http://denver.yourhub.comThe latest blog posts in The Denver Newspaper Agency YourHub.comen-usnews@yourhub.com(c) 2009, YourHub.com5I must be getting old. My most prized journalistic instincts are failing me. Back when I went to journalism school, they made sure to teach us what we really needed to know to survive as journalists. Things like not letting sources flub us off with non-answers, corroborating key facts, meeti...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~327429.aspx6/27/2007 5:08:21 PMAmy Gahran You might have noticed, it was a little hot yesterday in Boulder. According to Weather.com , yesterday's high hit 99 degrees F -- and the sun was relentless. So I was dreading it a little bit that I had to head out just before noon to bike to a lunch meeting and several errands downtown. B...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Local-Weather/Blog~326565.aspx6/26/2007 9:40:00 AMAmy Gahran The four members of Wide Mouth Grin -- Mark Brummer (bass), Steve Dicesare (guitar), Greg Ehrnstrom (keyboards) and Todd Weiner (drums) have something big in common besides music. They're all dads with young kids -- including a couple of brand-new infants. I asked ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~320765.aspx6/13/2007 9:57:48 AMAmy Gahran One of my favorite moments of Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask was when the guys in sperm suits were lining up for ejaculation. All of the actors were white -- save one lone black guy (in a sperm suit, of course) who was panicking, yelling "Wh...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Relationships/Blog~318218.aspx6/6/2007 4:32:18 PMAmy Gahran Along bike paths around town, I've been noticing these little temporary-looking signs that say "B-360" or "B-180." What are these? I searched around online but couldn't find a direct answer. The closest I came wa a mention of some special event ride called "Boulder-360" on this page in the Bo...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~317351.aspx6/4/2007 4:18:10 PMAmy Gahran I've blogged before about how I'm a huge fan of the local band Wide Mouth Grin -- for good reason. They are among the most talented musicians in the area, and some of the best I've ever known. Fortunately they're not pretentious, and their shows are a whole lot of fun. They've ju...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Music/Blog~316963.aspx6/4/2007 9:24:22 AMAmy Gahran OK, this is a minor pet peeve, but... It really bugs me when Boulder businesses don't offer sufficient bike racks -- or any any all. Case in point: I get a massage every couple of weeks at Massage Envy in the new 29th St. complex. Plenty of parking space there, but -- not a single...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~316869.aspx6/3/2007 4:03:03 PMAmy Gahran This week I've had the unusual but fun experience of having a videographer chase me around town. GO Boulder is recording a video interview/profile of me that will run on Boulder's Channel 8 municipal TV. It's amazing how much time it takes to shoot something that will be edited down to jus...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~316202.aspx6/1/2007 7:32:52 AMAmy Gahran I just got back from this year's GO Boulder award ceremony for the 2007 commuters of the year . (Yes, I biked there, of course.) I was honored to receive an award for All Around Commuter of the Year -- which I find a bit amusing, since I work from home and don't really commute. It's one o...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Promotions/Blog~307409.aspx5/11/2007 8:20:46 PMAmy Gahran Here's a hint: It's not a bike. And my bikeshed isn't a structure tucked away in my side yard. Actually, my "bikeshed" is anywhere I can bike to conveniently: in my case, this means a half hour or less. It's my own corruption of "walkshed," a term I picked up from Alan Durning of the Sigh...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~304999.aspx5/7/2007 7:31:59 AMAmy Gahran Last night, as I left a get-together at the Hotel Boulderado, I saw the remnants of the weekly Cruiser Ride parked in front of JoyEngine , which was having some kind of art party. That reminded me -- hey, I have a real cruiser now! My new Electra Townie 3 has three speeds, upright hand...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Nightlife/Blog~304046.aspx5/4/2007 11:50:58 AMAmy Gahran Today, fellow YourHubber Brendan Leonard wrote about the challenges of running errands by bike : " You really think hard about what you're going to do with a loaf of bread or a bunch of bananas when you've only got so much cargo space on your back." Yeah, no kidding. For the pas...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~303693.aspx5/3/2007 4:37:43 PMAmy Gahran It's just as well that I've gone carless mainly for financial, health, sanity, and simplicity reasons -- because it sure doesn't look like I'm saving the environment that way. At least, not according to Al Gore . I just used the carbon footprint calculator on his Inconvenient Truth ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~301290.aspx4/29/2007 4:49:19 PMAmy Gahran (NOTE: This is part of a special series highlighting the Boulder Carbon Tax Tracker Project . Learn more and get involved at bouldercarbontax.org .) There's no such thing as a free lunch. Boulder, CO's new carbon tax, which went into effect April 1, is just the latest chapter in the city...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~301022.aspx4/27/2007 5:26:44 PMAmy Gahran Well, obviously Brendan Leonard's great ride on my behalf did not happen last week, since the city of Boulder opted to reschedule its awards ceremony to May 11. But still, I appreciate Brendan's willingness to sweat profusely. So here's the deal: I will be receiving my Car-free Commu...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~300078.aspx4/26/2007 9:09:55 AMAmy Gahran Yesterday I took the plunge and bought myself a new bike that's appropriate for my carless lifestyle. So far, I'm loving it. It's a pearly white Electra Townie 3 , a "cruiser" -- which means it looks a little dorky. I don't care. It suits me. I got it at Bicycle Village in Boulder , aft...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~298590.aspx4/23/2007 1:26:25 PMAmy Gahran People in Boulder love to talk. They especially love to discuss and debate energy and environmental issues. Everyone here seems to have their pet issues and solutions on that front, and plenty of Boulderites take action in one way or another. (Even me -- although my decision to go carless w...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~293903.aspx4/13/2007 11:18:57 AMAmy Gahran OK, I'd be posting a photo with this, but I'm downtown (at Prima restaurant, just off Pearl St. in Boulder) and although I have my camera, I forgot my USB cable. So a little while ago I was speaking to an undergrad journalism class at CU Boulder. After that was done, I strolled from the CU ca...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~291496.aspx4/9/2007 4:45:42 PMAmy Gahran As I mentioned earlie r, this morning I walked over to the Safeway at the Meadows Shopping Center on Baseline. This route took me across the pedestrian overpass at Sioux Drive, which goes over the busy Foothills Parkway. I noticed that the chain-link fencing encasing this walkway is now fe...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~290239.aspx4/6/2007 12:11:10 PMAmy Gahran This spring morning, you may have noticed, a thin icy drizzle is coating Boulder. It seems to be sticking to everything except the sidewalks and roads -- which is good, since I really felt the need to take a good long walk. Without even glancing at my friend's car currently parked in my drivew...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Local-Weather/Blog~290148.aspx4/6/2007 10:46:12 AMAmy Gahran I just got off the phone with Andrea Robbins of GoBoulder -- the organization that recently bestowed upon me the title of Boulder's Car-Free Commuter of the Year . She's doing a short write-up on me for the forthcoming 2007 award winners page, which is cool. It turns out that,...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~288869.aspx4/4/2007 1:00:38 PMAmy Gahran Last Saturday, my new pedometer arrived. It's pretty neat: an Accusplit Eagle 120XL . So I started using it Sunday and logged a little over 12,000 steps. I felt pretty proud of myself. Also on Sunday, I brought over the car of a friend who wanted to leave it at my place while she's out of ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~288837.aspx4/4/2007 12:29:07 PMAmy Gahran I'm one of those people who never wins anything, so I'm really thrilled about this: Yesterday, I learned that Go Boulder selected me as its 2007 Car-Free Commuter of the Year! Thanks to all the readers of this blog and my other YourHub friends who helped make this possible when I aske...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~286584.aspx3/30/2007 7:41:03 AMAmy Gahran I don't know if this is a "first" for a car dealership in Boulder, but I was just walking past First Class Imports on 30th St. (on my way to catch the 206 bus) when I noticed a couple of new models parked right out front: A Zenn 2.2 all-electric car , and a gas-powered, ultra-low-emission S...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~285595.aspx3/28/2007 1:32:17 PMAmy Gahran Last Wednesday, while I was in New York on business, I needed to take the train from my friend's house in Tarrytown, NY (along the Hudson, near the Tappan Zee Bridge) to Harlem in order to attend an evening event at Columbia University. "It's easy," my friend Adam explained. "Just take the Hu...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Travel/Blog~284261.aspx3/26/2007 3:03:39 PMAmy Gahran I spent the last few days in New York City, where I was speaking at the BlogHer Business Summit conference. People in the NYC area love to complain about trains and train stations, but I've gotta tell ya, I was impressed. You can get just about anywhere by train in New York -- which, in my op...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Travel/Blog~283782.aspx3/25/2007 9:15:30 AMAmy Gahran I'm at the Denver International Airport, and my flight has just been delayed for a couple of hours, so I decided to see if I could get any wifi. Usually the only wifi available is from AT&T, which -- in a brazen feat of price gouging -- has only been selling monthly wifi passes at about $30 a...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Technology-The-Web/Computers-IT/Blog~281312.aspx3/20/2007 9:55:53 AMAmy Gahran ...Well, not me, at least. OK, earlier I made fun of the beckoning, battered chef outside of the Eggcredible Cafe -- the restaurant at the Days Inn at Manhattan and S. Boulder Road. I figured if I was going to rag on their outdoor decor, it was only fair that I stop inside and sample th...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Restaurants/Blog~280965.aspx3/19/2007 3:32:52 PMAmy Gahran Sorry I haven't been blogging lately, work and life have been very hectic for a couple of weeks. A little while ago I was running an errand (well, technically, walking an errand) when I saw a bunch of papers fluttering at the intersection of Illini & Manhattan in SE Boulder. When I got u...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Blog~280960.aspx3/19/2007 3:13:18 PMAmy Gahran Recently, Louisville YourHubber Eva Kosinski wrote a harrowing account of being stranded at the RTD station in downtown Boulder for a couple of hours on Feb. 28, when a sudden snowstorm hit. See: DASHing through the snow . I know I've praised RTD in this blog, because it generally wo...http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Archive/Local-Weather/Blog~260426.aspx3/8/2007 9:46:24 AMAmy Gahran