Its official

The day has arrived! Today we put our house on the market.

We pray for a quick and painless sale in the near future!

We are excited...scared...mostly excited. Our lives are about to change in a big way.

Final Steps!

I created this blog on the day after Christmas, 2005. Almost 6 years later we are finally putting the final pieces of the plan together that caused this blog to come about. There is no accident that the blog is called "Pikes Peak or Bust". Our main goal from the beginning has been to leave this house and this town to pursue a "better" lifestyle for my wife, my children and me. When this blog started we were both working low paying state jobs in a town that did nothing for us. Since that time, we made several very big decisions to change our little families way of life. For one, getting my wife a suitable job that she truly enjoyed and that deserved her was my main goal at the beginning. So we decided that she needed to go back to school. It was very hard for her, and I have to admit at times I did think it was too much for her to handle. A full time mom with a full time job going to school full time??? Not possible! Little did I know I was married to Super Woman. I am so proud of my wife. The next step was for me to get a better job and when I applied for a uniformed civilian job in the Patrol (for the 4th time) I was happy to find out that I was accepted. Almost 6 years later we have more than doubled our salary and we have used the extra money to get us closer to our next goal. Complete debt freedom. Our true goal is, as I stated above, to pursue a "better" lifestyle for my family. One thing that I did come to realize was that happiness was not a direct reflection of how much money you make.

The final steps are in motion as of 2:26 today. I talked to a real estate agent in regards to selling this house and we are about to list the house and pay off the rest of the debt we have and cross that goal off the list. Once the house is on the market, the agent predicts around a 90 day sale which would be perfect. Once we sell the house and pay off as much if not all of the debt with our profit, we will then be in our final steps to leaving. Deidra will then apply for her jobs and we will start making 3 day vacations out to the areas we are interested in.

The excitement is about to begin!

Keep ya posted.

Oh...quick side note...down to 254! Still losing! 6 more pounds and I will have reached a weight that I have not been since my son was born! Boom Baby!

Broncos Fall 29-24...But......

Sure, the Broncos lost. Sure, it was to the Chargers which was picked by all to win anyhow. Sure, Orton was picked to be the safe option as QB in a game that was predicted as a loss. Sure, Orton is the "safe" option as they call him, throws the ball away "safely" when he was about to lose yards or be sacked. BUT....

What you wont hear is that the chance to win was there from the beginning. What you wont be told is the back story of what could have been. Let me bring you up to date. For the last 5 games when Orton threw the ball out of bounds to be "safe" or crawled into a little ball before his inevitable oncoming sack or was stopped in the red zone only to walk away with 3 points or less....the Tebow boo birds came out in full force. Sure Tebow is a very nice guy. A religious guy that thanks his team members first and never takes the credit himself. For the last 5 games I had to listen to announcer after announcer (some being ex-NFL QB's) talk about how the crowd just didn't understand that a guy like Tebow is best left on the sideline due to throwing inaccuracies or a weird release of the ball.

With 1 Quarter of play left, the Broncos were down 24 - 10 in an already chocked up loss by the announcers and most of Denver. Orton was doing his thing...and I was trying to stay awake on my couch. Then they decided to go with Tebow! The first couple sets he went 3 and out...a couple bad throws true (hit the hands none the less and should have been caught) and a couple bad snap takes (it was after all his second time behind the 1st string snap man). Then Tebow came out to play. My wife and I started to wake up and watch the real story unfold. With one half of a 4th quarter over, Tebow was trying to win! And you could see it in the way he pumped the team up on the sidelines. Trying to win against the Chargers and I saw the fear in Crybaby Rivers eyes. He new he was about to become an example of Tebow. In the next set Tebow made the first downs happen. Not with his arm every time...but a first down after first down happened none the less...then he pushed his way into the endzone and made a 2 point conversion. Then another score and we were within 3 of winning. He avoided the sack threw the ball in the air with 1 second to go in the forth...and....we missed it. The Broncos lost the game. The fans however and me as well did not. We won. We cheered for the guy leaving the field as the comeback kid that never got the chance to show us what he would have done with 4 quarters against a beatable Chargers team.

Good game Tebow.

ORTON

1st and goal on the 1 and you cant get the TD???? The fans want to get behind you bud. I want to believe you can pull together...you just do NOT get the job done! Red Zone disaster! Orton: Get the ball out of your hands faster....better yet....tap out to Tebow. 1st and goal on the 1 with Tebow? How ya think that would have panned out guys? Ya...we all know how that woulda panned out....with a big win against a team that was thought to be a monster...and an away game at that. Instead...loss.

On a high note...the D looked great! Keep it up guys!

I remember.

On this 10 year anniversary, it is more important than ever to remember the moment in our life when everything changed forever. Many events take place on any given frozen moment in your life when you look around and realize that your life will no longer resemble what you found as normal just moments ago. That moment for me, as it was for many, began on 9-11-2001.

I was in my car on the way to work. I was listening to Bob & Tom (radio talk show) as I normally did each morning during any typical work day before that day. I remember the talk show stopped and made the announcement that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in NYC. I remember feeling uneasy about that moment. I have always been someone that thinks about the worst case scenario when some event of any magnitude takes place and I remember thinking that someone did it on purpose. When I was pulling into my parking space at work I sat and listened to the show as it had turned into a more serious show from its typical humor based material. I walked into my office and was surprised that no one else had realized what had happened. I was more surprised that no one in the office seemed to understand the importance of that moment. I turned my radio on near my computer and tried to locate a station giving any information out about the event. Getting any kind of reception in the Truman State office building was near impossible but I did find an AM station that was reporting about the event. As the time passed, everyone in the office started to understand the importance of that moment when the radio reported that the second tower had been hit by a second plane. From that moment on and into the rest of the day, nobody in the office spoke much. Everyone just sat there helpless as each attack took place. Listening to the information that the Pentagon was hit....and the possibility that there were many planes incoming with unknown targets in mind. It made me sick. I remember feeling so much pain for the many families that had, in one moment, been torn completely apart by one evil act of hate. I remember thinking to myself that it takes a very weak and scared individual or group of idiots to carry out such a blatant act of such cowardice. Its as if they hated someone so much but was so scared of them that instead of trying to fight the one they hated, they instead turned their attack on some innocent woman pushing a child in a baby cart down the street. True cowardice. It was not some master plan carried out by some intelligent mastermind. It was as easy as throwing a grenade into a fish bowl full of fish. This will always be portrayed as some long thought of plot by some secret terrorist agency far overseas...but to me it is what it is...a very simple plot thought up by the very simple minds of some less than human trash living in huts in a desert with an over abundance of unearned money and the ability to walk onto a plane and scare innocent people in order to crash the plane.

I will always feel pain for those lost in the terrible attack on innocence in this country.

God Bless all of those who were lost on that horrible day. God Bless those still coping with their losses. God Bless those who are coping with sickness now after breathing all of that poison while trying to dig out our loved ones. God Bless all of the hero's that stood on that sacred ground and gave their lives so that there was even a small chance that they could save someone from that hell even knowing that the chance probably did not exist.

God Bless America

I will never forget.

Weigh in Friday

Just a quick post...weighed in Friday...down another 3 1/2 lbs. On to the next couple weeks!

Missouri....blech

I just wanted to make a very quick post regarding the state of Missouri. I hate when you look at the weather channel and see the word "Severe Weather" over our area...only our "Severe" weather consists of flood warnings, high pollen levels and severe heat issues. 38 people died in Missouri due to the heat during the damn heat wave. DIED BECAUSE OF THE HEAT!

For the LOVE! Come on FALL!

Missouri....blech.

Weigh in

Down again! 15 lbs. and running!

Broncos sign a power back

Broncos sign the power running back Willis McGahee. This provides the downhill running game that has been missing since we lost Hillis in my opinion. Looking forward to our options in the running game again!

COACH TURNS 65! THATS THE BIG...SIX...FIVER!

Happy 65th Birthday Coach!

Did a little research and found out some cool facts about your birthday year. Here are some things that happened the year you were born:

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was founded. Merged with the National Basketball league (NBL) in 1949 which then formed the NBA. *Probably why you all love Basketball so darn much!

On July 5th of that year, Bikinis go on sale for the first time in Paris. They would make their way to America soon after. *We ALL thank you for that!

The San Fransisco 49ers are formed.

On May 2nd of that year 6 inmates try to escape Alcatraz...they fail. Riots begin in the prison. The events of that day are known as "The Battle of Alcatraz".

On December 20th of that year, one of our family's favorite Christmas movies "It's a Wonderful Life" is released in New York.

On December 31st, President Harry Truman delivers Proclamation 2714 officially ending hostilities in World War II.

January 10th of that year the first meeting of the United Nations is held in London.

January 10th of that year is also important because "Project Diana" bounces radar waves off the moon proving that communication is possible between Earth and outer space. This in turn opens the space age.

Here are some people born that year:

January 19th (my birthday): Dolly Parton

May 18th: Reggie Jackson

May 19th: Andre the Giant

May 20th: Cher

June 14th: Donald Trump (People with comb overs rejoice!)

July 6th: George W. Bush (G-DUB!)

July 6th: Sylvester Stallone is born. People all around the world unknowingly wait for the 80's and the beginning of the Rocky Saga.

July 13th: Cheech Marin

July 15th: Linda Ronstadt

July 22nd: Danny Glover

September 15th: Tommy Lee Jones

October 26th: Pat Sajak

and many many others!

Happy Birthday COOOOOAAACHHHH!

PS: A very wise man (or kid) once said: "I don't care if there is cloud to ground lightning....or that its raining...hailing...or there are tornado warnings out right now! You get our Giants together and LETS GO TO KALISPELL PARK FOR PRACTICE! I gotta swing Ol' Blue! Anyone who does not show up is Bush League and probably just stands at the plate while the ball goes by anyhow!"

Those memories will last forever.

Love you. God Bless You guys and keep you. May the wind be at your back at all times, well for the most part, because lets face it...if you are tossing the frisbee around...you would rather have a gentle breeze at your front...makes the disc go further...but at all other times..at your back!

Down

Good start...long way to go.