I’m not really in America!!!

I don’t know any Republicans! In fact, I don’t even think i know any conservatives of any sort.

In fact, when I was thinking about it, all American people I’ve met here are practically Canadian. I say practically because even though these practical-Canadians will agree with us on issues like healthcare or whatnot, they’re a bit … I dunno, jumpy? Not sure if that’s the right word, but yes, there’s definitely something different about Americans. In other words, I frequently feel slightly foreign. I dunno. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing the ocean every day yet. She sparkles.

Anyway, going back to the republican thing … I think this is just a reflection of the fact I’m here in SF, which is practically Portland, which is practically Canada.

So yeah, next time you watch US news or read a US paper and some talking head starts going on about “two americas” or something like that, it’s true! It’s very easy to live a life here surrounded by people exactly like you.

The man I steal internet from

… is apparently:

1. my neighbour (the one who has the trendy parties)
2. was the sexiest man at google as voted in a valleywag contest of some sort a couple years ago.

I learned this when I was looking for a document with Finder and  my macbook pro found other macs on this network. His mac identification included his name, so I googled him. I briefly worried whether he might also notice my mac when he’s using Finder, but this being a corporate computer, I’m pretty sure it’s identified with an alien alphanumeric string. I’m safe for now. <puts on dark glasses>

—

ps. I’ve seen this guy topless (casually! It was his dog-walking-in-alley garb!) and didn’t notice anything spectacular. It was a few months ago though. I’ll be checking him out more carefully from now on.

pps. He has a gf! She seems nice. i’ve waved to her a few times.

ppps. More recently he appears to have turned into an environmentalist. I feel vaguely guilty taking this free internet from a guy like that. But it’s really fast, and it’s free, so I’m torn.

Why I hate Hilton hotels

Sigh. Once again, I’m reminded of why you should never spend your own money staying at any form of Hilton hotel.

1. Internet is never free and rarely wireless. Thank goodness this time i was at a relatively new Embassy Suites, which at least is designed for a working person… i.e. I could use my laptop and watch TV at the same time. But still! It was wired fricking internet! I couldn’t use it from my bed. I couldn’t even sit on the couch! The wireless situation alone is a massive fail. The hotel I was staying at was built last year, and is in Glendale (hardly a hotbed of tourist activity) which adds to the shockingness of it all.

2. The customer service is robotic, soulless and generally sucks. Always. Companies like this don’t bother to actually hire nice people in customer facing positions. They just take whoever, which means you spottily get stiff people, friendly people, and overzealous juice servers. When I checked out this morning, the robot at the desk printed my receipt 3 times and asked me if I wanted to keep them in a syrupy voice while she tapped her acrylic nails on the counter. It was painful. I took two copies and left the third, in the false hope that this would intrigue her. (Doh! Robots can’t be intrigued!)

3. They penny pinch the small stuff. I left a tank top hanging on the back of a door in my hotel room. I stayed at the hotel for a week, which cost about a grand. Upon arriving in SF and discovering my error, I call up the hotel and ask them if they can mail the clothing back to me. Their response was that they offer a complimentary service of mailing the clothing back to me, but they use fedex and have no idea how much it’ll cost. wtf! What part of this service is complimentary!? I asked the hotel clerk how I was supposed to optimize between the cost of replacing the blouse and having it mailed back. For all I know, they’re charging me a service fee in there as well, or maybe they’re going to opt for the most expensive mailer. Who knows! Due to Issue 2 above, the woman I spoke to was useless in answering any of my questions. I asked her if she could mail it USPS and she was clueless about that too. The thing that really annoyed me during the whole encounter was her condescending tone and the repetition of the word “complimentary”. Complimentary means free. If I’m paying for something, IT’S NOT COMPLIMENTARY!!! @#*&! I got a little more irritated each time she used that word, to the point that I told her I was shocked that the Hilton would be penny pinching in this manner and insisted I be connected with the manager! Unsurprisingly, there was no manager around and I got the runaround and had to call back. This time I got connected with some other person who seemed a little less robotic. This person offered to call FedEx and get a price and then I could approve it. He also asked me which kind of shipping I wanted, which was nice.