Stopping By To Visit Wally (And His Pets)

I stopped by to visit my friend and former University of Denver Bookstore co-worker Wally at his home last night and talked with him about what's happening at the DU Bookstore (Wally still works there) as well as all the trips he and his wife Linda have taken recently.  Since Wally didn't feel in a photographic mood, I took a few photos of his dog Sailor and cat Stella, just to have something to put on the blog.  They are both really nice animals, and very friendly, but whenever Wally and Linda go out of town, they have to hire a pet sitter, which to me would be a pain, but that's just me.  In any case, Wally is a homebody, and much prefers to stay home and read in his library or do some woodworking in his workshop, which used to be the garage (as his wife Linda likes to frequently point out).  In any case, for somebody who doesn't like to travel , Wally and Linda have done a lot of it this summer and fall - a trip to Cape Cod to stay at the family summer home, a weekend trip to Martha's Vineyard to attend a wedding, a trip on the Queen Elizabeth II to Scandinavia for a family reunion/cruise, and  a trip to the Colorado/New Mexico border for a day trip on the Cumbres and Toltec Narrow Gauge Railway, which Wally seemed to like best of all.  In any case, he is done with trips for a while (he hopes), and glad of it. Back to the woodworking shop.  Good to see you again, Wally!

Discussing The Cubs Chances At Old Chicago

I had burgers and beers with my friend Stuart (seen in the photograph above) yesterday evening at Old Chicago, where we discussed the chances that the Chicago Cubs will return to the World Series.  Now that the Colorado Rockies have lost their one game playoff to Arizona, and the Chicago White Sox  finished the season mired in the lower division, the Cubs are the team of choice during the playoffs for ex-Chicagoans at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom here in Denver.  The Cubs started off slow this season, and were 6 1/2 games out of first at the All Star break.  However, they finished strong and stand a good chance of going all the way, proving once and for all that winning the World Series last year wasn't the first sign of the Apocalypse.  Donald Trump getting elected president was, of course, the second sign, but I won't get into that.

Feeding The Giraffes. For Free!

I went to the Denver Zoo this past Friday afternoon after the software at the bookstore where I work crashed, and it was suggested I just take the afternoon off and come back Saturday.  That worked for me, since it was a really beautiful fall afternoon, and I wound up visiting the Giraffe Encounter.  And I was shocked, truly shocked, to see that feeding the giraffes was actually free.  They used to charge you $3.00 or so for a handful of grass, but Friday they just handed it to you and let you walk right up there. Was this just a Friday afternoon thing, or a permanent change?  Regardless, it let people who wouldn't otherwise do it get up close and personal with the giraffes.  Talk about a win-win, as we say in the business world, when our software isn't crashing.

Friday Afternoon At The Zoo

I went to the Denver Zoo this past Friday afternoon, after the software system crashed at the bookstore where I work, and stayed down most of the day.  Since I didn't expect to be spending Friday afternoon there, I did not bring my Nikon single lens reflex camera, with the long lens, and so had to make due with the camera I had. As always, the lions were more than willing to pose for me, but I couldn't get as close a photograph as I wanted.  I would have jumped over the fence to get a better shot, but the last time someone something like that, they were banned from the zoo for life.  Now I ask you - is that fair?  What could possibly go wrong?

The Final Game Of The Regular Season

Each year I go to the final Colorado Rockies game of the season.  Not only is it the last chance (usually) to go to a baseball game for the year, but after the game the players walk around the field to thank the fans for their support and toss souvenirs to them.  I took the above photographs this past Sunday, but since it was pretty cold out, most of the players wore their jackets, so I didn't know who they were.  For all I know, it was the grounds crew dressed in Rockies gear tossing those trinkets into the stands.  Most years this is the last game the Rockies play, but for the first time in years they have made the playoffs.  The Rockies will play a winner take all game Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks to see who moves on to the National League Division Series.  I have little hope they can win it, but I have been wrong before, and so "Go Rockies!"  There - I've said it, despite my reservations about their chances.

A Sports Doubleheader Weekend

My friend mark and I took in both a Colorado Rapids soccer game and a Colorado Rockies baseball game this past weekend, and lived to tell about it. Saturday night we went to see the Rapids play the Montreal Impact, and the Rapids (solidly in last place) actually won the game 2 to 0.  Mark (seen in the photograph on the left) has not seen the Rapids win a game the entire year, and so it was a major surprise for him.  Mark, as regular Blog readers know, is obsessed with soccer, but won't seek treatment for this "soccer bug."  What can I say?

Sunday afternoon we went to see the Colorado Rockies play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the final game of the regular season.  We sat out in left field, as seen in the photograph on the right, and I must say it was more like a spring training outing than a regular baseball game.  Both teams are in the playoffs, and seemed to be resting their regular players for the upcoming contests.  The entire lineup for both teams turned over 100% over nine innings, and I'm not even sure some of those players were actually part of the team.  I suspect they were fans who won some kind of contest.  They certainly played like it.  The Rockies lost 6 to 3 in a game neither team seemed to care about.

And a final word about security.  At Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies mainly employ laid back retirees to check tickets, guide people to their seats, and enforce the rules.  And so I was shocked to see the type of security employed by the Colorado Rapids.  I guess soccer fans are a much more rowdy bunch, but I was surprised to see this type of force, as seen in the photograph on the left, which shows the arrest two young miscreants.  I am not sure if they wound up in soccer prison, were thrown out of the game, or just beaten and released.  I suspect they must have tossed their chewing gum on the concourse, which should be dealt with harshly, but perhaps not that harshly.  Be sure to e-mail your complaints to the Colorado Rapids organization.

The Ghost Notebooks

I just finished an advanced reading copy of The Ghost Notebooks, a novel by a fellow named Ben Dolnick. The book is not scheduled to come out until February, and so you better write the title down if you want to read it when it comes out.  The book starts out pretty good, and is the story of a young couple named Nick and Hannah who move to a small town in upstate New York where Hannah gets a job running a small historical museum.  Slowly she realizes the place is haunted, and the story goes on from there.  I liked the story up until the last few pages.  I thought the ending, which revealed the "horror" the book has been leading up to, was pretty lame.  It was not a believable ending at all, even for a ghost story, and was in fact a bit preachy.  On the bright side, there is still 4 months to go until it is published, so Ben still has time to come up with something better.  Let's hope he does.