And four other things I forgot to mention:

1. At the Denver ULI (Urban Land Institute) conference a fellow on my council briefly discussed New York City residential real estate. He mentioned that high-floor view apartments in the under-renovation Plaza (which is the classic building at the southeast corner of Central Park, aka the corner of "it" and "it", part of which will be a Fairmont Hotel) are going for $5,000 per square foot. Can you imagine? That's $5 million for a 1,000 square foot apartment. Or put another way: I am working on our firm's Mexican low-income housing platform...350-square foot stand-alone single-family homes on their own plot of land, with indoor plumbing and electricity, are sold in Mexico for the equivalent of about $17,500, or $50 per square foot. So for the $17,500, you could buy about 3.5 square feet at the Plaza and share at least one wall with your neighbor(s).

2. Another guy on my council is involved with the development of Castiglion del Bosco (Castle in the Woods) in Italy...it's a high-end hotel and residence club in Tuscany...you can get your membership for a mere 3 million euros (about $3.8 million) The memberships are going fast and are very limited! It's a joint venture with the Ferragamo family, so perhaps you could negotiate for a free pair of shoes if you sign up for membership.

3. I went to the just-opened Denver Art Museum, briefly. I went inside, but only to the gift shop...I had planned to take a tour of the inside, but ran out of time. I did spend 10 minutes walking around the building...and I have to say, in terms of wildly-designed new cultural buildings, I am a much bigger fan of Disney Hall. Here is the NY Times review of the museum, with a picture.

4. I went to the Denver Mint and took a tour. Very interesting. Spectacular building. Did you know that the US Government distributes the freshly minted coins in un-marked and unguarded semi-trailers? Too expensive, it turns out, to deliver by armored truck with armored guards.