What is with this white stuff coming down from the skies? Is someone of the opinion that it’s winter or something? Don’t they know that white stuff makes me cranky? “My GOD, man, do NOT make her cranky! (You wouldn’t like her when she’s cranky…)”

Yesterday: insubstantial flurries in Boulder gave way to sticky wet layer on street around 5:45 PM or so. I gave up on the biking thing and took the bus home. Yay bike racks on buses. That was 30th and Baseline. By 30th and Aurora (that’s two stops later, for those of you playing along at home), I’d seen my first traffic accident of the night.

Why do I pick snowy mornings to walk to Joe’s? When I know that NO ONE bothers to plow/shovel the sidewalk between Glenwood and Valmont? Dear reader, if you happen to own or manage property in Boulder, and you are not taking responsibility for clearing your sidewalk, it had just better be because you personally know that someone else is doing it. And I mean you’re on the phone with them after they finish the job, congratulating them on their accomplishment. If I hear that my neighbor’s wheelchair has gotten stuck in a snowdrift in below-freezing weather again and it’s your fault, I’m totally in ur house gettin medieval on ur d00dz.

And look! The sun is up AND IT’S STILL SNOWING. The hell is up with this, people? Fix it! Make it stop right now!

Oh look. An ambulance-and-fire-truck caravan heading north on 30th. Fa la la la effin’ LA.

When I finally crack and pack up the moving van for NOLA, it will be on a day such as this. And then I will crack further, because it won’t be safe to drive the moving van on these streets.

Wow. The embattled Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs have caved to the demands of an incendiary, avant garde artist named Lisa Jensen.

If you haven’t followed this story — one in a series of narratives seemingly designed to make our fair state seem like Rube Central — apparently her Christmas wreath cum peace sign was both anti-Christian and deeply political.

But it now gets to stay up. I’m giving the folks in this cozy subdivision a week before they’re sacrificing goats, gorging on baby entrails and reading Lewis Lapham editorials. And because this was clearly a piece of art designed to subvert our mission in Iraq, I’m also putting money on a few mutinies within our armed forces and mass desertion among the enlisted ranks. You know, I just bet that country is going to explode into a civil war because of this…satanic peace wreath.

Damn you Lisa Jensen!

It’s not like this only just happened or anything, but some people don’t know yet. In case you are one of those people, know this:

The Brewing Market in Basemar Plaza (in Boulder at Baseline and Broadway) is no longer a 24-hour joint. It used to be, but, owing presumably to a dearth of custom in the darkest piece of the morning, it is now a mere 21.5 hour joint. Its current hours are 5:30 AM to 2:00 AM.

Its coffee remains excellent, and its wi-fi stability appears improved of late.

This has been a public service announcement. Thank you for listening. You may now go on about your business.

Hello. Welcome to my office-away-from-office.

I may have mentioned that NaNoWriMo thing that I do. 50,000 words in 30 days? Right. I’m still a smidge behind, and today is the last day of Week 3. There’s really no good reason for this. I don’t have a full-time day job. Writing is supposed to be my day job. I ought to be able to get back on track in a matter of days.

I’ve pin-pointed my problem, I think. My problem is the insidious malady known as inability to get out of bed before noon.

Thus, the solution: A plan to be up and dressed before dawn today and settled in at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop by 6:00 AM. And not just making that plan, but broadcasting it on my regional NaNoWriMo forum, so that if I don’t show up I’m guaranteed a chorus of well-meaning laughter at my expense.

And here I am!

“Here,” Joe’s Espresso, is in the new-ish Steelyards complex at 30th and Bluff. Or 30th and Steelyard Place, depending on how you like to park. In any case, go south on 30th from Valmont and look to the east for a series of Olde Main Street style brick buildings before you get to Mapleton.

Inside, the place has a pleasantly industrial feel with its light bulbs ensconced in bird’s nests of baling wire hanging from the exposed warehousey rafters. Each of the two-seater tables are shaped like a little red kidney bean–or a coffee bean, I suppose–and in the northwest corner there’s a simple cushioned L-shaped bench and a low square table. There’s used books in the corner to read and there’s always artwork on the walls to enjoy.

A friend of mine said of this place, “They use Allegro coffee, right? Ew.” I’m not entirely sure whether that was an expression of personal taste or political disapproval. But, yes, they serve Allegro coffee and tea. And Mame’s breakfast burritos. And Wally Biscotti! Mmmm. And espresso drinks with those kewt li’l leaf and floral designs dribbled into the foam.

Sun’s coming up now. Sky’s gone all pretty. Gotta go.

It’s open! It’s open! Ice skating season is open! The ice skating rink at One Boulder Plaza (13th street between Walnut and Canyon) is now open for business and ready to rent you time and skates. Yay!

The annual “Light Up The Ice” hooplah…
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Remember that mass Albertson’s exodus? When the grocery stores in the Boulder locations of Diagonal Plaza and 30th-and-Walnut just up and went away this summer?

Something has finally taken over one of those locations. Crown Books has moved into 30th Street Market.

I checked ‘em out the same day this week that I ended up at Twisted Pine. They’re a little scary, actually. I peeked inside and found that a good third of the house lights weren’t on–and not every other light, but, like, half the store was a cave. Where the produce and deli used to be, books skulked in a spooky mercantile twilight. The store front listed nice wide business hours, and the door stood wide open, but I didn’t see a single employee at work in there, not even at the check-out stands. All in all, it somehow managed to continue to look like an empty ex-grocery store rather than a book warehouse.

There’s a sale going on, marking everything in the store down, some items by as much as 90%, and yet at the same time there are signs everywhere that say NOW HIRING, with the result that the store can’t seem to decide whether its coming or going.

I don’t really miss the 30th Street Market Albertson’s–I still harbor resentment over its usurping the space that used to be Leevers–but I’m highly suspicious of this Crown Books entity. It would probably be worth a good 5,00 words if I worked a parody of it into my NaNoWriMo novel, positing it as an outlet for stolen books, banned books, and frighteningly obsolete books (like, say, DOS 6.2 For Dummies) which come to life at night and go out with an evil flutter of paper wings to prey on the local homeless population… but I’m just not writing that sort of a book, you know? My heroine runs a nice bookstore. With better lighting.

Great piece of local interest in the New York Times by one of my heroes, Dan Savage.

Money graph(s):

Ultimately it was Ted Haggard’s hypocrisy — railing against homosexuals and campaigning against gay marriage while apparently indulging in sex romps with a gay escort — that prompted Mr. Jones to shove him out of the closet. The homophobia promoted by Mr. Haggard and other agents of intolerance, if I may use John McCain’s phrase (he’s not using it anymore), undermined the callboy code of silence that Mr. Haggard himself relied on. Most callboys are gay, after all, and most are out of the closet these days.

And while most callboys will continue to respect a code of silence where the average closet case is concerned, the Ted Haggards of the world have been placed on notice: You can’t have your callboy and disparage him too.

Also, if you’re not reading the Newspeak Blog staright outta Vaticanbug, i.e. Colorado Springs, then check it out. Their Haggard coverage has been great.

Full disclosure: I often post on the site and the editor Noel Black crashed my wedding.

Sad, sad, sad about 43 and I. A real blow for civil rights and freedom. Even with the outing of one more professional Christian hypocrite…

To the “faith before facts” crowd… your days are numbered, bitches. Even polling among young conservatives shows that this issue will no longer be your electoral meal ticket as you wither and shrivel into obscurity.

For now, we grit our teeth and concede. Our day will come…

Unlike in civilized countries where voting is A) mandatory and B) held on a weekend or a national holiday, elections here in the U.S. of A. are held on Tuesdays. I could not say why. It’s like they put obstacles in our way on purpose, as though deep somewhere in the national conscience we still have this idea that voting should be difficult or else all the wrong people will do it.

However, Burger Madness at the Dark Horse is also held on Tuesdays. And if there’s something better than a thick, well-dressed cheeseburger, seasoned curly fries, and a pint of Fat Tire after a fifteen hour day running a Boulder County polling place, I don’t wanna know about it because it will probably kill me.

I admit to having some ignorance in the ways of beer and bars, however.
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…But here’s some REAL NEWS.