Looking back
March 25, 2013
16 of 65
Coffee
There are folks who say they can’t sleep when they drink coffee. I am just the opposite – I can’t drink coffee when I sleep.
Actually, I don’t drink coffee any time. My wife thinks that is very strange and suggested that I write this to explain my idiosyncrasy. The question, then, is why don’t I like coffee. Continue reading “DAY 16 – COFFEE”
March 24, 2013
15 of 65
The Poetry Man
This is the beginning of my third week of writing something about my life each day. I am remembering just how difficult is the work of turning thoughts into words. Writing is an art and a craft. It takes practice to build the skills necessary to say anything in such a way that a reader may garner useful information or some meaningful insight. For several years, from my late teens until my early 30s, I tried to develop those skills. I would usually have a notebook or a legal pad handy so I could write down thoughts, observations or interesting phrases as they came to me. I was convinced that poetry is the most precise use of language, and would have aspired to become a poet if I had thought I could support myself that way. Continue reading “DAY 15 – THE POETRY MAN”
March 23, 2013
14 of 65
Communication 101
“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
–Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The practice of law is to a great extent the practice of communications. It may be oral, such as questioning a witness, making legal arguments to a judge, discussing the law with a client or negotiating a resolution to a dispute. It may be written, such as writing a contract, drafting a pleading, preparing a brief or filling in the blank spaces in a deed. To some extent, communications skills are tempered through law school training and honed in an attorney’s daily practice. They are formed much earlier in life, though. It seems almost miraculous that some of us – including me –are able to communicate at all. Continue reading “DAY 14 – COMMUNICATION 101”
March 22, 2013
13 of 65
A Tale of Three Cities
My first job out of law school was as an associate attorney in the office of Carroll, Bradley & Ciancio, P.C. Counting me, there were four lawyers in the firm – the three partners and one lowly associate. John Carroll was very active in politics and municipal law and he (and the firm) was the attorney for the City of Northglenn, Colorado. My first really important assignment was to assist John in litigation to determine who owned the water system serving the citizens of Northglenn.
The water system had been installed in the mid-1950s as subdivisions were developed in what was then an unincorporated area of Adams County. The City of Thornton acquired ownership of the system and used it to supply water to its residents as well as to homes and businesses in the still unincorporated areas. The City of Northglenn incorporated in 1969 and soon claimed the system to the extent that it served residents and businesses within its boundaries. The two cities were unable to negotiate a solution, so litigation was begun. Continue reading “DAY 13 – A TALE OF THREE CITIES”
March 21, 2013
12 of 65
CREATING CHANGE THROUGH THE LEGAL PROCESS
As much as I may enjoy writing about sports and recreation and dogs, a lot of life revolves around one’s occupation. Most of us have to go to work.
After I graduated from the University of Colorado, I spent a year away from school to decide if I wanted to attend law school or get an advanced degree in psychology. I chose law school believing that as an attorney I could change some of the things that are wrong with the world. If you want to know whether I was able to create change, the answer is affirmative. The legal process can be tedious and cumbersome, but it often produces change. Here is a story to illustrate what can be accomplished. Continue reading “DAY 12 – CREATING CHANGE THROUGH THE LEGAL PROCESS”
March 20, 2013
11 of 65
BOLDER BOULDER
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;
but when I became a man, I put aside childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11
The quotation from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians contains much wisdom, even without considering the spiritual context intended by Paul. As we go through life, things are important to us for a while, and then we outgrow them. “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary is a beautiful song illustrating that concept. There are also things in life that outgrow us. The Bolder Boulder road race might be one.
In Colorado and nearby states, the Bolder Boulder 10k is for many the road race of the year. Each Memorial Day, tens of thousands of people flock to the streets of Boulder to run or walk the 6.2 mile course or simply to observe the spectacle. The race was conceived on a smaller scale. Only some 2700 people participated in the first race in 1979. As I recall, that race started around noon, or very late morning and was followed by a picnic lunch. I did not run that year. In fact, I predicted that it would not be successful. Why, I asked, would anyone want to run on pavement at noon on Memorial Day. The heat would make the whole experience unpleasant.
I missed badly with that prediction. In the 30+ years that have followed, well over a million athletes of all abilities have participated; and I have done so myself a number of times. Continue reading “DAY 11 – BOLDER BOULDER”
March 19, 2013
10 of 65
RUNNING
While in high school, I enjoyed running track and cross country and thought of myself as a distance runner even though I had not competed in a race longer than 1-1/2 miles. I never had the speed needed to be an elite runner, but I believed I had endurance and would be able to show it someday. When I got to college and for several additional years, I ran sporadically. I would decide that I needed to get into better shape and would run regularly for several weeks. Then something would come up making it difficult to find the time and I would quit. Weeks or months later I would start up again – until I was distracted by something new. I changed that inconsistent approach in 1977.
I was 29 years old. I read that the United Bank Marathon would be run in Denver the following Spring. Continue reading “DAY 10 – RUNNING”
March 18, 2013
9 of 65
SPORTS
I recently heard that we are approaching the 30th anniversary of the release of the Sports album by Huey Lewis and the News. As exciting as that may be, I am writing here about something completely different. Here the word “sports” has its traditional meaning of engaging in athletic activity that requires some skill and involves competition.
Sports were always important in our family, largely because my father was a great fan. When my brothers and I were growing up, we did not have the many youth sports programs that are ubiquitous today. Arvada did have “little league” teams (though not associated with the international Little League – in capital letters – organization), organized by age group, that competed with other Jefferson County communities. There was no youth football or basketball or soccer or lacrosse, etc.
As soon as I was old enough – I believe it was 8 years old at that time – I began playing. For a few years, I really loved baseball. I was not a great athlete. I played outfield sometimes and third base at other times. Some years I was a fairly good hitter while in others I struggled to get my bat near the ball. Once when I was 11 or perhaps 12, I managed to hit a home run, a triple, a double and a single all in one game. More than half a century later, I always think back to that game whenever I pass the field on West Colfax where it was played. Continue reading “DAY NINE – SPORTS”
March 17, 2013
8 of 65
DOGS AND MAILMEN – A STEREOTYPE
During two summers while I was in college and for the first year after I graduated, I worked as a mailman. A substitute mailman, actually. When a regular mail carrier was on vacation or ill, I would fill in for that person. I enjoyed the job. True, I had to be at work by 7:00 or earlier and there was a great deal of pressure to get the mail sorted so I could begin delivery in a timely manner; but when I left the post office and started working whatever route I was covering, it was usually enjoyable. I was outside in the sunshine and I felt like I was my own boss. If the mail was delivered accurately and promptly, there was no one watching my work or giving me any kind of orders. I was usually finished by 3:30 or 4:00 each afternoon, which allowed me to enjoy my personal time.
It is stereotypical to say that dogs hate mailmen. Continue reading “DAY EIGHT – DOGS AND MAILMEN – A STEREOTYPE”
March 16, 2013
7 of 65
EMMY
From late 1974 until 1990, our family dogs were Tasha and then Tasha and Suzy and then just Tasha again. After Suzy’s death and while Tasha was showing her age, we were privileged to take in a new puppy. My brother Lonny’s dog was a purebred Siberian Husky and she was pregnant. The father was also a purebred Siberian, so the puppies were beautiful Siberian Huskies. Suzanne was four years old and Michael was six, so this would be the first dog that was really their dog. I believe that Tasha thought we would all be well taken care of by the new kid, so she chose to move on to her next life just before the puppy was ready to leave its mother.
When we got the puppy, the task of giving it a name fell on Michael and Suzanne. The name they came up with was Emily. That name did not quite fit her, though, and within a few days the name became Emmy. Continue reading “DAY SEVEN – EMMY”