Wow, that's about as technical as I have ever gotten on this website. After a long day of technical discussions on Wednesday, during the evening I attended the ATI developers party. Oh my God, you should all be seriously dissapointed that I forgot to bring my digital camera. The party was held at some modern art museum converted into a hip bar. It was a huge sprawling place called Consolidated Works. It was filled with art, games, food, drinks, activities, and beautiful, beautiful, women. Three women and one, I think, man, were walking around the party serving no other purpose than to add atmosphere to the occasion. Dressed in outlandish costumes, they described themselves simply as 'party favors'. I was mesmerized
There was a fooseball table and, of course, I kicked everybody's ass. A couple more lovely ladies manned a table where they were doing Henna tatoos. I got one of the Eye Of Horus but, unfortunately, it didn't really stick. Consolidated Works was one of those places designed for you to explore every nook and cranny. There were many rooms, and then hidden rooms, each with it's own unique feel and lots of places to socialize. One of the more interesting features was a huge co-ed bathroom. When you walked into the bathroom there were rows of stalls, each with it's own door. However, the bathroom was designed as a place to hang out, with couches and a large social area. How very odd, men and women coming in and out of the stalls only to hang out and talk.
The best part of the evening had to be the band. Consolidated Works has a huge theatre with stadium style seating. In the front of the stage is a generous dance floor and the first row of seats were all beanbag chairs. The band was called "Highway 80". I tried to find a link for them, but no website was found. They played a mix of celtic fusion and classic rock. The lead was a Microsoft guy who played the electric violin. He would have given Jean Luc Ponty a run for his money. The band had brought along a collection of their kids, girlfriends, and groupies all drinking for free on guest passes. Scattered around the stage were a pile of hula-hoops and, let me assure you, the young ladies knew how to use them. We watched a virtual bevy of beauties hula their way through slow grinding rock anthems. As I said, it was a fun night. Again, I apologize for not having any photographs to record the evening.
After the conference ended Thursday evening I went out to dinner with Dave Dean and David Whatley. After my failure of the previous evening I did remember to bring my digital camera this time. I apologize to the vast crowds I am offending but I seem compelled to snap unscripted photographs of breastly blessed women I am exposed to in the general public. Considering the look on Dave Dean's face, I'm sure I didn't offend him. After a nice dinner we went to see the new film "Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl", which is simply delightful. The lead actress is a delight to look at and Johnny Depp is a hoot....and a half. Our favorite elf Orlando Bloom pulls off swashbuckling with perfection. After the film was over David Whatley commented that others had compared it to "The Princess Bride" and, upon second viewing, I certainly can understand the comparison. Strip away about 100 million dollars of special effects, leave just the story line, and there are plenty of similarities.
Hmmm...what is Dave Dean thinking about?
Oh yeah, that's what it was, he was thinking, "Why doesn't that nice young lady give me a call?"
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Dave and Buster's, woops, I mean Dave and David.
On Friday I spent the day with my good friend John Miles. John and I share a passion for sports cars and we spent the day taking his Ferrari 308 GTB on a road trip to Mount Rainier. John was all worried about the fact that the air conditioning didn't work in his car because he just put about $300 worth of Freon in only to watch is leak out once pressure had been removed from a hose. It was a scorching 75 to 78 degrees with 2% humidity in Seattle on that day. Apparently a brutal summer in Seattle. Having just come from 96 degree heat with 10,000 percent humidity in Saint Louis I was hardly intimidated.; I almost started looking for a sweater.
It's weird but, for whatever reason, in the Seattle area there are no such thing as 'back country roads' like there are here in Missouri. You have a very limited choice of roads to take to get from point A to point B and, of course, everyone else has to use those same roads. Nevertheless, this gave us plenty of opportunities to pass many, many, many cars with a great roar of the engine. It was a fantastic drive and we had were able to carry on a great conversation the whole four or five hours.
A nice shot of John showing me the freon leak
Vroom..vroom.
John helps plot our course.
A snapped a couple of nice shots from the backside of the mountain area. Of course, these photos can never manage to communicate scale. This must have been a 70 degree slope.
Another mountain photo, note the blurring in the foreground as the Ferrari is whipping down the road.
I took this shot of John when we pulled over to change drivers.
Fast car need go juice.
Last fine shot of a fine ride.
After we finished our drive we returned to John's home to prepare for dinner. John's girlfriend Cathy is simply fantastic and she has a lovely daughter named Natalie. After dinner and Natalie finally went to bed we watched the film "Adaptation" on John's big-screen. It was a great day and I am so glad I stayed the extra day.
Natalie.
Another great photo of cutie Natalie.
Ok, sometime in the next day or so I am going to complete my vacation series. I have to finish that simply because my next vacation starts a week from Friday when I am taking the family to Florida.
