Monday we traveled back from Denver. A snow storm was approaching North Carolina and I was afraid our flight would have been canceled, but we arrived at RDU just fine. A bumpy landing in the storm. Many other flights were canceled, so we felt lucky to have made it.

Hernan joined us on the way home from the airport; it was slow driving because of ice, but we made it home safely around midnight.

Yesterday I worked from home, given the road conditions; it is nice to be back at work. I'm recruiting for three open positions.

Denver really is a pretty city, with a great downtown area. Sasha is at her conference during the day, so I'm exploring the city by myself, but we also spent time together in between things.

This afternoon I met Anna Chase and Dennis for coffee, which was fun. I've been reading Dennis' blog for years, and it was nice to meet in real life.

There is snow predicted both here and in North Carolina, that may make our flight home quite interesting. We'll see.

And oh, for lunch I got us two sandwiches from Dubbel Dutch (again). Very healthy, a broodje gezond. Dubbel Dutch is a nice store; I enjoyed meeting Eef, the owner.

This morning I drove to Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. I visited a Dutch bakery there.

The speed limit here is 75 miles per hour.

Netherlands-born baseball player Bert Blyleven was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame today. Blyleven was born Rik Aalbert Blijleven in Zeist, the Netherlands, and he becomes the first Dutch-American to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Blyleven pitched in 22 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and California Angels and compiled a 287-250 record with a 3.31 ERA, 242 complete games, 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts in 4,969 1/3 innings. Often considered to have the toughest curveball of his time, Blyleven threw two different types, the "roundhouse" and the "overhand drop", according to the Hall of Fame press release. "He gripped both like a fastball and used a balanced, full follow-through to get movement".

In 1996 he became commentator for Minnesota Twins. Blyleven was a pitching coach for the Netherlands in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

According to a biography by Professor Pegels, an expert on Dutch-Americans, Blyleven is a unique player: "Bert Blyleven was and still is the only native Dutchman to have made a successful career, as measured by quality of play, in American professional baseball".

Byleven and his colleague Roberto Alomar will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 24 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with executive Pat Gillick.

http://www.bertblyleven.com/

We're staying on the 19th floor of the Crowne Plaza hotel, which has a great view. On the right in the picture you can see the mountains that surround the city.

It's a little colder here than in North Carolina, but not much. The snow you see is the first of the season, according to the guy at the rental company.

There is a two hour time difference with the East Coast.

Today we traveled to Denver, Colorado, where Sasha will be at a conference.

It was a short night. Somehow we are always packing until late, and we left the house at 7.00 am. The flight went smoothly. It was the first time we flew with Southwest airlines, and it was a great experience. Very friendly service.

Denver has a nice downtown area; we're staying in a big hotel in the center. I scheduled a meeting with a customer on Thursday.

Downtown Denver at night.

Yesterday night we celebrated the New Year with a dinner party at friends.

Great company, good food and champagne made for a terrific evening.

We called with Bulgaria and the Netherlands when the new year arrived; especially in Leeuwarden there was a lot of fireworks in the background.

During the day we had prepared oliebollen and they were well received.