skreidle | Oct. 31st, 2004

Headed out to Party City, picked up a Secret Agent Gun (That Goes Click!) to add to my costume, then Petsmart, then home, then to Steph and Matt's house around 1500, got my grandfather's fedora to add to my costume (black pinstripe suit, white shirt, grey/black tie, assorted rings, fedora, pistol, blue-lens wire-rim shades--got the mafia/gangster look goin' on, with a Russian accent for flavor. :) Got pictures taken by Matt, then went over to the parents' house to show dad, who also took pictures--posed at the piano, then posed by his 1951 car--before I headed up to Misty and Chris's party.

Many people present for the Housewarming Halloween, about half of whom I knew from previous events, most of the other half her coworkers from Roadrunner. Plenty of food and drink to be had, Karaoke Revolution (which I watched, but didn't play) and later DDR (which I did) downstairs, RHPS, Sealab 2021, and Ghostbusters upstairs, music in the graveyard/strobe/fog/blacklight-bedecked room.. much fun. :)

Then I had to drive home and fold lots of laundry, so I can now get a few hours sleep before getting up to prepare for a 12:25 flight.. good thing Daylight Saving Time is over, so I have that extra hour! (Else I'd get, you know, three hours of sleep instead of four. :P)

"Now there's a real man. There's nothing sexier than a man in a kilt." - Security check woman

:D

I'm none too pleased with United today. First, the flight cost more than Frontier ($492 vs. $272), there were no headphones in the seat-back pocket, my row was almost passed over on the first drink order, the "free" food consisted only of beverages and 1/2 oz. snack mix packets (vs. Frontier's whole box of assorted goodies); I paid $10 for the lunch box but had to ask to receive it some time later because she forgot; the window shade wouldn't slide down so I made to crate a makeshift shade from the safety brochure; and, the announcements were too loud and too curt.

The automated concourse/terminal train at DIA amused us when it chided the people interfering with the door in its pre-recorded way--"You are delaying this train's departure!" or similar. :)

The Hertz bus driver was quite genial, as last time, and so were my fellow riders, two of whom complimented my choice of Kerry/Edwards button on my backpack. (One was Canadian, but wished she had dual citizenship for this sort of occurrence.)

From Hertz, I got a Mazda 6, which pleased me greatly. It's their poster car for "mid-size," and I'd been wanting to try it out, but last time I got a Free Upgrade to a lame Buick Century. This time I got the zippy, stylish Mazda 6, which is comfortable, quick, well-appointed, and has an AutoStick transmission, which every automatic I'm to drive should have, IMO. :) (The Hertz woman tried to push me towards an SUV at $25/day extra or a sport wagon at $15/day extra, due to the incoming storm--that's right, it's in the 60s/70s in DC, and 50s with 2-4" snow in the forecast here in Denver--but a) I know how to drive on snow, b) the company won't cover what amounts to a 25-50% increase of the rental cost, and c) I'm told overnight Denver snow is usually gone by mid-day, if not mid-morning, at least around this time of year.)

By curious coincidence, I'm ~~in exactly~~ directly above the same hotel room as last time.