the denver diaries, part 1.

michelle and i flew out on American on tuesday morning to beautiful Denver, CO, and found the shuttle for the rental car lots. the Hertz rep haggled back and forth with us and finally upgraded us to a Mazda 6 featuring a GPS navigator. initially, we didn’t really care about the nav system, but it ended up being quite accurate and useful. our seminar was at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center, which was in a part of town that is appropriately named. a bunch of high rises with hotels and corporate housing where no normal people live. like parts of Irvine.

the original installation was reverse--grey everything else and red foxes

Hyatt, being vastly inferior to anything offered by my hotel company (of course!), gave us a hard time checking in early, but we finally wrested the keys out of their clenched fists and moved in. michelle chatted with the sales team about finally details for the seminar and then we were free around noon. Wahoo’s was the first eatery to catch our eyes, so we lunched on fish tacos for the first time in a long time. we then headed downtown to find some museums. it had been almost a full year since we bought a membership at the Fort Worth Modern, and we wanted to get more of our money’s worth. we ended up at the Denver Museum of Art, since the GPS didn’t recognize or list a modern art museum (grrr!).

michelle talked the ticket sellers into allowing our memberships to transfer over to this museum, which they shouldn’t have done, but did anyway, and we traipsed inside the beautifully modern building. the Denver photoset has lots of interesting stuff from the museums, or alternatively, you can watch the slideshow i made with those photos a few posts down. Sandy Skoglund’s exhibit called fox games was the main display. it was a wing the size of a large house with several sets of various human life overrun with foxes. everything was bright red, foxes included. it was super weird but mischievous and funny.

glowing bubbles

not wanting to miss the modern museum, we called Kara to have her look up directions to the Contemporary Museum of Art (note the vast difference in names). we actually drove through the parking lot and left because we didn’t see any addresses listed or signs for the museum. of course, if we had parked in one of the metered spots and walked up to a meter, we would have seen the 11 point font in fancy script indicating that these spots were for museum patrons only, but we didn’t and drove around for an hour before being led back to that same parking lot. the actual museum is that black and white building with the heart in the sky that looks like a tattoo. there was a large room of Jane Hammond photography (super interesting… check out her site if you have a minute!), a foreign flick by Omer Fast about diamonds (i’m looking for a link since it’s pretty amusing), and a Damien Hirst exhibit that had just closed. some parts were still on display.

Coors Field and the train yard downtown, from the roof of CMA Denver

since the building was in the middle of downtown, we took advantage of the rooftop garden and café. michelle (lush!) had their special martini of the day and i had a blueberry soda. quite refreshing! it was utterly abandoned except for the bartender, who was knowledgeable about the area and gave us some tips about how to spend the rest of our afternoon.

we then called Mallory Flynn, who we knew from Orange County, and made our way to her apartment. she had moved to Denver to get away from her parental units and to go to massage therapy school. we picked her up and drove out to Golden for dinner with Charlie, Amy, and Nathan Shortt. this would be the second time we would meet them in Golden, and yes, the Coors brewery is located here. it’s a picturesque town just behind the first ridge of the Rocky Mountains to the west of Denver. much of the downtown is old, and they market it well as a neat place to explore, eat, and drink. obviously. none of us particularly care for Coors, so we’ve skipped the brewery tours each time. we met up and headed over to a little Mexican restaurant for my birthday dinner. they didn’t even serve alcohol there, but we did enjoy the excellent non-Tex Mex for the first time in a long time. Charlie had work in the morning, so we returned pretty early to Mal’s apartment and the Shortts returned to Evergreen, where we would go the next day. Mal offered to practice her therapy on us, which we readily agreed to. she had her own table she had just bought, so i went first and fell asleep almost immediately. michelle went next, and we both agreed that if we ever needed to move again, that Denver would be high on our list because of our newfound hook-up to a great massage therapist.

hardcore Money

upon our return to the hotel, we found that they had kindly brought out Norwegian bottled water called Voss, seasoned cashews, and 2 peaches, which were mushy, but that’s beside the point. there was a little note wishing michelle luck on the seminar tomorrow. and with that, we fell fast asleep.

note: i’m having a hell of a time with the formating, so forgive the awkward margins and spacing. thanks, the owners.

daddykins and thanksgiving dinner discussion

i figured i’d write a bit while i’m in Sky Harbor (quite possibly the coolest name ever for an airport) waiting my Southwest flight to board in terminal D. wait, you say. Southwest, is it? since when do you fly Southwest?

since my father-in-law used 25000 of his Morgan Stanley points to get me a flight from Phoenix to San Jose to see my family. my dad has been in and out of the hospital for the past few weeks, getting treatment for pancreatitis, which was likely brought on by problems with his gallbladder. they finally removed the gallbladder, which would have helped things more if it had been caught earlier in the game. as it is, daddykins has pseudocysts filled with all manner of foul nastiness. some have burst, some have been burst, which left a bit of dead tissue and fluid in his stomach area, which isn’t conducive to living a happy, pain-free life. so they cut open daddykins again (this is 3 times now, i think, with more than 7 incisions totaling more than a foot) to mend this and fix that, and when my mum saw him fresh out of surgery, he was looking quite bad, as one might expect, and although she’s been very brave mostly on her own throughout the 2 month ordeal (my sister came down one weekend, and there’s been an occasional church friend visiting), she’s had quite enough and has called in the cavalry… being me, of course.

so, i’m going back back to Cali Cali for the first time in a year. i’ve tried to ring a few friends, but no one’s picking up, so rather than renting a car, i’m going to drudge up memories of college and take the train from the airport station to where the hospital is and meet up with me mum there. michelle suggested that i not rent a car, and mum probably is in no shape to drive to the airport, which isn’t too far away, but she’s been sleeping erratically and eating poorly, or so it sounds. any prayers for my family are truly appreciated.

on an unrelated note, the in-laws, several generations of them, made it out for Thanksgiving last night. michelle’s niece, Taylor, who is about 6 or 7 months old, is as cute as a button, and is fish-flopping about and smiling the whole time. it’s supposed to be progress toward crawling, then sprinting, then walking, i think in that order. when Grandpa Carl and Max, the aforementioned father-in-law, were sitting and chatting, the big 3 automakers came up in conversation. Max remarked that he understood that whatever financial consequence befalls them is deserved, but he couldn’t believe the audacity (the ‘vocab-lessons-come-in-useful-finally’ word of the year) of the congressman who had suggested that the multibillion dollar corporation presidents should have bought coach fare tickets to fly to Washington to deliver their demands for cash in person. i agree. i couldn’t believe the audacity, either. Max then proceeded to note that there’s no way the big 3 CEOs could have made equally snide comments that senators and congresspeople and governing officials use the public’s money to fly in private jets. that’s a good point. but i think that rebuttal breaks down quickly. granted, there’s a lot of inefficiency within our governments, local and federal, and it’s not hard to find. but these people are operating within some semblance of a budget, with varying degrees of success, and their jobs depend directly on the public’s perception of their successes and failures. these CEOs, much like any random individual, may make good or bad choices with the money they are in charge of, whether it’s an individual income or running an automobile company. so for a CEO to make or allow devastatingly stupid decision after numbingly foolish decision, then have the audacity to say that our country cannot afford to allow them to reap what they have sown is quite different. that’s the foolish, prodigal son, blowing his net worth on obsolete and frivolous expenditures, then demanding to regain his place in his father’s household, not humbly begging to be hired back as a servant. and of course, if you’ve been around me at all, Uncle Sam ≠ the Father. not hardly!

it’s important to look at the entirety of the conversation to know exactly what the Congressman’s point was—namely, the little bit about jumping out of a limo with a tin cup.

i’m curious to know what you think. for anyone who’s been around long enough, what where the horse and buggy companies saying when Henry Ford brought out that blasted internal combustion engine? just a thought…

Colorado. finally.

one word to describe seeing the mountains again, the Shortts, Mallory (and omigosh: the massage therapy school is paying off!), and drinking good wine for an entire week: loves it!

oh… there’s music if you want to turn it up… enjoy!

Sly quickie… 41 remain

-i know that He offers grace and forgiveness freely, but baby Jesus is gonna be pissed about this one.

-oil prices dipped below $50 per barrel yesterday. gas prices should continue falling slowly, as fears of a deep worldwide recession drive down prices.

-if the U.S. struck me with missiles, i think i’d complain, too. in fact, if ANYone struck me with missiles, i’d complain.

-so, this is really long, but i’m going to show some quotes that were exchanged yesterday with our favorite “big 3″ American auto execs…

“…there is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses… it’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. it kind of makes you a little bit suspicious… couldn’t you have downgraded to first-class or something, or jet-pooled or something to get here?” –Rep. Gary Ackerman, New York

“[please raise your hand if you flew to DC commercially]… let the record show, no hands went up… second, i’m going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. let the record show, no hands went up.” — Rep. Brad Sherman, California

“making a big to-do about this when issues vital to the jobs of millions of Americans are being discussed in Washington is diverting attention away from a critical debate that will determine the future health of the auto industry and the American economy.” –GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson

“$20,000 per private flight from Detroit, on 3 separate flights coming into DC is diverting attention away from the critical debate of how badly y’all just shot yourself in the foot. you should get that foot looked at.” — joseph

“…while always being mindful of company costs, all business travel requires the highest standard of safety for all employees.” –Chrysler spokeswoman Lori McTavish

“that’s it. i’m taking away the gun. and really, that foot is beginning to look infected.” –joseph

-on a completely un-newsworthy note, 3 words. FTW?

cheers!

sly… 42 days left in 2008

relevantmagazine.com has “slices” which include some brief news story or event around the world, perhaps a link, and then a slick 1-liner of commentary. if imitation is highest form of flattery, then this might make relevant blush. since i’m nowhere near as interesting, knowledgeable, or funny, i’ll steal only half of the name but change the spelling so no one knows where i got it, and refer to any obscure news or running social/political/cultural commentary as “sly.”

if it’s not clever or amusing, i fully blame you for wasting your time reading it.

-props to Maamoun Youssef and Lee Keath for being the most sensitive copy writers ever. their AP article about Al-Qaida’s “yo mamma” match with the rest of the world was so delicately worded, i actually am less worried about global terror. and cheers to Al-Q for being so darned cute and poetic with their insults and taunts. it’s good to see that PETA has a formidable ally in Afghanistan.

-ew ew ew ew ew. is this really progress in the medical field?

-”He symbolizes Alaska’s legitimacy…” said University of Alaska Anchorage professor Steve Haycox, about just-defeated and freshly convicted US Senator Ted Stevens. i sure hope my legitimacy is embodied in someone who isn’t a felon–seven times over.

-speaking of legitimacy, American car company CEO Alan Mulally denies that his company has resisted change to meet current market realities or has been poorly managed, citing this weeks’ start of the conversion of a truck plant to a fuel-efficient car manufacturing plant. oh. good. since gas has been hitting record highs monthly for only 4 years now.

-a vague Nebraska law that had allowed relatives to leave children, no questions asked, at hospitals is about to change to only allow babies aged 3 to 30 days. this is good, too, since of the 34 children left since July, none were infants. 5 were from other states. the most recent was a 15 year old girl. i’m proud of my country.

-our aversion to all things Apple is no secret. toss this kindling on the pyre of annoyance and scorn. i blame Justin Long and Steve Jobs more than i blame people with silly accents.

cheers.

Rock and Roll, part deux

Carolann, Kris, and Shell... note the 1st place medals

in shocking news, but typical fashion, michelle won the entire race, motoring around the course at average speeds just above Fujita-Pearson 5 tornado winds in a total time of 197 seconds. that’s 13.1 miles, folks. i married a superhero. several people were hospitalized from windburn and the flying debris, but otherwise, it was a nice race for all 30,000 people.

parts of the first paragraph here are fabricated. but the last sentence is partly true.

as a post-script to the previous entry, the race entry story for Jason and Kris was a bit different than i initially reported. apparently, Jason initially forgot the birthday of the man he was impersonating at the first desk, which got him nowhere. Carolann went in and grabbed Kris’ packet for her, as she looked a bit older, but, much to our amusement, was scheduled to go in corral 1. that’s where the superfast, sponsored, lame-O’s who have nothing more productive to do in life but be obnoxiously skinny, wearing bizarre aerodynamic costumes in offensive colors as they run around in circles at abnormal speeds. it must be the frequent bouts with nausea that they enjoy so greatly. anyway, Carolann would be the first to tell you, corral 1 was a bit high, so she just slipped in with Jason, Kris, and michelle. they ran and ran and ran, and won. i have no idea what their time was, since i don’t know their bib numbers. but for an inaugural race, things seemed quite organized. we rode one of at least 40 or 50 school buses that were shuttling between the Alamodome and the ATT Center about 4 miles away. the lines for everything were phenomenally long, but moved quickly. everything was trackable online if you wanted to drive/bike between water stations to cheer folks on or follow your favorite runner from the comfort of your favorite coffee shop. much less BO and sweatiness that way.

Rec'd!

the night before the race, after a hell of a time finding some place to eat (every pasta place in the city had 90+ minute waits), we settled on La Madeleine for dinner. we turned in early and the runners were off to figure out how to get to the starting line around 6am. after some delicious, texas-shaped waffles, Kara and i headed into downtown, deciding serendipitously to park at the ATT Center. we would find that everyone else in the world, including our friends and relations, had done the same. we rode those aforementioned school buses to the Alamodome and waited for about an hour before i saw michelle’s hot pink running shirt in the crowd. the various corrals had been staggered in their released onto the course, so the times listed at the finish line were only those of the very first group. computer chips in these little plastic bracelets actually were activated and deactivated at the start and finish to provide accurate race times. michelle and Carolann stopped for about 10 minutes because SOMEONE (won’t tell who) had to go two-zies halfway through and there were no porta-potties nearby at that particular time. once finished, the runners got their freeby fruits, bagels, smoothies, chips, and the like (have i mentioned that they make electrolyte jelly bellies? this is amazing stuff here!) so they wouldn’t throw up or pass out. oh, Michelob Ultra was also giving away a free beer to runners at the finish line. that’s just…. strange.

Jason has cold legs by now

we waited at various points along the full marathon course, which was the same as the half marathon at points, to see John and Becky run by. they finally came raring through and we met them also at the finish line and then returned to the car to find out new hotel. we stopped by a La Quinta (which is spanish for “next to Denny’s,” and, appropriately, there was a Denny’s right next door to it) to piggyback on their wi-fi to locate our hotel. ours was just outside of downtown near a little Mexico of sorts. we cleaned up and and had dinner at Mi Tierra, which may be the largest restaurant i’ve ever seen. it had a traditional bakery, 2 bars, and 3 large dining rooms. we started off sharing a liter of a Cointreau-dashed margarita with chips and salsa. i had pork tips in a cascabel pepper sauce, and michelle had baked beef ribs. we dropped Jason and Kris back off at the hotel. Jason claimed to be feeling ill, but who knows for realsz? then we drove downtown to meet John and Becky and their friends for drinks. Cafe Ole’ had no cheesecake left, but we were still full, so we just ordered absolutinis and enormous frozen margaritas and shared them. with Becky, Kara, shell, and Carolann all sippy from straws at the same time for several seconds, you could hardly see the drink level go lower. that’s a big drink. we stayed out pretty late talking and laughing about the crazy bathrooms (pictures soon, i promise!) at the restaurant. the comodes were behind demi-doors, tall enough so that an above average sized 6 year old could tippeetoe and see over them, but they were at the top of a 3 stair throne. super strange.

based on this past weekend and other stays at IHG hotels, i’m confident that my hotel front desk staff is far more knowledgeable about the various computer systems and about the hotel standards than your average hotel. i made a simple billing request at both hotels to combine receipts, and desk reps at neither place could figure it out. just a little boast there–my staffy can mentally beat up your staffy.

the end of the race

on monday morning, we all slept in, and all the runners were sore and moved around, as i heard one onlooker describe it, like soldiers returning from battle. kinda slowly and stiffly, in pain, and in a bit of shock. everyone almost fell over after stepping out of bed, and it wasn’t that we had drank too much the night before. we stopped by these great outlets in San Marcos, but no one could move quickly enough to get any large amount of shopping done, so we left after burgers and Nathan’s hot dogs at Johnny Rocket’s. that’s it! that’s the story of our first half-marathon. John asked me sunday night if i was inspired to join a running club or class. i thought about it for a second… enjoy nausea? nope. fancy waking up at 6.30 on saturday mornings to run in the searing heat or icy cold? like limping from self-inflicted injuries? i’ll pass. do i have $100 to throw out for a competition i have no shot of winning? that’s a mighty fine bottle of vodka that i’m passing up. or a lot of scoops of gelato at Central Market. it’s just not for me.

cheers.

a 60 ounce drink eliminated some of the aches and pains

Rock and Roll, part 1

we’re coming at you live from San Antonio, site of the inaugural Rock and Roll Marathon, where my lovely wife is swerving and veering and burning her way to a half marathon victory. like any good supportive husband, i slept in, waking up about 15 minutes after the starting gun must have gone off. Kara Libick and i are currently getting ready to go downstairs and grab some waffles-we’re at the Staybridge Suites, after all (shameless IHG plug)-before heading downtown to catch some of the more sightseeing-y checkpoints and water stops and, of course, the finish line, where i will be joyfully embraced by my sweat-soaked but certainly satisfied running friends. John and Becky are hitting the whole marathon, michelle and Carolanne (spelling??) and Jason and Kris are doing the half marathon.

last night we relaxed for the better part of an hour on the rooftop whirlpool while the scent of Texas Land and Cattle Co wafted gently over us. if we hadn’t just carb loaded (me, too, even though i’m not running) at La Madeleine, the smells wouldn’t have been as annoying. nevertheless, we had run downtown to the Alamodome to get the runners’ situated, checked-in, and of course some sizeable goody bags. props to Paul Fleming to getting PF Changs to distribute the sweetest hook-ups, a $10 gift card, although electrolyte-heavy Jelly Bellys certainly get an honorable mention. Jason and Chris, a couple from michelle’s running group, waited a bit too late to sign up for the marathon, which sold out at 30,000 people. they checked online and found a fellow from Vegas who had gotten injured and wouldn’t be able to run. he sold his non-transferable rights, and Jason (who claimed he had to show the race officials his boobies) finagled his way into the race, claiming they had gotten their purses and wallets stolen at the Austin airport and had been there all day going back and forth with airline folks. the race officials nodded and smiled sympathetically, and said that it happens far too frequently as they handed over the forms and tags to the ID-less couple. perhaps it’s so frequent because they had stupid rules about transferability of race entries so people have to stretch truth or fabricate elaborate stories to run in a frickin’ race. we got a good laugh out of this one.

we’re having a blast thus far, and pictures and more accounts of this harrowing journey will surely follow. xoxo, gossip boy. (kidding!)

killing the world

a photojournalist traveled to Nigeria to give the world a glimpse into the lives of those who may not actually benefit from the planet’s delirious cutting and snorting of oil. this slideshow is the evidence. excerpts of the photographer’s interview are spliced in with the pictures. i suggest turning on the photo captions to get the full effect.