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Know Your Bike Paths — and Where to Get a Free Map of Them

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

It’s that time of the year–time to pull your bike out of storage. The weather is warming up, gas prices are still high, and there’s no harm in getting a little exercise before summer swimsuit season is upon us. But this year, there’s an added incentive for pulling your bike out of storage–this year, for the first time ever, you can get a free map of Denver’s bike routes. I know you’re shocked. But it is true. Now aren’t you glad you paid your taxes?

Denver’s bike map used to be sold for $5. But this year we have a new map produced by the Denver Public Works, Denver Parks and Recreation, Denver GIS, and Denver Community Planning and Development. Not only is the new map free, but it is being made easily accessible — you don’t have to stop by a Denver Public Works office to get one. Instead, you can pick one up at any Denver Rec center or at the City Council offices (next time you feel inclined to write an angry letter to your councilman or councilwoman, just stop by in person instead — that way you can pick up a bike map at the same time). You can also get a copy at Bike Denver and at most local bike shops.

But wait — it gets better. The newly improved, FREE Denver bike map is printed on water resistant paper. So if you tend to get sweaty when you’re biking (I know I do) or if you tend to spill the contents of your water bottle (I know I do) or if you simply tend to fall into a lot of puddles and ponds (I know I do!), worry no more. The paper will not smear or blotch and you will still be able to find your way back home again.

The new map even has a section explaining how to use bike hand signals, how to ride safely in traffic, and how Bike-n-Ride and Bike-on-Light-Rail works (something we’d all like to know).

Seriously, though, the new bike map is a great resource to have if you are going out to bike around Denver. While you are at it, take some time to do a quick safety check on your bike. Make sure the tires are full of air — the air tends to leak out when a bike is in storage. Fix any flat tires that you may have. (Bike Denver has a website explaining how.) Check that the wheels, handlebars, and seat of the bicycle are all securely fastened to the bike’s frame. To be certain of that, tighten any bolts that need tightening.

When you ride your bike, make sure that you wear a helmet, and at night, use a headlight, rearlight, and reflectors. Wear light-colored clothing at night as well, to make it easier for drivers to see you. A bicyclist or pedestrian in dark clothes can be almost invisible to the driver of a car or truck at night. Also, make sure that you follow the same rules of the road that motorists use. The rules of driving also apply to bikes.

And, if you need to fill up the space in your storage unit that is being vacated by your bike, just bring in your sleds, toboggans, skis, ski poles, ice skates, snowboards, and the like — we will make room!

Happy biking.

Tags: bicycle, bicycle maintenance, bike, bike maintenance, bike map, City Council, Denver, Denver Community Planning and Development, Denver GIS, Denver Parks and Recreation, Denver Public Works, free, self storage, storage, tips, water resistant
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Let’s JAM, Everybody! How to Care for — and Store — Your Sax

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

I’m sure you realize that this month is Jazz Appreciation Month. This is one month when any instrument that you may play certainly does not belong in storage. Pull it out of storage and let’s JAM!

If you do need to store an instrument, though — when you are done jamming — you’ll want to take good care of it, so we’re offering this series of tips on how to store musical instruments, with an emphasis on jazz-related instruments.

This time — how to store your sax (for some wonderful commentary on saxophone-playing in general, see http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/saxophone.html, and for pictures of parts of the packing process, see http://www.cybersax.com/packsax.html):

When you are done playing a saxophone, you will want to dry it out (they have a tendency to get wet, and all that moisture can rot the leather pads in a sax and may even corrode the metal). The first step is to remove the sax’s neck, and then remove the mouthpiece.
Use a neck swab to absorb any moisture that may be left in the neck.
Then use a cleaning swab to swab out the rest of the interior of the instrument. Lower the end of the swab with the weight on it slowly into the bell of the horn and allow the end with the patch of silk or leather to follow it. Turn the saxophone over, allowing the swab to travel through the instrument’s body and out the other end.
Using a soft cloth, wipe down the outside of the instrument, taking care to remove any moisture. Take care to also remove any fingerprints or anything else that could corrode the finish.
Once the saxophone is clean, turn your attention to the mouthpiece and reed. Wash them in warm running water, and then use a mouthpiece brush to clean out the inside of the mouthpiece.
Make sure that the entire saxophone is dry before you store it.
To store the saxophone, use its case. This seems obvious, but it is an important step, because it helps to protect the sax from dents that may come from unexpected falls. You wouldn’t, for example, want to store a saxophone out in the open on a bookshelf, or leaning against a wall, because it could fall off, or be knocked down as you move other things, and be damaged. Dents are expensive to repair and can change the way the saxophone sounds.
You may want to store the saxophone with neck snakes (wire rods covered with fluff) to absorb any remaining moisture, but if so, you may want to take the saxophone out of storage periodically and dry the neck snakes.
You should also put a neck plug in the saxophone while it is in storage–partly because storing instruments usually also involves moving them, and moving your saxophone in its case means that you might jar the neck into hitting the top of the case, which can damage the octave mechanism or the neck screws. Putting the neck plug in will prevent this kind of damage. A new saxophone will come with a neck plug, but if you have lost yours, you can get a new one from a music store — they are not expensive. You can also make your own by wrapping utility tape around a cork from a wine bottle.
Put all of the sax’s accessories into plastic bags. Wrap the mouthpiece separately, and then bag it along with the ligature, cap, strap, and reeds. Wrap the neck by itself in a soft cloth.
The accessories, in their bag, can be placed inside the saxophone case’s utility compartment. If there is none, wrap the accessories in bubble wrap and put them in a separate box.
Fill any leftover empty space in the utility compartment with soft packing materials, but don’t overfill it. You should be able to shut the door to the compartment easily.
Before you place your sax in its case, you may want to line the case with bubble wrap, and lay the instrument on the wrap. This will provide it with extra protection while it is being moved.
Check to make sure that no part of the instrument can move up and down in its case while it is being moved. If the instrument is still moving somewhat, add pieces of styrofoam or other packing material to prevent movement.
Cover the saxophone with a second layer of bubble wrap.
Close the case. Then put the entire case inside a cardboard box with plenty of soft packing material or packing “peanuts.” Then seal the box with packing tape, and label it.
Finally, take your saxophone to a storage facility that offers climate-controlled units, to further protect your instrument from damage caused by humidity. You may want to insure your instrument as well. Extra Space offers affordable insurance policies to cover the contents of your unit.

For more tips on how to store musical instruments, see “How to Store Musical Instruments,” at the national Extra Space site.

Tags: care, Denver, JAM, Jazz Appreciation Month, saxophone, self storage, storage, tips
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Denver’s Management Drain

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

According to the Denver Business Journal (“Right Management: 14% of Denver job seekers left town to find a job in 2009,” Denver Business Journal, Feb. 24, 2010), 14 percent of mid- to senior-level employees who were looking for work in 2009 had to leave town to find it. The statistic came from Right Management, a talent mangement company owned by Manpower, which surveyed the 3,000 or so managers in Colorado and across the Midwest who it helped with career transitions in 2009.

When I first read that statistic, it sounded appalling. Fourteen percent? That’s one seventh of Denver’s unemployed managers!

Then I realized Denver’s relocation rate exactly matched the national average — and neither statistic has changed over the last couple of years, despite the recession. Besides, even though some Denver managers are leaving (okay, one out of seven at the upper levels), at the same time, some managers are moving to Denver to get jobs — they’re relocating away from other cities. All that really tells us is that we live in a society in which moving around is not uncommon.

Just another case of the media blowing a nonstory out of proportion.

The story I’m waiting for is the story on entrepreneurs making jobs for themselves by starting, or buying, small businesses — like self-storage facilities….

Tags: Denver, managers, relocation, Right Management, survey
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Small Business Advice: Save Money By Lowering Overhead

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Some Denver businesses have found a way to ride out the economic downturn without going out of business — they have managed to reduce overhead by downsizing. The biggest overhead expense for many businesses, especially service businesses, is rent. There are three ways to reduce rent expenses, if you are a business: move to a less expensive location, move to a smaller location, or run your business out of your home. Increasingly, many entrepreneurs are choosing to do the latter. Working from home works well for:

professionals whose clients do not need much face-to-face time in an office, or who can meet clients in the client’s office, such as lawyers, accountants, writers, editors, and consultants
people who run service businesses where they see only one client at a time, such as massage therapists, health care practitioners, veterinarians, tutors, pet groomers and petsitters, private investigators
people who run businesses in which the essential work of the business goes on off-site in response to a call, such as plumbers, air conditioning/heating repairworkers, construction work contractors and subcontractors, and information technology specialists
people who run businesses that are Internet-based
people who run businesses that don’t depend on customers who wander in off the street on impulse while shopping
people who run retail businesses with sales that are based on home parties or personal connections, like Tupperware, Usborne Books, or Young Living Essential Oils

It isn’t necessary to have a lot of extra space in your home to shift your business to your home. You need to have enough room for your day-to-day work, of course. But inventory and supplies can be stored off-site, in a nearby self-storage unit. At Extra Space, we have professionals who use self-storage to hold the files they need to archive, retailers who use our units to hold inventory, salespeople who use our space to hold samples, and repairmen who use self-storage to hold tools that they need but do not use daily. It can be a big relief to stop writing a monthly check for office rent in addition to the rent or mortgage payment check that you write for housing. For some small business owners, self-storage is the creative solution that saved their businesses. Think about it.

Tags: archives, Denver, economy, expenses, files, home office, inventory, overhead, saving money, small business, working at home
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Self-Storage Association Comes Full Circle

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Have you heard that the national Self Storage Association is going to hold its spring convention and trade show right here in Colorado? Not in Denver, which would be very nice too, but in Colorado Springs. What’s so cool about that is that the SSA was founded in Colorado, 35 years ago — in 1975! NOT in Colorado Springs, by the way, but here in Denver.

It’s nice when people remember their roots.

Times were different back then. Self-storage was something new, and there wasn’t enough of it to keep up with the demand. You could say the words “self storage” to people, and they would probably think you were talking about cleaning out your closets or hauling stuff up to the attic. Self-storage owners didn’t use computers to organize their businesses — we did bookkeeping the old-fashioned way back then, by using books! If you needed to find storage here in Denver, you couldn’t use Google. Imagine that. You couldn’t use Google. You had to haul out the phone book and let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages. Whose fingers walk anymore? We let our fingers do the typing, these days! And we spent more time designing our business cards than we did designing our websites — back then, we thought websites were the dusty corners of the office that needed to be swept out. Online reservations? Nope — in those days, we picked up the phone and called local businesses, and our calls were usually answered by humans. We didn’t “network” — we just went out and talked to people. Yes, those were different times.

Doesn’t that make you wonder how the world will be different 35 years from now?

Welcome home, SSA.

Tags: anniversary, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Denver, founding, history, national, Self Storage Association, spring convention, trade show
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Hickenlooper Visits Sacramento

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Our illustrious leader went abroad this week to confer with the head of a foreign nation. Well, actually Hickenlooper didn’t go that far. He went to Sacramento to chat with Sacramento’s mayor, Kevin Johnson. Did you know that Sacramento is “almost a sister city” to Denver? Hickenlooper says so. It turns out that Denver is a big sister to Sacramento, providing little sister Sacramento with a role model to follow. I told you Denver is the best place in the world to live.

The fascinating thing about Hickenlooper’s and Johnson’s discussion was that they had so much to say about space. I love watching politicians discover that the same principles you and I use in everyday life, like the Feng Shui strategies we use to declutter and organize our homes and set up our living rooms, can also be applied to public life, such as when officials are making decisions about how to organize large public spaces. Hickenlooper explained to Johnson that Sacramento could revitalize its downtown area by copying the decisions about space that Denver has made.

Just like the space in my living room, where I try to keep clutter at a minimum so traffic can freely flow around the coffee table, Hickenlooper notes that Denver’s traffic flows freely — especially now that we fill every pot hole within 24 hours (he said it, I didn’t) and are building the new Denver Union Station. Just like my living room, which abounds in designated places to play — cozy chairs to read in, a train table for the kids, a place to put your feet up and relax — Denver has designated play areas, Coors Field, the Pepsi Center, Invesco Field, our museums, concert halls, restaurants. There is a place for everything and everything in its place. The space is warm (it’s a metaphor, I know it’s freezing outside, work with me here) and inviting. I give people advice like this every day when they ask me how to declutter and figure out what should go where. (Hey, maybe I should run for Governor!)

It’s good to know that even if Sacramento copies our downtown, it will never be Denver. Hickenlooper should keep that in mind now that he’s campaigning for governor — and yes, our leader’s speech did sound suspiciously like something he might be recording for a future television ad. Um, Mr. Mayor, the votes are here in Colorado. Just so you know. Even if Sacramento does manage to turn into a Denver clone. But Johnson promised us, “We don’t want to be Denver. We want to take the things that Denver is doing well.” He just wants to put Sacramento at the top of the list of Americans’ favorite cities — a spot Denver frequently holds.

Now, doesn’t that make you feel proud?

Tags: declutter, Denver, Hickenlooper, Kevin Johnson, Sacramento, sister city, space
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Denver Small Businesses Deserve a Rating of A

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Colorado is a great place to do business. Ask anyone.

Toward the end of 2009, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, which rates the states on how friendly their legislative policies are to small business, gave Colorado a rating of 8th. That means that out of the 50 states, Colorado was the 8th most friendly to small businesses — up from 10th in 2008 and 11th in 2007.

In September, the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based group, called Colorado’s tax system the 13th most friendly to business in general. Our sales tax runs a little high but our property taxes tend to be low. The same month, Forbes ranked Colorado as the 4th best state for business in America. In fact, Forbes rates us number 1 when it came to labor supply — I knew Coloradans were the best workers in the country!

And Denver is even better than the rest of Colorado — we’re the third best city for business, according to studies done by Market Watch (a division of Dow Jones) in 2008 and 2009.

So why are we so down on ourselves? The Denver Business Journal says that its readers, rating their OWN businesses, gave themselves low grades. Twenty-six percent of DBJ readers gave themselves a C grade, 20 percent gave themselves a D, and 14 percent gave themselves an F. Only 14 percent gave themselves an A.

Business owners of Denver, please. Give yourselves the credit you deserve. You work hard every day. I know self-storage operators work hard — and we do a good job, too. This is no time for false modesty–I think we deserve an A. And you do, too.

Tags: business climate, DBJ, Denver, Denver Business Journal, grade, legislative policies, self storage, small business, taxes
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Denver Commercial Real Estate Market on Slow Upswing

Friday, January 8th, 2010

I knew that if we hung in there a little longer, Denver would start to ease out of the recession. According to today’s Denver Business Journal, that is exactly what’s happening.

According to Paula Moore of the DBJ, L.A. real estate brokerage firm Grubb & Ellis has had its eye on Denver. L.A.’s brokers are predicting that Denver’s commercial real estate market will slowly start to recover this year — ahead of the national commercial real estate market, which may not start to come back up until 2011. That is not much consolation for homeowners who are still struggling with the residential real estate market, but it is good news for entrepreneurs like those of us in the self-storage industry. So cheer up, homeowners, because if business starts to improve, there should eventually be more buyers out there with money to buy your homes.

If entrepreneurs and investors start buying and renting more commercial space in Denver for businesses, that tells me two things. First, consumers must be spending money in Denver again — or there would be no demand for these new businesses. Secondly, those new businesses will bring jobs, so Denver’s unemployment rate should go down — and the newly employed will start spending money again, too. These have to be good things for Denver’s economy. We’re still in the early days…but we are getting there.

Denver entrepreneurs, investors, operators of self-storage facilities and other small businesses, and all of our customers who want us to continue to be here providing excellent service — let’s all breathe a sigh of relief. Better times are on their way.

And, to all of those businesspeople out there who are investing in commercial real estate in order to start or expand a business — bear in mind that if you need a place to store excess inventory, supplies, and equipment, you can always come to Extra Space Storage.

Tags: business, commercial real estate market, Denver, Denver Business Journal, economic recovery, entrepreneurs, Extra Space Storage, investors, recession, self storage, unemployment
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Why Are Colorado Public Housing Agencies So Slow to Spend Public Funds?

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

When you work in the self-storage business, you find out how people are doing economically. In good times, people rent self-storage units because their cups overfloweth, so to speak–they have too much, more than they even have room for in their homes. In bad times, people rent self-storage units because they have nowhere to live. They put their stuff in storage. Then they go and sleep on a couch in the home of a relative or friend. It’s a hard situation–especially when you consider that some people don’t have friends or relatives with an extra couch to sleep on or the tolerance to let someone — or several someones — camp out in the living room for an indefinite period of time. This is happening to too many people these days — to people who are trying to pay off student loans for college tuition that has skyrocketed over the last 30 years, to men who are trying to make child support payments even after losing a job or after watching their small businesses decline in the recession, to single moms who are trying to pay off credit card bills working part-time while the kids are in school, to people who have had to live off their credit cards while trying to find work, to people who are trying to support elderly or disabled relatives or who have given up full-time jobs and are working part-time in order to care for relatives who need their help.

My heart goes out to all of those people, people who are all doing their best to make the most of a bad situation. Losing your housing may be the hardest challenge of all, especially for families with young children who must impose on relatives to give them a place to stay, or go to a shelter.

All that being said, I do not understand why Colorado’s public housing agencies are not spending the money the federal government gave them, to use in developing more low cost housing that could help to alleviate some of these issues. The Denver Post reported today that out of nearly $18 million in Recovery Act formula grants given to them by the federal government this year, Colorado public housing agencies have spent only $2.8 million so far.

There are only two days left in the year! When is that money going to get spent?

Other states, apparently, are spending their housing money to develop new public housing. The federal government’s General Accounting Office says that Colorado is spending federal money more slowly than the average state.

The Denver Housing Authority is moving especially slowly, having spent only $795,000 out of the $7.8 million it was allocated. It says it will spend the money by March. Well, that’s just fine, Denver Housing Authority. I’m sure that families in need of housing won’t mind making do for another three months…

Extra Space is happy to provide self-storage units for families who need someplace to put things while they stay with friends and wait for housing. We are always glad to have their business, and we won’t charge rent for storage space for the first month. Still, as happy as we are to provide storage for families, I’d rather see those families living in their own homes. I’m looking forward to the day when families need storage again because their cups overfloweth…not because they can’t afford a cup in the first place.

Tags: Denver, GAO, General Accounting Office, housing agencies, public housing, recession, self storage, stimulus funds
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Storing Elk Meat

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

There was an interesting fitness column in the Post yesterday–pointing out that elk meat can be healthier to eat than most red meat, because, after all, it is free range meat, so it contains less fat. The same thing is true for deer, which are still in season. Meat harvested from wild game is also higher in omega-3 fatty acids than ordinary red meat that you might find on a cow.

Still, there is a lot of meat on an elk, or even on a deer. If you happen to get one, you can share the meat with family and friends. But you may still have a lot left over–more than will fit in the average freezer. You could buy a second freezer, but another option is to put your meat in a climate-controlled self storage freezer unit.

If you hunt (maybe with those guns that you may be storing in a self-storage unit), you may also want to keep your gear in self-storage. A small self-storage unit is a great place to stow your gear until your next hunting trip. If you usually camp, you may need a place to store camping gear, as well as everything you’ll need to clean and field-dress your elk. You may even need to store an upright freezer and a generator, so that you can freeze your meat right away, or a heater, to use in the field at night.

Here is a list of items that you might want to keep packed and ready in storage, so that you are prepared for your next hunting trip:

backpack
flashlights and extra batteries
binoculars or scope
knives and sharpener
boots
bug dope
bullets
camera/film
camp shoes
camp cook kit
camp utensils
camp stove
candles
compass
cotton shirt/lightweight pants
day pack
duct tape
duffel bag
emergency space blanket
face camo
fire starter
first aid kit
tent
garbage bags
gloves
GPS locator
ground cloth
gun cleaning kit
heat net
heavy waterproof coat
hip books
hunter orange hat/vest
ID/birth certificate/hunting license
lantern
lashing straps
leatherman tool
light jacket
long sleeve camo/t-shirts
long johns
maps
matches
meat bags
meat saw
mole skin for feet
nylon rope — about 100′
orange flapping tape
wool pants
paper towels
pen and paper
radio
rain gear
range finder
rifle case
rifles/bows/muzzleholder
saddle bags
safety pins
scope covers
sewing kit
wool shirts
shooting sticks (bipod)
signal mirror
sleeping bag and pad
socks for several days
spotting scope
stocking hat
wool sweater
tent patching kit
tire chains
toilet items and toilet paper
underwear
warm hat with earflap
water jugs
window mount spotting scope

You can probably think of other things that you feel you need. As my brother and father learned, if you leave your hunting gear at home, sooner or later it will get scattered throughout the house. The flashlights will get taken to use in power outages. The extra toilet paper will be long gone before your next trip. Worst of all is the possibility that kids, even if they are teenagers, will find your hunting rifles and decide to practice loading them. That’s an accident waiting to happen. The best solution is to put all that stuff in storage so you can find it all when you need it. That way you won’t end up scouring the house for hours trying to find your spotting scope.

But please, do wash your hunting clothing before you store it in a self-storage unit or anywhere else. Do I have to explain why? Make sure that you do not leave out this essential step! Your family will thank you…

Tags: climate-control, Colorado, deer, Denver, elk, freezer, gear, hunting, meat, self storage, store
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Extra Space in Your Community

Posts Tagged ‘Denver’