Rants

When we check-in on Friday our first impression was good. The lobby looked nice and was decorated well. The buildings themselves looked new. But unfortunately new was not the case. This place had obviously been renovated in the last couple of years. It didn’t really show until you got in the rooms. The tub had been covered up with one of those plastic surrounds, top and bottom. There was about 2 inches of the old white tiles peeking over the top of the plastic and the tub creaked and gave way slightly while standing in it. Another big giveaway was the room carpet. they either had not replaced it or had with the cheapest stuff they could find as it stained, showing wear and starting to come up in the corners. I guess another clue was the “vintage” TV.

You are now rightly asking yourself, “Why does he stay in Holiday Inns if every time the experience s*cks?” The reason is I am a Priority Club member and I get points towards a free night every time I stay. How lame is that?

If you have been around since last September 13th you know that when my wife and I travel we bring our own showerhead. As suggested there too, we have now starting bringing our own spring clips to hold the curtains closed. Well now I think we may need to trade the Miata in on a mini-van so we can bring our own TV. What we have for our viewing pleasure in this HI is a 25″ TV from the early 80’s that comes almost all the way into focus after about a 5 minute warm up time. As an added aggravation the remote is one of those generic ones that doesn’t have numbers for direct channel entry just up and down buttons of which only the down works.

When we check in, the clerk gives us room 231 and some vague directions on how to get there. Off we drove to the back of the complex, noticing that the place is nearly empty. When we get to our room it is right at the top of the stairs. If you walk straight ahead after the last stringer you would bump right into the door of the room. There are 2 room locations in a motel you should never stay in; 1) next to or across from an ice machine and B) at he the top or bottom of the stairs. Both spots are notoriously noisy because of the people traffic (they wouldn’t be so bad if people were still considerate of others, but that is a whole ‘nother blog post.) We headed back to the front desk and ask for a room 2 or 3 doors away from this one. The clerk, after making a big show of checking for empty rooms, gives us a key to room 233. When we get back to our new room it is not 2 doors away, but merely one. Not only is it not far from 231, it is an adjoining room! The doors are literally 6″ apart. Seeing as the place was empty we decided not to try for room #3, knowing that if we did he would put us next to the weight room or guest laundry next…

Donna and I are off for a weekend of fun & frolic in Cornelius, North Carolina, so I won’t be able to post here for the next two nights. I’ll take the little blue notebook and do the analog blog thing and then transcribe it here Sunday night.

Thanks to Sandra Hull for that turn of a phrase, analog blog. It comes from her post about the shuttle’s disintegration last Saturday.

While wasting time after dinner and finishing listening to Thistle & Shamrock on the local NPR station, I flipped on the TV muted and did some surfing. Paused on CNN for a bit and read the scroll, “Ebay halts sales of Challenger debris.” read one. Holy shit! What kind of people were selling/buying this stuff? Have we gotten this low in our quest for making money and getting rich?

Finally got a sunny day that the temperature made it to the upper 50s, it seems like it has been forever. We dropped the convertible top this afternoon and went for a drive. We were minding our own business, motoring along a two-lane road at 45 (that had a posted speed limit of 40) when a full-size pickup approached from behind, closing fast. After a few seconds of filling my mirror trying to intimidate me into increasing my speed or something, he passed me. Less than a 1/4 mile later he turned left into his driveway. Sorry I got in your way pal.

The other week Kmart announce the closing of hundreds of stores. The one in my little town is one of those. I am saddened by this mainly because I have sworn never to visit Wal-Mart and the K was where we went whenever we needed any of the type of stuff carried in discount department stores. Tonight we went into Kmart for something and the place was packed, there was a bigger crowd on hand than the weekend before Christmas. A big STORE CLOSING banner was hung over the entrance. ALL SALES FINAL posters covered the windows. Hastily printed 8-1/2 x 11 pieces of paper on the entrance doors proclaim, “Now hiring temporary help.” Inside everything was marked down 10%, just the beginning. I said, “Let’s wait until it is marked down 60%.” and we left.