Got Plague?

We sure do! Here in the Colorado Front Range, the bubonic plague has long been known to fester amongst the prairie dog colonies that litter the landscape. Lately, though, it's been encroaching on the suburban bliss of our "little boxes" by way of the squirrels that run our fences and the bunnies that ruin our lawns.

And now it's in our monkeys.

Of course, how did the monkey catch the disease? BY EATING A DEAD SQUIRREL! Stupid monkey.

What baffles me is I have yet to see a single flea since moving to Colorado, but it seems they're out there. Guess they grow 'em invisible 'round these parts. Oh, and check this part out:

Although the plague, an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is the same disease that killed 25 million Europeans in the 1300s, it now can be treated with antibiotics if caught early enough. Still, it is fatal about half the time, according to health experts.

Well, which is it, young feller? Treatable with antibiotics or 50% fatal?

Denver. Gorgeous!

It's worth noting that, thus far, this year has featured one of the most fantastic Springs I've seen in the Denver area since 2000. The weather has been alternatingly warm and cool. We've had near-regular afternoon showers and/or thunder storms, which are never enough to disturb any grilling plans you might have, but always drop the approaching-hot temperatures down by a solid ten degrees just when you need it. The foothills are a shade of green not witnessed in these parts for at least half a decade. Heck, my lawn is even doing relatively OK. (I still despise it, though. Stupid grass with it's stupid weeds and stupid need for stupid water.) I gave my sprinkler system its first test run on Saturday. The pop-ups in the front yard are a bit suspect - not sure if the pressure was low at the time or if they just don't pop like they used to. Bitches. Carry on.

Update: A little green... Verdant

Plans

In case you were wondering what's up with the Jakester, I've got some stuff going on...

  • Thursday, I'll be going to the CEO's house for drink, food, and cards (in order of likely importance).
  • Friday, there's a poker game at Matty's house, which thankfully is within close proximity of my joint.
  • Saturday, there's roller derby, to which I may be dragging the boss again.
  • And I believe Sunday is Mother's Day, but there are no plans associated with that as of yet.

This is more activity than I usually have in a month, and I've already been a busy little bee lately. I'm not entirely sure I can keep up. I fear a backlash of hermitude.

Even that won't last long, though, as we already have a party planned for the end of the month. Oh, and I've got Dr. Sketchy's on the 21st, too. Goodness!

Stop, now... What's that sound?

So, the DOW is going nuts, and yet things don't feel like they did back in the 90's when it first crossed the 10,000 mark. The housing market sucks rocks (at least that's the perception) and generally things "just aren't the same" as the first time around. I wondered why that was.

I am no student of the economy, so I found this post from last October fairly enlightening.

I would like to see more current (preferably light-weight and understandable) analysis, though.

Lucid Absinthe

Remember when I posted the WIRED article about T.A. Breaux and his adventures in absinthe analysis and distilling? Well, he's since gone and produced an "authentic" absinthe that will be legal here in the states. It's called Lucid and has a silly bottle.

According to the NY Times:

Mr. Breaux also had to keep the American palate in mind while developing Lucid. "In the U.S., anise is a sort of a strange flavor" he said. "We don't get a lot of exposure to it." So Mr. Breaux made sure that Lucid had a slightly cleaner, crisper taste than its European peers.

...

Lucid will be available starting next month, priced at $59.95 for a 750-milliliter bottle. A Web site, DrinkLucid.com, will soon post information on liquor stores that will carry the product.

I sampled the 124-proof liqueur last week, while watching the National Basketball Association playoffs. When diluted with water and a pinch of sugar, the absinthe's taste is strong and pleasant. And the buzz has an odd way of focusing the mind I've rarely been so entranced by the swish of a basketball net.

Fantastic!

A Burning Ring of Fire

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of taking in the Ring of Fire 29: Aftershock mixed martial arts fighting event at the Broomfield Events Center. As I mentioned before, this followed after taking my company founder (I'm not supposed to treat him like "the boss"...) out to roller derby last month. As it turns out, his wife is friends with the wife of the local fighter who was the main event of the night. This fact would turn out add both interest and stress to the night for her. I don't have the wherewithal to run down all of my observations from the night, but the fights leading up to the two big fights were enjoyable. The results are available for those who care. A few highlights:

  • There was one premature stoppage. Dude got clocked but was defending himself "intelligently" by the time he landed on his back.
  • One of the referees looked like The Wife's brother in a couple decades. No worries, he was a handsome devil.
  • The crowd was... Wow. Now that I think about it, it should have been what I expected.

Which brings me to the two big fights of the night, both in the 205lb weight class.

First we had Big Mike Nickels the Denver-based tattoo shop owner who had a short stint on the Spike "reality" show, The Ultimate Fighter. He was fighting a guy named Carpaccio (yeah, that's what we thought) who is Army Airborne. Seven second knockout by Big Mike. Wow. Afterwards, they gave the mic to Carpaccio, who is a great guy, obviously. He apologized for not putting on a better show and then proceeded to tell us that he's shipping out to Iraq, like immediately and asked that "even if you don't support the war, please support your troops". This generated a lot of "Awww, bummer." and even more patriotic applause.

Then Nickels got on the mic... He started off well, letting us know that his next fight may be against Stefan Bonner in the UFC. Then he went completely off track. He was trying to say something nice about his opponent, but it came out as something like "I don't believe in murdering women and babies" at which point the ring announcer snatched the microphone and said "LET'S HEAR IT FOR OUR TROOPS!"

Odd.

Then of course, he got accosted by the two supposed Marines sitting in front of us. (I say "supposed" because they looked like overweight frat boys, not the type of Marine I know.) It was good drama, if you're into that sort of thing. I just hope Dana White doesn't pull the plug on his big fight because he decides he doesn't want any anti-war hippies in his league...

Then we had the main even, featuring the afore-mentioned friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, Eliot "Fire" Marshall. His opposition had such a classic "heel" entrance I had to laugh. Hailing from Las Vegas, Marcus Sursa came out strutting and posing and tossing autographed play money and photos into the crowd. Fantastic. Everyone hated him instantly. The fight itself was good. Marcus made a strong go at it at first, applying good pressure with his striking game, but he just couldn't hang with Eliot on the ground. Eliot finished him off with one of many chokes in the second round of what I would consider a fun fight. Eliot's wife and the boss's wife didn't seem to have a whole lot of fun, however.

Fighting sports might not be the best thing for family participation...