Max Finds Blue Paddle
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
To continue my cousin Max's lucky streak at ski areas, today he found the hidden blue paddle at Arapahoe Basin. Here's the deal: New Belgium Brewery and Arapahoe Basin teamed up to add some fun to Tuesdays. Each week, an employee hides the blue paddle in-bounds, somewhere on the ski hill. If someone finds it, that means a $50.00 bar tab is on the house. Here's how it went:
Max: "Eric, I found this thing in the woods"
Eric: "Holy @#$%, that's awesome"
Max: "Yeah, awesome, what the hell is this?"
Eric: "That is $50.00 worth of beer!"
Labels: colorado, Max Muller, ski, snow, snowboarding
written by Eric Mills at 20:46 
Oh, My Goat!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Skiing at Toggenburg as a kid prepared me for many things: rain, dirt, rocks, ice, and ice. Luckily, I've since moved on.
Back in New York, at Toggenburg Ski Center, there is/was a trail called "oh my goat" (because Toggenburg is a type of goat) and it was/is the hardest trail on the 'mountain', not because of technicalities or terrain, but hard because of ice. It was steep and icy. That's it.
While I am still prepared for ice, I am still not prepared for the real thing... in this case, a goat! But here it is.
written by Eric Mills at 23:48
Triple Bypass, Triple Chainring
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Last weekend I went on a bicycle ride along the peak to peak highway in Colorado. The old scenic bypass is a great north-south route between Black Hawk and Estes Park, and it offers great views of Long's Peak and surrounding beauties. I was fortunate enough to acquire a new(er) road bike for bike season 2007: a Lemond Alpe D'Huez. After a few rides up the local hill, I thought this baby was light enough and I had legs enough to take the Triple Bypass.
The Peak to Peak Highway told me a different story, a short story, a one-word story: NO. To make a short story long, then, tonight a good friend and I, using a 14 inch 3 pound framing hammer and a slotted screwdriver, changed out the bottom bracket and added a triple chainring to the Lemond. 10,000 feet of lung busting elevation gain? Here I come!
Labels: bicycles, colorado, projects
written by Eric Mills at 00:21
Signage: Foolish Craig
Friday, May 11, 2007
Eh? I'm foolish, so what?
Labels: CJ, colorado, Rothgery, signage
written by Eric Mills at 23:26
Energy Savings
Sunday, May 6, 2007
After finally remembering to switch the hot water heater in our house to "vacation" on our last vacation, I've tried to be a little more energy conscious. To accomplish a small start, I picked up a few lower energy light bulbs and also took a quick inventory of the power-suckers in our house. Deciding that the basement computer has to stay on for the majority of the day, I found SwitchOff, installed it hassle-free, and set it to 4am (the time after which the computer does no more housekeeping tasks). Admittedly, the computer will not save me the most energy. Saving money, it is important to note, is not the goal. My goal with this small exercise is to save energy.
Thus, instead of the computer, I decided to look into my lighting habits. Ironically, on the same day that I decided to add a few low-impact CFL bulbs to our lighting repertoire, Snopes.com (the post-humous-Faulkner-character's eponymous site of urban legends) decided to run an article [link contains popups] on the bulbs' mercury content. Whew, that was a wordy sentence. The short story? The site found no extreme danger of mercury, and with an average savings of around $45.00 / year it is one of three things I'm working on to save a few nickels per kilowatt hour. The others? Unplugging the wine fridge until company comes, splicing in a programmable thermostat, and trying to make the most of Great Stuff, which truly is great stuff.
--Eric Mills
Labels: colorado, energy, energy consumption, trial
written by Eric Mills at 20:32
Moving to Colorado
Friday, April 27, 2007
In recent news, we have been importing everyone we can to Colorado. Among those on the list are Craig Rothgery & Ria, Erica & Jason, and Max & Heidi will also be moving out to Colorado in late summer 2007. Hmmm, let me see, which one is Max? Oh yes, he's the one on the right.Labels: colorado, Max Muller, Muller, photograph
written by Eric Mills at 10:13
Snow No More
Thursday, January 11, 2007
All the snow is gone, for the third time (although we're supposed to get a storm this weekend). They hauled all the heavy equipment out yesterday in the 60 degree sunshine to make piles of snow. I'm not sure which is better, 4 inches of hard-pack on the road, or 14 feet of it on the street corner!
Labels: blizzard, colorado, follow-up, snow
written by Eric Mills at 20:42
Black, White, and Orange All-Over
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
12 Bottles of wine11 Home cooked meals
10 Loads of laundry
9 Family members
8 Types of Christmas cookies
7 Pounds gained
6 Appearances by the kitten
5 Stupid penguin jokes
4 Days of skiing
3 Days of snowshoeing
2 Blizzards
1 Snow-woman with a blinking red nose...
Labels: blizzard, colorado, holidays, projects, snow
written by Eric Mills at 22:03
The Purple Powdery Kind
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Some of you might think that we're often cruel and unforgiving in our teasing of family members. That's not the case; to be a Mills is to get teased and to tease alike. Therefore, I must share this with you.
We're in the middle of a blizzard here in Denver. My father calls (and yes, we do pick on him a lot, but that's just because we love him), and at one point in the conversation asks: "what's the snow like out there, is it the white powdery kind?" Being the diligent son I am, I wasted no time with my retort: "you mean, as opposed to the purple powdery kind!?"
The photo up there on the left is of our neighbor's driveway. In the driveway is a Toyota Prius. Or at least, it was a Prius.
Labels: blizzard, colorado, dad, snow
written by Eric Mills at 12:58
