DNC - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

I took about 106 pictures.

This is a little less than half.† If you click on them, they'll get big.

They weave their way through the odd maintenance of the downtown fire hydrants‡ and the poorly-conceived parking lot price gouging.§

They tour the media blitz, the tourists and the fervent political pamphlet passers.¶

They skip across the political spectrum from scary to scary on the infrared and ultra-violet ends and a whole lot of in between.

We learned to look at motorcades as our daily due. We watched people hail taxis on street corners.# We watched the blossoming and fading of a whole new world of entrepreneurship.††

Pedicabs came from all over the country. Cops came from all over the state. Helicopters came from... well, presumably from hell and Channel 9.

Downtown was lousy with twinkle lights, bikes, bunting, celebrities,@ senators, balloons, buttons, hybrids, red carpets, pedicabs, riot gear, TiVi cameras, personal cameras, propaganda, flags, signs and just plain people.
























Despite all previous apprehension,‡‡ it was a fantastic experience.

My icy, cynical heart is all warm and gooey about the way my city handled this. I was amazed at how polite and cheerful and civilised everybody was.§§ I was grateful the disruptive rioters didn't put up much of a front.¶¶ I was delighted with the energy.##

As dumb as it is, the fact that our very own 'hood, the walking villa with the great restaurants and friendly bars, the mecca of boutique shopping, made national news at more than one outlet for being a "can't miss" slice of Denverana%... well, I'm proud.^

I wanna do it again.†††
*************

Fetish - Neil Morris (Vault) - (edp)

Marin says: This is another one that feels a little like I shouldn't like it -- maybe a little too head shop, maybe a little too amber-and-vanilla. But I *do* like it.

I get a strong undercurrent of patchouli (the dirty kind). The waft is pure amber/incense, but it gets more complex if you get closer. There's a lot going on... copper? Vanilla? Something astringent?

Ooooh, an hour in, there's a good, solid dry wood -- not as sharp and tangy as fresh-cut pine, but maybe a weathered pine log.

Neil Morris says: A warm blend of Myrrh,$ Ambergris, Rosewood, Musk, Oud, Leather,$ Benzoin$ and Patchouli.$

The Perfumed Court says: ...Fetish has notes of Carnation, Benzoin Absolute, Rosewood, Musk, Ambergris, Leather and is a great dark scent.

Hans says: I definitely get a whiff of baby powder, but there's something else. Like... air. Rain air.

†FOOTNOTE (crossed): You're welcome.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): A few weeks ago, it was the new locking tops. Then on Monday, they opened them up then went out into the street to do something underground. I think it was very nice of them to test the system before the riots.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Usually $9 a day, the lot jumped to $25 a day. Nobody parked there except a couple of monthly parkers. It was $25 when Hans and I went to lunch. It was $25 when we came back from lunch. By the time we got up to our offices, it was down to $9 again. Lesson apparently learned.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): I collected a LOT of pamphlets. I made a point of it. In fact, some of the pamphleteers were suspicious of my enthusiasm for their products.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): *Nobody* hails a cab in Denver. You call for cabs in Denver. It shocked the hell out of some of the cabbies. By the end of the week, they were responding like pros.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): And more Barack-rock puns than you can shake a donkey at.

@FOOTNOTE (atted): Alicia from the office was stalking celebrities. She had binoculars in the empty office that looks over to the Brown Palace. That's her celebrity sighting board in the pictures.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Read: bitching. Or, as we like to say, "Breezing."

§§FOOTNOTE (whirlwind political tour): People mostly watched where they were going, and when they didn't, they said, "Excuse me." I can't even get that at my local grocery store. It was totally impressive. I'm not a big fan of Obama, but I did feel a twinge of hope all my own.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (fists raised in triumph): More tear gas would have sucked.

##FOOTNOTE (Give us a pound! Make it 'splode!): Like NYC, only actively friendly. And sunny.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): Pertaining to America = Americana. Pertaining to Denver = Denverana.

^FOOTNOTE (careted): The fact that it will probably boost housing values is just icing on the pride cake.

†††FOOTNOTE (not as cross as I look): Like a small child on her first merry-go-round ride: "Again! Do it again!"

$FOOTNOTE (on the money): I'm giving myself a lot of credit here. I'm saying the benzoin is the astringent part, the myrrh is a classic incense component and every time I think copper there's leather involved. So maybe two points -- a half for each note. But a full point for patchouli.

Speaking of patchouli, I got a big ol' patchouli roll-on from Secret Pal out of the mailbox this morning. Thanks, Secret Pal!

Do Pigs Get Hairballs?

It's possible I do.

Last night, I finished all the knitting on the Vampirates sweater. Then I wove in ends.

For someone who knits in most of her ends as she goes, I sure had a lot of needlework to do.

First I tried spitting on my fingers and mashing the yarn ends together† to suitably configure them for threading through the eye of the needle, but they'd be just damp enough that the fibres would stick to my fingers and actually pull apart more.

So I stuck them in my mouth like my ancestors before me.

And ended up with a throat full of superwash.

Imagine the cat's surprise when I started *hornking* when he tried to sit in my lap.

[SUMMARY: Hornking a hairball on the cat? Priceless.]

Our fantasy draft is tonight. Brother has taken over commissioner duties for the league.

Thank the holy cats.

I used to have a lot of fun with it. I wrote funny, insightful, clever articles every week. I trash-talked with the best of them while maintaining benevolent stewardship of the rules.

Every year the whining got worse.

Last year's "Jack gets up earlier than me and gets better players. Can you change the add/drop every week... maybe make it random so it's fair to everybody?" left me completely cold. And over it.‡

I think it's good for the league and for their ex-Commishette to change regimes.§

But it's really hard not to keep calling Brother to remind him to bring pens and draft sheets and bye week sheets and...

[SUMMARY: Fantasy leagues come and go, but a big sister is forever.]

Unfortunately, our fantasy draft is tonight, coincident with the grand finale of the DNC.

Back story: historically, our drafts have been twelve rounds. Tonight, we're doing fifteen.

*tickticktick*

I couldn't care less about missing Obama's acceptance speech.

I am a little invested in the state of traffic as we try to make it home past the population zones, possibly when they're letting out.

There's some consolation in the fact that we'll be mostly streaming toward downtown while the masses are streaming out of downtown.

[SUMMARY: Did you not hear? I'm not commissioner. I'm allowed to whine now.]

Hans and I are going to take one last lunchtime peruse of the 16th Street Mall today and say farewell to the DNC and all its pamphlet-passing glory. You should see the pile of political paraphrenalia I've amassed.

All I need is the "Make Out, Not War" sticker and the donkey frisbee to make my life complete.

[SUMMARY: Marin's goals much exceed her reach, or what's an Internet for?]

CNN gave a shout out to my neighbourhood. Or at least that portion where we shop and drink.¶

If you look at the photo, go down the street as far as you can, you can just not quite see the Coral Room just beyond the tree.

[SUMMARY: That's two of my fifteen minutes.]
*************

Paprika Brasil - Hermès (Hermèssence)

Marin says: With a name like "Paprika," it's hard not to be influenced to think of a spice. And I definitely got strong spice at the first blast -- I would have called it pepper all on my own.

After it bloomed for a minute, I got violet and pepper. Or maybe violet and cedar. Cedar is kinda peppery. Since this is a Jean Claude Ellena, we'll see what the roll-out looks like.

After a half-hour, its lightened up a lot and now smells like fading violet with a slightly petroleum edge.#

Late in the evening, it reminded me very much of my Pink Jasmine, with its bright jasmine and white pepper notes.††

The Perfumed Court says: A woody spicy scent with notes of pimento,$ clove,‡‡ paprika, iris, green leaves, reseda, ember wood§§ and woody notes.

Hans says: It smells like... I always do that: "It smells like... I don't know."

I think my allergies are deadening my sense of smell. It smells like... wood! You know the wrappers, the little [Hans sign language for wrapper]... cedar? The wood wrappers on a cigar? It smells like the wood wrapper on a cigar.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Which seemed way more Miss Manners than stuffing yarn tails in my mouth.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And sending emails to say, "Please print this email and take it to the mirror. Read it out loud to yourself and if you still want to put forth this idea once you've done that, make an immediate appointment for a vasectomy. We don't need your kind breeding."

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Before someone's head explodes. I'm not naming names.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): And by, "we," I mean, "I."

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Not as bad as it sounds. I think violet has a slightly petroleum edge anyway -- it's what makes it violet and not, say, lily.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): And I think I completely failed to mention the pepper in my review of Pink Jasmine. It has pepper. So now you know.

$FOOTNOTE (on the money): I'm giving myself credit for recognising pimiento as part of the pepper family. Otherwise I'd be o-fer and nobody wants that, right?

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Clove! Cool! I love clove! I can kinda see it now that I've read it.

§§FOOTNOTE (look behind you): I looked up "ember wood" on Wikipedia, but mostly I got firecraft and a character list from Elfquest.

4:01 p.m. Tuesday...

...and we have our first asshole with a megaphone.

It's gonna be a great week.

Hi, My Name is Marin...

(Hi, Marin)

...and I'm bad at dating.

(encouraging applause)

Not in a cutesy, "Oh, isn't dating just the worst... heeheeheeheehee," way, but I'm really and truly terrible at it.

I've been "dating" via the innernets for more than ten years and I'm just fucking awful.

When I go on that first date with someone I've been talking to on Match, I'm filled with apprehension and I render myself unable to talk.†

I grow to dislike and distrust myself, the guy who has to put up with me and -- really -- just about everyone in the world except the waiter who's bringing me a drink.‡

[SUMMARY: You can see why I'm single.]

I'm sure there are several guys out there who wonder how the vibrant, witty creature who intrigued them so on her profile could be the short,§ dull thing that lets the whole evening go one-sided¶ in two minutes flat.#

They probably think I paid someone else to write my profile.

When I have a chance meeting in a happy place,% it's all good. I can tease and flirt and sparkle and revel in my dorkness and my twelveness.

When I email someone for a week or two and set up a date, it feels like a job interview.

[SUMMARY: Guess what I did last night?]

On the plus side, I got to see a lot of DNC stuff -- pretty people in suits going to TiVi interviews, TiVi cameras on every corner,†† vendors selling Obama yearbooks for $40,‡‡ a dog in a baby sling dressed in an Obama photograph, white boater hats with red-white-and-blue grosgrain ribbons 'round the crowns.§§

Riot police in vans... on bikes... on motorbikes... on horseback...¶¶

Protestors and Democrat supporters dressed as hippies... dressed as prisoners... dressed as display racks.##

And the tear gas didn't start until I was back at the office to pick up my purse.††† Two nice security guards in the building apprised me of the spray-painting, window-breaking and the consequent tear-gassing and told me to be careful.

[SUMMARY: They like me! They really like me!]

So at least I have that going for me.
*************

L'Eau d'Hiver - Frederic Malle (edp)

Marin says: I'm anticipating a roll-out on this one. It's the one thing I really expect from a Jean Claude Ellena creation.

The initial blast was citrus, but a carmel scent came up from beneath that pretty quickly. Then something sharp, like menthol.

About a half-hour in, it smells like green wood‡‡‡ and carnation, a wet nature smell like woods after rain.

An hour in, it's wood and carmel.

Four hours down, it's very, very soapy. Meh.

The Perfumed Court says: An Oriental blend of bergamot,$ angelica, iris, hawthorn, jasmine, honey, carnation,$ white heliotrope, caramel$ and musk.

Hans says: Ooooh. That smells like licorice!§§§

†FOOTNOTE (crossed): And the closer I get to date time, the more I want to call in sick.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Charming, no? If it makes you feel any better, I rarely drink more than one on a first date. Surly, paranoid, uncommunicative and drunk. Line up boys, I *am* your dream date!

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Not height. I don't like about my height. But snappish. And monosyllabic. Can you imagine the girl who regularly uses the word "monosyllabic" being monosyllabic?

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): More than one guy has said, "Am I asking too many questions? Is there anything you want to know about me? Is there anything else I should know about you?"

Yes... I can't date.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): The exception that proves the rule is Soldier Boy, which explains why he calls every time he's in town. Psych 101: Soldier Boy was home for two weeks on leave and was returning to Iraq. Stakes were minimal. Expectations were limited.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): Like bars, football games, BBQs or the book store.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): News teams from everywhere were getting background/stock footage of DNC crowds. I must've walked through two dozen view screens yesterday. Look for me on a TiVi set near you!

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Yeah, I don't know what an Obama yearbook is either. Or why it's worth $40.

§§FOOTNOTE (wafts): A look I find charming, though it reeks of political events and barbershop quartets.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (meerkats): It was really impressive when they all took off to do riot control last night. I know a lot of people think Denver is still a cowtown, but it's been a long time since horses have galloped down the streets here.

##FOOTNOTE (two pounds, two pints): You know how some people have so many bumper stickers on their cars you wonder if there's anything they won't honk at? There are human equivalents with t-shirts, hats, buttons and banners all over the place.

†††FOOTNOTE (scent strips): I didn't want to take it into the throngs. Just in case. I left it safe in my office.

‡‡‡FOOTNOTE(like tracks through my nose holes): Which is a bitterly green smell.

$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): Ha! Got one!

§§§FOOTNOTE (Hans twirls his hands as he ): Hans got to smell five minutes after I sprayed -- and I bet carmel and menthol smells a lot like licorice.

I Love Fireworks

Um... I didn't quite finish my Ravelympics stuff. In fact, I only *technically* finished Grandma's slippers.†

But the Vampirates sweater is almost done.‡ And it's really cool.

I shoulda brought it to the office. Y'know... just in case.
*************
Marin says: It seems just this side of about a dozen things I don't like: vanilla, Channel No. 5 aldehyde, toilet paper... but I love it. It's woody and spicy with a tiny bit of patchouli -- and when I breathe it in really deeply,§ it has a tinge of cinnamon candy to it. It's sweet, but rich and tempered by that woody, spicy thing.

Love this.

It was still good at 6:00 that night -- no roll-out, no blossoming, per se, but holding steady.

DK says: Inspired by the finest of cashmere,¶ Black Cashmere is the color of mystery, the texture of luxe, the scent of sophistication. Wear it with anything or nothing at all.#

The Perfumed Court says: With notes of saffron,$ patchouli oil$ and African wenge wood,$ Black Cashmere eau de parfum is a gorgeous, dark fragrance.

Hans says: Is that patchouli? I dunno. I get patchouli.†† It's definitely earthy.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): But technical's all I needed to get one of these:




‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Back, both sleeves, and I'm halfway up the armholes on the front... despite the fact that I keep freaking myself out and nearly frogging half of it because of a perceived fatal error.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Like, stick my nose right on my wrist and snork. I don't get cinnamon candy from what wafts up while I'm typing.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Y'know... the black kind.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): OK, I can get behind that.

$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): I am getting so good at this. Even if I couldn't identify saffron *specifically* or African wenge wood *specifically*... I am SO in the ballpark.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): How does the guy who comes up with "diaper" half the time manage to identify barely identifiable patchouli? Or maybe it's just me.

I Changed My Mind Again: I'm Running Away from Home

I've been blithely drifting along, secure in the knowledge that Barack Obama will be on the other end of downtown next week, so I'll be unlikely to be caught in a tear gas attack or a fecal fling.

I'd completely blocked how close Civic Center Park is to my office:




Civic Center Park is where Recreate '68† will stage many of their disruptive activities.‡ I'm guessing it's the most likely site for tear gassing.

[SUMMARY: Hoping for winds out of the north.]

That's OK -- our crack office building security team has been practicing turning the HVAC system off and they can do it in under a minute.§

And we'll have total lockdown if necessary to maintain safety and security.§

Never in my life did I want to have to think about this shit.

I'm laying in a supply of Cheetos and vodka in my desk.

Just in case.
*************
Chinatown - Bond No. 9

Marin says: Interesting. It falls somewhere between incense and the candle department at a Hallmark store.

My first impression was, "Christmas," because it reminds me of those bayberry candles so popular with the Yankee Candle set during the holidays. This should be a bad thing, but I actually like it. It starts out a little too Kool-Aid fruity, but mellows into a sandalwoody, floral fruit. I'm thinking jasmine or tuberose¶ over sandalwood.

Yeah, I should probably hate this, but it's not too bad. It gets more woody as time goes on and it's almost as much cedar as sandalwood -- dry, rather than sweet. I still smell like a new age gift shop a little, but a *sophisticated* new age gift shop.

Bond No. 9 says: Superpower Meets Supercity: The Emerging Superpower Energy with the Avant Garde Cachet of downtown New York. NOTES: Peach blossoms, gardenia, tuberose, patchouli, cardamom#

The Perfumed Court says: A Floriental†† with top notes of peach blossom and bergamot; middle notes of peony, gardenia, tuberose,$ and orange flower; and base notes of patchouli, cedarwood,$ vanilla, sandalwood,$ guaiac wood‡‡ and cardamom.

Hans says: Sweet like... there's something it smells like... potpourri dish! Like fresh-dried potpourri, if that makes sense. Not like a Glade Plug-in, but the actual bowl.§§


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): And their brethren and sistren of all ilks.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): I'm not being snarky or Republican here. They actually have a sister site to recreate68.com called DNC Disruption 08.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Simultaneously horrifying and comforting. On the plus side, we may be able to watch rioters from the locked-down, air-free safety of our own office windows.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Because, while I'm sure jasmine and tuberose are different, I can't tell the difference... maybe I could if they were right next to each other. I dunno. I've never seen them in the same room together. They could be the Batman and Bruce Wayne of flowers.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): I'm quoting. The capitals are all theirs.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): I'm pretty sure that's a semi-technical term, but it sounds gratingly cutesy to me every time I say it in my head.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): What an education. If you put guaiac into Wikipedia, one of the options is stool guaiac test, which tests for fecal occult blood, which sounds like something Recreate '68 might be planning for Civic Center Park. Also? Oil of guaiac was a pre-Renaissance remedy for syphillis. You will never get that question on Jeopardy.

§§FOOTNOTE (turn turn): I'm so glad I work with Hans.

Secret Pal 12 Question 9

In many communities, "the fair"† is a great place to visit and spend time with your family. It's also where many have entered one product or another (jams, cakes, even knitting)...

Have you ever entered your knitting (or anything else) in the fair?Would you ever consider it?

The first question is easy: no. I've never even been to a fair -- not the kind that has pie-baking contests and knitting displays, in any case.

The second question begs a little explanation and a tiny story.^

See, there's no Denver County Fair.@ There is a Colorado State Fair, but it's all the way the hell in Pueblo‡ and I've never found a compelling reason to go to it. My extremely limited understanding of the Colorado State Fair revolves around two things:

1. It's all about livestock and D-list musical acts% and, while I like looking at livestock, I don't want to drive 120 miles to Pueblo to do it, and
2. I once kuyped the cow from Colorado State Fair advertising to make Brother a fantasy baseball logo.§

Honestly? I read Stacey's account of entering her Lizard Ridge¶ in the North Carolina State Fair last year and my interest was piqued.

North Carolina has its Fair in a very reasonable October.+ Colorado's is in August.# So when I checked into it in October, prompted by Stacey's adventure, there was very little information. It was all gone until next year. Um... this year.

This question wound me up again, so I did a little research†† and found... there's still very little information.‡‡

So I emailed Debbie at the Colorado State Fair. If I find anything interesting,§§ I'll pass it on. As it stands, I'm sure it's too late to do anything for this year, as the Fair starts August 22.¶¶

Shame. It woulda gotten me out of the city for the DNC.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): [sic] The superfluous quotes are making my teeth itch. I don't want you to think I chose them.

@FOOTNOTE (atted): You can check. I'll wait here.

^FOOTNOTE (careted): There's *always* a story, isn't there?

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): 120 miles. And I'd have to get past the temptation of all those fossils and scenic byways, knowing it was hot, dusty, small-town Pueblo at the end of the trip.




%FOOTNOTE (percented): I freely admit this may be completely off-base. Though a quick glance at the concert package for this year's Fair tells us I may be closer than my ignorance should allow.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): All his fantasy teams are Cult of the World, COW for short. The Cult of the World cheer is, of course, "Moo." Also? This year's logo? No cow. Thus:




In case you were wondering, my fantasy team is the Beasts of Burden, or BOB for short. The BOB mascot is Donkey. The BOB cheer is the Outkast song, "B.O.B." BOB likes long walks on the beach, boys with a sense of humour, vodka and kittens. You're welcome.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Did I mention I'm going to finish my flippin' Lizard Ridge this month? I've entered the WIP Wrestling event in the Ravelympics. Yes, I am that dork. Of course, if it's anything like Greco-Roman wrestling, I get to grapple with sweaty menz. Dontcha wish your dorkness was hot like mine?

+FOOTNOTE (plussed): Just sayin'.




#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Just sayin' again.




††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): We're all about accuracy here at the Rickety Blog.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Question: In this day and age, why wouldn't you post everything you have on your website? Why have information available only by booklet and only by emailing someone? OK, end rant.

§§FOOTNOTE (tilt-a-whirl!): Like it's all knitting or there's no knitting and we need to stage a protest.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (are those alpacas at the Fair?): And even if I got a wild yarn up my ass, y'know... Ravelympics.