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

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

 good news is dogs can get their ya yas out on the trails and are still chasing big game

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

 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

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

 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 

my dogs didn't do that in chicago (and other fun stuff)

in the past week my dogs have treed two bears.

For those of you who don't know what it means to tree a bear, that is when your dogs chase a bear up a tree (the bear goes up the tree not the dogs). 

Its kinda interesting to watch--my dogs go at the bears without barking.  They just charge the bears hard and the bears run for their lives and then climb to the top of the largest aspen tree they can find.  I wish I had taken video of the big bears swaying at the top of a thin Aspen, but I was a bit too busy calling the dogs off to pull out the phone.  I'll see if next time I can get some vid.

My younger dog also took a dump in the middle of highway 82 near independence pass.  She was on lead and slowly edged me out into the road until she was on the yellow line and then left a solid poop smack in the middle of the road.  We were lucky that all the leaf peeping drivers were in a mellow mood.  No honking, just some smiles as I scooped the poop and dragged the dumb dog out of the road.  Thank you drivers for your fab temperament.

I also wanted to thank some dog owners for giving me the chance to do the right thing.  The other day on smuggler I was able to collect about a dozen poop bags left by other dog owners.  Thank you for giving me such an easy mitzvah (good deed in hebrew) opportunity.

We got snow in the high country and ski passes in the drawer.  Let it snow let it snow let it snow.

all ya all back to high school debate class

What do Aspen and Washington DC have in common?  At first blush, it would seem not a lot.  Sadly, the controversy surrounding the Kavanaugh supreme court nomination and the discussions regarding Superintendent Maloy’s extension show some distressing similarities.  In both cases there has been a rush to judgement, an unwillingness to listen to each other, much hyperbole, and demonizing people with opposing views.  The parents opposing Maloy’s contract extension are not a lynch mob of angry parents spewing vitriol with a vendetta against Maloy.  Likewise, you can support Kavanaugh’s nomination, and support #metoo.

I think everyone (folks in Aspen, DC and our country) would benefit from taking a couple of debate classes at Aspen high school.  In this most excellent class they are assigned a topic to debate, and pro or con is determined by a coin flip.  You need to be prepared to debate both sides of the argument.  Think about how much better you understand the issue if you must be prepared to support either side.  How much more empathy would there be in DC if Lindsey Graham had to argue for withdrawing Kavanaugh’s nomination, and Cory Booker had to argue for his appointment to the Supreme court.  How about if APAC leaders had to present arguments for extending Maloy’s contract and Willis and Klug had to make arguments for his immediate removal.  This undoubtedly would increase compassion for people with differing opinions, improve discourse and result in better decision making.

In an attempt to get a passing grade in high school debate, I will present pros and cons for extending superintendent Maloy’s contract.

Pros:

1.     He has done a good job.  All schools are accredited with distinction.  The district is rated 20^th in the state and is in the top 15% of districts in the state.

2.     He knows the players and the district.  Onboarding a new hire is costly.

3.     He helped deliver a pay raise to teachers.

4.     He has shown tremendous support for teachers and staff.  When his head of HR was found to have some issues related to her prior job, he gave her his full support, believing her present accomplishments more than make up for her past indiscretions.

5.     Chasing out a superintendent who is performing well might make hiring a great new one very difficult.

Cons:

1.     The school district is performing worse.  The district has fallen from 3^rd in the state to 20^th.  While the district continues to be accredited with distinction, it has fallen from the top 5% to 15%.   Given how weak much of the competition is, that is a significant fall.

2.     Maloy lost his job in Indiana for bullying teachers.  He stands accused of the same behavior in Aspen.

3.     He has shown very poor judgement—

a.     his hiring of Hodges is hard to understand given her lack of relevant experience. His defense of her when crimes related to her previous job became know is inexplicable. 

b.     Allowing his daughter to apply to work in the school district showed little empathy or understanding for the perception of nepotism

c.     Trolling the halls and asking teachers to voice support for him at the BOE meeting shows a lack of understanding of the coercive and inappropriate nature of that request

4.     We can do better---Aspen superintendent is a plum job, surely, we can find someone with a terrific resume, excellent leadership and a history of good judgement

Things that clearly don’t improve the conversation include hyperbole, such as calling engaged parents angry or a lynch mob.  Nor does insisting on some self-determined rules about what can and can’t be discussed like ‘everything must be positive’.  A declining school ranking isn’t positive, and insisting on a positive spin is disingenuous and obscures the truth.

One of my college roommates is super conservative.  He was considered as a possible Supreme court nominee under the G W Bush administration.  I consider myself a very, very liberal voter.  We disagreed about a lot of things, AND we were good friends.  For example, he believed we should have used tactical nukes in Vietnam; I believe we shouldn’t have been in Vietnam.   During the 88 election he agreed to drink a shot for each state Bush lost, I for Dukakis.  I got really, really drunk, and he kept the demeanor and grace which would make him a good supreme court judge (and let me out of the bet). 

Whether a US supreme court nomination or a local school district superintendent, asking ourselves to argue the contra position is a great practice.  Not only are you liable to make your own arguments more compelling, you might pick up some useful ideas from the ‘other side’.  Darwinism of ideas brings out the best, and that requires conflict.  Evolution is painful, but those that don’t evolve perish.  We need my son’s high school debate coach to help us move our discourse to something more productive than what we see in either Aspen or DC.

P.S.  Donald,  if Kavanaugh goes down I would be pleased to pass along my college roommate’s name.  He would be the first immigrant to sit on the bench, and to my knowledge, never partied like Kavanaugh.

holy shit

Above find a sampling of the various bear poops within 500 yards of my house.  There are at least 3 more in the past 24 hours but really how many pictures of bear poop does anyone need?

These poops bring a few questions to mind:

1.  Why don't bears poop in the woods?
2.  If this is overflow poop, how many bears are in my hood
3.  If a bear poops on the street who cleans it up?  the city, county, HOA, the good samaritan neighbor?
4.  Why do dogs prefer Elk poop to bear poop?
5.  Which are worse Chicago rats or Aspen bears?  The rats don't tear down a wall or destroy a car to get a food, BUT .....well have you looked at a rat?  And rats stink and bears --not so much.
6.  What movies to bears like?  Friday night my daughter and her friend were (re)watching Addam Family Values when two yearlings pulled up to the sliding glass door to watch the movie.  They only stuck around for 10 minutes.  Who walks out on the Addams family?


Side note---sailing sucks.  My wife drove the boy and crew to Park City (6 hours each way) paid for two nights of hotel room, gas etc.  They got in one 15 minute race (they won but still).  And then 38 hours later drove back home.  Ugh.

The drive with the daughter and two teammates to soccer in Crusty Butt was most excellent.  Kebler pass is beautiful and if you can do that drive in the fall you should.  And while Aspen lost it was an excellent game with high quality play, which was great to see.

mayhem (and other fun stuff with pictures too)

OMG OMG OMG  the internet was down yesterday.  Both Comcast and Verizon failed around 6:30 AM and didn't return until about 1PM.  No internet, no IP phones, no TV.  But really no internet.  No blogging, no trading, no texting, no communication. 

It's kinda amazing how vital the internet has become.  Take it away for a couple of hours and see what happens (namely no work or at least no work from home).  But you do see people walking around town without staring at their phones.   Ironically the day we had no internet was the first day in weeks we actually had rain, so I was stuck inside unable to do much of anything.  Crazy.

Other fun stuff.

A must do is visit Aspen during the fall.  Watching the aspen leaves turn, especially when contrasted against the dark green pine is pretty amazing.  It was a great two weeks of walking the dogs and enjoying the breathtaking views.

This past weekend was all about charity for the local hockey organization.  The crown jewel was the 98 women's gold medal winning hockey team playing the CU women's team.  Things I learned watching that game included:

1.  playing at altitude is tuff for a bunch of 40 + year old women from the east coast
2.  the 98 team gets no respect--this was the first time they had played together since winning the medal
3.  women play hard----even in a charity exhibition game.  There were broken sticks, penalties, pulled goaltenders and hard checks into the boards---stuff you don't see when the old time NHL guys get together
4.   these women appreciated everything we did for them, from drinks and food in the locker room to an expense paid weekend in Aspen
5.  Which reminds me of a quote from my daughter 'how come women don't get paid to play team sports?'  Good question.  I guess the honest answer is fans don't want to pay to watch women play team sports.  How big is the discrepancy.? In pro basketball women get paid about 1/100th of what the men get paid, and in hockey about 1/200th.  However, in golf the average pro woman gets paid about 1/4 th of what the average man makes.  Clearly I need to get my daughter to drop the hockey stick and pick up a tennis racquet or golf club.

Last but not least for those long time friends you might remember my wife and I  are approaching our anniversary.  Are we heading to New Orleans to listen to some zydeco music? or atleast going out to dinner?  Nope.  As parents of a certain age our anniversary involves my wife driving our son and team mate to park city for the weekend for a regatta while I am doing a day trip to Crested Butte for my daughter's soccer game.  For those of you not on the western slope and wondering about those distances it's about a 6 hour drive each way for the wife, while my Crested Butte trip is ---well it all depends on how fast I drive but 2-3 hours each way (ironically it's also only a 13 mile hike but distances in the mountains are very different than elsewhere.)

Enjoy the fall, and your internet service.

about the Aspen not so superintendent

Things I  learned about John Maloy Aspen School District Superintendent:

1.  He lost his last job in Indiana because teachers rebelled against what they said was an intolerable work environment, where teachers who brought up problems, exposed issues or proposed differing solutions to those Maloy wanted were punished or fired.

2.  Aspen teachers are complaining of a similar work environment (anonymously) ---Big difference Aspen school teachers are not protected by a union while the Monroe county teachers were.

3.  Teacher turnover has exploded rising by over 75%.   (From 9% in 2010 to 16% last year) ----While teachers are complaining anonymously they are speaking loudly with their feet.

4.  He hired his daughter to be the school psychologist.  It seems this is a very senior role at the ASD.  This is Megan's first job EVER.  When Megan makes a mistake who wants to tell her dad?

5.  Another Maloy hire who continues to have his full throated support is Elizabeth Hodges.  She is head of Aspen School Districts HR department.  Prior to this she practiced family law in Missouri.  Her last job ended in her disbarment and pleading guilty to a misdemeanor related to forging documents.  She has no large scale HR experience, has no HR successes under her belt, and is a convicted criminal.  It doesn't seem that she bothered to inform Maloy as to these outstanding issues, because according to her these are little things like a DUI.  I will leave it up to you as to whether or not you think a DUI is a small thing, but I will suggest that when it is a work related crime you are guilty of your subsequent employer might want to know.

6.  When Maloy took over Aspen Elementary was ranked 61st in the state--it is now ranked 344th.

7.  Aspen High School was ranked 3rd in the state--it is now ranked 20th.  That is like Harvard swapping places with Emory in US News and World Reports rankings.  You can argue with the ranking methodology all you want, but I can guarantee you that if that happened to Harvard the board of trustees would be hiring a new President of the School.  No question.  Extending their contract? No way.


Which leaves me asking the school board "what the heck?"  Why would you consider extending Maloy's contract?  Maloy was hired under a cloud and that cloud has clearly followed him.  Some of his hires are inexplicable and his management of those hires questionable.  Add in the districts plummeting performance, and the only question should be how quick can we find a replacement.

fun with my son

for those of you who have teenage boys you might find that fun with your son is a rare experience.  Mostly I get eye rolls and grunts with the occasional request for me to do something for him.

But every now and then there is some good stuff.

My boy went to JAS every day-including opening night where we enjoyed Michael Franti.  I took off after the first show, but he stuck around to listen to .................lionel Richie.  WTF right?  My Zep, Hendrix, Pearl Jam son sticking around for Richie.  Well, with the number of high school girls hanging around he decided it was worth sticking around too. 

After about 3 songs he decided he couldn't take it and got in line to catch a bus back home.  That was right before the storm broke and the whole event was evacuated.  He got to catch this priceless gem while waiting in line from a woman with fake everything who was cutting all the lines.

"I have 3 houses, I don't wait in lines'

Love it.

My son is also taking debate which suits him perfectly.  He pretty much debates everything, and is usually found on the liberal side of things but is learning how to support either side which is excellent.  He does have some trouble debating stupidity though.  One of the kids in his class believes the globe is warming but not due to anything man has done but because " the sun is moving closer to the earth".  Ya can't make this shit up.  SO I suggested a Trumpian riff that while the sun is moving closer Trump is fighting that by supporting coal.  Coal plants of course have those big exhaust towers which are pushing the earth away from the sun.  Go coal.  My son was laughing so hard he almost puked.

Last but surely not least my boy is 15 so he is working towards getting his licenses---yea 3 of em.  Piolets, level 1 US sailing coaches, and driving.  Which is going to take the longest?  Driving, by a long shot.  These days a CO drivers license requires 30 hours of coursework, passing a test, 50 hours of practice driving and 6 hours with an instructor.  and then the license you get is heavily limited.  I guess they have never heard of having a designated driver, because everyone has to drive their own cars until they are like 40 (or maybe 18 or 21 depending).  But given that he is going to fly a plane way before he can drive a car on his own, this looks like a case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.