I took the dogs to vet for their annual check up (they are fine although Clemens is pooping and puking all over the place--seems that if you eat a lot of snakes and tall grass bad things happen to a golden retriever stomach). Anyhow in Aspen the vets do not recommend flea and tick prevention (no fleas and no bad ticks in Aspen). No heartworm cause there is no heartworm. And half of the other required immunizations needed in Chicago are not needed here. And the vet was all about not giving my dogs lots of drugs which is the total opposite of Chicago. Nice.
So boy being taught independence at camp. Dogs being treated like dogs and not children by vet.
Lovely
But it ain't all great in Aspen --tickets for labor day fest in Aspen same price as lolla tickets (3 days vs 4 in Chi and lolla is all GA while there are much higher priced seats for Aspen but I am comparing GA to GA) and if you check the lineups well there is no comparison. I really like the killers, but not for 300 bucks. BTW who the heck has seats for a music fest--GA all the way since woodstock baby. Thought the old school folks here would know that for sure.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
that was different
Son goes to camp. Son steps on wasp nest. Son gets stung a lot. Counselor asks if allergic. Nope. Son continues playing.
Pick son up from camp. How was day. Great and oh yea I got stung.
No panicky phone calls from camp. No conversations with counselors. No muss no fuss.
That is the way it should be. Sometimes you go into the great outdoors and it hurts but it ain't the end of the world. Aspen got that attitude right. Too much of this country has it wrong. Right way to raise kids.
Yea aspen. Yea son.
Pick son up from camp. How was day. Great and oh yea I got stung.
No panicky phone calls from camp. No conversations with counselors. No muss no fuss.
That is the way it should be. Sometimes you go into the great outdoors and it hurts but it ain't the end of the world. Aspen got that attitude right. Too much of this country has it wrong. Right way to raise kids.
Yea aspen. Yea son.
Monday, July 25, 2016
questions and answers
When I told friends and family I was leaving Chicago for Aspen they said "wow" and "really" and "what the hell will you do".
Folks in Aspen say "welcome" and "what took you so long?"
Aspen really is a weird place. Its small town USA with a bit of Davos and real housewives of houston mixed in.
Gotta run but I will say daughter is having fun playing puck at Lewis and son had a great day racing on Rudie. This weekend he will be racing in Dillion--time to see how good these mountain sailors really are.
Folks in Aspen say "welcome" and "what took you so long?"
Aspen really is a weird place. Its small town USA with a bit of Davos and real housewives of houston mixed in.
Gotta run but I will say daughter is having fun playing puck at Lewis and son had a great day racing on Rudie. This weekend he will be racing in Dillion--time to see how good these mountain sailors really are.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Feeling like a local
I got my CO plates yesterday and put them on the car today. very local. Cost $1,400 to register in CO. kinda loco. But the experience of the Pitkin county clerk was wonderful so that was worth something (but 1400 bucks hummmm). Jesse White can kiss my ass by by.
Went for a hike on the south rim trail (backwards up from my house up Sinclair rd and then finish at clark market to pick up mail). Very local. Went with son and two dogs and had a great time. Totally local. Passed some very old out of towners on the trail--feeling super local. And then ran into some 70+ year old trail running the start of the trail up to spire and back down--he hammer past us. Not so local.
Then I picked up the local paper and read about Aspen-Pitkin county working on how to alleviate traffic into and out of Aspen. Are you kidding me. Yes there is a ton of traffic --yesterday on way to free physics lecture at the Aspen science institute it took me 22 minutes not 18. Uhhh really you locals need to spend some time on the circle interchange in Chicago or the 405 in LA or the 101 in SF or LIE in NYC or shoot any road in NYC. Thank goodness I haven't gone totally native. I think the locals may have forgotten what the real world looks like. The traffic I can handle but I do miss having 5 good radio stations to listen to while sitting in 'traffic'. And don't worry I still won't listen to country music even if that is the only thing my radio picks up.
All is good although my younger two dogs may never go on a 'walk' with me again.
Went for a hike on the south rim trail (backwards up from my house up Sinclair rd and then finish at clark market to pick up mail). Very local. Went with son and two dogs and had a great time. Totally local. Passed some very old out of towners on the trail--feeling super local. And then ran into some 70+ year old trail running the start of the trail up to spire and back down--he hammer past us. Not so local.
Then I picked up the local paper and read about Aspen-Pitkin county working on how to alleviate traffic into and out of Aspen. Are you kidding me. Yes there is a ton of traffic --yesterday on way to free physics lecture at the Aspen science institute it took me 22 minutes not 18. Uhhh really you locals need to spend some time on the circle interchange in Chicago or the 405 in LA or the 101 in SF or LIE in NYC or shoot any road in NYC. Thank goodness I haven't gone totally native. I think the locals may have forgotten what the real world looks like. The traffic I can handle but I do miss having 5 good radio stations to listen to while sitting in 'traffic'. And don't worry I still won't listen to country music even if that is the only thing my radio picks up.
All is good although my younger two dogs may never go on a 'walk' with me again.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
DON'T MOVE
Sorry I meant to post this before moving but moving got in the way.
First off let me say I am a very deep thinking introspective guy who is in touch with his emotions. And I think wing beneath your wings is the best song ever written. humm maybe that isn't me. But this move forced me to think about stuff. Seems most days we go about our business without really noting the passage of time. In my case walk the dogs, yell at kids, work, yell at kids walk dogs go to bed. Repeat. Moving changed that. Not only did the leaving process slap me across the face and yank me out of the daily detritus of life, but it got me thinking about major milestones and the passage of time. Where I was when 9/11 happened. How long I have know some people. And honestly how old I have become. When I moved to Chicago I was 32, knew everything, and was unencumbered by cost centers 1 & 2 and 3 shedding pooping creatures. Leaving Chicago I am 48, realize how much I don't know, going gray, getting reading glasses and sounding more and more like my parents when I speak to my kids.
I kinda knew this was going on in the background but the process of leaving brought it front and center. Which I guess is when another one of those life cliches happen--midlife crisis. So I have decided to do something stupid like get a 27 year old girl friend. Or a Ferrieri or maybe both. Wait a minute. My midlife crisis is moving to Aspen. Well I guess I can check that off---time to go for a hike with family except it looks like prime thunderstorm weather outside. Well WTF you only live once right?
First off let me say I am a very deep thinking introspective guy who is in touch with his emotions. And I think wing beneath your wings is the best song ever written. humm maybe that isn't me. But this move forced me to think about stuff. Seems most days we go about our business without really noting the passage of time. In my case walk the dogs, yell at kids, work, yell at kids walk dogs go to bed. Repeat. Moving changed that. Not only did the leaving process slap me across the face and yank me out of the daily detritus of life, but it got me thinking about major milestones and the passage of time. Where I was when 9/11 happened. How long I have know some people. And honestly how old I have become. When I moved to Chicago I was 32, knew everything, and was unencumbered by cost centers 1 & 2 and 3 shedding pooping creatures. Leaving Chicago I am 48, realize how much I don't know, going gray, getting reading glasses and sounding more and more like my parents when I speak to my kids.
I kinda knew this was going on in the background but the process of leaving brought it front and center. Which I guess is when another one of those life cliches happen--midlife crisis. So I have decided to do something stupid like get a 27 year old girl friend. Or a Ferrieri or maybe both. Wait a minute. My midlife crisis is moving to Aspen. Well I guess I can check that off---time to go for a hike with family except it looks like prime thunderstorm weather outside. Well WTF you only live once right?
Monday, July 18, 2016
bikes
ok first things first--we arrived safe and sound in snowmass village according to plan. Wife, kids and dogs all made it and the adventure will provide subject matter for many future posts. But first bikes.
In my fantasy world we would arrive Friday afternoon and the kids would hop on their bikes while the wife unpacked and I drank beers. We arrived late and there was no biking or beer drinking. Saturday I walked from house up to Clarks market with dogs and thought that isn't a bad walk--maybe 1 mile. Sunday I told my kids to ride to Clarks to buy some stuff for lunch (and get them out of our hair). Son came back and said that was an epic fail. Daughter tossed helmet, bike, bag, sunglass on ground and screamed a lot. What happened? Snowmass village is hilly. Very hilly. My kids are used to hazards like 6 way intersections, getting doored, alleys, crazy car, bike, and pedestrian traffic. Snowmass has none of that but, well that mile up to clarks has got to be 800 vertical feet starting from 7500 feet. Needless to say the kids have got some work ahead of them but shoot there isn't even a bunny slope equivalent around here to warm up on.
Today I went for a ride. About 30 years ago I used to race, but really haven't done much riding since then. My bike is 15 years old and set up for easy road racing on flat conditions. Today I rode from snowmass village to Aspen and back. Didn't look bad in terms of distance and heck the longer I was out of the house the better. Leaving snowmass was easy (too easy) as I went downhill fast. I am not sure I have ever had to change my brake pads on a bike but now checking those suckers will be a pre bike ritual. So everything went fine except for some serious uphill where I cried a lot and was reduced to walking the bike some.
On the return above the airport I was on the bike trail because I figured I was too slow to be on the road when I saw a beautiful deer. Wow. I stopped and look at the deer and he at me. Lovely. And the deer didn't make fun of my slow pace or my tears. And then a fucking bear comes running across the road and the bike trail 20 yards ahead of me. Big bear. Really big bear. Made the very large buck look tiny. And this bear was not black. It was brown. Yikes. I stop and hold my breath and prepare to do a 180 and go downhill as fast as my shot legs will take me but the bear continues on its way. I wait 30 seconds and find wow I can pedal uphill pretty fast on an old bike with the wrong gears and spent legs if you think you might have a bear on your ass.
Welcome to Aspen.
In my fantasy world we would arrive Friday afternoon and the kids would hop on their bikes while the wife unpacked and I drank beers. We arrived late and there was no biking or beer drinking. Saturday I walked from house up to Clarks market with dogs and thought that isn't a bad walk--maybe 1 mile. Sunday I told my kids to ride to Clarks to buy some stuff for lunch (and get them out of our hair). Son came back and said that was an epic fail. Daughter tossed helmet, bike, bag, sunglass on ground and screamed a lot. What happened? Snowmass village is hilly. Very hilly. My kids are used to hazards like 6 way intersections, getting doored, alleys, crazy car, bike, and pedestrian traffic. Snowmass has none of that but, well that mile up to clarks has got to be 800 vertical feet starting from 7500 feet. Needless to say the kids have got some work ahead of them but shoot there isn't even a bunny slope equivalent around here to warm up on.
Today I went for a ride. About 30 years ago I used to race, but really haven't done much riding since then. My bike is 15 years old and set up for easy road racing on flat conditions. Today I rode from snowmass village to Aspen and back. Didn't look bad in terms of distance and heck the longer I was out of the house the better. Leaving snowmass was easy (too easy) as I went downhill fast. I am not sure I have ever had to change my brake pads on a bike but now checking those suckers will be a pre bike ritual. So everything went fine except for some serious uphill where I cried a lot and was reduced to walking the bike some.
On the return above the airport I was on the bike trail because I figured I was too slow to be on the road when I saw a beautiful deer. Wow. I stopped and look at the deer and he at me. Lovely. And the deer didn't make fun of my slow pace or my tears. And then a fucking bear comes running across the road and the bike trail 20 yards ahead of me. Big bear. Really big bear. Made the very large buck look tiny. And this bear was not black. It was brown. Yikes. I stop and hold my breath and prepare to do a 180 and go downhill as fast as my shot legs will take me but the bear continues on its way. I wait 30 seconds and find wow I can pedal uphill pretty fast on an old bike with the wrong gears and spent legs if you think you might have a bear on your ass.
Welcome to Aspen.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
less than 48 hours
my wife looked at me and said this was a bad idea (my packing plan).....course the plan was some clothes and stuff from the kitchen --I figured 4 big boxes for each person and 4 for the kitchen--20 boxes but all would fit in the 12x6 u haul trailer along with bikes and skis and tools --no problem for me and the wife to do that and then..........
well there is dog stuff, and 5 guitars, and an amp, and music stands and oh yea the place we are renting doesn't have patio furniture so bring that, and bike rack, and sail signed by jimmy spithill and hockey stuff and son's sailing bag, plants fish tank and omg how many laptops do we own, and then their is my music collection and shoot better bring the wireless router etc etc
will marriage survive the move? stay tuned---going to unplug computer and wifi soon--hopefully next post will be from snowmass village sometime next week---
well there is dog stuff, and 5 guitars, and an amp, and music stands and oh yea the place we are renting doesn't have patio furniture so bring that, and bike rack, and sail signed by jimmy spithill and hockey stuff and son's sailing bag, plants fish tank and omg how many laptops do we own, and then their is my music collection and shoot better bring the wireless router etc etc
will marriage survive the move? stay tuned---going to unplug computer and wifi soon--hopefully next post will be from snowmass village sometime next week---
Monday, July 11, 2016
omg
ohhhh my god not ready.....not even close to ready. too much stuff and too little space in u haul trailer. Whose idea was it to move ourselves cause it was just the kitchen and clothes (that would be me the cheap skate).
less than 3 days and we are not ready--anyone want to drive a u haul rental truck to Aspen?
you can spend a lovely night in North Platt NE.
PS I have learned how to upload pics--this is one of my dogs pooping out my music
less than 3 days and we are not ready--anyone want to drive a u haul rental truck to Aspen?
you can spend a lovely night in North Platt NE.
PS I have learned how to upload pics--this is one of my dogs pooping out my music
Friday, July 8, 2016
dallas
I look at the news out of Dallas and think, I can't get out of this big city fast enough.....and then I remember that tonight we are going to walk 300 yards to OZ park and watch Raiders of the lost Ark outside. Fun. And yesterday my son lost his phone and today someone who found it on the street returned it to our house.
I am very exited to go but somethings will be missed. Maybe more than I care to admit.
Less than a week to move date and our new mantra is we can always come back for what we forget to pack...thank God.
I am very exited to go but somethings will be missed. Maybe more than I care to admit.
Less than a week to move date and our new mantra is we can always come back for what we forget to pack...thank God.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
feel like I was used
just signed up for a bundle with comcast-xfinity for snowmass..took 2 hours of chat and I feel like I got the raw end of the deal and I am sure it will only go downhill from here. And hotel California -roach motels got nothing on internet providers.
Sorry to be so short but, I have discovered that we have less than a week till move date and my stuff is growing exponentially. Not sure the trailer will be big enough...not telling the wife. Let see if she reads the blog to find out.
Sorry to be so short but, I have discovered that we have less than a week till move date and my stuff is growing exponentially. Not sure the trailer will be big enough...not telling the wife. Let see if she reads the blog to find out.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
music--something light for holiday weekend
yes the bags are not back and we are not ready to go....
my daughter is freaking out and sharing it so
but Raham we gotta go ....(apologies to john denver leaving on a jet plane)
I am packing up my music which raises some questions:
1. Is their radio in Aspen? and if so can you receive it?
2. What music should I play when I unpack to impress the neighbors? Something old and rare like early Iggy pop or cream b sides or go safe with Mumford and sons wolf on repeat (course that is like listening to the radio)
3. who the hell gets all their music burned from CDs to e format --I've got about 2000 cds and a quick calculation of current burn speed puts it at about 350 hours ---hell who has time for that--however going through the old disks has me burning more in case there is no radio
4. As a result does anyone listen to albums anymore or just individual songs (just finished burning cure for the pain by morphine during first part of this blog)
5. when was the last time you looked through all your old music---it really triggered some memories for me --I can pretty much tell you what came out the year I started dating the boss, went to college, had to listen to college roommate play tangerine dream till the needle dulled thanks toots)
6. what do you do when burning music and program asks you if you still want to download if music can't be found on the internet--holy smokes I thought everything was on the internet (that was a moby gwen stefani mash up)
7. Why to not ski steamboat--no music at lifts
8. what band in aspen needs a guitarist? (that is for son, I can't even hum a tune)
9. how many parents out there still control the music in their car? or is everyone in their own i-bubble?
10. would jimmy still be allowed to light his guitar on fire and play the star spangled banner or would that not be PC-too dangerous, offensive, risky, scary ?
Think if I can get around to it I unpack to velvet underground album max's Kansas city --shows I am cool, but not too loud and Velvets song was our first dance post marriage so a little bit romantic too
11 days to go and my stuff is reproducing faster than I can pack it---dogs starting to worry that there is something going on and it smells wrong
ps just finished burning jagged little pill (by either god or Alanis depending on how big a Jay and Silent Bob fan you are) and now downloading first Jane's addiction CD--do you see a drug theme here or is it just me
my daughter is freaking out and sharing it so
but Raham we gotta go ....(apologies to john denver leaving on a jet plane)
I am packing up my music which raises some questions:
1. Is their radio in Aspen? and if so can you receive it?
2. What music should I play when I unpack to impress the neighbors? Something old and rare like early Iggy pop or cream b sides or go safe with Mumford and sons wolf on repeat (course that is like listening to the radio)
3. who the hell gets all their music burned from CDs to e format --I've got about 2000 cds and a quick calculation of current burn speed puts it at about 350 hours ---hell who has time for that--however going through the old disks has me burning more in case there is no radio
4. As a result does anyone listen to albums anymore or just individual songs (just finished burning cure for the pain by morphine during first part of this blog)
5. when was the last time you looked through all your old music---it really triggered some memories for me --I can pretty much tell you what came out the year I started dating the boss, went to college, had to listen to college roommate play tangerine dream till the needle dulled thanks toots)
6. what do you do when burning music and program asks you if you still want to download if music can't be found on the internet--holy smokes I thought everything was on the internet (that was a moby gwen stefani mash up)
7. Why to not ski steamboat--no music at lifts
8. what band in aspen needs a guitarist? (that is for son, I can't even hum a tune)
9. how many parents out there still control the music in their car? or is everyone in their own i-bubble?
10. would jimmy still be allowed to light his guitar on fire and play the star spangled banner or would that not be PC-too dangerous, offensive, risky, scary ?
Think if I can get around to it I unpack to velvet underground album max's Kansas city --shows I am cool, but not too loud and Velvets song was our first dance post marriage so a little bit romantic too
11 days to go and my stuff is reproducing faster than I can pack it---dogs starting to worry that there is something going on and it smells wrong
ps just finished burning jagged little pill (by either god or Alanis depending on how big a Jay and Silent Bob fan you are) and now downloading first Jane's addiction CD--do you see a drug theme here or is it just me
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