The Curtis Hotel - a review

This hotel is, in a word, FUN right from the moment the double doors open.  Inside the air lock (what I always call that space between two sets of doors because I have seen too many space / deep sea movies with air locks) there is a welcome sign for the pets of guests including Polaroids of past pet guests and their names.  In front of this sign on the floor there are two silver bowls.  One contains fresh, clean water while the other is filled with delicious looking (if I were a dog, I am sure they would look delectable) treats.  I did not bring my dog but was still impressed by the welcoming given to any canines coming for a stay here.  Denver, in general, seems to be a HUGE dog loving city - even more than Austin, Texas.

The lobby seems to have been taken over by an explosion of colors, lights, and nostalgia.  The reception desk is within steps of the front door and houses the most friendly staff I have ever met.  In fact, on night two when asking for our cookie (it is, after all, a Doubletree hotel) she accidentally (?) gave us an extra cookie.  When my husband, the twerp, mentioned it out loud she immediately said, "I didn't hear anything at all" while her counterpart at the desk began shaking her head with a blank stare as if to say, "me either" even while she was helping another guest.  No, it was not a big deal but it was really cute how they both played along instead of boringly just telling us to keep it, or worse, taking it back.  Just to the side of the front doors is a long table which looks like a dining table in someone's home.  Next to that is a floor to ceiling, wall to wall bookcase.  The top shelf is filled with board games, old-school type of course, such as Candy Land and Boggle.  While the rest of the shelves contain books of all varieties.  They are neatly arranged so that their covers are facing out rather than their spines.

Another very amusing aspect of this hotel is that each floor has a different theme.  Now, I use the term "theme" loosely as all this means is that there are different pictures on the wall highlighting the theme and the elevator, instead of chiming at your floor, says something associated with your floor's theme.  Floor 13 - yes, amazingly, this hotel has an actual 13th floor and they take advantage of that by aptly naming it "Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnn!" because this is the horror floor.  Upon arrival, the elevator says, "Heeeere's Johnny" followed by a slightly menacing giggle.  The 4th floor, "Perfect Pair" is all about famous duos.  The walls are adorned with art depicting some of your favorites; Batman & Robin, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, peanut butter & jelly, and Bert & Ernie.  Each floor has a large mirror that can be seen when exiting the elevators that has a different saying on it for each floor as well, The Dance Floor's mirror, for example, says "Nobody puts Baby in a corner".   That's it.  As far as I can tell, the floors are all the same other than these few things.  This disappointed me as I was looking forward to visiting each floor and noting the fun distinctions.

Downstairs, there is a restaurant and martini bar named The Corner Office.  The atmosphere in the restaurant is a bit more fancy and upscale feeling than the rest of the hotel. The door from the outside street corner is actually more inviting than the door from the hotel so my assumption is they are hoping for more outside business than hotel business, which explains the difference in ambiance.  Entering the restaurant from the hotel feels like you are being led in through the back and secret entrance.  The food and drinks here have been very good albeit a bit on the pricey side.  There does not seem to be a consistency with pricing though as some items are reasonable while others are outrageous.  The Office Burger (which is one item I ordered) runs at a pretty reasonable USD 11.00, with fries,  while the Southern Fried Chicken & Waffles comes in at USD 16.00 and takes 20 minutes.  I will be trying the Baked Lobster Mac & Cheese before I leave though, and this runs at a whipping USD 21.00 but looks amazing.

There are a few items I have found I do not like here.  The main item I dislike is the bed.  The hotel carries the Sweet Sleeper beds by Doubletree but, for me, they are not sweet.  Many people apparently like them as they are more on the firm side of things but I like a softer mattress and actually prefer the Sheraton mattresses.  I wake up in quite a lot of pain, to be honest, and really miss my bed at home.

There is not a lot of light in the room when the curtains are closed or night has fallen.  There is a light switch on the wall that controls one solitary light fixture by the door, one lamp on the nightstand which one turns on with a switch on the lamp itself, one floor lamp in the corner with a foot operated button, and one lamp on the desk which is also a manual switch.

Here is the breakdown of this hotel stay over the past few days:

Things I like:

• Overall atmosphere
• Doubletree cookies
• The look of the shower is simple.  It is a large stall shower with two tile walls, one glass wall, and the shower curtain on the remaining side.  There is a light in the shower, which i personally love.  Plus the glass wall lets in even more light.     
• Furniture in the rooms is wood and pretty.  The decor of the room is very simple and not overpowering or busy.  
• Large window in the room to let in a lot of light and shows off the mountains in the distance
• Staff is extremely friendly and helpful but not intrusive.
• Restaurant food is, so far, very good as are the drinks.  
• Location - right in downtown a few blocks from everything.  The convention center is about two blocks away, 16th street, where the free shuttle is caught, is two blocks away, there is a bus stop for the RTD one block away. There is a 7-Eleven right around the corner for any items forgotten or drinks & snacks (just remember - no refrigerator or microwave in the room!).
• Free Wi-Fi - just get a password from the front desk which lasts for a few days before a new one is needed.  They have a "high speed" upgrade for USD 8.95 per 24 hour period but there is no problem at all with the free connection.  I don't see that anyone would really need the upgrade.  

Things I did not like:

• Beds (Sweet Sleeper beds)
• Placement of toilet paper roll was too close - it feels cramped when sitting on the toilet because the roll of paper pressed against the leg of the user
• Lack of safe in room (although, they offer safe deposit boxes at reception for free)
• Lack of refrigerator in room
• Small amount of storage space - there is one armoire that has limited hanging space plus a few very small shelves, one "dresser" with only three usable drawers as the other side is a cabinet.  The desk does not have any drawers but there are two drawers in the nightstand.  
• Cost of food in the restaurant is a bit high depending on what is ordered but the room service rates are outrageous.  Just for room service, they charge a 20% fee plus a USD 2.00 delivery charge.  So your USD 14.00 Crabcake Benedict and USD 3.00 juice will end up costing you USD 20.40. 
• Lack of hooks in the bathroom.  There are three hooks EXACTLY.  None of these are actually in the shower which means there is nowhere to hang your scrubby thingie or your washcloth, whichever you use.  There are two hooks on the back of the door, not even close to the shower, and one over the oddly placed toilet paper holder where the hair dryer is hung in a canvas bag that says "hairdryer".  If you hang a body towel on this hook it will hit the paper roll or lightly brush the person sitting on the throne.   I assume this hook is possibly for the bath mat as that is smaller.  However, if there are more than two people in the room, hooks will need to be shared if you plan on using towels repeatedly.  I suppose, you could just throw them on the floor each day and get new ones although that seems to not be what the hotel would like since they appear to suggest you reuse your towels and be earth conscious and all.  You would think they would provide more hooks in order to conserve water.
• There is no pool! I was most disappointed in this fact but, as I did not choose the hotel, I could not complain much.  The worst part is having to look out of my window and the TWO pools just below me for two other places (one being a residential tower).  

Items I am indifferent to but may be important to others and comments I have heard from others in my group:

• The hair dryer is a Conair 1875.  It does not seem to be all  that powerful but it did dry my hair enough (to be fair, I don't blow dry all my hair each day as it mostly air dries so this was of not much concern to me).  It seems to be more powerful than other hotel units but not as powerful as what even I have at home.  
• The shower head does not move.  It looks as though it maybe is supposed to but mine did not.  
• There is no bathtub in any of the rooms as far as I can tell.  This was a concern of people I spoke to in our group but was not a matter to me.  
• The coffee maker in the room is a Wolfgang Puck 2-cup maker with the pods.  It made coffee just fine once I got it to work.  Apparently, the buttons need to be pushed just right or else it beeps at you in a very mockingly manner.  To me it sounded like Nelson from The Simpsons saying "HA HA".   I did get milk for my coffee but had to keep it in the ice bucket due to the lack of a refrigerator. The coffee package does include two individual servings of International Delight half & half creamers.  However, I use about 2x that per cup of coffee.  
• The water bottles in the room cost USD 3.00 each to open.  No thank you. 
• The cab ride from the airport is approximately USD 60.00 one-way.  Not much can be done about that - it is not the hotel's fault!
• There is a breakfast buffet but it is USD 19.00 and very basic.
• The glass wall in the shower would not allow any privacy if someone were to need the toilet while another was in the shower.  Although, glass wall faces the door and not the toilet so it may not be as detrimental to everyone's insecurities.  
• The bathroom toiletry amenities are Crabtree & Evelyn's Citron collection of shampoo, soap, and conditioner.  I am not impartial to any variety of these and do not use any shampoo but others seem to be very excited about this choice.  I used the soap and conditioner and was pleased.  
• There is no HBO or any other premium channels on the television.
• There are no microwaves in the rooms.
• There seems to be a very nice fitness center on the second floor although I am no expert at these.

General Information                                                                                                       

Address:
1405 Curtis Street, Denver, Colorado 80202

Phone:
303.571.0300 / 800.525.6651

Website:
http://www.thecurtis.com/

Costs:
Rates for July 4th 2013 / one night:
USD 125.00 per night for a standard rate
USD 132.00 for Senior or AARP or AAA rates
USD 140.00 for military / government rate
** Standard rate is lower than all other "discounted" rates.  I am not able to check corporate rates.

Byers-Evans House - a review

This house is gorgeous.  It is not ornate and ostentatious as so many wealthy homes turned museums (e.g. the Molly Brown house also here in Denver).  No, this family and this house are perfectly blended with money and humility.  This is one reason it fast became one of my favorite historical homes to visit.  Now, I should add that the Byers and Evans families were not as wealthy as, say, the Vanderbilt family and may be only considered upper-middle class.  But it is still an extremely beautiful home.  

It was extremely easy to get to the house.  From where I am staying in The Curtis on Curtis Street, I walked a bit then took the free bus that drives up and down 16th Street.  Exit the bus at either Cleveland or Cheyenne and walk south through Civic Center Park, which is beautiful in itself.  Just on the other side of Civic Center Park is the Denver Art Museum.  Take a right onto 13th Street and the house is right there on your right.

I was greeted at the front by Judy, our tour guide.  Judy is, by her own admittance, over 70 years old and seems to very much enjoy this work that she does.  While we waited for more groups to join us before the 1:30 tour, we chatted about why I was in Denver (for my husband's work with the AIA convention) and that she used to work for a company that did printing of publications for conventions. Judy was very friendly and easy to talk to.

The tour began right on time, if not a few minutes early (oopps, sorry if anyone came a little late).  Our tour group was only a total of five people, including Judy and myself, two young girls and their grandmother (whose name I have forgotten.  Sorry, nice lady with the two well-behaved girls).  Judy included these young girls (ages around 8 and 4) in the entire tour.  At the beginning she added that the 8 year old (let's call her Dimples) had been on the tour previously with her school and was going to be helping out.  Of course, this made Dimples all excited and proud yet a bit embarrassed.  It was super cute.

The rules on this tour are simple: no touching or sitting on anything and no flash photography although pictures without flash are allowed (excellent!).  We got to the second room of the tour when another group joined us (a 20-something girl and 4 young boys, ages 8, 9, and two were 10).  Judy quickly caught them up on where we were with the information given so far, with our permission, and then we set on our way.  Again, Judy incorporated all of the children into the conversation and tour as much as possible.  She let them ask any questions they wanted (the first question one of the boys asked was if the house was haunted - sadly, no, it is not), she even let them touch certain objects that were, apparently, not on the "no touching" rule list.  There was a working Victrola which the kids took turns winding up. We got to listen to the music there which was fantastic.  They also had an Edison but we were not allowed to use that - disappointing but I imagine it does not work.

The best part of this house?  The fact that almost everything (I believe she said 90% of it) is authentic / original form the time of at least the Evans family.  The Byers family lived there just before the Evans' and there is not a lot left from their time in the house although the family did donate a few items.  Most of the belongings are from donations of the Evans family.  The youngest daughter, Katherine, was apparently her own episode of Hoarders and kept everything.  This meant that when the state of Colorado took it over, there were thousands of pieces intact and set up so that they were easily able to piece together life at the house.  Thanks Katherine!

I highly recommend this tour to anyone coming to Denver.  The entire area in which the house sits is beautiful and full of other things to do.  Plus, for USD 6.00 it is a damn great deal!

YOT 72 - SMG being the good guy

Last week, as you may, or may not have any idea, I wrong a letter to Studio Movie Grill in Spring Valley about some of the compliments and complaints I had with my first ever visit there.
Didn't read it but want to?  Forgot all about it?  Here it is: Original Letter to SMG Spring Valley

Well, I have to admit, that the Assistant General Manager, Tim Pittman, seems to be a great guy that cares about his theater.  Here is his response:

I appreciate that you took the time to give us feedback on your experience.  I apologize, however, that it did not measure up to the standards that Studio Movie Grill has been known for.

We pride ourselves in delivering a great experience with quality food, excellent service, a clean store and a friendly smiling staff.  I see from your email that we did not provide that for you. The management staff is currently reviewing how to have the bathrooms continuously clean even during high volume time periods.  We currently have a staff member assigned to check every 15 minutes however I believe we may need to simply place someone in there always.  I am embarrassed that staff members were not more helpful to you and more pleasant. 

In regards the tables, these are almost exactly the same tables that are in the VIP rows of certain theaters in Arlington location.  The only difference is that placement of the light box.  I prefer the ones at Arlington also.  We are currently looking at newer table designs to better accommodate our guests here at Spring Valley.  I apologize that they caused such a difficult time for you and your family.

Please give us another chance to show you the true SMG experience.

He also is giving me four free tickets to use to give him another chance.  You bet I will do that, Tim!

So many times, we (you, me, everyone) mentions concerns or issues with management and they really just don't care.  I mean, many times they OBVIOUSLY don't care.  Other times you just get that vibe and expect nothing to change.  But, sometimes you get those people that seem to love their job, love their customers, and honestly want to be proud of their business and want you happy.  Tim Pittman is one of those guys and I believe Studio Movie Grill is one of those places.  

I am thankful when someone, especially a  business owner / representative, cares enough to acknowledge an issue, apologize, and think about ways to correct them.  Even without the ticket offer, this would have been an excellent email that made me want to visit again.  There were many good things about this place and none of the bad things ruined my night with Omega - all of which I mentioned in my email to him.

Tim, I will not say no to your ticket offer!  Please know that while it was absolutely not necessary  it is very much appreciated but not as much as your amazing attitude and response.  Thank you!

YOT 71 - Flea-be-gone!

I was at the end of my rope.  Seriously, something has to stop these fleas!  We have had them for months now, ever since we dog-sat for someone.  It's been horrible.  *insert pitiful sad face here*  No,really, it has.  there is flea dirt everywhere.  The dog is itching constantly.  It is embarassing when she goes to the vet and they have to clean up after her because she leaves flea dirt all over.  Nothing helps.  Literally, nothing I have tried has fixed it.  The Adams spray helps for a few days but then they come back - this sucks because every other year if we get fleas, I spray her with that and they are gone for good.

So, here I was on amazon.com (again).  I searched flea remedy for dogs and sorted by highest rated.  I bought the first one that was on the list immediately.

This is a one-day pill (although, I have had it lasting a few days) but they have a once-a-month pill that I got at the same time and she took that once the first night.  That one just takes a while to kill them because it only makes the adults sterile but does not kill them.  The one-day pill kills them.  So, together, they are a force to win them all!

Little City Dogs
Flea Killer Capsules for Cats and Small Dogs

I cannot say enough how great this stuff is!  Here is my review that I posted on Amazon.com:

To be completely honest, I was hesitant at first.  As much as I hate it, I am drawn to the colorful, flashy products even though I know that does not automatically make them better.  It's like when you are flipping through the channels and scroll past the old 70's style movie because the picture isn't as high quality as today's movies...that is not to say it is a bad movie or even worse; it just gives that first impression aura.  Again, honesty here, I tried it because it got amazing reviews and the price was outrageously low so I figured I had very little to lose.

Apparently, what I had to lose was fleas.   This little super tiny pill works wonders.  The night you get it you open what looks like a pill box for infants and stare at those minuscule capsules wondering how that is going to do any good.   After surrounding it, easily, in shredded cheese and giving it to the dog, you notice how easily it disappears.  Maybe it is because it is smaller than the shreds of cheese and goes unnoticed, maybe it is because it is beef flavored (although I did not taste-test it); it really doesn't matter because it is gone and you think nothing will happen anyway.

In the morning, you awaken to something different.  Unaware of what has changed, you shower, get ready for work, and notice the dog sitting on the bed waiting...just sitting there...BAM! It hits you like a beer bottle in a bar fight; she is just sitting there and not itching!  Not once - not even a flinch.  Ok, it is just a fluke, you think.  Luckily she is white (your dog color may differ than the one in this review and it is no reflection of the product.  In all fairness, my dog was white before the pills as well) so you can easily see her skin.  Not a single flea.  Nowhere.

You do a little embarrassing dance while the dog stares in confusion and scream to the world, "BEST FLEA STUFF EVER!!"

YOT 70 - SMG makes me SMH

Here is my letter to Studio Movie Grill on my experience tonight :-)

Hello SMG!

I have gone to your Arlington location several times and have never had a complaint.  Tonight, however, we went to the Dallas / Spring Valley location and my experience changed.  

Upon entering the location, we were so impressed!  It was beautiful and clean; it was so open and welcoming.  The service at the bar was great and there were even people passing out popcorn and a dessert (I didn't get offered any but it looked delicious!).  I even said to my husband while sitting at the bar, "well, my movie-going experience tonight it really amazing!". It was unlike the Arlington location that we normally visit.  

We were going to Theater 2 for Iron Man!  We got into the theater itself and it too was spotlessly clean.  It even smelled new!  Then we got to our seats.  The "tables" at our seats were the smallest I have seen in a dine-in theater.  They reminded me of the old desks we used to have in school.  Remember those; the ones where the desk was attached to the chair?  Yeah, those were bigger.  

The "table" swings out and to the right to sort of allow you to enter your seat.  There is still a bit of squeezing and jimmying to get between the back of the seat in front of yours and the "table" but you can do it!   So, I did.  After looking at the menu, which is great as always, our server came pretty quickly and was friendly.  In the 20 minutes it took to get our drinks, my elbow, hand, and menu hit the service call button three times accidentally.  The "table" is so small and the button is right where anyone's arm will hit it when naturally leaning on it.  I felt so because each time it happened, a server had to come over.  Ugh, how embarrassing.  After the third time I just had to sit with my hands tucked in behind the "table" like a little kid in trouble.  It was the only way to avoid the button. 

So, after the 20 minutes passed and we go our drinks, it immediately started sliding down towards me.  Now, here is where my predicament happened.  Do I hold the drink and risk pushing the button or keep my arm down and risk the drink sliding.   What to do - what to do...  I stole my husband's napkin and that seemed to hold the drink in place a bit better so  problem solved.   About 30 - 40 minutes after that, we got our food. The food was the same as the other location, it was just as good as normal.  Albeit, sliding down my "table" towards me.    The theater was packed so we were not upset or surprised about the length of time the drinks or food took.  It was completely understandable.

Finally, the awesome movie ended and we were happy - even temporarily forgetting (and forgiving) the "table" issues.  Wait - they are handing out mints right outside the theater - awesome!  Maybe I was too hard on you, SMG, and maybe I should give you another chance after all.   Happily, I chew on my mint when I realize all that Pepsi really gets to a girl so off to the restroom I go.

To be honest,  I have been in New York City subway station restrooms that were cleaner than this one.  In their defense  there may have been someone living there though.  I will give it one thing, it was huge!   There were so many stalls in there and that is impressive.   Upon entering the row of stalls, I see a girl going from one to another.  Immediately, I assume she is looking for one with toilet paper.  Sure enough, it took me 10 seconds to deduce how this nice restroom was funded;  they save money by only supplying 1/3 of the stalls with toilet paper.   All of them had dispensers for two rolls but 2/3 of the stalls were completely empty.  Luckily, a girl was leaving as I passed and I was one of the lucky few to get a complete stall! Whew!  As I was, erm, doing my thing, I overheard several discussions about needing paper.  The women in that restroom bonded over sharing toilet paper.  

On my way out, I did speak to two girls at the front ticket counter area.  One of them was very polite about it.  I very nicely stated exactly this, "Hi.  I just want to let you know that the restrooms are ..." Yes, I know that is not a complete sentence but that is all I got out before the non-so-polite girl answered me with, "ok, thank you.  So, thinking she just may have not heard me, I proceeded to complete my statement while rephrasing it a bit.  "They are pretty messy and..."  Damn, foiled again by not-so-polite girl with her "ok, thank you".  I began a little mini rant to see if I could actually get my point across to her and count how many interruptions I received.  I had only three sentences to get out but she said "Ok, thank you" six times.  At the end, when i think we are all done she threw me for a loop when the last interruption was...no, not "ok thank you" but "ok, I will let the manager know". I like to think I won that little battle but I am not so sure.  

Anyway,  this has been my story on the experience tonight with a new location of your theater system.  I do hope you have a wonderful night and thank you for listening.    Keep up the great work in the bar area of this location - it was stellar!  Just maybe extend that experience to the rest. 

Regards,
Me

*** Not in the letter:  Tonight, I am thankful for finding stalls with toilet paper because egads! It sucks when you don't have any - especially if there is no one next to you.  I hope I am not alone here, but I have done the" pants close to all the way up but not touching the important (wet) parts  hope no one comes in and sees fast run/waddle to the next stall to find toilet paper" fiasco.  

Geo Defense game review

The Windows 7 phone I have is amazing. Maybe I should review that first!  But, no. This game is first on my list.

Geo Defence
Critical Thought Games
Played on Windows 7 phone
$2.99
Microsoft Game Studios
Xbox live with achievements

This is a bit of a different view on the tower defense games.  Instead of aliens or dancing monsters, the player is shooting and, hopefully, destroying shapes. While that may sound more on the dull side, it is far from it.  Thirty very unique levels keep your brain going and your strategic logic flowing.  There are basic levels with a few curves or corners but there are much more difficult. Yet fun, levels such as "Happy Thanksgiving" where the shapes follow a turkey shaped path.  one of the toughest levels for me was the path in the shape of a twister. Yes, I admit, that one had me frustrated and defeated - for a bit.
I did not keep track of how long it took me to beat all of the levels because, honestly, I don't care if a game takes me an hour or 10 hours.  If it is good and I feel I got my money's worth, then I am happy.  So, for this game I know it took me a good few hours of play time to beat ALL the levels.  I have two left to get 100% on, meaning you beat the level with letting NO creeps through.  Yeah, that is difficult on a few.

I have run into a couple of glitches; one good and one bad. 

Good (ish): Randomly, on some levels, it lets you keep going even after all the creeps got through.  On a normal play, when the creep limit gets to 0 your game ends.  But during these glitchy levels and times, it remains at 0 and lets you keep playing.  It is not something I did, it just happened on its own!  So, yes, it raised my score unfairly, however, I could not stop it from happening.

Bad: Now, for some strange reason, whenever I exit the game it deletes my scores from view.  They are still saved on XBox live, but on the local phone, they are cleared.  So, when going back for replay, I am not sure which I completed 100% and which I didn't. 

Speaking of replay, I do feel this game has a great replay value.  I have gone through levels several times.  Once to finish it, once to get it 100%, once to beat the high score of my friends.  It is also a bit fun to reply it and see how many different combinations will allow you to beat it 100%. 

All in all this was a fantastic purchase at only $2.99!  Go get it, try to beat my high scores.