(no subject)

The difference between the 3-star and 4-star is the difference between finding -- or not, on some days -- a copy of USA today in front of your hotel room door, or a copy of the New York Times. (Although after reading the personal journal, maybe I am not ready to live in NYC; it all came off as very competitive in its appearance-oriented shallowness, down to the debilitating -- literallly -- fitness regime websites.)

I am still being nickel-and-dimed here too, 20 bucks a day for valet parking, which I opted for since it is only 5 bucks a day more than self-parking, the 12.95 high-speed internet but at least the hotel has the option available, the 14-dollar omelette breakfast. I am spending money at a, for me, alarming rate, and I haven't even had a spa service yet. They really try here, though, the staff is nice, even when serving the table next to me, who had the rudest elderly couple I have ever seen. They both wanted a new item every two minutes, and then complained to each-other that the restaurant was obviously under-staffed since, having sent their waitress away on her next errand, there was no-one to take their order for coffee / a single piece of ham / milk right now. He was constantly saying "Shut up. I want to eat. Just shut your mouth" to his female companion.

The courtyard looks like a construction zone.

(no subject)

Walking down Las Olas Blvd today, I was listening to the radio. I have a radio-headset for my current mobile, and I heard a couple of commercials referencing how now that the storm season was over, it was time to get South Florida back on its feet. And I thought to myself "These people have no guarantee next year will be any better," and then what? Meanwhile, from peering into real-estate storefronts and talking to the locals, I find out prices have gone through the roof, and this with all the new beachfront high-rise properties coming online. Locals tell me they are closer to being real-estate millionaires than ever before, because their homes they bought at 80, 90, 100K 8 years ago are now worth over half a million dollars according to the latest appraisals. They can't move on up or even laterally, because if they sold at those values and then bought something for the same amount of money, they would have to pay property taxes ovr the newly asessed value, and we're talking then twelve-thousand dollars a year here. So they stay where they are and get nicer kitchens and master bathrooms and additions. Every appartment building in Wilton Manners is a candidate to be flipped into condos, and it happens to many.

Las Olas is the street with the shops for that level of affluence. The men's clothes all are about making a guy look like Britney Spears' latest babydaddy just after he got promoted from being a back-up dancer.