Back To Bringing The Goods

I took a pretty extended break from blogging for a little bit (my most significant break since, oh, 2004 or so) but after a vacation to SXSW, spending an increasing amount of time with my four-year old (that's about to go up too - more on that later) and trying to concentrate on work, I found the exact article to ease my way back into the writing gig when I saw this this little educational nugget about the public educational system, or lack of it.

WASHINGTON - Seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.

MSNBC gets the cite.

Let's see.  I live in Denver.  It's one of the most highly educated cities in the nation, I've heard somewhere.

Denver:  Denver County School District - 46.3 percent graduation rate.

43.6 percent graduation rate?

So I'm going to have to try to send my daughter to private schools for the rest of her days?

Public education.  My wallet.  I weep for them both.

Larry Liston Is Shockingly Stupid

I have some bad news for you, unmarried teen parents.  One of your legislators has judged you, and found you... slutty.

Republican Representative Larry Liston of Colorado Springs complained yesterday that society condones premarital sex and there's no longer a sense of shame in unmarried teens having children.

"In my parents' day and age, they were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are. There was at least a sense of shame," Liston said of unmarried teen parents. "There's no sense of shame today. Society condones it. . . . I think it's wrong. They're sluts. And I don't mean just the women. I mean the men, too."

You can thank CW2 in Denver. 
Wait, though, it gets better.

Liston later told The Colorado Springs Gazette later he could have chosen his words better but believes many people feel the way he does.

You know, it's a relief to know that the belief that many people feel the way that he does somehow makes his word choice acceptable for the teenage audience.  "Lots of people think the way that I do.  Therefore, what I think must be right."

Perhaps Mr. Liston is a teenager himself? 

No?

How unfortunate.

You Can Certainly Tell That There's Never Been A World Series In Colorado

Obviously, the Colorado Rockies are rookies when it comes the mad crush of ticket demand generated by the World Series.

DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Rockies suspended World Series ticket sales Monday after overwhelming demand crashed their computer system.

"Right now we're shutting the system down," club spokesman Jay Alves announced outside Coors Field, drawing boos from fans. "We expect to be online at some point."

"We're as frustrated and disappointed as they are," Alves said.

Alves had said last week that the Rockies were prepared for any computer problems.

On Monday, there were 8.5 million attempts to connect with the computers in the first 90 minutes after sales started, he said, and only several hundred tickets had been sold before the system had to be shut down.

Yahoo!

Were I the person in charge of coming up with the online system used to sell World Series tickets, probably the first thing that I would do is find the largest ticket selling organization that I could, and then mimic their e-commerce solution as fast as possible.  That there were 8.5 million requests/hits in 90 minutes isn't the slightest bit shocking.  The poor Rockies crashed their own site, effectively fashioning their own Denial of Service attack.

As I speak, the streets around Coors Field are closed as hundreds of fans are clamoring the ticket offices looking for tickets.

Ah, I love baseball in October.

Be Bold!

The Colorado Rockies are going to the World Series.

The Colorado Rockies are going to the World Series?!

Yikes!

Ah, yes. Yes, it's sweet indeed.

Google: We're In Ur Store, Mappin' Ur Stuff

I haven't made a post about Google in a while, so imagine my surprise when I saw how you can be an independent contractor for them , especially since it's not April Fool's Day.  Requirements include the power of speech and a camera.  From the FAQ:

 

1. Why should I become a Google Business Referral Representative?
   
   Joining the Google Local Business Referrals (LBR) program is a great way to earn some money while connecting people to the businesses in your neighborhood. The information you collect could be seen by millions of people who use Google every day. And you'll be helping the businesses you refer attract new customers while also making it easier for people in your community to find the products and services they're searching for.

2. What will I be doing as a representative?
   
   As a Google Business Referral Representative, you'll visit local businesses to collect information (such as hours of operation, types of payment accepted, etc.) for Google Maps, and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords. You'll also take a few digital photos of the business that will appear on the Google Maps listing along with the business information.  After the visit, you submit the business' info and photo(s) to Google through your Local Business Referrals Center, and we'll pay you up to $10 for each listing that is approved by Google and verified by the business.

   All you need to be a successful Business Referral Representative is a passion for helping local businesses succeed, a love for the Internet (some knowledge of Google is great, too), and access to a computer and a digital camera.

Say again?  Google will pay me for taking some pictures of some local businesses?

Wow.  Where do I sign up?

By the way, I found this via Reddit, so you'll probably never see this article again, so take some notes. 

 

Seriously, I'm thinking that Google is:

- Rich as all get out, and

- Preparing for world domination.

Well Played, Ms. Calhoun

The funniest quote of the week comes from Patricia Calhoun, editor of the Westword, Denver's weekly alternative newspaper, during a trial where the weekly was sued by some guy named Steve Horner (who, naturally, lost) who decided that ladies' nights at bars were a violation of his civil rights and newspaper advertising those promotions were violating state civil rights laws:

"I'm running to the ladies room." Turning to Horner, she added, "You don't object, do you?"

Thank the Rocky Mountain News for this.  Then thank Fark for the hat tip.

I'm not sure what's wrong with that guy, and in fact, I don't even like bars (who wants to be the old guy in the club?!), but I have a feeling that cheap drinks at Denver bars probably won't help his attitude.

Blame The Foreign Looking Clerk Guy

Infuriating.

 

LITTLETON - The families of two young men killed in a drunk driving accident want the stiffest penalty for a store clerk who prosecutors say sold alcohol to one of their sons who used a fake ID.

 

9news.

 

So, wait.  A liquor store clerk sold someone some alcohol and now the parents of the children who were killed by their drunk driving accident want the clerk to be penalized?

 

Obviously there's more to the story.  Let's read on, shall we?

 

The parents of Paul Ondrish and Brandon Nichols, who were both 20 years old, admit their sons made poor choices, but say the store clerk should have been more responsible.

 

So, these kids weren't technically children after all, they were 20 years old. 

Alarm bells are beginning to ring.

 

The clerk, 25-year-old Loc Truong, pleaded guilty on Thursday to selling Ondrish the liquor on July 12, 2006.

"There were a series of mistakes made that night, but it started when the store clerk sold alcohol to a minor," said Frank Ondrish, Paul's father.

Early the next morning, Ondrish crashed, killing both him and Nichols. Neither was wearing a seatbelt.

The other three passengers, all of whom were 20 years old, were also injured.

Truong was working at Marina Pointe Liquors at Chatfield and Wadsworth in Littleton.

Ondrish bought rum from him using his brother's expired Michigan driver's license as ID, according to the DA's office.

 

A series of mistakes that started when the store clerk sold alcohol to a minor?

Actually, no.  One of the first mistakes was for a kid to use his brother's expired ID to try to buy booze. 

One might argue that the parents made the first mistake somewhere along the line, but why quibble.

 

Let's move on.

 

"Stores with a liquor license have a great responsibility to follow the law," said Patti Ondrish, Paul's mother.

 

"People who walk into liquor stores to buy booze have a great responsibility to follow the law," said Clark, father of a daughter.

 

The alarm bells have become a siren.

 

A liquor store clerk making probably $8.50 an hour does have a responsibility to follow the law, but NO MORE SO than two 20 year olds that intentionally walk into a liquor store to buy rum using fraudulent identification.  Luc Truong is not the proximate cause of their accident; the proximate cause of the accident seems to be their deciding to purchase booze for their drive into the mountains, then doing it.  Luc Truong was unfortunate, but not a criminal.

 

This man does not deserve to go to jail.

 

However, these parents, as much as I feel for their loss as a parent myself (and I do mean that), do deserve a lesson on the effects of cognitive dissonance.

 

Unless there is a significant amount more to this story than meets the eye, I would have to say that a reasonable person could not find that this 25 year old liquor store clerk deserves to lose his job, his liberty, and possibly his very future because two 20 year olds decided to defraud him and his employer and successfully buy alcohol.

 

Free Luc Truong.

 

Parents, dead children, jail, and lawsuits.

 

This story stains the memory of the young and dead, and once again, personal responsibility surrenders.

Supporting The Locals

As you might remember, I like to support some of the local talent here in the fine Rocky Mountain West.  Here's a contribution: featuring, coming to a micro theater near you, Drunk By Noon .

 

What happens when a big shot advertising executive realizes he's been destroying the planet?

He hits rock bottom.

Vagrom pictures presents DRUNK BY NOON, a story of one person's attempt to build a better world, one picture at a time.

After a life-altering epiphany, a successful Madison Avenue advertising executive abandons his profession and begins to drink. Having reached bottom, and, inexplicably, Denver's Colfax dive bars, he is determined to use his creative abilities for a different purpose: to help make the world a better place. His goal, to convince a popular local underground magazine to publish his auto-biographical comic strip, 'DRUNK BY NOON.'

I suspect this is going to be interesting.  They don't have direct movie downloads set up yet, but I'm sure that they will.  Support the arts!

 

Darrent Williams

As I'm sure that everyone knows by now, Darrent Williams, cornerback for the Denver Broncos, was shot and killed the wee hours of New Years Day.

 

According to Denver Police, Williams was killed in an early morning shooting after someone with a gun pulled up alongside the white Hummer stretch limousine he and wide receiver Javon Walker were riding in and fired multiple shots.

Police say 16 people were in the stretched Hummer at the time of the shooting, including Williams and Walker. Authorities say Walker was not shot.

Via 9news.

 

Here's what you don't know.

1.  The club that the players went to where the altercation began is a mere blocks from my house.  In fact, I've probably been there on past occasions.

2.  My significatant other and I PROBABLY SAW the player's limo a mere two or three hours before the shots.

 

That's just wrong.  This is my neighborhood. 

I won't be going to any more clubs anytime soon.  Maybe ever.

 

 

 

 

Election Night In Denver

Oh my God.

 

I arrived at the voting center in Denver last night at 5:20pm.  The line to vote, by that time, had already stretched down the block, around the corner, and up the NEXT block.

 

I despaired.

 

People (I assume volunteers) were walking around the line, telling people that the line was very, very long (duh), but to NOT GET OUT OF LINE.  Everyone that was in line by 7:00pm would be able to vote.

 

I said to one of that there was no way in Hell I was getting out of line.

 

That was 5:30.

 

At about 5:45pm, people started walking around the line, handing out water, cookies, and donuts.  Bless those that brought the pizzas.  They kept us fed.

 

At about 6:15 or so, someone gave me a peanut butter sandwich.  I noticed, to my great shock, that this guy was making the sandwiches IN HIS HOUSE and bringing them out to voters.  Stunning.  Others were running down to the grocery store down the street to buy food to bring to us.  These people I cannot thank enough.

 

Voters were starting to mill about aimlessly.  People were angry.  Others were saying, quite vocally, "Stay in line!  Don't leave!"  It was, quite honestly, a remarkable show of unity on behalf of my neighborhood.  I was so proud, I almost cried.

 

However, at about 7, at the time that the polls were supposed to be closing, I started to lose hope.  One young woman in front of me was wearing heels.  She kept kneeling on the ground, trying to get some circulation back into her legs.  Her feet were starting to get tired.  She was losing steam, and I knew it.

 

She looked at me.

 

"Don't leave." I said.

 

"I won't.  I'm already invested." she remarked, with some thinly veiled frustration.

 

I left it at that.  We talked quite a bit more that night, but that really isn't pertinent to the story.

 

Right around that same time, a volunteer came around telling us that the Election Commission was giving out tickets at the end of the line, to make sure that they knew who the last person in line should be - who could be the last voter.

 

I remarked, "So.  Then, what you are saying, is that if anyone walks up to this line, and says that they want to vote, then I should close my eyes and kind of trip or something, and then open my eyes again, with them ahead of me."

 

"Yes." she said.

 

"Damn right I will."

 

At about 7:30, one man remarked to me that he thought this vote was rigged, anyway.  We were in the process of being disenfranchised, and we all knew it.  He said that this kind of line to vote for something was a violation of our civil rights, and that this bordered on criminal.

 

I know, I said, but nothing, even if someone called in a bomb threat, could get me out of this line.

 

At 8:00pm came my first thoughts of filing a class action lawsuit.

 

At about 8:20pm, in the middle of the Corona Presbyterian Church, I finally got my opportunity to vote.  I had already researched my votes.  I knew what I was voting for.  Voting took about five minutes.

 

I walked out of the voting booth, and an election official asked me if I wanted one of those "I Voted" stickers that they hand out every election.  Hell yes, I said, but I was too tired to snatch it from her with disdain like I had planned on, for many of those minutes in that insane, god-awful, 4000 person-plus line that was still three or so city blocks long.  At the back door, where I exited, a woman saw my sticker.

 

"Good for you!" she said.

"Yeah.  Good for me." I replied.

It was past 8:30pm.  I had voted.

 

But I had to fight like Hell to do it.

 

The system in Denver is broken.

 

That breaks democracy everywhere.

 

Tell your friends.  Tell your relatives.  Tell the world.  I know that I want the system fixed, and I'm going to do it - by complaining right here.  I live in the most population concentrated area of Colorado.  Yet, we had the LEAST amount of voting centers.  I don't want to say that it's a conspiracy.  But what else would you call it, really?

It's Halloween

Psst.

Want to hear a true story?

 

I was a teenager, living in the Denver suburbs with my parents and brother, many, many years ago.  We lived in a nice little place not far from where I now work.

 

One day, my mother was out doing something - no one can remember exactly what.  My dad, brother, and I were preparing to go out on a little excursion somewhere on a Saturday afternoon.  Nothing really remarkable was happening, unless you count the fact that all of us were together and it was a nice day.  It takes many years of seasoning to learn to appreciate how nice it is to have memories like that. 

 

But I digress.

 

Well, on this particular day, all of us men were preparing to leave the house - and being just a little silly, from what I can recall.  You know, just being guys.  I believe that I had pulled some dishes out of the dishwasher - they were not hot, as the dishes had been washed some time ago, and had put some away.  I specifically remember putting a clean glass on the counter relatively close to the sink.  But we were in a hurry.  My brother ran upstairs for some reason, while my dad went to the front door.  After a moment, I joined my dad at the front door, in the hallway, which was just adjacent to the kitchen, to wait for my brother to come down.

 

During the course of one's life, I believe that a person can look back on certain events, both large and small, and say without hesitation that sometimes very, very small things can have very, very important outcomes.  Sure, big decisions, like, for instance, where do I go to college, or should I take that job are big too.  But truly, sometimes the tiniest detail can have a stunningly important impact.  And in this case, the tiny little detail that probably changed my life in some fashion was that I had left the kitchen.

 

Why?

 

Because a few moments after I left the kitchen, everyone in the house heard an enormous BANG coming from the kitchen.  It was as if someone had been shot.  My father and I recoiled in shock.  My brother ran downstairs to see what had happened, and with some trepidation we all walked into the kitchen.

 

A glass, one that I had just touched, one that I had left on the counter just seconds before, had exploded.  Not cracked, exploded.  It was as if someone had put a tiny time bomb inside the glass.  The base was mostly intact.  However, the rest of the glass had disintegrated into a million tiny, sharp pieces of glass.  We found shards of glass behind the refrigerator, in the family room 20 feet away, all over the kitchen sink.  Glass was everywhere.  Many months later, I was still finding glass by the fireplace where my family watched television. 

 

What we did not find, however, was an explanation for what actually had happened. 

 

Nor have we ever.

 

The "Story of the Exploding Glass" is legendary in my family.  What I do know is that the glass was NOT hot, it was NOT cold in my house, I did not break the glass, and no one was in the room. 

 

But I do not know what made the glass explode, although we were all thankful that we weren't in the room when it happened.

 

This I do know, however.  There was some... feeling, that we had come shockingly close to witnessing something happen that was... unnatural.  Perhaps supernatural.  My brother, father and I still feel that to this day.

 

Was it someone or something trying to send a message?

 

Was it, like we have all whispered amongst ourselves for many years, a ghost?

 

Perhaps. 

Or perhaps not.

 

 

BOO!

 

Happy Halloween.

Wha...! I've been TAGGED!

It was bound to happen.

 

First, I have to shout out to Tart Sarah, whose tagged my homie in the first place.  The one she got it from?  Here: The Traveler's Lunchbox.  The real blame for my tagging, however, goes to my homeboy over at Ringloss.  Damn you!  Damn you to Hell!

 

And.... here's the list.  No particular order.

 

1.  Tortilla Soup from El Mirador in San Antonio, Texas.

Dear God, what can I say about this soup?  I discovered it while attending school there, and quickly it rose to the ranks of Personal Food Legends.  Already, it was a local legend, but WOW.  If you were my date, and got to dine at El Mirador on a late Saturday morning, stand in line (because there always was one) and get some iced tea, some gooey, veggie nachos, and that freakin' soup, you KNEW you were in and we were at least partially serious.  Good Lord, that was good stuff.

 

2.  Just About Any Dish from Carmine's On Penn, Denver, Colorado

I love good Italian food - sauces thrill me.  However, Carmine's has some GREAT Italian food.  Seriously.  You should eat it soon - especially this shrimp/sausage/pepper/chicken thing that I can't pronounce (but I know it when I see it), and it is basically defines this particular category to a T. 

 

3.  Vanilla Ice Cream with a Licorice Coating, Sweden

I... have never had this.  I have a reliable source that says that it is one of the most wonderful things on the face of the planet.  I know her well and trust her at her word.  Worse yet, I don't even like licorice that much, but damn, this sounds good.  Take thee to Sweden.

 

4.  Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California

It's been a while since I've been there, I'll admit.  However, if memory serves, you can't go wrong with just about any seafood you pick up right there on the Wharf.  It's here, now, and fresh as a man or woman can get.  And, now, this has probably changed... but it was cheap.  Seriously.  One must go there and feast.  Nature Viewing Bonus:  If you go the right time of year, you might, just MIGHT, see a whale.  I did.  Whales are big.  Very big.

 

5.  Swiss Chocolate.

This is a shout to all of you chocolate lovers.  I know you're out there; you know who you are.

Rich.

Creamy.

Decadent.

Good on almost anything.

Zowie.

 

Eateateateat!

 

Ok.  Now that food has been served, I will tag off.... right... now!  Hi, L!

 

P.S.  Get a cheeseburger with onions, mustard, lettuce and tomato at Griff's in Denver.  Ye, Gods.  You can't miss.

The Denver Nuggets

A few weeks ago, I met a friend of mine (let's call him lazyj - you might know him from jaxed) at a relatively popular joint downtown for a little dinner.  While talking, the NBA came up, as it always does, and within the NBA, the Denver Nuggets. 

 

My friend's opinion:

 

"The Nuggets have no chance to win the Northwest if Camby gets hurt.  If it gets hurt it's over."

 

Well, Nuggets fans, where is your God now?!

 

DENVER (AP) -- The Denver Nuggets suffered another major setback Wednesday when they learned center Marcus Camby , the NBA's leading rebounder, will be out indefinitely with a broken right pinkie.

Camby will need surgery on the finger, after which a timeline for his return will be set.

Yahoo props.

 

Damn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bizzare

Heh.

Ok, so has anyone had a problem that they absolutely, positively, couldn't explain?
I do.  It's called severe, nasty sleeplessness.

It started out several years ago.  College, I think.  Personally, I think that it began with a problem with an old girlfriend.  It was funny, I was all pretty much ok, and then, out of nowhere, I just... stopped sleeping.  At first, it was just a little passing joke - something that I thought that I could get over.  Then, it became much more serious.  There were weeks at a time where sleeping was just not an option.  And it always happened at the same two times of year:

1.  Christmas holidays.
2.  Early spring.

However, I am not one of those people that tries to ignore those types of problems.  I read books, I worked hard, I tried to do new things.

And with that, after a while, the problem somewhat went away.

But I had to deal with it again, twice.  And, as some of you might guess, I'm presently dealing with it again now, as it's 5:12am in Denver, and I've been wide awake since 12am.  That would make it more than a week since I've gotten more that three hours of sleep.

Events and such can sometime cause this kind of situation.  Also, desperation.  Like several friends have often said, "It's not that I'm crazy for not sleeping at night.  It's just that the voices in my head are always louder when the lights are out."  Ha ha.  But there is a nugget of truth in that statement.

Depression, loneliness, and such are nasty things.  They will keep you awake.  They will convince you to do things that aren't the best for you.  They will break you and help you to destroy your own life if you aren't careful.

So, with this in mind, I will tell you all a secret; something that I've thought carefully, and quite a bit, about, in the last several days.  One of those things in the Post Secret type of mindset, so why I'm posting it as a basically non-anonymous person, I have no idea.  But I think that I need to get it off my chest.

When I was a sophomore in college, I met what I thought was the love of my life.  We got pregnant, and had an abortion.  And, in all honesty, I have not been the same ever since. 

That is not a license for all of the anti-abortion types to start hatin' on me or this blog, nor is it an invitation that all pro-choice types (of which, I am one) to start coming out and high-fiving me.  My blog is pretty politics neutral.  It's just the way that it is.  But to be honest, I have not been the same person since that girl, that I loved dearly, had that abortion.  That's all.

So.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to get some serious, serious help and figure out why, after all these years, I still occasionally can't sleep at night, and why, after all of these years, I still dream about that situation, and when I don't dream about it, I just... lie awake.

Ok.  That's all I've got, laid out for the world to see.  Jennifer, if you are out there, I'm sorry, sincerely, and I still miss you.

This post, though, is for Tim R.  Rest in peace, brother.  Your friends and family lost you too soon.

Independent Movies? Hell Yeah!

As per the usual, Boing Boing finds another gem.

 

Empire movie mag has compiled a list of what it considers to be the "50 Greatest Independent Films." The top ten includes Mean Streets, Sideways, The Usual Suspects, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Night of the Living Dead, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Clerks, The Terminator, Donnie Darko, and Reservoir Dogs.

 

Follow the link.  Some interesting movies on that list.  I might have to watch Sex, Lies, and Videotape again this weekend.

Oh, I have the baby.  Ah, Andie McDowell can wait. 

 

Barely.

 

Hum.  This is as good a time as any to mention that if you are in Denver, or plan to be, or want to be somewhere else besides where you are, there is a truly hip film festival that just started here yesterday:  The Starz Denver International Film Festival.  I actually know people who traveled here to see this.  Come by, see a few flicks.  I plan to over the weekend. 

 

 

 

Free Couch

Yesterday, my friend ringloss over at jaXed asked me a question that had an immediate impact that makes me want to tell you a little story.  It was:

"Hey... do you want two free couches?"

Now, I haven't accepted yet, and I might not.  But as I told him, I have a soft spot in my heart for a free couch.  Here is why.

 

Many years ago, I was still a relatively young buck just making his way in Capitol Hill.  That's Denver, not DC.  Honestly, I was a little dejected.  I was living in a studio apartment at the time, and quite recently, my brother had moved into my studio and I had returned from my very first vision quest in Arizona (and a successful vision quest it was, too, as I actually and honestly saved my first life.  But that's a story for another time).

But, anyway, I was working in what was honestly a dead-end job for a company that I truly detested.  I was poor.  I was taking buses everywhere I went, and I was...blah.  It sucked.  So, I was arriving home from work, and I was thinking about how my poor brother was, at that time, sleeping on this completely uncomfortable couch that I had in my lil' hovel.  Let's say that I was just not happy.  Then, as I walked through the alley to the studio apartment that I STILL couldn't afford, I saw something. 

It was a couch.  Just sitting there, outside the back entrance to my apartment building.  The couch looked... well, it looked clean.  I saw no rips, or tears on my preliminary inspection.  No place to hide drugs, no cat hairs, no anything.  It was just a decent looking couch.  And it had a sign on it.  The sign said:

FREE COUCH.

That was it.  Just like that.

I went upstairs and walked in the door and said.  "Hm.  Hey, (insert bro's name here), there's a couch out back with sign on it that says, 'FREE COUCH'."

"FREE COUCH?" he replied.  "Let's go look at it."

So we went.  It was a fine couch.  We took it and moved it into my apartment.

As it turns out, that one couch was the most comfortable couch in my home.  Great for the sleepin'.  And that couch followed us for three different apartments.  No matter where we went, and who we lived with, that was always the MOST comfortable couch in the house.  It saw me through two girlfriends and a sordid affair.  I won't even discuss the dates and others who sat, laid down, or slept on that couch.  I came to love the couch.

After having the couch for damn near six years, I had to move from another apartment, and I couldn't take the couch.

I was heartbroken.

When my friend and I were taking the couch out back of my basement apartment, he asked,"Hey, just want to throw this in the dumpster?"

No, I said.  I went back into my apartment and grabbed a Sharpie and a piece of notebook paper.  On that notebook paper, I wrote:

FREE COUCH.

Gently I taped that paper to my favorite couch, and we gingerly sat that couch next to the apartment building.  Then we left for an hour, because I was beside myself.

When we returned, the couch was gone.

I had paid it back, and that made me happier than I could have believed possible, at least, for that moment.  Not paid it forward, as I doubt that giving away a couch qualified as something big and important enough.  I suppose it was possible.

So, needless to say, I am soft, very soft, on the Free Couch. 

Thank you, Humanity, at least for another week.

 

 

 

 

 

Conspiracy Theory No. 132-B

Here's a nice website that contains theories as to why Denver International Airport is so freaking weird.

 

The whole site is chock full of this stuff.  Amuse thyself. Or, indulge your paranoid fantasies. Do either, but you didn't hear it from me.

Rock And Roll

Stunningly to all, I'm sure, I do have friends that aren't nearly as geeky as I am.

Some of those guys happen to have a band... and a fairly successful regional band, at that.  This may take away from my geekpoints, but the band, Rexway, is headlining a live show at Herman's Hideaway in Denver on June 10th.

 

More shocks abound.  They are up for a local award.  You can vote for them here.  Naturally, you can also buy their album on Amazon.  Support local music, people!

 

One more thing.

 

This person should probably win American Idol tonight.  The only question is: will their musical career ever recover?  I mean, they had plenty of street cred BEFORE they hit Fox TV....