Reverend Routa Ramblings

Cold as the ice blue air A polar vortex (don’t you love it when I use weather terminology) hit the Denver area with a fury last night and this morning. The temperature dropped from 51 at 2:00 pm on December 21st to minus 24 (Fahrenheit) at 7:45 am on December 22nd. The windchill reached minus 42. The weather folks said it was the coldest day in the area in exactly 32 years. And it got me thinking – where was I 32 years ago?   On December 22, 1990 I was working for Arthur Andersen. One of my corporate clients was contemplating a complex reorganization and we had requested a “ruling” on the tax consequences from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS counsel had just informed us that they were likely to rule “adverse” but offered us an opportunity to meet with them the next day at IRS HQ in Washington D.C. to try and make our case.   I contacted my colleague in the Andersen National Office and we moved everything off our schedules to meet with IRS counsel. I scheduled my fligh

  A couch and a bone and life is good In honor of those who work for or volunteer with the many outstanding nonprofit organizations that make our world a better place, I wanted to share a story on Colorado Gives Day - -as a reminder to encourage generosity. In October 2016 four German Shepherd mix puppies were transferred to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley from Texas.  As the puppies played, the smallest, Joey, struggled to keep up and fell ill.   An ultrasound showed Joey had a life-threatening heart condition that restricted his esophagus.  HSBV provided corrective surgery to Joey via its partnership with the Colorado State University (CSU) Veterinary Teaching Hospital.  Joey spent two months recovering in a foster home and then appeared on HSBV’s adoption page.  HSBV described him as a bit of an alarmist and a great snuggler. I had lost my Labrador best friend at age 16 earlier in the year and was looking for a dog to adopt.  Joey’s story captivated me.  He was initially “on ho