burnaby t wallace

 

If you like Beagles, come check out my set of doggy pictures.

 

Went and tried out our new cameras. I just put the pictures up on Flickr.

Sun Microsystems picked up Innotek not too long ago. Now the virtual environment that has allowed me to run Linux within a window on a Vista machine–now allows running Vista and Linux within the MacOS (beta).

And it’s free.

The posh Conrad Hotel. In sticky way-too trendy Miami.

Hanging out with the Miami Fire-Rescue team in a jet-powered boat.

So I have been staying at the W Hotel New Orleans in the French Quarter for the past week. As a hotel itself, it’s not bad. I mean, it’s not the best place—I would probably relegate that to the Andrews at Long Island, New York—but I would say that it has the best friggin’ shower I have ever used.

The best shower that I have ever used.

Just to get the point across. The best shower that I have ever used.

In a city where drought isn’t an issue (I am a couple blocks from the Mississippi River), in a modern hotel, taking a shower in my hotel room is akin to being a young child on a hot summer day on the corner of the street playing in the water of the fire hydrant. Just that it’s not a hot summer day. And instead of a street, you’re standing on gray slate. And you’re naked.

It’s not a bath tub. It’s just a gigantic shower room with a glass surround. It’s quite a beautiful bathroom (especially since I am in the middle of remodeling our own at home), but as soon as that shower head starts spewing water, the shower floor begins to fill with maybe one inch of water. It doesn’t go beyond that, and it’s enough water to kick up and splash on the wall. And the water is a nice bubbly warm water. And it smells good (the W Hotels always give out this set of expensive soaps and shampoos that have a bit of a eucalyptus aroma). Every time I use the shower, I am in there for nearly an hour.

Am I recommending that you stay at a W Hotel? Sure…the hotel is nice. Here , in the French Quarter, it’s fun. If you like the sort of thing that the French Quarter atmosphere exudes (drinking late, walking around with alcohol in your hand, partying, looking at art galleries), then stay here a night or two. Frick, though, as valet is $30 a day. The pillows are very large and filled with feathers, the pool is heated and the courtyard is among the best in a standard hotel.

But it’s the shower that will bring me back here.