2010

Archive for the year 2010

At Least We Have Windows

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Ching under Travel.

I called the hotel right after our movie the other day, only to find out that all the “view” rooms were already taken. Booo! I guess I should be grateful. At least we have windows.

This is our “non-view” from our window.

And at least I got a king bed, just as I requested.

We’d stayed at a few different places in previous trips to Kansas City, but we’d never stayed at Courtyard Marriott before. I think ten years ago, when we used to go to the Country Club Plaza (we don’t go to the Plaza so much anymore because we’re usually at the North Kansas City Harrah’s when we’re in KC) a lot, there wasn’t a Courtyard Marriott in the area.

At first I thought we’d be staying at a new hotel. I had visions of the Courtyard Marriott at Fishermans Wharf where we stayed while we were in San Francisco in February. That place was fantastic. I really liked the modern decor.

Well, our hotel is the exact opposite of that. Brian and I guessed that this was probably a different hotel or maybe even an apartment building before Marriott took over. The hotel itself was nice, but the decor looked dated and ancient.

I’m sure Marriott redid the entire place when they took over, but they probably had to stay consistent with the building’s architecture in choosing furniture and decorations as well as carpet and wall colors.

Our room was surprisingly roomy for an oldish hotel. It’s definitely much bigger than other rooms we’d stayed at in other hotels at Country Club Plaza. The best thing that I liked about our hotel is the location. We were within a couple of minutes walk from PF Chang’s and The Cheesecake Factory.

The bathroom, which looks like it had been redone as well, was pretty spacious also. It wasn’t fancy, but it was sufficient.

Besides the great location, the in-room fridge and microwave were a nice bonus (most hotels have a mini fridge, but usually no microwave). Great for storing and reheating those leftovers, because most restaurants always give you so much food. Although, we didn’t really get to use the microwave because Brian didn’t want to take his leftovers at all the places we ate. We did use the fridge to store our leftover chocolate tower from The Cheesecake Factory, though. We ate it as an afternoon snack the next day.

I think our “ancient” hotel is a historic building because there were these tiny doors in between the regular room doors. I’m a curious person by nature so I tried to open the one that had our room number on it, but it was locked. I believe the doors don’t serve any function other than to preserve the historic feel of the hotel.

This wall plaque explains the purpose of the little doors, which were actually “Milk Closets” circa 1900s.

Brian, the observant guy that he is, noticed something else that was funny about our hotel room. He saw this strange warning sign right next to the fire sprinkler head.

Here’s what it says up close:

Brian and I were amused at the thought of someone actually doing that. I mean, someone had to have done it for there to be a warning sign. Think of the hot coffee warnings on coffee cups. Prior to people actually burning themselves with hot coffee, there weren’t really warning labels. Usually, people think of putting the warning after the fact.

I was like, “Why would you even do that? Why not use the closet that’s provided?” Brian replied, “Maybe someone had a long dress that wouldn’t fit in the closet?”

“Can you imagine someone’s wedding gown hanging on that and then the bride returning to the room to find her dress soaking wet? They probably would’ve been furious.” Brian, who has little faith in people, added “I’m sure they probably blamed the hotel too.”

LOL. That’s the story we concocted in our heads for the reason why a warning sign next to the sprinkler head was necessary. We like to make up stories for things. Who knows what really happened. Maybe the hotel is just being proactive and they’re foolproof-ing the hotel rooms, because most hotel guests are too stupid to figure out that you shouldn’t do that.

Anyway, you know what the problem is with things that are foolproof right? A better fool will always come along. =P

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Friends, Old and New

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Ching under Things to Do.

New Friends, Carol and Don

Brian’s coworker/friend Sergio

Jen and Armando and Armando’s brother Dennis

April and baby Gavin

Old Friends, Becca and Jay

Cory

Jay actually wanted us to bring our ladder golf to play on Thursday night. I’m glad we vetoed it and said no. We would have lugged it to our spot and not been able to play it. There were so many people at Bradley Fair that night. We were packed like sardines!

I had looked into getting a room at the Hilton Garden Inn so that we could avail of the hotel parking and the special section for hotel guests, which was far less crowded. However, at the cost of $150 for the night, it might not be worth it.

Brian and I think we’ll just have to drive by before work and stake out our spot with tent stakes and twine next year. That would be the cheap, smart way to go about it.

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Making New Memories

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Ching under Family, Things to Do.

We had a blast at the Bradley Fair jazz concert and fireworks night on Thursday. We didn’t get the spot we wanted, though. Apparently, getting there at 5:30 pm is not early enough. We’ll be more prepared next year.

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Brian is a Paranoid Nutcase

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Ching under Life.

So yesterday when Brian went home to change clothes before the Bradley Fair concert and fireworks, he stopped to check the mail. He found no mail and our mailbox wide open. He was livid. He was so freaked out by it that he ranted and raved at me and demanded that I call one of the leasing agents on her cellphone. This was after 6 pm, mind you.

Fortunately, I had enough sense to say no. I’m not going to bother her at home over this. I told Brian that if he really wanted to call her at home, then he should do it. He agreed that he would just wait and call the next day.

Today he called over there and asked about the situation. I just cringe at the thought. I told him that I hope that he didn’t rant and rave at them like he was doing yesterday. He was just so furious. He assured me that he was calm when he called.

He talked to Corey, the young college girl who started working at the leasing office a couple of months ago. She said that she would ask the mail carrier what happened when he came to deliver the mail.

Later in the day, I noticed that I had a missed call on my cellphone. My cellphone is always on silent at work. I don’t generally get to check it until the end of the day when I’m about to leave. I had sent a text message to Jennifer Teves while I was at lunch so I just happened to be checking for her reply. That’s how I discovered the missed call from the leasing office. They didn’t leave a message so I called Brian and asked him about it.

Apparently, the leasing office called Brian after they couldn’t reach me. He explained that Corey had talked to the mail carrier and the mail carrier said that he found our mailbox unlocked so he did not leave our mail in it. He just held on to our mail until today when the mailbox was locked up again. Brian was so furious at the sight of the unlocked mailbox and the thought of stolen mail and then it turns out that it was all his fault. He’s the one who has been checking our mail over the last few days (eagerly awaiting his Best Buy gift card) so no one else could have left the mailbox ajar but him. Oh, the irony!

I told him that I really hope that he didn’t get ugly toward Corey because that would have been so embarrassing. How humiliating to yell and scream at someone and then find out that you did the very thing you were angry about. =P