Not an Urban Legend

Yesterday I was talking with a co-worker about having to get a prescription for Ambien because I'm taking another drug that causes insomnia. My co-worker said she heard that Ambien itself can cause weird side effect, like getting up in the middle of the night and frying up a hamburger and onions without even knowing it. I said I'd never heard that before and she said it was probably an urban ledge.

So after work yesterday I went to the pharmacy to pick up my many prescriptions, including Ambien. I got Zolpidem (which I guess is the same as Ambien or the generic version) and inside my bag with the bottle of pills was a sheet of paper that was a medication guide for Zolpidem. Here is what the very first thing read:

What is the most important information I should know about Zolpidem?

After taking Zolpidem, you may get up out of bed while not being fully awake and do an activity that you do not know you are doing. The next morning, you may not remember that you did anything during the night. You have a higher chance for doing these activities if you drink alcohol or take any medicines that make you sleepy with Zolpidem. Reported activities include:

* driving a car ("sleep-driving")
* making and eating food
* talking on the phone
* having sex
* sleep walking

Call your doctor right away if you find out that you have done any of the above activities after taking Zolpidem.

Well now!!! I don't remember seeing this list the last time I was prescribed Ambien. I did take a pill last night and this morning my car was parked where I left it, my kitchen looked the same (no dirty dishes or the smell of onions), my phone was where I left it (no outgoing calls), DEFINITELY did not have sex (especially since it was just me in the ben and it has been such a long time, I would have remember, rights?) but I'm not sure about the sleep walking (I did get up a 5 a.m. to go to the bathroom but I did remember that). Of course I didn't drink anything alcoholic when I came home from work. Guess I can't drink those bottles of Smirnoff Ice in the fridge for the next couple of weeks.

But if anyone gets any middle-of-the-night calls from me in the next three weeks, I'm sorry!

The Press Can Party in Hollywood

I'm a sucker for award shows, I always have been. Each year it starts with the Golden Globes (TV & movies) in January, the Oscars (movies) in March, the Tony (Broadway) in June and them Emmy (TV) in September. The only one I'm not that keen about is the Grammy Awards (music). But with all of them there's glitz, there's glamour, there's anticipation. And it's even more fun when you have a party with your friends and you can buy a ballot, check off who you think will win and the person with the most correct wins get the money in the pot.

But last night it was just me watching the Golden Globes. This award show is a little different than the others. First, the awards are given by a group called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. That's right, THE PRESS, gives out these awards. And THE PRESS knows how to do an awards ceremony which leads me to the second difference, alcohol. Instead of having the awards ceremony in a auditorium full of rows and rows of seats, the Golden Globes ceremony is in a hotel ball room with tables full of foods and alcohol. In the center of the table is a chilled bottle of Moet. And all the Hollywood big wigs are schmoozing, going from table to table or just standing around like they are at a cocktail party. This can make for some interesting introductions or acceptance speeches if someone isn't careful. Jack Nicholson (I who didn't seem to be there this year) comes to mind. Even the "host" this year had a glass of beer (at least it looked like beer) at the podium. Also, the Golden Globes doesn't do an "performances" of songs or long montages (with the exception of the Cecil B. de Mille Lifetime Achievement Award).

The only time I like "performances" is at the Tony Awards. this is the awards for the theater and the performances are like seeing movie previews. You can see a little bit of what's going on on Broadway in case any of those shows make their way out west. But even Broadway, like the movie industry, is finding it hard to come up with original new shows. How many times can they do a revival of West Side Story? Apparently five time since its Broadway debut in 1957 (the fifth revival was in 2009).

And of course, you have to see all the beautiful (or ugly) gowns the women are wearing. Every awards show seems to have its one standout for absolutely hideous outfit (remember Bjork and her "swan dress" or JLo in the revealing foliage shower curtain-like dress?). That's entertainment and only two more months until the Oscars!

Getting High (and Ending the Recession?) in the Mile High City

If you've driven down South Broadway in Denver over the last few month you might have noticed some new small businesses popping up. They aren't in new swanky buildings with big glass display windows. Actually most of these new businesses are in older buildings that look like small homes. What makes them stand out are the big neon signs of pot leaves. Yes, Denver now has medicinal marijuana dispensaries (and it's reported there are more of them than Starbucks).

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0.2933.582013.00.html

Just this last weekend hundreds of people paid money to attend a seminar on how to open and run a medical marijuana dispensary.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22194884/detail.html

This is a new boom business for Denver. Put aside you views on whether you are for or against this and all the kinks they haven't worked out yet and think about how this could improve the economy.

First, we are going to need qualified people to grow and harvest the stuff. Being medicinal I would think the quality would need to be better than what you'd buy from some dealer in the park or grow in your own basement. Then you'll need to distribute it. That means people to package it and driver to transport it. They you'll need people to sell it. And then there's all the additional people need to regulate it.

So how many new jobs do you think that will mean? Probably lots. And right now Denver is at the forefront of this new enterprise and we should take advantage of that. People should be flocking to Denver to get medicinal marijuana like Americans crossing the border to Canada to get cheaper prescription drugs. And that will mean more money coming into the community (at the very least the food service industry should see a boost).

Here is my strategic marketing plan:

1. Get Denver Mayor Hickenlooper a guest spot on Oprah (especially before he gets caught in the hoopa of whether he'll run for governor). We all know what exposure on Oprah does and we need to do it soon.
2. Remember the episode of The Simpson where Homer and Grandpa go up to Canada to get drugs for Grandpa and his friends at the nursing home? Why not have an episode where Homer comes to Denver to attend a seminar and open a dispensary in Springfield?
3. Develop a catchy slogan and/or jingle. Summit County (home to several ski areas) has "Ski the Summit." The Colorado Beef Council has "What's for Dinner?" Denver is already know as the "Mile High City" do how hard can it be to come up with a slogan for pot in a city that already uses the word "high" as it's slogan? The whole thing can be turned into a contest with the winner getting a lifetime medicinal marijuana card.

So many options.

Life Would Be Dull Without Music

I don't think I could live without books and music. Isn't it amazing how a song can change your attitude? Or how it take you back in time? Or make you laugh or cry? And for me there is usually one song that is the "song of the moment". The song that makes you turn up the volume on the car radio. The song you can hear over and over again. It might be a song that has been around for awhile or something brand new.

Well here's my "song of the moment." It's called I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers. Take a listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj8HDe5M-Jo

Test Anxiety

If you own a car in the Denver metro area you know that every other year you have to get an emmissions test done before you can renew your car registration. This has been going on for years and I believe the reason, so they say, is to improve the air quality in Denver which can get rather bad. Well, the process of getting this test done is a really terrible experience for a couple of reasons.

First, there is the possibility your car won't pass the test. When you drive a car that's more than 1o years old, like I have for most of my adult life, there is always that possibility. And if you don't pass you have to take the car to a mechanic to get whatever needs fixing in order for it to pass. I've been lucky, I've always passed. But even with a fairly new car, 2008, I still have that anxiety that it won't pass.

Second, the actually process is time consuming and downright dirty. The actual test takes about 15-20 minutes. That's not long, you say. Aha, but what you don't realize is that there is ALWAYS a line of cars waiting. It usually takes at least 45-60 minutes from start to finish.

You start the waiting in your running car until you can make it far enough in line for a worker to take over. Then you wait in a long rectangular box of a room that is aboslutely filthy, with years of dirt on the floor and the plastic chairs which are the only thing to sit on. There's usually and overflowing trash can and a television in a cage that is turned up to high volume but you still can't here because of the noise from all the cars. You do get a dirty window to look through so you can watch of the slow process of the workers checking your emmissions.

Hasn't the air quality improved enough to stop this testing? If not, maybe the program doesn't work!

Cheers to the Classic Christmas Specials

Like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus is Coming to Town or, my favorite, The Year Without a Santa Claus. That's my favorite because it was the one with Mother Nature and her two sons Heat Miser and Cold Miser. Remember... "whatever I touch, starts to melt in my clutch" or "whatever I touch starts to freeze in my clutch." Or in Santa Clause is Coming to Town when Kris Kringle sings to Winter Warlock "put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walking cross the floor." Those were the good ole' days of stop motion animation in the 70s. Memorable characters and catchy tunes.

A couple of nights ago I caught part of the cartoon Christmas special Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer based on the song of the same name. The song was released in 1984 and the cartoon in 2000. In watching this show there was one thing I found rather disturbing, all the people had only four fingers on each hand (technically three fingers and a thumb). So were the animators just to lazy to make the hands "real life"? And, of course, they had to change to the story in the cartoon because in the song Grandma gets run over by a reindeer and DIES!

Bring back the stop motion animation!

Real or Fake?

Definitely real. Always has been and always will be real. I must be a minority because most of the people I know have fake Christmas trees. But I grew up with real trees, sometimes ones we cut ourselves and sometimes as tall as 13 feet. The house we lived in when I was a teenager was three stories with the main living room on the second floor that had a vaulted ceiling. After going out with my father and sister to hike through two feet of snow to find the perfect tree, cutting it down, dragging it to the car and driving it home we had to pull the tree up to the second story deck and in through the sliding glass doors because the tree would fit through the front door and up the stars. Then we had to get out the ladder and tie the tree to the wall so it wouldn't fall over. These days it's just me and since I live on the third floor, when I get a tree it's rather small.



Small is okay but I guess I associate the smell of pine with Christmas. Yes, you have to buy a new one every year and it can be a little messy with pine needles all over the place but for me I will always have a REAL Christmas tree.