My Old Kentucky Temporary Home

As Willie Nelson once sang, I'm "On the Road Again!" Yep, here I sit in my Louisville, Kentucky hotel room. It's bitter cold outside so I won't be going anywhere this evening -- not that I have anywhere to go anyway. I was rummaging through my daily round of blogs when I realized that I haven't written anything in almost a week. I guess all that pissed-offedness about this steroid stuff just left me speechless. Alas, speechlessness won't last long ... with me, it never does.

The flight down here was pretty uneventful (that's a good thing), and I had the rare flight attendant who must be an aspiring comedienne. Usually you get the regular ole flying waitress who says the scripted stuff then never says another word until they ask what you want to drink. The comedians are not quite as common, but once in a while you find one who makes a valiant effort to ad lib the script and hopefully make everyone on the plane laugh. I have to admire the attempt to make a joke out of "If the cabin pressure drops, an oxygen mask will be released from the overhead compartment .... blah blah blah." I don't know how they do it, but it usually works. Amazing since there's so very little that's laughable about sitting on a plane, strapped into a seat, waiting to take off, while listening to someone tell you what to do in the event of a crash. Comic relief is pretty powerful and most people laugh -- even me. Hell, anything could probably make me laugh at that point, maybe even Robin Williams. Nah, I take that back .. probably not .... not unless he was dressed like Mork. Anyway, at first I was a little annoyed by the joke telling while I was trying to read my book, but then I just stopped and listened. Even though she wasn't too funny, I had to give her some props for trying to make things better for us. The least I could do was indulge her effort by listening for a few minutes ... and so I did.

It's ashame there aren't more people working in service industries who act like they enjoy their job and their customers. Yeah, they're out there but they are clearly in the minority. Most are not necessarily rude, but they act robotic and completely indifferent to customer satisfaction. It's an attitude of, "I don't care whether I knock your socks off or not, as long as I get paid." Wow, nice attitude.

Tonight when I was walking into hotel, the bellman greeted me as he opened the door: "Hello Miz L., welcome back. Have a good night." Ahhhhh .... simple, yet nice. Had he said something like "I hate this job in the winter ... cold weather sucks", I probably would have been thinking "Stop bitching and open the door for me."

Then I ordered room service. The same guy has been delivering the room service dinners since I started coming here almost 8 years ago. Maybe he doesn't remember that I've been coming here that long .... maybe he doesn't remember seeing me for any of the 9 nights I've stayed in this hotel out of the last 30 days .... maybe he doesn't remember bringing me dinner in this same room last night. There is not one single glimmer of recognition on this man's face. You know, if I were him I'd be embarrassed. Tonight and from now on he only gets the gratuity the hotel adds to the check -- if he can't remember me, I can't remember to tip extra. In fact, I'll save it for the bellman! So there!!!

As I continue to sit here in my Louisville, Kentucky hotel room I'm reminded of yet another song -- this time, a little diddy from Meatloaf: "Two Outta Three Ain't Bad."

On that note (haha), I think I've come full circle -- I began with a song and am ending with a song. Hope this finds you warm and well. Am very much looking forward to coming home later this week!

Mooby Fooby

I had a flight connection in Detroit today on my way back to Louisville, which made for a longer-than-normal journey. Anyhow, while I was in the airport there, I had to find a ladies room before my connection started boarding. Naturally, it was farrrrr away, but I finally found it. I walked in and as I was searching for the most pristine stall I could find, I looked up and noticed a guy walking towards me. I turned around and walked out, realizing I was apparently in the men's room. Ooops. So I left and went in the rest room next door. Guess what? As I walked through the bathroom for the second time, again searching for the most pristine stall, I looked up and saw the same guy walking towards me!!! Who was this man, and why was he following me into bathrooms in the Detroit airport???

As it turned out, he went into the ladies room and realized he was in the wrong spot when he first saw me. I thought I was in the wrong spot when I first saw him (which I wasn't) and then wandered into the men's room thinking I was in the ladies room. So who was following who??? hahahahaa Both of us started laughing in the men's room. I didn't stick around giggling for too long, but I did think it was pretty funny.

P.S. -- As a follow up to one of my previous posts where I talked about the nasty plastic contraptions on the toilets in the Louisville airport ... they're gone! I wonder if someone read my post and realized they were probably spreading mooby fooby rathering than preventing it??

P.S.S. -- "Mooby fooby" is a generic name for all diseases that my mom always said when I was a kid. Do other people say it, or just my family? I'm wondering because as I've grown up, I've learned that there are words she made up and led me to believe were commonly used .... until I spurted them out in conversation in front of someone other than a family member, only to find out my mother made something up. This happened with the word "cutethings." Not meant to be "cute things", but all one word. It was synonymous with poop. Imagine my surprise in college when I said something about "cutethings" (trying not to be too crude) only to be laughed right off Mt. Nittany when they realized I was talking about poo!

OK, I've rambled long enough. Tell me some made up words ... or something to entertain me while I'm traveling ... pretty please.

That's One Big Hunk of Meat

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky folks! Am here til tomorrow on bidness and am trying to come up with any excuse I can not to do more work. aghhhh!!!

I'm actually a bit jealous of the folks who work for the Louisville Apartment Association -- they're having a big fancy shindig in the ballroom of the hotel I'm staying in.

Anyway, I ended up ordering room service because dining choices are limited down here, and it's a little too cold, dark and barren to go exploring on foot tonight. So I checked out the room service menu. It took me a good 5 minutes to convince them to let me order the cheeseburger off the kids menu because the 12 (yes, TWELVE!) ounce burger on the adult menu would be too big. Please tell me -- who the hell can eat a 12 oz burger???That's not a burger, it's a meatL-O-A-F. YUCK!!!!! Other options were a chicken breast (boring), a steak (too much), cream of carrot soup (what ever happened to good ole fashion Chicken Noodle?), or a Hot Brown sandwich (which I should've gotten). Finally they brought me the cheeseburger, and I don't know what kid could eat this thing, but it looked like a football. No wonder kids are getting fatter! I swear I'm not a picky eater, but I've never had such a hard time trying to find a normal decent dinner. I'm thinking maybe it's the hotel's passive aggressive attempt to discourage people from ordering room service? I don't know. Next time I'll try pizza delivery, or bring my ball gown and crash somebody's event.

I can't wait to get home tomorrow. Let's hope for a smooth, on-time flight!!