Monday Convention Update

• News
• Monday, August 25, 2008

I have been out on the town all weekend, and I have some serious advice to offer all of the first time visitors to Denver.

1.  Don't wait on the side of the street waiting for a cab, it will not come!   This is not New York or London, and the chances of finding an empty cab at random in Denver are about as likely as a hurricane here.  My heart goes out to the camera man I met last night outside the Pepsi Center at the intersection of Speer and Auraria.  He was carrying a huge amount of gear and trying to get to his hotel 15 miles away.   Even after I informed him to give up all hope and call a cab, the dispather wouldn't budge unless he gave them a street address, either because, or in spite of the fact that he was at largest intersection in town.   Call a cab, preferablly from a hotel, and count yourself lucky if it shows up within a half an hour.

2.  Ditch the suit and tie!  Maybe it was appropriate on the convention floor, or in some official meeting, but nobody wears that stuff in Denver.   This is likely the most informal major city in the U.S.  Even the governor of Colorado holds press conferences without a tie, and I regularly see people wearing jeans to the symphony (all though I don't endorse that).  Walking around town with a jacket and tie on a Sunday night makes you look like you just came from a funeral.

3.  Don't even think about wearing cowboy boots, rodeo ties, or large belt buckles.  Nobody in Denver wears that stuff either.   Someone I met last night suggested that attire, but thankfully I haven't seen it, yet.

4. No power trips or gratuitous name dropping please.   Some guy I met last night went on and on about how he knew someone on some organizing committee that was going to get him into an event I went to in a bar.  It turns out that the event was open to the public, and the line was very short and fast.   When I introduced myself, he dismissed me as "just some local."   Sorry, this is Denver, not some town like the one in "Footloose".

 Another guy I met kept shouting about how he writes the law.   He was merely an aid to a state legislator.  Wow, does power corrupt!

That's all for now, but I will keep you updated as events progress.