Hilton

This is the front view of the hotel. On each side is a large "Hilton" sign. I wonder if Paris pulled up in front of this place if she'd know it was one her hotels.


I was quite certain that taking pictures in the pool area was an arrestable offense. (No joke.) So I snapped this quickly. The pool has a slide on the far end that is nasty. I love water slides. There's nothing to love about this one.

In 53 days of living at the Hilton I have visited the pool exactly 3 times. I have no idea why I haven't been there more. I can see the lap pool from my balcony. Yesterday I was on the phone with Ann while looking down at the lap pool. A woman changed her entire bikini. She was pretty old and overweight, but it was like a car wreck; you couldn't help but watch.


Probably most of my closest friends do not know that I have claustrophobia. As a kid I would hyperventilate on elevators. When I was very young our family went to St. Louis and visited the Arch. I pondered what it would take to walk up the stairs rather than get inside the little pod that takes you to the top.

While teaching at Hamilton there was one room that I told the registrar to not even consider putting me in. It was a very small classroom that to me the walls looked like they were closing in.

I write all this to explain the elevator you see background. I live near that elevator on the third floor. (They call it second floor here, but that's a different story.)

In the month I've been in this room that elevator has been under repair at least 25% of the time. When it does "work" it does some fun things.

One day it took me to the first floor and the doors wouldn't open. I had to pry them open to get out.

Another day it took me almost to the first floor and stopped. It was about a three foot drop so I tried to pry them open again. Then it started moving to the top floor (7th story). At the top floor it stopped again. I kept trying to get it open but didn't have enough time to get out. The elevator started dropping... and dropping fast. I looked at the people in the courtyard to see if any of them noticed the elevator was in free fall but nobody looked up. The elevator stopped abruptly six inches from the first floor. I pried the doors open and got out.

There's another set of elevators in the old section of the hotel that are quite efficient. They don't bother to wait until the doors are completely closed to start moving.


This has been my home. I did nothing to clean it up for this photo. I believe in blogging purity.(!)


The balcony is great. As the temps have cooled down it is wonderful to stand out there and see... oh, wait, I already told the story of the woman changing the bikini.