Inside the new Elephant Passage at The Denver Zoo

The Denver Zoo is about to open up Asian Tropics on June 1st. (Technically its name is Toyota Elephant Passage, but Toyota didn't pay me a dime, and it was going to be called Asian Tropics until a few months ago when somebody wrote a check.) As a donor (Jen wrote a check), we got a sneak peak of it this past Sunday. It's pretty cool, I must say. That long tusked gentleman at the top of the page is Groucho, one of two new elephants at the zoo thanks to Asian Tropics.

If that bridge looks sturdy enough for an Elephant to walk across, you're getting the idea. No elephants were taking a bridge stroll on Sunday, but I hope to see it someday.

Apparently, the Denver Zoo now worships Ganesh.

There is cool Elephanty type signage everywhere. They went nuts with the Elephant Artwork.

Everybody loves an Elephant Statue!

Even the bathroom signage is getting in the act.

You can also try on a pair of elephant ears to see if they improve your hearing...

...or your looks.

There is a new Gibbon Island with an area that kids can practice their hanging...

...or their falling.

They do have lots of cool signage, although, I'm not entirely sure what this one is about. As far as I can tell, this sign means no stacking rocks, playing Tetris, simulating Rainbows with your arms, No cat mating, No number 60s, No Dynamite, No kicking wildlife, No Hile Hitler salutes, and no surrounding yourself with very small blocks. Good safety information, there.

This sign makes more sense.

In the spirit of unity and brotherhood, I refrained from collecting firewood.

The new home seems so much nicer than their old one. Mimi and Dolly must be in heaven.

More elephant artwork. They did a good job with the art, I must say.

Elephants!

They have a cool kiosk where if you donated to the project, you can pull up your name...

...or declare your love for elephants.

All in all, it's a pretty cool place!

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 163 - 05-19-12 - Preakness Fever

It was Preakness Saturday, and Craig and Elevation were on hand to scream at a horse race on TV.


Beyond just cheering on Triple Crown hopeful I'll Have Another, we also managed to get in a Local TV Commercial Duel, introduce The Worst Movie Role Replacement Game, and feature a double dose of "Something to Think About" with Face and the Whale. Even Nalax called in to vent about his bad sports day. 


We wrapped things up with a music recommendation from Blind Pilot of the song "New York".

Vertically Striped Socks...an introduction:

Greetings and Salutations, people. Did you hear me on Dave Dameshek's NFL podcast, and decided to come check out the site to see what I'm all about?


1. Thanks.
2. Sucker.


So, who am I?


Well, Dave had me on his NFL.com podcast to be an NFL expert and represented me, this website, and my weekly podcast as YOUR source for Denver sports. While I am a hard core Broncos fan, I can't claim in reality to be that big of an expert, and Vertically Striped Radio is hardly a hard core sports show...


While we do talk a lot of sports on Vertically Striped Radio we're just as likely to discuss my persistent belief that New Hampshire doesn't exist, The theological implications of Admiral Ackbar, or spend an entire episode discussing The Mighty Ducks 2. (No seriously, we once did an entire episode on The Mighty Ducks 2.)


So, you might say I'm an odd duck, but I'm mostly harmless. I'm the kind of guy who puts a Lego representation of the Village People at my desk at work just because the weird looks from others amuse me.

As you may have deduced, I'm a pretty big Denver Broncos fan, and a fan of all the Denver teams, really. While I'm a huge sports fan, I also dig movies, indie music, and posting with the fellas over at the Dave Dameshek message board. (You should definitely go there, sign up, and start posting with the good people over there...if you aren't already.) www.Dameshek.com


If I appear to be the kind of odd that you could enjoy getting to know, you can check me out in a few different ways.


1. Subscribe to Vertically Striped Radio on iTunes. 

(Search for Vertically Striped Radio and subscribe to the LCS Hockey Show feed. You'll get VSR along with The LCS Hockey Show, The Ed Show, The No Name Show, and The Super Great Internet Show...lots of great programming each week.)


2. Follow me on Twitter. @socnorb777


3. Check out Craig Explains the Universe (The official Tumblr of Vertically Striped Socks)


Anyhow, thanks for stopping by, and until we meet again on the interwebs, Shalom and Good Evening to you all...

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 162 - 05-11-12 - Laker Hatred is Good and Natural

Feel the Laker hate flow through you! If only you knew the power of the dark side! Craig gives in to his feelings and gives a Magnificent Seven of why everyone should hate the Los Angeles Lakers. Also, he celebrates mothers and makes an odd music recommendation based on the theme of the show.

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 161 - 05-05-12 - I'll Have Another

Cinco de Mayo was in full effect, so naturally VSR celebrated by honoring Barney Fife, as if that made any sense whatsoever. (We wait until very late in the show to honor him, but it DOES happen.)


Mostly what went down on Episode 161 was a whole lot of sports talk. Face couldn't make it to the show, but The Whale called in early and we yapped a bit about the Kentucky Derby, and Craig and The Whale announced the horses they were supporting along with the horses they would cheer against...based almost entirely on the horse names, of course.


Elevation called in after the horse talk, and we began a long discourse on the NBA playoffs with brief interludes about Mad Men and The Walking Dead. We take a small break from that chatter to watch a rather exciting Kentucky Derby. After the horse race, we put in a call to Bruce Dodge who helps us break down the NBA a bit further.


 Craig wraps up the show with a music recommendation from The Faces of "Ooh La La" and then follows it up with a remake of the same tune. (Then the Barney Fife spectacular at the end.)

Grizzlies Basketball is FANtastic!

The excitement of Grizzlies Basketball cannot be overstated. Also, I love this kid.

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 160 - 04-28-12 -

With the NFL Draft, NHL and NBA Playoffs, and Baseball all going on, Craig had to talk a decent amount of sports with Face at the top of the show. After they got through the mandatory sports discussion, we ticketed some deserving Wankers and then Face and Craig went head to head in a Magnificent Seven list of our Top 7 NES Games.


The show finished up with our television correspondant Elevation called in and took a good chunk of the show discussing The Walking Dead. The guys even sneaked in a tiny bit of Mad Men talk before wrapping things up with a music recommendation of "Never Had Nobody Like You" from M. Ward.

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 159 - 04-21-12 - Bald is Beautiful

The show that killed Dick Clark keeps churning along. Things get a bit off the rails as Craig watches sports while doing the show. While trying to keep the show on track, we catch the tail end of Bruins-Capitals, we call the final few outs of a perfect game pitched in Seattle by the Chicago White Sox's Philip Humber, and Craig keeps his eye on a Nuggets victory in Phoenix which sealed a playoff berth for Denver. In between all that sports action, Craig and Face talk a good deal of...sports.


Despite the fact that things were pretty loosey-goosey, it was actually a pretty fun show. (And not entirely based around sports.) The Whale showed up as Face and Craig went head to head in the Magnificent Seven with Top 7 Bald Guys.


The show finished up with the Vertically Striped Radio television correspondant Elevation calling in and gabbing about Mad Men and The Walking Dead with Craig. We wrapped up with a music recommendation of "Same Thing" from the Barenaked Ladies.

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 158 - 04-14-12 - Out of control

After doing the first minute of the show on mute, Craig was kind of off for the entire show. Face was somewhat distracted watching the Bruins and Capitals, but somehow he managed to help break down the Death Pool contenders and pretenders.


Craig and Face spent some time breaking down the NHL playoffs, the oddness that is Darts as Spectator Sport in England, and Kelly Shoppach performing the worst slide into second base in the history of Major League Baseball.


Then the Ed called in and we quickly lost control. At one point we had Craig, Face, Ed, The Whale, Elevation and Nalax all on the line. Things started going nuts and Ed started comparing women to cars and demanding everyone's love life history. It was like the anchor fight in Anchorman...it really got out of hand fast.


We finished up with a recommendation of "No Way Down" from the new The Shins Album "Port of Morrow".

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 157 - 04-07-12

After a long time away, Craig decided to open with a Johnny Cash bang! We discussed our Dead Pool choices, Craig's dream of his non-existant iPad starting to inexplicably run Windows 95 and 26 Dollar Hot Dogs among other things.


The Ed dialed in and we rambled on with him for a bit, and he "played a tape" of Craig from the past when allegedly Craig hated Peyton Manning. The guys also chatted with Ed about the new Nike NFL uniforms and lamented the atrocious decison of the Seattle Seahawks new uniform choice.


Craig had a Magnificent Seven list of seven memorable things from his 2012 Road Trip to Tennessee, and Face and Craig finished up with an impromptu ranking of their Top 5 NFL logos. Also, Craig chastized Larry Fairish for his decision to talk bad about The Muppets movie despite not seeing the whole thing. The show finished up with Craig recommending "Montezuma" from The Fleet Foxes.