by Mark Smiley | Mar 27, 2015 | Main Articles
State Treasurer And Adams County Judge Raise Additional Problems
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The star-crossed Gaylord Rockies hotel project appears to be running into continued turbulence. Originally envisioned to be part of the relocated and expanded National Western Stock Show complex, the Aurora hotel and convention site has gone through a seemingly never ending series of complexities, alterations and controversies.
Back in the spring of 2011, Nashville-based Gaylord Entertainment announced it was building a new Gaylord Western Hotel and Convention complex at the High Point site near Peña Boulevard and Tower Road. It was to be next door to the new home of the National Western Stock Show which was going to move from its Denver home after 105 years. Initially supported by then new Denver Mayor Michael Hancock the move of National Western was squashed by a revolt of the City Council, led by Councilman Charlie Brown.
Gaylord Entertainment nonetheless demanded massive tax concessions from the City of Aurora and the State of Colorado totaling over $380 million for the $800 million project. As outlined by the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle in April through June of 2012, Gaylord Entertainment being awarded over $81 million in state tax subsidies appeared to be part of what some called a rigged process by the Colorado Economic Development Commission. Under the Colorado Regional Tourism Act (the “RTA”), small cities and counties were supposed to be able to compete in an aboveboard process for the best projects pursuant to the criteria set out in the RTA. Small towns, including Glendale, and counties were forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to submit applications in which they apparently had little or no chance of being awarded a grant.
The project became enmeshed in further controversies when just after the award of the state subsidies, Gaylord Entertainment announced it, in fact, had no intention of building the hotel and was getting out of the development business, a fact it kept from the commission. It sold its interest in the hotel project and the tax subsidies to Houston-based RIDA Development Corp.
In September 2013, 11 Front Range hotels sued the Economic Development Commission and the City of Aurora in Denver County District Court to vitiate the state award. The lawsuit was dismissed the following spring. Aurora in turn sued the Front Range hotels in Arapahoe District Court asserting that the action by the hotels delayed the funding of the project and constituted tortuous interference, but that suit was in turn dismissed in the fall of 2013.
In the fall of 2014 two residents of Aurora filed suit in Adams District court challenging the validity of Aurora awarding $300 million in subsidies to the hotel project. In February 2015, Adams County District Court Judge Ted C. Tow III voided the Tabor election set up by the City of Aurora whereby the only allowed voter was an employee of the landowner. The court indicated that a city-wide election would likely have to be undertaken. Within hours of the decision, Aurora filed an appeal of the decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
As a result of the Court ruling Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton asked the Legislative Audit Committee to examine whether the state should honor the subsidies awarded by the Colorado Economic Development Commission. Stapleton also sent a letter to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade asking why the EDC offered the incentives in the first place given they may not in fact need the subsidies and proper financing documents may not have been submitted.
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan promptly fired off an angry letter to Walker Stapleton saying the issues raised by his office had already been “discredited” years before. He went on to declare, “What is concerning to me is that your letter seems not only politically motivated but ill-informed.” He then opined, “It seems an inappropriate role for the Office of the State Treasurer to involve itself in a commercial dispute that is before the courts.”
Despite all of the continued controversies, developer RIDA Development Corp. and the City of Aurora seek to give the impression of continued progress. RIDA announced in February that the hotel and convention complex would feature a massive indoor and outdoor water park. Westword and other publications ridiculed the water park concept for a hotel project in Aurora.
Aurora Mayor Hogan in turn, told the Economic Development Commission that the Gaylord project would break ground between October and December of this year. This will only be possible provided it wins its appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals on the issue of the Tabor election.
Observers indicate that the enormous time, effort and resources for the Gaylord hotel and convention center put in by Aurora’s Mayor Steve Hogan could show him to be a political leader in the mode of DeWitt Clinton of New York whose vision and determination made possible the key transportation project of the early 19th century — the Erie Canal. Others view him more as a Captain Ahab driven to capture a white whale of a development project that will seriously damage the future economic progress of the City of Aurora. Only time will tell which caricature of him is closest to the truth, but crunch time for helping to make that determination is fast approaching.
by Mark Smiley | Mar 27, 2015 | General Featured
by Charles C. Bonniwell
At its early spring meeting held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Denver, The Economic Club of Colorado honored the leaders of three companies known for being outstanding places to work. The Economic Club of Colorado describes itself as the leading forum in the Rocky Mountain West for world leaders in business, government and policy to meet the business leaders of the region.
The three featured panelists were: Monty Moran, co-CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, a Denver-based fast food chain with over 1,783 restaurants worldwide; David Palmer, Denver Managing Shareholder of the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLC which has 1,800 lawyers and governmental affairs professionals worldwide; and Paul Purcell, Chairman and CEO of financial services firm RW Baird, which has over 100 offices on three continents including one in Cherry Creek.
What was extraordinary concerning the panel was that the businesses in their respective industries they lead are generally known for low employee morale. Large law firms and financial service companies provide high pay but often have difficult and highly stressful work environments. Fast food restaurants in turn are known at the local level for low pay and minimum career advancement opportunities.
Palmer, who has worked as an attorney in Denver for various prestigious firms his entire professional career, emphasized that Greenberg Traurig seeks to create an atmosphere where all different types of individuals can thrive and noted that his Miami-based firm was founded on diversity and diversity is imprinted in its corporate DNA.
Moran shared that when he became co-CEO only a relatively small number of individuals who worked in a local restaurant were ever promoted to lead manager. Over time he created a policy that requires 100 percent of the local managers be hired from within so that the employees have a stake in their own future. Under the designated restaurateur program hourly crew members can become managers earning over $100,000 a year. He emphasized that simply doing your job well was not enough and Chipotle only promoted individuals who also made everyone around them better.
RW Baird, which has offices in Colorado in Cherry Creek (Denver) and Boulder, was ranked fifth in the entire country in Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in line with such nationally known firms such as Google and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Paul Purcell has headed up the company for over 21 years.
The investment advisor firm has $120 billion in client assets and Purcell is quoted in Fortune as attributing its success to one rule: “no a**holes.” That is perhaps a highly unusual rule for a company in an industry that is known for having a very high percentage of the same.
In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle Purcell expanded on why such a rule was so critical to Baird’s success. “You want your advisors concentrating on helping their clients become financially better off and not fighting and backstabbing each other. At Baird our only real product is our employees. Trust is everything in our business and very few people actually want to trust an ‘a**hole’ nor should they.”
Baird was founded in 1919 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is privately owned. Approximately two-thirds of its associates are shareholders in the company. Due to conservative investing policies and little or no debt Baird weathered the disastrous 2008 financial downturn in remarkably good shape and has grown significantly over the last five to seven years with many of its competitors downsizing or going out of business.
Purcell at age 67 has not slowed down one iota but has begun the process of gradually handing over the reins of the company to his designated successor, Steve Booth, whom he named company president at the beginning of last year.
Baird’s mission statement totals one sentence: “To provide the best financial advice and service to our clients and be the best place to work for our associates.” It is unique for an investment advisor firm to have as one of its two principle goals being “the best place to work for our associates.” However, Baird apparently takes its mission statement very seriously as evidenced by the fact that the firm was rated by Fortune magazine to be in the top five companies in the entire country to work for. Locally Baird appears to be also making a major impact and was voted this year by the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce to be the “Business of the Year” highlighted by the firm’s Palm Group in the private wealth management field.
For Purcell, building and preserving a unique corporate culture at RW Baird has been a driving desire and goal. Purcell was a once proud partner in the investment firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co. In the 1980s he watched as that company’s corporate culture changed after its acquisition of General Electric in 1986. The culminating event occurred in 1987 when its star banker Marty Siegel became the center of the Ivan Boesky scandal and the firm paying $26 million in fines as part of settlement with then-U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani. Purcell left the firm when he felt he could not save it from itself.
“Once you have watched something special be destroyed and lost, you treasure it all the more. You also realize that your goal is never totally achieved. What you have built can be wasted in a relatively short period of time unless you remain aware and appreciative of what you have and ever vigilant not to let it diminish,” Purcell noted.
Purcell is also very much a believer in the parable from Luke that “for unto whomever much is given, of him shall much be required.” He is a major contributor to charities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in Chicago, Illinois, where he resides. He sits on a myriad eleemosynary boards from Discovery World to the United Performing Arts Fund. Purcell requires that wherever the company does business it gives back to the community in a major and important fashion.
Regarding RW Baird’s plans in Colorado, Purcell sees the Denver/Boulder market as one of the true hubs for the company in the western United States along with Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and San Francisco, California. He also notes that some of the company’s top talent is joining the Cherry Creek office for many of differing reasons. Purcell concluded that Baird’s Cherry Creek office is growing at an extraordinary rate. But growth in and of itself has never been a goal of Baird, according to Purcell. Rather as the mission statement states it is “to provide the best financial advice and service to our clients” and those are not simply words but a true calling as is RW Baird’s commitment to its employees.
by Mark Smiley | Mar 27, 2015 | Glendale City News
by Brent New
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
It’s hard to imagine a championship lathered in more debate and criticism than the Glendale Raptors’ Women Premier League (WPL) title in 2014.
They wanted a championship from the movies, something so pure and untouchable — like it should be. But no matter how much they wanted it, how hard they wished it, it just wasn’t.
They lost to the Atlanta Harlequins in the WPL semifinals, yet moved on to the title game after the Harlequins knowingly played an ineligible player and were forced to forfeit their 13-7 win.
“It was tough for me personally because I was told before the kickoff that the Harlequins had forfeited, but they would appeal,” Raptors former coach Michael Fealey said. “It messed with my head.”
The forfeit held up and his team eventually beat the Twin Cities Amazons 16-15 in the title game and claimed the first WPL title in program history.
Players and coaches had to defend their gold medal soon after.
“Some people said we didn’t deserve it. It was frustrating. There were people hiding behind computers, telling us we didn’t deserve it. Saying there should be an asterisk,” Raptors club president Jeanna Beard said. “But we know we deserved it. We know the fight it took, we know we’re champions.”
She hopes the WPL Raptors’ spring season will help silence the critics.
Also known as the developmental season, it began with a tournament win at the Champagne Classic in San Diego, Calif. in late February and will go through late May.
The main purpose of the three-month season is to develop and work with players on an individual basis. Beard, however, said there will be a little extra motivation in every game after what happened in the fall.
“We want to prove to people we are champions,” Beard said. “We’ve heard some stuff about our gold medal and we are tired of hearing it. We just want to make (the critics) shut up a little bit.”
Despite the ballyhooed cries from critics on their unconventional run to a national championship in the fall, and the hasty departure of their coach, the Raptors appear to be unscathed in the early weeks of the spring season. Raptors director of rugby Mark Bullock is in as interim head coach, and former Raptors players Kitt Wagner and Jamie Burke are in as assistant coaches.
In a rematch unbefitting of a tense national championship game that ended 16-15, they made short work of the Twin Cities Amazons in the not-so exciting sequel on March 7.
Joanna Kitlinski scored twice and Rachel Ryan added another as the Raptors beat the Amazons 51-17 at Infinity Park.
First-time WPL players Denali Graham and Fatima Chavez also added scores in the win.
“We had good play by veterans and some new players to us,” Raptors coach Mark Bullock said. “You want to see what you have everywhere on our roster and I think we got a good idea.”
On the field, forward Rachel Ryan, flanker Joanna Kitlinski and Beard were big pieces during the title run. And so far, they are leading the Raptors during the developmental season. Veteran players and key components to the 2014 title run Hannah Stolba, Jessica Sexaur and Tina Nesberg, in the meantime, will not participate in the spring season.
The mission is to give a lot of the younger and less experienced players on the Raptors women’s team a bigger role in the spring.
In the March 7 rematch, Ryan clobbered through the Amazons defense and put Glendale up 15-10 in the opening minutes of the second half.
Molly Kinsella and Graham scored on back-to-back possessions to push the lead to 37-17. And Kitlinski scored her second try of the day to give the Raptors the 44-17 advantage soon after.
“We played with good intensity and started playing the way we’ve practiced,” Bullock said. “It was good to see.”
When asked though if the Raptors will take a page out of the NFL and minimize the importance of games themselves during their noncompetitive season, Bullock scoffed.
“You must not know me too well if you think that,” he laughed. “We are going to approach every game to win. That’s the point of playing. We want to have competitive games and treat it no different than we ever do.”
While some things never change, the Raptors’ WPL team has done nothing but since they won the national championship. And the life of a champion, no matter who the critics, certainly has its perks.
Moving On Up . . .
The city of Glendale and the Raptors recently agreed that the WPL team will play three, maybe four home games in the stadium at Infinity Park in the fall.
The San Diego Surfers (Sept. 12), Oregon Sports Union (Oct. 10) and Berkeley All Blues (Oct. 24) are all scheduled to be played in the stadium, and the city said they have asked the Raptors to get one more quality opponent onto the regular season schedule to make a total of four home games.
The city also said via email that they are putting together a proposal to host the WPL National Championships on Nov. 13 and 15.
“I think everyone is looking to get back in the stadium,” Stolba said. “We look forward to getting back on the big stage.”
The Raptors are also hoping to use this momentum to start a Division I or Division II team to go alongside their WPL team.
An expansion to the women’s rugby side is imminent.
As of now, the Raptors just have a B-side, which is okay, but they’d rather have a non-elite team that plays consistent competitive games throughout the year.
“It’s hard for the B-side to play in a lot of competitive games,” Bullock said. “That’s the challenge when you start looking at levels below elite (in rugby).”
A D-I or D-II would allow for more competitive games and a more meaningful season for non-elite players.
The process is in the early stages.
“I’d love to say we could have it in 3-5 years,” Beard said. “But maybe that’s optimistic.”
You can keep up with all your Raptors news at GlendaleRaptors.com.
by Mark Smiley | Mar 27, 2015 | Editorials
An election for the mayor of Denver and the entire City Council will be held on May 5, 2015, much to the surprise of many Denver residents. Part of the reason for the lack of publicity of the election is the strange form of democracy we have going on here in Denver. Our municipality has informally adopted what they call the “one and done” rule sometimes seen in third world kleptocracies, i.e., once you are elected you never face another competitive election ever again. Unfortunately for city officeholders there are term limits in the municipality or they would never have to leave office except feet first as they go on to their heavenly reward.
By way of illustrative example, Mayor Michael Hancock has been incredibly inept in everything he has handled from the Sheriff’s Department scandals to the police protest debacle to the disastrous development policies. Succeeding two very strong mayors in Wellington Webb and John Hickenlooper, Hancock is an incredibly feckless and weak character, although highly personable.
Our mayor was at one time a mascot for the Denver Broncos football team and in office he has continued that role as the official team mascot for the greediest of real estate developers and most corrupt of union bosses. Yet he runs for a second term virtually unopposed.
Turning to the City Council, we are still attempting to determine when the last time was that an incumbent Denver City Council member lost in an election. Most incumbents never even have an opponent after their first election.
Timothy O’Brien
The reason, of course, is not that we love our incumbents so much here in Denver, but rather money — the mother’s milk of politics. To attempt to beat an incumbent in a city council district race costs at least $100,000; $500,000 for a city-wide position other than mayor; and for mayor at least $1,000,000. The only people who will provide you such sums to run for city office are real estate developers and labor unions, but they already own the incumbents and so why would anyone provide money for any putative challengers. Of course, if you are very wealthy you could self fund, but you may have noticed wealthy people do not want to run for municipal office in Denver other than perhaps mayor. The rich will consider running for governor, or senator or even congressman, but not a spot on the Denver City Council. This is why Denver City Council members are always voting themselves never-ending raises, i.e., they need the money.
As a result there is no real race for the mayor’s position or a majority of the council seats which is why the public is paying little or no attention to the election. You never saw the Russian public get real excited either about essentially non-elections in the old Soviet Union.
But that does leave elections for six open council seats as well as city auditor. These competitive races include Council Districts 4, 6 and 10 which the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle serves in whole or in part.
Wayne New
But who should one vote for in these races? It’s actually pretty easy. Go to www.den vergov.org/elections and download the financial disclosure statements of the candidates. In each race there will be one candidate that has raised an incredible amount of money. In their disclosure statements you will see the lawyer lobbyists from CRL Associates and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP as well as endless developers and real estate investors. You well also see a smattering of unions such the Teamsters Local 17 PAC. These candidates have already been acquired by those who control and own Mayor Michael Hancock.
Sadly, but understandably, another name you should be on the lookout for is the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce. Our publisher, Chuck Bonniwell, is a co-founder of that organization and sits on its Board of Directors but, of course, only has but one vote. Glendale since its founding in 1859, and particularly after its incorporation in 1952, has had to fight Denver tooth and nail for its very existence. Starting in the 1990s, thanks to mayors Wellington Webb and John Hickenlooper and the Glendale powers that be, there has been a rapprochement. As a result there has been the fire department merger, the beautification of Cherry Creek South and the building of the Infinity Park complex among other positive projects that have benefited both cities.
Glendale, as well as its business chamber therefore, seeks to have a positive relationship with the powers that be in Denver, which today is Mayor Michael Hancock and the people who control him. On page 24 you will locate the Glendale Chamber’s endorsements and you can judge for yourself how convincing you find its logic and rationale.
The unions, the developers and the Glendale Chamber suggest you support Kendra Black in Council District 4; Liz Adams in Council District 6; Anna Jones in Council District 10; as well as Chris Nevitt for City Auditor.
If you want more 30-story Broe Towers eliminating the view of the mountains for all of Cherry Creek and the Country Club area, along with more massive apartment buildings blocking sunlight from ever reaching certain streets in Cherry Creek North, these are your candidates. If you think that the endless traffic jams along Colorado Boulevard and 1st Avenue and the rest of the city are not long enough and can be made even worse, these are your candidates. If you want to see a corrupt and unethical Planning Board with no consideration ever for the parking and traffic concerns continue, these are your candidates. These candidates will religiously follow the political Golden Rule, i.e., he who has the gold rules, and that is not the average everyday citizen or voter.
Paul Kashmann
That is not to say Black, Adams and Jones are not pleasant people, but so is Hancock. On a personal basis, we particularly like Anna Jones who has an infectious laugh and wonderful wit. But she served on the mayor’s Planning Board for several years and that is a disqualifier for us.
Concerning the auditor’s race Chris Nevitt is their choice. He is the councilman from District 7 who brought you the hideous twin 30-story Broe Towers. Unlike their other candidates, Chris Nevitt is most definitely not a nice person. He is best known, by most, for his screaming rants at citizens who came to City Council to oppose projects Nevitt’s money men backed. One longtime Denver resident and politico, whose opinion we respect, said of Nevitt, “He is the worst human being I have ever met on the Denver City Council and that is saying something as there have been some real doozies.” Nevitt at one time was simply a union shill on City Council but in recent years he has expanded to prostituting himself out to every developer in Denver he could find. He has no background in, or experience, auditing and wants to use the office as a stepping stone, God forbid, for a run for mayor after Hancock is term limited. He is the weakest and least qualified candidate for any office in Denver in many a year, which no doubt explains why he is undoubtedly the favorite in the race.
So who should you vote for? Well, in the auditor and in District 6 races there are only single opponents. Luckily Timothy O’Brien in the auditor’s race and Paul Kashmann in District 6 are wonderful candidates who need no introduction to many voters. O’Brien, in fact, is a C.P.A. who is qualified and experienced in auditing, having served as the Colorado State Auditor. He is a resident of southeast Denver, and he and his wife are proud parents of three daughters. He is also truly independent and not beholden to anyone. While an argument can be made for endorsing an Anna Jones for City Council, no one with a straight face can claim that the morally repugnant Chris Nevitt deserves to be elected over the qualified, decent and honorable Timothy O’Brien. But this is politics in Denver and the normal rules of minimum decency simply do not apply.
Halisi Vinson
Kashmann is the longtime publisher of the Washington Park Profile who just recently sold his interest in that well-respected and beloved publication. A gentle and convivial soul, he prides himself in seeing an issue from many different sides. He even has a Colorado State Senate Commendation for 20 years of community service. He is not a believer in the political Golden Rule, but rather the original one of treating people as he would like to be treated himself. Kashmann would actually listen to citizens who would come before the City Council to make their case. Any municipal council, but in particular the Denver City Council, would benefit from having a Paul Kashmann.
In the other two races there are a myriad of candidates. In Council District 10 the person who has the greatest prospect of beating the money boys behind the mayor is Wayne New, the past long-term president of the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association, who has been fighting the good fight for decades. For our tastes we would prefer if New would have battled the greediest of the developers in Cherry Creek North even more fiercely, but that is not his personality. He wants to make things work for all involved.
Wayne New apparently has the money boys a little worried as they sent out the dirty tricks guys to gin up a phony ethics violation by the contemptible Colorado Ethics Watch. A neophyte at campaign financing, he forgot to add to some of his campaign literature the standard “Paid for by Wayne New for City Council” in microscopic print. Oh, No! The crooks behind the mayor are really, truly desperate to defeat Wayne New which in our book is all the more reason to vote for him.
Finally in District 4 the person putting up the best fight is Halisi Vinson who has the backing of major park advocates as well as Wellington Webb. Webb, like many Denverites, is desperate to have at least one park advocate on the City Council. When he wrote to the Friends of Denver Parks, “First they took our park and now they want to buy a council seat,” he was directly referring to Mayor Michael Hancock and his despicable developer friends. Webb’s daughter Stephanie O’Malley is Hancock’s Manager of Safety and his support for Vinson could cost his daughter that highly coveted job. We at the Chronicle agree with former Mayor Webb in this instance, that the only honorable thing to do is to stand with Ms. Vinson.
We ask you to consider the candidates in your District and vote for the ones who might actually make a difference at the City and County Building. In our mind the choices are clear.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Mar 27, 2015 | Feature Story Bottom Left
Confessions Of A Serial Dater
Sheik Of Cherry Creek Greg Hollenback
I don’t know about you but one of my biggest fears in life is being in a committed relationship with someone only to end up as a couple of strangers on the same couch, together, forever. For those of you wondering what I’m talking about let me explain… Strangers on the same couch are couples who no longer have any desire to talk with each other or share intimate thoughts with their partner. Couples never start out as strangers on the same couch but if you’re not very careful you may wind up sharing your most valuable down time in a personal prison with a mysterious cell mate. No thank you.
First I am going to share with you signs that you may be in a “strangers on the same couch” situation, or you’re heading in that direction fast.
- Most of your conversations with your partner are very short and blasé. You know, “How was your day?” “What’s for dinner?” “Is there anything good on the tube tonight?” You get the picture. Making small talk is a lot easier and safer than actually talking about something important in your life.
- You find yourself closer to a cubicle mate or a co-worker than you do your partner. The day that it dawns on you that you express yourself without hesitation with strangers or acquaintances but you bite your lip at home because you don’t want to start a fight or be judged you might just be with a stranger on the same couch.
- Let’s face it, sitting next to someone on a couch in silence for hours gives you a lot of time to think and plan. When you’re thinking of things you want to do or things you want to experience are you wanting to include that lump sitting next to you? If not, you are definitely a stranger on the same couch.
- Do you find yourself trying to avoid the metaphoric couch altogether? This is an advanced stage of the Stranger on the Same Couch Syndrome. When you’re at this stage something has to give and you’re either going to shut down everything that is you and give into the couch, or you’re going to freak out one day and jump out the window in order to escape.
- Are you constantly on your computer or laptop “working” so you have some kind of contact with people other than your couch stranger?
Some of you reading this can really identify with what I am talking about because you are living it now or you have lived like this before. Others of you may not be quite there yet but you find yourself slip sliding in that direction. The obvious solution for me would be to blow things up and push the reset button and see where the chips fall. I’m a keep it real guy at all costs because I know the price to pay is more than I’m willing to give. I have to be me, and you have to be you, anything short of that is fake and I can’t do fake. Some people can do fake though and those people scare the heck out of me. You know who I’m talking about… These people tell you what you want to hear, they give you false reality, they tell you what you “need to know” about themselves, they have more buried in them than King Tut’s tomb. They would rather lie when the truth would do.
If you’re anything like me you’re searching for true love and you want to share yourself with someone completely. In order for me to gift to someone the purest essence that makes up me and my heart I have to know that I am being afforded that same gift in return. Well, that and she has to be hot and witty. Probably too much to ask seeing as though I haven’t found all the puzzle pieces but I’ve been close a couple of times, real close.
All I can tell you speaking from a ton of dating and relationship experience is that if you don’t want to end up being a stranger on the same couch with someone is to set personal standards with whomever you’re dating when you feel you want to start taking things more serious with each other. Foresight, prevention and communication will be your strongest allies in your plight for a fun, productive, honest, enjoyable relationship. Just like I mentioned earlier, couples never start out as strangers on the same couch, it’s something that happens over time and it is up to you to make sure it doesn’t happen and you need to be aware when you see it happening and be prepared to address it.
When you are in the fun, open, no-expectations phase of your dating, point out certain situations or intimate times you are having so you have a reference point or a marker, if you will, of a time when you were able to be real and have fun together. Fight for the best in your personal life and who you choose to share it with. You deserve it!
Lastly, the Modern Dater Date Club is about to be launched! A couple of things, it looks like we have a great group of daters who contacted me but there is a problem. I never in a million years thought I would find myself saying these words but here goes… There are not enough guys! Blah, I feel weird but it’s true. Most of the people who have contacted me (like 80 percent) are women, tons of women. What’s up with that guys? Or are all of my readers ladies? Either way here’s your chance guys, email me at themoderndater@gmail.com (yes ladies, you can too) and get ready for some “Circle Cooking” with some of Denver’s finest single ladies.
Hope you’re enjoying spring, Sheik!
