My last technology conference of the year was in Denver. I've driven through Denver a million times on the way to the ski resorts in the middle of the state, but never really stopped in Denver to do more than buy gas or a quick hamburger. Like all conferences, this one was held in the downtown area, but Denver's downtown has been completely renovated. It's called
LoDo (short for Lower Downtown) and is filled with shops and restaurants and hotels. 16th Street has been turned into a pedestrian mall with a free shuttle bus running up and down the entire length every 5 minutes.
I sat outside a Starbucks and drew some of the people shopping on Saturday. Denver is really flat, but I could see the mountains in the distance between the buildings.
I stumbled across the Veterans' Day Parade moving along one of the cross streets. I certainly hope these veterans drove their army tanks better than they drove their little clown cars. Either that or these vets need to go on a diet, because their car kept popping a wheelie.
They were also having a celebration of the arts. I didn't find any formal activities, but there were lots of outdoor sculptures in the area. I particularly liked this metal sculpture of cactus out on the prairie.
The Platte River runs through downtown Denver, just a few blocks from my hotel. They've turned it into a really nice greenway with a bike path on one side and a walking path on the other. The weather was so nice over the weekend that lots of people were using it.
I worked this conference with my partner, Sam from Oregon. That's our new bridge tester we designed in the left side of the picture.
We gave a workshop on Monday showing people how to use the equipment - sensors, this time, not robotics, though I did bring my robot with me and had a lot of people ask about it. Luckily I wasn't stopped by airport security for having a suspicious device in my suitcase.
When I arrived in Denver, it was sunny and 60. By Monday afternoon, it was snowing like crazy and the temperature had dropped 40 degrees. Wouldn't you know I'd be here when the weather was reaching near record lows for this time of year. My little fleece jacket wasn't quite cutting it, so I ran over on my break and bought a scarf at H&M. It looks good, but I really hope I don't have to use it much this winter. I hate being cold.
