C @ L

C@L is the rebus for Seattle, which is where I'm blogging from today from a bench next to University Avenue. Yes, I'm sitting outside using the city's free wifi service, and thank goodness there is no Seattle rain in sight. The plan was to get a haircut at Rudy's, go to a coffee shop, blog in bliss and then meet ATT for lunch. The haircut got done in lightning speed, and the coffee shop I wanted to go to isn't open yet! There are some cute boutiques, but those won't open til 11 am (student shoppers sleep in). So far I've been to the Folklife Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival to see "Russian Dolls" and there was a Memorial Day bbq, a walk in the rain, and a coffee drink in there too, so I've had the downtown Seattle experience. It's a shame I didn't bring my camera because we could have had a nice photoblog of Seattle fashion, from Crocs to hippie frocks. Use your imagination.

Here, a woman who drives a station wagon complains about her husband not letting her drive his new SUV. (My advice to her would have been: Trade in your station wagon for a Mini)

The loudest truck ever has just parked nearby, and I must move lest I lose my hearing forever. Ciao

what you might have missed

Qwest's CEO Dick Notebaert defended founder Phil Anschutz and another former board member, Cy Harvey, from shareholder Gerald Armstrong, who tried to suggest at the annual meeting this week that their departures from the board were somehow linked to shareholder dissatisfaction. Notebaert said they were good assets to companies, while Armstrong responded, "yes, i think they also brought us joe nacchio" or something to that effect. Armstrong also took issue with Notebaert's pay, which topped $4 million in salary and bonus alone last year. ("How much do you need to live on anyway? Can't you get by with a few million less?")

From the show Top Chef, contestant Lee Anne Wong gives an interview to Asiance Magazine, and winner Harold Dieterle cooks on the Today show. Denver weather lady Kathy Sabine is supposed to do the weather on the Today show this weekend

Frontier Airlines has given its Web site a much fresher, newer look in hopes of getting more people to use it to book flights. For a limited time, if you book a flight there, you can get a coupon good for watching DirecTV on your flight FREE, instead of having to shell out five bucks.

Which former MTV celebrity has bleached hardwood floors, wall to wall windows, pop culture paintings of Suzanne Somers and black-and-white travel photos in his living room? **answer next weekend.

Enjoy the weekend!!!!!!! wa-HOO!

At its shareholders meeting today, Qwest was handing out tins of mints in the shape of cell phones. It opens like a flip phone but instead of a keypad, there's mints!

5/21

There's all sorts of good things about Colfax like the Bluebird Theatre, Atomic Cowboy, Mataam Fez, The Fabric Lab, MezCal, the Ogden, the Fillmore...we could go on and on. The Colorado Colfax Marathon passed by it all this morning. Here is The Denver Post's tribute to the street itself

The Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze is done. Story. We saw the project a few years ago and went past some of the communities that would be flooded by it. The whole project is supposed to prevent future floods though and generate hydroelectric power

Photo gallery of the Cubs-White Sox brawl, if you haven't seen it on TV

And...how 'bout them Tigers???? I hope columns like this don't jinx it, but it's exciting.
The Rockies aren't doing so bad either. Baseball. Crazy.

Finally, a timely ringtone from They Might Be Giants

This was a big hit at work today: (check out dance fever)

A MapQuest survey says 76 percent of Denver men in the survey said their spouse/partner was responsible for getting lost on road-trips -- and 70 percent of women agreed with that assessment!!! Come ON, ladies!

5/15

BBC interviewed the wrong guy! Read all about it.
I hope you have a broadband connection too so you can see the video of the wrong "Guy" looking startled and getting interviewed.

AP also has a story on Jodie Foster quoting Eminem in public....

...and that's our segue into Detroit, where 89x is celebrating its 15th birthday. Nice lineup! Including:
Dashboard Confessional
Rogue Wave
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
We Are Scientists
Guster
The Stills....and more

Arrested Development will headline theWestword Music Showcase, a time to check out the Colorado music scene live and to vote on your favorites. June 17.

Rogue Wave comes back to Denver! @ Larimer Lounge, June 28

Tapes 'n' Tapes will be at the LL on June 22

And VOXTROT is back in town June 3 at the Hi-Dive. Dressy Bessy is there tonight, 5/11

I hope you have Mother's Day taken care of by now. Time to think about Father's Day. Depending on your family, what better gift than the Beer Belly. So he can go to the ballpark with some beverages from home and just say no to $8 beer.

Two things

_I was ridiculously happy to find the online Wall St. Journal is free right now.

_Yesterday my summer softball team went to Veterans Park for some pickup softball for practice/scrimmage. When we got to the field, there were two guys there, Hector and Jose, hitting balls to each other and fielding and speaking in Spanish, and both of them plus another random guy ended up on our team for the scrimmage. Jose apparently was kind of like a translator for Hector maybe? Hector said he is in the Rockies' minor league system. He played shortstop and hit some homers over the fence. So anyway, I think he's this guy, a 17-year-old prospect from the Dominican Republic. If anyone has a picture of his face, show me, and I can tell you whether that was the guy at V Park yesterday. And the best part is, some of my summer softball teammates have a spring team that will close out the season with a triple header Thursday. They asked Jose and Hector if they wanted to come play, and they were like, "Yeah, sure!" haha! Looks like a plastic trophy may be headed their way on Thursday.

goofy shoes

Crocs, based in Niwot, is planning on unleashing turquoise, army green, silver and gold pairs this year, plus flats, a hiking Croc, and a Mary Jane.
I think most Croc models are too clunky to be cool, but today on the way to work, there was a girl in a skirt wearing a bright green sweater and matching bright green shoes crossing the street. I couldn't believe she found shoes just the right color, and what do you know, they were Crocs.

Day w/o Immigrants - Denver

Crowds at the immigration rally downtown spilled over from the west steps of the Capitol across Lincoln Ave. to Civic Center Park. Police estimate there were 75,000 marchers, bringing some streets to a standstill downtown around lunchtime. These photos were taken before everyone ended up at the Capitol.


On the way home, I ran into the director of the Shenyang Heping District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who was in town from China for a health conference. There was much more traffic than usual in Capitol Hill, so FCT and I helped him get back to his hotel, but that's another story.