An Anniversary (Of A Sort)

Today would have been our 44th wedding anniversary if my then wife Lisa and I had stayed married, but we divorced in 1987 (I think) and Lisa moved on to San Francisco, where she still lives today. I myself moved into an apartment building across the street from the University of Denver and have remained there ever since. We have been apart for so long now that it seems like back then was a different lifetime. Fortunately, there were no children to complicate things, which was good, and we are on good terms these days, although communicate only infrequently. In any case, we took the photograph above with a tripod and timer at Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colorado. We were honeymooning in Vail and decided to drive over to Aspen for the day to check it out. And since we were in the area, we drove on to Maroon Bells, about 12 miles southwest of Aspen, to hike around a bit on the Maroon Lake Trail, which was and still is very beautiful. Back then you could simply drive there, park, and walk around, but it has become such a popular tourist spot that going there now is much more complicated. If you want to park at the Maroon Lake Trailhead these days, you need to make a reservation ($10 per vehicle), and arrive before 8:00 A.M. or after 5:00 P.M., and those spots are very limited. If, for some strange reason, you find that inconvenient, there is a Maroon Bells Welcome Center at Aspen Highlands Ski Area, where you can park for $16 and take a shuttle. Is it just me or is virtually everything much more complicated these days? I have not been back to Maroon Bells since that honeymoon trip all those years ago. I did head up to Aspen in the off-season a number of years ago, but the only part I remember is having a beer at the Hotel Jerome, a local landmark. Hunter S. Thompson used the J-Bar as his de facto office, but he wasn't there, and so I said the hell with it and drove home to Denver. Can you actually believe someone would even think about divorcing such a fun guy like me? Go figure.

Discussing Baseball And AI With Stuart At Old Chicago

I had lunch yesterday afternoon with my friend Stuart, seen in the photograph above, at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom in Lakewood, Colorado, not one of my favorite towns in the world, but at least you can't see it from the bar area, where we were sitting, so what the hell. Of course, the first thing we discussed were the baseball playoffs. Stuart, originally from the North Side of Chicago, is a Cubs fan, while I am originally from the South Side of Chicago and a White Sox fan.  The Sox made it to the second round of the playoffs and were just one win away from the American League Championship Series, but then lost three games in a row to the Cleveland Guardians and were eliminated. And the Cubs lost to San Diego in the first round of the playoffs, scoring only one run during the series. However, we agreed that both teams had a good year and the future looks bright for baseball on both the North and South Sides of Chicago. Then I told Stuart about my experience reading the online Denver Post that morning. At the bottom of the page was a square with the 60 minutes logo, and next to that, under "Memory Alert Daily," was a link to an article about dementia and memory loss. When I clicked on it, a story appeared titled "Clint Eastwood Breaks Down on 60 Minutes After Revealing How Musk's Research Detected and Reversed His Early Alzheimer's." There was a transcript of Leslie Stahl's interview with Eastwood, ending with Stahl saying that "our team has prepared a full documentary here on 60 minutes," which I dutifully clicked. Stahl introduced the documentary and then Elon Musk began explaining in great detail the story of how he discovered a cure for Alzheimer's. It was quite long, and finally Musk told how you could order a 6-month supply of the product he produced, called VapoCept, for $300. At this point I stopped watching (a trillionaire is selling products online?), and after a quick web search found that 60 Minutes, Leslie Stahl, Clint Eastwood, and Elon Musk have nothing to do with this product. It was all AI generated, but you could not tell it wasn't them. Now THAT is scary. How can they get away with it? It is now possible to create videos and have anyone say or do anything and not be able to tell it is fake. Stuart has never been a fan of AI and always points to HAL 9000 from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey as an example of the harm artificial intelligence can do. And after yesterday's experience and reading stories about how some of these AI systems have recently gone rogue and hacked into various companies, I have to agree with him. Definitely time to step back and think about the consequences of these technologies.

Heritage Harvest At Larimer Square: Signs Of Life Again On Denver's Most Historic Block!

Back in the 1960s, when urban renewal was all the rage, the City of Denver wound up tearing down hundreds of its most historic buildings, especially in the downtown area, leaving vast empty spaces that would stay vacant for years. And since Larimer Street had become skid row, the reasoning was that if the buildings on that street were torn down, the vagrants would disappear. Instead, they just moved a few blocks north. Who could have guessed that would happen? However, that street's most historic block, between 14th and 15th Streets, featuring Victorian style commercial buildings from the 1870s to the 1890s, was saved by preservationist Dana Crawford, who began acquiring and rehabilitating the buildings on that block in the 1960s. This became Larimer Square, the most popular gathering spot in Denver. But then came twin crises - first, the Covid pandemic, and after that the sale of the block to Asana Partners in December of 2020. The pandemic resulted in the closure of The Market, a cafe and deli, after 42 years in that location, as well as other businesses. And then, a major renovation of the buildings by the new owners forced Bistro Vendome, a popular French restaurant, to move, and Green Russell, a speakeasy style bar, and Russell's Smokehouse to close. Ted's Montana Grill closed after failing to negotiate an extension to their lease. Needless to say, for a number of years Larimer Square was almost like a ghost town. However, recently, new businesses have moved in, and events are beginning to be held there again, such as the Heritage Harvest, described as an autumnal celebration, with pumpkins, seasonal bites and cider, live bluegrass, and more, as seen in the photograph on the left. And it is really nice to see the place filled with people again.

New shops on Larimer Square include Little Blue Pigeon Bookstore, which had a major presence at the festival, as well as a new restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Ted's Montana Grill called Romyo, which the owners describe as the place where "Rome meets Tokyo in Larimer Square." I'm not sure how they can pull that one off, but it is definitely better than a vacant storefront. My favorite restaurant at Larimer Square was Josephina's, an Italian restaurant that was around for 30 years before closing and being replaced by Rioja, a Mediterranean-style restaurant, and Corridor 44, a champaign bar. I remember going to Josephina's many times with my then-wife Lisa. The food was good, the downtown atmosphere was fun, and the prices were reasonable. Of course, these days, you don't go to restaurants in Larimer Square for the reasonable prices, but they do seem popular, and their outdoor patios keep the block lively. Heritage Harvest was by no means a major event, but it did draw a crowd, and hopefully there will be many more events to come. And yes, the photograph on the right is of one of the live bluegrass bands performing during the festival, right in front of the Little Blue Pigeon Bookstore, no less. Works for me.

All Is Quiet At Chicago's Rate Field. Say It Ain't So, Joe!

Last night the American League Championship Series began, but sadly, my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, were not the team facing the Tampa Bay Rays to see who will advance to the World Series. After winning the first 2 games against the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series, needing only one more victory to move on to the ALCS, the White Sox lost the next 3 games, thus exiting the playoffs and leaving Cleveland to face those Tampa Bay Rays. That last game of the Division Series was particularly hard to watch, a 2-0 loss to Cleveland. In the end, the Sox's home run bashing stars could not come through in the most important game of the year, and Rate Field will now remain quiet until next season. And just for the record, the Guardians beat the Rays 7-3 last night. On a positive note, the White Sox had a remarkable season, progressing to the second round of the playoffs with a ton of rookies after losing over 100 games the past three seasons. It bodes well for the future, and so, as Sox fans have said so many times, "Wait until next year!" And yes, the photograph above is indeed of Rate Field in Chicago. I took it back in 2010, the last time I visited my old hometown, when the ballpark was known as U.S. Cellular Field. Rate Field sounds much snazzier, don't you think?

Columbus Day Or Indigenous Peoples' Day Or No Holiday At All? That Is The Question...

Today is either Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day or no holiday at all, depending on where you work or go to school. Back when I attended Fort Dearborn Grammar School in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, we got Columbus Day off every year.  I myself hated school and welcomed a day off no matter what the reason - Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, or for that matter, even Alfred E. Newman Day. Which begs the question: do they still publish Mad Magazine these days? But I digress. Back in 2019 the Chicago Board of Education voted to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, but students continue to get the day off, although the City of Chicago still recognizes Columbus Day, as does the State of Illinois. Colorado, where I now live, eliminated Columbus Day as a holiday in 2020 but does not recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day. On the other hand, the Denver City Council voted to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day back in 2016. It is not a Denver Public Schools holiday, but it is considered to be a conference day, and students get it off anyway. Does that clear everything up for you? And by the way, I took the photograph above of Fort Dearborn back in 2010, when I went back to visit my old hometown. I am holding a photograph of one of the Kloak kids that I took on the school's playground after classes had let out for the day. Always a happy time.

Watching Tottenham Play Manchester United With The Colorado Spurs

My friend Mark and I went to Esters Pub in Denver's Virginia Village neighborhood yesterday morning to watch the Tottenham Hotspurs play Manchester United with the Colorado Spurs, an official Tottenham Hotspur supporters club. At least we watched the game with some of them, since this weekend the Premier League Live Fan Fest is taking place in front of Union Station and many of the Colorado Spurs were there to watch the soccer matches, see Premier League soccer legends, and take photographs with their favorite Premier League team mascots. Tickets sold out quickly for this event, and fans of every team and from all parts of the country attended this huge watch party on Saturday and will be there again today. In any case, Tottenham dominated Manchester United for most of the game and scored a goal in the closing moments to tie the game at 1-1, which is how the match ended. Although Tottenham has not yet won a game in their first 6 contests, they are playing better and have moved up from last place (20th) to 18th. And the fans at Esters were very happy to get that tie. Can an actual win be in Tottenham's near future? And yes, that is indeed Mark posing for the photograph above at Esters wearing an Ipswich Town jersey and Tottenham Spurs cap. Mark has complex allegiances when it comes to soccer.

The Mount Evans State Wildlife Area - Definitely Not Very Safe For Wildlife

I drove up to Evergreen, Colorado from Denver yesterday afternoon and took Upper Bear Creek Road all the way to its end, where the Mount Evans State Wildlife Area begins. This is a 3,438-acre protected sanctuary on the eastern slope of Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans). It is a very pretty drive, and the aspens were in full color, as seen in the photograph above. But when I got to the entrance, there were restrictions spelled out on a sign detailing who could enter the area and when. Although this is an important breeding ground for Rocky Mountain elk, bighorn sheep, black bears, deer, foxes, mountain lions, and unicorns (just kidding - I think), it does not sound like much of a sanctuary, since only hunters and fishermen with valid Colorado licenses are allowed to enter from the day after Labor Day until mid-November, when elk and deer hunting is allowed. Public access is not allowed from January 1st until June 14th, after which unarmed individuals are allowed in for wildlife viewing and hiking. I assume that picnicking is allowed, too, although don't blame me if you wind up getting handcuffed and taken away if it is not. This area is 9 miles west of Evergreen, and if I were an elk or deer, I would definitely hightail it out of that "sanctuary" and head down to one of that town's many parks, or even its residential neighborhoods. It is a very elk friendly kind of place. Even players on the Evergreen Golf Course are careful to play around elk lounging on the fairways. And no, I did not take a chance and drive into the Mount Evans SWA even though no one seemed to be around. Why risk the chance of getting shot by a hunter, or even worse, getting my car shot up? My insurance rates are high enough as it is.