Joseph Kirchmer:  

Life I'm currently unemployed. I have no girlfriend and no serious prospects. I live in Denver in a neighborhood called Congress Park. It's arguably one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city although I live in the somewhat downtrodden area. Within walking distance of my house there is a Swing Thai restaurant, a bar called the Recovery Room, a Starbucks, a 7-Eleven, Conoco gas station, Heidi's (sandwich deli), Subway, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Chipotle, Spicy Pickle (which isn't very good), some non-descript Chinese restaurant and a breakfast place called Annie's. There is a large hospital nearby called the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center which will completely uproot and move its operation to the Fitzsimons campus in Aurora by about 2010. That's the same hospital where former presidential candidate John Kerry was born. I voted for John Kerry as did most of the people who live in this city. Everybody here is a Democrat. All of our legislators from Denver are Democrats as is the mayor whose name is John Hickenlooper. Every city council member save for one is a Democrat. I know all of this because I was a reporter for a small newspaper here for a little over a year. It was the worst job I've ever had to endure. I made under $18,000 a year. I worked for a seriously obese man named Tad who probably weighed close to 500 lbs. He almost died when I was working there due to a blood clot in his leg which cut off circulation to the rest of his body. He had to be rushed to the hospital one night. Despite his near death experience, he continued to eat rather unhealthy foods. One day his meal consisted of some old bacon and a chocolate bar. He constantly raved about the Atkins Diet which he said helped him lose like 20 lbs. If he did lose any weight, I couldn't tell. I left that job to work for the Democratic party where I'm employed as a press secretary for the House Democrats. It's a sweet job. The actual legislative session lasts 120 days so I have to attempt to bri...Expand for more