As I mentioned on my show today, there’s going to be a benefit concert in Windsor tomorrow (Saturday, 5/31) to raise money for that town’s tornado victims.  It’ll be noon-4p in the Loodles parking lot, on Main Street.  Local artists will perform at the concert, there’s also a silent auction.  They’re looking for additional items to auction off, BTW…got something?  Want to help?  Talk to Alayna Trope, 970-310-1506!  And–THANKS!

Got one of those automated “civil violations” in the mail from the good people at E-470 the other day.  Best I can figure, here’s how it happened…

Our next door neighbor’s husband passed away suddenly last month.  My wife volunteered to shuttle out-of-town relatives to/from the airport, to help out the family.  Another neighbor suggested my wife take E-470, which is more direct to the airport and faster than going the usual (free) route using I-225 to I-70, etc.  The neighbor offered my wife her “toll tag” to pay the tolls.  Well, apparently, that’s not allowed?  The toll tag can only be used by the vehicle it’s registered for.  (At least that’s what I’m assuming, since there was a photo of our car as “proof of the violation.” We didn’t know that, not ever having traveled on E-470 ourselves.)  Anyway, it was quite an unpleasant surprise to find out that we now owe a $79 fine.

I suppose if my wife had been pulled over by a real human being, there might have been some grace allowed.  Maybe this points to the problem of automating everything, whether it’s a toll camera or a customer service phone line. (”If you’d like to check your account balance, press ONE…”)(Puh-LEEEZ!) 

So, I’ll pay the fine, and will TRY to be civil about it… 

+++POST SCRIPT, June 6–turns out I *didn’t* have to pay the fine after all!  When I called to pay, and explained what happened, they told me to have the neighbor whose toll tag we used call the office and they would waive the fine and simply deduct the toll from their toll tag!  SWEET!  THANK you, E-470!!

I read where Jay Cutler’s gonna be signing autographs this weekend–for a fee.  You can get a basic autograph for fifteen bucks, all the way up to $99 to have a helmet signed.  It’s kind of too bad that it’s come to this, in my opinion.  Back in the day, sports stars were HAPPY to autograph stuff, for free!  I remember getting an autograph from Billy Kilmer, former QB for the 49ers, Saints and Redskins, one of my boyhood heroes.  What a thrill!  And, NO money exchanged!!

Still, I don’t blame the athletes.  So MUCH of this autographed stuff gets sold on eBay, or in collectible stores, why SHOULDN’T they get a cut?  Just because they already make millions, so what?  It’s another example of how pro sports have become business FIRST, sports SECOND.  But–my opinion–it is what it is.  Think about it, today’s pro athlete was born in the 1980s, AFTER the pro sports boom.  To them, this is the only “normal” they’ve known!

 One OTHER point–for some of these older stars, from the 50s, 60s and ’70s, who played for peanuts and have a pitiful pension from the league, making a few bucks from signing autographs is the only way they can keep food on the table.

Still–I wouldn’t pay Jay Cutler $99 to sign a helmet!!  Or anyone else, for that matter.  Well–maybe Billy Kilmer, if I knew he needed the money!

The guy that played “Ernie” on the old TV show “My Three Sons”–Barry Livingston–was in one of those made-for-TV movies on the Hallmark Channel over the weekend.  Nice to see he’s still working, doesn’t look THAT much different, although he was just a KID when he was on the show.  I always thought that was such a great show.  I wanted to be IN that family!  Fred MacMurray was the ULTIMATE TV dad!!  He always had the right advice, very approachable, never lost his temper.  I should pick up a DVD collection of episodes, probably would be good schooling for me in dealing with MY kids!  (THEY might enjoy watching it as well!)  Seems like Andy Taylor or  Ward Cleaver always gets thought of first as the prototype “dad,” but Steve Douglas gets MY vote!

Went to the Gaylord Street Festival Monday with my sister and her husband–they LIVE in the area.  It was pretty fun, we bought a bag of kettle corn, walked around and enjoyed the sights and sounds.  I especially appreciated the fact that the prices for stuff was relatively reasonable.  So often at those little street fairs, they charge and arm and a leg for everything, and–if you’ve got kids–you can’t get out of there without droppng $100.  I remember one little festival in Texas, where they had a two-seat ferris wheel, took you up maybe twelve feet–and they were charging SIX BUCKS for a two-minute ride!  So thank you, Gaylord Street Festival, for not choosing to EXTORT!!  I thought $2 for the petting zoo was very reasonable, given the assortment of animals and the fact that they had two people on-duty the entire time scooping up droppings the MOMENT they fell!!

 Also went out to dinner with an old college pal, who I hadn’t seen in ten years at least.  He and his family were up here from the Springs for the weekend, so we got our families together for dinner at LoDos on C-470.  We got to talking about the “good ol’ days,” and he was reminding me that he still had copies of the dorm newspaper I used to edit/write.  It’s interesting how he remembered some things that I didn’t, and vice-versa.

 Did you run in the Boulder Bolder?  Even the cold weather couldn’t keep the crowds down!  There’s plenty MORE running events coming up, including the Rocky Mountain HALF Marathon, June 8th, thru LoDo.  Running is something I’d LIKE to do again, but can’t seem to find the time.  If YOU run, I salute you!

Here’s some wisdom from business expert Harvey Mackay.  He tells a story of a Native American grandfather who was talking to his grandson about how he felt.  The grandfather said, “I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart.  One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one.  The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.”  The grandson asked him, “Which wolf will win the fight in your heart, grandfather?”  The grandfather answered, “The one I FEED.” 

Dr. Robert Schuller put it a different way–“You are what you think about all day long!”  For me, it’s SO easy to let the little things get me down, and at THOSE times, the LAST thing I wanna hear is “the power of positive thinking!”  But, it really IS true!  Life IS a struggle, between good and evil, and whichever you FEED, THAT’S what’s gonna win!

Rockies lose again, this time in extra innings—to the sad-sack GIANTS!…3-2…The season is NOT going the way we hoped it would!  Look at it this way, at least it’ll be easier to get TICKETS for Rockies games!…it’s not as much fun as when they’re winning, BUT–it’s still FUN!

They’re extending the yellow light length at several intersections around Denver where red light cameras are installed…interesting, it’s actually causing MORE accidents, people slamming on the brakes on a yellow light, instead of cruising thru…there’s some poetic justice in this!!  In Dallas, they’ve actually REMOVED some of the red light cameras, because once they lengthened the yellow light, people stopped running the RED!  So they couldn’t justify the cost of the camera!  SEE, that proves my point–they SAY they install these cameras for “safety reasons,” but it seems like it really IS about generating easy revenue thru automated traffic tickets…

Souvenirs for the DNC going on sale…made by the people who make the stuff for the Nuggets and Avs, so it’s QUALITY stuff.  Will be nice if the candidates–both parties–are of the same kind of high quality…

The Libertarian Presidential National Convention is this weekend in Denver, about 1000 members expected…I saw some guy planting campaign signs for one of the candidates this morning…you can attend the convention, if you like–just $10 for the debate[SAT], the nomination ceremony [SUN]is FREE!…[zzzzz!]…I’m gonna spend Memorial Day weekend, sitting through a bunch of boring speeches? I DON’T THINK SO!!…

Science teacher at Manual HS discovered a fossilized dinosaur footprint…an “ankylosaur”…Kent Hups actually ran across it by accident…had been searching all day, sat down to rest, randomly kicked over a rock-BAM! There it was!…Encouraging, isn’t it?  Sometimes the best things just happen, through DUMB LUCK!!

The Boulder BOLDER is this weekend… getting OLDER…30 years ago, 3% of runners were 50 or older, THIS year more than 10% are…are YOU running?…

WOW!  My first BLOG!  It’s kind of intimidating, actually.  Unlimited space, unlimited reach to the entire WORLD–people in AUSTRALIA could be reading this!  SO, how about I start with some random thoughts/statements…just kind of throw some stuff on the virtual wall, see if anything virtually sticks…

Me and one of the guys at the station sat down the other night to play STRAT-O-MATIC baseball, an old-fashioned chart and dice baseball game.  Hadn’t played it since the 1980s.  Both he and I used to play obsessively, full schedules even, one game at a time, keeping complete statistics and records.  What FUN to get out the cards and sit down for a couple hours.  He took the ‘85 Mets, I took the ‘85 Phillies–there weren’t any Rockies in ‘85!  I took two out of three games.  Can’t wait to play again.  Anybody remember this game?

Why does it always seem like when you take your car in for work, there’s always more work [$$$] than you expected?  A had a $586 brake bill this past weekend.  Seems like brakes ALWAYS cost more.  The rotors are ALWAYS “too worn to be machined,” et al…

My daughter wants a CAT now.  We’ve never OWNED a cat, and don’t plan on starting a NEW chapter of “adventures with pets” at this point.  We got her guinea pigs for her birthday last year.  That’s adventure enough for now.  They are fun–interesting creatures.  They have a built in “flight” reflex, where if you reach for them they scurry into their little “pigloos” and HIDE!  [I can relate!]  No matter how used to you they get, they can’t overcome the urge to RUN when you reach for them!

 That’s all for now…