The 21st Century Welcomes Denver

It is about time!  Denver, being the "middle of nowhere" city that it is, has been lacking in certain life essentials.  Don't get me wrong, Denver has everything that a city could want.  Culture, major league sports, illegal immigrants, homeless, and cow shit on the downtown streets when they have the big rodeo parade.

But coming here from the Center of the Universe, I found myself mysteriously befuddled by the lack of certain things. 

First things first.  There is no IKEA in Ohio, but there was one in Pittsburgh.  There has been one there for a while, since I lived there, and that was 15 years ago!  What the hell did Pittsburgh do to deserve an IKEA 15 years before Denver?  I don't know either, but here we are in 2011 and IKEA has finally come to Denver.

That shot was taken less than an hour ago by Steve.  We are not going to get into the "why isn't he waiting on you to go to IKEA?"  The build up on this has been unreal.  News programs treated this as the lead story, months before it even opened.  When they allowed people to camp out prior to the opening, they could do so two days prior; all for a free mattress or something.  9NEWS has this viewer feedback program, and people were calling in bitching about what an eyesore it is.  "Maybe they can change the color to match the surroundings" one viewer sent in.  Uh, you don't even know what the fuck IKEA is and the whole concept of the Swedish-ness of it if you have to ask why it is blue and yellow.

Then there was "the sign".  This big ass IKEA tri-pod sign by the freeway.  It is bigger than big, and it sticks out and grabs your attention since there are no other signs around.  I am sure that they got the City of Centennial to change the zoning laws to get that puppy up.  Imagine the negotiations: "well, if we can't put our sign up, we may have to look at that spot 2 miles down I-25 and Lone Tree can get all the tax revenue."  Uh, "what zoning law?"

Douglas County has a special AM radio frequency so motorists can check on traffic and parking getting into IKEA.  And IKEA isn't even in Douglas County!  If you live around the store, you had to have a special permit to get to your house all this week. 

I am not going until the hullabaloo settles down, and only to go eat there, since even though it is affordable Swedish home furnishings, I still can't afford it!

Which brings me to the next "new" thing in Denver this summer.  Steak n' Shake.  Praise Jesus and pass the Triple Steakburger.  I can only eat at SnS when I am back in the midwest, so the fact that they are building one about 2 miles from the office means that I will never ever have to say again "there really isn't anyplace good to eat around here.  Now, this is a place where I will camp out prior to them opening!  Hell, give me a SnS t-shirt and I will be your one man Convention and Visitors Bureau!

I will keep you posted on the progress in construction, here is what it looked like this morning.