MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From Colorado, I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a safe New Years!

Love you

A Really Good Day - Take II

So... at the request of a few, here are some additional details about the move and our new place.

It's a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom loft in a "multi-use" building. As I mentioned in my last post, the first floor is a small studio where Annalise will be able to set up a real nice place for her massage table. The second and third floor is our place. The top floor is where the master bedroom is with a loft that over looks the living room and faces south out the large windows towards the "Flat Irons". If you've ever been to Boulder, you're familiar with the "Flat Irons".

Take a look at the previous post. I've included a link above the first picture to show you where our place is.

I was able to get out of my lease early so we'll be moving in on January 1st.

Wish us luck on our drive from San Diego. We're planning on stopping in Las Vegas to catch a show before heading to Colorado. According to the weather man, there's a good chance we could be doing more sledding than driving. I've arranged with a few friends along the way for a place to crash (pardon the pun) should the weather get too bad.

A Really Good Day!

Finally!!!
We've found a place to live.

Click here to see a map of our place.

Annalise and I finally signed an lease on a really great place. Funny thing is, it's the first place we looked at that we turned down. Nonetheless, we're really excited about it. The place is in North Boulder right up against the foothills, walking distance to an almost endless number of trails for hiking and running. Hardwood floors throughout and an amazing view out the floor to ceiling windows looking south. If you want to know just how amazing the view is, you'll have to come visit. Our hope is to have the place ready for guests by February, if not sooner.

The first floor of the building is a small studio area that's completely separate from the rest of our home. As Annalise moves her business from San Diego to Boulder, this space will be perfect for her to set up her own massage studio.

To top this day off, I got to go on my first structure fire. It was a mutual aid request to a neighboring department. It was an attic fire in an old 1940's home. By the time we got there, most of the fire had been extinguished. I did however get to go interior and pull down the ceiling in the kitchen looking for hot spots.

Hope you all are enjoying my blog. Remember, you can still add comments to the bottom of my posts. I love reading what everyone has to say.

Take care, happy holidays, and please come visit us here in Colorado soon.

California Trip Bonanza!

Well, after having a few days to rest up (yeah right!) and collect some photos, I guess it's time I share with everyone my recent trip to San Diego. I flew into SD last Thursday the 11th and was met at the airport by Annalise and Kai her Australian Shepard. So as to make a good impression, on Kai, not Annalise, we headed down to the dog beach on Coronado Island for a bit of Frisbee until it became too dark to see. Back to Annalise's place for a bit of dinner and to join in on the Warren Miller party her brother Jeromy was having at their place. Rumor has it I would have won the "Best Beanie" contest.

The next morning, Anni had to work, so in between dropping her off for each of her appointments, Kai and I spent the morning playing catch on the beach and going for a trail run through the hills of North East San Diego County. 6 miles at sea level was a breeze for me however I don't think Kai was too thrilled about it after the 3 miles mark. I think my pace was a bit fast. By that point, whe was probably already beginning to wonder when I was heading home. After our run, it was time for me to head to the airport to meet the family.

SURPRISE!!!!!!

After meeting Dawn at the terminal, I made myself scarce while Mom, Donn, Grandpa, Uncle Ron, and Nephew Ian made their way through the airport. Only Mom knew I was going to be there for the Christmas festivities. Grandpa was so excited he nearly fell over. Ron...well he's still a dork. Love you Ron.

Saturday was dedicated to the family stocking stuffer exchange. The afternoon was filled with many laughs and smiles as everyone enjoyed trying to figure out exactly what crazy things people came up with this year.


Thanks Alli for providing one of the most unusual gifts in a long time.



After the festivities wrapped up, I headed down town to meet up with Annalise at the "Cast Room", a really fun and comfortable wine bar in SD. If you into wine, I'd recommend checking this place out.

Knowing how much I enjoy Matt Nathanson and live acoustic music, Annalise surprised me with two tickets to the 94.1 "Jingle Ball" at Anthology, a really swank lounge in SD's Little Italy district Sunday evening. Opening for MN was an artist named Jon McLaughlin. This was the most amazing concert I've every been to. Exactly my kind of evening. Great music, small venue, and the most amazing women to enjoy it all with. I truly am blessed. Thank you Anni.

The last few days of my trip were spent hanging out and enjoying the area. We went for a few trail runs, drank some good wine, enjoyed a morning out with Kai at a local coffee shop, tempted ourselves at REI, and spend time catching up on the last few years. In leaving SD, I found myself anxious to return. In knowing what my next trip brings, my soul has been filled with a since of joy for what the rest of my life holds.

"Follow" my page

LOOK UP!!!!!

Hey all,

I love seeing who's "Following" my page. If you haven't already, I'd really love it if you would take a look at the top of my page where it says "Followers" and click just below there where it says "Start Following". Blogger will ask you to create an account which is real easy. With an account, you'll have access to many awesome Google applications plus you'll be able to log in and on your "Dashboard" see whats new with me. I will say that actually going to my blog is the best way to check it out as I'm always adding new "Jams" to make it more enjoyable and share with you all the music that moves me.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Love you.

Sean

First snow of the season.

We had a bit of snow a few days ago but it didn't last through the day yesterday, but this morning on my way home, it came back. Looks like winter is finally here, which is fine by me since the more we get now, the better the kayaking will be come Spring.

It also make for some interesting trail running.

The one picture above is from the deck of my apartment and the other is from the Mount Falcon trail head looking back towards Red Rocks.

I need to get myself a pair of snow shoes and a new small camera so I can keep you all up on whats going on.

Enjoy!

Happy Turkey Day!

I want to take a moment to tell everyone just how thankful I am this year for all the love and support I have received from those in my life.

So many of you have been there for me unconditionally and I do not believe I would be where I am today without it. This has been a year of much change in my life, from the the start of a new career to my up coming move to Boulder. I have found myself at a point in my life where I am very happy and feel as if I've finally found my place in this world.

I love you all very much and am so thankful to have each and everyone of you in in my life.

Have a safe and joyous holiday season..AND GET YOU BUTTS OUT HER TO VISIT ME!

Boulder bound!

Once again, I'm on the move. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate moving? Well, come January I'll be at it again. What a great time to be lugging around all my worldly possessions. Good thing that doesn't equate to much. Mostly kayaks and skis I guess.

The lease at my current apartment is up and I'm moving to Boulder, CO. I'll be much close to work. 15 minutes as opposed to 45 in good weather, not to mention I'll be walking distance to an endless variety of hiking and biking trails and less than 10 minutes from Boulder Creek Whitewater Kayak Park. I'll post a picture once I have one.

Anyone want to come help me move? (chirp)(chirp) Anyone? (chirp)(chirp) Hello?

Talk to you all soon.

A Personnel Best

Hey all,

I'm at work today and just got back from the gym. By the way... how awesome is it I get payed to go work out for an hour and a half? Anyway, I set a personnel best for my 1 mile run. 6 minutes 46 seconds. Pretty fast for this old guy. 29 with 4 years experience is what I keep telling everyone. Talk to you all soon.

The PLAN

Well, my lease is up in a few months. The end of January to be only slightly more exact. I'm hoping to get out of my current lease by the first of January but we'll just have to see how that works out. My plan right now is to move to Boulder. It's closer to work and a much nicer area to live. I haven't worked out all the details yet but as of now I'm looking for a house to rent.

Why is it I always seem to be moving during the winter? I'm going to need to stay put for a while and break this cycle I'm on.

Talk to you all real soon.

Making some changes

Hey all,

I'm making some changes to the layout of my blog. Let me know what you think.

Yoga Rookie

So today a friend of mine whom I work with invited me to join her for a vinyasa yoga class. Ever since I started at Louisville, my partner Shawn has been talking about how much she enjoys going to yoga and so after considering it for the past year almost, I decided to go, and I really enjoyed. I'm planning on going back again. It was really good for stretching and core strength. I even did a "head stand" which impressed the instructor. Pretty fun. I would recommend it to anyone to help with overall mind, body, and spirit health.

Here's the place I went to.
http://www.yogaelements.net/

Later

My next BIG adventure

I recently read somewhere, "Dream like you'll live forever. Live like you'll die today."

I want to start making some BIG goals for my life. Some more practical than others, but all as important as the next. Maybe I'll accomplish them all, but probably not. None the less, I've discovered I'm very goal oriented so as long as I've got something to shoot for, I'll always being moving forward.

I would like to encourage everyone who reads my blog to look at their lives and consider what I've said. Young or old it doesn't matter. Until the day you die, EVERYONE has more living to do.

Remember, the race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Why fall when you can fly.

LIVE BIG

An amazing day!

So, yesterday I went on an amazing hike up towards South Arapaho Peak from the Forth of July trail head out of Nederland, CO. One of my dearest friends from California flew into Denver a few days ago to visit so I decided to show her what Colorado's Front Range really has to offer. The hike started around 9000ft and by the time we turned around, well before the summit due to weather, we had climbed to around 10,200ft where we stopped and had lunch. We'll have to go back in the Spring and try again.

I LOVE this place!

Back again.

Hey all. This won't be a very detailed post but I wanted to try and get back into it. My last post mentioned the catastrophe with my truck. Since then I've purchased a almost new 2007 Subaru Impreza wagon which is proving to be the perfect car for me. It gets great gas millage (28-30 gpm), can carry plenty of friends (including their dog), plenty of gear, and plenty of kayaks and bikes. I'm still trying to sort out what to do with my truck as it currently sits in my parking spot with a motor that's shot collecting dust and causing me $$$. I'm hoping to find someone to help me put in a new motor but that won't happen for a bit. Anyway, keep me in your thoughts as I try, like everyone else, to deal with this nightmare of an economity.

Talk to you all later.

What's new!

Well, if you didn't already know, a few weeks ago the engine in my truck started running extremly rough. After taking it to two shops, I learned two rings (one in cylinder 2 and one in cylinder 5) had blow out and ruined the engine. As a result, I going to have to replace the motor.

So, I've bought a new (used) car. It's a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX wagon. It has 26,000 miles and a bunch of extras. The best part is it has a 6year/80,000 mile bumper to bumper extended warranty.

More later.....

Now a Class IV boater

Bad ass day on the river. Went with a friend of mine to kayak a section of the South Platte that I've been working to be able to paddle. The flow was higher then I really wanted to paddle it at, and what is usually a Class III run was now a Class IV. We scouted the entire run first and the four main rapids looked pretty gnarly, but we went for it anyway. Four up, four down. All clean. No swims. BAD ASS. Check out the video below. It's called "Waterton Canyon Kayaking". The flow was almost exactly the same. Just replace one of the blue boats with an orange one and you've got me. I ran it clean if I hadn't already mentioned that.


Waterton Canyon Kayaking from Chadwick Shoults on Vimeo.

We must be crazy!!!

So..., on September 6th myself and several friends will be participating in the Imogene Pass Run. The run in 17.1 miles, starts in Ouray, CO and ends in Telluride, CO. The start of the race is at 7810 ft and finished in Telluride at 8820 ft with a mid-point summit of 13100 ft. From Ouray to the summit, it's 10 miles of climbing. Then 7 miles down into Telluride.

Check out the web site for the race - http://www.imogenerun.com/

My weekly training routine so far has consisted of 3-5 runs of between 4 and 8 miles of trails. My plan is to try and get up to altitude where I can do some training up where the air is thinner. From what I've been told, the hardest part of the race is the 7 mile downhill at the end. Here in Colorado we have some of the most beautiful mountains so once the weather becomes a bit more stable, I'm hoping to get out and hike as many of Colorado's 14ers and 13ers as possible before the race.

Wish us luck!

After Academy

Well, fire academy has been done for a few months now and it seems like each day is more and more busy. Currently I'm taking a Hazardous Material (HazMat) Operations class. It's known as the hardest class you'll ever take as a firefighter. Last month I completed a 5 day wildland firefighter class that ended in a day at a local summer camp for kids where we assisted with a live burn of almost 5 acres. I'm hoping to have some pictures soon.

The implementation of the ALS service has gone much smoother than originally expected. Here are a few pictures of our ambulances and the other two on my shift, Shawn and Adam. Shawn is an EMT/Engineer and has been with Louisville Fire as a volunteer for a number of years. She's trained to drive each of the Engines and works as the EMT on the ambulances. Adam came to Louisville Fire with no fire experience but has been a Paramedic for roughly 6 years. Both are awesome.

Enjoy

A new beginning

Hey all,

I'm starting over and wanted to invite you all to my new blog. I'll try to be much better about keeping this one up and will try to bring you all up to date on whats new in my life and where I'm going from today forward.

Since the last posting on my old blog, I've began a new job as a Firefighter/Paramedic with Louisville Fire Department in Louisville, CO. Please check out my department's web site.

http://www.louisvillefire.com/