Jim Vail
Native Californian, born and bred there, as they say. During numerous family vacations when I was a lot younger, I had experienced Colorado and made a mental note to live here someday. Well, I made it!
After living in Basalt for close to three and a half years, I was getting a little antsy to move on again as the valley seemed to be growing a bit too fast for my liking. Before I could do any decent planning toward this end, I was essentially forced out by monthly rental fees exceeding $2K.
So, for the time being, at least, I am now in Eureka, California with plans to get to the Grants Pass area in Southern Oregon eventually.
I am currently 56 years old and a Vietnam Veteran. Any and all other details are available upon request, but are likely to surface within the body of the blog as the posts are made over time.
Here's hoping for a much more prosperous and all-around BETTER year ahead in 2009! We cannot actually ask for a more EVENTFUL year than 2008, just looking at the past few months alone. There are those who might argue that point. Well, each to their own, I guess.
I have had an extremely rough time the past few months trying to find something to write about. From local to national news, politics, etc., everytime I get just a kernel of an idea developing, WHAM!, that whole idea is already obsolete, replaced by something even more extraordinary or off on a completely different story altogether. It would almost seem as if I have found a different variation on the definition of "writer's block". Contrary to my usual assumption of that describing a situation where one cannot seem to come up with ANY suitable subject matter, it always seems as if I have WAY too many things going on in the old noggin' albeit too finite of an existence at the same time. That is partly explainable by recent circumstances.
I was recently involved in a "near death" experience, although I didn't know it at the time. I was helping a guy out in the cleaning of a MacDonald's in Arcata one night. He was getting some stuff done on the roof. There was a ladder going to the roof and I passed up a lot of his "tools of the trade" including a metal spray canister holding perhaps 2 or 3 gallons of liquid; everybody's seen such a thing, right?
Continue Reading December 27th, 2008
Even though I haven't felt very motivated to write a lot over the past few months, I do manage to peruse "Aspen Post" periodically. Recently, I was pleasantly surprised (and a bit chagrined) to read about the effort to better the lives of the dogs up there on the hill in Snowmass Village. Kudos to everyone involved!
Continue Reading September 13th, 2008
Just today, I heard somewhere on one of the news channels that doctors are advocating that kids as young as 7 start taking cholesterol-reducing meds and that parents should start getting their kid's cholesterol levels checked by the age of 2!
I took care of my disabled mom during the last 10 years of her life. Her main problems were arthritis and heart disease. While doing my duty as a caretaker, I did a lot of research on how to help her. I found the "Life Extension Foundation" to be my most valuable resource on different nutritional remedies and the latest research on various illnesses and/or longevity. I/we were using things like shark cartilage, melatonin and glucosamine long before the general public even knew such things existed.
Continue Reading July 7th, 2008
Up until recently, my computer was still in it's box since my move out of Colorado in February. I had been using a computer in my bank's lobby, but recently managed to get more steady work out of the temp agency I have been using, meaning that I was working during the hours that my bank was open. My computer choices were then down to an Internet Cafe for $5.00 per hour mainly on Saturdays OR get my machine online in the cheap motel room where I am still staying.
Continue Reading June 23rd, 2008
I cannot help noticing lately how the prices on gasoline are up (WAY up!) and the usual political election year rhetoric is again escalating on how the other side is responsible for what's going on, including more major Bush-bashing. I have never been a Bush fan, but it's just getting more and more ridiculous as time goes on to the point of being ad nauseum.
Continue Reading June 11th, 2008
Boy, what a tale I have to tell and only a few more minutes online; at least for now.
In January, my roommate and I received notice that our lease was to expire without being renewed. We even had it in writing that the lease "...expires on March 1st at noon..."
On or about the 6th or 7th of February, my roommate told me she had received a phone call from the landlord where she was told that we were expected to be out by the 15th. I asked if she had agreed to that. She said "No, I didn't agree to anything. He just flat out told me that was how it was."
Continue Reading March 12th, 2008
I have been considerably distracted lately trying to finish out my time here, go through everything and pack up in preparation to move out of state, but something caught my eye today (yesterday now) in "The Aspen Times".
On the front page is an article entitled "RFTA's challenges with ridership spur finger pointing". The main point of discussion concerns ongoing arguements among board members as to why they are not sufficiently handling the needs of bus riders in this valley. Among the reasons cited for their problems are: decreased amount of day-skier parking in Snowmass Village, higher parking fees in Aspen, soaring gas prices and harsh winter weather. While admitting that some of the criticism is valid, the RFTA CEO also said "...that RFTA will be unable to meet future increases in demand for service without additional revenues."
Now I would be the first to admit that I know very little as to their policies, procedures and the like, but I have eyes and have seen a hell of a lot of things that don't seem right to me...
Continue Reading February 16th, 2008
[I]n my last post I referred to my challenge in finding other living accommodations in the valley as we had lost our lease as of March 1st. I also put it out there that I was leaving no stone unturned in meeting this challenge and was requesting assistance from Aspen Post readers. Well, a little bit of time has now passed and things have changed - most likely for the better. At least that's the feeling I have at the moment... After perusing the local papers for awhile, seeing the little bit that's available and most places renting for $2K or more, my roommate decided it's time to move to Northern California to be close to her youngest son and the grandkids.
Continue Reading January 27th, 2008
Happy NEW YEAR to everyone! I hope that 2008 is absolutely GREAT for everyone in the valley. While it is starting out for me to be somewhat on the negative side, I truly believe it will all work out for the good by the time everything is all said and done. Cross your fingers! I very well may need your help.
What's been on my mind lately is my living situation. About 8 or 9 days ago, my roommate came up to me and told me that she was giving me a couple of days notice that she MIGHT be moving back to California to help care for her ailing 20-something son and that she would be leaving within a matter of a few hours of hearing what his test results were. She would also be taking only what she could pack into her car - leaving the rest of her stuff behind and that I would need to get a new roommate very soon!
Continue Reading January 9th, 2008
Has this ever happened to you? It has happened to me at least 4 or 5 dozen times in the past few years. And at least a dozen times each for the Spanish Lotto, the Irish Sweepstakes, Australian Lottery and Thai Lottery. All told, I should be worth in excess of $500 million! Yeah, right!
Continue Reading December 22nd, 2007
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