AlexAitken.net

Rear-wheel drive from Denver to Vail in surprise 12-30 storm.
5:45am 12-31 de­par­ture for 9:00am 0-de­gree As­pen trail­head.
REM, Dylan, Jimmy Vaughn, Son Volt, Tokyo Po­lice.
21 ski­ers, 4.5 hours, 2,000 feet…
16 beds, 2 days, 42 ski boots.
East Coast Rockies time zone.
Sparklers and down coats.
Eu­k­er, Pigs, Celebrity, Comet, Jenga, Dice, Hearts…
Laphroaig, Red Bull, Vodka, Egg­plant, Ba­con, Pine­apple Ex­press.
Skins, skis, snow.
Blisters, tape, and short on joe.
High­lands Bowl…
And a wrinkle in time.
Thanks y’all… and Happy 2011!

6:30 trailhead
3,300 ft up
14,270 ft high
45-degree commit
2,800-ft ski down
6 feet (2 in tele boots) across 5 stream crossings
3 beers on the way back home
90 degrees in Denver

March was hard. A year of plan­ning and de­vel­op­ment of the bank’s new on­line pres­ence cul­min­ated in a couple of weeks, then a few even more in­tense days whose out­come ba­sic­ally wrote the ver­dict on the en­tire ef­fort (we got mostly good marks). At the same time as mis­sion-crit­ic­al cli­ent-side cor­por­ate rol­louts con­sumed my days, I found my­self burn­ing the candle’s oth­er end on backend php script­ing by night. I star­ted smoking, grew some stubble. Said hi to my fam­ily in passing…

A song to someone I spent time with

Go on Go on
Go on girl now go and sing me your song
Tell me what do you know What have you seen
What strange things have happened to you in between
When I sit across from you
I’m left to wonder just what did I ever do

Go on Go on
Go on cakes tell me why you so put upon
Tell me who you are before you tell me more
Tell me why I can’t be the same like I was before
Don’t fight history, mystery, knowledge, skills and time
My dear sweet Clementine

He whom you loved and lost is no longer where he was; he is now wherever you are. - Saint John Chrysostom

I went to a memorial service today. Jonathan Keisling was my age, a Colorado fishing guide, one of the few who choose to do what he loves over the promise of anything future. These days I’m feeling some stress at work (I am not a fishing guide). The alarm on my 18-month-old’s internal clock is stuck at 4:50am and my 3 year old has pink eye in both eyes. Right now I’m tired. But I’m ok, because I’m alive with unfulfilled dreams.

1. I’ve been busy.
2. Work’s been crazy.
3. Kids.
4. A side project.
5. Visitors.

These are some of the realities that have consumed my October to the point where, in just month three of its online existence, my blog has fallen behind the two-post per month standard to which I promised to hold it. Material, however, isn’t lacking.

Here’s one source to which I’ll be referring (thank you @haddnin): http://www.quicksprout.com/2009/09/09/your-first-30-days-of-blogging/

Life…