M. Giant's
Velcrometer
Throwing stuff at the internet to see what sticks


Friday, May 21, 2004  

Magic!

So we're leaving for California tomorrow. It's been quite a while since we took an actual, honest-to-God vacation for any length of time. I'm not sure if anything since Hawaii counts, and that was a year ago. I almost feel guilty taking a vacation at this point in my life. I have not one, but two of the coolest jobs I could ever hope for, so what is it that I'm taking a vacation from? But then I figure, someday I might be working as a scuba diver in a water treatment plant, and I won’t want to have think back to vacations I didn't take now. So.

As I've mentioned in the past, when we go on vacation we normally organize our accommodations after we arrive at our destination. But in light of everything we've read about the cost and scarcity of California real estate—which we assume applies even if one is only renting some for a few nights—we figured it would be safer to take care of this trip's lodgings in advance. Since I was reserving the rental car, it fell to my wife to deal with the hotel. Besides: she has the Mojo.

(By the way, if you ever get to pick between having to reserve the rental car and reserving the hotel? Go with the rental car.)

So Trash brought all of her online researching skills to bear, narrowing down tens of thousands of hotels in scores of neighborhoods down to a few likely candidates. She enlisted friends at work and at least one friend in another state, namely CorpKitten. Eventually, with CorpKitten's invaluable assistance, she settled on a place near Beverly Hills that's actually in our price range. She sent me a link to their website and I said, "Make it so." And for a short time, our ZIP code would be 90210. If you use all nine digits and then take some out, that is.

But then Trash got an e-mail from our friend CorpKitten, drawing our attention to a place where we simply must stay:

The Magic Castle.

Trash was immediately enchanted (see? It works). I was happy with the other place, but Trash made a cogent argument for changing our reservations:

"Magic Castle! Dude? Magic Castle!"

"Yes, but—"

"But Magic Castle!"

She was all ready to cancel our reservations at the other place and book us at the Magic Castle. Fortunately, she realized it would be more prudent to do take those steps in the reverse order.

Trash was all ready to switch us over, agreeing to pay way more than we've ever spent on a hotel room in our lives, and then Pamie mentioned something about how she thought you have to be a magician to stay there.

Um.

I was fine with that, because nothing makes a difficult decision easier than having one of the options eliminated by factors out of your control. But Trash wasn't quite ready to give up on the Magic Castle. She's so girly sometimes.

She called the reservation desk, and talked to a guy, and they talked about when we needed the room, and when we were arriving, and whether a smoking room was okay, and then the clerk said, "Are you in the magic?"

Trash hung up.

So no Magic Castle for us. She was lucky the desk clerk wasn't a mentalist, and thus able to read her thoughts over the telephone wire. I offered to rent some Penn & Teller videos to see what I could pick up, but she was fine with letting it go.

* * *

Trash has an unrelated question for you. She's been struggling with laryngitis for several weeks now, and would like to have her voice back all of the time instead of just some of the time. We've tried ht beverages, cough drops, and resting her voice, but if any of y'all have any other suggestions, thoughts, or home remedies, feel free to pass them along. We'll be most grateful. Unless they wreck her voice for good, in which case you'll have yourself a shiny new pair of bitter enemies.

Today's best search phrase: "Kiefer Sutherland big tit cat fight." Like I don't get enough of that kind of thing on the 24 forums.

posted by M. Giant 8:19 PM 0 comments

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