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.

 Loading ...

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

The Cherry Creek Chronicle

I didn’t expect it, but checking through the popularity logs of this site one post continually rises to the top. I had hoped it might be something about saving the planet or taking a train to the mountains… but no… it’s about the Best Cougar Bar in Denver. Unfortunately the poll tied to this post got wiped out many many months ago when the site went through a major Wordpress ugrade. One of the risks of being an early adopter I suppose.

For those who seem to find this the most curious of questions I will repost the poll. Feel free to share with me any new Cougar destinations I might have missed.

 Loading ...

For anyone who wants to read the original Cougar post click here.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

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.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Reading the New York Times this week I was not surprised to see mention of our horrible traffic issue on I-70 between here and the mountains. What amazes me is that the train solution isn’t being pushed harder. Short term fixes work, well, short term. A long term solution is needed.

That’s on my wish list anyway.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Since I walk to work I usually miss out on all the drama of traffic, weather, and general human foolishness…. but my friend’s story I had to share.

Now I know we got some snow last night. Let’s face it, last night rocked. After taking my very happy Alaskan Malamute for a snow romp we went to grab dinner at the Avenue Grill and watch the snow fall through the big glass windows. Cab’s both ways saved us from driving, but the wait to get the return cab was a bit long.

But nevermind that, I’m off topic from my friend’s trip into the office today.

First let me set the stage for you. She works downtown and lives in Highlands Ranch. That’s a long enough hike on a normal day but with the weather today… ouch. Her husband sets out for his day much earlier and gave her a warning call just before she left “I’m still not to the office yet” he let her know. This means close to two hours on the road.

So she quickly changed her plans and decided to take the light rail. Her usual 7 minute trip to the light rail station took her 30 minutes. No telling what a trip all the way downtown would have been. She missed her first train because apparently it was High School trip day and the machines were clogged with fun loving teens experimenting with their freedom and trying to learn how to use the system for the first time (this I actually find funny) and she catches the next train with no major issues. She thought about jumping on the train that was just sitting there and that she eventually missed waiting for the high school students to wrap up their purchases but didn’t want to risk getting ticketed.

Then on the way across Colfax WHAMMO a car collided with her light rail train. I guess the hit was pretty hard (and loud) with passengers on the train screaming and jolted from their peaceful trip. And what does the idiot who hit the train do… they run away. Can you imagine someone thinking they can get away with a hit and run on the light rail. Apparently no less than 50 people got their license plate numbers. I am just fascinated with how people think, or don’t think, sometimes. I can’t even imagine what will happen to that fool. My guess is the person wasn’t on the way to their job as a rocket scientist or molecular genetic engineer, but I’ve been wrong before.

The train announcer was a bit confused. Ordinarily the train needs to sit and wait to swap information with the other car but since the driver did a hit and run there was no one to swap info with. Good news for those train passengers as the train went back on its path. After finally arriving to downtown she decided to make a pit stop at the bank at Lawrence with the intention of taking the 16th street shuttle the rest of the way. That, of course with Murphy’s law, turned out to be a big mistake as the shuttles were only running one way… for her the wrong way. And of course this means the last leg of her trip was on foot slipping and sliding every step of the way.

If anyone has a better trip into work story for today… bring it.

I didn’t really think our snow was that bad last night but it sure seems to have the ability to grind our streets to a halt. Good thing we all have a sense of humor (or at least most of us).

Photo credit from CBS website.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

So I finally got a chance to do the famous Winter Park Ski Train. With my ties to Vail it took me a little longer to give this a shot, but I am glad I did.

I’ll do a quick summary for those of you who are thinking about it. First of all, groups are the best. We had a group of 107 folks so we pretty much ruled a car and a half. At first I think everyone worried about seats and being right next to each other but the reality is that with train travel everyone is walking, talking, leaning, moving pretty much all the time. It’s a social scene on wheels.

The views are amazing, although again this became second place quickly to everyone being social. Yet far more scenic than a flood of taillights on I-70.

If you live downtown the Ski Train has a special appeal. We walked over the bridge in Riverfront Park right at 7:00 for our 7:15 departure. I personally set my alarm for 5:30 to take the pup for a long walk and to give me quite a bit of time cushion just in case, so it is not a good night to plan a big Friday out on the town.

Then on the train everyone greets each other, has fun, and kicks back and RELAXES all the way up. No white knuckle driving, no fighting traffic, and there is always a place to buy coffee or breakfast only a short walk away. Some slept, some read the paper, most chatted. Nice.

On the way back this gets magnified into a huge social gathering. Beverages flow throughout the car, there is laughter everywhere and no one is driving. What a great solution for downtown residents… instead of trying to balance doing apres with the drive home and fighting crowds on that sometimes painful return the ski train becomes the apres location. No risk, no worries. One person said it was just like staying in the mountains with no worries about the commute. Considering I carried my skis there and back in less than ten minutes I’d have to agree.

Some bits of advice for you…

Avoid car 2. It’s behind the engine so the front is sealed. Don’t worry, you don’t get any fumes but the lack of ventilation gets TOASTY. We had folks stripping down to the minimum so maybe chair two will be the naked car. Your choice.

There isn’t much you can do about this worry, but if you get behind a slower train your trip could take a bit longer. This happened on our way up but not on our way back. Not too bad, some folks slept longer and the train is comfy. But keep this in mind if you are making strict plans involving timing and make sure you have a puppy sitter on reserve in case your return is late.

Get your food or drink quick if you want it. They sold out of burritos pretty fast on the way up and while they had beer all the way through the trip back, the Stella was the first to go. Don’t forget they close the catering car when they think they are 30 minutes away from the station. This might be longer so if you want stock up before they close.

There is a great lounge car with scrabble and other games. Consider grabbing a spot there for awhile if you have a small group but be quick if you want a seat.

We will be doing the Ski Train again. Give it a shot for yourself. I forgot to mention that the train stopped on a cross track exactly where another train was heading at us. The folks in our car started getting a little bit nervous as it got closer.. and closer… and closer. Then we quickly moved, picture is one of others below.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Something interesting is happening this holiday season in the world of Real Estate. As reported by the New York Times today, a huge number of Europeans and tourists from other countries are taking advantage of the weak dollar to purchase their U.S. second home.

While the article’s focus is the sale of real estate in Manhattan I would think that our wonderful ski resorts would be a great target as well. So as our dollar continues to plummet the rest of the world looks at our prime spots as one big investment opportunity. Too bad it’s not the other way around, I’d love to pick up a nice Italian villa on the ocean or a crash pad in Paris.

But this isn’t about what I want.

It’s about the holiday season and to a certain extent a move towards world peace. As the world becomes more global and we criss cross our homes, vacations, friends and experiences from one continent to another we also build understanding, relationships, and a foundation for communication. Maybe someone from Europe loans their Manhattan condo to some friends who have never been to the U.S. They have a great time, tell great stories, and the flow of people back and forth increases. It’s alot harder to be grumpy towards a country you have visited and one in which you have made friends.

Let’s continue the global spread of travel and second homes (note the term home, that certainly implies a stronger relationship). If we can get this flow of travel and experience going back and forth between the most strained of relationships who knows what we could to to build friendship.

Now just make sure you greet the next international neighbor you meet with kindness.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Ski Trip
Winter Park
Ski Train (no driving)
Apres Party

Do I really need to say any more… (well maybe)

I was at a little Holiday Party last night chatting about an upcoming Riverfront Park Ski Trip on January 26th. The bullet points are that a car has been rented with only 62 seats available, several sponsors have signed up to give some perks to this first time trip crew that will be taking the Ski Train up and back followed by an Apres Party and a very close and cool spot downtown (Another wonderful sponsor).

No fighting traffic and it will be fun and social!! Siri at East West Urban Management is managing the rapidly growing list of folks who are snagging the seats for this inaugural event. You can email her if you are interested in learning more or if you are a homeowner in Riverfront you can
sign right up.

Think snow!!!

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

I love snow.

The past two days have been spent skiing the fresh powder of Vail and I can tell you that it is wonderful. Sunday I was doing some training for some volunteer work I signed on for. I’ll fill everyone in on this in a later post but in the meantime check out these pics. All of Monday was spent in Blue Sky Basin and the back bowls and it was NICE!!

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

In a fun twist the blogging on the recent Colorado Rockies ticket snafu got noticed by some folks involved at Bernstein Crisis Management PR Firm.

These folks have taken an interesting angle on blogging with regards to the immediate availability of news through the blogging community over status quo news agencies. Basically if you want to find out what is happening you might be better off doing a google or technorati search instead of just hitting the standard news channels. The reasoning is simple, with cell phone cameras (both photo and video) and sites such as youtube or personal blogs regular joes like you and me can be giving the rest of the world news faster than organized news channels. Interesting and fun for this blog to have gotten a little press so I hope you don’t mind my sharing. [Read more →]

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites