So I’m here at my conference in Denver (motto: we're twice the size of Salt Lake, other than that, it's the same thing!) and I have quite a few thoughts. One is that for the first time, our organization has decided to get “hip” and use introductory music for the speakers. The problem is that it’s just strange. The music choices thus far have included The Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get It Started,” Coldplay’s “Clocks,” Tomoyasu Hotei’s “Battle for Honor or Humanity” (better known as the theme from Kill Bill), and Smashmouth’s “Hey Now, You’re an All-Star.” The intended audience is a group of people who are probably on average 20 years older than I am and the speakers include people like US Senators and people who go around the speaking circuit. It just seems out of place. Perhaps if they used something from the 70s or 80s – for example, when they introduced the guy who heads our PAC and asks for cash, I would have introduced him with Pink Floyd’s “Money” – or at least something that is tangentially related to what they do
Yesterday the city of Denver decided to shut down a seemingly random stretch of roads for the Race for the Cure. This included major thoroughfares and other side streets, leading me along a hedge maze of one way streets up and down and across LoDo. As a result I was stuck behind someone who was going 5-10 MPH because they didn’t have a clue and there wasn’t much option for me.
That brings me to my next thought: Denver’s got the slowest drivers in the nation. This is not a statistical sample, but it’s based on anecdotal evidence from my driving. I tell you what, I’ve gone along I-70 several times and nobody goes the speed limit. In Utah that means that if you are doing 65 you’re getting run down. In Denver it means that you’re passing everybody.
Note to Detroit: good design does not mean “make it quirky.” I’m renting a Dodge Nitro and it’s got quirks beyond belief. Give me my G35. It’s a straightforward car with clean lines and a very powerful and smooth engine.
Yesterday the city of Denver decided to shut down a seemingly random stretch of roads for the Race for the Cure. This included major thoroughfares and other side streets, leading me along a hedge maze of one way streets up and down and across LoDo. As a result I was stuck behind someone who was going 5-10 MPH because they didn’t have a clue and there wasn’t much option for me.
That brings me to my next thought: Denver’s got the slowest drivers in the nation. This is not a statistical sample, but it’s based on anecdotal evidence from my driving. I tell you what, I’ve gone along I-70 several times and nobody goes the speed limit. In Utah that means that if you are doing 65 you’re getting run down. In Denver it means that you’re passing everybody.
Note to Detroit: good design does not mean “make it quirky.” I’m renting a Dodge Nitro and it’s got quirks beyond belief. Give me my G35. It’s a straightforward car with clean lines and a very powerful and smooth engine.
4 comments:
What are you talking about with the "twice the size of Salt Lake" thing? Denver is clearly bigger than Salt Lake, but not twice the size. The Salt Lake Metro has 2.1 million and the Denver Metro has 2.9 million. That would make it one quarter bigger than salt lake (26%), but not even close to double the size. And Salt Lake has way more ski resorts than Denver does.
-JC, Walnut Creek, CA
I agree with JC. Its closer to the resorts to, perhaps twice as much closer. But I love Denver too. :)
It seems you caught Denver on a slump. Yes there are lots of really slow drivers out here, but it only seems to be a few days every few weeks, then suddenly everyone on I-70 and I-25 are averaging 80. As for the ski resort ratio and everything, I cannot comment, I do not know enough about Salt Lake. Maybe you will catch Denver on a good day next time you are coming through, I hope you do because this city is amazing. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to catch one of our insanely breath taking sunsets.
I think it depends on the size of the metro area. The greater Ogden-SLC-Provo metro area is about 2.1 million, but it's spread out a bit further than the Denver metro area. Denver definitely "seems" bigger than SLC, and not by a little bit. Salt Lake does have more resorts though (certainly more closer). I was in Denver on a slow day, and because I was just there for business I didn't get to see some of the sights that are out there. It did strike me as a lot like SLC (I'm in the greater SLC area, so it seemed very similar), but would love to give it a shot again.
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