The fourth annual Denver Zombie Crawl will be on the Saturday, October 24th. It has changed a lot (for the better) since I first reported on it back in 2006. This year there will be zombie make-up classes, costume contests, cool glow-in-the-dark posters, live music from Windows Bane, a world record attempt (4,000 zombies), and charity. Details can be found here.
The date for Denver’s third annual Zombie Crawl has been announced for this Saturday, October 18th at 6:00 PM. More detatils can be found on the website.
My 4th of July weekend started off with a bang! Thursday evening we went to Green Gables country club for our now semi-traditional fireworks viewing. Friday morning started immediately at 9:30 with beer chugging contests for the 3rd annual beer olympics. Pictures of last years beer olympics (aquatic version) can be found somewhere around here. This year’s events consisted of:
The girlfriend and I, appropriately name team “Chugs & Kisses”, came in dead last. Though we did come in a very close second on the Blind Man’s Beer event. After the beer olympics I headed home for a nap while went to pick up friends from the airport. We then went to Dutch’s annual 4th Of July party where we celebrated the night away and overstayed our welcome. This is the party where G and I met so it’s sort of an anniversary of sorts for us.
On Saturday we had an all day BBQ at our house with new, old, and out of town friends. It was a good time. I over cooked the turkey burgers and stayed up way too late.
Sunday I slept. A lot.
Well WSP at Redrocks this year was once again amazing. They broke the record with more consecutive sellout shows at redrocks than any other band and the Mayor proclaimed Friday as an official Widespread Panic Day. No, seriously.
Here’s a stream of Saturday’s show.
I had a blast. Great company. Perfect weather. Incredible set list. It’s weird cause it seems like I always get a Talking Heads cover. This year it was “Life during Wartime”. The widespread shows are always one of my favorite parties of the year. Instead of bragging about here on Artifacting (too late?), I’ll do like I did last year and let a bunch of other blogs tell you how amazing the show was:
Have you ever woke up the morning after a night of partying, turned on your camera and thought, “I don’t remember taking any of these pictures” and “I don’t remember uploading those pictures to flickr”? Yeah, well so does everybody on Sorry I Missed Your Party. In a strange way I’d like to see myself on this website someday.
The last couple of months have been pretty crazy/amazing/profound. So much has happened that, I’ll probably never remember it all, and truthfully, that doesn’t bother me. In some ways I have a tinge of regret for not having taken the time to write it all down as it happened or shortly there after. If not just so I have it archived somewhere. But in reality, some of it I don’t know how to write about – i don’t have the words to fit the experience. Some of it I don’t care about. And some of it I simply don’t care to remember.
So instead I’m going to cop-out and make a list of some of the major and minor events of the past 10 weeks in no particular order and just leave it at that. I can only hope my life remains as eventful and that I take the time to write about it afterward.
I went to my first honky tonk.
I saw Built To Spill play again.
I’ve been to the hospital three times for three different individuals. Two of them in the emergency room. One fatal.
I met family members I have never met before and most likely will never meet again.
I spent a long weekend at my timeshare in Vail.
I went to a mini-family reunion and ski vacation in Breckenridge.
I suffered through a 150-hour work week.
I took a full week vacation.
A loved one died in my arms. It was probably one of the most weighty and profound experiences in my life to this point.
I did my time in the back of a cop car in Henryetta, Oklahoma.
I had the pleasure of staying in a giant mountain mansion with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two hot tubs, and ski in ski out access.
My car was hit by a kid who had his drivers license for a measly two days. He ended up totaling his car a week later.
I Was invited over by complete strangers for a mardi gras party/steak dinner.
Somehow fit in about eight days of skiing.
Saw a friend who I haven’t seen since his wedding.
The kitchen remodel was completed.
Mom came to town for a visit.
A few birthday parties were celebrated.
I got fall down drunk with a co-worker.
And lots of other various sundriness and ephemera.
The Christmas edition of Wednesday’s Wonderful World of Wikipedia consists of a fun and educational page about Christmas celebrations and traditions in countries around the world. The article focuses on non-western countries and has lots of cool insights.
I had a slow leisurely morning on my second day in NYC. Taking time to enjoy my coffee, finish my book, and have a nice breakfast. Then I jumped headfirst into the chaos that is Times Square on Black Friday.
I relieved my crowd-induced-anxiety by heading over to Madison Square Park where I enjoyed the, well-disputed-best-burger-in-New-York-City, at the Shake Shack. I was a little surprised they were actually open this late in the season.
After that it was off to have a look at two of my favorite buildings in the city. The Flat Iron building
And the American Radiator building.
Afterwards I headed over to the Freemans. I wanted to check out this little secret gem hidden away in an ally of the LES. It was cool, but veering on too cool. I stayed for a couple of beers before heading to Lorely for a tall glass of German suds and the meeting of friends and family.
Then it was off to our big dinner. For reasons I won’t get into we had a “break the bank” expense budget that had to be spent and it was my girlfriend’s parents 40th anniversary. We also had reservations at Perry St. This was a Jean-Georges Vongerichten (his blog) joint. He’s is probably one of the most famous chefs in NYC. And this was probably the best meal I ate all year (and probably in the top ten meals I’ve eaten ever). We went haywire in this place ordering several appetizers, all kinds of special cocktails, desserts, wines and entrees (grilled tenderloin of beef with herbal spinach and liquid gruyere for me). It was wonderful for everyone. The restrooms were out of toilet paper though. Not the type of thing you’d expect from a place like this.
Afterwards we to Turks & Frogs which I believe was having a sewage problem. I have no idea why we stayed there so long but the experience was disappointingly if not for the company. We quickly scuttled over to The Otheroom. This place was great. The music was perfect all night, the atmosphere was fun, dim and cozy, the people were really cool, the women were hot and the men were gay (mostly). We stayed here till about three am.
Our adventure home included three taxi rides, a car accident, the new jersey transit system, some tears, getting list in Secaucus, and a $60 cab fair. Ouch.
Denver makes the nasty list again, and I’m not sure I should be proud or ashamed (mostly ashamed). That is to say – I love that Denver knows how to party, I hate that we can’t do it responsibly.
Men’s Health magazine graded each state on the deadliness of it’s drunkards and Denver ranked first. The listing took into account death rates due to alcoholic liver disease, how many citizens regularly down five or more drinks in a sitting (CDC), drunk-driving arrests (FBI), the percentage of fatal accidents involving intoxicated motorists (U.S. Department of Transportation). and the MADD report card of state efforts to cut down on excessive drinking. This is how the report card shook out:
100 Denver, CO – F
99 Anchorage, AK – F
98 Colorado Springs, CO – F
97 Omaha, NE – F
96 Fargo, ND – F
95 San Antonio, TX – F
94 Austin, TX – F
93 Fresno, CA – F
92 Lubbock, TX – F
91 Milwaukee, WI – F
…
My birthday week (last week) was so full of kickass it’s hard to comprehend.
It started out last Friday by heading over to a friends for drinks and then going to the Murray Farm Massacre. I haven’t been to a haunted house since I was a child but The haunted house was certainly frightening and well designed. I’m no stranger to corn mazes though, and this one pretty much sucked – way too easy (even at night) and not all that freaky.
Saturday we threw a raging halloween/costume party at our house. G made seven crockpots worth of homemade, slow-cook, goodness. The were black lights, and costumes, and spooky sounds to boot. The night finished with a big ole dance party that devolved into everyone dancing on the furniture. This resulted in one broken kitchen chair, a burning wig in a chandelier, snack carrots ending up in mysterious places, and one skull nearly cracked open. It was all worth.
Sunday mostly involved laying on the couch and recovering from Saturday’s debauchery.
On Tuesday we got the new Tivo hooked up. This thing is absolutely brilliant. It has already started changing the way I watch TV and I haven’t watch a commercial in over a week. Not to mention I have all kinds of great movies lined up that I’ve been waiting to see.
For my birthday, G and I hand bacon cheeseburgers (from my very favorite hamburger shack down the street from us) and champagne for dinner. I am also now a real art owner. G gave me a signed and numbered Audrey Kawasaki print called “Nest Hair”. Number 55 of a limited print of 100. I’m in love with it. It’s one of the coolest gifts I have received in a long time.
Thursday we met my Dad, his wife, my bro, and pandy out for a sushi dinner. Johnny Holly’s has great sushi and fantastic service without the pretentiousness. If you are ever thinking about going to the sushi den, drive ten blocks further south and go to Johnny Holly’s instead. You’ll be glad. If you are hankering for any sort of asian food that isn’t on the menu, just ask for it, and the kitchen will fix it up for you.
Thanks to everyone for making my week be so tremendous.
