Friday, March 20, 2009

Wow, nearly a week since my last post!

Welcome to Spring. The weather this "winter" in Denver has been extremely mild. I don't know this for a fact, but I would venture a bet that this winter is in the top 10 of 70+ degree days. Since it's Spring, we still expect a few large snowstorms, but literally, I think most snow's we have had this year barely warranted shoveling because of the quick melt offs or general paltry volume in first place. It's supposed to be in the 70's all weekend with a 76 on Sunday. Nice.

I was at a business conference in Los Angeles the first half of this week and thanks to Frontier airlines cancelling my flight I got to spend an "extra" 6 hours sitting in LAX. That was fun. Does anyone else suspect that when flight is not full that they cancel it, call it a "mechanical" and make everyone sit around and wait so that they don't waste gas or something? My last two flights home from CA (both on Frontier) should have been 3 hour journeys but turned in to 11 hours. It did give me some time to figure out things like "mobile uploads" of photos to my Facebook account and some catch up time on emails. On the upside, I watched "The 40 year old Virgin" on TBS on the plane and got a few laughs. That movie, if you have not seen it, is hilarious in parts. Crude, but hilarious. I was LOL several times, which I needed after my long day, though i'm sure people were wondering about me. I'll say that the sensors for that movie on TBS had their work cut out for them (no pun intended.) If you are offended by bad language and crude humor do not watch this movie, you will be very offended. I loved it, so that gives you sense of my sense of humor, I guess.

Some ratings from my trip:
Hyatt Century Plaza: B-: Great friendly people, Comfortable rooms. Great outdoor seating, nice spa/gym. Only downside: Expensive: $10.50 for a vodka tonic, $18 for an overcooked burger? Come on people, that's not nice, don't you know there's a recession going on?
Restaurant: Toscana: A: Great service, Great Food (I had the short ribs...they were OMG good.) Also a bit pricey but in this case worth it. Had a phenom Super Tuscan, wish I got the name.
Restaurant: Houston's: C. Decent Martini, but my Halibut was overcooked.
Frontier: D-: They were fine on the trip out there, but a 5+ hour delay and then an offer to "comp" my TV 20 minutes into the flight after I had already swiped my credit card didn't seem like much of a mea-culpa. It happens, I know.
Viper room: B: Pretty cool place, not crowded on St. Paddy's day, but then again, not exactly an Irish pub either. The "band" was WEIRD. A bunch of people wearing B&D style masks with markings making them look like some kind of Aliens. Annie Lennox "sweet dreams" kind of pants/shirts w/ suspenders. All very butch. The singer had a great voice though I couldn't understand word 1 of what she was saying. It was sort of a techno vibe thing though so that's not surprising. Either way, it was, shall we say ... Interesting. Also, the doorman was clueless. We asked them if there was a band and he said no. Then we got in and the "no band" was two bands and a DJ in the "DJ performer" sense. On the other hand it wasn't like a "band" it was more like performance art with music. Also, what's with the DJ raising his hand to the crowd when he changes a beat? Then the crowd cheers? It's not like he just ripped off a massive, complex guitar solo or something. OOOOH...he flicked a switch or pushed a button at "just the right time!" WOW! whatever...

Thanks to Phil for coming all the way from TN to look after H in my two night absence (that turned into the better part of 3) and to Mike for picking me up at the airport at the late hour.

What does all this have to do with ALS? Nothing really, but I had a bit of a break this week, so I thought I'd give you one too. As I have not posted for a week, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still out here and doing OK. It was nice for me to get away and catch up with business associates, a lot of whom I count as friends and to meet some new people as well.

Peace,
B.