car, said bye to the boys and headed up the hill. I listened to the Nuggets game the whole way and we arrived home about 9:45. Great game!

That’s it, Lori and Kristin did a great job. The boys did too. Everyone wanted their picture taken with us or one of us. Now I knew Dixie liked me, but at least a half dozen people came up to me and told me how much she adored me. Good to hear. The video is priceless, (Robi, we’re sending you the link). We did one for Mom when she passed too.

Everyone had a great time, and it really was a celebration of life. Dixie would have been proud and enjoyed it. She was a good ol girl and we miss her every day.

Tonight, we’re supposed to go to Denver for Shultz’s 60 birthday party. We said we’d make it, but we’ll see how tired we are. The boys and Ava will both be here tomorrow for Mother’s Day. It’s been a busy couple of weeks but all good.

That’s it, time to get moving and go to the gym and go get our crazy dog. May God Bless you all!

Today in about 4 1/2 hours, we have Dixie’s celebration of life. We all finally arrived yesterday with Jagger’s plane landing about 90 minutes late. Kristin, who arrived about 90 minutes before him, went to get her rental car and then hung out until he landed. That saved us a drive!

After a 4:30am wake up call, Ty, Lori and I made our 8am flight and landed around 9:15. We made our way to our car and then began to run all our errands. I shipped wine to the hotel, so we picked that up and then headed out to Whole Foods, Walgreens, Office Depot and a few other places, to pick up all the stuff for the party. Then we dropped it all at the Dante Club where the party is today.

Lori and Kristin will head out around 8:30 to go prepare and the boys and I will leave around 10:15. They’re going to get more flowers for some high-top tables.

Last night we all had a good dinner downstairs. Hard to find good restaurant food these days. Kristin, of course was with us, and also Dan, who is Dixie’s brother’s son, son, or great nephew, also joined us. We all had a good time and were done by 7:30.

Jag was flying back with us but is now flying back on the 3:41 flight so he can make it to a graduation party. Ava will pick him up. Ty, Lori and will I fly back on the 6:20 flight.

Should be a good time today. Lori and Kristin did a lot of work, mostly Lori. That’s it, time to get moving, have a great day and enjoy. Until tomorrow, GB

We made it to our hotel last night around 7ish. Ty showed up an hour later. At 8 this morning we’re wheels up to Sac and should be on the ground a little after 9am. We have a ton of errands to run picking stuff up for the party. I shipped in some wine to save us $400 bucks or so. They’re still charging is a $10 corkage fee per bottle but every little bit helps.

Jag wrapped up his fourth year yesterday. He lands around 1:15 and Kristin lands at 1, so they’ll ride together to the hotel.

We’re having dinner at the hotel at 6. We’re staying at The Citizen Hotel, which is a nice place, so says Lori. I guess all the visiting NBA teams stay there when in town. Lori had her stitches taken out of her ear on the way down yesterday. I stopped at the hospital, and she ran in for a couple minutes to get them out.

Harley was not a happy camper when I dropped her at the vet. I had to push her into the kennel as she was fighting as hard as she could not to go. She’s always fine 15 minutes after we leave but has a bad case of separation anxiety. She’ll be fine.

That’s it, more tomorrow, have a great day, God Bless.

Off to Denver today for our early morning flight tomorrow. Woke up a little bit late after staying up late due to overtime in the hockey game. Go Av’s! I have a call at 9:30 and then Ty and I will take Harley to doggie daycare. She’s not going to like that!

Yesterday I was pretty much home most of the day. Jag has his last final today and then is done. Technically he can graduate but is headed back for one more year, to, as they say in sports, pad his stats. That’s means more degrees.

Did you see the Boy Scouts changed their name to Scouts America? Nothing surprises me anymore. About time to go off the grid people, good God. The Rolling Stones are playing in Phoenix tonight. Robi and Robert are going to Vegas this weekend to see them.

Let’s see, what else. Tik Tok is suing the U.S. as we’re going to ban them since they’re owned by China and destroying America and are clearly a threat to our security, ha. We have a homeless camp here in Denver that the police are clearing out today but the homeless are submitting a list of 13 demands, double ha. What the fuck people? Throw the Chinese out of court, or better yet, the Country, and do the same with the homeless, if they’re found to be here illegally. If you don’t think things will get worse, you’re mistaken. We need to stop this crap now, but sadly our current gov. won’t. Don’t wait until this shit is on your doorstep, as then it’ll be too late. Hell, it’s already too late. It’s so disgusting what the Dems have done in such a short period of time.

I have to go. I get sidetracked writing when the news is on as it spurs commentary on the events of the day. I’ll try to get back to more positive family things tomorrow, triple ha!

God Bless peeps, talk to you manana! (Time to learn Spanish)

Well, looks like the Nuggets will soon be out of it. Minnesota looks like the better team this year. Oh well, we have the Av’s!

Today Lori works in Edwards. I’ll head out to the gym and Jag is one step closer to being done for the year. Ty is off as we were originally leaving tomorrow meaning we’d be driving down to the airport today. After arranging things, we decided we could fly out Thursday am, so well drive down to Denver tomorrow.

No snow up here but it is a little cool. Super windy yesterday. Guess it’s the same story today. Trees blew over, signs blew down and even airplanes flipped as winds were over 60 miles an hour in Denver.

Here’s one for you, half the people in a recent survey believe there will be a civil war here in America by 2029. Some even think it’ll happen before that. Most predict no matter who wins in November, there will be some kind of violence. If the guy who can actually walk and complete a sentence wins, they say it’s a given that the left will go off. Not surprising as look at what they’re doing now, protesting Israel going after terrorists in a war over 6000 miles away. Hmm, get ready. What a World these days.

In 48 hours, we’ll be getting ready to board the plane. We’ll be on the ground in California for 32 hours which is long enough. Should be a great party. Lori has done a lot of work to make it special.

6:08 am now, guess I’ll get moving. Hope everyone is well. Enjoy the day, stay safe and God Bless.

Lots going on this week. No rest until Saturday unless we go back to Denver for my buddy Shultz’s 60th birthday party. We should go, but we’re going to be really tired, and Mother’s Day is the next day.

Jag had another final last night at 7:30 in Discreet Math, whatever that is. Only three more days for him.

Lori is in Vail today, Edwards tomorrow and Vail again on Thursday. That’s about it, time to get moving. God Bless.

Yesterday around 1, we all headed out for the party in Carbondale. Traffic was fine and we arrived with no issues. Everyone was decked out looking good. Lori looked particularly great and the people that run the party said they’d like to put her up for the best dressed lady at the event! Then they came up to James, and the girl said, “what’s your name”? We all though, uh oh, here comes a fan. But we were wrong. This girl had no idea who he was and wanted to put James up for the most dapper guy. That was funny. When he has to give his name in situations like this, or have Fed Ex send a package or something, he just uses his first and middle name. Of course, a half hour later, a lady did come up asking for a picture saying she was a huge fan and in a band. He gave his usual response which is no pictures but did reach out his hand to shake her hand and talked to her for a while. Other than that, I knew a few people knew who he was, but left him and us alone. Us guys had a couple cigars outside by a fire pit and it was a nice day and nice place. They were very thankful as we bought a table for $1000. It’s a great cause and a good fundraiser.

Big news is our cigar group and wives had a pool on the race, and I won! After the race, we took off before the costume contest, although I’m 100% sure Lori would have won, probably James too. Probably a dozen people came up to Lori saying who great or beautiful she looked and some even asked to take her picture. The staff photographer took our picture too, but I don’t think she recognized James either which is nice for him. At one point, Lori went up the bar to get a sparkling water and some guy came up to here and said, “where’s your hubby”, to which she quickly replied, “oh, he’s over there, do you need him”? The guy then quickly walked away. I told Lori, “See, I can’t take you anywhere”, ha.

When we made it home, we hung out for an hour and had cake and Lori opened some more presents. Ty bought mom some nice stuff including an orchid and some things for her bathroom, very thoughtful of him. Jag called after his finals and is back at it today. So, it was a great birthday and Lori had a great time. Now on to today, Cinco de Mayo, here we go. Pics below, God Bless.

Today is the day! Lori’s 60th birthday! Whoo hoo! Let the fun begin.

This morning we’re headed to the gym, (surprise surprise) and then will be getting ready for the party. Ben and Eleni and James and Addy are picking us up around 1 and we should be at the party by 2. I think the race is at 4:57 so looks like we’ll miss the first hour of the Nuggets game. We’ll listen on the radio while driving home.

Nice up here this morning. Should be even nicer tomorrow. Ty works today but will be home after work and Jag has his first of six finals today. We have a busy six days coming up.

That’s it, time to get moving. Have a great day and again, Happy Birthday Lori! God Bless

We made it down for Lori’s haircut on time and were back up the hill and home a bit before 4. I headed out to my cigar fellowship about an hour later. Good to hang with all the guys as usual.

Today we’re off to the gym in 45 minutes and then will be working around the house. After the gym and some breakfast, I need to go get Lori’s cake and also pick up her flowers. Big day tomorrow! Robi, we did get your package yesterday.

The six of us will leave here around 1 tomorrow for our Derby party over in Carbondale. Should be fun. The girls will all be in big fancy, fun hats and pretty dresses. We’re not sure what to expect until we get there, but I’m sure we’ll have a blast. We take fun with us wherever we go.

I’m down to 207 pounds with my new no carb, no sugar eating plan. I’m sure I get a little of both in things like bbq sauce or the occasional spoon of peanut butter, but there’s been no bread, or sweets for at least ten days now. I feel a lot better too. Sugar is a nasty drug. That’s why it tastes so good. I’m starting to get in a groove but will need to avoid Lori’s birthday cake tomorrow.

The children are still running wild on college campuses across the Country. When police move in and arrest them, they’re finding out, a lot of the protesters, especially all the leaders, are not students at all. They’re professional paid protestors that are flying around from college to college keeping things stirred up. I just watched a girl on the news being interviewed on the Auraria Campus in Denver (Ty’s college) who was so uninformed and clueless as to what is actually going on. Hard to believe she is even in college. She obviously hasn’t been going to class! People are getting tired of this, and public opinion is thankfully turning. They’ll end up hurting their supposed cause in the end, mark my words. Anyone see a pattern here? Black Lives Matter, Trans protests, and now Hamas. These are all being pushed by your favorite democratic progressive to destroy our Country from within. And lots of young people, heavily influenced by social media, are just stupid enough to fall for it and gladly go along with being used. Enough said.

That is it, time to get going. Make it a great day and God Bless.

The countdown is on to lovely Lori’s birthday! Six of us will be in Carbondale at the Kentucky Derby party and then stop here for cake afterwards. I think Ben and Eleni are driving. They have a Navigator so all of us can fit. I picked Lori’s presents up yesterday morning in Aspen and was home by 12:30.

She’s getting her hair done today, so we’re headed back to the city. Jag’s finals start Saturday and wrap up next Wednesday. He has six in total.

6am now, looks nice outside. Should be a nice weekend too. Looks like we’ll be in the south of France, Slovenia and Italy around the end of July launching the new company I spoke about a month or so ago. We’ll be beta testing things through the end of the year with a handful of early adopters and then hit mass market next Spring. Super exciting to have all this coming together as it’s been about a year since I came up with the original idea. More to come this summer.

These protests at colleges are unbelievable. All are run by outside organizations whose goal is to destabilize the Country from within. At one protest yesterday, I think in New York, ten students were interviewed and all ten said, when asked why they were protesting, “You need to find a spokesman, I’m not media trained”. Obviously ten people all using the phrase, “I’m not media trained” shows that indeed, they were trained! We’re now finding out that professional agitators are sent to all these schools and inserted to run things. Sadly students, who are vulnerable and believe most of what they’re told, like “do you like Israel killing babies”, are easily manipulated into a mob. Then once a mob gets going, people easily get caught up in the fever of it and go along. Thankfully arrests are now being made and students are being suspended or expelled. So now of course, they all want amnesty for protesting and destroying property. Time to learn there are consequences for actions. I mean come on, does anyone really think that every college age kids priority was the war between Hamas and Israel? Six months ago, none of them knew anything about it and most can’t even find Palestine or Israel on a map! Give me a break. Jag said there was one small attempt at a protest at CU by the library that was super lame, and nobody paid attention to it at all. Thank God. What a mess.

More good news, Colorado is #4 in the Country for road rage and #5 for drug use! Our politicians are doing such a good job, don’t you agree! Thank God we live where we live.

Time to go as I’ve run out of good news for the day. Make the World better someway, somehow today! Every small gesture helps. I was walking out of Whole Foods in Denver earlier this week and some guy, when I was leaving, said “sir, do you have any work I could do?”. At first, I didn’t hear him and asked what he said, and then told him, sorry no. I walked to the truck, ate some eggs out of the small container you get them in that I just bought, and then when leaving, called at the guy to come over here. He walked to the truck, and I told him, “good for you for asking and wanting to work, most people just want a handout”. I then said, “go throw this away for me” then handed him my trash and $20. He was overwhelmed and said that I made his day. Now I’m not saying this, so you think I’m a good guy or something. I’m saying this so you understand how one small gesture can help someone else. $5 probably would have done the same thing, but the guy lucked out as I didn’t have any small bills. So, pay it forward somehow, even if it means buying someone a cup of coffee. Kindness is infectious.

That’s it, have a great Thursday and God Bless