Skiing, Hedging, Turbos and Gems

I went up to Arapahoe Basin skiing on Wednesday morning for the first time this season. They had 2 lifts and a top to bottom run open. The snow was good and the weather was great. I went with to other graduate students from Mines and made it back just in time for accounting class.

Thursday of last week I went to an IPAMS (Independents Petroleum Association of Mountain States) Hedging seminar. It was focused on practical application of hedging for the oil producers in the Rockies. I learned so much, thanks to a sponsorship from the Association, because otherwise I would not have been able to afford it right now.

While I was driving up to the mountains on Wednesday, I noticed my car was losing some of its power and of course the check engine light came on. So Friday I got outfitted with a rental by the dealer where I get my work done and they set out to make some money on me. 8 hours and 400 smokes later I redeemed my rental and was please to find out that they owed me a refund for some work done 3 months ago that should have been warranty work. More good news is that my station wagon now hauls butt. The inline 5 cylinder Volvo with its low pressure turbo is ready to take on any challengers and go full speed ahead up the mountains for winter. They also were able to do an alignment which has smoothed out the ride noticeably. The roads in Denver in my opinion are pretty crumby in spots so the alignment can take a beating.

Friday Night I was invited by a friend to attend the unveiling of the largest specimen of Aquamarine found in the state that was held at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It was really an Oil and Gas event with tons of politicians, lawyers and independently wealthy oil men of Denver. Aquamarine is the gem name for Beryl which is really just a blue emerald. The specimen they unveiled was absolutely amazing.

And to wrap up this post, we got a bunch of snow earlier but none of it stuck. Now the temp is dropping, supposed to bottom out around 19 tonight. And I am actually heading to well site tomorrow morning to see a stimulation job called a "Frac" around 6 so its should be kind of chilly in the morning. I'll try to get some pics.