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Interesting bits of airport, mall, food, and parking
0950MT:
Denver International Airport has some interesting artistic stylings, just to make things a little more interesting. In addition to the colorful tile designs on many of the floors, 1) the path from the gates to the baggage claim (down a hall, around a corner, up an escalator, down another hall) is led by a series of colorful paper-airplane-style steel airplanes suspended from the ceiling, 2) at least the automated train between the concourses has, along one wall of the tunnel, a series of ~8" steel propellors mounted to the wall such that they spin as the train breezes by, and 3) in the middle of one atrium, there's a huge abstract sculpture modeled on a railroad theme.
Come to think of it, the Park Meadows Mall--near my hotel, and where I had lunch with Jay, Jacob, and Jim yesterday--was really nice. The food court, at least, was floored, walled, and decorated with cut stone; the ceiling was at least 50 feet overhead, all finished wood beams and steel; in the middle was an enormous 4-sided stone fireplace.. even the parking garage outside--offering valet parking, incidentally--was decorated in cut stone. Very stylish, very southwestern.
(DIA does offer AT&T Wireless internet, but I don't feel like paying $9.99 for 24 hours of access, one of which I'll be able to use. While the company might expense it, I don't really have a legitimate business need for the connection.)
12:11MT:
Frontier continues to do a good job with the strange food offerings. In addition to a bag of Sun Chips (not strange), the options were wraps: Thai chicken, Greek beef, or veggie/mushroom. The Thai chicken wrap was a wheat wrap, containing chicken, penne pasta, lettuce, green pepper, grated white cheese, raisins, mandarin oranges, and a white sauce. Tasty! But strange.
18:30ET:
Turns out the railroad sculpture (which also includes a globe mosaic) was in Concourse A, so I got some photos. Also got some photos of a nifty mosaic on the floor elsewhere in the concourse--images of people from a bird's-eye view, as one might see from the second floor where I took pictures of them. :D
On the parking shuttle at Dulles, the driver explained how it is that your car can be located if you lose it: When you get your ticket, at least three cameras photograph your license plate, indexing it in a database against your ticket. Then, every night at midnight, a fleet of attendants traverse the entire set of parking lots--no mean feat, there has to be at least a square mile of parking, if not more--scanning every license plate present. Thus, it's a simple task for them to locate your car if you lose it. An interesting bonus of this somewhat Big Brotherly system is that if you try to drive a car out--say, one you stole--which doesn't match your lot ticket, it immediately notifies the police, whose office is in the parking system. (As an interesting aside, apparently a lot of stolen cars are dumped in Dulles's parking lots.)
Uneventful drive home, though a) the dogs shredded part of the couch yet again--cushion on the floor, foam all over it--and I'm pretty sure the dishes in the sink are the same ones that were there when I left a week ago, plus more. :P (Also, though the A/C is set of 72, the living room (where the thermostat resides) reads 78, and the office upstairs reads 86. :P)
Update, 20:00: Yes, the mold and mildew indicate that they were indeed the same dishes. Gah.
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profworm: Our political opinions do not come as a kit. Why should they? Then people would have to think, and listen!
Denver International Airport has some interesting artistic stylings, just to make things a little more interesting. In addition to the colorful tile designs on many of the floors, 1) the path from the gates to the baggage claim (down a hall, around a corner, up an escalator, down another hall) is led by a series of colorful paper-airplane-style steel airplanes suspended from the ceiling, 2) at least the automated train between the concourses has, along one wall of the tunnel, a series of ~8" steel propellors mounted to the wall such that they spin as the train breezes by, and 3) in the middle of one atrium, there's a huge abstract sculpture modeled on a railroad theme.
Come to think of it, the Park Meadows Mall--near my hotel, and where I had lunch with Jay, Jacob, and Jim yesterday--was really nice. The food court, at least, was floored, walled, and decorated with cut stone; the ceiling was at least 50 feet overhead, all finished wood beams and steel; in the middle was an enormous 4-sided stone fireplace.. even the parking garage outside--offering valet parking, incidentally--was decorated in cut stone. Very stylish, very southwestern.
(DIA does offer AT&T Wireless internet, but I don't feel like paying $9.99 for 24 hours of access, one of which I'll be able to use. While the company might expense it, I don't really have a legitimate business need for the connection.)
12:11MT:
Frontier continues to do a good job with the strange food offerings. In addition to a bag of Sun Chips (not strange), the options were wraps: Thai chicken, Greek beef, or veggie/mushroom. The Thai chicken wrap was a wheat wrap, containing chicken, penne pasta, lettuce, green pepper, grated white cheese, raisins, mandarin oranges, and a white sauce. Tasty! But strange.
18:30ET:
Turns out the railroad sculpture (which also includes a globe mosaic) was in Concourse A, so I got some photos. Also got some photos of a nifty mosaic on the floor elsewhere in the concourse--images of people from a bird's-eye view, as one might see from the second floor where I took pictures of them. :D
On the parking shuttle at Dulles, the driver explained how it is that your car can be located if you lose it: When you get your ticket, at least three cameras photograph your license plate, indexing it in a database against your ticket. Then, every night at midnight, a fleet of attendants traverse the entire set of parking lots--no mean feat, there has to be at least a square mile of parking, if not more--scanning every license plate present. Thus, it's a simple task for them to locate your car if you lose it. An interesting bonus of this somewhat Big Brotherly system is that if you try to drive a car out--say, one you stole--which doesn't match your lot ticket, it immediately notifies the police, whose office is in the parking system. (As an interesting aside, apparently a lot of stolen cars are dumped in Dulles's parking lots.)
Uneventful drive home, though a) the dogs shredded part of the couch yet again--cushion on the floor, foam all over it--and I'm pretty sure the dishes in the sink are the same ones that were there when I left a week ago, plus more. :P (Also, though the A/C is set of 72, the living room (where the thermostat resides) reads 78, and the office upstairs reads 86. :P)
Update, 20:00: Yes, the mold and mildew indicate that they were indeed the same dishes. Gah.
By
profworm: Our political opinions do not come as a kit. Why should they? Then people would have to think, and listen!
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And no doubt Tom Ridge himself personally reviews the records each morning for any discrepancies, keepin us safe from all those terrists and folk singers.
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Interesting note: the mall, which is technically in the Littleton/Highlands Ranch area, was built right after the Columbine massacre, and rumor has it that it was built using money donated to Littleton b/c of the tragedy. I mean, Littleton is like the wealthiest suburb of Denver, so I guess they really didn't need the money for anything else, but... ((shrugs))
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Very nice mall, though. :)
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Yuck, maybe he needs to room with
And that's nifty re: the parking/scanning thing.
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I thought it was pretty cool. It came up because we were discussing some things about parking at that airport--one guy's dad (also on the bus) had only previously flown in a Piper Cub in high school, some ~50 years ago, and thus various Dulles-related topics came up, including the "find your lost car" bit and how they might do it. At that point, the bus driver explained all the details. :)
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I didn't know/forgot you had a dishwahser, then there is really no excuse. I admit I get lazy at times re: dishes but they;re only there 24 hours max, and that's usualyl soaking at least so it's not congealed when I do get unlazy.
I thought it was pretty cool. It came up because we were discussing some things about parking at that airport--one guy's dad (also on the bus) had only previously flown in a Piper Cub in high school, some ~50 years ago, and thus various Dulles-related topics came up, including the "find your lost car" bit and how they might do it. At that point, the bus driver explained all the details. :)
I'd like something along those lines for the mall, though there I prop the sunroof open and can spot it that way
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My truck is uniquely beat up, brown and white, and on the tall side--not too hard to spot. :D
Remote control locks (which flash lights and beep horn) are also good for finding your vehicle, if you're relatively close. :)
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I use the remote trick for mom's car--hers also sets off an 'alarm' mine doesn't make enough noise to be picked out from general parking lot din.
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