bargain real estate in Aspen?????

 You can buy something in Aspen for less than $1MM.  For $950k you can get 3 parking spots plus storage in the Obermeyer parking garage.  Yes!!! this is not dead restricted or affordable housing so it's even an opportunity to make some money as Aspen real estate prices continue to increase.  ITs true, Obermeyer is not exactly centrally located in Aspen (0.4 mile walk to gondola, and 0.3 miles to restaurant row) but what can you expect for $950k?

For what its worth, Zillow for sale maps of ski towns look like a bad case of chicken pox (i.e. lots and lots of red dots indicating homes for sale) and there is a ton of both new construction and rehab to sell work going on.  I wonder which way real estate prices are going to go?

lighter fare---- facebook frats & hidden menu items

 my boy left for college last week.  over the course of 6 phone calls (to mom of course) on the first day of classes he told her physics was too easy and he should find a more challenging physics class and that he was quitting STEM cause physics and calc were too hard.  All in one day (the first day of class).  His freshman advisor who is also head of the physics department and had clearly read his college application said that in 30 years of teaching he had never met a student who had made their own cloud chamber in their garage and maybe just maybe he should 1.  talk to his physics teacher about the homework assignment he was struggling with and 2.  SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP

He also seems to be popular with some of the older frat boys--he has been asked to DJ a couple of their parties and is invited to two different frat parties tonight.  yes i guess most freshman boys do not get invited to frat parties so it does require an invitation.  my son said "great thanks "and the frat boys said what is your facebook profile so we can send you an invite.  it took my boy all his will power (actually he failed) not to laugh and asked if the frat was actually made up of 50 year old soccer moms cause he was pretty sure that was the last demographic still using facebook

getting back to aspen--the Aspen Public House is in the Wheeler opera house which is subsidized by public money.  one of the requirements when the Public House restaurant opened was that they would 1.  stay open and 2.  offer affordable food.  They don't actually stay open all year as was required and the only really affordable item a $13 burger that isn't even on the menu.  you have to know they have it to order it.  Kinda like "if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it does it make a sound", "if an affordable item isn't actually on the menu does the restaurant count as offering affordable food?"  And when an order of fries or onion rings to go with the burger costs $10 putting a burger and fries and a beer with tip and tax at $55 is it actually affordable.? And yes the city of aspen pretty much covers their rent taking about $800k off fair market rents a year.  My guess is the only reason they are profitable is the city paying their rent and in return the citizens get an off menu $13 burger.

I should post something on facebook about that.

Uvalde comes to Aspen

 Today is the first day of school,  My daughter dressed up a little country to honor a senior who died in a freak accident on a farm last week.  He was taking a break from working and he and a friend climbed into a hammock, the post supporting the hammock broke and crushed the rising senior.  His best friend tried heroically to save his friend.  I can't begin to imagine the pain these families are going through.  Totally impossible to understand and humans like to understand.  Whether its God's causing the sun to disappear (actually an eclipse); the human brain really really craves a reason.  A wood post cracking and landing on one high school kid in the hammock killing them while another is physically uninjured is really hard to get your mind around.  And is there a lesson to be learned---don't get in hammocks?  Always wear full medieval plate armor?  No.  Random tragic stuff sometimes just happens.

Yesterday our school informed us that the Aspen School District is moving to a closed campus for security reasons.  The high school will continue to allow juniors and seniors to leave campus during free periods but all people entering and leaving the school will have to go through one set of doors (arguably not even the main doors but maybe the doors that are easiest to monitor).  I guess the thinking is having one set of doors that is monitored by armed police will prevent a Uvalde type school shooting.  

Let's think about that for a moment.  What we will have instead is all high school and elementary school students entering schools from the same location.  I guess if I was a highly motivated school shooter I would take aim at the 1000 students in a common area waiting to enter two different schools through limited doors.  On the plus side there are a lot more places to run away if a shooting occurs outside of a building, but it's gonna be harder for the police to respond if they are in the schools and the shooter is outside as hundreds of students flee into the school.  Maybe we should build a tower in the middle of campus with sharpshooters.  And if the shooter follows other students into the school the police are going to be in a very challenging situation.  This is an example of trying to force control and order onto a situation that would be unpredictable, chaotic and surely going to result in much tragedy.  More than if students can enter and exit through multiple doors??----No way of knowing, but at least our human brains feel like we are doing something proactive to help save our children.  Of course Uvalde had a plan and 75 trained and armed officers who waited 70+ minutes before engaging an active shooter.  We saw how well that worked out--the takeaway should not be better planning the takeaway is take away access to the weapons mass shooters use.  

If we want to save children we should outlaw guns that chamber more than 1 round.  We know this works ---see Austria as an example.  We know it can be done in our current world ---see New Zealand's example.  Let me rant a bit longer.  The argument that teachers should be armed?  I am sure for some teachers the fear of not being able to fight back against an armed attacker is terrifying.  You know what else is terrifying, walking around school with every adult carrying a sidearm.  Having just done the cross country drive I saw many people in rural America with a gun on their hip.  What must their children think when mom and dad put a .357 on their hip before leaving their home.  Every day.  What are their children being taught about the world they live in?  Same thing in school?  It's only safe if all the teachers are armed, there are police officers with body armor and assault rifles close at hand, and sharpshooters take the high ground to monitor the grounds?  Is that a healthy learning environment?  Is it a sign of a healthy society when individuals only feel safe if they are allowed to carry a weapon of war everywhere?  

I live in a county with a lot of guns and very little gun violence.  Still at the start of every school year I get a little cramp in my stomach wondering.....And then I move onto the good stuff like why the hell my daughter didn't put her dishes in the dishwasher and how the heck to explain math these days.

Vote Blue no matter who because the second amendment just might kill your kids.

was driving with daughter listening to Jan 6 post game and she said.....

 'What the hell are all these talking heads so worked up about.'

I said,  'President Trump wanted to lead armed protestors to the Capitol to stop the election of Biden.'

She said 'it took an investigation to figure that out?  it was obvious'

then I said 'and he tried to strangle his Secret service guys'

Daughter 'well no surprise there he has a temper if someone says no to him'

I said 'and he tossed his food in the dining area against the wall'

Daughter 'whoa he wasted McDonalds well that is news' and I had to admit is was more ketchup and China that was destroyed; not a quarter pounder with Cheese.  

Which gets us to the point.  Trump is either a criminal or insane (or maybe both).  You either know that or you have your head buried further in Twitter than a 16 year old girl.  Which begs the question, where are the heads of the majority of the GOP?

my daughter was called a kike on the ice

 The Aspen hockey jerseys never had last names on them and my daughter loved that.  Then in a money raising move the team got new jerseys right at the end of the season.  My daughter was not excited about that because she figured she would get harassed for her Jewish last name.

First game with the names on the back and a Vail player called her a kike.  She took the high road and ignored it during the game.  She told her coach (a Christian) who said ignore it.  We told the Aspen head of hockey and he took the same approach.

So the answer for the Jewish kid is to ignore anti semitic attacks.

When a Christian football coach kneels down on the 50 yard line, bows his head and prays to Jesus SCOTUS says that is ok.  They decided that freedom of speech trump's separation of church and state.  Full stop.

If the coach was Muslim and pulled out a prayer rug and prayed at the 50 yard line after the game (inviting his players to join him) do you think this SCOTUS would have taken the case?  Would they have decided that praying to Allah was an acceptable form of free speech from a high school employee at a high school event?

Methinks not.

And don't get me started about the white male Christian right desire to sanitize history in school (i.e. Holocaust deniers, Holocaust minimizers (i.e. can't read Maus), Slavery minimizers, lynching minimizers, etc).  The white male need to 'whitewash' history so that white boys don't feel bad about themselves, BUT God forbid a white Christian coach not be able to pray and thank his god at a football game.  But my daughter should just suck it up and ignore the insults to her person and her religion.

I ask everyone to fight SCOTUS and the current GOP.  During the rise of the Nazis a Protestant minister who at first was an enthusiastic support of Hitler changed his mind and penned the following poem:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist  

Then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak out because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me

As we move towards the 4th of July its time to think of what kind of country you want America to be.  White male Christian control or a diverse melting pot of people held together by a desire to be free?

My mom worked with Justice Thomas (or GOP is anti sex-pro porn)

 Holy shit.  

Ok, I admit that my most recent marketing tour for Gravirax had me driving to Jackson WY, Sun Valley, Park City and back to Snowmass over 4 days resulting in listening to lots of news and talk radio which is not healthy.....BUT seriously WTF.

My mom worked with Justice Thomas while he was at Monsanto (my mom running government relations--Thomas as an attorney.)  Thomas sucked at his job, but it was hard to fire him because he was black, so he was given grunt work and encouraged to look around. He went back to work for his rabbi John Danforth who eventually brought him all the way to the supreme court.  Another interesting bit of Thomas trivia-- he spent much of his time at Yale law school watching porn with one of the other few black law students there (this from the other black law student---maybe his porn addiction explains his middling grades at Yale--and we know he didn't stop with the porn after Yale).

And that brings us to the point---the GOP finally got their wish with Roe being overturned.  Which really is an argument for watching porn and mastrabtion and ONLY having sex when you want to have a baby.   Is that a winning political position---only have sex to procreate?  It's the position of the Catholic Church (meanwhile their clergy is raping boys and they are covering it up---the Southern Baptist Church another  big supporter of anti choice also has a recently revealed institutional sex problem).

But seriously:

The condom broke

the moment got away from us

I thought I pulled out in time

The calendar method

Rape, Incest, the life of the mother---

Justice Thomas (and 5 other SCOTUS judges and the bosses of the GOP) believes in all of those cases the woman must carry the fetus to term---after that; good luck.

Justice Thomas--saying the quiet part out loud in his concurring opinion also suggested that SCOTUS should reconsider contraception and same sex marriage rulings.  Interesting he didn't put the Loving opinion in there (federal right to interracial marriage).  Of course our good Catholic Justice is also divorced and remarried which the Catholic church says is 'a no no'.  Intellectual consistency or honesty is not part of Justice Thomas skill set (ergo not only not recusing himself but also being the only Supreme to vote to keep his wife's correspondence with Mark Meadows around Jan 6th a secret---yea no conflict of interest there judge).

Let's just take a moment to remember how hard it was to source porn in the 70s---that was back in the reel to reel era---maybe he feels so guilty about his porno ways he is trying to make up for it by going all Christian soldier now.  But how does the rest of America feel about sex?  Only to have children, or every now and then have sex cause it feels good.

VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO, OR WELCOME TO THE DECADE OF MASTRABATION well the Volstead Act lasted 13 years --so maybe 13 years of Mastrabtion, 15? 20 --thank God I am old.

PS on the investment front maybe look at the stock of Vibratex who makes the hitachi magic wand (ladies you might never need a guy again) and I guess for you guys there is pornhub which is owned by mindgeek but that is a private company---maybe the play is to buy gun company stocks because if you were ever gonna need personal protection its in a country that is only having sex when people want to create a child.

Can that be right?

 1.  Did every 7th grade teacher resign, quit, retire?  No just 80% of the 7th grade teachers and about 15% of the total school district staff.  How ASD will hire and retain teachers in a community were the average home price is close to $10m and decent subsidized housing is close to $1m is an unanswered question.

2.  Our local governments are bankrupt?  No, Snowmass Village, Carbondale, Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley are not broke but after a record year of tourism and real estate sales BUT Snowmass Village is having to walk back plans for the town park due to rising costs, Carbondale is struggling to find funds for a new public pool, Aspen can't find money to rehab the Armory, and the Valley is having to cut bus service because they can't (afford) to hire more drivers at current market pricing.  Weird to watch local governments struggle while the local economy explodes.

3.  

Yea that is my 'local' gas station. Of course no locals use it unless in dire emergency because it is home of the most expensive gas in Colorado.  Currently regular is a bit over $6 a gallon there.  I asked if I could pay for my gas in bitcoin and was told 'NO'.  I asked what I could buy with bitcoin and was told 'nothing'.  Just want to note over the past 6 months the value of bitcoin is down 60% and the cost of gas is up 40%.  That Conoco is a money sucking blackhole.

4.  There are parking spots for sale at Obermeyer place for $250k per spot.  Yup you read that right.  For you out of towners Obermeyer place garage is exactly that-- a garage.  You don't get a storage locker or anything else but a dedicated parking spot.  And its a 0.4m walk to the Gondola from there.  Local secret valet park at the little nell for $10 per hour.  If you ski 3 hours 85 days a year it will cost you $2,500 or 1% of what you pay for a parking spot 0.4 miles away.  Of course if Aspen real estate including parking spots continues to go up 40% a year well I guess you are better off parking at Obermeyer and walking, but not so much if real estate stops going up or perchance even declines.

5.  Reminder, Aspen tourism and real estate are having record years and yet the Aspen Music Festival and school has to cut its enrollment because.......they can't afford to house musicians.  In a similar vein Ski Co offered a 'tenants for turns' program that will provide you a ski pass or other ski co goodies if you rent a room to a lifty (or other ski co employee) for the ski season.  Turns out the program was not that successful cause anyone who can afford to have a spare room in Aspen doesn't really need a ski pass or a voucher for $1,200 for use at Ski Co.

6.  I hate this last one, but I feel like silence isn't an option.  Listening to CNN today I heard Asa Hutchinson (Gov of Arkansas) say that yes in 2019 he did sign a bill that will make abortion illegal in his state if the supreme court overrules Roe.  He did say he wished it included an exemption for rape and incest but he signed it anyhow.  The interviewer asked how it was ok for an 11-12 year old girl who is raped by her father to have to carry the child to term and he said 'well I wish there was an exemption for that' BUT dude you signed the bill.  If you really didn't like the law as written then VETO it.  Asa was clearly uncomfortable---I think the GOP might be wondering what they have done by turning all sex that isn't to procreate into a potential crime scene.  Back to Asa, he did say that he is working hard to improve the overwhelmed foster care system in his state, and trying super duper hard to reduce child poverty which currently stands at 26%.  Maybe he will raise taxes to address the current dismal situation which will clearly not improve with women forced to carry children produced by rape and incest to term.  Oh yea, and the father of said child will have an easy time providing child support from prison (which is where child raping incestuous men go).  

I am gonna go for a run on the rim trail, no gas station bitcoin flogging, anti choice governors, local government challenges to deal with there.  YEA