Adventure Time - Zack's 15th Birthday At Water World

It is tremendously hard to believe that Zack, the young man who I once referred to as "my little Zackie" turned 15 years old yesterday.  Zack is definitely now a young man. He is only an inch or two shorter than me.  He needs to shave at least once a week or he starts to look like a shaggy beast.  It seems as each day his strength and muscles grow larger.  Despite his size, muscles, beard and mustache in my heart he is and will always be "my little Zackie".

For Zack's birthday celebration this year Zack and I along with two of Zack's best friends - Jess and James, headed to Denver's Water World water park.  Water World is one of the largest water parks in the United States.  It features over 49 different water slides, pools, surfing features and even a water based roller coaster. 

I had hoped to be on the road to Water World around 9:15AM but we had a couple of delays (mainly me sleeping in) that didn't see us on the road until almost 9:30AM.  I felt like a school bus driver as I made stops to pick up Zack's friends.  The water park is about 20 miles to the north of our home in Centennial so we didn't end up arriving until almost 10:20am.  The fact that one of his friends was still sound asleep when we arrived at his home also slowed us down a bit.

Once through the gates we quickly found an excellent place next to the largest wave pool to set up shop.  I made sure each of the kids covered themselves in sun screen as I didn't want any of them getting sun burnt and then we were off to have fun.

Zack and his buddies mainly spent their day in the Thunder Bay wave pool.  This pool is a monstrous sized wave pool that is capable of generating massive 5 - 7 feet tall waves.  I had rented each of them the large inner tubes that that are available at the park.  They loved hanging out in this pool riding the waves all day. I on the other hand took off and hit just about every attraction that is available in the park.  (You didn't expect me to spend the day hanging around with Zack and his two best geek buddies in the world did you?) I tried to do at least one of each type of attraction that is available in the park.  I even did the "pipeline" slides that rise over 6 stories into the air and plunge you down almost vertically into a shallow basin of water.  I don't know how fast you go on those slides but they are incredibly fast and you definitely experience a free fall sensation as you go off the top.  As I stood at the top looking down, I did question why I was doing this crazy extreme thing.  But once I was on it sliding downward, I loved it.

The Gang of Geeks - They call themselves geeks - it's just not me!

We spent the entire day at Water World.  Leaving there at 5:00PM we immediately ran into rush hour traffic which made the ride home very long.  Going home we dropped off Zack's friends and stopped to pick up Nancy.  For Zack's birthday dinner he wanted pizza and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  After we got Nancy to the house I left to get the pizza and the cake.

The evening was as enjoyable as the rest of the day.  In addition to Nancy, my brother and Lisa and her youngest son all came and had dinner with us.  Zack got several very nice gifts and we all enjoyed a very tasty dinner together.  The pizza was from our local pizzeria located in Willow Creek - Mama Roma's.  I am not sure why, but they do have some of the best pizza in this world.  They also make a really tasty Italian dressing for their salads.  The dressing is so good that we always get an extra 2 or 3 servings so that we can dip our pizza in it.  It is so yummy!

Zack lighting up the candles on his b-day cake.

The birthday boy and me

Tomorrow (Friday) we embark upon another adventure as we are headed to New Mexico for the day.  We'll be getting up very early as we intend to visit the Capulin Volcano National Monument and the Cimarron Canyon before picking up one of my nephews and his buddy from the Boy Scouts of America Philmont Scout Ranch outside of Cimarron, NM.  It should be another great day with lots of new and exciting sights for us to see.

Hope everyone has had a great week so far!

Thanks and peace to all! ~ J.

Summer Time Photos

Without passion, writing is a burden to be borne like a yoke on the back of an ox.  Lacking the drive and the passion makes it hard for the words to flow and the ideas to spring unbound from your mind.  Right now I seem to lack that passion to write this blog.  My day-to-day thoughts are instead turned to the projects on which I am working and the helping Zack continue his growth.  I will eventually rediscover the passion for blogging, but for now my writing efforts are focused almost exclusive on those projects that will get me published.  I believe I am close to that goal and I will of course announce it here on this blog the day that first article or book is accepted for publication. 

For now instead of a long narrative of our adventures and fun that we have had I will post these pictures that capture some of the beauty we have seen this summer.

 Hiking into the prairie at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

 Don't mess with the big guys at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (RMANWR)

 Water fowl habitat at RMANWR.

Big Sky at RMANWR

Hiking in unique rock formations at Staunton Ranch State Park - Colorado's newest state park.

 An interesting array of wildflowers

 Gorgeous scenery at Staunton Ranch State Park

 Hiking the wetlands at Flying J' Ranch Open Space

 Water break!

I love trails like this through the deep forest!

Zack on the ropes course at his Outward Bound Expedition

Zack climbing high on a cliff face during Outward Bound.  Never would have believed he did this until I saw the pictures!  I am very proud of what he accomplished on Outward Bound!

Zack and his team ready to do some serious hiking.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

And So Begins A New Chapter....

Today marks the end of one chapter in my life and the beginning of another.  After 14 years, today is my last day of employment with my current employer.  I began work at my current employer on April 5, 1999 when I started a new job with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Consulting.  In October of 2002, PwC Consulting was sold in it's entirety to my current employer.

In the years since 2002, I have had many different roles and responsibilities with my employer and I have endured through many reorganizations, shifts in corporate direction and layoffs.  When my employer announced their financial results for the first quarter of 2013, the results did not meet Wall Streets expectations.  To help meet Wall Street's expectations going forward, my employer also announced with its financial results that it would spend over $1 billion to reduce the work force and re-balance staffing between more expensive countries and less expensive countries.  Little did I know that I would get caught up in this work force re-balancing.  On June 12 I was offered severance package I couldn't refuse and today is now my last day with my current employer.  I can feel nothing but gratitude for the people who I have worked with and the company that has given me so much over the last 14 years.  It is bittersweet to leave after so long, but it is also something that will inspire positive change in me and will allow me to grow, learn and expand my horizons!

This might seem like a bad situation but instead I feel that it is a tremendous opportunity.  I am now free to pursue my passions of writing and photography without the need to spend 8 - 12 hours a day working for a corporation.  Now I will be working directly for myself, doing the things for which I have a passion! 

Over the last month my thoughts and efforts have been focused around the changes that come as of today and as a result I haven't very little.  I have even been silent on Facebook if you can believe that!  But now that all the pieces have come together the time available to write is returning - so there is much more to come.  I hope you all will continue to follow this blog in the days, weeks, months and years ahead as adventures are just starting.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.