While I plan to unwind in my hot tub pretty much 18 hours out of the day, taking the time to forget about the horrific, sucky balls events that occurred in April, I do plan to explore the area a little and do a leisurely drive on the scenic byways known as Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow Road.

Oh, and also visit the Stanley Hotel. But of course.

Heeeeeeeeeere's Lincoln!

Hence the need for an axe. Or if I really want to be true to Spielberg’s novel, a roque mallet will suit me just fine.

I checked the map, and I may also do an extended loop further south covering Georgetown (where I can take the train ride) and snaking through Idaho Springs so I can enjoy me some Beau Jo’s Pizza. Go on, be jealous, it’s ok.

The great thing is that after this trip I will have pretty much covered all the major areas of Colorado except for Vail, Aspen and the Steamboat Springs area, which I’m hoping to visit another time. I’ve always wanted to live close to the Rockies, or at least somewhere in the Northwest, and once I visit Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington State next fall I’ll have a better idea of what state to zero in on for a permanent move. I can’t imagine them topping Colorado though, which to me easily beat out Wyoming and Utah in terms of pure awesomesauce, but ya never know.

I’ll tell you one thing though, I am DONE with New York. My heart has already left this place, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of my body follows suit.

Anyhoo, I do hope to make this a habit of some sort, any time life really has me down (which is pretty much every day), it’d be good to know there’s a little cabin out there, nestled deep in the mountains that I can escape to where I can recharge and feel like myself again. Not to mention it’d also help reduce the urge to want to blow this planet up with a doomsday weapon of some sort.

After the extensive research I’ve done learning about the areas surrounding Denver (such as Summit County, the Front Range, and so on), I was able to see distinctions in the type of specialty lodging available based on region. Rocky Mountain National Park, particularly Estes Park seems to be ground zero for log cabin rentals, a sizable amount of which are maintained by commercial properties rather than private owners. Areas such as Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge and so on are more ski resort oriented, most of the nontraditional lodging in these areas appear to be condos rather than log cabins. It’s still possible to find a log cabin rental sprinkled here and there throughout these regions, but they tend to be rented out by private owners rather than a commercial property. Interesting. I was able to find a few of them via Homeaway.com and VRBO.com, and drew up a list of the most attractive ( and cheapest rentals) I could find. Hopefully I’ll be able to settle on one while it’s still available for the weekend I’m planning.

Unfiltered, there are a TON of vacation rentals to choose from, so it helps that my needs were particularly specific. The cabin must have:

• A) A REAL mountain view
• B) High speed internet access
• C) A PRIVATE outdoor hot tub (none of this community sharing with people who have cooties nonsense)
• D) A fireplace
• E) Somewhat secluded from nearby neighbors
• F) Within driving distance of civilization so I can enjoy tasty boigas and ice cream

See, I have such simple needs. :-D

Cabin rentals that have all that are a dime a dozen in Tennessee’s mountains, but for some reason it’s harder to pick them out in Colorado, I’m guessing because so many are run by private owners rather than a centralized rental agency.

It also makes me wonder: maybe I should consider saving up to not merely rent a cabin in Colorado, but BUY one. Or at least a condo with all the amenities I like. Give myself some kind of foothold in the state that would allow me a chance to move there permanently. It’s a thought.

And then, (and this is why I hate Pinterest’s estrogen powered popularity and wish they would just DIE), Springpad decides, without beta testing, without any warning at all, to completely make their service more like… well, Pinterest. Because that’s innovation, or something, ripping off somebody else’s design.

In the same way Firefox developers decided to mimic Chrome instead of simply improving on Firefox code, turning their once awesome browser into a bloated pile of horse fecal matter, Springpad completely upended and destroyed my daily workflow of keeping notes and checklists of things I needed to keep track of or get done.

What is it with coders’ obsessive need to change around the interface of their software applications every five minutes? Would the design of a car dramatically be better if the engineers decided, “Hey. let’s put the steering wheel in the trunk! WINNING!” Because that’s in essence what these schmucky, schmuck headed, schmuck balled developers are doing.

I’m sticking with the basic note-taking app on my iPhone/iPad now, you know, an app that I can rest in the knowledge won’t drastically change every five minutes. Up yours, Springpad.

Because I’m a guy, I like to keep my spare change in a sophisticated and completely hi-tech manner: my jean pockets. None of those dweeby man purses or pouches for me thank you very much. I am HARDCORE.

So on the occasion that I pull out some greens to pay for something, I usually jam whatever spare change I get from the purchase into my pockets, then unload them into a pouch inside my suitcase when I’m back at the hotel, and ultimately into my coin bank when I return home from another crazy traveling adventure. My coin bank, true to my awesomeness, is cleverly designed to be completely undetectable to the naked eye.

State of the art, undetectable coin bank. For realsies.

That’s generally been my habit since I graduated college, though usually when I’m ready to cash in I head over to the credit union. I’ve tried the Coinstar machine once before at Stop & Shop but lost nearly $8 from the fee I had to pay just to redeem my cash, so I never bothered to use it again, at least until now, when they got smart and introduced a NO FEE option.

"Seriously, you expect me to believe this is a real soda can?"

With my coin bank now at capacity, there was no better time to give Coinstar another try, so I grabbed up my *ahem* soda can, and headed over to my favorite Stop & Shop. (BTW, check out Coinstar at Facebook and Twitter.)

For whatever reason Stop & Shop just has that vibe that makes me prefer going there for groceries over other supermarkets, and particularly because their self checkouts are blazing fast and usually don’t have a line to them. Anything that allows me to run in and run out with bags full of food in as little time as possible is WINNING in my book. (Check out Stop and Shop’s Facebook page for more info about their supermarkets.)

Now that's a slot machine I can work with.

The Coinstar here was located next to Redbox and their customer support/lotto center, right by the entrance. About as convenient a place as you could hope for. Long Island being what it is though (as in, filled with rancid, uncouth human beings such as myself), I basically got shoved aside by some battle axe of an old lady who wanted to use the Coinstar machine, not to redeem coins mind you, but to scratch off an instant lotto game she had just purchased. Sigh.

While I waited I decided to go over and get myself a ticket of my own, for the Mega Millions (which was $640 million at last count.) My Lord, I could buy like, another MacBook with that kind of money.

The battle axe finally left, so I finally had the machine to myself, and started sifting through the NO FEE options. As it turned out you can select from a variety of different gift certificates, but I was surprised to find out that despite touting the option of redeeming your coins for a Stop & Shop gift card, there weren’t any gift card choices that you could actually use at Stop & Shop itself. Weird.

Why u no hav Stop & Shop gift option Coinstar?

Ultimately I picked Amazon.com as it has the widest range of goods, though I might have picked a Stop & Shop card instead had that option been available. I slowly dumped my coins in, and watched and listened as the machine chirped and beeped away while tallying my coins. Net total: $77.28. BOOYAH.

And Mommy said I didn't know how to save. HA!

The machine then gave me a second chance to turn my coins to cash instead, but the fee was nearly 10 cents to a dollar. Seriously? Still, I balked at the decision for so long that it timed out and went to the default Amazon.com gift payout. I guess I just like having options instead of being limited to some degree, even if Amazon.com does offer just about anything you could be looking for (except true love, and the meaning of life, and all that.) I like being a free spirit after all.

I cropped out the gift code. Yeah, y'all ain't gonna get freebies from me THAT easy.

That said, this was pretty convenient, as long as the NO FEE options offer a nice library of gift cards to choose from I’ll likely continue to use this in the future than go to the credit union (where I have to wait in line and then stand there like an idiot while they slooooooowly tally the coins.) Plus I rarely visit my credit union anyway, so this kinda works out perfectly.

Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a few chocolatey goods and a video game I’d like to buy off of Amazon.com now… :-D

Oh and if you have a moment check out my Coinstar Google+ album and share!

When I’m feeling like this, only the mountains really help me feel better. Not the beach, mind you, partly I think because as a result of living on Long Island even the mere thought of anything remotely resembling a beach sends me into a fit of unhinged rage, so nope, gotta be the mountains. Always has been, and always where my heart will be.

So I thought about my work schedule and the feasibility of getting away somewhere on a semi-regular basis when I get my extended weekend off. (Every other week I get 4 days off from work. Don’t you just hate me now? :-D) Anyhoo, I basically have two options: either flying, or saving the cost of airfare and a car rental by taking a short trip to one of the nearby mountain ranges within driving distance of New York.

I do love driving on the open road though, so I’ve considered a few possibilities:

White Mountains in New Hampshire:  they’re easily the highest mountain range in New England, and I always have a blast every time I visit New Hampshire, so it’s definitely a strong possibility. But when I think “getaway” I’m thinking luxury cabin rental, complete with fireplace, jacuzzi, wi-fi, and neatly snuggled somewhere on the mountainside with a glorious view. New Hampshire seems to be more of a Bed and Breakfast hotspot than a log cabin destination though, so I probably won’t go that route.

Where's the log cabins???

Adirondacks in New York:  I know this region like the back of my hand now. And while I love Lake George, it’s a bit too commercial for my tastes, so I’m considering Lake Placid instead, which is nestled more deeply in the epicenter of the Adirondacks and has just the right balance of rustic and civilization that I tend to favor.

Only problem, it's still New York.

Catskills in New York: I’m not sure why I continue to blow right past this area on my way to the Adirondacks, despite its convenient proximity to New York City and Long Island, but I do. Could be a bad experience I once had as a kid when my father dragged me and momsie up there to go fishing, only to spend the whole time there futilely looking for a fishing spot that WASN’T declared illegal by the state or required a permit. Dweeb. I haven’t been back since, but maybe I should give it a second look.

Mount Greylock in Massachusetts: Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Massachusetts actually had mountains. Greylock though is virtually a solitary mountain surrounded by land flat as a pancake. It’s actually pretty weird to look at, particularly from Williamstown, but it’s a mountain. The area that intrigues me though is the Route 2 byway that snakes through North Adams and Williamstown. It offered some breathtakingly sweeping views of the northwestern valleys of Massachusetts, and I remember passing by a hotel/restaurant while I was there that was perched on a cliffside and thinking, “Man, I’d love to stay there for a night or two.” I would probably get too bored after the first night though.

Off the Mohawk Trail (Route 2) . But is it mountainy enough?

Finally, I’ve thought of the Smokies in Tennessee too, but it’s just too far for a weekend getaway thing, even if they are THE place to go for luxury log cabin rentals.

If I decide to fly however, I have only one destination in mind: COLORADO. OH YEAH.

AMERICA, #$%^ YEAH

In fact, despite the added costs I’m really surprised just how easy it was for me to hop on a Frontier plane and head off to Denver, then bus to downtown and pick up a rental for cheap. It’s actually worth the added costs that I’d do this every month at the sacrifice of visiting other areas in the country (and world.) Yeah, I really loved Colorado that much. The only unknown is where to go after I land and grab my car.

If you’re experts on getaways in Colorado within driving distance of Denver hit me up with some knowledge. I need the inside scoop on cabin rentals that offer the same amenities I enjoyed when I was renting one in Tennessee, complete with jacuzzis (both inside AND out, tee hee), fireplace, LCD TVs, semi-secluded, yet with unobstructed views of sweet, gloriously purple mountains crowning my good with some brotherhood, youknowwhatimsayin?

Right now I’m checking out Estes Park as a possibility, though I like what I’m reading about Breckenridge too, which is close enough that I could revisit Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs if I have the time. Mostly though, I think I just want to soak in a jacuzzi and watch the mountains put on a show and forget about the world. Guess I’ll just have to keep researching and see what I come up with.

If you have some ideas or you have a favorite mountain getaway of your own you’d like to share, let me know in the comments. :-)

Remember how I described what I thought my dream girl would be like?

I added that description to my profile on one of the dating sites I was on. Most of the women I talked to suggested I not do that, as such specific details might make a girl think I’m being very closed-minded about getting to know anyone else who is less perfect than the fantasy girl I’ve envisioned for myself. That’s why I only decided to put it on one site, where I was having the least amount of luck. No loss, no gain.

But then I happened across one profile and I found it so endearing that I had to email her (despite her being nearly 1,000 miles away.) I didn’t expect to receive a response, but to my surprise I did, and to my complete shock, I couldn’t believe what I read:

Hello and thank you for the message! May I just say that I love your profile. It reads almost as poetry. I was a little freaked out by your description of your dream girl… you could have been writing about me. Right down to the bit about being quiet and shy, artsy, reads a lot (yes I love a real book in my hand :), long hair, never curses, love music (have played piano since I was 6) and am a true romantic at heart. Despite the current statistics of the length of an average marriage these days I firmly believe that two people can love each other and no one else for their entire lives and be the better for it. *daydreams*

*snaps back to reality* So yes thank you for the message :)

O_O

I have no words. Not two days ago I was firmly convinced that I was projecting my fantasy of the kind of girl I’d fall in love with, never believing for a minute that this type really existed in real life. Except…

If anything, that completely turned my world upside down. Could it be possible? Could the girl I envision really exist, if not this sweetheart, then someone like her? It was hard to imagine, but it gave me a glimmer of hope, that maybe, just MAYBE, I wasn’t being so silly about this after all. Maybe I really did have a soulmate.

I’ve emailed her back and asked her if we could continue corresponding, if for no other reason than to just be friends and now waiting if she gets back to me with bated breath (actually I’m terrified out of my mind.)

I have no expectations really… ok who am I kidding, I already envisioned the wedding. My mind has a tendency to do that, latching on to a scrap of hope in the present and then time warping into an idealized future, instead of just taking things as they are now. It’s why even the most petty of disappointments sometimes have such a devastating impact on me. Sigh, I wish I could stop that somehow.

So if she doesn’t respond (which seems likely) I’ll be sad panda, but I think it was enough to know my type may exist in this world after all.

Really learned a lot in that class, I did.

Anyhoo, we got to talking about our high school years and she openly pondered how all of us were going to deal with the fact that high school would be the best years of our lives, and that after that there would be nothing left to look forward to.

I’m serious. She actually says this. Out loud. Wistfully. I really hope there had been no students who were prone to clinical depression listening to this, because I’d really hate to think about where they might be now.

So, let me get this straight. College won’t be better than high school? Graduating college won’t be better than high school? Getting married won’t be better than high school? Witnessing the birth of your child won’t be better than high school? Being able to travel, on your own dime, to exotic locations around the world and experiencing the wonders of this planet won’t be better than high school? Having the joy of owning an Apple iPhone won’t be better than high school? Having grandkids won’t be better than high school?

Yeah I could totally see it, the years in which I had no money, no driver’s license, no place to call my own, and where I got to go to homecoming dances (alone) and watch the captain of the football team Hank McDouchewagon get crowned homecoming king while he dances with the hottest girl in school. The same guy of course, who dunks my head in a toilet every Tuesdays and Thursdays after fifth period Spanish.

Yep, best years of my life. Oh God how I miss it.

The scary thing though is that some of my friends back then actually bought into it, even when they had absolutely no reason to. I had a real geekazoid of a mild friend who, even 2 years out of college, would not shut up about the glory days of high school. “Those were the best years of our lives man, and we’ll never get it back,” he told me once, right before he started crying. Like, actual real tears.

Um, no they weren’t.