This is downtown Denver and the 16th street mall. The 16th Street mall is a walking mall which is over a mile long. There are free buses running up and down the mall because of the fear that making Americans walk the distance of the mall would be considered creul and unusual by the supreme court.
There is shopping, restaurants, movie theaters and even a bowling alley all on 16th street. Down one end of the mall you can see the Colorado capitol, and yes that is real gold on the dome.
Life continues...
Its Friday tomorrow, which is good, especially because i have a three day weekend for new years. I've pretty much cancelled my mexican trip (though i wouldn't rule it out at this late stage, should i feel like it after work tomorrow). Its just that the more time i spend in denver the more i feel like i have left to see, and i'm really enjoying just exploring this little (or not so little) nook of america. It will be time to hit the highway before long, but i don't think that time is now.
I took Cindy out to dinner last night to a restaurant called the 'Texas Roadhouse'. She would argue that infact she took me out, since she drove and picked the resturant, but we know better. It was a real roadhouse in the sense that it was just off the c470 freeway, about a half hours drive from here. Despite being pretty much in the middle of just about the biggest, most dull looking expanse of american suburbia i have ever seen, the restaurant was overflowing with patrons. I don't think i've ever been to a restaurant so busy in my life! The parking lot was full, and the line to get seated stretched well out the door. We had to wait for half an hour outside before they called us. They served steak, steak, and steak. I chose the 'small' (10oz) prime rib. Had I had a Texan apetite on me I would have had one of the larger options (12oz and 16oz), but as it happens i barely conquered half of my little 10oz steak. Had a great time there however, its become my favorite restaurant! Great atmosphere, spectacular conversation, roasting on an open fire...
At 4.45am this morning, after a night of nutting off in a very loud fashion, and then an hour of playing "lets hide from the cops and make them smash the door down" my neighbor was arrested for the third time this month.
I had a bad day at work yesterday, and a slightly better day today. I'm really not liking it, the work is so far different from where i want to be going. But i do have a good feeling that more opportunities will present themselves in the new year. I love america, i guess i'm just waiting for america to love me.
Next time, there will be photos! Goodnight, and thanks for reading!
Well well well, Christmas is over. I had a good time. It was supposed to be a quiet day, for months I had prepared to not have anything to do on christmas day and i wasn't really going to celebrate it. But just like thanksgiving, america turned it on for me again!
It was hard not being with the family for christmas, but i had a great time speaking to many of the family on the phone on what was christmas eve here, when they were all enjoying their christmas dinners. When it was christmas day here, i had a pretty quiet morning, got up, opened my presents, put some coffee on and played some festive music. It was a hot day here so I went for a walk down this nice track that runs along the south platte river, just a little ways from my apartment. It was sad not to have a white christmas, but felt a lot more like home having warm weather on christmas.
In the afternoon, Cindy's family was kind enough to have me around for christmas dinner. Cindy works at my work and asked me if I was doing anything christmas day, and if not would i like to come for dinner. I almost said no, the thought of intruding on someone's family christmas was unappealing, but i was so touched the offer and so happy to have something to do on chritmas so i went! And man was i glad i did! I had barely got through the door when i was being offered beer, wine and strawberry daqiris. Her mom cooked a really nice meal and afterwords I played a game of texas hold'em poker with her dad, brother, and her dad's friend who's a real life cowboy! I lost $5, but i had such a good time it didn't matter. Poker was the real winner on the day. I kept laughing to myself in amazement when i looked around at the movie scene i was in - playing poker with these characters wearing cowboy hats, cigar smoke rising from the table, with a big pile of cash in the middle.
I gave up on poker after that and watched 5 episodes of CSI in a row (thanks to somebody getting a DVD box set for christmas), still having that christmas feeling inside.
Was back at work today, still don't much like my job, but I'm home now, the music is on, and i'm so happy i'm dancing around my apartment between paragraphs. I know it will all work out, seems everything nearly always does.
Goodmorning and Merry Christmas!
I hope everybody has a fantastic day doing whatever it is they are doing. Most likely eating a lot and drinking a lot, correct?
I was going to take a photo at night of all the christmas lights around where i live, but i never got around to it and now its daylight and Christmas day in New Zealand and I left it too late! So i went out in search of a christmassy photo on my way to the laundromat today, but nothing looked particularly stunning, so we're stuck with this picture. Its kind of Christmassy!
Anyway, i hope you all have a great day and enjoy yourselves.
Last night I went out with some people from work and had just a fantastic time, got to know a few more people and really enjoyed it. First we went to Red and Jerrys which is a huge sports bar/restaurant in Littleton. Here bars don't like it much when you pay for drinks as you go up at the bar, they prefer to set up a tab and wait on you and then shock you with the bill at the end of the night. But we drank and we drank and we drank some more, i tried 3 new beers, and the total for the 4 of us was like $38, most reasonable! Then it was everybody back to my place, where we hung around for a little while before some friends of someone there called to invite us over to their apartment. So we all went over there and kept drinking (except for me who knows when to stop!). I was out until nearly 5am, the last 2 hours of that time I spent riding around in a car dropping people off in various parts of the city.
Then I was woken at around 9am by another disturbance next door. The guys friend was standing right outside my window calling the cops on him because evidently he was throwing knives around his room. After the ruccus was over, his mother came over to apologize for all the noise that eminates from there, and explained that her son has bi-polar disorder. This explains an awful lot. The cops showed up and kind of sneaked up the drive way, crouching behind cars etc. I watched the entire performance from behind my blinds, as a nosy neighbor should. They called on him to come outside and when he did three cops had their guns drawn and pointed right at him saying "Don't dare move!" as a fourth cop went up and handcuffed him. They didn't drag him off to jail this time, just talked to him for a while and said if it happened again he'd be spending christmas in jail.
Here are some pictures of my apartment:
And lastly, in the words of the bloody-red barron, Merry Christmas, my friend!
Harro
Last night Jorge and I went up to Boulder. We were going to go to some of the bars near the CU campus. Its supposed to be really cool, but as luck would have it university is on holiday right now and it was completely dead.
It was snowing and with all the snow on the ground, i must have subconciously been craving ice cream becasue when i walked past a dairy queen, there was a poster in the window advertizing a 'blizard'. A blizard is vanilla ice cream with little m&m's mixed all the way through it. At McDonalds they call it a McFlurry. Anyway, i just had to have one! Then, we got in the car and started heading back to Denver.
As we drove down the I25, it started to seem awfully dark outside, and we discovered that Jorge's headlights had carked it. Shortly afterwords a larger, but much less tasty blizard engulfed us. Visibility was very low, not helped by the lack of headlights, and snow kept accumulating on the windsheild. Choosing life, we decided to take the next exit, which landed us right in the parking lot of a movie theater. A movie theater with 24 screens! So we went to see King Kong. Its really good. It is really long though, so if you haven't been yet, prepare yourself for 3 hours plus trailers.
By the time the movie finished, the conditions outside were considerably better and I made it home to write about it. Have had very lazy day today, although did go out in search of a mall but was unsuccessful. I will have to study the bus routes in more detail and try again next weekend. Am going to Mexico for New Years weekend! Whipty doo! If I don't make it to Mexico, i'm at least going as far as New Mexico. Still investigating it.
I'm actually thinking about going via 'four-corners' where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet at the same place just so i can add to my 'state talley' and beat Sarah :P. I think i'd need to do more than that though since i've already been to two of the four states this trip and i've been to at least three of them in my lifetime. But she cheated! She went up to the north-east, where states are smaller than here!
Sorry about the lack of photos. Now that i've stopped feeling like a tourist i sometimes forget to take my camera with me. I'll try harder.
Well the gas is back on! Finally I again have hot water and am able to cook proper meals. Normally a welcome sin, being forced to eat at mcdonalds for lack of a working stove is no fun after eating out everyday for a month. There has been an army of gas company workers and a bulldozer in the driveway much of the week. They have finally cleared off and left a warm legacy of gas-fuelled heating in their wake. Bernard the landlord is not looking forward to the bill.
King Kong is out in cinemas. I haven't seen it yet but look forward to seeing it in the coming week when i rope someone in to seeing it with me. I always thought the impact of the Lord of the Rings on New Zealand's image was overstated, but I was wrong. Nine times out of ten the first thing people here say to you when they find out you're from New Zealand is about the movies. One cashier said "wow! all my favorite movies are filmed there!" Its actually good that they can talk about the movies because if they say anything else about New Zealand they usually sound stupid - like my all time favorite: "I've heard the seasons are the oposite down there... is that true? Why do they do that?"
The other night i went to the coolest bar in the world. It is called the church and is a huge complex combining a wine bar, sushi bar, coctail bar, 3 dance floors and a restaurant all in the gutted remains of a grand old cathedral. Kind of an abomination of what the building was originally for, but it sure is a cool place!
Work is easy. I look forward to finding something more challenging. And yet there is something quite comical about waking up here each morning, getting up and going to work. It feels much the same as it used to, only now when I wake up in the morning I find myself on the otherside of the world, with a whole new territory to prowl. The past five weeks that got me here really seem like a blur.
I still have a lot to learn about American customs and language. I still catch myself saying things like "eh" and "no worries" and no one knows what on earth i'm on about.
Last night i met a neighbor of mine. I found out he comes from Santa Barbara, California the town where my Mum and Dad lived when they first moved to America nearly 30 years ago.
As I finished work last night and headed towards another weekend of exploring, I felt on top of the world. This move has not been easy, but it has been a fantastic experience and I would not say its been difficult. I have plenty of work to do and more to see, but I am happy with how things are going.
The phone installer showed up this morning more than two weeks after I ordered a phone line, and 4 days after i cancelled the phone line. I told him since he's here now he might as well install the darn phoneline so i'm going to cancel my high speed cable internet scheduled for later in the week. I can't have everything! My phone number is +1 303 798 5372.
Ok because of the way this website keeps annoying me, i've had to do this in two seperate posts. If you want to keep things in chronological order, you should start at the next post down and then read this one.
I started my new job on Monday and have had a good week learning all about satellite television technology. I already knew a fair bit because of my one-time hobby of satellite television, but i have learned a lot more because i didn't have time to get fully into that hobby before i left for America.
This building used to be a shopping mall. Now it is totally taken up by my work.
Its about 3 minutes walk from my front door to the front door of Echostar, so it kind of lords over the neighborhood. I really like my new neighborhood. It is subburban, but close to all amenities and to work so i don't need a car yet. And its interesting. I was really sad to leave the community of East Colfax. Not. I just realized i haven't been asked for spare change, offered drugs or woken to the sound of gunshots since i left that neighborhood!
Sadly I was woken to the sound of my new neighbor bashing his wife at about 3.45am on Friday morning. I called the cops and watched from my window as they led him away in handcuffs. I haven't seen any sign of him since. That is a rarity though, my complex is really nice, my apartment is beautiful and my landlord is really nice. I really like it there! My landlord and his son want to see pictures of New Zealand, but i didn't bring anything like that with me. Maybe someone can email me some? Please? :)
From the light rail this morning. The snow is melting, not much of it left now. And i have the whole weekend ahead of me to explore the city and hang out with my new found friends! Yes i finally made some friends! Only a couple of friends, but i'm getting there :).
Goodmorning!
Sorry I have taken so long to update this. I was waiting until thursday when i was supposed to have a phoneline installed, but the technician sucked, as technicians do, so now i can't have it installed until next saturday. So i'm in another cafe having a bagel for breakfast and totally outstaying my welcome while i do my blog posts and emails :).
We begin last friday after my last blog post:
I had a rental car, some time to kill and some gas to burn so i thought i'd see some sights. I put 400 miles on the car in 2 days!
This is the Denver Tech Center, a seperate business hub about 20 minutes south-east of downtown Denver which sprung up in the nineties with the tech boom. It amazed me because i had heard about it, but stumbled accross it by accident and when i found it, i had thought for a minute i was back in downtown Denver - its huge!
Its hard to really show it in one photo, but there are really nice looking modernn office buildings surrounded by park like grounds and luxury apartment homes as well as restaurants and bars.
Then after getting word that my application had been accepted for my apartment (surprisingly the background check on my social seccurity number which had never been used turned up no dirt) i headed fot littleton.
This is downtown littleton. Its pretty quaint. If you need antiques, souviners or orniments, you are in luck. If you are in desperate need of a can opener or something practical, you're outta luck! Luckily i have since found a strip mall a few blocks in the other direction which has a supermarket and laundromat etc.
I had an evening assembling my new furniature...
And in the morning, woke up to this!
Well i decided to go with the job in the call center, the other job would have been nice because it didnt involve talking on the phone all day, but it seemed to have a big sales component, and i'm just not good at selling. Also it was getting too late, they didnt call me until like 2pm. Also the call center is for echostar which is a satellite tv company, so there might be opportunities to move up within a media company, which interests me.
I found an apartment in littleton and i'm moving in tonight. Its about one block from echostar and one block to the light rail station, from whence it is only a 25 minute train ride into downtown denver. Its a real nice place! I held on to the rental car one more day so i could go to target and buy some things. I bought so many things!
Well i'm currently hungry so i'm going to go and get some food. If I don't post for a few days its cause i'm trying to sort out an internet connection at my new place. Keep in touch - cjbeggs@hotmail.com, i'd love to hear from you. Also now that i have my own place any visitors would be welcome!! The couch is always free....
Well i decided to go with the job in the call center, the other job would have been nice because it didnt involve talking on the phone all day, but it seemed to have a big sales component, and i'm just not good at selling. Also it was getting too late, they didnt call me until like 2pm. Also the call center is for echostar which is a satellite tv company, so there might be opportunities to move up within a media company, which interests me.
I found an apartment in littleton and i'm moving in tonight. Its about one block from echostar and one block to the light rail station, from whence it is only a 25 minute train ride into downtown denver. Its a real nice place! I held on to the rental car one more day so i could go to target and buy some things. I bought so many things!
Well i'm currently hungry so i'm going to go and get some food. If I don't post for a few days its cause i'm trying to sort out an internet connection at my new place. Keep in touch - cjbeggs@hotmail.com, i'd love to hear from you. Also now that i have my own place any visitors would be welcome!! The couch is always free....
The interview for the call center job went really well, and in anticipation of getting the job I rented a car today with the intention of going down to south denver to see about a place to live near my new job.
Then the rental car company asked if i wanted a job. I said maybe and gave my details. Minutes later i was driving down the freeway when my cellphone rang. it was the HR lady from the rental car company. She wanted me to apply for a manager trainee position, and i was like OK! So i did. Then she said she'd call me tomorrow and set up an interview for monday.
Then my phone rang again. It was the call center job with the final offer. I accepted (i need a job, people!) and it starts on monday. Crap. Now i have my first day at one job and an interview for a possible better job on the same day. I can't do both.
I think i'm gonna explain the situation to the rental car company and try to setup an interview for tomorrow and hopefully find out before monday so i can ditch the call center before starting.
I can't believe i was worried about getting a job like 3 days ago!
Well having the rented car today has been fun, i've been lots of places, but mostly just soaking up the endless fun of driving on american highways. I've decided that America exists on the highway, if that makes sense.
