Great visit to Colorado

Brad and his new baby Ryleigh

Sorry for the week of no posts. I know, I am a terrible blogger and probably lost half of my readers. That means that there are two and half of you left so I'll bore you with a few posts this week to make up for it.

I had an absolutely great visit to Colorado this past week (my liver probably disagrees). Some of the big highlights:

my amazing family
* I got to see my new niece Ryleigh Kay Hertzke for the first time. The first time I saw her I held her for a few minutes while she was sleeping and promptly handed her right back to her mom when she started crying. Sorry Brad and Jessie but Jeff and Jackie should have warned you that I don‘t do any of the bad uncle jobs. ;)

* Went to a Rockies game with my parents and a couple of their friends. The temperature was well over 90 degrees for the Wednesday afternoon ball game but I didn't think it was hot at all. Definitely made me miss the great Colorado climate especially the NO HUMIDITY!! Our seats weren’t too bad either (front row behind the Giants dugout) which gave us a tremendous viewpoint of the great Ubaldo Jimenez whose effortless 98 MPH fastball is a thing of beauty. We even finished the day with dinner at the Wynkoop Brewery (one of my favorites). It made me miss living in the heart of Lodo.


* I was able to enjoy a lot of time with my brothers, their families and my parents. This will always be my favorite part of any Colorado trip..

* Brad and I got a little fishing in with my niece, nephew and cousin (Gabbie, Nolan and Evan). Nolan even caught his first fish! I told him that he needed to delete the pics that his Mom took so he can tell the true fishing story later; that it was a monster 10 lb rainbow trout (whoops, bad uncle again teaching my nephew how to tell small little white lies, sorry Jeff and Jackie!).


* Spent time with all of my Grandparents, my two aunts and many of my cousins. Definitely a huge highlight of the trip.

* I got to see the farm (the only place I called home until I headed off to College) and its continued remarkable recovery from the devastating tornado that demolished everything in May of 2008. Brad and Jessie built their first house on the foundation of the home that we grew up in and it looks amazing. I will have a separate post later in the week which shows the startling before and after pics.

* I played 18 holes of golf for the first time this year (9 holes with my Dad and his neighbor on Sunday and 9 holes with my Dad, my Brother and my Dad’s neighbor on Monday). I tried out a new swing that my buddy from New York helped me with which felt great but my short game still sucked. My terrible chipping caused me to completely forget what I shot that the first day (I don’t think my Dad has forgotten yet but proudly remember his round). I started to figure things and pared 4 of my last 6 holes on the second day. I really have a bad memory though and I can’t remember what my brother Brad shot despite him telling me his score over and over again all night. :)

work on vacation

* I was even able to mix in a little work on the trip and learned much more about the coffee business. I found out some new incredible things about the Ganoderma herb which is the healthy herb that is infused in the products that I am selling. I am now more confident then ever that this business is really going to take off for me in New York and beyond. The product is too good not to. 

* I also had some great conversations with friends about my ALTdriver business idea and have some new plans on how to attack it. Many of my friends are very serious about finding alternatives to driving before they drink but there is still an obvious culture of acceptance of getting behind the wheel after a few beers among my social network (despite wake up call after wake up call, including a very scary one while I was home). It is a very tough mindset to change, but I won't give up trying to change it.

the part which caused my liver to hate me

* I had four separate nights (and way to many beers) hanging out with many of my closest friends in the world.

* Swapped stories in Greeley with a long time buddy. I loved seeing how truly happy he is (he and his wife are an absolute perfect match and they have a great little boy who is almost one already).

* I got to catch up with one of my best friends who I have known since the 6th grade. Just before I left for New York he had a successful major open heart surgery to repair a heart defect that he had been fighting since our Freshman year in high school. I just love hearing about his new healthy life with his great wife (another perfect match by the way).

* A night hanging out in Denver with a family of great friends. I feel like I have known this group forever. They always welcome me into their home and their great kids even call me uncle. I've even became close friends with many of their friends, even one that is a CU fan. :)

* Headed up to my family cabin near Estes Park where another group of very good friends were playing in a softball tourney (I stayed retired like I promised!). I don’t think I spent more than 15 minutes inside the cabin as I really enjoyed breathing in the crisp mountain air and catching up with everybody. The highlight of this night was hanging out with two of my best friends who also happen to be my cousins. I also got to spend time with them and their excellent kids on my last night in Colorado.

* I didn't even get to see all of my Colorado friends, but there is always next time.

This leads to the logical question: If you have such a great network of family and friends, why would you ever leave? 

Fair question and one I thought a lot about this week. I look at it a couple ways:

First, I think I am able to do things that I am doing because of the amazing friends and family that I have. Their support and confidence is what drives me on a daily basis. If I didn't have this network I surely wouldn't have the confidence to go after my dreams.

Second, I didn't leave Colorado because I was running from something as there was truly nothing to run from. However, I am running towards something and right now I am chasing that path in one of the greatest cities in the world. I truly love living in the Big Apple and believe it is the right place for me right now. 

The best part about hanging out with the friends and family that I have is no matter how long we are apart our conversations seem to pick up right where they left off. Maybe that is because we stay in touch but I think it goes way beyond that. We have a bond that time away from each other could never break.