sometimes I brag

I am sure many of my Chicago OZ-dog park friends got bored of my stories about how long I waited to turn on the AC (always tried to make it to July) and heat (never before November.)  Our home in Chicago got a lot of sun so it tended to get quite warm during the days and the bricks did a good job of holding the heat.  And it's always nice to sleep in a cool house so even if the house got down into the mid 50s at night that wasn't too bad under the down comforter (and 3 dogs panting to help warm the room).  And of course I took a certain Prince of Tides-Great Santini pleasure in the family's complaints.

As it turns out the much higher average humidity levels in Chicago also helped to moderate the intensity with which you felt the changing temperatures.  There is no humidity in Aspen.  And I am wondering about turning on the heat.  It's August and I am thinking about the heat.  August is supposed to be 2 a day football practices with choking heat and dusty fields with dirt covering your face and making your eyes water during the afternoon practice.

Turning on the heat.  What the hell?

Got my first networking hike tomorrow.  Maybe being out of breath so I just listen will be my secret weapon.

snow report

yup it snowed for my son's b-day.  how many of you got snow in chi town or stl or nyc.....my bet is none of you but everywhere above 11k feet here is covered in snow.  kinda nice to see the snow and also weird as my kids haven't even finished their first week of school and it's still august.

the trump was in town yesterday to raise some money from people who he won't listen to if he becomes president

and my oldest dog took a big bite out of my son's cake---she proclaimed it yummy

quick observations

1.  lots of deer ---holy smokes deer everywhere
2.  additional cost I didn't factor in --buying snow tires (aprox 175 a tire x 8 yikes plus install)
3.  speaking of which its my son's b - day and it's snowing on the top of the maroon bells --normally it's lobster on cape cod for his b-day
4.  in chicago when people want to talk they meet for coffee (or drinks if you are lucky) in Aspen you go for a hike
5.  In Chicago when you take the dogs for a nighttime constitutional you don't need to bring a head lamp or wear reflective gear--in aspen the headlamp is a must if you're gonna scoop the poop

some things change and some things don't

So I expected that most parents would turn their children lose with a pocket knife and a match and expect them to return home once a week or so (for a backup match).  It seems that the specie helicopter parintus is alive and well in Aspen as well as Chicago.  Bummer, but I guess this invasive species is everywhere.  Needless to say school has started and all is well.  My son has almost a whole bus to himself (that would be what happens when you cross too much money-resources with the aforementioned helicopter).  And there is an aviation program he is hoping to participate in which might make learning some trig worth the effort.

Starting to look for work.  This should be amusing.

made it up sinclair rd no stops

but wow am I slow

took family up ute trail yesterday and got the 'free ride' down the gondola --but of course lighting kept us locked in sundeck for an hour where the family bought not free food

other fun things we have done ---kids physics bar b que, lecture on music and mind, aspen santa fe ballet (which was great) and registered kids for school ----looks like for a bit extra my son can learn to fly a plane which might make him focus a bit more in math class.  yea

why to take daughter on a hike

fun to hear her enjoy the beauty (the high alpine meadows up on Govt trail are pretty awe inspiring)

conversation can be even better---daughter says do you think there is a hell (non religious dad)--no.   Do you?  She says no--because I believe God believes in second chances.

Pretty cool.

PS only one stop to gag and cry today up Sinclair road----but I am not sure you can call my pace running or even jogging.   Slogging might be more appropriate.

aspen takes my breath away

I was wondering if I would stop being amazed by the views.  After a month I can report that I am still gobsmacked by the beauty.  Sometimes that comes from going to a new place or a new time (like last night I was on the top of Ajax for the sunset).  Or watching a storm roll in--but the walk to get the papers just doesn't get old--it's really a beautiful place.

But what really takes my breath away is exercising up here.  I figured after a month I would be mountain man tuff--maybe even able to run and jump like a 30 year old.  So I set a goal for myself to run up sinclair road without stopping.  It's not that long --maybe a mile, and not that steep--maybe 300-400 vert.  Well I can report that after a month of trying I still can't do it.  I have changed my goal from run to jog (or anything but walk).  Will I ever be a mountain man?

aspen real estate --the pain the pain

So Aspen is different.  My son has met at least 3 kids at camp whose families have their own jets.  He saw one of them taking off today on the way to camp and he said thank goodness that kid was a @%$^^$XS.

Ok so I knew going into this that Aspen real estate was wicked expensive.  But that is not what this post is about.  And for all you  real estate agents reading you may hate me for this but I got to be honest---there is some stinky shit going on here.  Namely no one seems to be able to tell you anything about the properties in terms of what you can build, how big you can build and what the fees are to build there.  Now I guess if you are so rich that you don't care about fees, and if you spend a lot of money only to find you can't build the home you want and then you have to sell well maybe losing 300k-800k doesn't affect you but that isn't my world.

I would expect the seller of a piece of land to be able to provide you something that would say how big a home you could build on that piece of land and all the details around that.  But it seems in Aspen no one really knows what you can build till you go to the review board.  Also jurisdiction seems all over the road (which impacts various additional costs like affording housing tax fee which is close to $50 a square foot--yea you read that right but for those of you not so good with math if you are building a 4k square foot house you are looking at $200k in affordable housing tax fee alone).  Other permitting costs can run another $50 a square foot in the city so you are looking at $100 in fees per square foot.  There are many places in this country you can build a house for less than $100 a square foot.  Fck.

And no one is upfront about which property is located where.

So you see a property and think humm nice then you have to try to figure out where it's really located, guess what you can build on it and pray.

My old formula for building a home was

land+ (building cost x1.33% + 50% longer to deliver) + 3% of building costs as fees

my new formula is

land + (building which is 20% smaller than you thought you could build once you go through approval process) + ( building costs which are double the rest of the world x 1.33% + 50% longer to deliver) + 18% building costs as fees

BOTTOM LINE  real estate is softening.  There have been 14 homes sold in Aspen this year so far --off like 70% YTD from last year.  Very little is moving and prices are dropping.  Maybe it's time to bring some sanity to this process not just in terms of price but process as well.  Clearing up this muddy picture would improve transaction rates which would be good for the local economy.

So let's talk about pot

Let me begin the conversation by letting all ya all know that it seems my daughter has been watching reefer madness when I am not closely observing her screen time and has decided if I consume any THC I will turn into Charles Manson.  So I got that going for me.  Also when I decided to move out here getting involved in a growing business sounding great so I was thinking managing the Green Dragon sounded perfect.  And they were looking to hire for that role.  Well they hired someone.  And the pot business isn't growing, it's grown.  It's crazy how many pot shops there are.  Downtown Aspen has I believe 7 at last count.  That is 1 for every 1000 people and seeing as you got to be 21 it's more like 1 for every 700 people.  So no waiting step right up and get stoned.

Another observation---kids these days smoke much smaller pipes.  I've seen a lot of water pipes and no one is rocking the 3 foot graffix bong with the 6 shooter attachment out here.  It's a lot of sub one foot stuff.  What is up with that?--my guess is the increased potency from 25 years ago has something to do with it.  And kids these days don't know how to go big.

And then there are these edible things.  Wow it's not like we used to make with experimenting with brownies.  These things are fully manufactured drugs.  You will get stoned--maybe very stoned for a very long time.  I've been told to experiment with small amounts cause its a ride you can't get off of.  Kinda like Trump.....wait no politics.

Anyhow I am still thinking about a green job but not in the industry per se but instead servicing the industry.  Anyone need a dope banker (and some health insurance along with that?)