Month: February 2009

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A great story on Oskar Blues Brewery

Channel 4 (KCNC) had a great story on Oskar Blues Brewery last night on their news. The story discussed how the brewery, makers of Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub Scottish Ale and others, is beating the recession and is actually expanding.
I must say I really love Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub. Both are extremely good beers and enjoy them.

The unique thing that they are doing is bucking the trend of bottling. They are not bottling, they are actually canning. They have developed a great way to can the beer where they use a water-based coating and the beer never touches metal of the can.

I think this is a great story of a local company. I hope they succeed and do well. I just want to enjoy the beer some more.

Watch the story on KCNC.

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Should bloggers pick up for the loss of the Rocky?

I am attending WordCamp Denver today and just had a good presentation by Gil Asakawa on media and publishing.
One of the questions that came up was should bloggers fill the niche left behind by the Rocky Mountain News? Well should they?

My thought is that bloggers and everyone else should be looking out for something going on and question it. We are a republic after all.

One thing that I have noticed in the media, specifically the Denver Post, is that the reporters are general issue reporters. The speciality or niche reporter no longer exists. Continue reading “Should bloggers pick up for the loss of the Rocky?”

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Enleiten works, just not for me

I am a floater. I move around from one web application to another trying to come up with something to help me manage my time.
My latest adventure was Enleiten.

It is a GTD web application that keeps track of your tasks and allows you to prioritize your next steps for all your projects.

For me, I have so much going on I think it is about the process, not the web application. But I need to work that out.

One of the things that have made me upset about Enleiten is that I can’t change the primary email. Once I used it to sign up, it was set. No changes.

Well I had a problem. The email I was using was not going to be around for much longer. Not good.

Also, when I was leaving I couldn’t blast my account. It looks like the information will remain there for ever.

I think this is a good alternative for the GTD users out there, it just didn’t work for me. Plus they have some work to do to give the user more control over their information.

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Good-Bye Rocky!

I hate to say this, but good-bye Rocky Mountain News. I am going to miss you.
I moved to the Denver area in 1993 and except for a couple years when I moved away I have been reading the Rocky Mountain News. It was an excellent newspaper and I always compared other newspapers to it.

And none of them really measured up.

What did I like?

  • The staff was always professional and the stories were well written.
  • The paper really covered Denver and Colorado. When I read a newspaper that is something that I look for.
  • The comics. They were so much better than the Post. 😉
  • The format. Whether it was on the kitchen table or on a flight, the tabloid format was easy to read.

I guess it is just the sign of the times. Newspapers across this country are in serious trouble. The Albuquerque Tribune closed a year-ago (another Scripps newspaper), the Seattle P-I will cease publishing a printed copy later this year, the San Francisco Chronicle is in trouble, and the stock of the New York Times is now below what a Sunday edition costs.

In the paper that is surviving, the Denver Post, I have concerns about their viability over the near and long-term. They have been having financial problems and had to borrow money from the Denver Newspaper Agency. They also just had to re-negotiate contracts with their staff.

Plus I have seen an incredible decline in the quality of their writing. Like many other newspapers they have reduced the newsroom staff, getting rid of the specialty writers and leaning towards the general writer who can cover more topics. But this lead to a poorer quality of writing and coverage of the issues.

The Rocky has provided a great benefit to the Denver and Colorado area for 150 years and Denver has benefited from having a two newspaper town. Now that we are done to one, let’s hope that the Denver Post keeps up their part of raising issues and keeping everyone in check.

For now, I am going to continue my subscription and receive the Denver Post. But I am nervous and have a lot of doubt that they will continue into the future. If I don’t like it, I will drop my subscription.

I want to wish the staff of the Rocky well as they move on with their career. I have met and worked with some of them on a professional level and always enjoyed it. They were always fair and provided good coverage of the issues.

Good-bye Rocky. Me and many others are going to miss you.

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Baseball is back!

I just want to make a quick post and highlight that baseball is back and I am looking forward to another season.
You know spring is around the corner when spring training games start. Catchers and pitchers reporting is great, but it is even better when the games start.

I am looking forward to another season of the Colorado Rockies. It doesn’t matter where we think they will finish or how upset we are about off-season trades or acquisitions.

Every team starts out fresh and tied on opening day. Here is to another season of baseball and Go Rockies!

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Denver Restaurant Week 2009 Coming

Just a head’s-up to everyone out there that Denver Restaurant Week 2009 is coming. It kicks-off on February 21 and runs through February 27.
For those of you who aren’t aware, you can get a three course dinner for two for $52.80. Nearly 200 restaurants are participating this year.

My wife and I have done this for several years and we enjoy this. It provides an excellent opportunity to try new restaurants at a reasonable price.

Try it, you may like it. See my other posts on this.

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Microsoft to open retails stores

My first question is why, why would Microsoft opt to open a retail store?
Microsoft is in plenty stores and online, plus they don’t make or sell hardware. Oh wait, I forgot they make the Zune.

There is no way that they are going to be able to compete against Apple in a retail format.

Microsoft is going through an identity crisis. Are they a software vendor? Are they a hardware vendor? Are they a services vendor?

Which one is it?

Until they decide what they are, they will not succeed. They have become too big and their software too bloated. A retail store will not help them sell or convince people to purchase software.

The only way people will purchase their software is if it is on the computer they buy at the store. Otherwise it is just too complicated for the masses out there to deal with.