The Colorado State Open Thread is open for everyone who is interested in our great state of Colorado (we never needed to make it “Great Again”). Please participate with your comments, your votes and we’ll keep publishing this every Monday evening at or around 7PM, as we are able.
I joined Daily Kos way back in 2006 as my sister had been sending me various diaries and I found I enjoyed reading the various authors. I was intrigued by the idea of having my opportunity to voice my opinions as well, but it took me awhile to move beyond comments to finally submitting my own diary. I joined because I had strong anti-George W. Bush opinions and I had read Markos’ book on Storming the Gates and I thought he had very good opinions. I met him at a book reading in Boulder and got him to sign the book for my sister. I joined when I did because I realized that I wanted to have a 5 digit User ID so mine is 92045. What I didn’t realize at that time was that a friend of mine, a minister, joined on the very same day. He no longer uses that account, because he changed jobs and was the head of the ACLU for Colorado until recently (not sure what he’s doing these days). When they had the sale on permanent memberships for DailyKos, I was planning on paying for my own but then I learned that Meteor Blades had included my ID for one of the permanent ones that he could give away. I paid for my minister to have the membership instead, but unfortunately I think that account is now fallow and he doesn’t get the benefit of the permanent membership anymore.
I have tried calculating how many comments per day I have averaged over the years. I think I have been averaging something over 8 per day, which is how I have managed to amass over 40,000 comments. I have had some recommended diaries over the years — I believe my first one was a series of photos of Colorado in the fall. My latest was just this last week, where I provided some humor that had no political content whatsoever. I do acknowledge that I spend way too much time on Daily Kos, reading diaries and posting answers. I generally try and have some snarkiness to answers, as well as lending any particular expertise, but I have on a couple of occasions also been given timeouts for what I’ve written. Those have usually been due to misunderstandings by me of what people meant on comments I’ve recommended, or on one occasion, I found out I had been bojo’ed and I couldn’t even get back in to see why. Fortunately, I think someone helped get me restored, but I never did find out about it. I really don’t want to lose my access, as this is very important to me. Overly so, and I perhaps may be about to lose a lot for my addiction to the site.
You folks have been my friends over the years and I really appreciate the comments, support and relationships I’ve gained. I tried once to dial back my participation, but that lasted only a little longer than a week. I still would love to have additional authors writing this Open Thread so I can read the opinions of others, learn more and not have this be a sort-of vanity column where I just speak at you folks. I have, in the past, asked you what type of diaries you’d like for this Open Thread and photos of Colorado, and stories of Estes Park won. Politics came in third. I can’t even recall what came in at a lower position, but there was a gap. I will continue with diaries to try and meet your request, but I’m sure you folks have photos, stories and more that you can contribute. Certainly, you don’t have to just read my drivel.
My opening of this pictured bottle was done on election night last November as I was learning that Joe Biden had the path towards victory. I wasn’t able to stay awake long enough to have him declared the winner, but I did as well as I could. I think I was awake until after 3AM. I can now break this bottle open again (it has been in the freezer) and have more drinks until the end of the Trump administration arrives. The roller coaster will continue until then, as well as afterwards — he’s incapable of going quietly, but I do hope he is impeached and, if not removed from office, at least banned from seeking further public office.
Please feel free to let us know your thoughts on the “wild” week that was, what you expect to happen over the next week, and please, please, let us know of things in your life that don’t have anything to do with Trump, Boebert, Covid or any other dismal things that might be on your mind, but let us know about the beautiful Colorado winter, show us any recent photos and if you care to, brag on how your history of comments and diaries have gone over your time at Daily Kos. I hope I’m not the only addict (hmmmm — maybe their should be a DailyKos Anonymous help group?). The floor is yours.