Things That are Good, part 2 - Coffee Houses in Denver

1) The Perk Hill Coffee house, South of 26th street on Kearney. Free wireless, coffee, an army of cute preschoolers and their mothers*, classic jazz albums decorating the walls, art galleries across the street, a pilates studio next door, etc. On the menu: milkshakes in any flavor you want (from their ice cream selection of about 10 flavors), with 4 shots of espresso.

2) Geeze Louise Coffee house, on Colfax near Elm Street. Free wireless, coffee, nice people, funky atmosphere hosted by a mannequin named Louise. On the menu: secret recipe mochas which feature tiny delicious chunks of warm melty chocolate in the bottom of your glass.

3) The St. Mark's Coffee house, on 17th street just West of Josephine/York. Free wireless, coffee, an army of people who want to focus on quiet study. (Caveats: Music occasionally too loud, bathroom too small for large number of patrons.) On the menu: large tea selection, not bad peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, delicious egg-and-cheese bagels smushed into a panini press.

4) The Pennsylvania Perc Coffee house, at the corner of Pennsylvania and 13th streets. Free wireless, coffee, frigidly cold air conditioning. (Caveats: parking limited, baked goods overpriced and unexciting.) On the menu: paninis, especially the Molly Brown.

5) Budgie's crepes, 17th street somewhere between Grant and Vine on the South side. Free wireless, coffee. (Caveat: closes very early, right after lunch.) On the menu: totally delicious brie and salami crepes.

* - Where are the fathers? Work? Home? The park? Maybe the mid-morning playdate at the local coffee house is a strictly female phenomenon?

Things that are good.

1) Whisky.

My new dental work has developed complications. Yesterday my poor fiancee had to stand staunchly by and witness as I went from pain to worse pain to constantly bathing my sore teeth with ice water every 20 seconds to avoid entering the 7th circle of Hell, even taking side trips off the interstate to raid the ice machine at Safeway, and then again at McDonald's. How does one sleep while bathing a tooth every 20 seconds, you ask? We scurried to the internet last night to find out. Which leads me to the next good thing:

2) The internet.

Turns out you can put a stop to the eternal 20-second cycle of ice water treatments by bathing the area with mouthwash, or better yet, whisky. Teeth still hurt, but that horrific 7th-level-of-Hell feeling subsides nicely for several hours. Big thank you to the several people who posted this advice on line, for free. I slept just fine last night, and my teeth didn't start to hurt again until after I woke up. In the car on the way to my dentist my complication developed another complication, and I whiled away the usual traffic jam on the way to Boulder by making bargains with God and using mouthwash every 10 minutes or so.*

My dentist reports that the mouthwash/whisky trick works simply because alcohol is a topical anesthetic. Not because it kills germs, and of course it won't cure your tooth problem. As your dental problem worsens alcohol loses its ability to relieve pain for very long, which is why there's:

3) Novocaine.

Sweet, sweet Novocaine.

I'm off to see the endo- and/or periodontist this afternoon, presumably for a root canal.

Wild entertainment beyond belief!

:)

* - I don't believe in "God" but making bargains with an imaginary deity seemed better at the time than praying for death.

Road Rash

I have finally finished moving into my new apartment. Body and mind exhausted, but I nevertheless got enough sleep last night. The upside to hard physical work: easy for me to fall asleep.

Now must focus on the next big project: writing a memo, due Monday. But first . . .

Someone close to me (let's call him Rex) was in a motorbike accident. A bicyclist decided to swerve from the right side of Cherry street to the left side of the south-bound lane, presumably to turn left, in front of Rex. As a result Rex was faced with this choice: 1) hit the bicyclist and perhaps careen into oncoming traffic, 2) careen into oncoming traffic, or 3) set the motorbike down on the pavement and try not to break any bones.

He chose the latter. Then the bicyclist turned around and asked "are you all right?" Rex, lying in a tumble and bleeding on the pavement, responded "no." The bicyclist then replied "I have to go, I don't want to get in trouble," and pedaled away. Folks in the cars coming along Cherry stopped and called the ambulance.

What the heck happened there?! What kind of trouble could possibly be worse than dealing with the guilt of knowing that you caused someone injury and then just ran away?

Anyway, Rex is fine - aside from some broken ribs and road rash. He's on Vicodin. :)

Rinse and Repeat

I love people. I have met and known some extraordinary characters over the years. (And I'm just getting started.) But various events occur (and recur in different guises) with relentless predictability to remind us that people are temporary.

Compounding that difficulty, people tend to approach slowly but depart quickly. I enjoy the approach with a sort of growing, smiley feeling but the departure is usually abrupt and always horrifying.

Ways to avoid the problem:

• Drink a lot. Meet extraordinary characters and behave dangerously around them to make sure they never call.
• Stay home. Unplug the phone and watch Netflix. Remain civil and outwardly friendly to coworkers but save your best self for your lonely inner dialogue.
• Use non-humans as surrogate friends. (Emo. Celebrities. Porn.)
• Ignore everyone. Save your energy for conversations with the people inside your head.
• Be overly critical. Remind people of your negative evaluations of others. Make sure no one is worthy of your love.
• Fall in love with a shallow and sarcastic jackass and then dump your friends because they're not stylish enough for him/her. Then fall out of love before something really bad happens.

Or don't avoid 'the problem.' Embrace it. Enjoy everyone and then cry a lot later. And keep crying and enjoying until you're dead.

Personally, I hate crying. But it seems like the least painful option. It's been working for me so far.

Riduculization. Green chile.

Certain friends of mine, when engaged in intense "in your face" argumentation and discussion, are reputed to occasionally lunge in and lick the faces of their opponents. These are grown men. Adults. Who nevertheless understand that argumentators are often in need of a good ridiculization.

New topic, totally unrelated. I went to a Mexican restaurant in New Jersey. There were no margaritas, no beer, and most importantly: no green chile. They had green sauce but it was tomatillo sauce. I enjoy regional differences in food so I'm not complaining. I ordered chicken mole and it was delicious. :)

Here's another New Jersey phenomenon: pork rolls. I hear varied reports of what they might be. Is it a roll with a slice of ham on it? Does 'roll' refer to the bread? Or is 'roll' the shape of the meat? Is it Spam? I am in New Jersey. I must taste it.