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In the article “High-Rise, or House With Yard?” a family takes a close look at the cost comparison between living in the Suburbs or living in the city. I am guessing that most would assume the more expensive option would be the city loft. Well that’s not the case in this analysis. That big house in the suburbs can actually be more expensive. I’ll tell you how they got to this conclusion.

Before I begin I’ll make one thing clear… this is not a square footage to square footage comparison. Basically, the city residence was half the square footage of the suburb home. The purchase price was higher for the city home, just not the square footage (okay.. that is what you would expect). That is often the trade off between these two. When you live in the city I like to think you trade some private space for so much more community space. Maybe you don’t have the fenced backyard but you do have public parks, green space, bike trails and other outdoor features outside your front door. Perhaps you don’t have as big of a kitchen, or a breakfast nook or media room. Instead you have (for Denver) three stadiums, [Read more →]

Wow, I am accumulating bikes.  First living in the mountains it was a mountain bike.  Upon moving to Denver years ago I began the gradual accumulation of a skinny tire cruiser bike, a road bike, then a fat tire cruiser bike, then restored my old mountain bike from college (everyone needs a “no one would want to steal this” bike) and now a single speed.

What can I say, I love bikes.  I love the idea of not driving.  I love the freedom from traffic.  I love getting around on my own power.  I love the sun on my back and a cool morning breeze.  I’ve accumulated messenger bags, horns, lights, reflectors, racks, and more as part of this lifestyle.  Yet lately I haven’t been riding as much.  Excuses excuses excuses… here they come.  My felt cruiser bike is perfect for cruiser bike rides but the truth is the darn thing is heavy.  I found that out when I tried to put it on a wall rack.  Not my brightest moment.  My road bike is too over the top.  It’s a road bike with clip in pedals.  I don’t want to carry around a change of shoes for running errands and I also don’t want to leave it out on the street even with a lock.  I figure it’s only a matter of time before it disappears and I’d prefer to save it for long weekend rides.  My skinny tire cruiser bike (a black Electra Amsterdam) is for sale on Craigslist (if you are interested I’ll cut you a deal) to make room for the single speed.  I’m babbling but the fact is I’m hooked on a low maintenance light weight single speed for buzzing around town.  I’m checking out the bikes around town (Pearl Velo has a pretty cool local shop to check out btw) and have pretty much made up my mind.  Soon it will be in.

So ONE MORE bike.  I’m making the leap more official this time.  My own vehicle has just been gathering dust.  Except for the occasional dog transport, mountain trip, or heavy errand I really don’t use it.  So I’m giving it up and renting out my parking space (more than pays for a single speed) and embracing a car free lifestyle.  I’ll still have access to my vehicle (I’ll have to bike to it) but it will be in far better hands most of the time.  They say downtown life is car optional.  I’m going to give it a shot.  Of course I still have my $1 to fill up the tank scooter to buzz around on as well but for the most part it will be bicycle wheels or my own two feet that will get me around.  Summer is a great time to start and get some healthy habits in place before the winter returns.  At that point I’ll be spending that parking money on winter riding gear.

So fellow cyclists wish me luck.  I’m taking the next step.  Bye bye car.

And for those of you who are as upset as I am with this whole BP debacle this follows a philosophy of reducing dependence on oil.  They say that boycotts don’t do anything because BP doesn’t own the stations.  The way I look at it, and this is just my opinion, we are all guilty in the situation we are in.  As a society we have ignored our own responsibility as consumers who have created such incredible oil demand and support the irresponsible action of oil companies and government with our dollars every day.  If we really want to make a difference we need to look for a different way to live.  This is a small step.

P.S. Can we please build a train to the mountains now.

Gorilla Run, originally uploaded by theurbanbrain.

While I was out of the country I didn’t miss hearing about the economy. I didn’t miss the moaning and groaning about work, sales, business and the such. I didn’t miss the millions of hours of political commercials.

What I did miss, I am sad to say, was the news that there would be something as fun as a Gorilla Run today. Walking back from a delicious breakfast at Lola I noticed a lineup of Gorillas on the bike path as I crossed the Platte River Bridge. With zany costumes including bikini clad Gorillas, Guerrilla military Gorillas (clever) and business suit gorillas (perhaps a statement about the baboons on Wall Street) it looked like fun. One friend I ran into who was also watching the parade of furry costumes commented that they were surprised I wasn’t doing the race as it was “right up my alley”. I would spend some time thinking about the implications of this statement concerning my psychological well being if I hadn’t already thought the same thing. This would have been fun. It’s for charity with all benefits going to the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, its healthy, and you get to be a little or a lot wacky. Dang, the first news that I truly regret hearing.

To learn more about the race for next year, and you can bet I’ll plan to be there, visit denvergorillarun.com. Oh yeah, the gorilla suit is included with your registration. It’s whatever you use to dress it up that is up to you.

I really enjoy a great TV show.  It’s amazing the cult like factor that a really great and creative show can have for us as a society.  I remember just after college I lived in a great old old apartment.  This was a turn of the century old 4 unit antique building with hardwood floors, french doors, a shoebox kitchen, and one killer walkout to the roof above the deck.  It was surrounded by a streets full of the same style, turn of the century, small brick apartment buildings along with my favorite dark and cozy Irish pub, a few eclectic restaurants, some old school pub restaurants, and of course a ton of people just starting out and loved our little neighborhood.  Entry level accountants, beginner phone reps, waiters, chefs, first year residents, and grad students alike seemed to all flock together on one night or another for a favorite show.  Many brought beer, some might have made or picked up food, and no one was late.

Back then, and I’ll be dating myself, the biggest night was the X-files.  Never knowing what would happen next we watched, we harrased each other, we all screamed “no way” or “gross” or “that looks like the person you kissed in the bar last night”.  But we loved it.  There was a great book about Urban Tribes and how the culture of the U.S. is changing such that our family network becomes our friends or certain “tribes” we create around activites, hobbies, and interests.  No doubt our behavior proved the books point.  We lived simply and laughed alot, somehow no matter what craziness we were getting into, what new job, new relationship, new crisis, or new funk we were in it could always be counted on that we would get together on that certain night and swap stories and be entertained together.  When I packed my bags to move to Colorado one of the girls in our crew even went and picked up an X-Files copy mug and Fox Mulder ID badge.  I have no idea where she found this stuff, but the mug would change it’s message on the side when you filled it with hot water to say “Trust No One”.  The funny thing was these folks werent’ geeks, well maybe just me.  But it was a bond.

Of course today that happens a little less often.  Or at least there are more opportunities for people not to have a ritual around a show.  First, you can tivo/DVR it and there is no need to be at a certain place at a certain time.  Why rush to meet up with the group at 8 PM when you can record it and watch it whenever you want… alone.  Or maybe you can buy it on Itunes and just follow it on your ipod on the train, at the gym while riding the bike, or flying out on that vacation.  Life sure is convenient, but I still fell some nostalgia for our 21st century version of theatre and sharing it with friends.  Give me old school any day.

So now the question for this poll is about what are the shows that have hooked Denver.  Is it Heroes with the superpowerer characters dealing with an upcoming fight with multiple villians?  Is it 30 Rock or the Office with a focus on making us laugh?  Is it any number of the CSI style style shows that have the whodunit style of detective suspense?  Or is it some drama geared around relationships, love and all that gooey stuff?

I don’t know.  But here is your chance to share what shows you will be, or are, watching this fall.  You can pick as many as you want or watch and comment away. I really did try to get as many of the shows coming out this fall as I could but may have missed some. What am I saying, of course I missed some… there are a boatload. These are shows that involve sketch, screen, and other creative writers who want to keep you entertained with stories, characters and/or satire. Sorry, folks, now straight up news reporting. I was even going to exclude reality shows but that would miss out on a HUGE cult following. I have been amazed at how many folks love their reality TV shows. If I missed your favorite, let me know.

To learn more about this fall’s lineup, the station it’s on, or the premier date check out the following Links:

For Dramas http://tvdramas.about.com/od/tvshowsaz/a/fallpremiere07.htm. 

For Animated: http://animatedtv.about.com/od/showsaz/a/fallpremiere.htm

For Comedies: http://tvcomedies.about.com/od/tvcomediesbytitle/a/premiere_dates.htm

I don’t know all these shows so it will be interesting to see the results.

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Today is Denver’s Bike to work day and I am off to check out the party going on in front of REI.

Anyway, I have to get moving. Happy pedaling today!

The above “Walk Score” is for the address of 1610 Little Raven Street, Denver Colorado 80202, the home of Zengo Restaurant and the heart of the plaza in Riverfront. The score (at least today when writing the post) is 83 or “Very Walkable”. How cool is this tool!!! 8-)

Walk Score calculates, on a scale to 100, how pedestrian friendly (walkable) your address is. If you are looking [Read more →]

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Today Oil prices jumped over $10 a barrel, although I really don’t know how big that is but according to the New York Times it is the BIGGEST JUMP EVER. Just Frakking Great.

How did I know something was up, I noticed the stock market was taking a nose dive. So now everyone’s savings, 401K, [Read more →]

It might mean Pedestrian Friendly with everything within walking distance, it might mean bike trails, it might mean public transportation.  But the question is, with gas pricing going exponentially up, where is the best neighborhood to live without a car.  Back up your vote with a reason.

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Forum Topic Here

A couple folks have asked about a Cruiser Bike ride tonight and about getting a Riverfront Park crew to meet together at one of our local establishments, possibly McLoughlins (last week was Zengo). Others are asking about groups to do road bike rides.

I figured the easiest way to get folks talking was to connect them. So check out this link here, register once and you can post or subscribe to the topic.

Don’t answer too fast… and read the links below.

It isn’t often that I get behind the wheel to drive on the roads, but every time I do I ask myself the same question…. “is it time for a new car”.

I don’t really have much in the way of driving. I cruise around Denver by foot, cruiser bike, by my ages old mountain bike, by bus, by light rail, by cab, and by scooter. I rarely drive my automobile (make that, my giant SUV). What drives me to get behind the wheel (get it) is usually a trip to the mountains which may or not have some bad snow conditions or carrying alot of stuff. [Read more →]