-LorenV.com-

Wondering where updates have gone too? Well look no further than my ‘other’ website.

 www.adventuracompany.com is up and running strong. The forums are starting to gain momentum with posts from people and articles are coming to the front page.

Doing research? 

http://oedb.org/library/features/best-online-research-sites

Good stuff.

 Yesterday, May 23, 2007, we attempted to climb the fourteener Mt. Bierstadt near Georgetown, CO. Apparantly springtime means snow - and lots of it - in Georgetown. Click the picture to see why.

We gave up on the camping overnight part and celebrate my Dad’s birthday at Cinzettis and ate too much food. Quite the opposite of a hike.

If any one (or more) person (or persons) out there is (are) wondering why my promised updates haven’t been coming, then read on.

 In 1937 a new product hit the shelves of America. It was a product that would revolutionize the American military and the American Language. Although it made it’s claim to fame during World War II you can find it today in stores in 41 different countries. We know this product as SPAM, that oh so peculiar meat that lasts forever. And ever. In fact SPAM never seems to go away.

 SPAM is most common in the United States, with the United Kingdom and South Korea being the next most popular places to find SPAM. In Okinowa you can get SPAM burgers in fast food restaurants called Jef. There is in fact SPAM every where you.

 There is another place you can find SPAM also. Another fantastic invention utilizes SPAM everyday billions of times over. Known in most cases simply as ‘the internet’ (although some refer to it as Al Gore’s greatest self-professed invention). Just as SPAM kept American G.I.’s alive in the Pacific Theater of WWII, SPAM fills every known corner of the known internet. This website has become so bloated with SPAM that I had trouble accessing the administration panel today. The internet browser simply could not process 659 spam comments on the various postings of my website. By the time I clicked a button and ran a script to delete all of the fake comments another 6 had appeared. Ingenious stuff, SPAM.

I fully expect this posting to get NAILED with spam shortly. Using the Law of Universal SPAM Gravitation I can deduce that SPAM will be attracted to this post! Observe:

Wind, snow, and ice. Let’s and a road. And some cars. I just drove home on Taft Hill. There are cars strewn everywhere along side the roads between Loveland and Fort Collins, CO. I have never seen ANYTHING like this. The wind is drifting the fallen snow over the roads and the snow is freezing into ice in layers onto the surface making it incredibly slippery with strong winds. My Tacoma with a topper was actually spun twice by the wind while driving, almost into an oncoming car the first time, while driving in a straight line. There are cars, SUV’s, trucks, etc that slid off the road or got into accidents.

I wanted to stop and take a picture but it was too dangerous, which is a shame because it was a beautiful sight to see as the sun dropped into the mountains and the snow ripped about. Here is a consolation shot from my condo - keep in mind that the snow was blowing a good 3 or 4 times harder and moving as much more snow than this picture shows.

www.lorenv.com/pics/P1000527.jpg

  If anyone has yet to hear the news, the Crocodile Hunter is no longer with us. Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray on the 4th of September, 2006.

  We are gonna miss you buddy. Yyou inspired many skits and ole one-eye jokes amongst us.

  In a related note I am amazed how people will try to advance their own agenda before a body even cools. We have a feminist lady telling us that the ‘animal world has taken its revenge’ down in Australia already.

  http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20362163-2,00.html

 Two years ago I hiked the fourteener Long’s Peak on minimal sleep and without enough hydration. I made it to the top but the mountain conquered my spirit with pain and misery.

 This past weekend I set out with four friends to revisit the mountain - we conquered, prevailed, and generally beat that moutain down. Long’s Peak threw fog, rain, snow, lightning and even hail at us and yet we clung tightly to the rocks all 15 miles. Fortunately, we are smart mountaineers and started the hike at ~4:23 in the morning allowing us to be safely off the peak in time for the storms to unleash their full tempest.

 Our prayers go out to whoever fell on Saturday. We passed Search and Rescue and saw the flight for life helicopter. Carrie tells us the helicopter was yellow, meaning one of the denver hospitals with a high level trauma unit had sent it. We heard at the trailhead that the victim was safely rescued and doing ‘ok’.

 Click the thumbnail to see the full gallery, there are some amazing views. The pictures are scaled down but if anyone would like a full quality version of any picture post a comment requesting which one you would like.

-Loren

So here is my newest website in action. The idea is to finally have a central hub for all the various facets of my life. If my name is on it or I find ‘it’ interesting ‘it’ will come through here. Over the course of the next week I will link up my various projects to satisfy all of you snoops. I also plan to put varied and hopefully quality posts and articles up on a regular basis. See my categories on the side bar for topics you might find covered. I have made a layout design I am fairly happy with at this point so let me know how well it is working for you and if the load times are doing ok.

Alas, No first post would be complete without a sweet picture my sister, Alysha, took last summer. Clearly she is a professional (and available for hire).

-Loren