Didn't get home last night until well after 11 p.m. and I am still really tired today. The Denver Airport is slightly confusing. At first glance it looks like any airport with their different concourses however their security screener station in only in one area and it feeds all of these concourses.


I did get to experience something new. I know others would not be as fascinated as I was with this thing but I'm interested in technology and anything that could improve this screening process is great. I'm not entirely sure that this new thing I encountered is better but it is interesting.


Have you seen this?
It's called EntryScan and it works almost like a carwash with air. There's a green light that says please enter and you place your feet on the mat and then the machine proceeds to poof air at you. I'm sure it's taking all sorts of vital statistics of whether I have bomb residue on my body or shoes. The machine then pauses, calculates something and the clear plexiglass doors open.

Of course you then have to still take off your shoes and put them through another x ray machine but all in all it was kind of an interesting way of getting "searched". And I had a few minutes to kill anyhow as the Super Shuttle people insisted on a three hour pick-up window to get from the hotel to the airport.


As for the Crowne Plaza Denver City Center - the rooms were decent however the cleaning people really didn't do much but make the bed. When I got to Denver the salesperson left a little snack of cheese and crackers for me. I don't really like eating food that's been left out on a counter for very long...particularly cheese and so I ate a few crackers and the chocolate covered strawberries and left the cheese. Thinking of course that housekeeping would clear the plate the next day. They didn't for two days until I finally just placed the plate in the hallway. Is that traditionally what you have to do with room service? I don't order room service very often. The rest of the hotel was disgustingly dirty and the elevators were terribly slow. The inhouse restaurant was slow and expensive but typical for inhouse restaurants and the front desk staff also wasn't very responsive. (I had many issues with the approx. 34 rooms I had in our group and they weren't the most helpful or organized facility.)


Downtown Denver is interesting but I can't say I need to visit again anytime soon. It is a town like any other town with a lot of stores and restaurants and a whole lot of street beggars and homeless people. I felt particularly compelled by the man who every night set up his "bed" on the sidewalk directly opposite our hotel. Sprawled on the sidewalk like it was a posture-pedic matress at first I thought he was in trouble but every morning for the six mornings I was there he was in the same position. It's not like there was an awning or anything protecting him. Just an empty sidewalk. It made me sad.