Big D

I’ve had a good trip to the Dallas area this week. The work has been rather easy. The hotel has been comfortable. I’ve found some poker to play. After the insane schedule and travel of last week, it has been the break I was hoping for.

There was a poker tournament in the lounge of the hotel Wednesday night. It was a fun freeroll except for the one drink minimum. I hit some good cards early turning a straight, pushing the table around with middle pocket pairs, and busting a busty astrophysicist with QQ over her JJ. That gave me enough to make the final table (of 3) without winning another hand. Good thing, too, since I didn’t win another hand. I busted out in 7th place after my top pair got busted by a runner-runner straight. I played well, so it was a good time.

I did work until 9pm last night. That seems harsh for a Friday night, but I’m not at home and TV sucks, so I was glad to have something to do. Hunger and laziness struck at the same time, so I called up room service and ordered me a steak. I was just turning to the laptop to check on the web and I heard a sound in my room. Sounds are okay as long as I or the TV makes them. The origin of this sound was neither. It was coming from the bathroom and I couldn’t tell if it was someone rustling around or water dripping. Since I was the only (other) one there, I went to check it out.

I reached around the door jamb and hit the bathroom light switch. The light illuminated the blackness that was now the bathroom. It looked like the sink had exploded coffee grounds sometime earlier in the night. Whatever it really was was on the far wall in the shower. It was on the ceiling. It covered the counter top and was still running from the sink. The sound I heard was the black water overflowing the sink onto the floor.

I stuck a trash can under the waterfall and called the front desk. The engineer took one look at the bathroom and said “We need to get you another room.” Wow, what a good answer. This guy takes the Customer Service Person of the Month Award. He didn’t make excuses or waste my time with anything that was not my concern. He got me a room and keys for the room and offered to help me move my stuff. He didn’t even try to explain what happened until I asked. The Arlington Hilton gets good customer service scores from me. Of course, it would have been nice to not have had my room soiled in the first place.

So I’m back at it today. Our project is going smoothly, so I really don’t have much to do except monitor counters and blog. Tomorrow, I fly out to Hartford, CT via Charlotte (home). I’m hoping the wife can meet me at the airport with a picnic or something during my 2 hour layover. Maybe I can get down to Foxwoods during the week.