One Year

One year ago Ben and I arrived in Denver, and I still don't know the channel numbers on the TV.

And there are still days I find myself wondering, "What the fuck did we do?"

On one hand, it's hard to believe an entire year has already passed. On the other, I didn't think the milestone would ever get here.

It's been a stressful time for both of us, but we've managed to pull through in one piece.

If you've been reading my posts during the last twelve months, you know I'm not exactly enamored with The Mile High City. I think in part that's because I'm not really emotionally invested in Denver the way I'd been with San Francisco when I moved there all those years ago. From the onset, I've viewed Denver as a temporary situation, just another way-station on the journey of life; something to experience—but not necessarily embrace. And I don't foresee that ever changing.

OBSERVATIONS

Summer. Very mild temperatures and frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Air conditioning is needed, but not 24/7 from May through October the way it was in Phoenix. Also, no matter how warm it gets during the day, once the sun goes down it cools off rapidly—unlike Phoenix where there are days when the temperature never dips below 100.

Our apartment.  Ben finds it small and overpriced—and I have to agree on both counts—but it's a place I look forward to returning to at the end of the day. And despite our building fronting one of the most ill-designed and congested streets in all of Denver, the location is perfect for everything we need. It's also located halfway between our respective workplaces.

Dual left turn lanes. Hey Phoenix, are you listening? While the logic that dictates when the left turn arrows appear at any given intersection still makes no sense to me whatsoever, it's nice to have the dual lanes so at least you aren't sitting through multiple light cycles just to make that turn.

New Photographic Opportunities. Although I haven't gotten out as much as I would've liked to, Denver is a very photogenic city (not as much as San Francisco and the Bay Area, but definitely more than Phoenix), just waiting for further exploration.

Local Restaurants. Dragon Cafe for Chinese (take out and delivery) and Cinzetti's for Italian.

Denver drivers. Do I really need to say more? As I recently tweeted

I'm convinced that 50% of the population is driving stoned, 25% is busy texting, and 15% simply doesn't have a fucking clue where they're going.

Further, people here do not understand the 3 second rule or the concept of proper stopping distance. Without exception, whenever I leave enough room between my car and the one ahead to stop in an emergency, some jackass views that as an open invitation to slip in so he can get to the next stoplight 1 second sooner than he would have otherwise. It's even worse on the freeways.

At first I thought I was just imagining all the craziness I was seeing on a daily basis, but after Ben got back from his recent trip home, I asked him if the drivers here really were worse than in Phoenix. "Oh YES," he said.

The Inability to Keep My Car Clean. I think the record over the last twelve months has been five days. In the winter, even if I don't drive to work and the car stays put in the apartment's parking garage, snow blowing in from the open sides of the building still manages to cover it. In the summer, it's the afternoon thunderstorms that sometimes just spit enough to leave it a mess of dusty splotches. And then there's the whole rain falling out of a clear blue sky thing. Seriously. It happens.

My job. I find it kind of amusing that it's taken me only ten months to surpass the level of disgust with my current employer that it took me seven years to reach with the previous one. With the former, I never really got to the point that I was fed up enough to put myself through the horrible process required to find a new job. With the latter—especially after the events of the past few days—I'm ready to hit it head on, even though I absolutely suck at interviewing.

Things were actually fine at Maison des Autruches until my boss—the I.T. Director—left two months ago. Since then it's been weekly one-on-ones with the distrustful and clueless COO and having to take on responsibilities I have neither the skill set for nor the desire to acquire. And has there been a one penny increase in my remuneration for these added responsibilities? Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard.

They've finally hired a replacement I.T. Director who is scheduled to start next Monday, but I'm not hoping for any major changes in the way things aren't done at this company. With any luck our relationship will be brief.

I'm making the last payment on Anderson tomorrow (hard to believe it's been five years already), freeing up a sizable chunk of cash starting next month that—as I've mentioned before—will almost offset the difference between what I was being paid in Phoenix and what I'm being paid here. Perhaps that will help my attitude, but even if it doesn't it takes a bit of the strain off.

Mexican Food. Neither Ben or I believed it when we were told there was no good Mexican food in Denver. I mean, c'mon…there has to be a decent restaurant somewhere. Unfortunately, we've tried several that have gotten good reviews and have come away disappointed. The only one we've found that's even halfway decent is Little Anita's—and that is New Mexico style, still not what we're looking for. 3 Margaritas serves what I found to be the closest to Arizona style Mexican food in Denver, but all their locations are a bit of a drive from home. Recently we tried Hacienda Colorado and found that flavor-wise it was good, but the portions were tiny.

As Rosanne Rosannadana would say, "It's always something."

Beards. If you like hairy beasts, Denver is definitely the place to be. I wondered if I'd see less of them after the weather warmed up, but they appear to be a year-round thing here. Unfortunately, the radiation treatments I went through years ago for my cancer treatment robbed me of the ability to grow anything more than a goatee, so I'm extremely envious of the guys who can. (Like you haven't noticed that from the pix I post.)

My first—and last—beard, August 1992

Snow. After the first couple snowfalls, this would've definitely fallen into the "Do Not Want" category, but once I realized how to avoid driving in the shit, I was more or less fine with it. Granted, by the time spring rolled around this year, I was more than ready to be done with it, but as long as I have access to public transit on snow days, I think I can deal with it for the however long we actually end up staying here.

Residential Architecture. OMG…the houses north and west of the University and along Monaco Street to the east of Colorado Blvd. are gorgeous! If I ever won the lottery, I would definitely snatch up one of those beautiful Tudors or Mid-Century Moderns.

So that's where we stand, one year into this five-year adventure…