Ben at Lookout Mountain

With my two massive rides back to back looming ominously on the horizon, I’m trying to find enough time to train . I made out for bit from the casa to Golden, riding up Lookout Mountain then home. Almost fiddy miles, lots of time out enjoying the day.  Ride profile is below.  I just might make it through the 500 miles in a week!

Well, I had some charity work as part of my goals for the year and have finally managed to achieve some progress.  Right now I decided to be a little creative about it.  So, what did I do?  Well, the company next door handles disposal (of many different things) for commercial clients.  One of their recent loads was some old computer equipment.  My friend Judy volunteers for Rocky Mountain Housing Development Corporation, a non-profit that provides housing and related services to low & mid income families.  One of the “services” is computer centers in the housing developments.  So, I asked nicely, and was allowed to intercept some old equipment with no hard drives (removed for corporate security), CPU’s, monitors, keyboards, mice and some assorted cables.  Then I put an ad on craigslist asking for some hard drives for a charity project.  Oneda with Lifebyte Oxe was generous enough to provide some hard drives to the project.  In total, I was able to deliver 3 complete working CPU’s with all keyboards and cables, 2 working monitors and 3 more CPU’s for spare parts.  Judy is happy as they have a new computer center that they need equipment for and this will give them a nice start.  Also, I plan to keep an eye out for more equipment, and I’ll be sure to contact both Judy and Oneda and see if they have any current needs.  My understanding is that some kids who probably would not have access to computers otherwise will now have a place where they can work on schoolwork, and have a chance to learn some basic computer skills.

The next creative project will probably deal with some kind of food drive, I’ll probably be rallying some of the Denver folks for this as well.  It will be a spin off from the “dinner club” crew. 

Enjoy the day!

Well, as always, it seems like 5PM on Friday was just a few minutes ago.  I’m not even sure where to start.  Zhao and I made our way to all you can eat pizza on Friday night.  I’ve been a bit drained and thinking it’s too damn cold to go biking so I resorted to riding indoors.  I had some stupid technical issues come up, like the high pitched whine from my laptop’s hard drive, and the new install of Ubuntu Linux not recognizing my sound card.  If anyone wants to take a stab at that I’ll fix you dinner, come on down

Yesterday, I did get some things accomplished. And the friendly neighborhood Girl Scouts stopped by to sell cookies.  Yep, I bought some.  Last year when I bought cookies my roomate had not heard of this American Girl Scout Cookie thing.  I had not known that I needed to tell him but he was still suprised by their smiling faces, asking for money.  I made sure to tell my current room mate to prevent the repeat.  Finally decided to part with the infamous dollar from Cafe Jordano in case MC or Mike H are reading. Had a nice chat with my cousin in Israel and she told me I needed to practice my Hebrew more, like right then.  What can I say, she was right – Nachon!  Patria and I saw “Munich” last night.  Pretty good film.  Sad story, but it makes you think. 

Today was mostly house stuff too.  Finally got some of my notes transcribed so I could toss the scraps of paper they are written on.  One more leeetle pile and I’m caught up.  Oh and check out my brother Blaise here, Mantastic 2006, it’s a company contest.  Good for a laugh or two.  Well, I’m calling it a weekend, have to get my rest as I may have some work travel this week. 

Well, it has taken me a few days to get myself back together after the long weekend. I spent some time in Crested Butte CO mountain biking with good friends. There was great company, riding, good food, amazing scenery and some drinking. There is always something cleansing for me when it comes to the mountain bike. Something magical in the combination of effort, meditation and pure focus. It always puts a big stinkin grin on my face. The photos I’ve taken are here. I guess the kicker on this weekend was in the last minutes of our ride on monday. On our way back to the trailhead we encountered a little cutie hiking with her guitar. I asked “going to do some strumming?” and she answered that she was done, on her way home. Someone else asked if she’d play for us, which she did. Don’t get me wrong, while the riding was great (OK so I was hurting BAD), I’ve never finished a ride to my own personal concert. Such a treat!

So my friend Jeff (J-diddy) rolls into town tomorrow and I’m looking forward to the visit.

Next Sunday, BRT flies the friendly skies to Kauai! I’m very excited about this. I got 2 weeks of fun in the sun to look forward to!

The original “bensroadtrip.com” site began in July of 2002. I found myself leaving corporate america, with lots of time on my hands and realized I had the luxury utilize that time for my own enjoyment. While spending a long weekend with friends in Sioux City Iowa, it hit me that I could drive out to the west coast, catch up with old friends and see some new places. I casually mentioned the idea of posting pictures and notes on-line to one of the friends I planned to visit and he suggested the site name. So I did it. Thirty five days, dozens of friends, and approximately 6000 miles later I had collected lots of stories and photos. I now have a great tool to help me remember this wonderful time!

This site is about taking time do do things that are important to us. Some people are great at it, I happen to know that I could get much better at it. It’s also about making the best of your situation. Remember that while some doors are closing, others are always opening.