Farewell to Home 2 (Hilton) in Pflugerville!

Our joint home-away-from-home since January 27th has come to an end! It was mostly for Jennifer since I could still hang out at my place until the contractors showed up and I was with them all day. However, since I was paying for it as I promised Jennifer to compensate all the time delays which cascaded, we know the core story, everything was held up by refinancing. A hotel is alright for a few days but several weeks was a bit much. We could’ve checked out earlier yet I wanted to do it right by having enough time to do it smoothly. This place was similar to most in that you had to get out by 10 AM (I loved the other one for New Year’s which let it slide to noon or 1 PM) so we couldn’t dilly dally. The good part was us being in plenty of time for breakfast, the day they got a pancake maker!

Above is a picture of the room when you enter. Very nice! You can see the kitchenette the right and a workspace/desk. The left is the bathroom. How I wish my dorm room was this well set up given two of the three I lived in were repurposed hotels. This would’ve been a single at Marquette running probably $7000/year when I was there (late Eighties) and while I worked at University Towers, over $11,000/year (mid Nineties).

Now you can make out the couch which just ended up being storage. It’s a nice addition but let’s be serious, 99% of the time you watch TV from the bed! When I lived at Tower and Mashuda, it was either from my top bunk or I was sitting on the floor with Paul’s bed propping my back. Plus, if you crap out watching, you wake up a couple hours later, turn off the TV and return to sleep. I did succeed in making my Apple TV work on their set. I need to send feedback to engineering on how to presenting an interface for joining a captive network (aka, one requiring a password to join). If you can type all the jazz to join Netflix, why can’t you do the same for WiFi?

Now you can see all the great amenities! It was great to have ready access to snacks or leftovers with a full fridge and then clean it all up with a darned good dishwasher. Oh, they provided actual silverware and dishes, no crappy throwaway stuff. Jennifer didn’t want to come over to the house to use her washer/dryer sadly. To save time I did use their gym which was peaceful. Here I had to endure the differences in cycle brand, yeah, First-World Problems! Boo hoo! Trust me on the complaint. I have been spoiled by Planet Fitness and Apple’s choices in which when you stop peddling, theirs act in the same manner as a real bike, the wheels continue to go forward as you coast. It gives you a moment to regain your bearings, adjust your butt since they all have hard seats, check your Watch stats, drink some water, etc. No House 2’s, you stop, everything comes to an abrupt, painful jerk. It did help me keep my weight down until the contractors finally appeared.

I know Jennifer was very ready to get out. She’s done more traveling is my guess and it isn’t fond of hotel living. Her daughter Cheyenne was very excited too. Nubby and Vegas have been hanging out at the new apartment and let’s just say, those two cats aren’t tidy creatures compared to my sweet trio. Me? I wish they had such a nice place when I “lived” in Las Vegas for a month about 25 years ago. The tech wasn’t there yet with WiFi or flat-screen TVs obviously. I would’ve loved a desk in order to hook up my killer Apple PowerBook 5300c and a Global Village modem to check in home, etc. The kitchenette too. You can only eat at so many buffets or themed restaurants. Another good perk, I helped Jennifer earn a slug of Hilton points! I mean three weeks there must’ve gotten her a long weekend right?

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