Thursday, March 28, 2024
The MLB Regular Season Begins Today
Baseball is back! The MLB regular season starts today, and my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, will play their home opener against the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field this afternoon. The Sox had a horrible season last year, losing 101 games, and are once again in a rebuilding mode. Their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, will start the season in Texas against the Rangers. The Cubs finished with an 83-79 record last year, but still almost won a wildcard spot before - surprise! - falling apart in the final week of the season. The Colorado Rockies, my adopted hometown team, will start the season against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. They lost 103 games last year and nobody expects them to do much better this season, either. Although the Rockies attract almost 3 million fans a year to their ballpark, thanks to playing at beautiful Coors Field, they had the third worst television ratings in baseball last season, and as of now can only be watched through a streaming service. Probably for the best. But no matter - as of today, all three teams are undefeated, and anything is possible at the start of the season, right? Right?
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Wildlife Gone Wild!
But not really. Actually, they all seemed pretty laid back, venturing closer to roads and neighborhoods looking for food after a snowstorm dumped up to a foot of snow in the foothills this past Sunday. And in point of fact, the buffalo in the photograph on the left are not really wild - they are part of a herd maintained by the City of Denver up in Genesee Park (Genesee is a foothills suburb west of Denver). What I want to know is how those elk got into that enclosed area. I have heard of the deer and the antelope playing, but not elk and buffalo. Live and learn, I guess.
And driving along Upper Bear Creek Road west of Evergreen, I was hoping to run across some bears coming out of hibernation, or at least a mountain lion or two, but had to satisfy myself with a herd of deer, blending into the background, munching on a grassy hillside. And they did not seem spooked at all. A few turned around to look at me, and then quickly went back to their afternoon snack. But what I would really like to see most is a real live moose. The local newscasts are constantly featuring stories about moose hanging out in ski areas, threatening skiers and snowboarders, or stopping traffic in mountain towns, but despite years of searching the Colorado and Wyoming wilderness, no such luck. I am beginning to think moose in Colorado and Wyoming are a myth, made up to draw tourists into those states. I once even went to the Colorado Center for the Moose, in Walden, Colorado, where they post moose sightings, and headed to those locations, only to find nada. I suspect the people working at that center can't stop laughing after you leave to follow their wild goose chases. Talk about cruel.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Gentrification Gone Wild?
I noticed while walking through Denver's Washington Park a few weeks back that the house in the photograph above now had a fence around it, which is a sure sign that it was about to be torn down, and a new, larger, more grand structure would be taking its place. But since it looked like such a nice home, I couldn't believe that could be true. Perhaps it was just undergoing a renovation? But several days ago, as I was driving past that corner, I saw that it was gone, a bulldozer sitting in the backyard. That lot sits directly across the street from Washington Park, on the east side, with a view of the park and the mountains beyond, and a location like that is very pricey indeed. Since it is a wealthy neighborhood, I really don't think this can be called gentrification, unless it applies to the rich being replaced by the super-rich. Hard to believe that when I was young, "small is beautiful" used to be a popular movement. These days it is more like "back to the gilded age."
Monday, March 25, 2024
"Breaking Up With Spring Break" Seems To Be Working In Miami Beach
After three straight years of huge, disorderly, mostly intoxicated crowds during spring break, including two fatal shootings on Ocean Drive last year, Miami Beach launched a campaign called "Breaking Up with Spring Break," letting visitors know there would be curfews, bag checks, restricted beach access, DUI checkpoints, expensive parking fees, and lots and lots of police. And it seems to be working. There are still spring breakers around, but not in such large numbers, and the atmosphere is much more subdued. For a lot of these college students, the final straw was a Thursday through Sunday midnight curfew during the month of March, and many have headed to Fort Lauderdale instead, where it is evidently spring break as usual. Imagine having to stop partying at midnight? What is the point of even partying if you have quit so early? The City of Miami Beach says arrests are down 8% this year, and that the initiative is a success. However, bars and restaurants say they are losing a fortune having to close at midnight, and what's the big deal about a few dozen extra shootings, anyway? That's Florida for you. In any case, I took the photograph above of my sister Susan on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach back in August of 1994. There were still big crowds back then, but no shootings, at least while we were there. And no, we did not stay until the wee hours of the morning. Bet that surprises you, doesn't it?
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Getting Together With Some Of The Old DU Gang
Speaking of DU (in my previous blog post), I got together yesterday evening at Las Delicias with some of my old University of Denver Bookstore colleagues and their spouses, as well as with my friend Mark, who works at DU's Anderson Academic Commons (the library) and his parents. It was a very pleasant evening, and fun to catch up with what everyone has been doing and what trips they are planning in the future. In the photograph on the left, starting on the front left side, is Renee, the wife of Bill, the former DU Bookstore Operations Coordinator. Bill and Renee are planning a trip to Monterey, California and from there up to Vancouver, British Columbia. Sitting next to Renee is Linda, wife of Wally, the former DU Bookstore Operations Manager. They are planning a trip to San Francisco to visit their kids, and from there are taking the train up to Seattle to attend a wedding. Sitting next to Linda is Mark, and standing behind him is his mother, Kay. Sitting in the back on the right is Mark's father Dale. The three of them, along with Mark's brother Mike, just returned from a vacation in Maui. Sitting next to Dale is Bill, then Wally, and finally my sister Susan, who has no connection to DU whatsoever. Probably for the best.
Darrel, the former Accounts Payable Manager of the DU Bookstore, along with his wife Linda, also dined with us, but due to a senior moment, I forgot about taking a photograph of the group until after they had left. Darrel and Linda just got back from a trip to San Clemente, which they say was a bit on the nippy side, but still had a fun trip. And fortunately, in keeping with the travel theme, I have a photograph of Darrel and Linda, seen on the right, that I took back in June 2014 at the Travel and Adventure Show, where none other than Rick Steves, my favorite travel guru, was giving a series of talks about traveling in Europe. That show, as I recall, was held at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, and the stage was set up beneath some windows, making getting a decent photograph of Rick with Darrel and Linda in the foreground pretty hard. But no problem - I found a nice spot to take their photo directly under a giant poster of Rick, which was almost as good as the real thing. It was a fun evening, and the food at Las Delicias in Glendale, Colorado was, in point of fact, delicious. Great to see all you guys again!
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Spring Break At DU
Spring Break begins today at the University of Denver, and yesterday afternoon, when I took a walk across campus and took the photograph above, there was nary a student in sight. DU attracts a wealthy student body, and no doubt most of them have jetted off to exotic locations for the week, and probably even longer - why should missing a few classes matter? And not only did I not see a single student on campus, I also did not see a single soul in the DU Bookstore, where I worked as the Finance Manager until the university outsourced the store to Follett Higher Education Group. In fact, the doors were closed, and I was not sure they were even open. And surprisingly enough, for the first time ever, I received an ad for the store on my DU e-mail account. The advertisement wanted to let me know it had everything I needed to take along on spring break. Back when I worked there, none of the staff was on spring break - we were all desperately getting ready for the start of the spring quarter. Of course, if they no longer have many customers, as appears to be the case whenever I walk by, I suppose there is not much reason to worry.
Friday, March 22, 2024
Checking Out The April Photograph In The 2024 CTA Historical Calendar
While checking dates coming up in April (most significantly the day income taxes are due), I was impressed by the photograph seen above in the 2024 CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Historical Calendar. It shows the "L" station at State and Lake in downtown Chicago, which was around from the 1920s until the 1960s. This photograph was taken in 1957, and the child in that photo was about the same age as I was at the time. Back when I lived in west suburban Forest Park, I remember taking the "L" home from State and Lake after wandering around the city on my days off from working at the Walden Bookstore in the Yorktown Shopping Center, located in Lombard, a suburb further to the west. It was the best of both worlds - living in a close-in suburb just two blocks from the Forest Park "L" stop, and a relatively short drive to work at Yorktown. When looking for my first apartment, I had considered renting a place on Chicago's Near North Side, where all the "action" was, but just finding a spot to park to even look for an apartment around there convinced me that it was not a good idea. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those Forest Park days, but then again, after a short while, I think to myself "to hell with it." It occurs to me that I am indeed starting to get old. Be that as it may, be sure to check out https://www.transitchicago.com/historicalcalendar/ to view and download that 2024 CTA calendar. You'll like it, I'm sure.