Drove to Mt. Laurel, NJ today. It took about 5 hours with the obligatory stop at the Vince Lombardi rest area for some chili dogs. There is a sickening heat wave across all of the Northeast. I think I pretty much covered it end to end.

I started fantasizing about the hotel A/C in the last third of the drive. Not that the car A/C wasn't frigid, but you can't really walk around in your underwear and stretch out in a Hyundai. I arrived to find that my hotel room was a) on the 3rd floor - not a problem, until I also realized that b) there's no elevator, it's a walkup, and so I walked around the building twice before I climbed the stairs, huffing and puffing, only encounter the c) non-functioning air conditioning unit.

Now, I should also mention that the event for which I specifically booked a room at this particular hotel had been moved to another location, which made the subsequent a/b/c discoveries above more disheartening.

It's probably not fair to say that the A/C "wasn't functioning". According to the original designers plan, it was working just fine. After fiddling with the knobs and pushing the blue "down" arrow several hundred times, I called the front desk.

Front Desk: "Hello, front desk."

Me: "Hello, this is 1233. Do you know if there is anything I can do to make it cooler in my room?"

(I like to consider myself open-minded and non-confrontational. This seemed like a good way to start. I wondered how I would answer this question if I was a front desk clerk in New Jersey.)

Front Desk: "You're in 1233? Did you just get in your room, sometimes it take a few minutes for the A/C to start - it automatically senses when you are in the room."

Me: "Well, I've been here about 45 minutes, and it's been off all the time that I've been here."

Front Desk: "Okay, no problem. I can send someone up to take a look at the unit."

Me: "Okay, great".

(As I said this, the room rumbled and the A/C fan came to life, spewing life-giving freon from 4 different vents.)

Me: "Excuse me, I think it just came on. It must have just realized I'm here. Maybe because I'm talking out loud."

Front Desk: "Oh, okay...so you're all set?"

Me: "Yes I think so. I'll just keep talking to it. Thanks."