4/18/06 - Summer is Almost Here! (Mega-Update)
Just like a Grizzly Bear, Toid.net seems to go into a winter hibernation where it seldom gets updated. Well, the wait is over and let the summer onslaught of updates begin! This summer Colleen and I have a lot of plans of great vacations to take, mountains to climb, and plenty of housework updates!
Back on February 12th, Colleen and I went for a quick hike up Hogback Ridge in Boulder. To see those pictures surf on over here.
January 28th-30th, Colleen and I got away for a weekend to Gleenwood Springs where we swam in the worlds largest hot springs pool! (Sorry, no pictures from this) We also took a chance to go up to Sunlight Ski area so that Colleen could try out skiing for the first time! (She had been snowboarding a few times previously, but this was her first time on skiis!) As you can tell from the pictures it was an incredible powder day! Find more pictures over here.
Whenever we get a chance we take Sooner, our super-cute Welsh Corgi to either the lake or the Dog Park. If you want to see pictures of Sooner swimming in a frozen lake, click here.
In other news, Colleen and I have been working on the house and we have finished painting the Kitchen and Great Room. (Yes, we eventually picked out which colors to paint with!) Also I helped my neighbor put up another side of fencing. Two down and one to go! To check out those pics, you can look here.
1/07/06 - Toid Finally Updates His Website!
So it's been 4.5 months since I last updated my website. Easily the longest I've ever gone without doing so. I hope to never go this long again without some sort of update. The biggest reason (excuse) as to why the website hasn't been updated is that we moved into our new home that had an 1700+sqft unfinished basement. Colleen and I decided to put the computers downstairs, but there was only one problem -- no electricity down there. Well, in order to get electricity you have to have framing and to have framing you've got to build according to code, which in the case of where we live, requires floating walls. If a floating wall sounds impossible, it's basically a wall where you use a gun to shoot nails into pressure treated 2x4's against the foundation of your basement and then attach your partition wall to the joists above in the ceiling but leave a 4" clearance between your 2x4 you nailed down and the wall you just hung. Then use a 60d nail to join the two together. This allows the wall to float and if the foundation expands and contracts, it has room to move without causing major foundation problems and more importantly voiding your home warrenty! After I got the framing up, I needed to put in a subpanel for the electrical (so I didn't have to go upstairs and around the side of the house everytime I wanted to install a new circuit or in case something trips) and then run wire to the outlets and new recessed lights I was putting in. Finally, after all that, I could quickly run some cat5 wire and plug in our computers and get back online and update the website.
So a lot of things happened since the last update. First, we moved into our home on August 31st and it was quite the move. We decided to hire people to do it for us since we had so many other projects to do. I immediately got started on installing the water softener (with the help of Colleen's dad), and got the washer, dryer and fridge going soon after. Then it was on to the garage door opener and ceiling fans. You can find our home building process up until this point on this page over here. On 9/7/05, Toid.net turned Five. To see the unexciting page you've been staring at for the last 4.5 months, you can click here to see snapshots of Toid.net on it's birthday.
For Thanksgiving, Colleen and I did a "supertrip" and drove to Oklahoma and stayed there a few days and then drove to Iowa and stayed there a few days to see family. After that roadtrip we decided we aren't going to do that again. (Oh btw, we took Sooner with us) Upon our return I spent the next two weeks hanging Christmas Lights on our home. We also decided that Sooner needed to go to puppy preschool. Colleen and I took a break and went to go see Phantom of the Opera in downtown Denver. It was actually pretty entertaining. For Christmas we decided to not do anything too wild because we bought each other wood blinds for our home and a treadmill. Colleen's really been using it a lot lately. In January, Sooner got really sick and we had to take her to the vet three times in one week! That gets expensive! But she is worth it. I finally finished up the work needed to move the computers into place and online and you can check out pictures of our home after the move over here. There is still lots and lots of work to do in the basement and backyard!
Looking ahead, I hope to get out and hike and climb a lot this year, along with taking Colleen skiing for the first time. I don't know how much I'm going to be able to update my website, but I'm going to try and post new pictures as soon as we do something that warrants it. I have a backyard fence to build the second it starts getting warmer out, and I can't wait! Sooner is destroying our upstairs! Oh well...that's life. Until next time...
8/21/05 - Colleen and Matt Celebrate Their One Year Anniversary By Getting a Puppy!
Her name is Sooner. She is 8 weeks old and is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi! We were going to get a boy one and name him Boomer, but the female was sooooo cute that we had to get her instead. If you want to see a couple other pictures of Sooner, click here. Our house is almost complete and has all the carpet installed now. I will post pictures of that later. We cannot wait to move in! Almost a week away!
8/07/05 - Toid Finds His Way Up Missouri Mtn. (14,067')
It's interesting to note that the hardest part about this mountain is not the climbing itself, it's the routefinding and deep river crossing one must attempt to get to the trailhead. For the first time on a 14er I got "lost". Also for the first time, I spent the night in the Blazer. Finally, for the first time I crossed a river that came up to the hood on my Blazer. To read the trip report you can find it here. In other news, our home is now in its final stage, which can be seen by clicking here. Enjoy!
7/26/05 - My Dad and I Summitted Uncompahgre Pk (14,309') and Wetterhorn Pk (14,015')!
My parents came up from Oklahoma to relax at a cabin on the lake in Lake City. However, being so close to a couple 14ers I hadn't climbed yet, my dad and I decided to do something about that! To read about our hike up Uncompahgre Pk, click here! To see our trip report of Wetterhorn Pk, click here! Remember, you can always check on the status of our new home...by clicking here. They are now installing our flooring and cabinets!
7/10/05 - Topped Out on Mt. Lindsey (14,042')
This mountain kicked my butt. It contains the loosest rock I have ever encountered and with the heat from the sun, it quickly sapped my energy. Not to mention that my boot exploded on the way up when I was making a serious scrambling move and put all my pressure on it at a weird angle. That doesn't help the hike go any faster. To read the trip report you can find it here. In other news, our home is now finishing up the drywall stage, which can be seen by clicking here. Enjoy!
6/22/05 - Oh My Microprocessors! 5900' Vertical Gain, 11 Miles, 14 Hours, 2 Fourteeners!
Do this for me...next time you're outside, look up into the sky and try to imagine how far one mile is up into the air. Then throw on another 700ft. Ok, now vision how far 5.5 miles is in any direction horizontally from your current location, and then connect the dots. Talk about wobbly legs! Colleen can hardly walk! Just look at her crazy expression!?! To see our trip report click here Climbing season has begun! Remember, you can always check on the status of our new home...by clicking here. We now have a completed roof and a driveway!
6/12/05 - Progress on Home and Sugarloaf Mountain (8,917') was Awesome!
It looks like a house, eh? That's what we said too! I just added two weeks worth of updates and pictures on the home building page which can be found...by clicking here. It's been two more weeks of wet rainy mess! (By the way, that's not the color of our house, it's still unpainted at the moment) In other news I climbed Sugarloaf Mountain and put up a trip report over here. Enjoy!
5/29/05 - Team Toid + Jennifer Summited: Ptarmigan Peak (13,739'), Weston Peak (13,572'), Point 13,525 (13,525') and Point 13,380 (13,380') in One Day!
It's Memorial Day Weekend and even with snow in the forecast we had a great outing in the Mosquito/Ten Mile Range. To see our trip report click here The rest of our weekend consists of sitting around at different BBQ's and watching Star Wars! Remember, you can always check on the status of our new home...by clicking here. We now have windows and a roof, and they made up a week of lost time!
5/22/05 - Update on Home
Good grief! Since when did my life get so busy that I don't have time to update my own website!? Colleen and I are doing great, (we are anxiously awaiting our home to be built) and in the meantime going Geocaching, playing softball, working and working some more. Cruise on over to the "official" house page where you can constantly monitor the status of our new home...by clicking here. Right now we are in the Framing Stage and we are very excited to say the least!
4/10/05 - This 'Ain't Oklahoma Weather!
With a fresh foot of snow on the ground, Colleen, Jennifer and I built a six foot tall snowman! To see more pictures, click here In other news we climbed Green Mountain right here on Easter and my dad and I went skiing/snowboarding for the first time this year last weekend! I skiied for the first time in 9 years! (I've been snowboarding for the last eight!) Our house has made progress! Last weekend it was being dug out. This weekend the footers have been put on. However, all this snow can't be a good thing!
3/6/04 - Toid Makes His Way Atop Bear Pk! (8,461ft)
With everything going on in my life, I finally got a moment to get out and climb something. To read the trip report, click here. Hopefully there will be more climbing reports to follow in the next few months. For now, this will have to suffice. March Madness is coming up soon, and I'll be glued to the HDTV. *smile*
2/13/05 - Colleen and I are Building a House!
Well, haven't updated in forever, so I figured I might as well let you guys know what Colleen and I have been up to that has kept us so busy. Basically we've been working, working, and then working some more so that we can buy a house. If you click here you'll see what the model home for the house we are interested in looks like. I just threw the webpage together so don't judge me on the layout, because there is none! Anyhow, our home should be finished sometime in August of this year and we can't be more excited!
12/19/04 - Team Toid Summits Second Highest Sand Dune in North America!
This last weekend Colleen and I were driving home from her sisters college graduation and decided, "Hey, let's go climb High Dune!". To read about our last minute trip report, click here. I also want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and if you are reading this, give me a call! If you don't have my number email me, leave your number and I'll call you! Thanks!
11/28/04 - Topo Software + GPS = Pretty Pictures
It's Thanksgiving Holiday and it's snowing heavily outside, temperatures are in the teens and what else could I be doing other than planning my next trip! Since Colleen and I received gift certificates to REI (Thanks Ted and the Hatchett's), I purchased another copy of Gerry Roaches 14er book (mine was falling apart and missing 30+ pages from previous trips and pesky marmots) along with some Topo Software from DeLorme. I then could really let the nerd inside of me take over and immediately I cross-referenced my GPS waypoints and track logs from my Rino and matched that up with the contour lines and geographic data of digital USGS Quadrangles and the topo software to output beautiful, gps-precise topographical maps, brilliant 3d renderings, along with useful route elevation vs. distance profiling! Woohoo! I plotted all the 14ers and made a map of them which can be found here. There are two maps, one in 2d and one in 3d. The black mountains represent 14ers I've summited, and the red ones are ones that I have not summited yet. They are divided into their respective ranges and sometimes they are so closely bunched together that 3 or 4 overlap each other which is why it might look confusing to you. Above is just a teaser of Longs Peak. If you want to see the bigger pictures for Longs, go to that trip report, or just click here. Over the winter I will update my trip reports with information from my GPS as I get around to it. Work is keeping me extremely busy and with Christmas coming up I don't think I'll get much done, but hopefully before climbing season rolls along again next summer! Thanks for checking up on me!
10/31/04 - Happy Halloween (and lots of updates)
So I haven't updated Toid.net in almost 2 months. I haven't really been on AIM in over a year. Well, I can honestly say I've been the busiest I've ever been in my life. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't find some time to update everybody, so here we go! Toid LLC my personal company is going wonderful, as is the other company I co-founded, Nerd E-Solutions. Yes, I actually *did* carve that Nerd Pumpkin myself. During our honeymoon, Colleen and I hiked Hanging Lake, which is rated by National Geographic as one of the Top 5 hikes in all of America (including Alaska). To read that trip report, click here. On September 7th, Toid.net turned four years old. If you want to read about the history of Toid.net, and see what it looked like at all its previous birthdays, click here. Colleen and I are leading a small group Bible Study that is studying the Book of James. If you're interested in the church we go to, click here.
9/05/04 - The Esser's Summit Castle Peak while on their Honeymoon! (14,265ft)
With all the stuff to do after one get's married, I'm just now getting around to posting the trip report of what we did back on August 23rd! (Just two days after our wedding!) If you want to read about the climb, click here. We hiked and river rafted as well on our honeymoon, and the trip reports for those will be coming whenever we get the pictures back, and I get around to putting them online! Please read the paragraph below to find out about what's new on Toid.net!
9/04/04 - Toid.net 2.0.0 (it's official)
I finally got a free Saturday and spent 10 hours on the computer updating Toid.net in order to get the features I wanted implemented before I officially went to version 2.0. I'm sure you noticed the "Printer Friendly Page" link that is now atop every page of Toid.net. What that feature does is take the content of whatever page your currently viewing, and spits it out in default font and black text. So, if for some reason you are reading a trip report on my website, or just an article, and want to print out the information but don't want to see the top header of my website, or the pic of me on the left, or the poll to the right, or finally the footer, all you have to do is click that link and it will chop it out! Pretty cool eh? I also updated every page to point to a common CSS stylesheet, so now I have master control over the style of my website while only manipulating one file. I also have setup a header and a footer, along with left and right columns, so now with the stylesheet, these five files basically can pretty much change my whole website on the fly! I hope you enjoy my website as much as I have! Thanks for visiting.
8/18/04 - Gugals and Toid Tackle Mt. Antero (14,269ft)
Five days before I get married...with groomsmen, bridesmaids, family and guests all arriving into Denver for my upcoming wedding this Saturday, what is the groom doing to prepare himself to get ready? Napping on the summit of a 14er, eating a sandwich of course! To check out more pictures of my day in the mountains with Gugals, click here. See most of you at my wedding! If I don't see you there, when I get back I'll be a married man! Woohoo!
7/10/04 - Backpacking trip to the Maroon Bells!
I am just now getting around to putting online a short, but complete, trip report of Colleen, Jennifer and I's backpacking trip to the Maroon Bells. The trip report can be found by clicking here. The main purpose of this trip was to get away from the hectic lifestyle of work and relax in the mountains! We had a great time and I learned a lot about what I need in order to eventually climb the Maroon Bells (both 14ers). Aren't they beautiful?
6/06/04 - Toid Completes His First Century!
A couple months ago, I challenged myself with what I believed to be unthinkable at the time...which was riding 100 miles on my bike in one single day. I am back to say that I have "kinged it!" Of course you want to read all about it, so click here to read the race report, view pictures and check out my data! This picture was not taken at the finish of the race, but at the start of the race. To find out why this is my favorite picture please read my report. But do take the time to notice the moon in the background! Cool huh?
6/02/04 - The Return of Mt. Princeton (14,197ft)
Colleen and I are now back from Mt. Princeton and we have a trip report to tell! For those of you that don't know, or remember, Colleen and I attempted Mt. Princeton last March just after the "blizzard of the century". We made it to the Radio Towers for a very chilly sub-zero degree camp at about 11,000ft and only ended up making it to about 11,200ft before we turned around. If you want to read about that trip, please go to the 14er page and click on it there. The new trip report can be found by clicking here. Enjoy!
5/22/04 - Wedding Registry (updated)
Hey everybody! I'm pleased to officially announce where Colleen and I are registered for our wedding! I'm sorry for the delay, and I apologize for people not living in Colorado where these stores are located at, but if you go to their website, you can find our registry there or you can find store locations to find the one nearest you. We are registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond (www.bedbathandbeyond.com) and The Great Indoors. For Bed, Bath & Beyond, just click the link to go to their website, then click Bridal and Gift Registry, then in the blanks type in my name: Matt Esser. It should come up with a listing for me and Colleen for the wedding on August 21, 2004. Click that and you should see our list. If you would like to purchase something for us for the wedding, you can do there by clicking on the "purchase" link next to the item you wish to contribute. We already have a Wok! I'm so excited. As for The Great Indoors, they don't have an online registry that you can view, however, if you visit one of their stores you can access our list from there. Here is a link to their webpage detailing their store locations: The Great Indoors Store Locator If neither of those work for you, you can just click the "Make a Donation" button below this paragraph and just make a donation. Thanks for reading this paragraph, and hopefully Colleen and I will see you at our wedding!
4/06/04 - Toid Enters a 100-mile Bike Race!
Have I completely lost my mind? Last year, I entered a 26.2-mile footrace, and this year, I enter a 100-mile bike race. I'm committed now, I've paid my dues and been accepted. Now all that's left is training before I "king it". If you're in the area, feel free to stop by and cheer me on. Colleen is sitting this adventure out, but she will be there rooting for me. Two months. Hours of training. Hundreds of miles preparing. Tuesday night spinning classes. Will I bonk? Or will I make it to see my wedding? This should be good.
3/20/04 - Colleen and Matt Summit Mt. Yale! (14,196ft)
On the first day of Spring, Colleen, Scott, Sarah and I climbed Mt. Yale! It was quite the adventure with the ascent taking way longer than we thought and a descent that lasted until 9:30pm! You'll definitely want to catch the trip report by going to my 14er page and clicking on Mt. Yale. This was my 25th fourteener and Colleen's 3rd. For those of you that want the direct link, you can click here.
3/14/04 - My Birthday and NCAA March Madness!
Today is my birthday and while I'm celebrating it with Colleen, everybody else can take some time and make their tournament picks in this years 2nd Annual Toid.net NCAA Picks! If you want to see the current leaderboard and your competition, please click here Time has now expired to submit your brackets and this year we have 9 competitors, with three females, five males and one computer! Scores will be updated every weekend, please click the link above to check out the standings...thanks!
3/07/04 - Hiking to Brainard Lake (10,300ft)
Colleen and I got a chance to go out on a snowshoeing trail that lead to Brainard Lake! Here is a picture of me marking down the GPS coordinate in my Rino for future reference. As of right now I just have a mini-trip report up that you can read by clicking here (pictures included). Hope everybody is doing well and it's one week till my birthday!! The march madness NCAA tourney will be coming to Toid.net soon too, so let me know by email if you want in! Byeeeeeeee....
2/04/04 - Toid gets Engaged!
I've held off long enough from announcing the secret that was coming to Toid.net, so here it is: Colleen and I got engaged January 25th, 2004!!! If you want to read the entire proposal story, which contains the journey of my diamond search and includes many money saving tips and ideas, plus want to see pictures of the diamond, hike and us, please click here to read my proposal story. Our wedding will be August 21, 2004 at Westminster Church of the Nazarene, in Westminster, CO. The reason for the delay announcing our engagement was because we wanted to let our parents know first, then, let our pastor know and reserve the church, thus securing a wedding date, and then we wanted to tell our friends. So here the announcement is! I will be sending out emails and calling people individually in the near future, however, if you want to call me or send me an email, feel free to do so! Things are crazy, but things are good. Colleen and I are both extremely excited! I'll keep you up-to-date on my website here so check back every so often. Thanks!
1/22/04 - Something Great is Coming
Something fantastic is coming to Toid.net soon. What is it? I can't tell you that. Why is it coming? Because it's inevitable. You'll just have to keep coming back to find out. If you are really curious, please send your guesses to my email address. However, as a bonus, if you can guess where I am in the picture I will tell you the secret. How about that?
12/31/03 - Toid Summits Mt. Sanitas (6,863 ft)
Well, it's the last day of the year and almost three months since I updated my website. Unfortunately, I don't have time to write a trip report or even post other pictures of Brant and I's trek up Mt. Sanitas, however, I will at least change my homepage and vow to eventually get back to the weekly updating. Everybody be safe for the new year but remeber to have fun!
10/01/03 - Geeks On Call Video
I apologize for the long delay on getting this onto my computer, but I've been a little backed up at work. Let me reiterate what happened for those of you that may not know. A little over a month ago I was followed by the Channel 4 news crew here in Denver to a person's home live on camera so they could record me in action demonstrating how to remove the W32.Blaster Worm and the SoBig.F Virus off of a personal computer. If you think this picture says a lot, wait until you watch the VIDEO! It's around 5mb for those of you that are curious. Enjoy! (click here for video)
9/07/03 - Toid.net Turns Three!
On this day three years ago, Toid.net was born. Three years ago I was living in an apartment in Norman with Ted going to school at the University of Oklahoma. I remember that evening going to Couch Cafeteria and telling everybody that I got a website. I could understand their initial confusion, as not even I knew what would become of it. However, three years later here we are. Still going, and still growing. I hope to implement many more functions over this next year, and also hope that everybody still checks back and participates in making this website a great place to hangout! If you would like to see what my website looked like over the years, please click here and scroll down. There are links to the pictures in the text if you are curious to see how Toid.net has evolved. I hope this message finds you doing well, and to celebrate this occasion please dedicate your next coke or beer for Toid.net! Later!
8/08/03 - Sunrise on the Summit of Handies Peak (14,048')
This picture says a lot of things. In fact, chances are I'll never see it again. After a week of climbing 14ers in the San Juans, I decided to leave my tent in the middle of the night and brave the loneliness of hiking solo in complete and utter darkness. Exposing myself to the coldness of the night and allowing myself to be vulnerable to all animals big and small, and hike up to the top of Handies Peak. All for one purpose -- to watch the sunrise. It was glorious, as I remained on the summit alone in solitude, which for at least one moment in the infinity of time seemed unfrequented by humans as I sat in silence, minus the shivering from the frigid morning air, for over 2 hours before I finally decided to reluctantly make my way back down to my tent and drive back to reality. The trip reports for all my summits this week, along with a lot of pictures, can be found on the 14er page. Thanks, and remember to enjoy life.
7/30/03 - Mt. Sherman and Mt. Massive Summits Successful!
Summit Fest '03 has begun! Gugals and I made a quick trip out to Mt. Sherman to see if he had what it takes to climb peaks in Colorado. He succeeded! So then, we scrambled on over to Mt. Massive and attempted something never done on Toid.net...a consecutive day climb! That's right, imagine climbing a 14er, then waking up the next morning and climbing an even harder one! To read about our adventures go to the 14er page, trip reports can be found there. It's now off the San Juans!
7/19/03 - My New Friend.
While climbing Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache Peak a week ago, I met a new friend. He wanted to eat me. However, I wouldn't allow this to happen and instead took a picture and went on my way. Both peaks were a success and you can read about them in the 14er trip report section. This weekend I'll be in Estes Park hiking around some trails up there with Colleen. Catch you later!
7/07/03 - This is how you backpack right?
For the 4th of July weekend, Colleen and I went backpacking to Gore Lake in the Gore Range east of Vail. Don't worry, I didn't really carry my tent 14 miles in this fashion, I'm just getting all the twigs and stuff out of it! The trip report probably won't get written for a while, but pictures can be found here. Enjoy, and maybe I'll get around to writing a report and captions.
6/28/03 - 14,336ft La Plata Peak summitted by Toid, Colleen and Jamie!
It tested our legs and it almost brought us to failure, but we persevered and made it! The trip report can be found on the 14er page in the climbing section, and be sure and check out my picture of Ellingwood Ridge! That ridge is unbelieveable as Gugals would say! Catch you all later. Oh, btw, my computer is kind of broken, so that's why no updates and I'm not on AIM. My harddrive melted. Hehe, silly Gentoo. All that compiling!
6/15/03 - Huron Peak was a Success!
Colleen and I climbed and summitted Huron Peak this weekend! Huron is a 14er and it's Co's *first* one to stand on top of! Yay! The adventurous trip report can be found in the usual spot. Highlights include: Funny commentary, a surprise encounter and of course...great pictures! What's next in the wild world of Toid.net??? Who knows! Keep coming back to find out!
6/9/03 - Hike-a-bike with Mountain Lions!
Check out the newest Trip Report on Toid.net, this time in the biking section! Co and I went mountain biking at Walker Ranch which involves a lot of hiking with your bike! Including a mandatory 45 minute Hike-a-bike section! Also included, free of charge, were mountain lion warning signs! We interviewed some locals and they informed us that they roam in packs all the time in the area! Cool, as Walker Ranch is 10 minutes from my house in South Boulder! Yipppeee! Oh, as for the picture, that's me doing an endo over the side of a bridge.
6/2/03 - Toid and Co Run a Marathon!
After 18 tumultuous weeks of training, Colleen and I finished the 22nd Annual Steamboat Marathon! The cold weather and downpour of 40 degree rain made for an interesting start, but that didn't stop us from donning two layers of trashbags over our race clothes and running the first 13 miles in this fashion! Perfect weather marathons are for wimps. This was at altitude, and this was in inclimate weather. How did we do you ask? Well, the results were outstanding as Toid finished 10th in his age group and Co finished 16th! *clap clap* Check out the full race report now online with 16 photos for your viewing pleasure on the race report page in the running section! (Also updated is the Bolder Boulder race report with photos)
5/14/03 - Toid.net goes wireless
Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been busy. However, on a side note, Toid.net is now available on your cell phone or other mobile device! That's right! In order to view it, surf your mobile device to http://wap.toid.net Only mobile devices can see this page, so don't try it on your home browsers! So, you're now asking me why you want to do this? Well, because my website is *really* helpful because of the content it brings. Let's say you're lost, while out driving, but don't have the address of where you're going. Go to Toid.net wireless and you can do a google search on the place you're going and find the address. Then, you can use MapQuest, and through your cell phone, punch in the destination and it will then beam step by step directions to your cell phone how to get to where you wanted to go! You never have to be lost again! Ok, you can still probably get lost, but it's a useful feature. Need sports scores? You can surf ESPN.com from my wap, and also connect up with the latest news and check your hotmail and yahoo email accounts. Yes, it's that cool. :)
3/09/03 - Toid Climbs another 14er
As an early birthday present to myself (my b-day is the 14th, *hint hint*), I climbed Pikes Peak. Which, since we are still under the winter solistice, counts as an official "Solo Winter Ascent". Please ignore the fact that my lower lip in this picture looks a little funky -- it's only frostbite. I decided a picture with all my clothes on, including hood, wouldn't come out too well. To see the entire trip report, along with more photos, please go to my fourteener page!
3/17/03 - March Madness!
It's that time of year again! Time for everybody to make their selections. You have until Wednesday (the 19th) night at 11:59pm MST. Leaderboard will be posted with participants and scoring. Please visit the official March Madness page by clicking here. The rule page and leaderboard can be found there. If you have any other questions please contact me.
3/01/03 - Brrrrrrrr!
Here we are, training for a marathon! Don't mind the snow collecting in my hair! Colleen and I just finished running 10 miles in the foothills of Boulder while it was snowing! If you would like to donate some money towards our marathon...proceeds would gladly be accepted! Contact Matt if you wish to submit a donation, as the marathon is expensive, and so is the hotel he has to reserve. I would like to view this as a sponsorship. You could even make a payment for every mile of the marathon Toid makes it through! How cool would that be!? I would even print your name on my website, as an official sponsor of me and the Steamboat Springs Marathon! Or maybe I will write your name on my race t-shirt! The race is June 1st, so you have plenty of time to find $5.
If you don't want to donate...that's fine. I understand. But while you're at the drive-thru at Wendy's, getting a Super-size on your value meal, think about how I had a severe calf cramp from two miles on; encountered gale force winds of sixty miles per hour in whichever direction the run was heading; struggled through hail, snow, thunderstorms and locusts at various times during the race; had a body temperature of 103 degrees and had just gotten over walking pneumonia; my feet were bleeding from blisters halfway through the race; there were no aid stations as the volunteers didn't show; I couldn't see my split times because sweat was pouring down into my eyes; I had Montezuma's Revenge requiring twenty two bathroom breaks and the run was dramatically uphill at all times. Yet, despite all these obstacles, I persevered in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity and set my PR by 6 minutes. And if you can honestly tell me your five dollars is better spent on getting some extra grease on your fries, I have nothing more to say. Hehe.
2/20/02 - Bunch of new stuff...
After realizing I hadn't updated my website in a while, I decided to update a few things. Over the next couple weeks, I will be in the process of updating my website tremendously. Getting ever so much closer to the elusive 2.0.0 release, but much work must be done before that, so hang tight! I'm not going to tell you where all the new stuff is, but if you're a hardcore Toid.net fan, you've already found it! Enjoy!
12/24/02 - Merry Christmas from Toid.net!
I hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and if you're reading this, then give me a call, I'd love to hear from you! *smile* Take care, and GodBless!
09/21/02 -
As Toid.net approaches version 2.0.0, I have now completed the revamped forum for everybody that was waiting! If you haven't checked out the forum before, now would be a great time to do it! It's really fun, and there's going to be a lot going on there! There are so many features, I don't even know where to begin. You can post messages, obviously, but that's only the beginning. I like to think of it, more like a place to hang out on the web. It feels like home. What you say in there will be viewed by lots of people and you can get their input on a range of topics! The possibilites are endless!
Also, by the number of posts you submit, you can go up in ranking status! That's right, there's even rankings for how often you post, the forums are searchable, there's even a FAQ for those of you that may not know exactly how to sign up or what to do, or even how to post. I've covered most the basic questions. Do you not like some of Gugals articles? Come join us and let us know! We would love to hear your thoughts. You can post a picture by your posts, so we can see who you are, and if you're not sure how to do this, you can E me, or you can u2u (user to user) inside the forum, once you sign up! The forum automatically keeps track of what threads are viewed the most, and what generates the most replies. It's all extensible programming via php. Here at Toid.net we take security seriously! Your passwords are encrypted so even I can't see what your password is! I can reset it, but I can't see it. As of right now, there are even two themes installed, so you can even change the color of how it looks! I'll be installing more whenever I have time, I've been busy looking for a job this last week.
There are many more features, such as adding smilies that animate within your posts, there's a way to contact people via AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, or MSN, and you can create new threads and respond in old ones! Please, join in the fun, as I would not just like to create a website of me, and what I've done, but more of a whole web experience, where people can come in with their problems, and ask everybody what they should do! Have you watched a good movie lately? Post it! Let us know, so that others can go out and rent the movie! There are more stats than I even know what to do with! You can see who the forum user of the day is! Check it out! Alright, enough blabbing about it, show me the forum! Ok, well you can click any one of the numerous links that take you to the forum, or for now, you can just click this.
09/11/02 -
We feel sorry for what happened a year ago. A lot has transpired since then. So here at Toid.net we want to cheer everybody up. What better way to do that then opening up the football season with Gugals' first article! He rants and raves about a lot of topics and I set him up with his own email address which you can contact him with your thoughts. If you feel the need to submit your own article in response to his, please do so. His article can be found here.
09/07/02 -
TOID.NET TURNS TWO TODAY! To see a history about Toid.net and it's changing faces look here. Time to celebrate! Also added a new section called NCAA. In here we will have articles written by none other than GUGALS! Let's all welcome him to Toid.net as a staff writer. Also, within that section will be the latest picks for college football matchups and polls, etc. The section just has the framework up, however the picks for the weekend can be found here.
09/01/02 -
Mt. Harvard and Columbia. I earned these two.
08/30/02 -
After spending two hours scanning pictures, I finally added pictures to my previous 14er trip reports! Please revisit Quandary, Massive, Bierstadt, Grays and Torreys to see pictures from the ones I didn't previously have pictures for. More pictures coming soon of other trips! I'll keep you updated. It's almost time for the OU game though. Go Sooners!
08/24/02 -
I did the Decalibron! For those of you that don't know, that's doing four fourteeners (Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross) in a single day! Check out the trip report and photos on the 14er page.
08/22/02 -
Added a perl script to see how many viewers are watching each webcam channel.
08/11/02 -
I summited Longs Peak this last weekend via the Keyhole Route! For the Trip Report, you know where to go, here's a picture of Longs in case you want to know. *smile*.
07/06/02 -
Mt. Belford's summit has been attained! Heather (my roommate) joined me on this unforgettable trip. Read all about it on the 14er page. I also added stats at the bottom of that page.
06/21/02 -
I summitted Crestone Needle, the trip report can be found in it's usual place on the 14er page!
05/31/02 -
You know, I didn't actually realize how many people view this site. I bet you people don't know either, so I'm going to put some facts on here for your viewing pleasure! Actually, I'm just going to put the interesting facts. I guess since I am more popular than I thought, I will start adding more current stuff on this site, such as updated pictures of me, more stories about what has happened to me, as well as just adding better content. All these stats are for the month of May 2002.
Hits: 96,317
MB Transfered: 874.2
Unique Visitors: 1,286
Max hits in an hour: 388
Hour of day with most visits: 1700-1800
Different Countries: 8 (USA, UK, AUS, CAN, FRA, ARG, FIN, S. KOR)
Number One Visitor: Lives in the Cate Dorms at OU
Most Common Browser: MSIE 5.01
Most Common OS: Windows 98
So anyhow, while most of that isn't surprising, I did find the fact that people from other countries view my page and that 1,286 different IP's viewed my website. Now, while some of those might be the same people (moving home from college, changing IP's on dialup) that's still quite a bit, as I don't think I know that many people. So who are you guys that view my website!? I wanna know. *smile*
05/18/02 -
I climbed two fourteeners in a single day! Read about it on my 14ers page! yay!
04/26/02 -
Hello and welcome to //toid.net v1.8.3! I hope you like the new look I'm working towards, I don't know what exactly I was going for, I think maybe I wanted a little more movement on the page, instead of some black background. It shouldn't be too hard to change everything, since I mainly had everything dynamically loaded anyway, thanks to SSI.
I hope to add content to this website so that it's not so boring. I hate nothing more than going to a website and seeing it be the exact same as it was the last time I visited. I think some of the things I am going to add include more pictures and better content which give you more reason to waste time on the web! I'm going to really start pushing the use of my messageboard. I know it's hard for some people to login and stuff, but hey, come on now, it's not that bad! I wonder what it would look like if I were to insert a picture right here. Anybody have any suggestions as to what I should add? I dunno...mainly I just wanna know if this will work for IE or not...however, since I don't use that, I wouldn't know. So that's why I'm having some of you check this out for me. Thanks!
Ok, now that I've been working on this for....9 hours straight, I have gotten up to use the bathroom once. I have not gotten anything to eat or drink, and I'm really cold, I need to go to bed. However, this just goes to show you, that after 9 hours of work, this is what I came up with, and this is only ONE stupid page, and I don't even know if it works yet in that one MS browser...sigh...I hope it's not all for nothing. That would really upset me. It should work though, because I think I have everything programmed correctly...we shall see though.
02/05/02 -
Another 14er summited, check it out in the climbing section!
11/10/01 -
Ok, I don't know what I'm talking about half the time, but what do you think of the new slogan? Trojan21 sent that in all the way from OU. I like it. :) Gimme feedback please...whether it's in the wrong place, the font looks weird, etc...
I'm terrible about updating this thing, although I am starting a new section called 14'ers within my climbing section that talks about all the 14'ers I have climbed. Whoever wants to help me with this site, please email me and let me know who you are, I would be more than happy to let you help me keep some areas of my site uptodate, and I will show you how to do it too, it's not that hard and I would be glad to have some help to make Toid.net the best site ever! So if you have any ideas I would love to hear those too. Take care, have fun.
06/26/01 -
Ok, I know how I always said I was going to make my pictures load faster...and I usually ended up not doing it or starting something else...well, I can finally say that I have begun the process of making thumbnails for everything and making all my gallery pages load faster. They all should have that capability now. I also gave them a new look, check it out!
06/25/01 -
It's been three months since I did anything!!! Holy cow!! What on earth has been going on with me? Well, let's just say, I'm going to start working on this again. Maybe not *right* now, but I know it needs new pictures and stuff!
03/29/01 -
Three more real audio journal entries added again, sorry for the batch uploading, sorry for the limited uploading too now that I thinka bout it, but like, I just moved to Colorado so I'm still trying to get myself settled in.
02/19/01 -
Three more real audio journal entries added and I am beginning work on speeding up the loading of pictures in my galleries.
01/27/01 -
Added climbing epic stories! Be sure to go and read those...also decided to get rid of all ads. They suck. Also cleaning up some stuff on my linux section, but like anybody cares about that. Haha.
01/25/01 -
Not much new here. New real audio file up for grabs...who wants it?
01/16/01 -
Hope everybody had a good Christmas, I'm having trouble getting my computer to work. Added a new real audio file, no biggie, added some updates to my linux section, and use my messageboard! Post stuff on ANYTHING!!! Please, I want it to be a happening place! hehe, um, so yeah, I'm working on the climbing at OU thing now...later.
12/14/00 -
Red Letter Day...I got the messageboard up and working. This is here for all of us to keep in touch across states and across the internet...feel free to discuss anything and everything there. Also, I have added installment two of real audio and finished with the caption work! I know the captions may be bad but if only you knew how many of those stupid things I had to do!
12/11/00 -
After substantial work on my webpage in the last day, I have made it so that the pictures are now popups instead of taking you to that page. That way it is MUCH quicker loading for people on modem. Also, I have added captions to all the pictures too...so go back through them and read them if you would like! Lemme know if you find any errors...
12/10/00 -
After more computer internet outages by Cox Communications, I finally got back online. Anyhow...the only update has been the premiere episode for the second season of my real audio files.
11/27/00 -
Well for once I have finally got my internet back up and running and decided to work on the website, haha, well, update it at least, so nothing new just updated football polls and if you're lucky I might put a new RA file up...oh my web cam is active again now. YAY!
10/20/00 -
Today I actually got requested to put banners on my site. Apparently the Google Search has been working great and I have exited the mere $0.01 per click to the 2-3 cents per click range! woohoo! I added a rotator so it would change the ads up. Also, I added the BCS college poll, and I made a few modifications to my intro pages.
10/19/00 -
New Real Audio is out. Jump over to that section if you wanna listen to it.
10/18/00 -
Toid Chat has official moved over to IRC, it *should* stay there, pending my switching of servers with hosting companies which should be coming up soon. Please download IRC...you can get my favorite flavor of irc by clicking here.
10/16/00 -
Javascript clock now up in the top right corner of everypage. For a while there was an attention notice on my main page for slogon's of //toid.net and that is still in effect if you read it. If you didn't it basically said that if you can think up a slogan for //toid.net and it is used, then you get a free //toid.net t-shirt.
10/15/00 -
College Football Polls are up, most importantly the addition of Toid.net Poll which will soon take over the AP and the USA TODAY/ESPN poll in importance.
10/12/00 -
News snatching is up and effective, people do approve, I put the snowballs back on top where it says //toid.net for all to play with...those things are fun aren't they!?
10/10/00 -
Got rid of my start page, got Toid chat up, people are starting to use Toid mail, working on pulling news dynamically from other news sites...keep ya posted.
10/07/00 -
Toid.net turned 1 month old today!
10/05/00 -
Made a lot of the things smaller to benefit smaller browsers, and I also added Toid Mail today, it should be fully operational in a few days. Oh, and entry number five in my journal has been added.
10/04/00 -
Right when you think you have everything done something new comes up, Netscape 6 preview 3 came out and I had to change everything to make it compatible with that, so I did that, aded a poll, added a quote box and fixed my webcam which was ailing all week long.
10/01/00 -
I have my official formmail up, so you can comment about my website, please take time and fill that out, also I have my linux section up (probably not very exciting) and I have a new RA file up, catch ya later...
9/29/00 -
The wichita climbing page is up. Also I spent all day making my website compatible with netscape and ie both, and so therefore I had to eliminate certain tags and stuff, *whew* am I glad that's over and done with.
9/28/00 -
Climbing intro page went up today, and working on the rest of it...sorry...it will be up shortly.
9/27/00 -
I simply cannot believe how long I spent working on my page. I changed EVERY html file today, and made them all into shtml files and that saves on a lot of coding for me cause I take advantage of server side includes (ssi). Also, I have put another Real Audio file up for grabs, and am working on my climbing section...awww yeah.
9/26/00 -
Yessssss!!!! I have a webcam baby! And the remote kicks major tushie! You need to go check it out -- or should I say -- me out! LOL!! :)
9/25/00 -
Wow, what a weekend! I have added a lot in the past few days, today I added the toid cam, and I will be fixing the way that page looks, so don't get mad if that page is under heavy construction. Also, I added a whole set of pictures. I finally got my pics from the wichita's scanned in and I added my friends college 3 page, I added a few pics to my hs and child friends as well.
9/24/00 -
Alright, I added a row of pictures to my college friends. I finally got my initial page for my real audio up and I will start collecting all my audio broadcasts there, and I have my computer info page now online. *pant* ok, time for bed :)
9/23/00 -
Virtual tour and Gugal's Shrine is up! Go check them out right now!! Also added were my highschool friends page. Whew I'm trying to get more things up! OH yeah, also I got my frisbee golf page up, heh, almost forgot about that!
9/22/00 -
This morning thanks to some suggestions by friends, I have added a
Gugals Shrine, added info on frisbee golf disc's I use, my computer setup in my apt, a virtual tour of my apartment and climbing beta on where to climb locally. However, nothing is on these pages yet, but that's soon to come!
9/21/00 -
Today I got my "links" page up of all my favorite places to visit on the web, well alright, not all of them, but most of them! Also, I got my "about" page uploaded today, talking about toid.net. Here I am talking about my day. Click here to listen to my first audio broadcast.
9/20/00 -
Let's see here, today I got a page up of some of my gerneral interests and myths and facts about your personal favorite person -- ME!
9/19/00 -
Alright, I got my childhood pictures up, and I got my highschool pictures up and I am working on other stuff as well, just trying to fill in my website!
9/18/00 -
Today I put up the story of the Princess in the friends section. yay!
9/13/00 -
I put up some friends pictures in my college section.
9/10/00 -
I finally got around to creating this page.
9/07/00 -
This is the day I first got control of toid.net -- I don't know what is going to be put on here, but I know it's going to have lots of pictures, I am tired so I am going to bed now!
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
