My parents always used to tell me that my tastes would change as I grew older.  I never believed them.  I didn’t like asparagus then and I sure as hell don’t like it now.  But there’s one thing that I could never appreciate in my youth that I doubt I could go a day without today: peanuts.

I love peanuts.  They are awesome.  Sure, no one will recommend eating a tin-full per sitting, but a handful of good, salted (or honey roasted) peanuts in the afternoon really makes a great snack.  Once I finally realized how incredibly scrumptious peanuts were, I was instantly opened up to an entirely new world of snack food.  Snickers had been passable before: they are bliss now.  I used to prefer regular M&M’s to the peanut variety, but no longer.

As much as I don’t enjoy my bi-weekly plane ride, they would be worse if it weren’t for those tiny peanut pouches they pass out to peeved passengers.  (That’s an alliterative masterpiece. – Ed)  Peanuts used to ruin a batch of brownies (walnuts still do) or a good ice cream cone.  Now, I sit here with a jar on my desk eye them up and down every thirty minutes or so.  If it weren’t for these peanuts, I don’t know what I’d be snacking on – but I guarantee it’d be worse for me.

Well, I just had the best weekend I’ve had in months.

I’ve had the itch to move out for a while, and I’ve always known I’d want to move somewhere a little further away than normal.  There were a bunch of cities on my list: Austin, Portland, Seattle, Santa Fe, Raleigh and Boulder.  One of my co-workers has an apartment in Boulder, so I decided to head out west and crash at her place for a weekend.  All I wanted to do was get a feel for the place.  I got that feel.

Boulder is the the coolest town in the U.S. and I am moving out there as soon as I can get my shit together.

On Friday, I woke up and walked around for about an hour.  I was still on east-coast time, so I was up pretty early.  I checked out the Pearl Street Mall and wandered aimlessly until the establishments started to open up.  I stopped in at a bike shop to chat for a little while, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then set out for a forty-five minute run.  It was a pretty shitty run, and uphill.  I cramped up bad toward the end, but I blame that on the altitude.  When it was over, I sat on the lawn in Central Park to stretch and enjoy the scenery.

The rest of the day was spent exploring Boulder by car, with a two-hour hike worked in the middle.  I got myself lost in REI for about an hour (I love that store) and then hopped into Whole Foods to pick up some ingredients for dinner: fresh pasta sauce, ground buffalo and home-made noodles.  NICE.

Saturday was even better.  Woke up, ate some breakfast and set out for a run.  The weather was gorgeous – upper 60’s and sunny.  The goal was a ten-miler, but I was feeling so great around the nine-mile mark that I decided to go for broke: 13.1 miles (a half-marathon).  It worked!  I hit my goal at just under 9-minute pace.  Awesome.

As expected, that run had me feeling pretty damn drained, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.  After a quick lunch (left-overs), I set back out to investigate the Boulder Farmer’s Market.  I bought a fresh fruit smoothie and sat back down on the lawn to enjoy the sun and scenery for the second day in a row. (Editor’s note – the scenery in Boulder is pretty damn good, if you get my meaning.)

Around three, I decided I need to get a haircut, so I scrambled to find a barber.  I must have snuck in to the stop just before closing, but I still managed to get a trim before parking my car at the base of the Flatirons and hiking up to Royal Arch. It was a bit more strenuous than I expected (compounded by the fact that I had run thirteen miles earlier that day) but the view from the top was well worth it.  I could have sat up there for hours, but my time in Boulder was limited.  I had to get down, get some food in me and keep exploring that little town.

To make an already long story a bit shorter, I ate and then hit a bar with one of the guys from the same apartment complex.  He was talking all about stocks and investment and things that I know very little about, but it was still a good time.  

I hit the road early Sunday morning for the Denver airport.  It was damn difficult for me to leave after such a great time, but now my heart is set on a move out there.  

On Sunday night, my throat was scratchy.  On Monday, it hurt a little bit.  On Tuesday, I was a veritable snot factory.  Just what I needed: another cold.  

I wash my hands more often than most people I know.  I’m quite clean, I eat reasonably well and I work out. So would someone please explain to me why I seem to catch every little bug that comes my way? I know, I know – so I’m on four different airplanes a week. After the first few months, you’d think I’d have caught every strain of anything that could do me wrong. But no, I can’t go two illness-free weeks in a row.

Anyway, I’ve been dealing with that cold all week.  Yesterday, we (and by we, I mean my co-workers) went to a hibachi restaurant. It was quite delicious. Lunch today’ll be a footlong sub from Subway, as I’ve got to put half of it into my bag and save it for… wait for it… wait for it…

BOULDER!

That’s right, I’m flying to Boulder this afternoon.  And I might even get upgraded to first class!  Wouldn’t that be swell.  Yep, I’ve got a whole weekend booked in Colorado and absolutely no plans. It’s going to be awesome. I cannot wait. Meanwhile, if anyone has any tips or good places in the Boulder area for me to check out, I’d love to hear them.