Category: Denver

This desert rat doesn't know from 8 degrees, but he's loving it!

My mom was born and raised in Wisconsin.  As a young man, my dad resided in New York. Both have lived with snow and cold weather. But nothing in my own experience has prepared me for days and days of living, working, and driving in it.

Surprisingly, I think I'm adapting pretty well (a few incidents notwithstanding).  Of course, I'm not stuck outside waiting for a bus every morning like my Ben, but it seems that much as in Phoenix when the temperature goes over 110 it starts to feel all the same, when the temp here drops below freezing, it works pretty much the same way.

The barely-used fleece-lined jacked I purchased about a dozen years ago (for the color, not its supposed warmth—I was living in San Francisco at the time) does live up to its advertised qualities, and has kept me comfortable enough through this that I don't foresee having to replace it with anything else.

It was clear and sunny 24 hours ago…

The commute this morning wasn't all that bad. At least it wasn't as horrible as it was the last time it snowed. I fear this afternoon will be more of a problem, as the white stuff is supposed to continue coming down throughout the day (which it did not last time). Fingers crossed!

Don't get me wrong. I love the cold and the snow…I just don't like driving in it!

I asked a co-worker today if you ever get used to it.  Her response? "Never. I have a very healthy respect for driving in weather like this, and I've lived here all my life…and I ski!"

The prognosticators are saying it will be clear (but extremely cold, lower single-digits) until the middle of next week, when when another storm is scheduled to come through.

Ben and I got our Colorado driver licenses and registered to vote yesterday.

The only thing that remains to complete the transition from Arizona to Colorado is to get the car registered.  I have 90 days to do that.

I also finally got the aquarium back up and running yesterday.  No more staring at the empty tank, the constant remember that this place wasn't yet "home."

I bought gravel on the commute back from work on Wednesday. Thursday morning I set the tank up and then let it just sit—as recommended—for 24 hours.  Since it is for all intents, a new setup and the nitrogen cycle hasn't yet been established, I had to be kind of conservative with my initial critter selection. Surprisingly, the fish recommended by the store owner were ones I would've wanted to get eventually anyway: 3 black skirts, 5 red-eyes, and 5 serape tetras.  I haven't selected a bottom feeder yet; I'm hoping to find the same species of plecastomous that I had in Phoenix, but can't remember what type it was:

Hopefully one of my aquarist readers can identify it, because its looking very unlikely that my sister is going to be willing to give him back. After about two and a half years he'd only grown to about three inches in length, the maximum size the store initially told me and perfect for this relatively small (29 gallon) aquarium.

Ultimately I'd like to get several Clown Loaches (my sister isn't willing to part with them either), some Neons, maybe some Micky Mouse Platys, and a couple Glass Cats or Pearl Gouramis…

We woke up to another winter wonderland yesterday.

But…

When I saw snow on our balcony I should've realized this was not going to be like the storm a week ago.

When I went out to the garage and saw the car dusted in snow (even though it was under cover) I should've realized this was not going to be like the storm a week ago.

I left the house at 7 am, like I always do. I like to get to work a half hour early so I can take off at 4 pm and miss the worst of the I-25 traffic heading home. I knew it would probably take me a bit longer today because of the storm, so even if it took a few extra minutes it wouldn't be a big deal; I'd still get there at a reasonable time.

When I pulled out onto Colorado Boulevard and saw that this major thoroughfare hadn't even been plowed yet, I knew leaving early that afternoon was not going to be an option.

The easy commute I had in the snow a week ago was obviously an anomaly. Yesterday was ugly. Very ugly. I'd driven in snow before moving to Colorado, but never in snow mixed with slush and ice.  This was something new, and I'm here to testify that Anderson (and his owner!) does not like driving in it. Not one bit! On the plus side, Anderson is a front-wheel drive with fairly new tires, but that offered little assurance during the multiple times I found myself spinning the wheels furiously and not getting any traction. I also learned that Anderson's anti-lock brakes work just fine, especially when approaching a stop light at an icy intersection while going an outrageous 10 mph.

I pulled into the still snow-covered parking lot at work, emotionally exhausted, at 8 am. It had taken me a full hour to go 11 miles. Normally it takes half that.

I'm sure that in time I will adapt to driving under these conditions, but after yesterday I have to say that I was relieved to see that there were no more snow days predicted in the extended forecast.

Months of anticipation have finally come to an end. This is the view from the top floor of our apartment's parking garage this morning as I was leaving for work. (Thankfully I have a spot in the covered portion.)

I actually made it to work in the same amount of time I normally do; the only difference being that the usual level of crazy was conspicuously absent from the commute.  People on the freeway were actually allowing sufficient space between them and the car ahead to actually stop in an emergency, something I have not seen in this city since our arrival last June.  It was a pleasant relief.

I realized while driving to work however, that one item missing from my winter kit is a windshield scraper.  Since I don't have the luxury of covered parking at work (unless I want to pay $35 a month), Anderson is sure to be covered by the time I leave this afternoon.  My boss also forgot his, so I guess I'm going to have to improvise…

…Denver to be more wet and cloudy than it's been. But I guess the same commandment that's in place in Phoenix also extends to Denver as well: Thou shalt have no days where the sky is completely overcast from sunrise to sunset. It is forbidden!

Some may call me crazy, but this is the day I've been waiting for since we arrived last summer:

It's been nearly four months since Ben and I arrived in Denver. We're both working, we're finally out of that horrific hotel and moved into a place of own own, and yet…I still don't feel settled.

This city isn't yet "home."

Ben and I agree that while neither of us regrets the decision to move here, we both have some disappointments. For Ben, it's been his lead teacher. This program was the sole reason we relocated here, and it's been an uphill battle for him in trying to gain this woman's trust and respect. I have a feeling that her participation in the program was involuntary, and since she's moving overseas at the end of this school year, has basically checked out and sees absolutely no reason to help an aspiring teacher get his career off the ground. She's told Ben she "doesn't like men in the classroom," and has provided precious little positive feedback regarding his performance. After the glowing praise he received while working as a teacher's aide in his last two assignments, I find her attitude toward him confusing.  I also suppose it's possible she just doesn't like him (equally confusing).  How can anyone not like Ben?

Okay, admittedly I'm biased.

My disappointment with Denver pretty much boils down to one thing: my commute. I have learned that I really, really hate traffic.

I know in the overall scheme of things it's silly, and we could've chosen a different apartment complex somewhat closer to my work that would've cut out a lot this frustration, but Ben and I both liked this place more than the other options we'd looked at, and since I have a car, I wanted to give him more of a distance advantage since he's currently relying on public transit to get to and from work and school.

In Phoenix I was spoiled.  I lived and worked on the same street, and my commute was about four and a half miles each way. In Denver, it's 11 miles each way, and it requires that I take what are undoubtedly the two worst thoroughfares in the entire city: Colorado Boulevard and Interstate 25.

To be honest, the morning commute isn't really all that bad. Traffic moves smoothly down Colorado, and even southbound I-25 is generally easy going. Returning home in the afternoon however, is a little slice of hell. Considering the population of the Denver metro area is actually less than Phoenix, I can't understand why the number of cars on the freeway actually reminds me more of the traffic found in the Bay Area or the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Admittedly, some days are surprisingly a breeze. I can get on the freeway at Orchard and stay at a relatively constant 65 mph until I get to Colorado Boulevard.  But those days are rare; most of the time it's a parking lot, creeping along at a speed reminiscent of the opening scene from Office Space.

Colorado Boulevard itself isn't bad heading north until you reach 1st Avenue, at which point—without fail—traffic comes to a complete standstill. Thankfully (and I swear it's the one thought that keeps me sane at that point) is that I know it's only another half mile until I get home.

On a positive note, I love my job. The company wants to bring me on as a permanent, full time employee (with all the benefits), but it appears I am only about halfway through my 640 hour contract, requiring them to pay a early termination fee to the agency I work for if they want to put me on their payroll. I have no idea what that amount is, but I was speaking with the office manager on Friday and she said, "It all depends on whether we convert you in October, November, or December. In any case it's not an outrageous amount." Fingers crossed that it's sooner rather than later.

Also speaking positively, I am finally warming up to the apartment.  We're still not completely put away and organized, but it's reached the point where it's livable and I don't have a sense of guilt when I get home in the evening and just want to sit and watch television instead of going through the boxes that are stacked in our storage room.  That's not a task that can be put off indefinitely as a few items are missing that I'd really like to find, but for now I can live with it.

I'm also feeling a little more settled (at least psychologically) because this past Friday I decided to shell out an extra $30 a month and get a reserved parking spot in the garage.  Yes, so far there always seem to be plenty of unreserved spots available, but I wanted the added assurance of knowing that after the snow starts flying there will always be a covered place for Anderson to park when I get home. (And the spot I got, right next to the stairwell, is extra wide, so no door dings!)

…that I've been pretty quiet lately.

It's been a combination of things, but mostly because after three long months in that pot-and-patchouli infused hotel, Ben and I are finally moved and settling into our own place again.

Every evening since the move last weekend has been spent sifting through the hundred or so boxes that accompanied us on this journey, unpacking and deciding what to keep out, what to put away in the apartment, what to toss or donate (yeah, we should've done a lot more of that before moving, but you know how that goes), and what to put into long-term storage.  We've made excellent headway, and the place is finally starting to look like home.  Hopefully by the end of today, all that will remain (for next weekend) is buying new fish and setting up the aquarium.

It's been a little over two months since Ben and I arrived in Denver, and it's been quite a journey.

I was reading back through old posts last night and it made me realize just how much has happened.  And now—finally—we are only weeks away from being permanently settled.  I can only hope the next three weeks pass as quickly as the last three.

As I mentioned in my last post, work is going well. I'm starting to wrap my head around the way things are set up there, what applications are needed for each department, and what tricks are needed to ensure they're installed properly.  A lot of this has been very trial-and-error, because the person who I've replaced left without leaving much in the way of documentation.  I even had to dig deep into my memory banks and remember how to set up Procomm Plus (yes, Procomm Plus) so that it opens in a specific mode to a specific directory item. (That scored points with my boss, as it had been something he'd been hoping could be set up so make things simpler for the users.)

I'm also reaching the point that I know the major streets well enough that I don't automatically panic if I take a wrong turn or get lost.

Driving the I-25 still works my last nerve, but I'm going to have to get used to it because it's half my daily commute and will remain so even after we're moved. I dread to think of what it will be like when the first snow falls.

Prior to our move we've started exploring our new neighborhood, and we're liking what we're finding. With Ben having to be at school an hour earlier than he had been when classes actually begin next week, this location will definitely help by cutting an hour off his commute.

There's an Einstein's directly across the street from the apartment, and a Starbucks a block away.  We're even close to a Super Target for grocery shopping.  That's a good thing because the Kroger brand here, King's Sooper, is a big pile of suck.

All in all, I think we're going to be happy with our apartment decision.

I'm sure many of you were about ready to send out search parties.

Anyhow, work is going well. I'm actually working at a place that does not make me dread Sunday evenings.  And—dare I say it—I actually kind of look forward to going to work in the morning.  Or maybe it's just because it gets me out of that hotel room.

Kidding.

Though this was initially presented to me as a 30-60 day contract, I fully expect it to end up with a permanent job offer.  Last week the I.T. Director asked me if I thought I'd be open to making this into something more "long term," and the recruiter who placed me there called Friday afternoon and told me that the company "loved me."

While there is the possibility that this gig will not go permanent, the fact that I'm not acting as an addition to the staff, but rather as a replacement, gives me some hope that I'm not misinterpreting things here.

Speaking of long term, yesterday Ben and I started looking for an apartment.  We both fell in love with the first place we saw, but to make sure we weren't missing out on anything, we visited two other communities.

The first place we visited is a relatively new development on Colorado Boulevard in the Cherry Creek neighborhood, about a half hour bus ride from Ben's school and a 40 minute commute by car to my workplace. It has all the amenities we had in our place in Phoenix (washer/dryer, microwave, soaking tub, ceiling fans, off street covered parking), plus a few that we didn't (an elevator, hardwood floors, granite countertops).

The second place we saw was a little older (built early 90s) but was undergoing renovation.  It was nice enough, but one of the first things I noticed was that the new cabinet doors in the kitchen didn't even line up with each other and the edge of the new flooring in the bathroom was rough and uneven, making me wonder what other corners were being cut in this community. Ben wasn't especially impressed with the place either.

The third property was very nice, and both Ben and I agreed that if we didn't qualify for the first place this would definitely be our second choice. It was a cute, much smaller development built at approximately the same time as our place in Phoenix, but had more of a townhome feel to it.  In addition to a washer/dryer and an over-the-stove microwave in each unit like both of the other places we'd seen (an absolute must for me after having had them for the last eight years) these units also had fireplaces and individual attached garages.

Ultimately we were approved for the first place (which is awesome), but we can't do anything about it until I get my first full paycheck and Ben receives his student loan disbursement, both of which happen the first week of September.  While we have the money now to put a hold on a place and the building currently has an apartment we would jump on in an instant (third floor on the south side of the building that faces a quiet side street), they can't hold anything longer than ten days and that doesn't fit our September timeline. They also have three other apartments available, but none of them are as ideal (one on the third floor that faces busy Colorado Blvd. and two on the first floor that face into the pool courtyard) as that one. Since the leasing agent was really trying to get us to commit to one of these units and potential renters weren't exactly busting down the door to get in while we were there yesterday, this leads me to believe they've been on the market for a while and will hopefully remain that way for at least another three weeks.  In any case, I'm sure there will be something available and acceptable to both of us when the time comes for us to lay the money down.

Yes Virginia, it really did rain that hard here today.

As we were turning onto the street that leads to our favorite Starbucks this afternoon (after plodding along at 25 miles per hour through a huge downpour on I-25), Ben spotted this at the end of the street. There was no way we could not photograph it.

Turns out that particular Starbucks was full up, so we headed to one that was closer to the hotel.  The downpour continued and intensified just as we were pulling up to the store, culminating in ten minutes of hard hail.  Thankfully it was just the tiny stuff, but it was still pretty nerve-wracking considering Anderson has a glass roof…

It's been one month since we arrived in Denver.

I am incredibly grateful to Ben that he is taking me on this journey. Let's face it: much like in 1995 when I left San Francisco for the first time, my professional life in Arizona had become stagnant and uninspiring.  It was comfortable and reliable, but on a deep level I knew I needed a change, and then, like now, I left the security of that stable, long-term job, throwing my entire life into the air, trusting in the Universe that it would somehow quickly settle back down after I had relocated.

Oh, the naïvety.

While I am not expecting things to take as long this time, after leaving San Francisco, it took nearly a decade (and one more move to and from San Francisco before settling in Phoenix) for me to regain a sense of financial security and what I would refer to as day-to-day "normalcy" in my life. It was due to a variety of factors, not the least of which was a planned change of careers (something not in the mix this time) and a very unplanned illness.

But you know, even though I am still not back to work (that situation notwithstanding), I haven't regretted this move one bit.  Now, older and hopefully a bit wiser, I know that in the current financial climate, it's unrealistic to expect that I can walk out of one job immediately into another and expect to enjoy all the perks and—for lack of any better terms—trust and respect I'd gained in my last position.  But that doesn't mean the perfect job for me in Denver does not exist.  I know there is an employer out there who is looking for someone exactly like me whose work environment is exactly what I'm looking for. It's just a matter of time.

Since our arrival, the weather has been wonderful. The week after we got here, Phoenix set high temperature records. We were basking in the 70s and 80s. It's rained almost every evening, and while the locals caution that this is not normal summer weather, neither Ben or I are complaining one bit.

We've adjusted to life in one room—awkwardly—but both of us are seriously longing for the day when we can get into an apartment and get our belongings out of storage.  We knew going into this we'd probably be in this situation for about six weeks, so it's not like it was unexpected, but we had been hoping for a slightly larger room with more of a working kitchen than what we're living with at the moment.

I'm getting comfortable getting around town.  I seriously doubt I could provide anyone with directions, but I've learned enough of the local streets and their locations that I can get from Point A to Point B without having to resort to GPS.  And oftentimes on our journeys, we intentionally take different routes just to see where they lead.

This has led to drives through some absolutely amazing neighborhoods.  The area north and to the west of the University of Denver is particularly beautiful.  As I tweeted last week:

No photos yet, but one of my plans is to grab my camera, drive over there, park the car, and just start walking. The only way to photographically capture the charm of these areas is going to be on foot.

I'd also forgotten what it was like to live in a city where the downtown doesn't roll up and die after 5 pm and on weekends. Last Friday evening we went down to the 16th Street Mall (several blocks of 16th Street were closed to vehicular traffic back in the 80s and turned into a pedestrian promenade; something San Francisco should seriously consider doing to Market Street) and had a great time.  Like in any large metro area, the area draws its share of thuggery (or at least wannabe thuggery) and homeless (reminds me a lot of Haight Street), but a very visible police presence keeps things under control and by and large it's just a bunch of people out having a good time, enjoying the entertainment, shops and restaurants.

So what's up for the next thirty days? By the time I write my "Two Months" entry I expect to be happily employed and Ben and I will be either finally settled into a permanent place or at least actively looking for one. Stay tuned.

I'm sorry.  I'm the one responsible for the torrential thunderstorms moving through Denver tonight.  I washed Anderson this morning and apparently the weather gods were displeased at his shininess.

The self-service car washes here are back-assward from the ones in Arizona. In Arizona you wash your car first, and then move out of the wash bay to a covered area where you do your drying, vacuuming and detailing. But in Denver all I've seen are car washes where you do your interior cleaning and vacuuming first, and then pull your car into the bay to wash it. Well and good, but where are you supposed to dry your car?  Are you supposed to pull it out into the sun to dry it, or is it okay to stay in the wash bay to do it? It wasn't busy at all this morning, so I just stayed in the bay and dried Anderson there. Maybe one of my Colorado readers can enlighten me on what is accepted protocol here…