Yesterday the school called a snow day. And being pretty new to the valley I didn't see it coming but everyone else did. For example, much of my daughter's hockey team had scheduled sleepovers for Thursday night.
So how do you know it's gonna be a snow day:
1. you can add a day onto a already long weekend (adding Friday to Monday off---way to make everyone happy with a 4 day weekend)
2. With a pre scheduled long weekend you can assume most of the sports teams will be traveling--this way they miss less school
3. Finals week is coming up starting Tuesday--give teachers and kids more time to prepare (that might be more sleep, more skiing, more studying or some combo of the above)
4. Give teachers a day to ski---they live here to recreate too
5. 10-20 inches in the previous 24 hours gives air cover even though the roads were no different than most other days
So while my kids slept in I did a little work and hit the hill around 11:30. I got in 8 Bell-Dumps laps by 3:10 pm and was pretty proud of knocking off about 30k of vert in a bunch of bumps. Hot and sweaty walking into the house my son asked me what I skied and I told him. He informed me that was not very impressive and went back to bed. Anyone want an adolescent boy--I got one I would be happy to loan you?
The boy and I went to see Mavis Staples last night and she rocked. If anyone is unsure how to engage with a crowd they should watch a Staples show---textbook and she is 79.
This weekend is also Gay ski week. My 8 visits to the gondola got me multiple glimpse of the parade down Aspen. Looked like Halloween had arrived in January--with a lot of fun had by topless folks in pretty cold snowy weather.
Next up---X games. They officially kick off Thursday I believe just in time for the high school kids to wrap up finals. Was it planned like that? Maybe Lil Wayne Friday night after the last final is a good way to blow off steam----or a good way to blow up. (And I am managing a slip crew one of the days---I will report how that turned out)
I also have a good high school friend and his son coming to stay with us for a couple of days. Think I will be crushing some blues on Snowmass--they might have to change the name of Alpine Springs or the Big Burn to Green Acres. It should be a good time, and if you wonder what motivated my snow day skiing their impending arrival plus good snow might provide a clue.
The snow is great--make some time to go skiing. I haven't seen a gravestone engraved with ' I skiing too much' and believe me if that gravestone was gonna be anywhere it would be in Aspen.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Thursday, January 10, 2019
things that sux about Aspen
Happy New Year to you---as opposed to giving you 10 goals or aspirations or some maudlin new year crap like that I decided to let you know some things that suck about paradise
1. windows and bears---it would be great to keep the windows open at night in the spring, summer and fall to cool the house down and enjoy the fresh air, but the bears won't allow that---
2. X-mas, New Years and other high holiday times----I get used to no lift lifes and no clueless posers, and people who know how to handle a two way stop sign at a 4 way intersection, and then the holiday crowds arrive and it just makes me want to hide in my house till they go
3. Guests---who ask for advice and then won't listen (leave a day early so you don't get nailed by a 3 day snow storm, wear you ski boots to the hill, no you can't get a dinner reservation for 10 with 6 hours notice for 7pm anywhere during x-mas-new years break)
4. cynical SkiCo (Aspen Way--- love, community, unity, respect) and enjoy the $170 daily lift ticket and $12.25 for a slice of pepperoni pizza and $6 bucks for a large fountain drink. Let me add that up for you. That is $18.25 for a slice of pizza sitting under a warming lamp, and a cup of soda that you grab at a large cafeteria (Merry Go Round @ Aspen Highlands) and then fight for a seat in a large crowded room while thinking about the Aspen Way. Seems SkiCo respects short term $$$s but that pricing sure doesn't feel like love. And Ski Co talks about wanting to diversify their customer base but at that price point you are pretty much looking at locals who bring their own and 0.1%ers.
5. No Salt on the streets---I wonder what it will take for Aspen and CO to revisit that decision--maybe my kids bus sliding down the street into an intersection and getting T-boned by a large dump truck resulting in multiple deaths.
6. Unwillingness to try new things (see above). The City Manager for Aspen was just forced out of his job after 23 years. Who holds a top job like that for 23 years? Likewise SkiCo could surely use some fresh blood. This town has next to zero operational excellence and that is largely a result of the same ski bums holding the same job for decades. Aspen has not figured out how to draw new talent to the valley, and we are paying for it.
7. Unwillingness to be honest. The county is looking to expand the airport and terminal and the long time locals are resisting because---well they don't like change, don't like spending money, don't want people visiting etc. They have come up with weird arguments like we don't want 737s to land here because........uh they have too many seats. We don't want a bigger airport because it will allow more private jets (have you looked at the airport, I think every private jet in the world was parked out there last week). While the airlines have indicated that they are shifting to larger jets that won't be able to land at ASE, we can tell UAL and AA what kind of jets they need to maintain. Yea right. Let's be honest, all of Aspen's economy revolves around tourism. And while all of that doesn't come via the airport the majority does. A bigger, nicer terminal (especially when flights start getting delayed which is normal given a bit of weather) and the ability to fly bigger jets from further locations with more seats will only help the local economy. If UAL and AA stop flying here see how long it takes for your home price to drop from $1,500 a foot to $350 a foot and then tell me how happy you are with the current airport.
8. Exploitative pricing---gas in Denver $1.88 a gallon. Gas in Aspen $3.15 a gallon.
9. Health insurance on the Western slope. Basically see above, but if you want to know why national health insurance is coming, just try to buy health insurance on the Western slope of CO. Its both expensive and doesn't provide the coverage you want.
10. No uptick at gyms after new years. WTF. I thought that was an all American thing, but out here everyone works out so dang much you couldn't tell Jan 2nd from Dec 26th.
1. windows and bears---it would be great to keep the windows open at night in the spring, summer and fall to cool the house down and enjoy the fresh air, but the bears won't allow that---
2. X-mas, New Years and other high holiday times----I get used to no lift lifes and no clueless posers, and people who know how to handle a two way stop sign at a 4 way intersection, and then the holiday crowds arrive and it just makes me want to hide in my house till they go
3. Guests---who ask for advice and then won't listen (leave a day early so you don't get nailed by a 3 day snow storm, wear you ski boots to the hill, no you can't get a dinner reservation for 10 with 6 hours notice for 7pm anywhere during x-mas-new years break)
4. cynical SkiCo (Aspen Way--- love, community, unity, respect) and enjoy the $170 daily lift ticket and $12.25 for a slice of pepperoni pizza and $6 bucks for a large fountain drink. Let me add that up for you. That is $18.25 for a slice of pizza sitting under a warming lamp, and a cup of soda that you grab at a large cafeteria (Merry Go Round @ Aspen Highlands) and then fight for a seat in a large crowded room while thinking about the Aspen Way. Seems SkiCo respects short term $$$s but that pricing sure doesn't feel like love. And Ski Co talks about wanting to diversify their customer base but at that price point you are pretty much looking at locals who bring their own and 0.1%ers.
5. No Salt on the streets---I wonder what it will take for Aspen and CO to revisit that decision--maybe my kids bus sliding down the street into an intersection and getting T-boned by a large dump truck resulting in multiple deaths.
6. Unwillingness to try new things (see above). The City Manager for Aspen was just forced out of his job after 23 years. Who holds a top job like that for 23 years? Likewise SkiCo could surely use some fresh blood. This town has next to zero operational excellence and that is largely a result of the same ski bums holding the same job for decades. Aspen has not figured out how to draw new talent to the valley, and we are paying for it.
7. Unwillingness to be honest. The county is looking to expand the airport and terminal and the long time locals are resisting because---well they don't like change, don't like spending money, don't want people visiting etc. They have come up with weird arguments like we don't want 737s to land here because........uh they have too many seats. We don't want a bigger airport because it will allow more private jets (have you looked at the airport, I think every private jet in the world was parked out there last week). While the airlines have indicated that they are shifting to larger jets that won't be able to land at ASE, we can tell UAL and AA what kind of jets they need to maintain. Yea right. Let's be honest, all of Aspen's economy revolves around tourism. And while all of that doesn't come via the airport the majority does. A bigger, nicer terminal (especially when flights start getting delayed which is normal given a bit of weather) and the ability to fly bigger jets from further locations with more seats will only help the local economy. If UAL and AA stop flying here see how long it takes for your home price to drop from $1,500 a foot to $350 a foot and then tell me how happy you are with the current airport.
8. Exploitative pricing---gas in Denver $1.88 a gallon. Gas in Aspen $3.15 a gallon.
9. Health insurance on the Western slope. Basically see above, but if you want to know why national health insurance is coming, just try to buy health insurance on the Western slope of CO. Its both expensive and doesn't provide the coverage you want.
10. No uptick at gyms after new years. WTF. I thought that was an all American thing, but out here everyone works out so dang much you couldn't tell Jan 2nd from Dec 26th.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
confessions of a parent part deux
sports----is it possible to have a healthy relationship with kids sports these days?
I don't know.
Things I do know:
1. there are a ton of cool sports kids can do with high level coaches and serious competition. Back in my day it was dad's coaching kids, we played in jeans, and most of the competition was a bike ride away.
2. back in the day the cost was next to nothing. Maybe $25 to play baseball including the tee shirt. No travel fees. No coaches gift. No tournament fees. Sometimes parents watched games but usually not and we usually rode our bikes to practices and games. And yes a couple of the guys I played with and against went on to play AAA pro ball having pitched for some big 8 (dating myself) college powerhouses.
3. Fast forward to today where parents seem to be at many of the practices, spend a ton of money and time and the odds of your kid getting a scholarship or playing pro have gone way down. But worst of all agro sports parents have exploded. But don't blame the parents---it's really the system that has evolved slowly but surely to a horrible horrible place.
Why am I thinking sport as the holidays arrive? My son is a kinda a high end sailor. 'Kinda' what does that mean? Well he races in a lot of the top level regattas, one of which he is heading to today in Miami. He will be racing against 85 other boats from as far away as Ireland, and as close as Miami. Most of the kids he is competing against live within 30 miles of the water. They race 8-12 months out of the year. They have often been racing with the same partner for years (although some switch teammates faster than employees turnover in the White House.--always searching for something better). Some kids use crap hulls and the same sails for a year or two (mine for example). Other kids get 3-6 new hulls a year and new sails for each race. While equipment isn't everything, for high level racing a new sail and a super fast bottom can make a HUGE difference. Figure a new boat and sails at 10k per, while new sails maybe 1k. Then there are the travel costs (10 nights of hotel room for this race, airfare and car rental). For OB figure $5k for travel. Then cost of boat and coaches and clinic fees and race fees. Call that 1.5k. So if we buy the boy new sails for the season and I want to amortize that over 5 races let's say the cost of him racing in the Orange Bowl is close to $7k.
One race.
Then midwinters in Florida which is much shorter (4-5 days) figure that is $3.5k and then the summer of racing is maybe another $8k and the total is about $19k for him to race for a season. Multiply that by 4 years and we are close to $80k for his high school sailing experience. OMG. And I am a cheap parent not buying new boats, not buying lots of new sails, not buying much in the way of equipment and assuming no major issues. $80k. WTF. And then you wonder why parents get agitated when their kid acts like a kid and not a professional and gets silly. Or doesn't fight for his exposure, coaching, position on the line etc. It's a big investment to make without getting emotionally drawn in. And not only are we cheap in terms of what we buy him, we are not making a big time investment, because we are so far away from the water we can't, don't, helicopter him or the coaches. There are parents who homeschool their kids and travel the circuit to give their kids the best opportunity to succeed. If you think I can get frustrated with my kid or his coaches, just think about the parent who has tailored their life around their kids sport. Healthy? Not a chance.
I don't have a good solution to all of this. I do believe being aware of the issue and aware of the trap you can get sucked into is a good first step towards remembering its just kids sports. The goal should be having fun, getting exercise, learning how to work as a team, having a healthy view towards competition (winning is good but it's hardly everything, and not everyone can win).
That said I would really like to see the boy finish in the top half. And then turn some college coaches heads and have some good meetings at college night (with Yale and Harvard and Stanford and MIT and Brown), and maybe given that he is doing that well while living in CO and only sailing 3 months out of the year maybe then...............oh fuck there I go again.
Have fun, sail strong and maybe meet a cute girl.
and if you want to get a feel for what a race looks like this is a pretty good vid of nationals from last summer
c420 nationals Waino
I don't know.
Things I do know:
1. there are a ton of cool sports kids can do with high level coaches and serious competition. Back in my day it was dad's coaching kids, we played in jeans, and most of the competition was a bike ride away.
2. back in the day the cost was next to nothing. Maybe $25 to play baseball including the tee shirt. No travel fees. No coaches gift. No tournament fees. Sometimes parents watched games but usually not and we usually rode our bikes to practices and games. And yes a couple of the guys I played with and against went on to play AAA pro ball having pitched for some big 8 (dating myself) college powerhouses.
3. Fast forward to today where parents seem to be at many of the practices, spend a ton of money and time and the odds of your kid getting a scholarship or playing pro have gone way down. But worst of all agro sports parents have exploded. But don't blame the parents---it's really the system that has evolved slowly but surely to a horrible horrible place.
Why am I thinking sport as the holidays arrive? My son is a kinda a high end sailor. 'Kinda' what does that mean? Well he races in a lot of the top level regattas, one of which he is heading to today in Miami. He will be racing against 85 other boats from as far away as Ireland, and as close as Miami. Most of the kids he is competing against live within 30 miles of the water. They race 8-12 months out of the year. They have often been racing with the same partner for years (although some switch teammates faster than employees turnover in the White House.--always searching for something better). Some kids use crap hulls and the same sails for a year or two (mine for example). Other kids get 3-6 new hulls a year and new sails for each race. While equipment isn't everything, for high level racing a new sail and a super fast bottom can make a HUGE difference. Figure a new boat and sails at 10k per, while new sails maybe 1k. Then there are the travel costs (10 nights of hotel room for this race, airfare and car rental). For OB figure $5k for travel. Then cost of boat and coaches and clinic fees and race fees. Call that 1.5k. So if we buy the boy new sails for the season and I want to amortize that over 5 races let's say the cost of him racing in the Orange Bowl is close to $7k.
One race.
Then midwinters in Florida which is much shorter (4-5 days) figure that is $3.5k and then the summer of racing is maybe another $8k and the total is about $19k for him to race for a season. Multiply that by 4 years and we are close to $80k for his high school sailing experience. OMG. And I am a cheap parent not buying new boats, not buying lots of new sails, not buying much in the way of equipment and assuming no major issues. $80k. WTF. And then you wonder why parents get agitated when their kid acts like a kid and not a professional and gets silly. Or doesn't fight for his exposure, coaching, position on the line etc. It's a big investment to make without getting emotionally drawn in. And not only are we cheap in terms of what we buy him, we are not making a big time investment, because we are so far away from the water we can't, don't, helicopter him or the coaches. There are parents who homeschool their kids and travel the circuit to give their kids the best opportunity to succeed. If you think I can get frustrated with my kid or his coaches, just think about the parent who has tailored their life around their kids sport. Healthy? Not a chance.
I don't have a good solution to all of this. I do believe being aware of the issue and aware of the trap you can get sucked into is a good first step towards remembering its just kids sports. The goal should be having fun, getting exercise, learning how to work as a team, having a healthy view towards competition (winning is good but it's hardly everything, and not everyone can win).
That said I would really like to see the boy finish in the top half. And then turn some college coaches heads and have some good meetings at college night (with Yale and Harvard and Stanford and MIT and Brown), and maybe given that he is doing that well while living in CO and only sailing 3 months out of the year maybe then...............oh fuck there I go again.
Have fun, sail strong and maybe meet a cute girl.
and if you want to get a feel for what a race looks like this is a pretty good vid of nationals from last summer
c420 nationals Waino
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
confessions of a parent
I can't judge a debate. No fucking way. I thought I could. I said I would. And then I saw what was involved and I ran away.
Taking a step back. My son is taking debate class and going to some debate contests (meets, games, competitions I don't even know what they are called). Kinda like with my son's sailing it's pretty great cause I have no clue about debating (or sailing). So I don't yell at the judges, kids, coaches etc. I got no clue. Very health.
But they needed some judges at the most recent debate in Avon so I said sure if no skill is necessary. The coach said yea anyone can do it and thank you. I would suggest he misrepresented what was necessary. I would be a single judge responsible for:
1. timing (including opening speeches, rebuttals and closing speeches along with giving each debater 15 and 30 second countdown warnings)
2. judging content
3. judging application of debate rules (what rules---I don't fucking know the rules)
4. Providing written notes and comments regarding presentation and adherence to rules
5. ording teams and submitting results
For 30 debates.
OMG I said no way. I also think it kinda sucks for these kids to work really hard (I think my son does more work for debate than he does for Aeronautics, Advanced Geometry, English, History and Biology combined) and then be judged by a clueless parent.
Other interesting observations:
1. my son cares about his grades. And this sure didn't come from anything his parents did or did not do. And he didn't use to care at all---he used to skip school in Chicago to go to 7/11. He gets full credit for this pleasant metamorphosis, while I scratch my head and wonder where this came from.
2. Both my wife and I went to hyper-competitive high schools. AHS not so much. In my son's history class the teacher offered to give extra credit to any and all students who went to listen to a 4 star general and Fox commentator speak about the US-Syrian policy, and wrote up their observations. My son went because he was interested in the subject matter and very interested in the extra credit. A girl went who was interested in my son. And that was it---the other 73 kids who are taking that class took a pass. At Choate or Burroughs 90% of the class would have attended ---here is less than 5%. It's kinda nice that every 9th grade kid isn't worrying about college admission, but who is my son going to talk to about Assad?
3. My son has worn shorts to school every day this year. Guess that really isn't that unusual.
Taking a step back. My son is taking debate class and going to some debate contests (meets, games, competitions I don't even know what they are called). Kinda like with my son's sailing it's pretty great cause I have no clue about debating (or sailing). So I don't yell at the judges, kids, coaches etc. I got no clue. Very health.
But they needed some judges at the most recent debate in Avon so I said sure if no skill is necessary. The coach said yea anyone can do it and thank you. I would suggest he misrepresented what was necessary. I would be a single judge responsible for:
1. timing (including opening speeches, rebuttals and closing speeches along with giving each debater 15 and 30 second countdown warnings)
2. judging content
3. judging application of debate rules (what rules---I don't fucking know the rules)
4. Providing written notes and comments regarding presentation and adherence to rules
5. ording teams and submitting results
For 30 debates.
OMG I said no way. I also think it kinda sucks for these kids to work really hard (I think my son does more work for debate than he does for Aeronautics, Advanced Geometry, English, History and Biology combined) and then be judged by a clueless parent.
Other interesting observations:
1. my son cares about his grades. And this sure didn't come from anything his parents did or did not do. And he didn't use to care at all---he used to skip school in Chicago to go to 7/11. He gets full credit for this pleasant metamorphosis, while I scratch my head and wonder where this came from.
2. Both my wife and I went to hyper-competitive high schools. AHS not so much. In my son's history class the teacher offered to give extra credit to any and all students who went to listen to a 4 star general and Fox commentator speak about the US-Syrian policy, and wrote up their observations. My son went because he was interested in the subject matter and very interested in the extra credit. A girl went who was interested in my son. And that was it---the other 73 kids who are taking that class took a pass. At Choate or Burroughs 90% of the class would have attended ---here is less than 5%. It's kinda nice that every 9th grade kid isn't worrying about college admission, but who is my son going to talk to about Assad?
3. My son has worn shorts to school every day this year. Guess that really isn't that unusual.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
warning .....I am going political
and not local political although on the local front it does seem that ASD (aspen school district's) head of HR has been terminated (or is on paid leave pending resolving her suit for unlawful termination). Just a reminder this is the head of HR who pleaded guilty to crimes related to her last job and had zero relevant experience (making the typical leap from family law practice and criminal to head of HR for a district school).
Also the superintendent's employment contract was not renewed. A win for common sense.
Now to Trump.
But first a word from my son's debate class--one of the subjects he is debating is 'should all US mail be inspected for weapons?' My son's research showed that in the past 20 years there have been 5 deaths due to mail born weapons (those would be anthrax in 2001). Compare that to 48k deaths from opiate overdoses or 14.5k deaths from firearm homicides last year. Spending money on making mail safe (or safer) is a cure in search of a problem. And yes there were some bombs sent recently and over the past 20 years but most of those were ineffective and or stopped. Our current systems are working pretty well keeping us safe from the mail.
Which brings us to Trump and his big beautiful wall. Believe it or not ISIS is not bringing across thousands of trained terrorists and weapons through the southern border. If there were, we would be seeing those terrorists on FOX news 24/7. Much like the mail system, our current immigration system has done a very good job of keeping terrorists, gang members, and bad actors out. Its not perfect, yes a few bad actors slip through. Yes drugs slip through. But the drug problem isn't coke from Colombia, its oxy from US pharma. If ISIS or gang members do slip through, they don't need to worry about bringing weapons with them, they can find all the weapons they need on the US side of the border. Trump wants $5 billion to start building the wall or he will shut down the government. Figure maybe $15-20 billion to build the wall in total, another $2-3 to man and maintain the wall per year. And while millions seem like rounding numbers lets not forget the $200 million or so to send the Army to the border as an election stunt. All this spending from the party that solves every problem by cutting taxes, and then bitches about the deficit.
To my GOP friends:
1. You support a party that wanted an unfunded procyclical tax cut that is blowing up the deficit (and then you are surprised that interest rates go up)
2. Your party is anti free trade
3. You support a president whose foreign policy is to play kissy face with Russia and N Korea and MBS
4. You seem to accept that the president is above the law
What has happened to the GOP?
tomorrow I promise no politics
Also the superintendent's employment contract was not renewed. A win for common sense.
Now to Trump.
But first a word from my son's debate class--one of the subjects he is debating is 'should all US mail be inspected for weapons?' My son's research showed that in the past 20 years there have been 5 deaths due to mail born weapons (those would be anthrax in 2001). Compare that to 48k deaths from opiate overdoses or 14.5k deaths from firearm homicides last year. Spending money on making mail safe (or safer) is a cure in search of a problem. And yes there were some bombs sent recently and over the past 20 years but most of those were ineffective and or stopped. Our current systems are working pretty well keeping us safe from the mail.
Which brings us to Trump and his big beautiful wall. Believe it or not ISIS is not bringing across thousands of trained terrorists and weapons through the southern border. If there were, we would be seeing those terrorists on FOX news 24/7. Much like the mail system, our current immigration system has done a very good job of keeping terrorists, gang members, and bad actors out. Its not perfect, yes a few bad actors slip through. Yes drugs slip through. But the drug problem isn't coke from Colombia, its oxy from US pharma. If ISIS or gang members do slip through, they don't need to worry about bringing weapons with them, they can find all the weapons they need on the US side of the border. Trump wants $5 billion to start building the wall or he will shut down the government. Figure maybe $15-20 billion to build the wall in total, another $2-3 to man and maintain the wall per year. And while millions seem like rounding numbers lets not forget the $200 million or so to send the Army to the border as an election stunt. All this spending from the party that solves every problem by cutting taxes, and then bitches about the deficit.
To my GOP friends:
1. You support a party that wanted an unfunded procyclical tax cut that is blowing up the deficit (and then you are surprised that interest rates go up)
2. Your party is anti free trade
3. You support a president whose foreign policy is to play kissy face with Russia and N Korea and MBS
4. You seem to accept that the president is above the law
What has happened to the GOP?
tomorrow I promise no politics
Friday, December 7, 2018
what would my 18 year old self say to my 51 year old self
Punch line---I called the cops on the party next door.
Last Saturday night my son and I came home around 10:30. As we got close to the house I saw cars parked all along the street. Lots and lots of cars. More than I have ever seen my in hood. I figured someone was having a party. Turns out the someone was the kid in the duplex we share a wall with. It was kinda loud, but not tooo loud in our bedroom (my son's walls were shaking pretty good though). And the party was just winding up--kids were coming in, not leaving and some smart high schoolers were taking a cab to avoid the drunk driving issue (or they weren't old enough to drive).
After a quick chat with the wife, I decided to call in the law. I didn't really want to bang on the door and ask them to keep it down and please not damage my property. Shoot, in this day and age I didn't want to risk getting shot for going up to someone's door (ok I wasn't really worried about that). Then things got all 21st century.
Prior to making the call I asked my son what he thought--he went on his phone and was able to quickly figure out who might be there (for AHS who read this blog he didn't reveal any names), and he indicated that many of the party goers were serious partiers. Ok, so it's not the board game club (yes the school has a board game club) having a parent supervised gathering (son laughing hard in background).
About 2 minutes after I called in the heat the kids started fleeing the scene. Way before the police arrived. I asked my son what he thought happened and he suggested kids coming to the party saw the police heading their way and texted a warning.
Within 5-10 minutes they were all gone (quietly I might add which was a pleasant surprise).
The next day the kids mom is banging on our door. She tears my wife a new one about calling the police on the party. Why didn't we call her first? Why did we call the cops at all. hummmmmm.
Why didn't we call her first---well if she is there and overseeing a party where kids are drinking and doing drugs, she doesn't seem like a great point of contact to correct the situation. If she isn't there (which she wasn't) I am not sure what she would have done.
Why call the cops---well as it turns out, some of the states I have lived in have this thing called social host laws which means that the parents (and other adults) can be held responsible for underage drinking that occurs on their property. Also if you know that underage drinking is going on and do nothing there is a chance that you can be held liable in these states. It turns out that Colorado is not a state with aggressive social host laws, but I really didn't want to do that research at 11 pm. I also didn't want to risk damage in their property flowing into my property.
So yea I called the fuzz. When I was 18 I was the one having the party (mom traveled a lot for work). Now I am the grumpy old guy calling the cops.
PS driving in St. Louis a little buzzed was never ok, but shoot we weren't driving on winding mountain roads in the snow. 5 Aspen High school kids were in this car---they are all ok ----holy shit safety technology has improved---back in the 80s I bet 3 out of 5 are dead. I kinda wished they had parked the wreck in front of the high school as a visceral reminder. Don't drive drunk. And it seems in this case they weren't they were just being stupid--95 mph on Maroon creek road....stupid.
Last Saturday night my son and I came home around 10:30. As we got close to the house I saw cars parked all along the street. Lots and lots of cars. More than I have ever seen my in hood. I figured someone was having a party. Turns out the someone was the kid in the duplex we share a wall with. It was kinda loud, but not tooo loud in our bedroom (my son's walls were shaking pretty good though). And the party was just winding up--kids were coming in, not leaving and some smart high schoolers were taking a cab to avoid the drunk driving issue (or they weren't old enough to drive).
After a quick chat with the wife, I decided to call in the law. I didn't really want to bang on the door and ask them to keep it down and please not damage my property. Shoot, in this day and age I didn't want to risk getting shot for going up to someone's door (ok I wasn't really worried about that). Then things got all 21st century.
Prior to making the call I asked my son what he thought--he went on his phone and was able to quickly figure out who might be there (for AHS who read this blog he didn't reveal any names), and he indicated that many of the party goers were serious partiers. Ok, so it's not the board game club (yes the school has a board game club) having a parent supervised gathering (son laughing hard in background).
About 2 minutes after I called in the heat the kids started fleeing the scene. Way before the police arrived. I asked my son what he thought happened and he suggested kids coming to the party saw the police heading their way and texted a warning.
Within 5-10 minutes they were all gone (quietly I might add which was a pleasant surprise).
The next day the kids mom is banging on our door. She tears my wife a new one about calling the police on the party. Why didn't we call her first? Why did we call the cops at all. hummmmmm.
Why didn't we call her first---well if she is there and overseeing a party where kids are drinking and doing drugs, she doesn't seem like a great point of contact to correct the situation. If she isn't there (which she wasn't) I am not sure what she would have done.
Why call the cops---well as it turns out, some of the states I have lived in have this thing called social host laws which means that the parents (and other adults) can be held responsible for underage drinking that occurs on their property. Also if you know that underage drinking is going on and do nothing there is a chance that you can be held liable in these states. It turns out that Colorado is not a state with aggressive social host laws, but I really didn't want to do that research at 11 pm. I also didn't want to risk damage in their property flowing into my property.
So yea I called the fuzz. When I was 18 I was the one having the party (mom traveled a lot for work). Now I am the grumpy old guy calling the cops.
PS driving in St. Louis a little buzzed was never ok, but shoot we weren't driving on winding mountain roads in the snow. 5 Aspen High school kids were in this car---they are all ok ----holy shit safety technology has improved---back in the 80s I bet 3 out of 5 are dead. I kinda wished they had parked the wreck in front of the high school as a visceral reminder. Don't drive drunk. And it seems in this case they weren't they were just being stupid--95 mph on Maroon creek road....stupid.
PPS my dog snuck into their party and did some very messy lines---bad dog
Thursday, November 29, 2018
my life in pictures
soooo it's been a while and let's face it no one reads anymore sooooooo here is a picture update (with some short captions to see if folks can still read)
Halloween is very scary
wife did this on oct 31
it made the papers cause we live in a small town--dogs and wife were fine--car not so much so we got a new car
one of these
good news is dogs can get their ya yas out on the trails and are still chasing big game
which brings us to hockey---we had a tourney in vail which brought out the best in Aspen hockey
note the really hot hockey mom below (Aspen has only the hottest hockey moms)
we also had a rare window when we could drive to the bells which resulted in some team pond hockey --Chicago and East coast you got nothing on this
america the beautiful
panic and freak the fuck out (she made it all the way up)
crack master (joshua tree has some amazing climbing )
tunes around the campfire--we never had an experience like this driving from Chicago to STL for t-day
holy shit the West is beautiful
Halloween is very scary
wife did this on oct 31
it made the papers cause we live in a small town--dogs and wife were fine--car not so much so we got a new car
one of these
which is much bigger car than I would ever own in a city but up here with crazy dirt roads the ground clearance and room for dogs and toys in the way back make it a good acquisition
then we got to halloween itself (daughter as eeyore, and son as Bret Kava)
then we got a bunny---bunny is cute and dogs are hungry --we will have to see how this plays out
speaking of big game (and the need to clean up work sites note the bear looking to clean up)
which brings us to hockey---we had a tourney in vail which brought out the best in Aspen hockey
note the really hot hockey mom below (Aspen has only the hottest hockey moms)
Also weirdly the hotel we stayed at shut the bar at 10 pm which required some forethought from this hockey dad
the early arrival of winter also allowed me to go super cheap for the wife's b day---yea they opened the hill on Nov 17th her birthday so that was a pretty sweet gift for all of us
which brings us to thanksgiving---we drove to LA with a stop in Joshua Tree and hoover dam and vegas and other cool places---I will write more about that but for now enjoy some travel shots
infrastructure spend at work
america the beautiful
crack master (joshua tree has some amazing climbing )
tunes around the campfire--we never had an experience like this driving from Chicago to STL for t-day
holy shit the West is beautiful
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