In Transition

More CVs sent out.

Mets win!

Come on Steven Matz in game four!

Going to see La Hija mañana in Denver.

If you ever wondered if it's possible for someone to eat too many chilis, you're both wrong and right.

Door to door

Well, the interview went well. They are a temp place and they will teach me to trim buds at $9 an hour. Any way I can get my ass in the door works me. There's a course every Wednesday.

I've been dropping off my CV and a copy of my Badge all over. Boulder and Denver are all covered. I've also applied for jobs in Fort Collins, which a nice area towards the Wyoming border.

I have a heap of logistics to sort through in the next few days. And more CVs to send out.

Let's go Mets!

Badge

I got my Medical Marijuana Badge today! Just in time for the interview mañana! Thanks to Kay and JB for helping make this possible.

Interview

The Mets lost in the 14th. Familia blows a save and wright makes an error.

I have an interview on Fri. No, it's not with a vampire. No, it's not a sex worker job. It for trimming buds, which is at least a foot in the door.

Game 2 starting now. Good-bye.

La Hija Returns

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
- BOB DYLAN

Well, things just keep surprising me here, and again it is for the better. Kristen, who I knew from the TEFL class in Madrid and was my housemate, is living in Boulder! I totally forgot she was going to school to be a witch doctor (some alternative medicine whose name I can't recall.) 

She always called me "Pops," and I called her "Hija (daughter,) because of our vast age difference.

I pinged her to say I was moving out here, thinking she was still in California, and then remembered she was out here now. We're going to meet in Denver this weekend, eight years after we first met; a witch doctor and a cannabis grower. The times, they most certainly are a-changin'!

The Green Wave

Out of the port of Liverpool
Bound for the North of Ireland
The wash of the spray and horsetail waves
The roll of the sea below
And Easter here again
A time for the Blind to see
Easter, surely now
Can all of your hearts be free

-MARILLION

It's a new day. A new career. A new state. A new life. Leaving it all behind. Twice, I have abandoned my past life and started over. I went to Jamaica and left everything behind. Then Madrid. Now Colorado. I plan for this to be the last time. Maybe it will be the second to last, as I hope to move back to the east coast as the green wave eventually washes over New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.

Incredible

The past 4 weeks have been incredible. Now that I will soon have my Badge, I can send out my CV like crazy. I love it here, but the altitude is taking its toll on my sinuses. I think it will pass, or I'll just find an allergist out here. When I spoke to Mel, she suggested the same thing. Smart women.

Thanks to all of you, even friends who don't read this blog (and why wouldn't you read it, you tools?It's awesome!) The swell of support has been invigorating. And thanks to Mum for taking care of Dr. Wu while I'm away.

Meanwhile, I grow greener every day.

The New World

There's only one direction
In the faces that I see
And it's upward to the ceiling
Where the chamber's said to be
Like the forest fight for sunlight
That takes root in every tree
They are pulled up by a magnet
Believing they're free

The carpet crawlers heed their callers
You gotta get in to get out

-GENESIS

Will Forte

I finally was able to qualify for a CO driver's license on Thursday, and then went for my Marijuana Badge on Friday. The fingerprinted me and will run a background check that takes about 24 hours, then they'll mail it out. With some luck, I might have it by Wed. However, I even now have my license number so I can include that in my cover letter.

Woo hoo! One step closer. It just so happens that there are a lot of steps in this process.

What an incredible cast of characters were there, over twenty of us. There were people with;

- Unruly hair and beards like Will Forte's character in The Last Man on Earth.

- Nose rings

- Suspenders ( I shit you not)
- Pink hair, Red hair
- No makeup and bell bottoms. Bell Bottoms!

Compared to the rest, I was a fucking bore. But the people I did talk to while we waited for the office to open, were nice. It's a new world, so it's time to embrace it.

The World Series

The Mets are going to the World Series for the 1st time in fifteen years! Yeah baby! In other news, the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west.

The mercury dropped crazily last night. It's 48F in the middle of the afternoon. Damn!

Have to send out more CVs today. Dispensaries have told me they are hiring. I should have what I need to get my CO driver's license by next Monday. I opened two bank accounts, so that should be coming. Last night was a cold and rainy wait for the light rail out of Denver after the game. The flashes of lighting were insane. It was Forbidden Zone from the Planet of the Apes lightning. The weather here turns on a dime.

Mets Mania

The mighty Mets take the third straight game from the Cubbies. Apologies to Aunt Vivian and my estranged cousin, Anthony Rizzo, but I know you will win one some other year, when the Mets aren't in it.

I've walked into a bunch of cannabis dispensaries and they are all eager to see my CV, which I email off to them. We'll see. I have been pounding the pavement, much as NY has been pounding CHI.

Amazin' Again

l

Daniel Murphy put the Mets on his back with two solo home runs and a great steal of third. Jacob DeGrom did not have his best stuff, but gutted out the win. The Amazin's are going back to the NLCS!

Mystic Rhythms

So many things I think about
When I look far away
Things I know -- things I wonder
Things I'd like to say
The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown
We suspend our disbelief
And we are not alone

-Rush

Things are starting to come together. Thanks for all of the support. My friends and family have been huge through all of this.

Things to Know When in Denver

ver

3 Basic Rules for Denver:

1) Never refuse a glass of water. The altitude dehydrates you and you can never drink too much.
2) Never pass up a chance to use the toilet. The altitude weighs on your digestive systems and can cause a lot of flatulence. And cause the occasional photo finish to the restroom.
3) Always carry an inhaler with you. While I haven't wheezed, the air is thin and the rescue inhaler helps you catch your breath and breathe easier.

- - -

We hiked the Three Sisters trail on Monday at an altitude of 8,000 feet, so that's 1.5 miles.

It's my goal to someday hike a Fourteener (a peak with an elevation of 14,000 or higher.) Today was a start.

Directory

On Saturday, I went into Denver and found this directory of all of the dispensaries in Colorado. Very helpful. I have been looking up all of the one's who grow their own cannabis and will stop in and say hello. Things are going well. Kay and I went for a hike on a nice peak. It was beautiful. October is great out here. It's warm and dry.

Good-bye Mully

We lost Mum's cat, Mulligan, on Sat./Fri. He was 16 and a half. We was one of my best buddies. Well loved he was.

- - -

M.S.

This has been a very interesting time. It's so great to see JB again. And while the disease has taken the toll, his spirit is intact. Kay takes very loving care of him. It's very moving. JB is a fervent supporter of me growing cannabis.

JB always says, "You're going to do this!" 

And I say, "Yes, I am."

I've been called brave.

I've been called insane.

It doesn't matter, either way, as long as I am fortunate enough to pursue my dreams.

But I have seen enough to say that I will say that I will be an advocate to stop MS from this day forward. Cannabis is very effective for people who have MS.

My Uncle Ronnie died from this disease. I hadn't seen him in years. He was a good man. I never understood how much MS is a horror.

Denver

Comin' down the mountain, one of many children
-Jane's Addiction




Today was a good day. Go Cubs! 

I went to a George Washington University mixer in Denver tonight. I met some very cool people. I took the light rail in, which isn't bad, but I think I walked about 5 miles. In this thin air, I may really feel that mañana.

WISE COMPANY

I am watching the Smithsonian channel. It's 1:15am. I just saw a three minute commercial for the Wise Company which sells freeze dried food that can last 25 years for the apocalypse. AND, it comes with a 30 day guarantee. So if the worlds ends and you have to eat this stuff, and you don't like it, you can get a refund. IF the Wise Company still exists. Hysterical. The only thing I've ever heard that was funnier than that was the Rapture. 

Buying cannabis legally is awesome. It's so civilized. 

I tip my hat to Aldous Huxley. He foresaw SOMA, a drug that made you happy. We step closer to his vision every day. It's a dystopian saga, but maybe today we can get it right. At the very least, give it to medical patients so that it relieves their pain. That's just being a humanitarian.

Is that so wrong?

Intentional Batting

I can't hear you
You're talking to yourself
And what you're used to
It don't work on no one else

I wanna teach you
Keep you for myself
Gonna take you by the hand
I'm gonna walk you to my house
So I can hear you
-The Dead Weather

Seattle won an UGLY one last night, thanks to Kam Chancellor and an NFL official who did not think Wright intentionally knocked the ball out of the end zone. The official was wrong, and therefore Seattle still has a shot at the postseason.

NFL Fans, Please Smoke Some Pot

The Denver Post has an entire section called, The Canabist. It's a great resource.

This article is hilarious. I have been saying this for years.


http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2015/10/01/opinion-stops-49ers-attacks-lawsuits-replace-alcohol-with-marijuana/



I remember teaching this article while in Spain.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/sports/baseball/05disco.html


The one spokesman talks about how the kids were all stoned all left rather peacefully.

Mountain Time

from Mt. Evans

Mountain Tine is so messed up. The Mets game started at 11am. WTF?

Be safe, all of you in the path of Hurricane Joaquin (obviously named in honor of the late, great pitcher, Joaquin Andujar.)

Yesterday we went up Mt. Evans, but not all the way to the top as it is above 14,000 feet (they call them 14ers.) The views were unbelievable. However, we had a lot of smog yesterday. The smoke may have been from forest fires north of Denver. 

Colorado is a gorgeous state.

Mile High

I held the book so tightly in my hands,
I saw your picture, heard you call my name
There was something strange, I could not look away
I wanted to be there, I wanted to go

-GENESIS

Damn. The high altitude is killing me. Dry skin, can't drink enough water and Mountain Time is just fucked up. All the shows and sporting events are at bizarre times.

But I am very excited. I feel like I was meant to be here. I can't explain it. Also to help JB out with his M.S. It has had a profound effect on him. But it doesn't seem weird. Even when I have to give him an arm to help him get off the couch. He's an old friend. We always understood each other. He was one of the first people I ever told that I was thinking of divorcing Sue.

Anyway, it was so cool of these guys to take me in. I am trying to help Kay with JB as much as I can. I cooked pasta and red sauce today. It was good. I like cooking for people. And these guys are amazing people.

It's very beautiful out here. I'll take some pics tomorrow, but sunset was amazing. 

Things to Do in Denver When Your Sales Career is Dead

What day is it? What year is it? Seriously. Between the altitude and a two hour time difference, it's been hard to tell the last few days. I am starting to get the hang of it. It's great to see James and Kara. I've already talked to a few dispensaries and learned a lot. More tomorrow!

In Denver

Landed. Safe. No animals were injured. I can't get my Mac connected to Internet yet, so just a quick word to say all is well.