Thursday, April 07, 2005
Windy City
So I'm in Chicago for the next day before heading off to Michigan for a deuce, deuce and a half, before I have to be back in NJ on Monday.
I arrive at my hotel last night and am greeted by Cesar. There are three of us staying at the Oak Brook Renassaince Inn, about 25 minutes outside of downtown Chicago.
Cesar looks up our reservations and tells us to hold on for a second. We all look at each other because we know this can't be a good thing (I'm reminded of some comedian's line, 'my doctor told me he found something in my gallbladder. That's never a good sign--no one's ever been told, "I've found something in your gallbladder...and it's season tickets to the Yankees!!!).
Cesar does his best Orlando Jones imitation from Office Space as he tells us the bad news. In a total monotone..."I am sorry but your rooms are not available. We have transferred you to the Doubletree hotel and will pay for a one day stay and a long distance phone call." Needless to say, we weren't too pleased, seeing that we'd made reservations ('you know how to TAKE the reservation...you just don't know how to KEEP the reservation).
So, we go over to the Doubletree and we're given a room...and a warm chocolate chip cookie!! This place is awesome!
Then I see the room.
It hasn't been cleaned at all. Dirty towels on my bed and on the floor. Numerous glasses of cranberry juice and coffee in the bathroom and next to my bed. An empty bottle of scope lying in the sink.
But it's nearly 1 AM and the bed was made. So, I threw off the dirty towel and just went to sleep.
Good plan...until 1:45 AM. It was then that I realized I had fallen asleep in an inferno. The room temperature was hitting 82 on the thermostat...which, of course, was broken. I tossed and turned the rest of the night, sweating, until 6 am, when I had to get up for a day of meetings.
Many, many, meetings. But my job's great, really.
Now the Forrest Gump song is playing on the player piano in the background as I type on the keyboard in the hotel's top floor business center. But I've changed rooms and (I hope) will get at least three hours of sleep tonight.
Sorry for not updating the blog for a spell. I've been in the can. I hope I didn't miss nuthin'.
I arrive at my hotel last night and am greeted by Cesar. There are three of us staying at the Oak Brook Renassaince Inn, about 25 minutes outside of downtown Chicago.
Cesar looks up our reservations and tells us to hold on for a second. We all look at each other because we know this can't be a good thing (I'm reminded of some comedian's line, 'my doctor told me he found something in my gallbladder. That's never a good sign--no one's ever been told, "I've found something in your gallbladder...and it's season tickets to the Yankees!!!).
Cesar does his best Orlando Jones imitation from Office Space as he tells us the bad news. In a total monotone..."I am sorry but your rooms are not available. We have transferred you to the Doubletree hotel and will pay for a one day stay and a long distance phone call." Needless to say, we weren't too pleased, seeing that we'd made reservations ('you know how to TAKE the reservation...you just don't know how to KEEP the reservation).
So, we go over to the Doubletree and we're given a room...and a warm chocolate chip cookie!! This place is awesome!
Then I see the room.
It hasn't been cleaned at all. Dirty towels on my bed and on the floor. Numerous glasses of cranberry juice and coffee in the bathroom and next to my bed. An empty bottle of scope lying in the sink.
But it's nearly 1 AM and the bed was made. So, I threw off the dirty towel and just went to sleep.
Good plan...until 1:45 AM. It was then that I realized I had fallen asleep in an inferno. The room temperature was hitting 82 on the thermostat...which, of course, was broken. I tossed and turned the rest of the night, sweating, until 6 am, when I had to get up for a day of meetings.
Many, many, meetings. But my job's great, really.
Now the Forrest Gump song is playing on the player piano in the background as I type on the keyboard in the hotel's top floor business center. But I've changed rooms and (I hope) will get at least three hours of sleep tonight.
Sorry for not updating the blog for a spell. I've been in the can. I hope I didn't miss nuthin'.
