tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17362333021786238132024-03-18T22:55:52.114-06:00David Hoyt's BlogDavid Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.comBlogger5025125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-60015253535738782042024-03-18T00:00:00.002-06:002024-03-18T00:08:10.782-06:00Watching Leeds Play Millwall With The Leeds United Colorado Fan Club<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTS5RWViZEnbQATygp9iepJaj30dXYIhYZlQr_c0dZ4KyU9B7E38nVe910INPLUJjEQmQG_I-08u64r7gKBC4YuGVvGYUM8z7mPkcK7XrpGSmm8T_m16vChnsr4pvKm1ZYWtWMEBpyKYsWTkV8S2JABGU83UfzmhB94j4MJIzqoQGf8w06N9wkSCUtgKTL/s1917/LeedsFanClubMarch2024II.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1917" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTS5RWViZEnbQATygp9iepJaj30dXYIhYZlQr_c0dZ4KyU9B7E38nVe910INPLUJjEQmQG_I-08u64r7gKBC4YuGVvGYUM8z7mPkcK7XrpGSmm8T_m16vChnsr4pvKm1ZYWtWMEBpyKYsWTkV8S2JABGU83UfzmhB94j4MJIzqoQGf8w06N9wkSCUtgKTL/w400-h285/LeedsFanClubMarch2024II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />My friend Mark - seen in the photograph on the left - and I headed to The DNVR Bar at the corner of York and Colfax here in Denver yesterday morning to watch the soccer match between Leeds and Millwall. Leeds beat Millwall 2-0 and are now in first place in the Championship League, England's 2nd division soccer conference. This is important, since the teams that finish first and second at the end of the season are automatically promoted to the 1st division Premier League, while the teams that finish third through sixth compete in a playoff round to decide which one will be the third team promoted. This is a pretty powerful motivation for both players and team ownership. Imagine for an instant that Major League Baseball used the same system. The Colorado Rockies draw almost 3 million fans a year, no matter how bad they play, and so owner Dick Monfort is not very motivated to do what it takes to win - namely, hire baseball executives who know what the hell they are doing and know how to build a winner. Imagine if the three worst teams in Major League Baseball were demoted to Triple A, and the top three Triple A teams replaced them each year. Now THAT would finally light a fire under Monfort to start thinking about winning.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTC9TISjswYwENM4xjzfuAHItEOZsaRy3rNmBASicOvRiGTBJ1o3JCguAtIMAeaTfvNzmlkOkxWIznXF4PydxUpGcjY0LGMz8XabIBarxZVYkW-41bpyxH29p7O8RwZaDiEhvn5Q11EKm8tTCn8_g4zHqxFmwmYu8w2o9Z1YgONv9mlBZEuqkXjwdSi7we/s1917/LeedsFanClubMarch2024III.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTC9TISjswYwENM4xjzfuAHItEOZsaRy3rNmBASicOvRiGTBJ1o3JCguAtIMAeaTfvNzmlkOkxWIznXF4PydxUpGcjY0LGMz8XabIBarxZVYkW-41bpyxH29p7O8RwZaDiEhvn5Q11EKm8tTCn8_g4zHqxFmwmYu8w2o9Z1YgONv9mlBZEuqkXjwdSi7we/w400-h323/LeedsFanClubMarch2024III.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The Leeds United Colorado supporters seem to be a very amiable group, and I was surprised at how many turned up at 9:00 A.M. to watch the game. On the right is the official group photograph for yesterday's get-together, taken by the bartender, who told me he had to work until 2:00 A.M. the previous evening and then come in early the next morning to let in all the Leeds fans. Talk about dedication. DNVR is a digital sports network that decided to take over the space that once housed the Three Lions, a popular Denver soccer pub, which Mark and I frequented in the past. Now that DNVR is returning the place to its soccer roots, we have started visiting more often. And I must say, we enjoyed both the game and the pleasant company. </p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-77093081621072006862024-03-17T00:00:00.043-06:002024-03-17T22:11:41.236-06:00Happy St. Patrick's Day!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vyqdyaCmBK25MCqcxzyMvA12K0LiIS4xCizBB9khsET5WqBxBt0j-91JbucErwN5xPcBgHRi8rMrz9DM98QnbIBHIjkkd179TU37YiZ3LpK4UR9fjM_gBQQxabosYAoPUVeThpQUDjbD-OqogZ_u3vRt0QZAr7ZLAQAg5seyVgHSeby26Aotj1e1MV4x/s1917/StPatsDayMarch2024I.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1449" data-original-width="1917" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vyqdyaCmBK25MCqcxzyMvA12K0LiIS4xCizBB9khsET5WqBxBt0j-91JbucErwN5xPcBgHRi8rMrz9DM98QnbIBHIjkkd179TU37YiZ3LpK4UR9fjM_gBQQxabosYAoPUVeThpQUDjbD-OqogZ_u3vRt0QZAr7ZLAQAg5seyVgHSeby26Aotj1e1MV4x/w400-h303/StPatsDayMarch2024I.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Today is St. Patrick's Day. Like many other cities around the country, the celebration began yesterday here in Denver with a parade in the Lower Downtown (LoDo) neighborhood. It started at 9:30, and so a little too early for me. However, I did manage to head down to LoDo in the afternoon, finding the place filled with thousands of 20-somethings, all trying to get inside the same bars, such as Scruffy Murphy's Irish Pub, seen in the photograph on the left. This neighborhood is filled with rooftop bars, all of them packed wall-to-wall with people. One of them, El Patio, was blasting what to me was horrendous music at the sound level of a jet airplane taking off. How lovely it must be to spend the afternoon up there. Okay. Okay. I know I am an old curmudgeon. Deal with it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghxh0w9UU9bxgobKbZ6TuwpkYBC2OEnkYC56qpFEiuKnfk18aUM4Wl6qtiz5F-zpEOmuOZwUfGjRhX1r8hEkNha3Cx6t7RLIR0fWfFi9WnngNioeeT25RfVXMKsubDjAocGrWm-DSfPbmpQxwfD56F9QWs-Ja-gIquupFafaZgx68EevGEoat5dtbL-UbQ/s1917/StPatsDayMarch2024III.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghxh0w9UU9bxgobKbZ6TuwpkYBC2OEnkYC56qpFEiuKnfk18aUM4Wl6qtiz5F-zpEOmuOZwUfGjRhX1r8hEkNha3Cx6t7RLIR0fWfFi9WnngNioeeT25RfVXMKsubDjAocGrWm-DSfPbmpQxwfD56F9QWs-Ja-gIquupFafaZgx68EevGEoat5dtbL-UbQ/w400-h323/StPatsDayMarch2024III.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, a little further south, on Market Street, right around the corner from historic Larimer Square, Nallen's Irish Pub was celebrating its 32nd St. Patrick's Day, and also seemed to be packed to the rafters, as seen in the photograph on the right. Years ago, when I first moved to Denver, the most well-known Irish restaurant and bar in Denver was Duffy's. It was located downtown, right around the corner from the 16th Street Mall, and had waitresses that had worked there for decades. When the National Association of College Stores had their convention at the newly opened Colorado Convention Center, which I attended thanks to my job at the University of Denver Bookstore, I overheard one out-of-towner describing how he kept asking people on the street for bars to visit in Denver, and every damn one of them told him to go to Duffy's. Ironically, they were always closed on St. Patrick's Day to avoid possible lawsuits resulting from overdrinking. How times have changed here.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWVVhDVqZ_tyNw3jLLd6KFEJWdf2wnD7T4m-1SMtR7ah3o5dXLxI6wzWuqNsOeUXNnNJpU8-LLzoEt8GqOYm2YUUE6UpHZcKeZOKaGBpS00AsR7bIleYEu6b35yWoi9I8h8FYZnn5CrSCTruDeCJBb7UGlmt-MHjdxygIOjoMJq2DAxZs2hRUQpkcuP8P/s1917/StPatsDayMarch2024II.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWVVhDVqZ_tyNw3jLLd6KFEJWdf2wnD7T4m-1SMtR7ah3o5dXLxI6wzWuqNsOeUXNnNJpU8-LLzoEt8GqOYm2YUUE6UpHZcKeZOKaGBpS00AsR7bIleYEu6b35yWoi9I8h8FYZnn5CrSCTruDeCJBb7UGlmt-MHjdxygIOjoMJq2DAxZs2hRUQpkcuP8P/w400-h323/StPatsDayMarch2024II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div>And, of course, all those twenty-somethings just love to dress up in costumes and party. Be it St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Oktoberfest, Comicon, and whatever other holidays a costume might be appropriate, they will be down in LoDo celebrating. The next big event to draw people to LoDo will be Opening Day. I used to attend the Colorado Rockies home opener every year, no matter the weather, but eventually, after the introduction of "dynamic pricing," where the price of a seat went up or down based on the popularity of the event, not to mention the phasing out of ballpark ticket windows and the start of online sales, with a fee added for the "convenience," no less, I decided to skip opening day and just walk around the neighborhood each year and enjoy the ambiance. I remember going up to one of those rooftop patios to take a photograph of Coors Field, located across the intersection. That patio was, of course, packed with people, but I assumed the place would clear out once game time approached. And I was shocked to find that nobody ever left, or even went in to watch the game on television. Nobody was interested in baseball. It was just another excuse to party. Oh well, it certainly makes for great people-watching. Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!</div>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-76158429464069558112024-03-16T00:00:00.002-06:002024-03-16T01:45:53.316-06:00Twelve Days Away From The Regular Season: Watching The White Sox Play The Cubs<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qTUNa__xAbA7SH4vzU0xB0shEwi1GXC1-FWOoyAInlRQ1KqPIYXJ5Ypw-b0Fw5VIoZ3AMUJ-pZJfAcI7VxVnsnvPAJvNJQa1hhp4F-uPeBEvSGvejo7I_665FQXzKQkhKwGlLI9pOWtIqdXuqYlThIZElcHVl5UBeiaikp9yTR0hCfXrIxsubflhv7Ai/s1917/SoxVersusCubsMarchII.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1309" data-original-width="1917" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qTUNa__xAbA7SH4vzU0xB0shEwi1GXC1-FWOoyAInlRQ1KqPIYXJ5Ypw-b0Fw5VIoZ3AMUJ-pZJfAcI7VxVnsnvPAJvNJQa1hhp4F-uPeBEvSGvejo7I_665FQXzKQkhKwGlLI9pOWtIqdXuqYlThIZElcHVl5UBeiaikp9yTR0hCfXrIxsubflhv7Ai/w400-h274/SoxVersusCubsMarchII.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I watched the spring training game between my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, and their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, yesterday afternoon on MLB.com. The game was played at Camelback Ranch, the White Sox training facility, in Glendale, Arizona. It was 60 degrees and raining, and the start of the game was delayed 30 minutes until the rain lessened to the point play could begin. The White Sox still have 51 players in camp, and need to make some serious decisions about the final roster pretty soon. The Sox beat the Cubs 3-2, their 4th victory in a row, and I was happy to see that a lot of their pitchers actually look pretty good. The game was called in the middle of the 8th inning when the rain started up again. Putting those two teams together always seems to bring Chicago's weather to the desert.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgar_NqRgWf2pA_ihIWG5RdAm4szN0kgK5HqtNJWjyV9LzZQMP1qVuQoYEW5-ED_7R-xxFYCfqjv2gBJ0lvHqRKCsPNkcpReaC-l238Lyqv33oodh_bOk_lHtc6PGJ_I72078WqTFWxh0Ba4q6yNfzYnMtVi9gvTR5oyap0AB7dql4FtnkClulYFwnVjSa/s1917/SoxVersusCubsMarchI.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1376" data-original-width="1917" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgar_NqRgWf2pA_ihIWG5RdAm4szN0kgK5HqtNJWjyV9LzZQMP1qVuQoYEW5-ED_7R-xxFYCfqjv2gBJ0lvHqRKCsPNkcpReaC-l238Lyqv33oodh_bOk_lHtc6PGJ_I72078WqTFWxh0Ba4q6yNfzYnMtVi9gvTR5oyap0AB7dql4FtnkClulYFwnVjSa/w400-h288/SoxVersusCubsMarchI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I actually tuned into a rebroadcast of the game last night, and planned on watching just the first few innings. However, I wound up watching the entire telecast because during the game, Steve Stone and John Schriffen (who are beginning to work very well together in the broadcast booth) interviewed Chris Getz, the new White Sox General Manager, Brooks Boyer, the Marketing VP, and Pedro Grifol, the 2nd year manager of the team, over 3 innings. Getz (seen in the photograph on the right in the center, with Stone on the left and Schriffen on the right) recently traded ace pitcher Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres, and talked about his reasoning and why he thinks the 4 prospects the Sox received in return will make an impact on the team. Brooks Boyer talked with enthusiasm about all the promotions that will take place at Guaranteed Rate Field this year, and Pedro Grifol talked about how the team is coming together as a unit and accepting a style of play he feels will win ballgames. I was very impressed with all three, and it makes me feel the team, although now in a rebuilding mode, will prosper in the coming years. Wait a minute! My God! I said it would not happen, but damn it, it did. I have caught that contagious kind of optimism that comes with every spring training. Is there no cure?David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-58578898772320548532024-03-15T00:00:00.027-06:002024-03-15T01:13:50.241-06:00The Ides Of March 2024<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpUuYJtYMvCo_vZzXowK2TizEz2hEiHt-QZMiaa1uTelMxa6-PliQQqci0f_MpmWAbEViflt8vwzKcxB7BPwwWdP1kbdORs2dSqfN3Yy-pyCkh8tCFbVhMri8W3ye30C1ShZaXwkW8VkvjlWLJC19Nj1-X8k0Y-peKyxsp6KcYhBhdcQdUhF1yl8-6oqZ/s1917/RomeViaDeiChiavari.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1449" data-original-width="1917" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpUuYJtYMvCo_vZzXowK2TizEz2hEiHt-QZMiaa1uTelMxa6-PliQQqci0f_MpmWAbEViflt8vwzKcxB7BPwwWdP1kbdORs2dSqfN3Yy-pyCkh8tCFbVhMri8W3ye30C1ShZaXwkW8VkvjlWLJC19Nj1-X8k0Y-peKyxsp6KcYhBhdcQdUhF1yl8-6oqZ/w400-h303/RomeViaDeiChiavari.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Today is the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was assassinated back in 44 B.C. on the steps of the Theater of Pompey. A seer had warned Caesar to "beware the Ides of March," but he unfortunately did not heed the warning and beef up his security detail. When we were in Rome back in 2019, my sister Susan and I stayed near the Campo de' Fiori, and I read in Rick Steve's guidebook on Rome that you could see part of one of the original walls of the Theater of Pompey incorporated into one of the buildings there. I spent a lot of time trying to find that damn wall, but without success. Then I read on the internet that the ruins in the center of Largo del Torre Argentina, a number of blocks away from Campo de' Fiori, have reopened to tourists after 2000 years or so, and it mentioned that the Theater of Pompey was once located there. Just for fun, I checked out a map of Rome, and it showed the site of that theater located just around the corner from Via Dei Chiavari, the street where our hotel was located. I had taken a number of photographs of that street while we were staying there, including the one above. So where was that theater really located? Digging deeper, I found that the Theater of Pompey was quite large, and so it is very possible the complex took up the entire area. That seems to make sense, and so I am just going to accept it as fact. But I do have to wonder if the ghost of Julius Caesar haunts that area after dark. Perhaps that is why Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet on the old Superman television series, always used to exclaim "Great Caesar's Ghost" whenever he got exited about something. That makes sense to me, too.<p></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-1928021096068353012024-03-14T00:00:00.003-06:002024-03-14T01:18:45.305-06:00The Quiet Before The Storm. And Then, Of Course, The Storm...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fenzivzE7kXpQfiIRvOylxOyYO92KpjhKH24mgwyN7krjZDMPZhWagNM9x2oOWrErPqR5b62qDnd37wP9kzPx9RKy7m0uR_IPTephHvSR3n3kwt6_FEtxDraS-E_6f0gJggiME5rl4NzRpF43T-v6kPJX7H_KdWXEyWwP9yZjDI1c-59b6qNtGt1rJLs/s1917/March2024I.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fenzivzE7kXpQfiIRvOylxOyYO92KpjhKH24mgwyN7krjZDMPZhWagNM9x2oOWrErPqR5b62qDnd37wP9kzPx9RKy7m0uR_IPTephHvSR3n3kwt6_FEtxDraS-E_6f0gJggiME5rl4NzRpF43T-v6kPJX7H_KdWXEyWwP9yZjDI1c-59b6qNtGt1rJLs/w400-h323/March2024I.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>It was a very pleasant afternoon this past Tuesday in Denver's Washington Park, sunny and in the 60s. And there were a surprising number of people out and about, enjoying the day. Could Mitch Romney actually be right that half the country doesn't work and are receiving entitlements from the government? But, as usual, I digress. They were no doubt all out there because the weather forecasters have been predicting a major storm starting last night and continuing into Friday. This has been predicted to be the largest snowstorm here since March of 2021 (March is, by the way, our snowiest month), when we received 27 inches of snow at the airport. Of course, Denver International Airport (DIA) is close to the Kansas border, more like a different planet than part of Denver. The amount of snow received varies wildly in the Denver area. Golden and Boulder, to the west and northwest of the city, and up against the foothills, get far more than Central Denver, where my condo is located. And the mountains, of course, get dumped on like crazy. No surprise there.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgh-PSTk7Z4OEmQpXPzFT-3YUEMcJx17M5876uB4SiZ6s0aZQynobRk020tTBJlmByL8syq92iVpd6wdLmIzBnPXUBfJQDk7w7COrLR62FS6VuFORpmvDtQ4P-Bxz6RFInH4eJ70bvad_vrWNduhfaXo7aqyDxD85wETvJ28f9WmhXsr3DuKBa0SUI1Y7/s1917/March2024III.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgh-PSTk7Z4OEmQpXPzFT-3YUEMcJx17M5876uB4SiZ6s0aZQynobRk020tTBJlmByL8syq92iVpd6wdLmIzBnPXUBfJQDk7w7COrLR62FS6VuFORpmvDtQ4P-Bxz6RFInH4eJ70bvad_vrWNduhfaXo7aqyDxD85wETvJ28f9WmhXsr3DuKBa0SUI1Y7/w400-h323/March2024III.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>The rain, as predicted, turned to snow last night, and the local newscasters were interviewing people stocking up at the local King Soopers Supermarket in Golden, where it looked like they were preparing for a months long siege. One woman explained that they were predicting 3 feet of snow for Golden, so I guess I can understand their concern. Just after 10:00 last night, it was reported that snow in the mountains was very heavy, visibility was down to zero, and Interstate 70 was closed in both directions between Golden and Silverthorne, on the western side of the Continental Divide. Hopefully people who live in Denver's mountain suburbs, such as Genesee and Evergreen, made sure to get home early last night. If not, it will be a long cold night waiting for the interstate to reopen. But living in those suburbs, most of them probably will just stay at their place in the city, and have the concierge bring up a light dinner and bottle of wine. Here in Denver itself, they predict around 12 inches, but spread across Wednesday night and Thursday. Big deal. Why does everyone else have all the fun? And why the hell do we not have a concierge in our building? From which, by the way, I took the photograph on the right? Life is so damn unfair.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-74972487409331215222024-03-13T00:00:00.049-06:002024-03-13T00:57:34.472-06:00The March Issue Of Chicago Magazine<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQZHoWvlnGRcjSj4hOZ3IOghfKFQws3l916ZU5jt1HHc4hL-PmxdjTCSCX9k_jRJXxcs6bl_uORB9sORfm3X4L9M0N40Pl7eDytlK3l5f8upX_FDjCW52nqy2Ijgpite_Avyf9R2J7MD3j5zImZLlIjO_Qek44zwDi6pKJh6Mc-9Of0l5Zf6QBmJBx_si/s1917/TheMarchIssueofChicagoMagazine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1429" data-original-width="1917" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQZHoWvlnGRcjSj4hOZ3IOghfKFQws3l916ZU5jt1HHc4hL-PmxdjTCSCX9k_jRJXxcs6bl_uORB9sORfm3X4L9M0N40Pl7eDytlK3l5f8upX_FDjCW52nqy2Ijgpite_Avyf9R2J7MD3j5zImZLlIjO_Qek44zwDi6pKJh6Mc-9Of0l5Zf6QBmJBx_si/w400-h299/TheMarchIssueofChicagoMagazine.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I just finished reading the March issue of Chicago Magazine, the cover story of which is titled "Who Runs This Town? The 50 Most Powerful Chicagoans, Ranked." The answer to that is J.B. Pritzker, Illinois Governor, number #1, and Brandon Johnson, Chicago Mayor, #2. And enough of that. Far most interesting was the article in "The 312" section about La Salle Street, the financial center of the Midwest, which is evidently economically distressed due to corporate restructuring, employee downsizing, and the popularity of work from home (so you actually don't have to work). The purchase of the James R. Thompson Center by Google is considered a positive step, but everyone agrees more needs to be done. La Salle Street Reimagined, an initiative started by the former mayor to revive the area, has five projects in the works, but Brandon Johnson, the current mayor, has eliminated funding for La Salle Street Reimagined in 2024 to cover budget shortfalls, which is giving the jitters to proponents of the plan. Canceled because it was the former mayor's idea? In other words, politics as usual?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX24yYRtDKLhMKx0KW4_WSFaq-HrsJp7bIQpZS1Is9tkuMsLbRnCOPDcPf8bpl5dIJxezTQiEBRlNY70U5Ke_nwebSW-TnwoAq9XQL9JD0WyKGoogSZoBI-ExmIONMXpiCk7hKXijgDBY41QE1cuA5yxo4plF0xuEgx_ctyAhOnH30FRpm8xx7J5Hkp3fq/s1917/Chicago1973VII.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1298" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX24yYRtDKLhMKx0KW4_WSFaq-HrsJp7bIQpZS1Is9tkuMsLbRnCOPDcPf8bpl5dIJxezTQiEBRlNY70U5Ke_nwebSW-TnwoAq9XQL9JD0WyKGoogSZoBI-ExmIONMXpiCk7hKXijgDBY41QE1cuA5yxo4plF0xuEgx_ctyAhOnH30FRpm8xx7J5Hkp3fq/w271-h400/Chicago1973VII.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Another article, titled "Raising L," is about a grassroots advocacy group that is unhappy with the current state of the Chicago Transit Authority (the CTA), which they say has become unreliable, with "L" trains scheduled every 5 or 6 minutes often running every 30 minutes. Of course, it is the same with the RTD here in Denver. There have been cutbacks in service, and the light rail trains now also run every 30 minutes, but RTD actually announces those cutbacks and change the schedules, so people know what to expect. What a concept! Do you think it might work in Chicago, too? Combining these issues with all those vacancies on North Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile), as well as the prospects for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs this year, and it looks like Chicago has it's work cut out for it. But as they often say in both business and government, there are no problems, just opportunities. And so, Chicago currently seems like a city with a lot of opportunities. And yes, that is indeed a photograph on the right of the Chicago Board of Trade, anchoring the south end of La Salle Street, that I took in 1973. All seemed well back then. See what happens when I leave town?</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-53690942501819680412024-03-12T00:00:00.002-06:002024-03-12T00:29:44.938-06:00My Father's 115th Birthday!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcb0h3qgmD7tYD2OHZAcMbbXzi9UlVQ7aqtlSwYPmQEn_nr5x-8rAk5jtNdYwntJoTv9ET92MfNO_QNZzGZPj0UfdSkCCUoeOUZB8txTFcLRCBnIbiFT-5d42TplktDdIce0GorwnUs7-hJvNnr3dDqyQZP1AzaOkq0RzVAgdD6PSo_43CQpu8pWyF657X/s1935/Dad&IIII.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1935" data-original-width="1917" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcb0h3qgmD7tYD2OHZAcMbbXzi9UlVQ7aqtlSwYPmQEn_nr5x-8rAk5jtNdYwntJoTv9ET92MfNO_QNZzGZPj0UfdSkCCUoeOUZB8txTFcLRCBnIbiFT-5d42TplktDdIce0GorwnUs7-hJvNnr3dDqyQZP1AzaOkq0RzVAgdD6PSo_43CQpu8pWyF657X/w396-h400/Dad&IIII.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Today would have been my father Nelson's 115th birthday if he were still alive today. He passed away in 1983 at the age of 74 in Stuart, Florida, where he and my mother Mary had retired to from Chicago. They both loved living in Stuart, and my father especially loved finally being able to retire from his career as a dentist, which he very much hated. He had only 7 years of retirement down there, but at least he had those 7 years of enjoyment. Many people don't even have that. The photograph on the left shows my father and I in the backyard of our home in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, where I grew up.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9WYf-eJKKGUwBGTWGCqsXrLrekufOWrh2CZghQD-cutVeJfJTXVf2QzEYglECXQFW92X0K_JvZMCu3vx6lftoj04rdKjVB1xE_AbDg1AuZ2IzaFhfgE1VwGYtQePALMfd_mMq-giI5XAgxch90ajEXGp_taQZm4STQtPz7p-QCYpfKAx6xgEpDLNfwQe/s1917/GrandfatherGrandmotherHoyt&Dad.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1917" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9WYf-eJKKGUwBGTWGCqsXrLrekufOWrh2CZghQD-cutVeJfJTXVf2QzEYglECXQFW92X0K_JvZMCu3vx6lftoj04rdKjVB1xE_AbDg1AuZ2IzaFhfgE1VwGYtQePALMfd_mMq-giI5XAgxch90ajEXGp_taQZm4STQtPz7p-QCYpfKAx6xgEpDLNfwQe/w400-h240/GrandfatherGrandmotherHoyt&Dad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>My father's father, Claire, grew up in Clear Lake, Iowa, and recently I have been trying to get more information about our family there - where they lived, where they are buried, etc. I know that my grandfather's mother, Sophie, lived there for many years in the family home, and that my grandfather and grandmother, Fleta, and eventually my father, too, often visited there from Chicago, where my grandfather worked for the Rock Island Railroad. As an employee and eventually a retiree, he was able to travel free on that famous railroad, which explains how they could make those frequent trips. The photograph on the right shows the three of them at his mother's home in Clear Lake, probably sometime around 1915. I visited that town, which still retains its 19th Century charm, a few years ago, and was hoping to see if that house still existed. However, back then, letters and postcards to Clear Lake did not have an address, just the name of the person and Clear Lake, and so who knows where it is or was. At the time my father passed away, a friend of my ex-wife Lisa told me that at least he lived a long life. I suppose to a young person that might seem true, but to me, especially as I approach that same age, I think it was way too short. Happy Birthday Dad!<p></p><p><br /></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-32231670564417124382024-03-11T00:00:00.002-06:002024-03-11T00:44:01.807-06:00Reservations Please!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjg0TbwNRVzl5evbj_f0orK5Wzzy1HAy4u75R6_2KkfCB5pwHz_HHhuwBvaVxpvlWrHwN4YaqRAz5morfBoLsOv69fjWwPo6cVZs3D_LSXSai_xmEck_TcvawrRhwrwYxfFtNUTb7aQTtB3rTCMwxxrkn7UZj-SYaajb9OF1KQVAsjMv4Zq3XoSozJRQaL/s1917/CleerCreekI.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjg0TbwNRVzl5evbj_f0orK5Wzzy1HAy4u75R6_2KkfCB5pwHz_HHhuwBvaVxpvlWrHwN4YaqRAz5morfBoLsOv69fjWwPo6cVZs3D_LSXSai_xmEck_TcvawrRhwrwYxfFtNUTb7aQTtB3rTCMwxxrkn7UZj-SYaajb9OF1KQVAsjMv4Zq3XoSozJRQaL/w400-h323/CleerCreekI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The City of Golden, Colorado recently announced that they are considering requiring reservations for tubing down Clear Creek, which runs through the middle of town and attracts huge crowds in the summer. During the pandemic, many people turned to the outdoors for recreation, and the number of tubers on that creek increased exponentially. And after the pandemic, they kept coming. In 2022 over 2,000 people crowded onto Clear Creek one weekend. Will the city actually implement that plan? And if you have a reservation, will it be for a certain time, and once your float down the river is finished, are you done for the day? The tubers would not like that one bit. In any case, I took the photograph on the left of Clear Creek yesterday afternoon while standing on the footbridge near Golden History Park. The paths along both sides of the creek were packed with people enjoying sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-60s, but there was not a tuber in sight. At this time of year, I imagine a stream with water coming down from the mountains might be a tad chilly. But on the plus side, no reservations needed!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLN5t4JOHtLs9CVZyoDXhVXNGoepnKG9dO-8RZ0btAZw-S-wy-KGbORRNzH0u0Ggl2KFDM0OpgIMVSMM4qHvW7RTOBACFbLEDbP-6B1O2K9r3SlW9gOTie559MTkJaU37q_5E2AxBzxR2vkIwP5JmmEqCvm4wQ-pr3_VDYQ8apidfaYT6ek0JfoDuI6mh/s1917/Susan&GeorgeInRMNPII.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLN5t4JOHtLs9CVZyoDXhVXNGoepnKG9dO-8RZ0btAZw-S-wy-KGbORRNzH0u0Ggl2KFDM0OpgIMVSMM4qHvW7RTOBACFbLEDbP-6B1O2K9r3SlW9gOTie559MTkJaU37q_5E2AxBzxR2vkIwP5JmmEqCvm4wQ-pr3_VDYQ8apidfaYT6ek0JfoDuI6mh/w400-h323/Susan&GeorgeInRMNPII.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>A similar problem happened during the pandemic at Rocky Mountain National Park, where the crowds increased to the point where reservations were instituted during the summer months, and have been in effect ever since. If you want to enter the park and drive the Bear Lake Corridor (popular for a very scenic and easy walk around that lake) reservations during the summer are required until 6:00 P.M. For the rest of the park, reservations are needed until 2:00. I myself wouldn't think of hiking before 2:00, despite warnings about being off the mountain peaks by noon to avoid lightning strikes. If you start after 2:00, you finish right around happy hour, and can head directly to the Estes Park Brewery for a pleasant after hike beer. If you finish at noon, you have the entire rest of the day to fill and are probably too tired to do anything else except go home and take a nap. Boring! The photograph on the right, by the way, is of my sister Susan and late brother-in-law George taken one long ago summer afternoon hiking the Glacier Gorge Trail, one of our favorites, and located in that Bear Lake Corridor. Definitely worth it, even if you do have to make a reservation.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-2957031986978959002024-03-10T00:00:00.003-07:002024-03-10T01:02:37.047-07:00I Have Learned I Have Very Famous Relatives! Sort Of...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODC39149_ESmpOu33p5uFQOiuv7ZK93aHFsfzDZJ8HSkdM7GWnworhw0lFGhjqV-6npTxOIeozb9U7Qwqo7QjxHg8V-lsv97yGs6ZO1iyz3heF16zFtZhm6WBh9cuFJ-IHehDQlIe288nqnU-5LXUgKN73bkfeGmKsd9Xxzm8Hqu89Hf0xLABOBTRO1kM/s1917/AlexanderNelson.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1399" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODC39149_ESmpOu33p5uFQOiuv7ZK93aHFsfzDZJ8HSkdM7GWnworhw0lFGhjqV-6npTxOIeozb9U7Qwqo7QjxHg8V-lsv97yGs6ZO1iyz3heF16zFtZhm6WBh9cuFJ-IHehDQlIe288nqnU-5LXUgKN73bkfeGmKsd9Xxzm8Hqu89Hf0xLABOBTRO1kM/w293-h400/AlexanderNelson.jpg" width="293" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>After I canceled my Ancestry.com subscription, I signed up for FamilySearch, a similar site run by the Mormon Church, which is very big into genealogy. And for free! My very favorite price point! After putting in the information you know about your family, they make it very easy to trace your relatives back many generations. Sometimes I get e-mails from FamilySearch with interesting tidbits. Yesterday, I received one telling me to sign in to find out about my very famous relatives. And so I learned that I am related to Benjamin Franklin (1st cousin 9 times removed), Abraham Lincoln (6th cousin 5 times removed), George Washington (7th cousin, 6 times removed), and even Martha Washington (7th cousin, 6 times removed). I am also related to Franklin Roosevelt, Lucille Ball, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Princess Diana, and Muhammad Ali. Yes! Muhammad Ali! And they show you who your common ancestors were, usually a couple from around the 1600s or so, and display two side-by-side lineages leading from this couple directly to you and your famous relative. And what does this all mean? It means that there are millions of people out there who are very remotely related to each other. Not directly, of course, but I guess the point is that we are all more or less family. But very distantly. Which is very warm and fuzzy and all that, but does not help me identify photographs of my direct descendants that I have puzzled over for years. For example, I think but am not 100% sure that the man in the photograph on the left is Alexander Nelson, my great great grandfather, in front of his house in Clear Lake, Iowa.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiokD2M-erPxFvam0mrtdWwy8dkRCxLrGQrGiE83Syl6dVn44DdkxxdWwQJFfoI_sE7lyJs2yJ1slJexrenUB9wWKtPx_acsygtRB0vqOTVMjOTtWT_BqT_xq_m1ScLYExAxhyphenhyphenR7VCGZ2n_HILZWJYWrHCEg6fBmbf_n9qfCldl2DxcLtFL_XQ07PaB0MO0/s1769/Grandfather%20and%20Grandmother%20Hoyt%20II.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1378" data-original-width="1769" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiokD2M-erPxFvam0mrtdWwy8dkRCxLrGQrGiE83Syl6dVn44DdkxxdWwQJFfoI_sE7lyJs2yJ1slJexrenUB9wWKtPx_acsygtRB0vqOTVMjOTtWT_BqT_xq_m1ScLYExAxhyphenhyphenR7VCGZ2n_HILZWJYWrHCEg6fBmbf_n9qfCldl2DxcLtFL_XQ07PaB0MO0/w400-h311/Grandfather%20and%20Grandmother%20Hoyt%20II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Sadly, everyone who could tell me who all the people are in my old mystery photographs are dead. And so my advice to everyone out there is to make sure you sit your parents, grandparents and other relatives down in a room, against their will if necessary, and have them write down on the back who the hell is in each of those photographs, and the date they were taken, before it is too late. And why do I think the previous photograph was Alexander Nelson, my great great grandfather? Because there is also a photograph of my Grandfather and Grandmother Hoyt, as seen on the right, taken in front of what looks like the same house, and with the same blue tint, which I believe is called cyanotype photography, a 19th Century process. My Grandfather Hoyt was raised in Clear Lake, Iowa by his mother Sophie Nelson, after her husband Nelson S. Hoyt died at a young age. She remarried, but divorced her second husband, and so raised my grandfather and other children in her parent's home, which my grandfather and grandmother frequently visited from Chicago, where they had settled. A later photo showed my father as a little boy in front of that same house, and he told me it was taken in Clear Lake. As for the many, many other old photographs I have that are still unidentified, there is little hope of learning anything about them. Sad.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-27421059715934544312024-03-09T00:00:00.002-07:002024-03-09T00:36:44.277-07:00Sunset Bluff<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAKBWWY6cF7Ht9TsI9zwavqmB687wZL81wuvvuZe3jsxAYdUmZimR9xoyJHHGyxaZqhYbpftU3Nij3noXwKukAi0gSxYVoY1FlEEo8dWPijUM_FVlYL-0yYzFCDOXG4IZRG8V3O_H-lXusTrnpn5rVVZxtLtCVQL6DfoYokHRLD0ao-dexIka_g0k3Eiq/s1917/SunsetBluff.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAKBWWY6cF7Ht9TsI9zwavqmB687wZL81wuvvuZe3jsxAYdUmZimR9xoyJHHGyxaZqhYbpftU3Nij3noXwKukAi0gSxYVoY1FlEEo8dWPijUM_FVlYL-0yYzFCDOXG4IZRG8V3O_H-lXusTrnpn5rVVZxtLtCVQL6DfoYokHRLD0ao-dexIka_g0k3Eiq/w400-h323/SunsetBluff.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I just finished reading Sunset Bluff, the latest "Key West Capers" novel by Laurence Shames. Shames started his writing career as a journalist and also began writing non-fiction books, both under his own name and as a ghostwriter. In 1991, Boss of Bosses, which he wrote with two FBI agents, became a national bestseller and provided the means to buy a house in Key West, where he decided to do what he always wanted to do: write novels. He began with Florida Straits, which turned out to be a big hit, and led to 7 more of these comic novels about Key West. Then he and his wife moved to Ojai, California, where he tried his hand at scriptwriting, and since he was not living in Key West anymore and in touch with day-to-day life there, stopped writing the series for 12 years.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrRo_r-QI2l4jggI4-fmQSxO0X7-7DfoDUGsaOyoBb18kOle1kLH0P6oYYVlK8D7bs5yyBifeFs7NxXvzMp8GJuHKhqUv8nJMr8huq_-vPACi09WC8yrtlo9U87XV1XRJ-lV7CY6KT9wacejbGqbhTKtqiKKrM4S8DPGH1KOx5B3T8tUUSpM0M4n97xns/s1917/KeyWestBoatRide.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1381" data-original-width="1917" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrRo_r-QI2l4jggI4-fmQSxO0X7-7DfoDUGsaOyoBb18kOle1kLH0P6oYYVlK8D7bs5yyBifeFs7NxXvzMp8GJuHKhqUv8nJMr8huq_-vPACi09WC8yrtlo9U87XV1XRJ-lV7CY6KT9wacejbGqbhTKtqiKKrM4S8DPGH1KOx5B3T8tUUSpM0M4n97xns/w400-h289/KeyWestBoatRide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Then, wanting his books to remain in print, he republished them and made them available on Amazon in both print and digital formats. And to his surprise, he found people were still buying them. Since he really enjoyed writing these stories, he decided to continue the series, self-publishing them due to the new realities of the industry. He has now written 10 more "Key West Capers," the latest being Sunset Bluff, which finds two writers in a local Key West bar getting to talking and deciding to switch identities. One ghostwrites a mystery/adventure series of novels, and the other writes biographies of mob bosses. They are both bored with their work and think taking over each other's current project would be fun. Of course, if you are doing this when it involves a Mafia don, it could and does lead to trouble. And as usual, Bert the Shirt, an old, retired mafia guy who lives in Key West with his chihuahua, Nacho, has to step in to keep things from getting out of hand. These are really fun books to read, and I definitely recommend the series. And by the way, the photograph on the right is of my sister Susan, mother Mary, and father Nelson on a trip to Key West back in 1979, the last time I visited the place. I wonder if it has changed at all since then?</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-45445405112182502342024-03-08T00:00:00.003-07:002024-03-08T00:56:33.563-07:00Spring Training Continues At Camelback Ranch<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapj6-o0Rs_uzY2IUbT5wwWynjSLpV03ZitC2Qdf4B-9chTMD1EOakCzxh3adOuBUURdCngNffXi76TKvs6tvxmtrefkb23KEXEOBwtTqiZdenSugEib0Lg7MnrG3uRlLuTGGzadUIaYsQPJnEglWsmhtaJcABA9qGG1L_PGnPM0fCIrexPhiYFu0agy5z/s1917/WhiteSoxMarch2024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1917" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapj6-o0Rs_uzY2IUbT5wwWynjSLpV03ZitC2Qdf4B-9chTMD1EOakCzxh3adOuBUURdCngNffXi76TKvs6tvxmtrefkb23KEXEOBwtTqiZdenSugEib0Lg7MnrG3uRlLuTGGzadUIaYsQPJnEglWsmhtaJcABA9qGG1L_PGnPM0fCIrexPhiYFu0agy5z/w640-h360/WhiteSoxMarch2024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I watched a spring training game yesterday afternoon on MLB.com between my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, and the Milwaukee Brewers. It took place at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, and the fans were all bundled up against the cold as the game started after a 30-minute rain delay. The sun eventually returned, but the improved weather conditions did not help the Sox. They lost to the Brewers 8-2. However, at this point during the spring, teams are still putting in new pitchers almost every inning and fielding different position players to see who should make the club. In yesterday's game, Dylan Cease, the White Sox ace starter, gave up only 1 run in 3 innings of work, while relief pitcher Bryan Shaw gave up 6 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. As for the offense, the White Sox managed only 2 hits, although the day before against the Dodgers they had 11. Of course, since the regular season begins in less than three weeks, teams will soon begin making cuts and sending players to the minor league camps. And in another week or so, we will get a good idea of what the White Sox will look like in 2024. As of today, I'm afraid just thinking about it.<p></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-46129263198163107692024-03-07T00:00:00.029-07:002024-03-07T00:35:23.054-07:00The March Mutt Of The Month<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJtyAC8ZMXhiVos1z6LRk1Dr5IGAdp4ds8HSV9chIdaNDvTdpP91e6d8dapMyOwvmAGE8EB1LdlTJwKQKiiT74P0BKVS3DsBC13P3Pjj2xWh1aSCb82w2FN8oTyfeQ7RqVPtQabHRKKraOp2tXGC5p0PRdHpFtmHuKhsJM9QuXd9zIXrFSf1lzdonNOLL/s1917/TheMarchMuttoftheMonth.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJtyAC8ZMXhiVos1z6LRk1Dr5IGAdp4ds8HSV9chIdaNDvTdpP91e6d8dapMyOwvmAGE8EB1LdlTJwKQKiiT74P0BKVS3DsBC13P3Pjj2xWh1aSCb82w2FN8oTyfeQ7RqVPtQabHRKKraOp2tXGC5p0PRdHpFtmHuKhsJM9QuXd9zIXrFSf1lzdonNOLL/w400-h323/TheMarchMuttoftheMonth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I took the photograph above of the March Mutt of the Month this past week on West Pearl Street up in Boulder. Even on a windy, rather cool day, there were lots of people out and about, and as seen in the photo, that dog was quite willing to proudly pose for a portrait. Boulder is known as a place with a lot of free spirits, and I couldn't help thinking about that as I walked down the Pearl Street Mall. Every half block there were signs stating that dogs were not allowed on the mall, and yet it was filled with people walking along with their canines without a care in the world. Since Boulder is often described as "25 square miles surrounded by reality," this is not really a surprise. No wonder it has been named the happiest city in the U.S. by both National Geographic and The Today Show. Of course, not being able to afford living there kind of makes me unhappy, so I guess it is all just a zero sum game. Bummer.<p></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-17295289133181438302024-03-06T00:00:00.006-07:002024-03-06T01:00:51.098-07:00Is There A Ghost Of A Chance This Is All True?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItJjMKSYCpDysk91gsUZv2YNjwwhrCt19IPx4S4Nap3UlNS_vRPZ2ZAZQYz4uD_ErgApSu7ABVhbSq-2VZSUL2X4YYWsqIBc8ucKktyuXTPVFvtDWyS910qht8yiO-lYmD0TzynqU-e50_zoiokgnkcQL3Vw_OnHwy8NLXeDBy_Fj92YGiX9VBAloQkiu/s1917/TheNorman.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItJjMKSYCpDysk91gsUZv2YNjwwhrCt19IPx4S4Nap3UlNS_vRPZ2ZAZQYz4uD_ErgApSu7ABVhbSq-2VZSUL2X4YYWsqIBc8ucKktyuXTPVFvtDWyS910qht8yiO-lYmD0TzynqU-e50_zoiokgnkcQL3Vw_OnHwy8NLXeDBy_Fj92YGiX9VBAloQkiu/w400-h323/TheNorman.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>A while back I featured a photograph of The Norman, an elegant apartment building built in 1924 and located across the street from the Denver Country Club. I have driven past this place many times, and to me it looks like it would be the perfect place to film a remake of Rosemary's Baby. It just seems like a place where Satanists would hold their rituals, and the sound of chanting could be heard coming from somewhere in the building late at night. Of course, I am not saying there are Satanists performing their rituals there, but then again, I can't say for sure they are not. I took another photograph of the building recently, as seen on the left, and then did an internet search to see if there were any reports of ghosts in the building. And there was not a single mention of paranormal activity. Which makes sense, of course. I imagine any ghosts would be frightened off by those Satanists.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCLlHkjhwOPxsJSaLPXacbJdV34AaiDs_7HJvUIpVElhdf1tm3JWfCaa0T76uiyDhHvDaM0qi1Z1K3Tk-TJxLbtLyqfLQg7j4VxTzQtbDZuudiB8Tt2_i8UHXBOFLLHn1WRuaANbPU2vzb_LGBkqvJVZo6pW2Rj14XpTu1jj4qc_QUbUYZkrtIKYsEn-h/s1917/GrosvenorArmsI.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCLlHkjhwOPxsJSaLPXacbJdV34AaiDs_7HJvUIpVElhdf1tm3JWfCaa0T76uiyDhHvDaM0qi1Z1K3Tk-TJxLbtLyqfLQg7j4VxTzQtbDZuudiB8Tt2_i8UHXBOFLLHn1WRuaANbPU2vzb_LGBkqvJVZo6pW2Rj14XpTu1jj4qc_QUbUYZkrtIKYsEn-h/w400-h323/GrosvenorArmsI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly enough, when I was searching for information about ghosts in The Norman, the Grosvenor Arms Apartments came up. It is still another of those elegant old apartment buildings, built in 1931 at the corner of 16th and Logan Streets, very close to downtown Denver and seen in the photograph on the right. To me this apartment building doesn't look haunted, but there are lots of stories online about various paranormal incidents there, including a man dressed in a dark suit and a fedora, staring out of a mirror in the lobby, the ghostly presence of a woman wearing a long skirt in the hallway outside the 8th floor laundry room, a feeling of a presence among the crypt-like, dimly lit, always chilly storage lockers, and the experience of elevator users who press the button for the 5th floor and are taken to the 8th, home of that ghostly young woman, before descending down to 5. On the other hand, the current manager has been there for 25 years and has never seen anything strange happen there. Or so he says.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxXVwv7qAbjizCbfBeN-WOKgsit2HpQroXtErJ8MsiIwb2_eG1RpocjWUvYQ7gHdJcjla8m5lSFd9BjcpLBYZVqiists6PfrMWviDHUO_v_mC9RPtcaZzGRbfEsVVd3Vmzx8VhcvIpAE-ouxUOuZi_k3XR2l75VsGasEFi3vjFmugyPqRY4WjmVTqGnkv/s1917/PattersonInn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxXVwv7qAbjizCbfBeN-WOKgsit2HpQroXtErJ8MsiIwb2_eG1RpocjWUvYQ7gHdJcjla8m5lSFd9BjcpLBYZVqiists6PfrMWviDHUO_v_mC9RPtcaZzGRbfEsVVd3Vmzx8VhcvIpAE-ouxUOuZi_k3XR2l75VsGasEFi3vjFmugyPqRY4WjmVTqGnkv/w400-h323/PattersonInn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Although I have never seen or felt the presence of a ghost, I have to admit that all you have to do is look at the Patterson Inn, seen in the photograph on the left, and know it must be haunted. It just has that look about it. It was built by Thomas Croke back in 1891, and he only lived there for 6 months before selling it, the assumption being the place was cursed. He sold it to a man named Thomas Patterson, who along with his wife Kate are reputed to be among the 12 spirits who haunt the place. Each of those spirits occupy a different part of the house. Thomas hangs out in the pub, which used to be his study, while his wife Kate spends her time in the Biltmore room, turning the lights on and off when unmarried couples stay there. In the basement, a mother and her child can sometimes be heard crying, and two dogs who were locked in a second-story room jumped out the window to their deaths trying to flee the building. Do they also haunt the place? After being an apartment building for a number of years, and having a hard time renting the units out due to all those stories, the place was turned into a bed and breakfast, and now capitalizes on its reputation as a haunted hotel. I suspect they must even charge more for the most haunted rooms. Be sure to stay there the next time you are in Denver. Enjoy!</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-40540810268600733162024-03-05T00:00:00.029-07:002024-03-05T01:03:40.439-07:00A Rino Sighting!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fPZ9f2gIpf30QkqM3Ey0zYHQJdr57eHj5UbWnwDLEcT7dqENr3M_UIMOsafmew6pJG8bwFqxlfgg_gQ_53uByKimIwUXhMFogEgso_5v849O9sCz6LXuQgVU-2OL9wwy395mBcxFlhCZNGRT8Zt9KtBv8FI-pv8MEejUKXLvq5s_oncUbUf4O7QcrUUS/s1917/RinoSighting.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fPZ9f2gIpf30QkqM3Ey0zYHQJdr57eHj5UbWnwDLEcT7dqENr3M_UIMOsafmew6pJG8bwFqxlfgg_gQ_53uByKimIwUXhMFogEgso_5v849O9sCz6LXuQgVU-2OL9wwy395mBcxFlhCZNGRT8Zt9KtBv8FI-pv8MEejUKXLvq5s_oncUbUf4O7QcrUUS/w400-h323/RinoSighting.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>I spotted the rhino in the photograph on the left the other day on a wall next to the RiNo Beer Garden, located in Denver's River North Arts District (RiNo for short). I know this is supposed to be the hippest neighborhood in Denver, but to me it seems a strange place. It is divided into two distinct districts by railroad tracks. The side between those railroad tracks and the Platte River is centered around Brighton Boulevard, and is filled with high-rise apartments, a food hall, hotels, and a number of brewpubs. But there are still enough vacant lots and industrial buildings to discourage people from walking through the area. The other district is centered around North Larimer Street, which has many fine Victorian buildings and lots of restaurants, brewpubs, and shops, as well as the historic Five Points neighborhood to the east. But to the west, the new apartment buildings and breweries are surrounded by still operating factories, boarded up warehouses, and large fenced off lots waiting for future development. The building in the background of the photograph, by the way, is One River North.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLaecKeqo8oyOAsVnTELa568W68nJT2pfXTJg2MHC2Ey7zdJld6V762Cpcow7hbSTnrnZd8-0QECsupGVxgbmJi-lucNVyCpsZRlAiflf2tayXJhrluBT6L3kRQNmDqZ8lnDqKWTx27q5Rq9VvkbgCKHNUdMwsXdtgw6nFSgsnnxjRrKdazpZEHVOCt1w_/s1917/OneRiverNorth.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1543" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLaecKeqo8oyOAsVnTELa568W68nJT2pfXTJg2MHC2Ey7zdJld6V762Cpcow7hbSTnrnZd8-0QECsupGVxgbmJi-lucNVyCpsZRlAiflf2tayXJhrluBT6L3kRQNmDqZ8lnDqKWTx27q5Rq9VvkbgCKHNUdMwsXdtgw6nFSgsnnxjRrKdazpZEHVOCt1w_/w323-h400/OneRiverNorth.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>One River North is currently under construction, and will feature a large gash running from the 6th to the 16th floor. Floors 6 through 9 will have outdoor, trail-like walkways, a flowing creek, and lots of plants. Floors 9 to the roof of the 16-story building will feature a vertical "slot canyon," with the rooftop hosting trees and a pool. The developer believes this building will become the symbol of Denver, kind of like the Empire State Building in New York or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Yeah, right. We will see how that goes. Right now, the building looks just plain ugly to me, much like RiNo itself. And how much will it cost to live there? A one-bedroom will average $3,400 per month. I hope whoever rents one of those units has a lot of roommates to split the rent with. Maybe they can get quantity discounts on sleeping bags they can use out on those trail-like walkways.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-18677317425053672752024-03-04T00:00:00.003-07:002024-03-04T00:37:12.759-07:00Fascinating Facts From Rick Steves' Europe Page-A-Day Desk Calendar<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsSRjyeoGIhJET0bqD9q-9WcUGGvYw0XY20Cd3DWLmwetfXLmtbjKQEUNeYdC_GksnrSzlISjITZ1GgV6UVfM1v56qoIzFA3WBGVY-bhZE3EkJdOuA1guL1EYq9LCepYqD7Au9GV4qbvzmckxiZVoSRV7MWaT_HEGuujd8M4kOI4OfqJFWHARYpLO7L9RV/s1917/RickStevesEuropePageADayCalendar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1917" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsSRjyeoGIhJET0bqD9q-9WcUGGvYw0XY20Cd3DWLmwetfXLmtbjKQEUNeYdC_GksnrSzlISjITZ1GgV6UVfM1v56qoIzFA3WBGVY-bhZE3EkJdOuA1guL1EYq9LCepYqD7Au9GV4qbvzmckxiZVoSRV7MWaT_HEGuujd8M4kOI4OfqJFWHARYpLO7L9RV/w400-h400/RickStevesEuropePageADayCalendar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I have Rick Steves' Europe 2024 Page-A-Day Desk Calendar on my kitchen counter, and in addition to information on interesting European travel destinations, it also sometimes includes some very fascinating tidbits. For example, the March 1st entry features a statue of George Salmon in front of Dublin's Trinity College. According to Rick, he was the provost there back in the 1890s and said that women would be admitted to Trinity College over his dead body. And days after his death in 1904, that is what happened. And although Rick Steves didn't mention this, I assume Trinity College must have had Salmon's body embalmed, placed across the entrance to the college, and then had the new female students step over him as part of the admissions process. Let's face it - the Irish are weird. You only have to wander around town on St. Patrick's Day to know that. And I am sure that after that solemn ritual, they gave Salmon a nice wake and respectable burial. No harm, no foul.<p></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-21688969940618171212024-03-03T00:00:00.010-07:002024-03-03T00:00:00.238-07:00The Treasure Coast Brightline Station Will Be Located In - Get Ready For It - Stuart!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl-rcxvgfzCHoZGvdXNWsv8PRwz354zuhrN2dvgpRltyC_BfXzJLScTMQXQ3c_JgVDaqXXGe0DxaAIZDARllZnFfmPF3fyfJwUH15122pNoBiXtz5OLkbSG2P2HDXu9ympPPLMiCbC3D_2DZovgQ0WLjKPJ2DCcZanbxa__H3MU-pE4u3pR8coWuTr_kr5/s1917/DowntownStuart.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1449" data-original-width="1917" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl-rcxvgfzCHoZGvdXNWsv8PRwz354zuhrN2dvgpRltyC_BfXzJLScTMQXQ3c_JgVDaqXXGe0DxaAIZDARllZnFfmPF3fyfJwUH15122pNoBiXtz5OLkbSG2P2HDXu9ympPPLMiCbC3D_2DZovgQ0WLjKPJ2DCcZanbxa__H3MU-pE4u3pR8coWuTr_kr5/w400-h303/DowntownStuart.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>To everyone's surprise, the new Brightline train station serving Florida's "Treasure Coast" will be located in none other than Stuart, where my sister Susan and I own a condo that we inherited from our mother Mary. Brightline recently started high-speed rail service between Miami and Orlando and promised to put a station between West Palm Beach and Orlando within 4 years. Everyone was convinced that station would be located in Fort Pierce, which would be more centrally located, but Brightline chose Stuart instead. A columnist for the Stuart News believes that was because Stuart is a wealthier community than Fort Pierce, and people there will be much more likely to purchase those very costly tickets. My theory is that Brightline intends to add a second station farther north at a later date. In any case, the station will be located several blocks to the east of the downtown area, behind the Martin County Courthouse. I myself do not have a photograph of that location, since it is just an empty parking lot, but I did take a "selfie" years ago of myself, as seen on the left, in front of Luna, a pizza and pasta restaurant in Old Town Stuart, which is just across the street from the railroad tracks those 110 mile-per-hour trains traverse.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipuzQqNR4DMvvkgDYp4PD9kwvjtD631JDF5sE2GQeWv7CM6utkUbauMnm5F-ZzgQA0f-7cofgFW3p8-5I4q__Q4Bbfx4B1YnMGIigYr2H6v4_YAsZ6A5KP1xA4e0YX-29Q1xvZKAySZtFI-wKFePiHqH_CCtAnPogaAswZ78Gw2i9WZDHQ7jUoNBtPrDRU/s1917/BocaOct1994Revised.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1373" data-original-width="1917" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipuzQqNR4DMvvkgDYp4PD9kwvjtD631JDF5sE2GQeWv7CM6utkUbauMnm5F-ZzgQA0f-7cofgFW3p8-5I4q__Q4Bbfx4B1YnMGIigYr2H6v4_YAsZ6A5KP1xA4e0YX-29Q1xvZKAySZtFI-wKFePiHqH_CCtAnPogaAswZ78Gw2i9WZDHQ7jUoNBtPrDRU/w400-h286/BocaOct1994Revised.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>One good thing about a station in Stuart is that those trains will have to slow down when they reach the city limits, which will make crossing those tracks far less dangerous. Ever since train service began, some people have been trying to beat the train across the tracks, not familiar with how fast a 110 mile-per-hour train can travel, sometimes with disastrous results. The bad thing about the decision is that a lot of people who live in Vero Beach and points north say it will be too far a drive to get to the station. As for Susan and me, it will mean we can take the light rail train to the airport in Denver, fly to Florida, take the Brightline train to Stuart, and get off only a mile or so from our condo. And so to hell with all those people from Vero Beach. In any case, the article in the Stuart News says that the station in Stuart will be very similar to the one in Boca Raton, located just across from a shopping district called Mizner Park, which Susan and I and our mother visited a number of times. This brought back memories and also a search for the photograph seen on the right, which I took at Mizner Park back in October of 1994. That is another trip that can soon (in 4 years or so) be taken via Brightline, still another experience that all those complainers in Vero Beach will miss out on. Tough.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-47582224313663745892024-03-02T00:00:00.001-07:002024-03-02T00:00:00.245-07:00A Late Lunch With Stuart At Old Chicago<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnY5QhE58uS1H5Mp4VXk9K1-X_1XwkjQhq3CPxdAz9eR9EI9WwLlJTjSM6uTMeEVL6vnqKBR7avFiHTUM6DynVar0wxryc4aiO06kmM5diTesjc_w8HdYimlBw1NfkGgSZkaiHU1GuuSkiUKF2kud0CGoOQ0u2M6ZfuPToA4v2D__X2kFeZSBens1l2dC/s1917/StuartFeb2024I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnY5QhE58uS1H5Mp4VXk9K1-X_1XwkjQhq3CPxdAz9eR9EI9WwLlJTjSM6uTMeEVL6vnqKBR7avFiHTUM6DynVar0wxryc4aiO06kmM5diTesjc_w8HdYimlBw1NfkGgSZkaiHU1GuuSkiUKF2kud0CGoOQ0u2M6ZfuPToA4v2D__X2kFeZSBens1l2dC/w400-h323/StuartFeb2024I.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I had a late lunch this past Wednesday afternoon with my friend Stuart, seen in the photograph above, at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom in Lakewood, Colorado. Lakewood is a community whose heart and soul revolves around West Colfax Avenue, once called "America's longest, wickedest street" by Hugh Hefner and also one of its ugliest. But happily, inside Old Chicago, a spring training game was on the television, reminding us of the baseball season to come. Stuart is originally from the North Side of Chicago, and a Cubs fan, and was happy to hear that the Cub's star player, Cody Bellinger, has re-signed with the team, and is now at their training camp in Mesa, Arizona. He initially decided to become a free agent after having a great comeback season last year, but evidently a great comeback year with the Cubs did not produce a lot of offers from other teams. And so it will be back to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field this summer. I myself, as regular blog readers know, am originally from the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago and a White Sox fan. Stuart is still pretty iffy about the Cubs chances of making the playoffs this year. They are, after all, the Cubs, even with new hotshot manager Craig Counsel. And after the trainwreck that was the White Sox season last year, I am not buying World Series tickets anytime soon. As for our adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, nobody even remotely believes they will be anything but horrible. But it is spring training after all, and miracles can happen. Right? Right?<p></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-11772203789245925132024-03-01T00:00:00.003-07:002024-03-01T01:42:53.467-07:00C.J. Box Makes An Appearance In Lone Tree!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTwKrCjy-y8N1aE6Ibr9odUCapv2p8xhm7fJ-RBowpRHXQCaeosQ_WVU8UhAY8yhOuxu-jssdcvLnZgVkDl6AG9v2eNE_F5o1LCyzBzvo__A3_g67aOLz9OyzzXUeC49ofQsKoxH7Ebp_Vm5RKO3u1gzJPmDQYtZMCAbmJuyIJW4flpjRvN6sBw8_VymjA/s1917/CJBoxFeb2024.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTwKrCjy-y8N1aE6Ibr9odUCapv2p8xhm7fJ-RBowpRHXQCaeosQ_WVU8UhAY8yhOuxu-jssdcvLnZgVkDl6AG9v2eNE_F5o1LCyzBzvo__A3_g67aOLz9OyzzXUeC49ofQsKoxH7Ebp_Vm5RKO3u1gzJPmDQYtZMCAbmJuyIJW4flpjRvN6sBw8_VymjA/w400-h323/CJBoxFeb2024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>C.J. Box read from and discussed Three-Inch Teeth, his latest Joe Pickett novel, yesterday evening at the Douglas County School District Legacy Campus, located in Lone Tree, Colorado. Afterwards, he answered questions from the audience and then signed copies of his book. This was a sold-out event, and so it was a long line to get an autograph, but nobody seemed to mind. Box is very popular here in Denver, not to mention throughout the rest of the country. The book came out this past Tuesday, and Box said the reviews were good and Three-Inch Teeth might very well be his best-selling book ever. Last year, when promoting Storm Watch, his previous Joe Pickett novel, the event was moderated by a KOA radio host, and to me it seemed like Box was not able to interact nearly as much with the audience. This time, I am happy to say, it was back to the traditional format.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3NQwZ3Ud6h5KOIgnN9zTCsKLm2cdyUf9AwHQ-JjRjbji-W4OoXGl6T44WsKKWO9fTdCR1It3wPybMD2roR6FrqhrD1ipv7ItZvQZ4oVsUfvdT-ZZUMzX5CoN4bocw99dou9Hmr35ItUDvV2rhaXJ8U3SvEFHWGsGcV2YZkUqOr-WVVy_T-PVtxx466xI5/s1917/CJBoxFeb2024II.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1543" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3NQwZ3Ud6h5KOIgnN9zTCsKLm2cdyUf9AwHQ-JjRjbji-W4OoXGl6T44WsKKWO9fTdCR1It3wPybMD2roR6FrqhrD1ipv7ItZvQZ4oVsUfvdT-ZZUMzX5CoN4bocw99dou9Hmr35ItUDvV2rhaXJ8U3SvEFHWGsGcV2YZkUqOr-WVVy_T-PVtxx466xI5/w323-h400/CJBoxFeb2024II.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In this latest book, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett has to deal with a rogue grizzly bear going on a deadly rampage in his district, while at the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison and has vowed revenge on six people, including both Joe and his friend Nate Romanowski. It was a very pleasant evening, and I enjoyed hearing Box talk about the book and discuss his writing and upcoming projects. Of course, these days, instead of holding author signings at bookstores like the Tattered Cover here in Denver, which could be attended for free on the spur of the moment, popular authors now tend to speak at ticketed events in auditoriums such as in Lone Tree, sponsored by a bookstore, or as in this case, the Douglas County Library. I know from working at the Tattered Cover Bookstore as the bookkeeper years ago that events such as these, with a guaranteed sale of the books in advance, really help the store's bottom line and allow them to compete against Amazon. And so, if this is what they have to do to compete, more power to them.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-73367410568482738012024-02-29T00:00:00.002-07:002024-02-29T00:37:43.010-07:00Tom Skilling Retires!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnj6oeMa-BlBTRZE2nZDv-XxphnbNm-Vd8yYgvMRg4CRXcs_GZQw_M0XfJAI_dgBZJjoOW5hnCXHqfXGhvF-jvL-8T5thfwcTXYkl_5e8suor1ejRmadrcZchra8-Yed0QG57YWtScgTYjvgKpRzgq60PRh58HoKhGahcnsh_6KcezkuR2SxZXNBo1z0nx/s1917/TomSkillingRetires.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1917" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnj6oeMa-BlBTRZE2nZDv-XxphnbNm-Vd8yYgvMRg4CRXcs_GZQw_M0XfJAI_dgBZJjoOW5hnCXHqfXGhvF-jvL-8T5thfwcTXYkl_5e8suor1ejRmadrcZchra8-Yed0QG57YWtScgTYjvgKpRzgq60PRh58HoKhGahcnsh_6KcezkuR2SxZXNBo1z0nx/w640-h368/TomSkillingRetires.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Yesterday was Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling's last day at WGN Channel 9 in Chicago, retiring after 45 years. He started at the station back in 1978, when I was still living in Chicago, and thanks to the advent of cable television and WGN becoming what was then known as a Superstation, I was still able to continue watching the WGN News at 9 and Tom Skilling, not to mention all the White Sox and Cubs games, after I moved to Denver. Sadly, the days of WGN as a Superstation ended, as did baseball games on over-the-air television, but due to the rise of the internet, I have been able to continue watching the WGN news and Skilling's weather forecasts, as well as the White Sox and Cubs broadcasts (for a small fortune, I might add) on MLB.com. In any case, Tom will be missed, but he is, after all, pretty damn old (one year older than me, actually) and deserves to finally get a bit of leisure time. Have a happy retirement Tom!<p></p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-42857647945024673402024-02-28T00:00:00.002-07:002024-02-28T00:32:10.715-07:00Late Winter At The Zoo Part II<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vpzFXExwXE5Z0N0nMgNYniLVE1gLxHb1wL9R5h5i1rrzijRK0anrSpIvzEaY_7-DDhJUH_IbQvf4NxCGbtBcLOjfAiti4spyltvg7aTahHNbqNHMNq7JGWUsIAozd5hg43TlKXaBfa77yHepy65b2BOg9Q_5AiUTOn3yk5kOxqOB6PL8PMBhpDgwDeJm/s1917/DenverZooFeb2024VI.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vpzFXExwXE5Z0N0nMgNYniLVE1gLxHb1wL9R5h5i1rrzijRK0anrSpIvzEaY_7-DDhJUH_IbQvf4NxCGbtBcLOjfAiti4spyltvg7aTahHNbqNHMNq7JGWUsIAozd5hg43TlKXaBfa77yHepy65b2BOg9Q_5AiUTOn3yk5kOxqOB6PL8PMBhpDgwDeJm/w400-h323/DenverZooFeb2024VI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I went to the Denver Zoo Monday afternoon to take a few photographs, and was hoping to get a snapshot of Siska, the baby orangutan born to mother Eirina and father Berani. I was not able to get a decent shot the last time I was there, and this time I only got a side view, as seen in the photograph on the left. Siska is now 6 months old, and yet still, its mother holds her in her arms 24/7, unlike the mother of the new orangutan baby, who I once saw hold out her newborn in front of zoo visitors for everyone to see. Now THAT is a proud mother. As for Siska, it took until the end of December for zoo caretakers to get close enough to get a hair sample for a paternity test. Evidently, there were two male orangutans who could have been the father, and it was none other than talk show host Maury Povich who announced the results of that test. Since he is involved, I imagine that there are probably lawsuits and controversies involved in all of this. Even orangutans have complicated lives these days.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtAqm-sX2zUOTtfTQ2peDo8Iim_y5q8cARObXIu-XEhW9j1TxQhaq_L56j_irG0oLle0X1ahNSoxPd5lzz0Bsu2i50-rqJ59Of0O5qmoIvePDKmDprXKseT9NX7ky5kZnrOEm-3dlsm7LOhC03PHCczRsGIanqbf0CrDUerX9owkYUUyBaKnXvULnBlpz/s1917/DenverZooFeb2024IV.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtAqm-sX2zUOTtfTQ2peDo8Iim_y5q8cARObXIu-XEhW9j1TxQhaq_L56j_irG0oLle0X1ahNSoxPd5lzz0Bsu2i50-rqJ59Of0O5qmoIvePDKmDprXKseT9NX7ky5kZnrOEm-3dlsm7LOhC03PHCczRsGIanqbf0CrDUerX9owkYUUyBaKnXvULnBlpz/w400-h323/DenverZooFeb2024IV.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>As for the father, Berani, I took the photograph of him on the right hanging out in a hammock with who I assume is Cerah, now 5 years old and also fathered by Berani. Sadly, Cerah's mother died soon after she was born, and Berani took over the child raising duties, to the surprise of everyone, especially zoo caretakers, since this is unheard of in the wild. That is probably why she likes to hang out with her dad so much. In any case, it was a fun day at the zoo, sunny with temperatures in the 60s, although with a bit of wind. Yesterday, of course, there was a morning snowstorm, and it was cold as hell, so I believe all the orangutans were inside the ape house, keeping warm and watching Animal Planet on cable television. Do you think living at the zoo has spoiled these creatures? Nah. No way.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-4936002030036014222024-02-27T00:00:00.004-07:002024-02-27T01:09:56.825-07:00Late Winter At The Zoo<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGcPb304UKvmaODleYw32SbPI68UEtjOmyDUPdRZAj2AQ2tB_D0E-5nWTRZetw62bXuxsCH3rQ2XklBwLlEIeT6nmtqOps9rESMALBD3n7yppGp5xo3mHX3DIcroyDup7DRNeJur9kOpsaI-rhBtIXfqobj__ZmsjnhjujB2kaTvtWnxPNqE4_QpfttSWk/s1917/DenverZooFeb2024II.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1543" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGcPb304UKvmaODleYw32SbPI68UEtjOmyDUPdRZAj2AQ2tB_D0E-5nWTRZetw62bXuxsCH3rQ2XklBwLlEIeT6nmtqOps9rESMALBD3n7yppGp5xo3mHX3DIcroyDup7DRNeJur9kOpsaI-rhBtIXfqobj__ZmsjnhjujB2kaTvtWnxPNqE4_QpfttSWk/w323-h400/DenverZooFeb2024II.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It was sunny and 65 degrees yesterday afternoon, and so I decided to head to the Denver Zoo to take a few photographs. The four bachelor lions were in the small compound at the back of Predator Ridge, where I took the photo on the left. That lion was looking me straight in the eye, but seemed to be licking its lips, which was a bit disconcerting. I hope they are still feeding these creatures. I know it costs a lot, but when the lions start drooling over zoo visitors, one has to wonder. After all, they have signs up all over the zoo stating that it takes 34 million dollars a year, or some such figure, to feed these animals. Which, lets face it, is a lot.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqKFMeZGF4UtotNXWfHnky_4RXkHHYQz3g0INmrgX6ZDhi2908mNDi7t374rHdXa-8OAj0rXdOS_BZOXFBqepg8DhelFtoN0mXGoZN52Kj1Q8J9YNfn-JzKO_3uLImSM3i2Kj-h_WRVHT118NLvLGJUCVOYjSr414qJ0xmvrQOLiUfYnj26nldcyr1xhFl/s1917/DenverZooFeb2024IB.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqKFMeZGF4UtotNXWfHnky_4RXkHHYQz3g0INmrgX6ZDhi2908mNDi7t374rHdXa-8OAj0rXdOS_BZOXFBqepg8DhelFtoN0mXGoZN52Kj1Q8J9YNfn-JzKO_3uLImSM3i2Kj-h_WRVHT118NLvLGJUCVOYjSr414qJ0xmvrQOLiUfYnj26nldcyr1xhFl/w400-h323/DenverZooFeb2024IB.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The tiger in the photograph on the right was pacing back and forth in its compound when I first arrived, but after coming back from checking out the other tiger next door, it was up on the catwalk surveying the zoo grounds, as seen in the photo on the right. The zoo recently welcomed Viktor, a 12-year-old Amur tiger from a zoo in North Dakota, after his incessant whining about the cold up there, and zoo officials hope it will mate with Nikita, a 13-year old female Amur tiger, producing cubs to help the species survive, and also bring crowds, and big bucks, to the zoo, hopefully earning enough to feed that damn lion and keep it from dreaming of having zoo visitors for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And no, I do not know if the lion in the photograph is Viktor or Nikita. Back when I was growing up in the South Side Brainerd of Chicago, we seldom saw tigers running around, and if we did, checking to see if it was male or female was often a very dangerous thing to do.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dZLi2FYeXQ_WdiJeGrgCmapw9y_VIA6Q8qa3vl4P5ucBwRLxgK-DdZ0UXsEYwNs4alV7Ma48rKPELN3l8tPR6rCo3JivUa0IkwIQKenTraJN3O_0DS0u_JWtLBAk6ASTlYHrFqTpWItOxRtPsSWFUvGtf1Huzrx-jo81bSeiXPbWCRoyNzz1-QkRi77i/s1917/DenverZooFeb2024III.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1917" data-original-width="1543" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dZLi2FYeXQ_WdiJeGrgCmapw9y_VIA6Q8qa3vl4P5ucBwRLxgK-DdZ0UXsEYwNs4alV7Ma48rKPELN3l8tPR6rCo3JivUa0IkwIQKenTraJN3O_0DS0u_JWtLBAk6ASTlYHrFqTpWItOxRtPsSWFUvGtf1Huzrx-jo81bSeiXPbWCRoyNzz1-QkRi77i/w323-h400/DenverZooFeb2024III.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The monkey in the photograph on the left did not seem too dangerous, but did not look too friendly, either. Many of these creatures, serving life sentences without having committed a crime, seem to blame zoo visitors for their incarceration. I myself would be more than happy to see all these animals roam the length and breath of the zoo grounds at will. It could be one giant petting zoo. Of course, species that would tend to eat one other would have to be released on alternate days. And, of course, everyone would have to sign a waiver to not hold the zoo responsible if they themselves happened to be eaten. But that would be a small price to pay for a once in a lifetime experience. More cautious visitors could be driven around in golf carts, but then, of course, they would not experience the true wildlife experience. Face it - I really should be in charge of the Denver Zoo, right? I will send my resume to them today.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-7813569757311892792024-02-26T00:00:00.009-07:002024-02-26T00:56:06.526-07:00A Tattered Cover Bookstore Update<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9kM2e6FlpvCGVqD8WBzze-LyeSIWuALcbEtf5ibBy_-6YtYeqVqFsDhTSs_502UtQQFSGV9IvaXxFGbkghYxgBMjiAjm6qZj5G3sh8cii01lPx6OSsntECDV5kdJWStuEPDfHThZNH-fvx3Jq6XdpEcwOJTskQM6wpPCLKDC0GEU-rJL8uoqDDMH893Ur/s1917/TatteredCoverAlleyIV.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1449" data-original-width="1917" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9kM2e6FlpvCGVqD8WBzze-LyeSIWuALcbEtf5ibBy_-6YtYeqVqFsDhTSs_502UtQQFSGV9IvaXxFGbkghYxgBMjiAjm6qZj5G3sh8cii01lPx6OSsntECDV5kdJWStuEPDfHThZNH-fvx3Jq6XdpEcwOJTskQM6wpPCLKDC0GEU-rJL8uoqDDMH893Ur/w400-h303/TatteredCoverAlleyIV.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I ran across some photographs the other day of Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore that I took back when I worked there as the bookkeeper, including the one on the left I snapped out the window of the hallway that led to the event space at the chain's Lower Downtown (LoDo) location. That was back when the store was in a building on the 16th Street Mall and contained three stories worth of books. The rent and maintenance at that location was high even back then, and when the TC faced still another rent increase, the new owners, who took over from Joyce Meskis - the founder of the chain, who sold it due to health issues - closed the store and moved to a new location in nearby McGregor Square. Meskis faced a similar problem with the Highlands Ranch store years before. However, she made a deal with the landlord to keep the rent the same, and agreed to move to a new location once they found a new tenant, which was a win-win for all. It is a shame those new owners did not suggest the same deal to the landlord of the LoDo store, which is still vacant three years later.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQIfXMnzt2m7F4VcOuHEsrmJNrfuSROpRO397274464zbpE7fNhODJmbGCfRApCpa32_AhX1AjKG12LcI6dKMyi4HVjF8jusLij1LZ68LRgXkI3v3C-v2-TCrl2TmEqcGQqrXpg35If0HwIU2-78-TvSh_yhXkA6owdeuiM8vA1Wpg0MCYMT4-bB04XtV/s1917/TatteredCoverII.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1290" data-original-width="1917" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQIfXMnzt2m7F4VcOuHEsrmJNrfuSROpRO397274464zbpE7fNhODJmbGCfRApCpa32_AhX1AjKG12LcI6dKMyi4HVjF8jusLij1LZ68LRgXkI3v3C-v2-TCrl2TmEqcGQqrXpg35If0HwIU2-78-TvSh_yhXkA6owdeuiM8vA1Wpg0MCYMT4-bB04XtV/w400-h269/TatteredCoverII.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>The husband-and-wife team who purchased the chain from Joyce Meskis, facing bankruptcy after the pandemic, sold to an investor group, which filed for Chapter 11 in October of 2023. That group had tried to increase revenue by opening stores in Westminster and Colorado Springs, which merely increased the chain's debt, and helped lead to the Chapter 11 filing. In conjunction with that, the McGregor Square, Westminster, and Colorado Springs locations were closed. At the time of the Chapter 11 filing, it was reported the store owed 2.2 million in debts. but last month, new Tattered Cover bankruptcy proceedings showed that they actually owe $820,000 in secured and 3.2 million in unsecured claims. The TC also asked for a month's extension to file their proposed bankruptcy plan. Just last week, according to the Denver Business Journal, the TC asked the court for another extension. And will they survive? It will be hard, as the 2 delays in writing that bankruptcy plan show. And I am afraid the Tattered Cover will never be the same as it used to be, years ago, when their four-story Cherry Creek flagship store was considered the best bookstore in the country, and the three-story LoDo store, seen in the photograph on the right, was not far behind. Nonetheless, all of Denver is pulling for them.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-83848190506898193782024-02-25T00:00:00.002-07:002024-02-25T00:42:39.568-07:00Baseball Is Back! Spring Training Games Have Begun!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBynSElIz2Id5dM_pvymTuo5KZFobQCSQlx8eb3D_CexPRCk9j_XvnoPUHbWfWrw3Cowolo2crelBFNTXGc1Da5IUWpW_jg2nn1p8hlLHExvH2uc9MOp9MbwMx0-qB1Hs2IITFnGWUIOk416J9k_YqA-s2_PBzx_-qjBhIQQ7voFFJFvgsrj0njqQ4Tt5x/s1917/SpringTraining2024I.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1328" data-original-width="1917" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBynSElIz2Id5dM_pvymTuo5KZFobQCSQlx8eb3D_CexPRCk9j_XvnoPUHbWfWrw3Cowolo2crelBFNTXGc1Da5IUWpW_jg2nn1p8hlLHExvH2uc9MOp9MbwMx0-qB1Hs2IITFnGWUIOk416J9k_YqA-s2_PBzx_-qjBhIQQ7voFFJFvgsrj0njqQ4Tt5x/w400-h278/SpringTraining2024I.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Baseball spring training games began this past Friday in Florida and Arizona. I was not able to watch the first spring training game between my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, and their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, live, but through the magic of MLB.com was able to watch a rebroadcast of it Friday night. The drawback is that unless you preset your preferences, you see the final score as you log on, and so I immediately knew that the Cubs had beaten the White Sox 8-1. Great - another long season to look forward to. But when I began to watch the game, it turned out that a single pitcher gave up 6 runs in the top of the first inning, and so nothing to worry about. Yet. The White Sox have almost 70 players in camp and are starting spring training by putting in a new pitcher each inning to see what they can do. And so the final score does not really matter. Which is why I am not excited that my adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, coming off their worst season ever, have won 2 of their first 3 spring training games. Big deal.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7mB_FHkdel67Ziqju8CwJw3YXGfJpq-vt8-CkLyKrNH32S1A9cx8F_Q2M84j36GQXvmYTq82cER9R7HM36gJQETUJlpoBPeLAK8XPcRsa1Qp6KtXQOBPMU_ZZ7k9MWn3dlPNCW__OfhpkPliSFbPkhYPwxhZIJkQ2qG04DSKQJk83et3cOi6MbQg5N6C/s1917/SpringTraining2024II.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1373" data-original-width="1917" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7mB_FHkdel67Ziqju8CwJw3YXGfJpq-vt8-CkLyKrNH32S1A9cx8F_Q2M84j36GQXvmYTq82cER9R7HM36gJQETUJlpoBPeLAK8XPcRsa1Qp6KtXQOBPMU_ZZ7k9MWn3dlPNCW__OfhpkPliSFbPkhYPwxhZIJkQ2qG04DSKQJk83et3cOi6MbQg5N6C/w400-h286/SpringTraining2024II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>One major change for the White Sox, besides all the new front office executives, is that play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti has left to become the voice of the Detroit Tigers, which is sad, since he was a fellow Southsider and grew up a White Sox fan. He has been replaced by John Schriffen, seen in the photograph on the right along with longtime White Sox announcer Steve Stone. Hopefully during these spring broadcasts, they will begin to develop the kind of back-and-forth banter and chemistry that Benetti and Stone had over the years. And Steve is convinced the White Sox are on the right track, and will be much improved from their 61-101 record last season. I have to admit the White Sox at least seem to be trying, as opposed to the Colorado Rockies, who draw close to three million fans a year on the strength of their beautiful ballpark, and have no incentive to change anything, even after a 103-loss season last year. But still, it is spring, and hope springs eternal for every team. So who knows? Yeah, right.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-54345234439106344532024-02-24T00:00:00.002-07:002024-02-24T00:46:24.101-07:00Watching Leeds Play Leicester With The Leeds United Colorado Fan Club<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPw1Ogwv0b9pKA9T9tcaZr-9j6C0cPMfgS2mhCmWLBey9iS80bMhBuMBKwTdfcVLKxVSeEalOsQqpuxvpm-PXyV9ypiE5Oi0OVtXT8Hn9OAutWWu1T5zR1dTixOZOdgdK5iBQvk3tDXRjUzjEIHr7_W3OkyvFeRIRkQ1BDGN4gz2blIdPNaUqOvNEwZx_/s1917/DNVRFeb2024.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPw1Ogwv0b9pKA9T9tcaZr-9j6C0cPMfgS2mhCmWLBey9iS80bMhBuMBKwTdfcVLKxVSeEalOsQqpuxvpm-PXyV9ypiE5Oi0OVtXT8Hn9OAutWWu1T5zR1dTixOZOdgdK5iBQvk3tDXRjUzjEIHr7_W3OkyvFeRIRkQ1BDGN4gz2blIdPNaUqOvNEwZx_/w400-h323/DNVRFeb2024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>My friend Mark - seen in the photograph on the left - and I watched Leeds United play Leicester (pronounced "Lester" for some reason - the British are weird) yesterday afternoon with the Leeds United Colorado fan club at the DNVR Bar, located at the corner of York and Colfax here in Denver. It was a very decent crowd for a weekday afternoon, and thanks to the Glendale Raptors playing a game in Argentina at the same time, the place was packed. Leeds looked very flat for the first 3/4 of the game, down 1-0, when they caught fire and scored two goals at the very end to win the match 3-1. The crowd went wild after each goal was scored, hugging everyone in sight, and one ex-pat from Leeds led the group in singing "Marching on Together," the Leeds United anthem.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilgNhId1c9uRADF_KtGRuOLBSrXPNgamEj4y66xioFM3I8j6R0hsjwjFVmYXRwAKkJZMYbJ6F8C0hTPhyMOYP9wurpIe61yv4S4V5cREP-51Zx4SRChPyOFdEvspqOCDdj7BuwVu8PIpYVyD7G72Bnilrc56hRKXsHy3ixKMDSeL9UAjuJ1_pZ49kiIfXP/s1917/DNVRFeb2024II.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilgNhId1c9uRADF_KtGRuOLBSrXPNgamEj4y66xioFM3I8j6R0hsjwjFVmYXRwAKkJZMYbJ6F8C0hTPhyMOYP9wurpIe61yv4S4V5cREP-51Zx4SRChPyOFdEvspqOCDdj7BuwVu8PIpYVyD7G72Bnilrc56hRKXsHy3ixKMDSeL9UAjuJ1_pZ49kiIfXP/w400-h323/DNVRFeb2024II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>It was an interesting group watching the game. There were ex-pats from Leeds, a few stay-at-home dads with their pre-school age kids (none of whom were allowed to go outside and play on Colfax Avenue, America's longest, wickedest street, thank God), some college kids, and a number of retired guys, among others, all very passionate about Leeds United. Which has a lot to gain if they wind up at the top of the Championship League this season. Leeds was relegated to the 2nd tier Championship League last year, and they now have a good shot at being one of the three teams promoted back up to the English Premier League, the top division in the UK. I enjoyed the soccer match, but did not join in singing "Marching on Together." I have not sung any songs at sporting events since we all used to sing "nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye" at White Sox games back at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Now THAT was an anthem.</p>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736233302178623813.post-19115994746589696832024-02-23T00:00:00.012-07:002024-02-23T10:18:05.239-07:00The Denver Advantage Plan - Year Six<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkwvwC-7IT3Dg6ygb3WGmtYdYn7Gcg2wEG67lzyWmJBPIheqfUaSGCNeM7O2wdq0FiSLxcal-yzwkOahOuZJwW8GI2a3XIBZ5an_BD_zArdKqdx0AU1PJ_ZVYh6EeIOw7SQX2gfumP8sFhmV7kbjLUOvpzCVVeamIfuEva9nMarN-twwRu8lcSVhrykMs/s1917/DUStudentCenterI.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkwvwC-7IT3Dg6ygb3WGmtYdYn7Gcg2wEG67lzyWmJBPIheqfUaSGCNeM7O2wdq0FiSLxcal-yzwkOahOuZJwW8GI2a3XIBZ5an_BD_zArdKqdx0AU1PJ_ZVYh6EeIOw7SQX2gfumP8sFhmV7kbjLUOvpzCVVeamIfuEva9nMarN-twwRu8lcSVhrykMs/w400-h323/DUStudentCenterI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div>I took a stroll across the University of Denver campus the other day and walked through the Community Commons Building (seen in the photograph on the left), which along with a first-year dorm and a new career center were supposed to be the first three buildings of what the Denver Post described back in 2018 as DU's massive construction project called the Denver Advantage Campus Framework Plan. The Post article said the project would also add restaurants, retail and a hotel within 10 years. Those first three buildings have now been completed, but there has not been a word from DU about the rest of the project. I suspect that it will not be completed on time during the next 4 years, which is a shame, since that hotel was supposed to be built right across the street from my condo. I was looking forward to walking across the street and meeting the chancellor at the hotel bar to discuss, over beers, my ideas for the university. Building that hotel is still a pretty important goal, since DU has a Hotel and Restaurant Management School, and most other universities with a program like that, including the University of Colorado at Denver, have hotels where their students can work and learn the business, a massive competitive advantage over DU. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9HT2yctbLb-Df6Q3GgUhmo5Dy9bley7grkwB5YCaDETtSwQICs7kwTYa4luqnAxuSBFB-CD1-06HCIX1Qt8LZ7MqPTfLXwfM7Fn4B8GS8Lz1WAcEsSm1vFkFTkzTxqtzvhbEnzx-aC1mbmGfYDZce5L6fG5vBeoCKI37TLdIBm5A0QjuWjyE281THzZH/s1917/DUStudentCenterIII.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1917" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9HT2yctbLb-Df6Q3GgUhmo5Dy9bley7grkwB5YCaDETtSwQICs7kwTYa4luqnAxuSBFB-CD1-06HCIX1Qt8LZ7MqPTfLXwfM7Fn4B8GS8Lz1WAcEsSm1vFkFTkzTxqtzvhbEnzx-aC1mbmGfYDZce5L6fG5vBeoCKI37TLdIBm5A0QjuWjyE281THzZH/w400-h323/DUStudentCenterIII.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>When the Advantage Plan came out in 2018, it showed a grand entrance to the campus from the north, with many new buildings. It looked quite impressive, but I have to wonder now if it was all just some sort of pie in the sky dream, and that the three buildings that were actually built were all that the university really expected to be completed, at least in our lifetimes. I remember when I first bought my condo back in 2000, there were plans by the university to build a skyscraper on the corner where they now plan to build (perhaps) that hotel, but after a year or so, the project was never again mentioned. DU also talked about starting a medical school to address the shortage of general practitioners, which I personally was hoping would go through. I planned to use my employee tuition waiver (I was the Finance Manager at the DU Bookstore at the time), take one class a quarter, and obtain my medical degree (I was thinking brain surgeon) by the time I was 70. Sadly, it was pointed out to DU that the reason for the shortage of GPs was due to the need for medical students to specialize in order to earn enough money to pay off their student loans, not a lack of medical schools, and the idea was dropped. Reality is such a bummer. I wonder now if I will ever have those beers across the street with the chancellor. A shame, since I am sure he would have been thrilled with my ideas for the school.</div>David Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13332884905561391823noreply@blogger.com0