19 May 2010

In which i tells you about the 100 Hour Board

100 Hour Board


I promised you all a while ago that I would post about the 100 hour board, remember? Yeah, well here's that post.

Much of my online presence today is due to this website. I kind of love it, and all the writers (and most of the readers!) for it as well. Here's the gist: You ask a question, and 100 hours later, the answer will post at that link above. Ever wondered what alligator poop looks like? They've got you covered. Do you have a desire for a music playlist? Just ask Claudio, HFAC (Hey! it's Foreman And Claudio!), Foreman, Cognoscente, or any of the other writers and they can give you awesome recommendations (not that I necessarily listen to that kind of music, but... yeah.)

On the more serious side, FNA gave a great dissertation on LDS views on other religions. There are also allllll sorts of questions about relationships.

It's 100% free, so if you have any questions that you want to know the answer to, but are too lazy to find out for yourself, go to the Board! They are awesome. And I'm their favorite.

Since 1/2 of my readers already read the board, this one is directed specifically at the other 2 of you. [ =

18 May 2010

The Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites Review

Skip reading this post. It's the same one as below, just reposted to move up the page rankings.


the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
Alas, not everything about our trip was as wonderful as Portillo's (deep sigh).
When we went to Nauvoo, we arrived at approximately 5:30, just in time for the last session at the temple at 6:00. We got out about 7:30, and went to our hotel, the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites.
At any point that you get bored, feel free to skip to the tl;dr. It's in red below. But I encourage you to read, even though it's very long, just so that you know I'm not crazy.
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
We checked in to our room (during which time they specified that they wanted the keys back, to save themselves money, presumably), and went to it. While Mother sought to relieve her bowels, I sat on the bed (which had a gross bed spread wanna be thing on it. It was like a piece of the bed spread pattern, with our the cushioning). Normally, I wouldn't tell you about our restroom habits, but in this case, it was the beginning of a not fun experience.
Mother desired to clear the contents of the toilet bowl, so she pushed down the handle. The water level rose up then lowered back down, leaving her bodily expulsions in the bowl. She tried this three more times, with the same result each time. At this point, she came out of the restroom, rightfully upset. As we went out to our car, she informed the girl (she wasn't a lady, so I can't call her a young lady as I normally would) that the toilet hadn't flushed, and someone needed to go fix it for her. Politely, of course. Front Desk Girl (henceforth FDG) said, and I quote, "I'll try to find someone to take care of that for you." Try? Really? You'll try to find someone to take care of that for me? Thanks so much, FDG.
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
We went down the street for dinner (As a side note, every restaurant except one closes by 8:00, and that one closes at 8:30). We made it to the very last restaurant open. It was pretty decent, although it was terribly overpriced ($4.15 for a bowl of stew? It wasn't even a big bowl! It was like styrofoam paper bowl sized! In fact, that's exactly what it was.) The food was good, however, so they don't deserve too much complaining from me.
We get back to our room, and fortunately, our toilet troubles have been taken care of. At this point, neither of us is exactly happy to be in the hotel. There's just something about it that feels gross. We think that the carpet hadn't been vacuumed for a loooong time. We quickly change into out pajamas and go to sleep in our respective beds (which had very very very scratchy sheets. They weren't soft at all). This is approximately 10:00 PM.
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
Round about 11:20 PM, we hear people banging outside the door, trying to get in. Mother gets up and goes to look out the peephole, and sees a young couple trying to get in to our room with their key card and everything. Fortunately, Mother had deadbolted the door, otherwise we would have had some very unwelcome visitors. Because their keycards did, in fact, work. They had been assigned the same room as us. Yeah. Seriously.
25 minutes later, we hear a knock on the door again. This time, both Mother and I get out of bed. "Who is it", she asks. "Housekeeping", comes the reply. "It's friggin' midnight? Why are you knocking on my door?" she questions, not entirely happily. "I just was checking to see if someone really was in here" he says back.
No CRAP, moron. You really think that your other customers lied to you because they didn't want to come in room 109? You are so full of crap. And a knock at the door, too? And 25 minutes later? (During which time we had both fallen back asleep).
At approximately 6:00 AM, we both wake up to a baby crying. The walls could not have been more than, oh, 2 inches thick. We heard EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that our neighbors did. And we were right across from the pool and screaming kids as well, although the screaming kids weren't necessarily the hotel's fault.
By 7:30, we were both up, showered, dressed, and packed. At this point, it was hard to even be willing to take a breath. There was just something so gross/bad about the place that made it not even pleasant to be in.
Mother sent me out to put the suitcases in the car while she checked out. Apparently, when they checked her out, they must have asked her how her stay was, and she must've told them it was bad, because the FDG (who might have been a different one. I'm not sure) apologized for the loud teenagers. My mother quickly corrected her, saying that we hadn't even known there were teenagers (very impressive, considering there were 124 of them, according to FDG), and then enumerating our various issues that we had had. You know what FDG did? Gave us TEN WHOLE DOLLARS off of our $110 room. Woop de freaking doo.
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
(Later, Mother told the FDG at another hotel about our experience, and the girl said "They gave you your room for free, right?" Nope, sorry. They didn't. "Oh," said FDG. "That's what we would have done at our hotel, and I'm pretty sure it's industry standard." Greeeeeaaaat, we thought to ourselves.)
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
tl;dr
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
Anyway, long story short: Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites is an absolutely TERRIBLE place to stay. The rooms weren't clean, the workers were rude and not helpful, and they suffered something terrible from disorganization. Not a bueno experience at all. Oh, and did I mention that everything was cheap? Cheap TV, cheap alarm clock, cheap wannabe comforters, cheap cups, cheap shampoo (it came in a little packet like mustard. And we only got one of them. And we have two people in our room. Uh, hello?), cheap iron and ironing board (I seriously wouldn't have wanted to iron anything using it.), cheap/low quality EVERYTHING.
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites
Long story short, it was a terrrrrrible experience, and I would never, ever, ever stay there again. And you should all link to this post, or share it, or something, so that we get the word out. Because they were really that bad that they deserve to have their business knocked down.
Link to this post! Oh, PS the reason it says "the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites" so much is so that this post can move up the Google rankings enough to affect their business. Heck, I think I'm going to repost it, so forgive the double post.
the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites