Blog at http://drpeg2003.blogspot.com/
June 4, 2006 (5:39pm)
A large part of today was spent in trying to figure out where I would go after Shepherd kicks me out of my apartment on the 16th. Shepherd had given me a sheet that listed nine “Shepherd partner hotels,” meaning they’d contracted with these places for special rates. One place Gary and I have stayed several times before, and I had already made my reservation for it but wanted to see if I could do any better. Three of the remaining places I eliminated due to price or the fact that there was no kitchen listed as coming with the room. Another place was eliminated because I somehow overlooked it. I called the remaining four places and put one on the “check it out if the others don’t seem suitable” list because they said they really didn’t have a room available for the dates I wanted it but would try to do some finagling if I wanted them to. That left three, and I added to that two Residence Inns in the area that I had found through travelocity.com.
I braved Atlanta. ;-) The first place, a Residence Inn, gave me a good feeling. It’s on Peachtree Rd, but is a large property, and way in the back row are units that face a wooded area. The units are what they call “cottage style,” a small number of rooms per building, each room entered from the outside. They let me see a room, and as the employee and I walked toward it I felt that it was far enough away that traffic noises wouldn’t be a problem. The wooded side seemed very peaceful, and the inside of the suite seemed more than adequate – a queen bed, fully equipped kitchen, large bathroom and closet area. The “Shepherd” price is $79/night.
The next place was another Residence Inn, further away – one has to go through the Lenox area and turn on Wiecu where the Target is that I went to. It also seemed reasonable in terms of noise, being down a road leading off the main road into what I guess would be called a residential park – clusters of apartment buildings and I’m not sure what else. I didn’t pay that much attention to what else was there, because I was a little frazzled – I had gotten mixed up by the Yahoo directions (surprise!) and had ended up past Buford Highway on North Druid. I turned around and somehow accidently ended up in the right place, fortuitously seeing the Residence Inn sign, but there were so many other buildings in that residential park I had to hunt for the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel was completely full, and they couldn’t let me see a room, but it probably wasn’t necessary. The main thing I noted was that it was a HUGE place, and it was more like the stereotypical hotel, with all the rooms housed in one building (or it could have been more than one, I’m not sure), all entered from the inside. They couldn’t quote me a Shepherd rate, saying that I needed to work through the Shepherd Housing Director (who had arranged for my present accommodations). I will find out about that tomorrow, but unless the rate is fantastic, I would probably choose the first place over it.
The next place was just down Peachtree Road apiece (trying out my Southern), suites $65 a night. I choked on the cigarette smell as I entered the suite – I hadn’t asked if they had rooms designated smoking and nonsmoking. The suite was small but would be adequate. My main concern was that if I ended up on the Peachtree side – and I wouldn’t necessarily get to choose – it would be too noisy, as the place sits right on the street. And then there was . . .
“Have you stayed here awhile?” I asked the young man sitting on the sofa in the lobby.
“Yeah.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s good.”
“Is it quiet, in terms of your neighbors?”
“Yeah.”
“What about external noise, traffic or whatever?”
“It’s good. You don’t hear much, even though a train track runs right behind here – ”
Next!
The next place was the cheapest one listed – $220 a week – which made me skeptical that it would be suitable, but I thought I’d check it out (always looking for a bargain). It was close to some busy roads – including I-75 – and though the office was closed so I couldn’t actually get in to see a room and see how soundproof it was, I decided to cross the place off my list. Neither the area it was in nor the patrons I talked to instilled confidence in me that it would meet my noise standards. You get what you pay for in this case.
My last stop was another Residence Inn, also right on Peachtree. Again I was dubious because the building sat right on the road. I was surprised when I checked out a one bedroom room and a suite. Neither was on the street side, and the building was solid enough that I didn’t hear any traffic noise. But they can’t guarantee that you won’t be on the street side, and even in the rooms I checked out I could see the traffic. Psychologically I’d rather not be able to look out my window and see the cars go by on Peachtree – weird, I know. The place was a bit more expensive than the other Residence Inn I liked, being $99 for a suite (open floor plan) and $109 for a one-bedroom (French doors separate the bedroom from the living and kitchen areas). The only advantage to it *might* be that a large portion of their clientele consists of long-term residents with family members in Piedmont hospital, so one wouldn’t think such people would tend to party. I’m hoping that if I end up in the first Residence Inn I checked out that I’ll get in the last row and that the only other people who want to be way back there are ones who want the quietness of the woods. Let’s hope they don’t want to be back there just so they can throw huge parties ;-).
I made a brief stop to see Gary, and then I went back to my apartment to recover – it’d taken me about four hours to do all this. Later, when I went back out to my car to return to the hospital, I discovered that I had left my lights on. Fortunately the car started right up, but then I had to travel around for about twenty minutes to make sure the battery was charged. Soon after I got back to Gary’s, my phone rang, and I did the obnoxious thing of answering it by saying, “Hi, Norma,” cuz I knew it was her from Caller I.D. I always felt funny when someone did this to me, uneasy with the idea that someone knew ahead of time it was me who was calling, but now I find myself doing it to others to freak them out ;-).
Gary kept holding his hand out for the phone, so I finally gave in and passed it over ;-) As they conversed, I could sort of see the value of a speaker phone, as getting only half of it did not enlighten me much as to its content ;-). But Gary filled me in on what he could remember. We are looking forward to his family coming up. It won’t be long now!
I will finish tonight’s entry by passing on something my sister-in-law Dolores sent me:
The Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the
dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing
one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are this year's winners. Each is
an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a
real word:
a.. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which
lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
b.. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly
c.. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people
that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer,
unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the
near future.
d.. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which
renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite
period.
e.. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
f.. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit
and the person who doesn't get it.
g.. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are
running late.
h.. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
i.. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra
credit.)
j.. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off
all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the
Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
k.. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through
the day consuming only things that are good for you.
l.. Glibido: All talk and no action.
m.. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem
smarter when they come at you rapidly.
n.. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just
after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
o.. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that
gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot
be cast out.
p. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half
a worm in the fruit you're eating.
June 4, 2006 (5:39pm)
A large part of today was spent in trying to figure out where I would go after Shepherd kicks me out of my apartment on the 16th. Shepherd had given me a sheet that listed nine “Shepherd partner hotels,” meaning they’d contracted with these places for special rates. One place Gary and I have stayed several times before, and I had already made my reservation for it but wanted to see if I could do any better. Three of the remaining places I eliminated due to price or the fact that there was no kitchen listed as coming with the room. Another place was eliminated because I somehow overlooked it. I called the remaining four places and put one on the “check it out if the others don’t seem suitable” list because they said they really didn’t have a room available for the dates I wanted it but would try to do some finagling if I wanted them to. That left three, and I added to that two Residence Inns in the area that I had found through travelocity.com.
I braved Atlanta. ;-) The first place, a Residence Inn, gave me a good feeling. It’s on Peachtree Rd, but is a large property, and way in the back row are units that face a wooded area. The units are what they call “cottage style,” a small number of rooms per building, each room entered from the outside. They let me see a room, and as the employee and I walked toward it I felt that it was far enough away that traffic noises wouldn’t be a problem. The wooded side seemed very peaceful, and the inside of the suite seemed more than adequate – a queen bed, fully equipped kitchen, large bathroom and closet area. The “Shepherd” price is $79/night.
The next place was another Residence Inn, further away – one has to go through the Lenox area and turn on Wiecu where the Target is that I went to. It also seemed reasonable in terms of noise, being down a road leading off the main road into what I guess would be called a residential park – clusters of apartment buildings and I’m not sure what else. I didn’t pay that much attention to what else was there, because I was a little frazzled – I had gotten mixed up by the Yahoo directions (surprise!) and had ended up past Buford Highway on North Druid. I turned around and somehow accidently ended up in the right place, fortuitously seeing the Residence Inn sign, but there were so many other buildings in that residential park I had to hunt for the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel was completely full, and they couldn’t let me see a room, but it probably wasn’t necessary. The main thing I noted was that it was a HUGE place, and it was more like the stereotypical hotel, with all the rooms housed in one building (or it could have been more than one, I’m not sure), all entered from the inside. They couldn’t quote me a Shepherd rate, saying that I needed to work through the Shepherd Housing Director (who had arranged for my present accommodations). I will find out about that tomorrow, but unless the rate is fantastic, I would probably choose the first place over it.
The next place was just down Peachtree Road apiece (trying out my Southern), suites $65 a night. I choked on the cigarette smell as I entered the suite – I hadn’t asked if they had rooms designated smoking and nonsmoking. The suite was small but would be adequate. My main concern was that if I ended up on the Peachtree side – and I wouldn’t necessarily get to choose – it would be too noisy, as the place sits right on the street. And then there was . . .
“Have you stayed here awhile?” I asked the young man sitting on the sofa in the lobby.
“Yeah.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s good.”
“Is it quiet, in terms of your neighbors?”
“Yeah.”
“What about external noise, traffic or whatever?”
“It’s good. You don’t hear much, even though a train track runs right behind here – ”
Next!
The next place was the cheapest one listed – $220 a week – which made me skeptical that it would be suitable, but I thought I’d check it out (always looking for a bargain). It was close to some busy roads – including I-75 – and though the office was closed so I couldn’t actually get in to see a room and see how soundproof it was, I decided to cross the place off my list. Neither the area it was in nor the patrons I talked to instilled confidence in me that it would meet my noise standards. You get what you pay for in this case.
My last stop was another Residence Inn, also right on Peachtree. Again I was dubious because the building sat right on the road. I was surprised when I checked out a one bedroom room and a suite. Neither was on the street side, and the building was solid enough that I didn’t hear any traffic noise. But they can’t guarantee that you won’t be on the street side, and even in the rooms I checked out I could see the traffic. Psychologically I’d rather not be able to look out my window and see the cars go by on Peachtree – weird, I know. The place was a bit more expensive than the other Residence Inn I liked, being $99 for a suite (open floor plan) and $109 for a one-bedroom (French doors separate the bedroom from the living and kitchen areas). The only advantage to it *might* be that a large portion of their clientele consists of long-term residents with family members in Piedmont hospital, so one wouldn’t think such people would tend to party. I’m hoping that if I end up in the first Residence Inn I checked out that I’ll get in the last row and that the only other people who want to be way back there are ones who want the quietness of the woods. Let’s hope they don’t want to be back there just so they can throw huge parties ;-).
I made a brief stop to see Gary, and then I went back to my apartment to recover – it’d taken me about four hours to do all this. Later, when I went back out to my car to return to the hospital, I discovered that I had left my lights on. Fortunately the car started right up, but then I had to travel around for about twenty minutes to make sure the battery was charged. Soon after I got back to Gary’s, my phone rang, and I did the obnoxious thing of answering it by saying, “Hi, Norma,” cuz I knew it was her from Caller I.D. I always felt funny when someone did this to me, uneasy with the idea that someone knew ahead of time it was me who was calling, but now I find myself doing it to others to freak them out ;-).
Gary kept holding his hand out for the phone, so I finally gave in and passed it over ;-) As they conversed, I could sort of see the value of a speaker phone, as getting only half of it did not enlighten me much as to its content ;-). But Gary filled me in on what he could remember. We are looking forward to his family coming up. It won’t be long now!
I will finish tonight’s entry by passing on something my sister-in-law Dolores sent me:
The Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the
dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing
one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are this year's winners. Each is
an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a
real word:
a.. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which
lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
b.. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly
c.. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people
that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer,
unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the
near future.
d.. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which
renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite
period.
e.. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
f.. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit
and the person who doesn't get it.
g.. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are
running late.
h.. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
i.. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra
credit.)
j.. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off
all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the
Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
k.. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through
the day consuming only things that are good for you.
l.. Glibido: All talk and no action.
m.. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem
smarter when they come at you rapidly.
n.. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just
after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
o.. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that
gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot
be cast out.
p. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half
a worm in the fruit you're eating.
posted by Peg Daniels at 6:54 AM
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