Denver election results

As I'm about to go to bed at 10 minutes until 3:00am on Election Day (technically the morning after), the local news sites are abuzz with the news that the Denver Police (including the SWAT team) have been called in to help count. Apparently, the turnout in Denver was around 47%. To put this in perspective, the last time the turnout was just barley above 40% was when a critical tax measure was on the ballot (in 2005, Referenda C & D were the hot button issues on the ballot all over the state as they proposed to temporarily overturn the Libertarian-foolishness that is TABOR). The conventional wisdom was that this election would have a turnout between 30 and 35%. Not even close.

This turnout is remarkably higher than anything those in the "know" were expecting for our fair city. Why?

I have some theories. First, I think the youth vote (18 - 35) will have played a big role in this election. Secondly, I think every age demographic has turned out more than the pundits expected. The reason being that they wanted to vote for the mayor's civic improvement initiatives (A-I). These common sense property tax increases (which amount to peanuts for Denver property owners) will enable our city to stop being penny-wise and pound-foolish and actually keep our civic infrastructure (museums, libraries, cultural facilities, etc.) up to snuff. Mayor Hickenlooper rules. Funny name, serious mayor.

So the verdict will be (you heard it here first) that young people care about their beloved Denver and that everyone in this fair city wants to see it blossom. This is what democracy looks like.

I <3 Trains...

...and so do all of you, apparently. (If by "all of you" I mean the 4 people who regularly read/comment on my blog + the random interlopers I recruited w/ my direct e-mail campaign.)

It seems like the train idea is the big winner overall for birthday ideas. I couldn't be happier about that outcome. I was afraid everyone would shoot that down since I kinda assume I'm the only "train buff" in the group. Usually train buffs (don't you love that term?) are retired old men who play with model trains in their garage. Oh to dream.

However, there's a fly in our double steel railed ointment: The scenic trains in Colorado are amazing, popular, and thus not cheap. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (the crème de la crème of scenic trains, IMHO) costs $65 a pop. Now, I would happily pay this again and again to ride this train round trip from Durango to Silverton through one of the most beautiful parts of the generally not-ugly Centennial State. I realize, though, that this may be a little rich for some others' blood. (Or am I, yet again, underestimating the extent of everyone's closeted train buffiness?)

There are cheaper options too. Such as the Royal Gorge Railroad, which while not a steam train, still looks wicked awesome. It costs $30 per person. Sadly the Georgetown Loop Railroad is closed for maintenance, or that would be an excellent option. It's close to Denver and a steam train.

OMGWTFLOLZBBQ!!1!!one!1! I just went to the Georgetown Loop site, and it's running again! w00t! This train costs $20 per person. If we're planning to go on Saturday, October 6 (which seems like the best option) we should probably book our tickets now. And hey, if we get 20+ people to come, there are group rates! ;) I think we found a winner.

What do you guys n' gals think?

3 Cubed

On the fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand, nine hundred and eighty, a baby boy was born. That boy had a destiny. But on the way to that destiny, he would turn 27. 3³. And this semi-momentous day would occur on October 5th, 2007. Hey, that's not so far away.

So here's the deal, fools. I'm turning 27 on October 5, and you need to be there. If you live within 800 miles of Denver, then there's no excuse. If you live further than that, then there's only a partial excuse^*.

There have been a few ideas batted around for the celebration of this awesome day (some would call it a "milestone"). Here they are in no particular order:

1. Random meats served at the local Brazilian meatery. I eat meat every year on my birthday, and this place has the best of the best (we're talking rattlesnake sausage here kids). It's $38 / person, but you get a red-light/green-light indicator at your table. As long as that pooch is green, you're getting some more meat.
2. 13th Ave. pub crawl. This would entail starting at Pints at 13th & Cherokee and working our way east to Wyman's No. 5 at 13th & Vine. One. Epic. Night. of Drinking.
3. Ft. Collins brewery tours followed by Coopersmith's for dinner. If you've been there, you know.
4. Sushi!
5. Train adventure in the mountains. The Royal Gorge, the Georgetown Loop, the Durango & Silverton Narrowgauge. I don't care, I love 'em all. But a kiss (on the mouth) for anyone who hooks up the steam loco action. Followed by boozing at ye olde mountainous pub.
6. Other (please comment).

Please cleave a comment indicating which party option you prefer. I may or may not take your views into consideration.

^*The partial excuse entails the following caveat: In the event of non-attendance of my 27th birthday, I reserve the right to hold your non-attendance against you indefinitely. For example, if you are invited to Denver at some point in the future but attempt to bail out, I may say something akin to the following: "But you missed my... *sniff*... birthday. (cue puppy dog eyes)" Yeah, that's right. The eyes'll getcha every time.

Kurzweil's brain

Back in college (I know, yawn) I took a class about the broader moral and ethical implications of my chosen field (Computer Science, shockingly). A large section of it was about the future of computer science and what ethical issues we would face if someday we were able to create human (or superhuman) artificial intelligence, for example. During this part of the class, we read several essays written by Ray Kurzweil. The musically-inclined among you may recognize that as a brand name for synthesizers. That's the same guy.

When not inventing synthesizers, Dr. Kurzweil writes about what the future may look like if we continue on our present explosive growth of technology track (not in a pessimistic way, but the things he predicts are pretty wild, so you could interpret some of it in a dystopian fashion if you were so inclined).

I remember one of his most interesting essays that we read was about the nature of the human mind. The idea was that your mind was the software that makes you you and this "You" program runs on your brain (like Mozilla Firefox runs on your computer). Starting from that premise, he says that it's not that crazy to think we could build a little computer chip that mimicked the behavior of a single neuron. They are, after all, relatively simple in and of themselves. You could then take one of these synthetic neuro-chip doo dads and have a brain surgeon replace one of the neurons in your brain with it. Assuming it did its job, you probably wouldn't notice anything weird. You'd go right on thinking and feeling like you were you.

But then suppose the brain surgeon didn't stop there and just kept right on replacing your neurons with synthetic ones. Would you notice a change at any point? In theory, replacing them one at a time, you could even stay conscious throughout the procedure. Eventually, your whole brain would be made up of synthetic neurons. You'd have a computer brain. You could then upgrade that brain w/ more or faster synthetic neurons or copy the "software" (you) onto a different computer (possibly faster, more powerful one).

So then you have some interesting questions to ask at that point. What makes you, you? If you were able to augment your brain to make it faster, able to store more memories, or more accurate memories, would that mean you were no longer human at some level? What about an AI that is as smart (or smater than) a human that we created ourselves? Should it be afforded the same rights that a human would be? After all, if you were to put your mind onto a computer, you'd probably still want basic human rights like it being illegal to pull the plug on you or install Windows on you. ;)

Anyway, my friend Emily and I were discussing these things while I was staying with her in Chicago. I think it kinda freaked her out. Sorry, Emily! :) I found this site, which has all kinds of fun things to make you afraid of what the world might be like by the middle of this century. Just kidding, sorta.

And no, this didn't come up because I'm in Boulder right now. The contact high isn't that good.

iPhones, ski passes, and credit cards

Yesterday The Steve announced that the 8GB iPhone only costs $399 now. When I bought it a couple months ago (early July, to be exact), it cost $599. Yeah, $200 price drop.

The thing is, the iPhone is a 100% gratuitous purchase. I shouldn't have spent 1 penny on it (because, after all, you can get cell phones for free and I already owned an iPod nano). For some twisted reason, that makes the price drop not annoying at all. What's the difference if I blow $600 or $400 on something? It was still a stupid purchase that I totally love and don't regret buying in the slightest. So yeah, if I'd known this would happen on September 5, I probably would have waited. But if I knew when the next-generation iPhone was coming out, I'd probably wait for that too. C'est la vie.

But thanks for your concern, everyone! :)

In other news, I recently also purchased a Winter Park ski pass for this year. Yet another totally stupid purchase that I won't spend one day regretting.

At some point the credit does run out, though.

Marion House Stay of Execution

At the last minute, 11:59pm, Governor Ritter called to cancel the execution of the Marion House. 1311 Marion will continue to be the home of Luke, Dan, Will, and yours truly for the foreseeable future.

However, if anyone moves out, I'm probably gonna push for dissolution of the house. I just don't think I can bring myself to posting a "smokers need not apply" ad on craigslist. Vomit.

Backpedaling

OK, correction time: We haven't yet actually decided to move. I may have jumped the gun a little there.

We have a house meeting on Thursday to discuss our options.

But let's have an informal netroots poll first! Please indicate in the comments your preference among the following options (in the interest of transparency, please fully disclose your affiliation with the Marion House):

1. Move, move, move! The landlord's goin' nazi, the rent's goin' up. Get outta there!
2. Look around, see what else is out there. If you find a better deal, go for it. If not, stay there.
3. It's cool if you move as long as you find Marion House 2.0 w/ equal or greater party-having possibilities.
4. Are you fucking crazy? You can't shut down the Marion House! This is a lot bigger than you, Dan, Will, and Luke now. You don't have the right!
5. Other (please elaborate)

Intro / Sweet Jane

I'm back in Denver, and feeling a little restless. Every time I visit old friends I start feeling this way when I return home. I think it's because I re-notice all the things that I'm not content with about my life.

Don't get me wrong, my life rules. But there are things I would change. Maybe I'll have to blog about that in the future. Though that's not super groundbreaking; everyone feels that way to some extent. It could just be a case of the Sunday Blues.

But, I'm listening to some live Lou Reed, so that's helping. And I am definitely happy to be home for awhile. Denver really is a great town. There's nothing like being away for a week to remind me of that.

I think what may be making the Sunday Blues hit home today is the realization that the Marion House is coming to an end. At first I thought, we're probably moving soon, but that doesn't mean anything has to change. But really it very well could. If we get a smaller place, or a place further from the heart of Cap Hill, or any number of other variables, then it may not be the Marion House anymore. And really, that's OK. I don't hate change, in fact I kind of like it. I think you need to mix things up every once in awhile to keep things interesting. I'm just a little apprehensive about this one because, let's face it, the Marion House rules. Oh well, it will be what we make it.

I've never been able to properly explain myself in this climate

It's so humid in Chicago. I can't sleep. Crystal's post about insomnia finally convinced me to stop kidding myself. There's a bed right next to me, but the prospect of lying in it for a few hours, dripping with sweat, is about as appealing as... well, something that's not very appealing. Analogies are lost on me in this sweltering jungle.

So, here's some random blogging from the dark side of the circadian rhythm.

I saw a bluegrass band the other night at a bar here in Rogers Park called the Red Line Tap. Appropriately, it's right along the red line of the L. I never could tell what people were saying the name of this band was. I'm pretty sure it's either Sexfest or Sexfist. Either way, not something you'd immediately think, "Oh yeah, Appalachian banjo, steel guitar, and fiddle." But wow, these guys were amazing. We're talking old school stuff here. A lot of original material, some Hank Williams, some old gospel songs. These guys are the real deal. I'll get back to you on that name...

One thing I always notice in Chicago is how much more integrated it is than Denver. Some people think Denver's not diverse, which is just incorrect. But I understand why they think that. Denver is disturbingly segregated. Sometimes I want to move out of Cap Hill just to get away from whitey a little bit. But then I think, am I going to hang out w/ these newly discovered minorities? Will they suddenly be my friends even though the young, white, middle class people in my current neighborhood aren't unless they already were for some other reason? Seems unlikely. But who knows, I'll have to give it some more thought...

Speaking of moving. We got a letter from Ed (the landlord) the other day. He says he's raising the rent again. $50 / month increases every 6 months starting in March of next year. $50 in March of '08, $50 in September of '08. $50 more in March and September of '09. Whatevz. Not the first time he's done it, not entirely unexpected, and hey, at least he gave us ample notice. However, the thing that really grinds my gears (bonus points if you instinctively just read that in a heavy Rhode Island nasally accent) is another little clause he added. Apparently, any new people who move into the house have to be non-smokers. That is, not just can they not smoke inside (which none of us ever do), they have to not have the personal habit of smoking. Two of my most favorite roommates are smokers. And you know what? I don't want to live somewhere where they're not welcome. Did we lose a war? Fuck that shit. So I pretty much want to move ASAP. Dan's trying to calm my righteous indignation. He always does that. I routinely get angrier about things that are personal affronts to him than he does. That's how we roll.

I've also been thinking about trying to buy a place. Since that's what the cool kids are doing these days. But all this sub-prime, liquidity, foreclosure rate craziness is freaking me out a little. I don't understand half of it. It just sounds bad. I'm like a crazy old woman when it comes to this stuff. New scary words I don't understand!!! Flee the unknown!! Take comfort in old prejudices, no matter how socially destructive!!! Or something like that... (I told you analogies were lost on me right now.)

OK, time for some more water.

And I'm back. So tomorrow is Friday and I'm going downtown w/ some old friends to eat some gen-you-wine Chicago deep dish pizza at the one, the only, Uno's. Now I know what you may be thinking. You're thinking, "I've been there. They're all over the suburbs of [insert city name here]. It's a'ight, I guess." No, my friend. No. Unless you've been to the orig, THE Uno's in downtown Chicago, you have not had deep dish pizza. It's the flakiest lard-based pie crust ever piled high with layers of cheese, sauce, toppings, more cheese, more sauce. Oh man. It clogs your veins with delicious. I'm pretty pumped (and triple-bypassed).

Overall, Chicago trip is a success. I've seen some good people. Met some new people. Ridden some trains (always a bonus for me). I'm pretty excited to head back to Denver, though.

One last thing (for the extra special friends who've made it all this way): Mark your calendars now for the party of the new, old, and every millennium. Yes, that's right. The LAST PARTY AT THE MARION HOUSE! We're moving sometime next year, probably. So you should just mark all of 2008 (and most of the rest of 2007 just to be safe) as "busy" because sweet Jesus are we gonna party. It's pretty much going to be the greatest thing to occur on planet Earth, ever. And you're all coming. No, seriously, you are.

OK, I'm going to attempt to sleep now. Goodnight friends, may the morning find you happier, wiser, or if nothing else, near a toilet for that wicked morning piss.

Top Gun: Calvin Edition

Calvin videos on YouTube? Oh yes. We are so... white.

Coal: Cheap. Abundant. Cheap.

This is brill.

Simpsons Movie

OK, so the Simpsons movie was really good. I already want to see it again. The reason it was so good is that they didn't worry about the hype. It's a longer episode of the Simpsons with slightly deeper characters and somewhat cooler animation. Both things are subtle, though. I think this was exactly the right way to do it.

Anything with as much hype-potential as THE SIMPSONS MOVIE could easily have been a huge disaster. I knew I had nothing to fear from the opening scene, however. From the 20th Century Fox logo (w/ Ralph singing along to the fanfare inside the zero), they panned up to the moon w/ very melodramatic music in an obvious nod to the potential bad directions they could have taken this movie ("Hey, I know! Let's have The Simpsons... ON THE MOON!!"). Lo and behold, it's an Itchy and Scratchy episode. Brill.

OK, no more spoilers. If you haven't seen it, go. If you have, comment below. And agree w/ me or pay the price. This my house, bitch.

Coming out of the closet

Not that I'm really in the closet, but I am admitting it publicly now. I'm an iPhone fanboy. They rule. I love mine to a perhaps immoral extent.

However, I do have a few gripes. Just so everyone knows I'm not a complete fanatic. Or something...

• Gripe #1: No bluetooth syncing. Sweet merciful lord Jobs, why the hell can't the iPhone sync over bluetooth!? My MacBook Pro has bluetooth. My iPhone has bluetooth. Turn them both on, and they'll even see each other. But that's as far it gets. Awkward sidelong glances all night, but nobody sacks up and asks the other one to dance. This match made in heaven doesn't even get to first base. That's just... cruel.
• Gripe #2: No multi-recipient SMS messages. OK, this is dumb. My Motorola V220 (huh? exactly.) that I bought 2.5 years ago can do this. The phone I had before that, some black on green screen Nokia job, could do this too. Sending text messages to a whole group of people all at once is just about one of the most convenient things in the universe when you're trying to get a whole mob to descend on the bar for a critical night of drinking, for example. Sigh...
• Gripe #3: No third-party apps. This one ain't gonna last. Mark my words, the iPhone will be opened to third-party apps. It's just a matter of time. It may not be this revision, but it will happen. In a perfect world, Steve Co. would announce that only open source apps are going to be allowed on the iPhone so Apple can scour the source code all they want (and hell, they can even control distribution for all I care). That'd be sweet, but seems pretty unlikely. I've tried some of the web apps that are supposed to be the band-aid for this gaping wound. Some of them (such as the BeeJive IM program) are pretty cool as far as web apps go. But it's still nowhere near the experience you can get from a real, honest-to-goodness native app (especially when you try to use that shit over EDGE, which stands for Slow As Frozen Molasses, somehow).
• Gripe #4: It's a cell phone. OK, so that's not really the gripe. But it is indirectly. AT&T (the new Cingular, the old SBC, the old Southwestern Bell, the old AT&T) is one of the most vile companies in existence. I loathe that my money goes to them every month. This is sort of a meta-gripe, because it leads to all kinds of things I hate. For example, we'll probably never see the ability to make phone calls via WiFi and VoIP because of this satanic soul-selling. Not to mention the whole telecommunications monopoly resurrection thing. Looks like it's back to the bad old days. Thanks pro-corporate Republican administration!

I'll probably come up with more...

And yes, this is a tactic to lower the market value of the iPhone so I can more easily afford to buy the revision 2 one that's coming out right before Christmas with 3G data support!!! OMG!!1!!!one!!!

The speech I want the Democratic nominee to give

It's frustrating to be a Democratic (or a Democratic sympathizer) these days. They tend to be spineless, wishy-washy, poll-slaves that don't end up accomplishing much. All too often, the best thing they have going for them is that they aren't Republicans.

Part of that is a messaging problem. Most Democrats don't know what it means to be a Democrat, or they can't articulate it well. And the party itself doesn't offer much help. You can't act on principles you don't have and can't talk about.

That's why it was very refreshing, even inspiring, to read this speech written by John F. Kennedy's former speech writer Theodore C. Sorensen. If the Democratic nominee for President says something like this in Denver a little over a year from now, it will be a good day. Not to be a Democrat, but to be an American. And it's been a long time since that felt good.

The end of this song makes sense now!

You know the Daft Punk song "One More Time?" 'Course ya do. Anyway, you know how at the end the beat stops and there's just this synthesized bell tolling? Weird, right? Well the video explains it! Evil-types attack the huge concert where the song is being performed. The bell is your garden variety "for whom the bell tolls" sorta bell. It's anime, so that's a perfectly plausible story line. It's all very dramatic...

Meta-irony

I just got friend requested from "elitist hipster snob" on MySpace. Normally I just deny these spurious requests from bands and porn sites, but the tagline on this profile is, "myspacing ironically since 2007."

Brill.

It's so post-post-modern I may just have to accept them as my friend. They claim to live in Denver and have lots of cool Denvery stuff in their profile (bands & bars mostly), so I don't feel like a complete tool in doing so.

Let's make a democracy out of it: Based on the evidence presented here, who thinks I should accept "elitist hipster snob" as my MySpace friend? Please backup your vote with circumstantial evidence and/or irrational justifications. Thanks for playing.

Ugh! Cinco de Mustache!

OK so it's been like 1 million years since Cinco de Mustache and I just got my pictures up on Flickr. I know, I'm the blurst photographer ever. Whatevz.

For those not in the know, Cinco de Mustache is that day every May 5 when mustachioed men and women gather to celebrate the upper lip and the hair that grows there. It's a long and storied tradition, dating back to various mustache-inspired military victories of the Mexican army over some Frenchies. w00t.

To see all the photo documentation, go to my Flickr page.

Here are some choice samples:

Super Blog Friends!

I just want to say how excited I am about our little blog network we have going on. Myself, Dan, Drew, and Crystal pretty much rotate among each others' blogs leaving snarky comments. We rule.

I'm learning to like Wilco's new album. It's different from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself. But at first it seemed less... unique? Anyway, I have to listen to an album in at least three different contexts before I can decide whether I like it or not:

1. On my iPod while walking down the street, preferably with lots of other people around.
2. On my home stereo with the sweet, sweet sub. Mmmm... bass.
3. At some sort of hanging-out (KGB would say "ch-hanging ar-round") type event.

I've got 1 & 2 down. Anyone wanna have a Wilco party?

Choice quote from Dan on the subject, "I think, all kidding aside, I would probably have sex with Jeff Tweedy in a heartbeat."

Bitch.

I have to give a "shout out" to my friend Mari Q. Schimmer for leaving copies of Bitch magazine around the house. I had a good Saturday afternoon buzz on today (don't you love those?) so I picked one up and started reading.

Instantly I was back in college, the sole male member of the Calvin Feminists club (I'm not fishing for non-jerk cred here--rest assured I'm a grade A asshole when push comes to shove).

All kidding aside, I do <3 feminism. It's one of those things that should be the new default. So that we start talking about anti-feminists rather than feminists. Like, "Whoah! That asscopter is a total anti-feminist!" As though we were talking about an anti-semite or a homophobe. Anyway, yay feminism. And Bitch.

Losing my nerd mojo

Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted here. Almost a year, in fact. I guess this is sort of my nerdy blog, whereas my MySpace blog is more my personal one. Maybe I should combine them... Hmm, there's a thought. I haven't been feeling very nerdy lately. I think mainly because I haven't had a lot of free time to ruminate on all things geeky. Though I do have a nascent thought in my brain about how Ubuntu Linux could better position itself as a must-have operating system for businesses and home users alike. And it centers around LDAP. Weird, right? Maybe I'll get some verbage up about that one of these days. I'll try to find some better use for this blog. Because I do love the name... :)