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| The Parkers in Denver |
We escaped Texas in a white 1962 Ford, the singing poodle, two kids with a fever, and $100 from the damntexan's aunt
and uncle. The only way to travel.
After visiting Norwegian acquaintances in San Antonio and getting lost in Kansas (I never could read road maps), we drove
up I-25 and got to Denver. We crashed with a friend I'd met in New York a decade earlier, who took us in without asking one
question. Connie, a Greek, died at 50 the next year, but it was a funeral he would have loved, with folks from all over
the country coming in.
Startin' Over, Western Style
Connie helped us find an apartment, and I got a job, albeit for half the money I made in Norway and in Texas. We slept
on foam slabs like Haight-Asbury, I guess, but we made crepes that we ate on the sawhorse table.
Hated the job, but I met some good folks. One of them was setting up a new office, and eureka, I was an urban economist.
I looked at properties and figured out what the zoning would allow and what we should build. Wow, could I ever have used a
computer then.
Oops, Career Change
In the early '80s, the real estate market in Denver dove into oblivian right behind the oil folks. I dabbled in a bunch
of things, spending 14 months as dispatcher, then as assistant terminal manager for Greyhound. Learned more about life than
I cared to know.
Even did a few months selling insurance all around Colorado. Figured that they sent the old grease on to my next stop
from the restaurant I'd just eaten at. Got fond, however, of Rocky Mountain oysters.
Took a temp job and found myself supervising legal secretary to The Travelers' local legal firm. IBM delivered the dedicated
word processor on a holiday weekend, and I even read the manuals. I was in love.
After I transposed all the legal documents into computerese, they promoted me to claims adjuster, all lines, and sent
me to Chicago's Loop in the summer for two months to study. Never been so sweaty in my life.
Seems like insurance isn't a service. Didn't like the business, so back to square one after giving it a couple of years.
Politics and I never did get along. If the insurance industry ever started practicing the Golden Rule, they'd never collect
another premium.
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