Finally...! My Trip, Part 2 - DENVER
Previously, in Jason's LiveJournal...
I was really excited to be going out to Denver again. Tom is one of my oldest and best friends. I've known the guy since junior high school! When he told me that he was going to be graduating from the Art Institute of Colorado, I knew I had to be out there for it.
Except for a slight delay in Cincinnati, my flights were pretty uneventful. I arrived in Denver just after 6PM mountain time (gained two hours), and Tom met me at the airport. By that time, the large Polish breakfast I'd had in New York City seemed like a distant memory! We swung by Tom's apartment to pick up his girlfriend, Liana, and then we all headed out to Maggiano's Little Italy. The place was like a castle; easily 5 times bigger than any other Italian restaurant I've seen. And the food... Delicious! I splurged and we got the fried mozzarella appetizer. One of the best I've ever had! You could have rolled me out of there.
Maggiano's Little Italy, Denver, CO
The next morning, Tom and I got up early (6AM). After we got ready, we went over to the Colorado Convention Center. Tom's school had reserved two of the large ballrooms; one for the students' displays and the other for their graduation ceremony.
There's something you don't see every day... This was outside the building.
I tried to dress up (button down shirt and pants), but quickly realized that it wasn't been necessary. Art schools...! :-P Tom set up a base for himself in the multimedia graphics section.
He had a laptop that was continuously playing his demo reel DVD. I gotta say, I was impressed. I've always loved computer graphics and could tell that Tom put a lot of time into his animations. Tom has very graciously allowed me to upload his reel to YouTube so I could share it with all of you. :-)
I kept Tom company for most of the morning but occasionally would wander off so I could see the other exhibits. That school produces some talented artists! Many fields were represented, including Interior Design, Photography, Video Production, and Culinary Arts. It reminded me a lot of Seminole Futures (the Florida State career fair), only backwards. Instead of the students looking at their prospective employers' exhibits, they were the ones on display. Near Tom's section, they had a big screen TV set up that was continuously playing all the students' demo reels. I went over to gauge the public's reactions. One thing became very clear - Tom's "running hammer" was a big hit, especially with the kids! :-P As for Tom himself, he talked to everyone who came by his station and even made a few contacts with some architectural firms. I imagine those guys are always looking for 3D modelers.
The graduation ceremony was that afternoon, in the next ballroom over. Liana arrived with Tom's mom and Tom's sister, Alison.
Alison, Tom, and Liana
Me and Tom (Colbert pose alert!)
The ceremony itself was pretty short - the class size of about 100 was just slightly less than the thousands at FSU when I graduated! :-P Afterward we all went to the Black-Eyed Pea (restaurant chain up there) for dinner.
Me, Tom, Liana, and Alison after the ceremony
That night, Alison and I were somehow able to convince Tom and Liana to drive over to the nearby town of Golden for some bowling. Ah, the Golden Bowl... What can you say about a bowling alley with its own Chinese restaurant? It was fun. :-) My game was a little off (especially in the second game), but I didn't do too badly. They had the old school "Simpsons" arcade game set up in their game room, so Alison and I just had to try it. I couldn't convince Tom; by that point (and after having been up since 6AM), he was definitely ready to go and was probably annoyed by my insistence that he help Marge wield her mighty vacuum.
The next day we went north, to Fort Collins. The plan was to meet up with Alison (she goes to Colorado State there) and take a brewery tour. However, we quickly found out that apparently the only thing to do in Fort Collins on the weekend is to take a brewery tour! Every brewery we went to was all booked up. :-/ It ended up being okay, though. We just went around to the different breweries and did some beer tasting.
The Odell Brewery
Me, Liana, and Tom. Beer #4 was the best!
When we got back to Denver, I found out that Tom had never seen Old School. So while Liana made dinner, we went up to Best Buy and I bought him a copy. Everyone has to see Old School! :-P We watched it that night.
Whenever I visit Tom, I always leave hooked on a new show. Last time (2004), it was Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This time it was another [adult swim] cartoon, the Venture Brothers. We watched the entire first season while I was out there - hilarious show! Kind of a send-up of the old adventure shows like Johnny Quest. Season 2 just came out on DVD! Here's a little sample...
Brock Samson is a badass... Anyway, back to the trip! The next day (Sunday), Tom and I ended up walking down the road to Quizno's for lunch. I noticed that there was a Guitar Center in the same shopping center, so we went in. Playing the Ovation 1778T acoustic-electric definitely rekindled my musical appetite.
Ever since I got back, I've been doing research. I'm definitely getting a nice acoustic-electric in the coming months!
That night, Tom and I went to Table Steaks, which is a local pool hall. Apparently, they got their name because they serve a pretty mean steak. :-P Like with bowling, I was a bit rusty. We both ended up winning a couple games. They had an arcade game there called the Dragon Punch. It was basically a punching bag that you were able to pull down (once you put your quarters in) and knock the hell out of. We tried it a few times... I wanted to beat the high score (1,960), but kept missing it by about 40 points. Damn!
And so, the Denver portion of my trip came to an end. Before I left, Tom and Liana asked me to take another "family portrait" with their ferret, Hoagie. I took one back in 2004 that turned out really well.
2004
2007
Tom drove me to the Denver airport, and I caught my flight back to Orlando. I still can't believe that in one week I packed in TWO full trips! It seemed like I'd been gone forever... My parents watched Phoebe while I was away. She was definitely glad to see me, but I think she enjoyed hanging out with my mom and playing with Shelley.
Phoebes and Shelley
I spent the next day with my parents, and took them out to dinner to thank them for watching my dog. And then it was time to head back up to Tallahassee and the real world! That was tough. But I can't complain too much. I had a great time, and hopefully will be able to go back to BOTH cities sometime soon!
I was really excited to be going out to Denver again. Tom is one of my oldest and best friends. I've known the guy since junior high school! When he told me that he was going to be graduating from the Art Institute of Colorado, I knew I had to be out there for it.
Except for a slight delay in Cincinnati, my flights were pretty uneventful. I arrived in Denver just after 6PM mountain time (gained two hours), and Tom met me at the airport. By that time, the large Polish breakfast I'd had in New York City seemed like a distant memory! We swung by Tom's apartment to pick up his girlfriend, Liana, and then we all headed out to Maggiano's Little Italy. The place was like a castle; easily 5 times bigger than any other Italian restaurant I've seen. And the food... Delicious! I splurged and we got the fried mozzarella appetizer. One of the best I've ever had! You could have rolled me out of there.
Maggiano's Little Italy, Denver, CO
The next morning, Tom and I got up early (6AM). After we got ready, we went over to the Colorado Convention Center. Tom's school had reserved two of the large ballrooms; one for the students' displays and the other for their graduation ceremony.
There's something you don't see every day... This was outside the building.
I tried to dress up (button down shirt and pants), but quickly realized that it wasn't been necessary. Art schools...! :-P Tom set up a base for himself in the multimedia graphics section.
He had a laptop that was continuously playing his demo reel DVD. I gotta say, I was impressed. I've always loved computer graphics and could tell that Tom put a lot of time into his animations. Tom has very graciously allowed me to upload his reel to YouTube so I could share it with all of you. :-)
Click to viewI kept Tom company for most of the morning but occasionally would wander off so I could see the other exhibits. That school produces some talented artists! Many fields were represented, including Interior Design, Photography, Video Production, and Culinary Arts. It reminded me a lot of Seminole Futures (the Florida State career fair), only backwards. Instead of the students looking at their prospective employers' exhibits, they were the ones on display. Near Tom's section, they had a big screen TV set up that was continuously playing all the students' demo reels. I went over to gauge the public's reactions. One thing became very clear - Tom's "running hammer" was a big hit, especially with the kids! :-P As for Tom himself, he talked to everyone who came by his station and even made a few contacts with some architectural firms. I imagine those guys are always looking for 3D modelers.
The graduation ceremony was that afternoon, in the next ballroom over. Liana arrived with Tom's mom and Tom's sister, Alison.
Alison, Tom, and Liana
Me and Tom (Colbert pose alert!)
The ceremony itself was pretty short - the class size of about 100 was just slightly less than the thousands at FSU when I graduated! :-P Afterward we all went to the Black-Eyed Pea (restaurant chain up there) for dinner.
Me, Tom, Liana, and Alison after the ceremony
That night, Alison and I were somehow able to convince Tom and Liana to drive over to the nearby town of Golden for some bowling. Ah, the Golden Bowl... What can you say about a bowling alley with its own Chinese restaurant? It was fun. :-) My game was a little off (especially in the second game), but I didn't do too badly. They had the old school "Simpsons" arcade game set up in their game room, so Alison and I just had to try it. I couldn't convince Tom; by that point (and after having been up since 6AM), he was definitely ready to go and was probably annoyed by my insistence that he help Marge wield her mighty vacuum.
The next day we went north, to Fort Collins. The plan was to meet up with Alison (she goes to Colorado State there) and take a brewery tour. However, we quickly found out that apparently the only thing to do in Fort Collins on the weekend is to take a brewery tour! Every brewery we went to was all booked up. :-/ It ended up being okay, though. We just went around to the different breweries and did some beer tasting.
The Odell Brewery
Me, Liana, and Tom. Beer #4 was the best!
When we got back to Denver, I found out that Tom had never seen Old School. So while Liana made dinner, we went up to Best Buy and I bought him a copy. Everyone has to see Old School! :-P We watched it that night.
Whenever I visit Tom, I always leave hooked on a new show. Last time (2004), it was Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This time it was another [adult swim] cartoon, the Venture Brothers. We watched the entire first season while I was out there - hilarious show! Kind of a send-up of the old adventure shows like Johnny Quest. Season 2 just came out on DVD! Here's a little sample...
Brock Samson is a badass... Anyway, back to the trip! The next day (Sunday), Tom and I ended up walking down the road to Quizno's for lunch. I noticed that there was a Guitar Center in the same shopping center, so we went in. Playing the Ovation 1778T acoustic-electric definitely rekindled my musical appetite.
Ever since I got back, I've been doing research. I'm definitely getting a nice acoustic-electric in the coming months!
That night, Tom and I went to Table Steaks, which is a local pool hall. Apparently, they got their name because they serve a pretty mean steak. :-P Like with bowling, I was a bit rusty. We both ended up winning a couple games. They had an arcade game there called the Dragon Punch. It was basically a punching bag that you were able to pull down (once you put your quarters in) and knock the hell out of. We tried it a few times... I wanted to beat the high score (1,960), but kept missing it by about 40 points. Damn!
And so, the Denver portion of my trip came to an end. Before I left, Tom and Liana asked me to take another "family portrait" with their ferret, Hoagie. I took one back in 2004 that turned out really well.
2004
2007
Tom drove me to the Denver airport, and I caught my flight back to Orlando. I still can't believe that in one week I packed in TWO full trips! It seemed like I'd been gone forever... My parents watched Phoebe while I was away. She was definitely glad to see me, but I think she enjoyed hanging out with my mom and playing with Shelley.
Phoebes and Shelley
I spent the next day with my parents, and took them out to dinner to thank them for watching my dog. And then it was time to head back up to Tallahassee and the real world! That was tough. But I can't complain too much. I had a great time, and hopefully will be able to go back to BOTH cities sometime soon!