On the Road

After years of traveling for work, I am planning my next career move: I will become the all-powerful, unquestioned dictator…

… my first act will be to mandate that all hotel plumbing be exactly the same. Every room in every hotel will have the exact same type of fixture that turns in the same directions to turn the water on and off, or to switch the diverter from tub to shower, or to adjust the water temperature. That will save the scalding/freezing surprise that comes from moving the mixing lever/knob in the wrong direction. And all sinks will have the left handle for hot and the right for cold.

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Time Zones

Over the years of my business life, I’ve spent many nights at the University Inn in Seattle. Some time ago, it became part of Pineapple Hospitality Company. Pineapple has several properties in Seattle, one in Portland and, most recently, in San Francisco. Not long ago we spent a getaway weekend in The City – natives always use capitol “T” and capitol “C” – and stayed at Pineapple’s Hotel California.

In the lobby, they helpfully display three clocks, so one can immediately check the time of day in any city where Pineapple has a hotel.

Lobby of Hotel California
Hotel California Lobby – San Francisco

 

Shred Everything!

You may not recognize the name Frank Abagnale, but Leonardo DiCaprio may be familiar to you. Leonardo played Frank in Steven Spielberg’s movie “Catch Me If You Can,” based on the autobiography of the same title. Tom Hanks was the co-star. A musical version opened on Broadway in 2011.

Beginning as a teenager, Frank impersonated a Pan Am pilot, a medical doctor and others. Along the way, he cashed $2.5 million in bad checks. All this before the age of twenty-one.

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