Chillin with Tito I attended an RPI alumni event this evening at the estate of Dennis Tito. If you remember, Dennis, and his $20 million, managed to convince NASA a couple years back to take him into space. He was the fist "civilian" to do so. He also happens to be an RPI alum :) so, naturally, he invited us fellow Southern California alum to his place to hang out. Dr. Jackson made an appearance as well, so it was quite the evening.It was great to rub shoulders with fellow alum, and see some faces I haven't seen in a while, but the primary motivation behind this blog, however, is to talk about Dennis' house… err, "estate" rather. I'm not sure there are words in the English language that can justifiably describe it, but I'll try and find a few: it's easily the most incredible home I have ever seen in life, and probably ever will see. I mean, I haven't even seen a home in a movie that comes close to this place. For those of you 'dena residents: it makes San Marino look like a trailor park. To try and put it into perspective, I got to talking to a guy who recently donated $40 million to RPI and is in the process of building his own home. He goes, "yea, my place is nothing like this!" Needless to say, the size of the place is gimungous - for it to even be in the class of home that warrants such comparisons though, it has to be. What really sets this place apart, however, is its location - which is why I was able to say it's probably the best place I ever will see. Dennis was able to purchase one of the hills in the "hills." For those that don't know, the really rich (and often famous) people out here live in the "hills." Dennis owns and lives on the highest inhabitable hill in those hills. From his circular drive, you're able to see damn near all of LA county (of course, you have to look past the Jaguar, SLK, and Ferrari to do so). He's also developed the hill around the house quite nicely, with a pool and small ravine in his backyard. My favourite part, however, was the gazebo. About 200 yards off to the side of the house, nicely secluded, is a small, granite, gazebo. The illest part though is that the floor rotates! So just in case you don't enjoy a particular view of downtown, you can turn the floor to get another. Don't want to look at civilisation? That's cool, just keep turning and you're looking at other beautiful, undeveloped hills. Absolutely out of control. And he was thinking when he built this thing too: there's this counch in the middle of the floor, right under a heater; so you don't fall victim to that sometime nippy breeze (especially at his altitude). Oh, and then there's the standard fridge and integrated radio to boot. If a plot of land the size of most neighbourhoods doesn't get the girlys whet, the gazebo certainly will. And let's be clear, Dennis is really cool guy. He gave me a few minutes of his time amidst being pulled in a thousand different directions (a host like that is a popular guy). He was telling me they put him through 8 months of training just to get him ready to go to space. During that time he even got to ride that thing that spins in circles :)
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