Happy Halloween Everyone!

May you all have a great Halloween experience.  A brisk walk in the cemetery at dusk (wearing your mask, of course) always sets the mood for me.  "Try it - you'll like it, " as the old television commercial used to say.

The Spirits Will Be Disappointed...

As faithful Blog readers know, I recently read Stephen Kings's novel "The Shining," and ever since then have had an overwhelming urge to visit the Stanley Hotel up in Estes Park (the setting for the story).  More specifically, I was planning to go up there on Halloween night.  It was if the Spirits were calling me there.  I was all set to make a reservation for the Halloween Ghost Night Tour when I found out that the two main roads into Estes Park - US 36 and US 34 - were both closed due to flood damage. The only way into Estes Park these days is via State Road 7, a winding, twisting, snow-packed road through the mountains that King describes perfectly in his novel.  The weather here in Denver has been horrible lately, and no doubt much worse in the mountains. If I drove up there on Halloween night for the tour, I might wind up getting snowed in at the Stanley.  And that is the EXACT plot of "The Shining." Everybody knows how that story turned out. I might be dumb, but I am not stupid.  Maybe next year, Stanley Hotel Spirits!

Halloween Nostalgia - Part II

The photograph above, taken at the DU Bookstore on a Halloween long ago, shows Victoria (who now works for the U.S. Department of Fish and Game in Oregon) trying to strangle Rose, a fellow employee. The last few years that I worked at the DU Bookstore - when it was still institutionally owned - I was both the Finance Manager and the Sales Floor Manager, and was often tempted to use the above management technique.  However, only Victoria was able to bring it to fruition.  And don't worry - Rose was just fine. Eventually.

Halloween Nostalgia - Part I

Back when the University of Denver Bookstore was institutionally owned, during simpler times, Bookstore employees actually used to wear costumes on Halloween.  In the photograph above, Donovan, the Computer Store Manager at the time, and Tristy, the Bookstore Director back then, pose for their Halloween portrait.  "The silver-colored yesterday," as Chicago author Nelson Algren once put it.

Boo From The Zoo

The monkey in the photograph above (a Northern White-Cheeked Female Gibbon, to be technical) has 2 private islands to play on in a lagoon at the Denver Zoo.  The zoo people are evidently pretty sure that monkeys - like vampires - don't cross water.  Speaking of vampires, it appears to me that this creature is already dressed up in a costume.  How would you like to see this guy roaming around the neighborhood Halloween night? If only I could make that happen.  Talk about a fun Halloween.

A DU Reunion!

Several of us former and current DU Bookstore (as well as University of Denver) employees and spouses got together last night at the Bonnie Brae Tavern here in South Denver to have dinner and reminisce, gossip, grip, discuss the possibility of contract hits, etc. etc.  In the photograph above (from left to right) are Bill, former Operations Coordinator of the DU Bookstore; Wally, who is still employed at the bookstore;  Bill's wife Renee;  Wally's wife Linda; and Mark, who works at the University of Denver's Penrose library.  It was a very pleasant evening, topped off by no-calorie ice cream at the world famous Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Shop across the street.  At least everyone told me was no cal, and they wouldn't lie, would they?

Thursday Night Burgers And Beers

I got together with my friend Stuart Thursday night for burgers and beers.  We had originally planned to get together last Thursday night, but Stuart had a big project at work to finish and I had to "go postal," so to speak, so we weren't able to get together until last night. Stuart had lots of news to tell about work and family, so I wasn't able to tell him about the spirits calling me to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park this coming Halloween (see yesterday's post).  No matter - he probably would have just thought I was talking about a new brew pub opening up there, anyway.