An update...

Hello to everyone again!

I know I've been slacking on my blogging duties, but here's a little update.

Things at work have finally slowed down, but almost to a pace that is too slow. Pretty much everyone has wrapped up their field projects and is back in the office full time. It's been kinda nice to be in Denver for a month or so now without having to travel anywhere else for work.

A few weeks ago, my old roommates from MN, Kelsey and Alana came out to visit me which was so much fun!! We went out on the town a couple nights and also made it up to the Red Bull Soap Box Race at Red Rocks park which was really fun. It was basically a soap box race for adults where they constructed these crazy racers and dressed up all funny to go thru the race. There were a few good crashes and a lot of laughs. We also went hiking down at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs which was a lot of fun too. The weather was great while they were here.

Last weekend, I headed up to Frisco, CO with a girlfriend from work for Halloween. I dressed up as a witch and we went to this little dive bar that reminded me so much of the Fulda bar..haha. We stayed at this really old and creepy bed and breakfast and really had a good time.

This Sunday is my birthday and my roommate and a few other girlfriends are going to this Holiday kick-off champagne brunch at one of the hotels here in Denver. Evidently, it is a Denver tradition and some guy cuts the cork off a champagne bottle and pours it down a 4-story high champagne glass fountain...should be really fun.

I'll be back in MN for Thanksgiving. Thursday-Sunday in Fulda and then Sunday afternoon and evening in St. Paul so I'm excited to see family and friends!

Hope everyone is doing well!
Amanda

What has it been? Three months now?

I can't believe it's already been 3 months since I've moved here. Time really does fly by.

I survived my "probational" period at my job so I'm now officially hired and have access to all those crazy benefits and things you get when you have a real job.

As for what I've been up to these past weeks, it's been kinda a whirlwind. After the DNC, I thought things at work would slow down a little bit. I've spent much of the last few weeks up in Leadville wrapping things up for the season. I think it snowed like a foot up there a couple nights ago, so it's good we got everything finished up. Speaking of snow, I've heard that some of the snow resorts are scheduled to open up this coming weekend! This seems crazy to me because I was just up in the mountains last weekend and there was absolutely no snow at one of these resorts. Even coming from MN, it's amazing to me that you can get a 40 inch snow pack in less than 1 week.

I drove up into the mountains last weekend to check out some of the fall colors and they were so beautiful. I'll attach some of my photos to the end of this post. I did some hiking up on Guanella Pass which is near Georgetown and also took a drive through Breckenridge and Fairplay. The Aspens were at their peak and were a blaze orange. SOOOO pretty. I highly recommend visiting CO in the fall.

A couple weekends ago, I went to visit some friends in St. Paul and to go to my friend Jackie's bachelorette party. It was so fun to see all the old gang and be back at my old apt. It didn't quite feel like home anymore, though. We had a lot of fun and some of my friends even sang to me at a piano bar.

I'm headed back to MN again this weekend for Jackie's wedding, which is in Fulda. I'm so excited to go back and stay at Mom and Dad's house, see my family and old friends, and even see Fulda. :) It really will be a fun weekend.

Like I promised, I'll post some of those fall pictures. Love and miss you all!!

Amanda

DNC Photos

Here are some of the photos from the DNC. Most everywhere I went I couldn't take pictues, so this is somewhat a limited view of everything I got to see. It was definitely a cool experience and it was fun to be among all the craziness.

Pepsi Center where the first part of the convention was held. This was

about as close as I could get.

Invesco Field right before Obama gave his speech. I got as

close as I could and listened from the outside.

Security was crazy!!

My badges that could get me anywhere...well, almost.

Our air sampling truck. This thing takes air samples as it drives along and detects anything harmful.

Protestors...they were everywhere this week! Snipers on top of a building across the street from the Pepsi Center.



The building I was stationed at during the DNC.







Some of our equipment. There was rooms and rooms of this stuff.

Check this out!!

The CBS channel out here in Denver did a story on my office and what we've been doing out here at the DNC. For those of you wondering what the heck it is I do, this gives you a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, I do not make an appearance as the video was shot during the day shift and I have been working the night shift.

http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id=45905@kcnc.dayport.com

The DNC

Well our efforts for the DNC officially began yesterday. The city is pretty much on lock-down with cops and swat teams everywhere. There are police on foot, horse, bike, car, basically everything. At my command post there are Secret Service people, Coast Guard, Denver police, EPA and FBI...along with any other government agency you could think of.

So far, things have been uneventful. Last night was actually alright and I was less tired than I thought I was going to be. Although, at about 6:30am I was really struggling to stay awake. I'm at night two right now and basically I just sit at the command post and wait for a phone call that tells us we need to go into action. I really hope that doesn't happen.

As for downtown, things are kinda a mess. Streets are closed, buses are screwed up, lightrail is shut down and the locals are just pretty much avoiding the area. Thing really won't begin to rock and roll until Monday when the convention actually starts.

I'll keep everyone posted and hopefully I'll get to take some pictures. Right now, I'm just adjusting to the night schedule and mainly focusing on staying awake.

Busy few weeks!

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been really busy at work! We have a few projects we are trying to finish up and we are also preparing for the DNC. Lots of craziness.

Last week, I flew out to Utah at the last minute to help one of my colleagues take soil-gas samples. I was in Richfield, UT and for those of you who don't know where that is, it is about 3 hours south of Salt Lake City on I-15. A guy out there unknowingly purchased a property that used to be a dry-cleaners and turned it into a gymnastics school. The problem is, the dry-cleaners probably dumped cleaning solutions out the door onto the ground and now those chemicals are giving off gases that are rising up through the foundation into the school. These fumes are not good to breath and they are at really high levels that will probably need to be fixed. So I was there to take the samples of air and see how much chemical was in it.

The best part was that we finished our work one day a little early so we drove down to Cedar Breaks National Park which is part of the whole rock formation creating Bryce Canyon and Zion, which I love!! So beautiful and just an awesome drive. I love UT.

This week, I was back up in Leadville taking soil samples again. We are trying to finish up that project soon, but people keep requesting to be sampled so we are adding houses left and right. I am heading back up there Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to finish up and then it is full on to the DNC.

I am really looking forward to the DNC being over so that we can all relax again. Also, on Labor Day weekend, my friends Tarah and Kyle are coming to visit me, so I'm really excited about that!!!

I'll keep you all posted on the events at the DNC and what and who I get to see. I just hope crazy people don't do crazy things that I have to try and fix! :)

A visit from some familiar faces!

This past weekend my mom and sister came to visit me! They drove out from Fulda so they could bring me some of my last few boxes of things from MN.

They said the drive was awful and that they are never going back to Nebraska. :)

They arrived on Thursday night and after they checked into their hotel we headed downtown Denver so I could show them my office building and a couple of the sites. We capped off the night with some Mexican food and Margaritas!

Friday was an early morning as we had to be down in Manitou Springs (right outside Colorado Springs) by 10am to take the train up to Pike's Peak. We made it and although my sister Jess was sick with a cold and we all felt yucky because of the altitude, we had fun and got to see Kansas and New Mexico all standing in the same spot...pretty cool I must say.

After Pike's Peak we spent the day in Manitou Springs which is one of the cutest little mountain towns I've ever been too. Lots of hippies and locals. We stopped for a couple Coors Lights and burgers at a local bar where they played three Journey songs in a row. :)

Slightly exhausted, but still ready for more, we dropped Jess off at the hotel so she could sleep off her sickness and Mom and I headed to the mall. We all were so tired that night, we crashed early and didn't even eat dinner.

Saturday morning we piled in the car and headed up the very curvy and beautiful HWY 24 to Buena Vista, CO. This is where we were going whitewater rafting. We arrived to BV early and had a picnic lunch in the park and Mom got more and more nervous about the rafting adventure.

We got to the rafting place about 45 min early because Mom was worried we wouldn't have the right clothes. Everything turned out fine though, and I'd have to say we looked pretty professional!!

The rafting was a absolute blast!!! One of the most fun things I've ever done in my life. We did a class III rafting trip which is about a 6 or 7 on the thrill factor. The first 1/3 of the trip was pretty calm with a few bumps and rocks and I was beginning to think we had wasted our money. Boy, was I wrong! We got to the rapids and we were bouncing all over the place, going backwards and paddling like crazy. Besides Mom getting slammed into a giant rock and losing some hide on her arm and the little girl in our boat getting tossed overboard, we all made it thru just fine.

Mom had a great time and said she was ready to try a classs IV next time!!

After rafting we dried off and drove to Frisco, CO where we spent the night. We went out for an expensive dinner and sat on the patio watching the sunset over the mountains...GORGEOUS!

Sunday we woke up and headed downtwon Frisco for a little shopping, but to our surprise, there was a Corvette show going on so we skipped the shopping and looked at cars. There had to have been over 1,000 Corvettes in town that day.

The only bad thing that happened to us was that we got caught in a giant traffic jam heading back to Denver on Sunday night. What should have taken us an hour, took three as we were creepin' and beepin' for 70 miles. Not fun....in the future, I will leave earlier.

We concluded our trip Monday morning when we went out for an early breakfast before Mom and Jess headed back and I went to work. They decided to go up to Wyoming and thru SD for a little extra scenery at the Black Hills and the Badlands. What a weekend!! Pictures coming soon!

I was so tired last night I needed a vacation from my vacation!

Some firsts.....

Well, this past weekend was a bit crazy. I had my first taste of the Denver weekend nightlife which I have to say is a little more out of control than what I'm used to on Grand Ave. in St. Paul.

Friday night I went out to a little music club and listened to a guy from work's band. That was really fun and I guess they are kinda famous around the Denver area. Very cool.

On Saturday night, my roommate and I hosted a BBQ, which was super fun and filled with food and laughter. We then ventured downtown, which was very fun. First of all, I learned that downtown Denver has a ton of bars and restuarants. It's some ridiculous number like 800 or something. So far, I've been to 6. I'll let you know when I've been to all 800. :) Their bar patios here are also pretty awesome. Some are as big as the gymnasium of Fulda High School, not including the inside part. I think I'll be able to manage the nightlife around here. Meg's friends are also really fun and genuine and there are definintly some that remind me of my friends back in MN. I think there are only more fun times ahead with them.

On Sunday, I had my first visitor...my friend Candace from high school drove through on her way out to moving to Las Vegas. We went out to dinner and she stayed over at my house which was great. Very nice to see a familiar face.

This coming weekend my mom and sister are driving down to bring me my last few boxes of stuff. Originally they were coming to help me move, but since I already got around to that on my own, we are going to do fun stuff. On Friday we are driving down to Co. Springs and taking the train up to the top of Pike's Peak. Saturday we are going whitewater rafting in Buena Vista, which is a little mountain town outside of Co. Springs. On our way back to Denver, we are staying the night on Saturday in the cute little resort town of Frisco and finally returning to Denver on Sunday to explore downtown. I'm really looking forward to it!!

Other than that, just trying to prepare at work for the DNC. Everyone is going crazy trying to get everything coordinated. This whole town in being turned upside down because of it, but it should be a lot of fun! I'm starting to get really excited for it.

Wishing everyone the best!
Amanda

Loving Denver, cont.

A couple more things to note:

Sonic Drive-In is everywhere out here. For all of you back in MN stuck watching those commercials and not having a Sonic to go to, don't feel bad. I tried it and it looks better on TV. If you need a greasy drive-in fix, Culvers beats Sonic anyday.

Drivers out here are mean. People don't let you merge and they honk and give you the finger constantly.

It's dry, dry, dry. I feel like I've been drinking water non-stop since I've gotten here and I'm still dehydrated.

They have something they call a DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired) which is basically a DWI at .05 instead of a .08. All the consequences are the same.

And lastly, I discovered a place called Sunflower Market, which is the best grocery store I've ever been to. It has all organic meats and locally grown produce as well as a bunch of other organic products for a fraction of the regular grocery store. I went there the other day and got a bunch of meat, fruits and veggies for $16. CRAZY AWESOME!!!

Loving Denver

I've finally spent some time in Denver this week and I'm really beginning to love this city. Sooooooo much to do and see and eat, it turns out.

I had my 40-hour HAZMAT training this week and for those of you who don't know, its the training where they teach you how to deal with hazardous materials. I had to take the class over at the City of Denver and the class was me and 30 men. I walked in the first day and thought I was at firefighter training or something. Most of them looked like they should be professional wrestlers and not Denver city workers. They all turned out to be really nice though and since I was the only lady, I think I got a little special treatment. After my test, 5 of the guys at my table took me out to the bar to celebrate our success. Needless to say, that was an experience.

I passed my training so now I'm fully certified to clean up any kind of hazardous spill (although I hope I never have to). I also found out today that I will be working at the DNC as an environmental officer. I'll basically be on standby ready and waiting for something hazardous to happen, such as a dirty bomb or bio-terrorism. Sounds way more intense that it actually will be. Some of the guys in my office did the same type of thing for the Olympics in Salt Lake City and said you basically hang out in a tent all day playing poker.

I had my first taste of the night-life last night and I have to say I had a blast. My roommate and I and a bunch of friends went downtown to the Sports Column which is a bar by Coors Field. I'd say it is a combination of Billy's and Drink which I know sounds weird. The rooftop is awesome and two of my friends have a loft two buildings over on the top floor with a balcony. I'll definitely be spending lots of time there in the near future I'm sure.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Hope everyone and everything is well back in MN.

Getting Settled.

Well, it's been a couple weeks now since I left Minnesota but I have to say I haven't really settled in Denver. My first week here I stayed in a hotel and when I finally found a place to call home, my work shipped me off to Leadville, CO for a week. Needless to say, I've spent two nights in my house here.

My trip to Leadville was exhausting! We worked our butts off for 12 hours a day, went to bed, and then did it all over again. To my suprise, I find out on Tuesday that we are also staying to work half of Saturday. While this next paycheck will be worth all the pain of this week, I'm still so tired right now that it doesn't seem that way.

Leadville was a cute little mountain town that reminded me a lot of Fulda...except maybe a little more tourist-y. The weather was awesome and the low 60's were a well deserved break from the 100's it's been down "off the hill" as the locals call it. The drive was beautiful and some mornings when I woke up and saw the mountains out my hotel window...I couldn't believe I was getting paid to be there. However, with all the work we were doing, I didn't really get any time to do fun stuff. I did however find a good place to ski this winter, considering I've only skiied in MN and never down the side of a mountain. I also found a good place to go white water rafting, which I'm really excited about.

Lastly, the one thing I have to say I loved about Leadville was this little local bar that served 2 for $1 PBR's all day everyday. The "under a $1" PBR seems to be a trend out here and Coors Light is definitely the drink of choice. I still love my Miller Lite, but Coors is growing on me. For all you Mic Golden fans, you'll have to bring your own when you come visit. Coloradans don't even know what it is. :)

So I've been here a week...

Hello everyone!

So I know how much all of you want updates about how I'm doing out here in Colorado, and frankly I just don't have time to call all of you. I thought a blog would be the perfect solution! This way you can check up on me or ignore me, whatever floats your boat.

So, I've been out in Denver now for a week and so far things are going pretty well. My hotel I've been staying in is definitely not the Ritz, but it gets the job done. Apartment searching was a little disheartening in the beginning as it seemed every place in my price range and the right neighborhood was either a garden level or a piece of shit. Craigslist came to the rescue though and I found a cute little house right outside of downtown with a really fun roommate. This is just one of many things in my life I owe to Craigslist (job, apartment, bike, etc.). If any of you are relocating, Craigslist needs to be your friend.

I'm moving in this coming weekend so I'm super excited to have a place called home. My roommate Meg has two dogs so I'm sure the house will be lively. I'm really excited to explore my new neighborhood and hit up some local bars (One down the street looks very Billy's-like). I'm also within walking distance to downtown and all the stadiums so that is awesome and I'm really looking forward to my first Rockies game.

My job is awesome. I have to say that everyone I've met so far has been great and this job is absolutely perfect. It is exactly what I want to be doing. Working downtown is super fun and it makes me feel like a grown-up. Downtown Devner is very similar to downtown Minneapolis, minus the skyways. That is just one of the many things different here in Denver. I'll make a list at the end of some of the others.

I'm heading out to Leadville, CO next week for my first field job. I am going to be taking soil samples from peoples' property that are contaminated with lead and arsenic. I'll be out there all week staying in a hotel and hopefully doing a little site-seeing if I have time.

Other than that, I've just been getting used to things here and figuring out how to get around and all that. The light rail and buses here are awesome and it makes me feel really bad for everyone back in MN who has to ride our buses there. I haven't been to terribly homesick yet, although I'm sure it's coming. Once I get settled, I'm sure I'll miss having all my familiar faces around. Denver is slowly starting to feel like home, although it really still feels like I'm on vacation.

So, I promised you a list of all things different/the same here in Denver:

Different:
1) Mountains...duh.
2) Legal jaywalking-they have crosswalks that go diagonally thru the intersection..weird at first, now I kinda like it.
3) No humidity...it was 101 yesterday and it didn't even feel that hot.
4) No skyways.
5) Light rail and buses rock my world...freeways are awesome too. Kinda weird though because the only freeways they have are interstates, all other roads have stoplights.
6) Everyone here is super laid back and does not operate on a schedule. I am still getting used to this...meetings don't have a time and people show up to work whenever they want to.
7) Homeless people are EVERYWHERE and it is illegal to give them money. You can give them food, but if you give them money, you can get a ticket.

Same:
1) Most importantly, they do have Jimmy John's.
2) Downtown Denver is like a mirror image on downtown Minneapolis.
3) Everyone is super friendly.
4) Everyone seems to be mostly liberals.
5) They have all the stores and all the restaurants that Minnesota has...not any less and not really any more.
6) Everyone is obsessed with the Rockies, just like Minnesotans are obsessed with the Twins.

So that's all I've got for now. For those of you still reading this ridiculously long post, I hope you enjoyed it and I miss you all!!

Peace,
Amanda