04.23.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by colt
Yes! I do still have a life now that I am back. Due to popular demand, or my really boring job and one random comment about someone missing reading new posts, I have decided to resume my blog and update it. I should say that there should be about 1 update every few weeks, maybe. Anyway, now I am back in colorado, and it’s looking like I will remain here for a few more months at least. Right now I am applying for a position in the ICE(immigration and customs enforcement), a process I hear can take up to 8 months. I have taken one 5 hour test so far, and am expecting to hear back in 6-8 weeks. Yee-haw… Anyway, While i’m waiting I am looking for an apartment, with a friend, and working as a security officer! This means I am a rent a cop. I patrol the dangerous abandoned buildings(9 in total) of the old starge tech campus(high tech computer buildings, now pretty much abandoned), until conoco phillips moves in,in auguest. The job is good, and I get to drive a new toyota tacoma. Life here is a bit boring however, as I usually check in every hour or so, and have to check in everytime I move to something new to patrol. This means I have a lot of down time. Also, I was informed yesterday that, while I am doing a good job, I am harrassing the control office a bit too much(once and hour, i mean come on!!) And that from here on out, it would be good if, everytime I thought I was done with a job and had waited long enough to move on to the next place…. To give it another 30-60 minutes. Luckily my boss(the lady who hired me) showed me where the dvd player is, where I can get on the internet(guess who is getting paid to write this right now.:), and recommended that I bring a good book, or 3. My shift is from 3-11pm every friday through tuesday. I walk these buildings a lot in the dark, with no weapon(not even a flash light) and in this high tech place all I can think of is the video game half life. Basically another high tech compound. Where scientist accidently open a portal for zombie aliens to come through. The fact that the whole place here is uncannily like the facilities in the game dont help either. Even with the monitors left on, and coffee left in cups on desks…. Creepy. I did however pass my SOB training to get my guard license. Yes… Its actually called the SOB training. How, oh how does the noble rent a cop get his rep? Anyway, its pretty boring here, and I am kept on my toes by automatic doors(most are security card activated, but some will give me heart attacks), and I feel secure in the knowledge that If I run into anybody here it will be just him and me… and whatever weapons they happen to have on them. I have also started taking karate again. Seriously. Thanks for reading, and Ill try to update with some pics asap(whenever I get to it).
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01.14.08
Posted in Europe at 10:50 pm by colt
I visited Dover in between my visits to london, and this city is wonderful! The weather was fantastic and I spent three great days in a terrific B&B relaxing and seeing the sights at a bit slower pace. I saw the castle here and did a tour of the man made cavern used during the napolionic wars, WW2, and the cold war. The castle itself is very old and big, having first been a roman fort, and i spent a lot of time getting to know the giant stone walls. I did a few hikes along the local trails and eventully did a day hike along the white cliffs of dover, which are amazing! I even got to hike down the cliff face, and go explore an old WW2 gun turret carved into the side of the cliff a few hundered feet down a winding little trail that zigged and zagged down the cliff face and was completely empty of human presence at this time of year. Overall Dover was great, and I would love to come here again. Not big, but beautiful and full of things to do and see. Such as the coast of france for example.
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Posted in Europe at 10:46 pm by colt
So I saw london in two visits, the first was to see my mom off, bye mom! and then to sightsee about half of the city here. We stayed in a B&B and it was a bit out of the way, but a good place to stay. My first day in london I saw the west end of the city center, and visited such noteworthy places as Westimenster abbey, beautiful on the inside and indescribable. If you ever get the chance and haven’t been, this place is a must see! I also saw big ben, the giant ferris wheel, huge, wow! and a lot of other various sights. My second visit is for my last two nights in europe, sob! and I am writing this on the eve of my flight back to the states. Today I visited the east side of the city and saw the tower bridge, london tower, london bridge, and all sorts of other cool, must see places for any tourist in london. I also rode in two doubble decker buses, although they are not quite as full of character as the old fashioned ones, which i only got to see in passing by private companies, as the old ones have all been retired by the city. Anyway this is my last stop in europe, although perhaps I might be persuaded by popular demand to do a short ditty on my layover in texas as that two is a strange and foreign land, full of strange and interesting people who seem mighty strange to a down to earth coloradian like myself. Anyway, its been fun and i will continue to update this so feel free to keep checking up on me, although i cant garuntee the variety of subject matter in the future as has been seen so far in this blog!
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Posted in Europe at 10:38 pm by colt
Cardiff was great and a ton of fun! We visited the local castle and got a nice little tour. Our guide was very informative and the castle was very ornate on the inside and done in a classic mideval style. We spent two days here and saw a lot. We hiked through the local gardens and did a lot of general sightseeing. We also went into a lot of local little shops here and the local symbol, a dragon, is on everything! We ate in a nice local pub and drank the beer brewed there and ate fish and chips. We also visited the local museum of natural history, and saw a lot of really cool stuff, including a big exibit on prehistoric man and roman artifacts. This is the capital of wales, and unfortunately the only city we got to visit in this area of the UK. I enjoyed this city a lot and was once again sad to leave another place, but excited to see the next!
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01.06.08
Posted in Europe at 6:46 pm by colt
Durham was great and we stayed in a wonderful little bed and breakfast while we were there. The cathedral is very cool and huge! The pillars holding up the ceiling were about 6 foot in diameter and that ratio just about describes everything in the place. We also visited the local castle, which is perched on the side of a hill next to the river there, and it was very nice to see. This castle is now a main building in the university, and we took a tour of it. The castle was very impressive and full of great antiques. The weather was fairly nice our two day here and we took a few hour long hike along the river which was very scenic and green! Our B&B was great and we were fixed a full english breakfast every morning, and it was huge! We also ate in a local pub and tried a local ale, brewed in the pub and served straight from the barrel. Durham was great and we were sad to leave. Our train ride to Cardiff however was a different story as we ended up taking a bus and two trains, one of which had standing room only, and it took most of the day to get to our next destination.
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01.02.08
Posted in Europe at 5:37 pm by colt
Stirling is cool, and I like this city a lot. We went to the castle here and it has breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside. One thing that i really like about scottish castles in the fact that they incorporate parts of the mountain and cliffs into the walls, even on the insides of the castles, making them look more rugged and almost as if the formations simply were formed to make these big forts. The castle in stirling was cool, although a bit hard to see from the main town, and full of great things to see inside. We saw a great weapons demonstration by a rather big mouthed scottish guy dressed as a medieval royal gaurd, who was very funny, and it was pretty impressive. They did an actual swordfight at real time speed and the fight was intense enough for their metal swords to throw sparks with each parry and clash. Stirling is great and so far my only complaint is the freezing weather, which is just abouve freezing with a constant drizzle and a strong wind. Not a lot of fun, but a beautiful area. On a lighter note, mom and i are spending our time here in a local hostel so that she can see what i have been living like for the past 3 months. (i did live in an apartment here my 1st month so in reality i have been here 4, but whos counting?) The place is pretty deserted after new years and really nice. Next we go to inverness.
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Posted in Europe at 5:24 pm by colt
So we made it here for hogsmanay, the big new years festival here, just in time to find out that we needed to pre-order tickets to attend and spent out time here wandering the crowded streets instead. Edinborugh is the capital of scottland, and there are things to see and do everywhere. We visited the great castle and wow. It stands precariously on the edge of a giant cliff overlooking the city and is amazing to see, inside and out. We spent a lot of time perusing the small shops here, and they have a lot of stuff, some stuff really cool, and some pretty hilarious. I have never seen so many kilts in my entire life! The cathedral here is not as impressive as the one in glasgow, although in general the archatecture here is much better. All the buildings here leave you with a feeling of awe when looking at them from the outside, and everything it seems is built in a grandiose style. We ate out a few times here and I tried haggis for the first time! Really its pretty good, although it is an exercise in working my anti-gag reflex muscles to keep form loosing all the ground on that meal i had made, due to the fact that I knew exactly what I was eating. We ended up staying here a bit longer then expected as everything here closes on the 1st. In other words there was no public transport running, period. We were unable therefore to make it to Sterling for a day and had to make a delay. This was fine however, seeing how mom was getting over some jet lag and I am starting to get a bit worn down at this point as well from the constant traveling. Needless to say the break was well appreciated, and I would be hard pressed to rind a better place to be stranded. The festival here was huge and a lot of fun. Lots of drunks and so on, but there is a different vibe in scottland for the new year, and it was great to see. Edinborugh is great and I must visit again in the future, preferably sometime with a ticket. P.S. I make no garuntees about the spelling of any cities in my blog, which works in conjuction with my earlier statment about my spelling in general. Thanks!
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Posted in Europe at 5:09 pm by colt
Glasgow was my first city in the UK, and the city is very green for an industrial son of the 1800s. I met my mom here, she was given a wonderful gift by my Grandma Betty of a flight to meet me for about 2 weeks in Scottland, Thanks Grandma! Anyway I met her no problem and we spent the next 2 days seeing the giant cathedral there as well as the sprawling necropolitus which is situated behind it. Both were incredably beautiful, and some of the nicest examples of such structures I have seen so far in europe. We also visited two museums while we were here, although they were nothing too spectactular. We ate out in a little pub for lunch our second day and had our first experience with fish and chips here, very good as recommended. We finished by visiting the university here, and it was very cool. Glasgow is suprisingly green for an industrial town as i have previously stated, and I enjoyed this city a lot. Glasgow is really a must see for anyone who goes to scottland.
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Posted in Europe at 5:02 pm by colt
I got into belfast late and the city is very different from the rest of ireland. I spent my second day wandering the cities many parks and lanes and it has a industrial, foreign feel. I did however, very much enjoy the city. THis is part of the UK, and they are on the pound. I spent all my time here just wandering, and there is a lot of political art work on the sides of buildings and such. THe city is very big, and has a lot to see. THe parks in particular are huge, and seem rather out of place in the center of the city, although they are a welcome and beautiful addition. I got my ferry set up while I was here and that was a cool experience. The boat i took across to the UK was huge and had a giant casino, restaurants, and a lot of big screen TV’s playing various movies. Needless to say my trip went well and i am now happily in the UK! Overall Belfast is great, and i wish i had more time to have spent getting to know this city.
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Posted in Europe at 4:57 pm by colt
Galway was great! I spent christmas here, and it was a ton of fun. On the 24th and 25th the hostel held huge parties all day, and i spent a lot of time getting to know all of the other guests. There was not a lot to do in the town itself, although i did walk along the beach for a good while, and that was very pretty. Pretty much everything closes down here from the 24-26 so… Anyway, I did manage to get a bus to Belfast, with a bit of luck, and my memories of galway are good ones.
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