Sometimes the slice of life answers we dream up to make an exaggeration of life turn out to be true. Or sometimes there is just irony such as noticing at Tattered Cover the newly discounted “Spoiling for a Fight: the rise of Elliot Spitzer” book.

In this case the irony involved a post from roughly a month ago about Helicopters flying low and fast around Riverfront Park. My top 10 reasons for the fly by events included at #6 “Homeland Security practice drills”. These reasons were not meant to be realistic, more of a David Letterman tribute.  For example another reason was “The city doing an analysis of rezoning Commons’ park for a Wal Mart”.  But now that I think about it, real estate is getting pretty valuable.

But, as life proves to be ironic, reason #6 turned out to be true as part of the preparation for the DNC. Read about it in the 9 News article “Helicopters to keep flying over downtown for terrorist training“. I knew I should have made that item #1.

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So yesterday I posted about the slap that oil gave our economy. I have a different question for Denver today. Fortunately, the Denver economy has been stronger than many parts of the country (hey, we rock).

That being said, there are still some things that affect us. How many of you are cutting back, if at all, and what things do you pick to cut back on? I am genuinely curious. Do we keep our dinners out and cut back on gas? Do we stop shopping but still drive? Do we cancel our vacations or do we splurge and not worry because it’s all cyclical? You tell me. I don’t need to remind everyone that by stopping our spending we hurt the economy. Easier said than done.

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Oh, and here are a few links

• 8 Ways to Cut Back Without Sacrificing
• Save Money on Utilities
• Daily Fuel Economy Tip

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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 →]

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Always on the lookout for something new and cool in the world of green the folks at Revolution Cleaners has opened a “Green Cleaning” business here in Denver. I was surprised to find out how few people even knew about them. And I hate to admit that I had no idea what the heck Green Cleaning was. I knew it was supposed to be good for the environment but I didn’t know why or how. My shirt, pant, and other cleaning has increased a ton since I moved from my fleece worshiping days in the mountains. Back then a pair of jeans, some clogs, and a fleece top were the bulk of my wardrobe.

Now that I have balanced this with an urban style (I never said a good one) I actually have clothes that need some more attention. So if I am going to have them professionally cleaned I would like to think I will be green doing it. Hence I hunted down the green cleaning option in town and wanted to learn about their business.
And of course the geek in me (which is probably alot) wanted to learn the science behind it as well.
So on my last drop off to their shop, I asked if the owners would like to share with us some more details about their business and the science of green cleaning. They happily agreed. The following interview was sent by email…

Noel, many folks don’t know about Green Dry Cleaning. Can you give us a high level overview of the difference between your process and standard dry cleaning?

Dry cleaning isn’t really dry; rather, it’s cleaning without water. Standard drycleaning uses perchloroethylene (more commonly called PERC) as the primary solvent. Traditional machines are simply large washing machines that use PERC instead of water. PERC-exposure has been associated with lots of health problems, including being identified as a hazardous substance by the EPA. It is also one of the most common contaminants in groundwater. Cleaning in PERC requires drying of the garments at a high temperature. Our process doesn’t use PERC, or any other hazardous substances. Our two dry cleaning process’ use liquid carbon dioxide and water. Both are naturally occurring in the environment and in your body.

For the extra geeky among us who love the technical details… how exactly does your process work? [Read more →]

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Is too much of our life about the money?

The New York Times this past Sunday had an article about how the millionaires out in silicon valley just don’t feel rich anymore. Apparently, once you make $2 million, or $5 million, or even $10 million you still feel the need to work 60, 70, 80 hour weeks to make sure that you can keep up.

For some folks the money goes into bigger, and bigger, and bigger houses. Or faster cars, expensive gems, boats, trips, etc.

Basically, you will always spend what you make and need to make more.

That is so sad. And yet I seem to be spending what I make. I make more than I did when I was just out of college, but I don’t seem to have a great deal of extra. Isn’t it amazing that people just keep finding new things they “need” that they would never dream of years ago under a different tax bracket.

I have to wonder why it is that we just keep buying more and more instead of saving more and more. Are material items really that much more important than our free time, our ability to travel perhaps for a year and see the world? Do we really need the 10,000 sf house and the six figure car if our budgets grow. Is it keeping up with the jones.

Don’t get me wrong, I have my toys that I buy with extra money. But I don’t mind having a new scooter when my car has been paid off for a year. I really don’t feel the need to have the newest and greatest automobile. I do, however, want the coolest blue tooth ear bud for my iphone.

But given the opportunity to have a couple million in income I don’t believe any amount of peer pressure would make me choose to burn through it as quick as I could. I would like to think I would buy more time. More free time, more flexibility, and more freedom.

Check out the article and let me know what you think. Do you believe you will always be spending what you earn, regardless of how high that income goes? If you say you wouldn’t, let me ask you this…. are you currently making more than you made 5 or 10 years ago and are you spending it all? If so, what makes you think it would change?

Perhaps it was meant to be a sob story, but it is a bit more of a reality check. Here is my advice for you future millionaires who might get trapped into working 80 hours a week. Stop buying stuff.

Duh, and yet not the easiest thing to do. What does that say about our culture.

Here is that NYT article [Read more →]

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My alma matter is Ohio State (no Florida comments please, it still hurts) and we had some awesome Greek restaurants all around town. It was a tradition with my friends to hit the late night Greek diner spots after going out on high street, the main strip for the Ohio State Campus. At these not so luxurious diners there would be a line of hungry college students lined out the door into the streets to order some killer gyro’s, tzatziki, fries, or onion rings. It is fair to say that Mediterranean food was a staple of my college years, and the Columbus Ohio scene had plenty of it.

Plus I also had a bit more of a Mediterranean food influence in College. My roommate was from Greece and his mom used to send us the best gift packages baked fresh and shipped full of baklava and other tasty cookies and treats. His sister and friends would introduce me to the secret spots in town with the best octopus or the most authentic recipes. It was great and I was spoiled. I knew where the best places were and even had a translator with me if something special was on the menu.

Now Denver is a different story. I am sure Denver probably has its own fair share of great Mediterranean restaurants, i just don’t know them yet. So this is a bit of research project for me to identify the best spots in town. Some may be fancy, some may be dives, but they all could be awesome. Here is a best of Denver for Greek and Mediterranean food. If I need to add a restaurant PLEASE let me know, because as I said this is a personal search for me to know what to try next. Just leave out the ‘burbs because odds are good I will never be there.

Most people don’t realize how many countries are contributors to “Mediterranean Cuisine”.  So check out the map above and see the scope, although I have left Italian to it’s own poll since there are so many of these restaurants to choose from.

My taste buds have expanded considerably from just gyros and I think I have loved everything I have tried from this region. Go ahead and share your favorite Mediterranean dish to order is and what Mediterranean countries the restaurant focuses on.
Denver’s Best Mediterranean Restaurant is…

[Poll=34]

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Here is a quick post for those of you hooked on Girl Scout Cookies. You may already have someone where you work selling these, but there is one place I wouldn’t expect establishing a storefront for these cookies.

My Brothers Bar (the actual place not an actual brother) has a big sign in their window announcing they are a Girl Scout Cookie station. That’s right, this little spot known best for it’s beer and burgers is also a great spot to pick up some thin mints and tag-a-longs. Can you imagine how many drunken customers walk out at the end of the night with those magic girl scout cookies under their arm. Cookies and beer, a great combo.

I peeked in the window and they are stocked. There are stacks and stacks of Samoas and DoSiDos towering just inside the front door. Awesome.

Girl Scout cookies (credit to the Girls Scouts for their photo above) have been around forever. Wikipedia says they first rolled out as early as 1917 in an effort to raise funds to support troop activities. These little beauties have been growing in popularity ever since.
So just for fun and in honor of the Girl Scout Cookie season, what is your favorite type of Girl Scout Cookie? Then compare the Denver Results to the Worldwide results which Wikipedia reports to be…

As of 2004, the best selling Girl Scout cookies are:

• Thin Mints (25% of total sales)*
• Samoas/Caramel DeLites (19%)*
• Hoedowns/Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties (13%)*
• Savannahs/Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwiches (11%)*
• Trefoils/Shortbread (9%)*

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Okay I admit that I am a kid a heart. While everyone is lining up to go to the Naughty Tricks and Sexy Treats event, or some other item that mixes sex with our holiday season, I keep thinking of an event I loved as a child…. Haunted Houses.

Denver has a total of ten haunted houses that I know of, and there could be more, spread out around the city. These are not the mild haunted houses I remember, but instead I understand there is some serious fright going on. I haven’t been yet, but it is on my to do list before this holiday slips by. Haven’t thought of going yet, oh go ahead and be a kid. If you need a coupon, most often they are online.

For those that do want to get their freak on, there are so many different adult events advertised in this city that the WestWord must have made an additional million this week on their advertising. What is it that makes all the dudes want to dress up like ladies and all the ladies want to dress up like hookers. Great day to be out with your camera, in fact if you catch some great picks this upcoming scare season please email me and I’ll post them for all to see or better yet just post a response with a link to a Flickr page.

For those that feel a bit more refined, Dracula is coming to Denver’s Ballet and that might be a calm thing to do. Not my speed.

Or as another option, hide away from all the parties, the crazies, and the amateurs hitting downtown this weekend. Rent a scary movie, curl up with someone special and enjoy the holiday safely tucked away in your loft munching on popcorn and m&m’s.

One thing you probably won’t be doing is handing out candy, mostly because too many bad apples (is that literally) have spoiled what was my favorite holiday growing up. I, fortunately, grew up in the last batch of trick or treaters who started out after dark and got to cruise the neighborhood collecting treats until late into the night. From there it went to daylight hours only, and now i think they all get to collect candy at school (so sad).

Anyway, from one scattered subject to the next this holiday is almost here. A few questions tied to this comment…

What was your best Halloween memory?

What is the scariest movie you have ever seen (help to those planning to stay in and rent)?

What’s your plan this year, and what costume?

Creativity points certainly count.

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