Big news, it’s all about the location!

As many people that know us may have seen on facebook, Josh has accepted a job in Reno and we’re house hunting and preparing to move. The Chamberlains’ will be visiting right before and will be our last official Vegas guests. We don’t mind leaving actually, we’re so over the gawking crowds of tourists and massive casinos. Not to mention that since the Star Trek Experience closed, what’s left for me? We came, we saw, we’re bored. Reno actually looks pretty nice, with views of the mountains and being so close to Lake Tahoe. We’ll be able to take Duncan swimming again! There’s trees, and snow in winter. It doesn’t get as cold as Wisconsin, or as hot as Las Vegas, and get’s a lot more sun than Seattle. Basically, the search for the perfect home town continues! I’m sure we’ll post some new photos soon, as we can now afford a new camera. (ha-ha)

Josh’s parents are home in St. Paul, and gave us some great photos of our Grand Canyon visit! Hopefully on their next visit we won’t be house hunting and preoccupied. David & Sharon, we owe you one for being so understanding about the stress. You’re the best!

-posted by Leah

Leah’s ponderable of the week,,,,,,

First off, is “ponderable” a real word?  Probably not. 

Las Vegas has a surprisingly good library system, and I’ve become addicted to borrowing audio books.  With dog walking and puttering around the house, I listen to between 1 and 3 books a week.  Great Expectations is already a really long book, and listening to it takes even more time!  So my question is, does this count as “reading”?  I’m not wholly concentrated on the book since I’m actively moving around, and yet I’m absorbing, right?   Does a person need to only be reading and doing nothing else for it to count, or do I refer to it as listening, more like music?  Doesn’t there need to be a terminology to distinguish between reading a printed book and listening to an audio book?  I know this is not important in the larger scheme of things, but it bothers me.  Feedback would be appreciated.

Animals & people are all healthy and enjoying the wonderfully mild Las Vegas winter.  Josh’s parents will be visiting in a couple of weeks, and I’m sure our weather here will be a welcome change from St. Paul and we’ll all enjoy the company!  I’ve misplaced our camera, so hopefully Sharon will take some photos on their trip that we can post here.

All for now! — Leah

Made it to the 70s earlier this year

Well, this year the temperature here in NLV made it into the 70s a couple of weeks earlier then last year.

73 degrees in January.  Sweet.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

La-la-la-la,  Wheee!  Christmas has come early for this nerd!

Check it out,,,,,,

http://trekmovie.com/2008/11/07/more-details-emerge-for-new-home-of-star-trek-the-experience/

Now ‘scuse me while I cabbage-patch on up outa’ here and clear some space for new Quark’s stuff!

-Leah

Hotness, thy name is Duncan.

Lately, someone comments on how good lookin’ Duncan is every time I take him out for a walk.  Granted, around here there are mostly smaller chihauhaus, pugs, etc. and pitbulls so folks don’t see a lot of black labs.  However, a groomer at Petsmart, (Duncan’s favorite retail spot.  He leads me there at least once a week) asked if he was some exotic breed she knew of from Russia.  Seriously!  Not only do men tend to get more handsome as they age, now the darn dogs are doing it, too.  So not fair.  But anyway, we have recent pics of the stud right here.  Prepare yourselves, ladies.

Ooooh, yeah. Nice.

Ignore the chick.

Packers vs. Seahawks

Tomorrow is the Packers vs. Seahawks game.  We’re going to head down to Big Dog’s Brew House to watch the game.  Big Dog’s is a Wisconsin themed bar just a few miles from our place that does their own microbrews.

If the Packers are winning at half-time there will be harassment of folks in Seattle.

We won! Insert manaical laughter here.

All frequencies closed.

Oooh, I’m so depressed.  My happy place, the Trekkies’ Disneyland, is no more.  I attended the “closing ceremony” on Monday night and circulated in the mob.  Honestly, the place was packed!  The bar at Quark’s was 3 people deep and I had to wait an hour to ride the Klingon experience.  That wasn’t so bad actually, when my Dad and Windy visited the wait was a lot longer, but it was also the weekend.  Oh, what will we nerds do now, wander like escaped free-range chickens up and down the strip?  It’s all so incredibly sad. 

Windy & Beverly Washburn

 

After our last Star Trek Experience family day.

Quark's Bar, so crowded I can't see the bar!

Gamblin' Trek Style! This guy won $300, I think.

Check out the hotties! No, not me.

 

 

Mount Charleston

Yesterday I got it into my head to take the dogs up into the mountains so they could spend a decent amount of time time outside.  One of the advantages of working for yourself is you can decide when you take your days off, so we could just pick up and go.  On the other hand if your schedule is irregular you can go too long without having taken a day off and suddenly find yourself worked out for a few days.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera after making sure it was charged, so no pictures from this trip.  Mount Charleston is NW of Vegas and from our place it its pretty easy to get to.  Just head west and hop on the highway that heads NW out of town then get off a little way out of town and follow the road up the mountain.  As we went up in elevation the temp dropped from 102 to 80.  More surprisingly vegetation got bigger and greener as we went up.  At 6000 or 7000 feet there was actually a forest of trees hitting upwards of 60 feet.  I had no idea there was anything like that in the area.  By the small town at the top there’s a picnic and camping area in the forest that costs $7 for the day to get into but has individual spots to park at with a picnic tables and grills.  On the way back down the temperature went from 72 to 90 (the sun was behind the mountain by the time we left).

I think we’ll have to trek into the mountain again next week to give the dogs a break from the heat again.

Tula of the Mountain.

A nerd-boy americanus outside his natural habitat.

See, Leah does outdoorsy crap too.

King County trip

We’ll I got back from my 10 night trip to King County last Monday. I spent the first leg of the trip with our friends Pete and Candice and the second with our friends Brian and Erin. Both couples arranged a BBQ the Saturday I was at their place, so I got to catch up with a number of our other friends in the area as well. It was great seeing everyone and I hope I can make the trip up again next summer.

It was overcast most of the days, but there were several days that were quite nice. The last Sunday I was there the weather was perfect in the afternoon and Brian, Erin, and I went on a 2.5 hour hike in a state park near Duvall. We went on a shorter hike up Tolt Hill the day before as well.

Pete introduced me to the web based strategy game Travian and I got hooked the first Saturday I was there. Good thing I brought a laptop. Someone ganked my troops after I fell a sleep early on Monday night when I got back here, so I spent Tuesday building up my forces again and ganking the guy back (repeatedly) thus delaying this posting until Today.

Holy crap, another year!

Hi to friends and family!  Our mothers’ will be glad to know I actually remembered today was our 6th wedding anniversary around 3 in the afternoon today.  Unlike last year, when I didn’t remember until the 23rd and Josh didn’t at all.  Sentimental fools, the two of us!  We’ll be going down to the Strip tomorrow for lunch and a gift shop binge at the soon-to-be-closed Star Trek Experience.   So sad.  But sort of a special occasion outing, I suppose.

The saddest part of the Experience closing is how much my brother Windy will miss it.  With his plethora of Trek knowledge, that was a place where he could be king.  We’re all hoping it will possibly open up again somewhere else.  Until then, the Ramsdell-Heitzman Trek geeks will be waiting.  Oh yeah people, it’s not just me!  I married into the right family,  my inlaws David & Sharon are big nerds too.

My trip to Redmond was great, I got to reconnect with several friends and those of you I didn’t see (you know who you are!) will be seeing Josh starting the 26th and as always, our guest rooms are always available.  C’mon folks, it’s Vegas!