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Memorial Day

I took my kids there (like we do most Memorial days) to the old Riverside cemetary. Usually Riverside is pretty forelorn, but because of this spring's rains wild flowers are growing all over the place.

Buried there is one of my ancestors, Wellington Sprague, who  fought in the Civil War for the North. He was the captain of a Black Artillery Battery and was wounded in the battle of Sharpesville. After the war he became the military governor of Tupelo Missippi but his wound never completely healed and he came to Denver in 1871 for health reasons. His was ahead of his time and in addition to fighting to end slavery, he was active in the movement for a woman's right to vote and a founder in the Denver Dumb Friends league. He lived from 1839 until 1910 and is buried in there along with Augusta Pierce Tabor, Barney Ford, and John Evans.

After we went there we went to breakfast and I read a passage describing a battle in King Phillip's War when another of my (and Wellington Sprague's) ancestors, John Sprague was killed.

Entrepreneurs

Its a small matter, but sometimes I wonder about the state of mind of people who seek to become entrepreneurs. A visit to California brought me to the portals of Kleiner Perkins, perhaps this country's premier venture capital firm. Through its doors pass some of the finest engineering talent and best business minds in the world. Yet a hand written sign on the door says "push" because some of that talent and some of those minds pull and think the doors are locked.  Of course I can question their state of mind because I count myself among their number. So far I have started five different businesses (newsletter, event, consulting, radio, and investment) with varying degrees of success and am starting my sixth. Here on my second day at the CTEK high tech incubator I went to make coffee and found who ever started the pot before had added the coffee but not the coffee filter! Hopefully they are not planning on starting the next Starbucks here because that was clearly not a best practice.

Todd Skinner

One of Wyoming's most accomplished native sons Todd Skinner died climbing on Monday. He was credited with establishing new routes at the highest levels of difficulty in more than twenty-six countries. His experiences have been described in National Geographic, and his expeditions in places like the Nepal, Amazon, Timbuktu have been featured in nine documentaries. He was also author of a book "Beyond the Summit" and was a popular speaker at business events.

I introduced Todd at one such event two years ago. His story of climbing the Trango Tower had everyone at the edge of their seats especially me. Since we both were born in Wyoming and I had done a little climbing I felt an immediate kinship with this world class athlete. I asked him to dedicate my copy of his book and he wrote "Bruce, Hold On and Cowboy Up". Skinner was a friendly, positive, motivating individual characterized so much of the best of his native state. He will be missed.

My Kids' Fighting

My two kids have always gotten along well together, but lately have discovered how entertaining it is to fight with one another. Since like most play, they are learning something, I feel my role as a parent is to act even handedly and keep the fights from getting out of hand.

That being said, alone with my daughter in car, I though it would be a good time to remind her about what a good person her big bother has become. Using the analogy of sports, I spoke about my son’s achievements on the playing field. My son is not the biggest, the fastest, or the most skilled young man on any team he plays for. Yet he is usually considered by his coaches to one of the best players on the team. The reason I explained to her was two fold. First my son allows himself to be coached. Out on the field he listens to instructions from the sidelines and follows them. This builds the coaches confidence in him. The other quality he demonstrates is the ability to make big plays at crucial times. In the playoffs last baseball season, his team was two runs ahead in the bottom of the ninth inning. The bases were loaded when he made a shoe lace catch of a pop fly and quickly threw the ball to second base. The second baseman alertly threw the catch to third and the result was a triple play and the team went on to the championship. By have a good attitude, cool head, and even disposition my son has learned to stretch his natural athletic ability.

It surprised me with what rapped attention my daughter listen to my parable. It told me despite some occasional aggression her underlying respect for her bother is intact and the fights they now indulge in will eventually pass like a light rain shower under a strong summer sun.

An Accounting Question

A friend of mine who manages a large apartment building asked me an accounting question.  A stripper who lived in the building used a boa constrictor as part of her act. When she left on a long vacation, her boyfriend was supposed to take care of her snake. He must have been something of a snake himself because when she returned the boa was missing.

Then many weeks later tenants in the building noticed strong smell in the laundry room. The building crew had to remove all the washing machines and driers and finally tear down a wall to discover the dead snake wrapped around the hot water line.

After this, a strict no pets policy was enforced in the building. My friend's question was this - would the stripper be able to deduct the value of the snake from her income tax as a business loss?

Language Contortionist

My friend Jane calls me a "contortionist of the English language".

They Don't Make Men Like Tom Cosgriff Anymore

As part of my campaign to re-connect with old high school classmates I tracked down Tom Cosgriff. Tom is captured on the internet because of a climb he made in Yosemite in 1983 that is still remembered. From there I tracked him to Norway where he is currently working on an oil platform in the North Atlantic. Although my acceptance for risk is unusually high, his far beyond mine. They don't make men anymore like Tom, me or most of my friends from that time. Tom is coming back to Denver in a few weeks to do some drinking, climbing, and drinking and climbing. It will be good to see him.

Mosley's Exaggerated Death

At my recent high school reunion my old classmate Brian Mosley was not in attendance, but he was not forgotten either.  "I heard he was dead", said one of my classmates. Since I had heard the same thing we all feared the worse. Fortunately news of his death was greatly exaggerated. Looking for his obituary on the internet, I did find one for a British actor named Bryan Mosley and also an address and phone number of another Brian Mosley in Arizona. Calling the number resulted in a nice conversation with a very much alive Brian Mosley who has two sons playing college football. It was good to catch up and I hope Brian contacts me the next time he is home.

Memorial Day

To commemorate Memorial Day, my children and I visited the grave of our civil war ancestor Col. Wellington Sprague. Although his final resting place at Riverside Cemetery is only a short drive from my home, Riverside feels a world away. Located on some banks just above the Platte River close to a petrochemical plant and the cemetery is the perfect setting for sober reflection on the shadows the past casts on the present. Abandoned for many years, the pioneer look and forlorn feel of the cemetery is accentuated by thin ground cover and an abundance of animal scat.

Sites for cemeteries are more practically chosen in the 19th century perhaps reflecting a different attitude towards death. One of the most famous, Arlington National Cemetery is located on the former estate of Robert E. Lee. Arlington was expropriated during the Civil War under the "Act for the Collection of Direct Taxes in the Insurrectionary Districts within the United States". By 1865 16,000 Union soldiers where buried there. Not only was the price right, it was thought by locating a military cemetery outside his front door would provide General Lee with a constant reminder of all the deaths he had a hand in causing. In actual fact Lee never returned to his home.

Founded in 1876, Riverside was situated an hour or two by horse back from the center of historic Denver. Many of the men Colorado's tallest peaks are named after: Elbert, Evans, and Belford are buried in Riverside. Until the 1960's the Platte river would occasionally rage past its banks. Any bodies disinterred by the flood would end up in the communities below the city. Since early Denver was refuge for tuberculosis suffers, locating Riverside away from the city was a practical choice.

As Denver grew, Riverside became a less and less fashionable location to spend eternity and was closed for many years. Now it is enjoying a new found popularity with the neighboring Hispanic community. Some of them were members and victims of gang violence. Oddly their lives and deaths were shadowed by some of the pioneers who preceeded them.

For my part, I am enormously proud to be related to Wellington Sprague and glad in my small way to honor is life.

Sad Really

Yesterday I saw a poignant sight in the coffee shop of the Tattered Cover bookstore. At an empty desk was a stack of books with titles like "Grant Writing for Dummies", "How to Start a Business in Colorado", "Zen and the Art of Making a Living", "How to Run and Start an Event Planning Business", "Turn your Passion into Profits", "Start Your Own Business", "The E Myth Revisted". My guess is someone with a problem came into the book store looking for a solution. Yet I doubt they would have gained enough reading all those books while sitting there nursing a coffee to start a career much less a business. Sad really.