Felix Wong is a former California resident with a life-long passion for travel and adventure. During his years as an undergraduate at Stanford University, and later as a mechanical engineer in the semiconductor industry, he engaged in numerous ultra-distance journeys by bicycle or sports car. In recent years his interests have also diversified to rock climbing, mountaineering, ultramarathon running, triathlon, and “places off the beaten path that require a high degree of mental determination and/or good use of one’s appendages.” [Notable examples]
At age 30 in 2005, he escaped the rat race of Silicon Valley and defected to the dream town and outdoors mecca of Fort Collins, Colorado. After years of planning, hard work, savings, and investing, he now considers himself semi-retired, occasionally doing freelance writing, web development and mechanical design. His passions remain and the adventures continue. “Only those who dare, truly live” is one of his favorite quotes, attributable to Ruth P. Freedman.
I guess you can call my friend Shantel and her boyfriend Dave “foodies.” They really know how to savor the flavors of a well-cooked meal, especially if it is ethnic or exotic. In fact, Shantel and I have become lunch buddies who search for and taste Fort Collins’ hidden culinary treasures weekly.
So of course I was delighted when she and Dave invited me over one night for a dinner party. Make that a Chinese dinner party. The next day, after all, was the start of Chinese New Year. Continue reading »
Even among best friends it is hard to predict the future. I was reminded of this one fine evening when Lisa, Tori and I were at Charis and Chris’ and marveled about how 10 years ago none of us could have ever guessed we would all be sitting around a dining table in Fort Collins. Continue reading »
From passion parties to roller skating to karaoke to tango, it seemed like gal-pals Ryan and Tanya and I had figured out all sorts of ways to have fun at night over the last year. It may be a surprise, then, that we’ve never gone bar hopping before, defined as “going to more than one bar in a given night.” Happily, then, today we had some good excuses to do so: (1) it was a new year and decade, and (2) it was our buddy Jon’s birthday. Continue reading »
For the last couple years, whenever a winter holiday came around I’d get to see Bandy, an ol’ buddy from high school. It helps that I have family in California where he lives, and he has cousins in Northern Colorado where I reside. This Thanksgiving we were able to hang out again because he came over to the Rocky Mountain State for five days. Continue reading »
“How are you doing on the turkey?” asked Tori the day before an early Thanksgiving dinner among a dozen close friends at my place. “I realized you [probably don’t have enough space in your] fridge to defrost it in for the normal three days. How did you work around that?”
Three days? I didn’t even have the big frozen bird yet. Then I read on the Internet, “The only safe way to thaw a frozen turkey is to place it in the refrigerator,” and soon I was panicking as much as a turkey being chased by a fox. Continue reading »
Roller skating nights sort of fizzled out; there were no more Passion Parties to attend; and I declared myself “retired” from a karaoke career shorter than William Hung’s. One might suspect, then, that life in Northern Colorado for my friends and I had suddenly become more boring than pouring through a programming manual on C++. But this was not the case. No, not with gal-pal Ryan living here. Somehow she always manages to find new places for fun, exercise, and doing things more off the wall than sweeping leaves off the front porch with a mop. Continue reading »
