Text 20118, 101 rader
Skriven 2014-12-04 09:37:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 394
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UA1525 EWR LAS 1050 1340 739 4E

The DirecTV was welcome on the longish flight, with the
friendlily cynical face of Bourdain making occasional
appearance and the somewhat less amusing Zimmern showing up
even more often, but given the absence of Channel 9, beggars
can't be choosers. Speaking of not choosing, the friendly
crew offered the unfriendly choice of chicken breast over
salad or chicken burrito. I pulled a face and said that I
didn't much care what I got, just so they saved a cookie and
some Courvoisier for me later on. What I got: a cup of
pretty decent mushroom soup and a burrito, most of which,
though salty, was edible. The side salad is usually a pretty
fair indicator of the state of an airline: this one's greens
had dry ends but no rotten spots (though financial condition
is dicey, no disasters on the horizon), but the extra touch,
usually a handful of olives or three bocconcini, in palmier
days adding a shrimp and even some roast red peppers, was
one domestic olive hidden underneath some of the less nice
lettuce (uh oh, austerity is on the way). The soup went well
with Courvoisier; the burrito, with its undertone of green
pepper to try to mask the bland saltiness, not so much.
There were only two of the minis in the cabin, but a
friendly FA went into the wayback and got the other two out
of the aft catering to go with the cookie, which was white
chocolate cranberry oatmeal. No Channel 9, as I understand
none of this type of aircraft was equipped, but there was
laptop power. Shortly after plugging in, my computer power
supply went kablooey; it was almost time and almost
inevitable on this trip from the wear and tear, but I like
to think that St. Jeff is frowning at me from above.

We landed bumpily but on time, and I had time to research
computer parts stores before heading out - got the names
and numbers of various places, all with different and not
comparable equipment, so I figured I'd just find one and
go with what they had. Out in the heat of level zero (for
which I can't find the sign any more) ... aw, shucks, it
was about 50F.

The plan: depending on which bus came, I'd either go to the
electronics store or the hotel - 108: hotel; 109: store.

I ended up at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club, Paradise Rd.,
near the convention center, and was given a room that would
have shamed a Hampton (see below, correct that, Rodeway); I
probably should have rejected it immediately but was tired
and used the bed and the bathroom before complaining.

Anyhow, the desk guy had been like fresh out of the Night of
the Living Dead, so probably pretty unresponsive.

A little room that could have been attractive but wasn't,
slightly smaller than your usual Hampton room, slightly
dingier as well, which is sad.

The carpet, offputting in itself, smelled sort of funny
and had debris on it; the toilet was singularly inefficient
and took three flushes to mostly empty (eventually I
opened the tank and adjusted the float level to maximum,
and all was, though not well, at least not terminal).

As there were socks to wash, the fact that the sink stopper
didn't stop was especially galling. This was fixed in a
manner that involved stuffing the drain and maybe deforming
the mechanism a wee bit, which I sort of hope I restored to
its original inutility after. The tub, by contrast or
correction, drained only balkily. Partially used amenities.
I forgive conditioner, because in my experience conditioner
is rarely used so probably rarely checked. There was not
enough shampoo left to get much of a lather up, so that was
augmented with soap, which was okay with me actually as my
hair is still kind of oily.

The space itself wasn't bad other than the darkness and
'80sness of the decor.

Having struggled with the plumbing, I lay down to relax a
little before going on my mission and cast about for a bit
of amusement, when I had the pleasure of finding that the
TV didn't work. When I turned it on, an error message signed
iomega (remember the Zip drive?) came on, claiming that some
device was going to reboot (out of curiosity later in the
evening I waited around an hour, and it didn't).

Being bored and needing that power supply, I walked a half
mile east to Maryland to look for the various office and
electronic stores said to be on that distinguished road.
Lo and behold, shortly after passing a violin shop (it
looked unmanned, so I didn't go in but might next time),
I found a Radio Shack, where the clerk was attentive,
helpful, and cajoled me into doing a 2-year extended
warranty on the house brand universal AC/auto/air power
supply, which looked to me like one of the older iGo
models. I was a relatively happy boy. On the way back I
walked past a couple of hookers, neither of whom
propositioned me. I felt very old.

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