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Tulsa Extended Stay Inn and Suites Hotel Review
Posted by Snowy in Economy/Business, product tests on July 27th, 2010
I recently went on a little road trip with some friends for a dodgeball tournament. We traveled to Tulsa Oklahoma, from Dallas, which is about a five hour drive. It was tons of fun and I’d go back in a heartbeat, however, I would definitely stay in a different hotel. Attracted by the low rate and free breakfast, we stayed at the Tulsa Extended Stay Inn and Suites, and boy, was it a mistake. Here’s my review
This was without a doubt the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at. An absolute disaster hotel. Let’s go ahead and start with the check-in. I arrived at a little earlier than 5 pm and had to wait at least 10 minutes before one of the hotel staff was able to check me in. Apparently there was only one worker on the clock. So with check-in out of the way, I went to my hotel room only to immediately start laughing with my friends at the small size of the room. However, the joke on us quickly became very apparent as we walked into this filthy room. There were holes in the carpet, chip in the paint, the bathroom door would barely close, and when you opened it, you would swear that you were about to rip it off its hinges every time. The toilet made a really weird loud running sound, so loud in fact when I first walked into the room I thought someone was showering in our room!
As the night continued things really only got worse. My friends and I had come to the area for a dodgeball tournament. After the tournament was over we wanted to go swimming. We walked to the front desk to get some extra towels (as the hotel room only came with ONE hand towel and ONE shower towel) we were told by the security guard on site that the pool was closed after 11pm (apparently since the pool lights weren’t working, we couldn’t swim). We were walking back to our room when all the sudden we hear “POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!” My friend turned to me and said “I think we just witnessed a drive-by,” less than 200 yards away. Soon enough we see a ghetto looking van racing down the street.
Later that evening since we couldn’t go swimming we bravely went back outside to the front desk, this time to ask for some extra towels, blankets, or pillows (Which I really needed an extra pillow because I turned over one of the ones on my bed only to find a very large yellow stain on it). The employee we talked to was out having a smoke break, and didn’t even bother to put out his cigarette, but at least he was helpful, sort of. He brought back ONE HAND TOWEL, and apologized, “Sorry, that’s all we have”. Honestly, what hotel doesn’t have a few extra blankets or pillows? Judging by the parking lot, the hotel wasn’t even at half-capacity.
After not a so great night’s sleep morning came and I was really excited for the continental breakfast – one of the main reasons why I booked this hotel over another one. Unfortunately it consisted of pre-packaged blueberry muffins, warm coffee, and warm milk. After chugging my coffee I went back to the hotel room and made some of my own with the room-provided coffee maker. And this is where something really, really strange happened. I poured myself a cup of joe and as I bring it to my nose to smell the aroma, I am alerted that this is not ordinary coffee. It took me a few seconds for my sleepy brain to recognize what it smelled like, but after a bit, I finally recognized it, and I kid you not, the coffee smelled like seafood. Everyone else in the room testified. I didn’t even want to try and drink it. I poured it down the sink (which leaks by the way) and poured myself another cup, hoping that I don’t know, maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. But nope, same result.
The only decent part of this awful hotel is probably when I went to checkout. Despite the employee behind the desk clearly on a personal call (she was on her cell phone, arguing with her boyfriend or husband) the checkout was very quick and when I did talk to the employee she was very nice and wished me a nice day.
Overall, I can’t really say I recommend this hotel, at all. There were only two things that made my trip enjoyable, and that is 1, I look at things as being “half full”, despite the hotel’s faults, I found character in the hotel and went with it. And 2, I had a lot of friends that I went with and we all had a great time. The hotel was cheap, and we got what we paid for, or less. But all in all I did have a good trip, despite the hotel not making things better, it could’ve always been worse. Actually, no, it couldn’t have been worse. I just stayed in the worst hotel in all of Oklahoma.
Crest 3D White Strips
Posted by Snowy in product tests on June 24th, 2010
Quick little post here. I got a free sample of Crest 3D Whitestripes in the mail a few days ago from Walmart.com. They only sent me two strips, one for my top row of teeth, and one for my bottom row. I’ve never really thought that a little strip of plastic could really whiten your teeth, so I would have never purchased these for myself. Thinking that they don’t work I went ahead and tried them anyway. Directions were simple, peel, place, and forget. The strips weren’t extraordinarily comfortable but they weren’t unbearable. The directions say to have them on for 30 minutes so that’s what I did, and to my surprise after the 30 minutes, my teeth were really a brighter shade of white! Now I’ve never had really yellow teeth, but this is definitely an improvement, and it was only after one use!
I know this blog post sounds a lot like a commercial for Crest, but I would have to strongly recommend these for anyone who wants to whiten their teeth. They’re slightly pricey though at $43.97, but if a whiter smile is what you want then I would have to say these are worth it.
Google is so incredibly powerful
Posted by Snowy in Economy/Business on June 20th, 2010
So today I was looking up some books on Amazon, I want the book right away so I decide to look into the Amazon Kindle thing. I download that, try the trial version of the book, seems okay. But then I notice that I can’t print with the Amazon Kindle. This really doesn’t surprise me, but I figure that there’s away around it, so I start to google it. I come across a program that converts the kindle books to PDF and right before I click the download button, I see that they offer another program, "google books to pdf". "What?!" Google Books? Never heard of that. So now I come to find out that there’s essentailly a library right in Google. I can create my own bookshelf, etc, etc. Then I come across how my bookshelf is not compeltly ready because my profile is not fully updated and cannot be searched. So I’m updating that and I stumble upon Google Reader, which at first, I thought might be something like the Kindle. It’s not, but it still tickles me pink how big Google is yet they still do everything incredibly well. There’s Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Buzz, Google This, Google That, soon Google will be making us breakfast in bed!
I love Google, they’re probably one of my most favorite companies. The entire company has a sense of humor and isn’t afraid to interact with their customers (unlike a lot of other tech companies). I’m glad to see that they’ve done so well in the marketplace and I hope they keep on chuggin’ along.
Creatine Study
As some of you may know, I am pretty big into fitness. I like to workout, I like to run, I like to be competitive. So there’s a supplement called "creatine" that you’re suppose to take to help boost your weightlifting numbers. You’ve probably never heard of creatine and that’s okay, not a whole lot of people have. But what exactly is creatine? Well creatine is found naturally in the body, it helps supply energy to your muscles. More energy in muscles = more lifts at the gym = stronger/bigger gains. Your body naturally produces it (mainly in the liver and kidneys) but you can also get creatine from red meats. However, there isn’t much produced in the body and you only get about 1 gram per 1 pound of food in meat, so naturally taking a creatine supplement seems like a good idea.
So what I’m going to do is a simple, unscientific 60 day study of the effects of creatine. This is what I plan to find out:
- Does it really help build muscle?
- What, if any ill side effects does creatine have?
- I’ll be making sure to pay attention to my in-game performance (ice hockey; goalie)
- Looking for water-weight issues
I plan to measure my arms/legs/neck/etc weight before I get started, and remeasure at the end of 60 days. After the 60 days are up I will cycle off the creatine for about two weeks and see if I loose any weight (at this point it should be water).
I’m taking "Micronized" Creatine, which is creatine monohydrate, but a finer version so it mixes better in water. I have a hockey game Monday so just in case there’s the risk of it [negatively] affecting my performance I’m going to start this study on Tuesday. I’ll also post my starting height, weight, dimensions, lifts, etc. on that day.
Let me know if there’s something you want me to do in this study that I haven’t already thought of. I’ll hopefully post updates every two weeks or so.
Artstin on Facebook now!
Posted by Snowy in Economy/Business on May 30th, 2010
So in an effort to promote my business and collect new clients I have created my own facebook page. I’ll be providing some updates on the page as well as giving members who "like" my page exclusive discounts. So check Artstin.com’s facebook page!
Senior Year
Posted by Snowy in Uncategorized on May 23rd, 2010
I wrote a similar blog post to this one just about this time last year. Of course last year was my junior year so I’m a senior now about about to graduate in 11 days. Wow. You know, when older people tell you that time flies by and that your youth goes by in a blink of an eye, they really do mean it. Fortunately I believe that and can recognize that so I’m able to look back, reflect, and cherish the memories I’ve made thus far. They say that senior year is suppose to be the best year of your high school career, and some of the best times of your life. I would say that senior year has, for the most part, lived up to the hype. I’ve made a lot of new friends this year and reunited with some old ones. I’ve had a few "crushes", and I’ve been through some stress. But has it been worth it all? Hell yeah. I’ve loved high school, especially the last two years. I’m going to be saying good bye to my teachers this week as seniors take exams early. It will certainly be a bit tough, I’ve had a few great teachers who have had a big influence on me, especially Coach Washburn.
The idea of leaving high school is really exciting for most kids, and sad for few. I think I’m one of those who it’s going to be sad for. I think the main reason for that is because I’ve had so much success in high school, and like anyone with any company or any school or any organization, why would you want to leave that success? Of course I’m excited for the future (a blog post on that soon) but it is definitely bittersweet.
Prom was last night. I had an absolute blast. I can never say that I am an extraordinary dancer or that I even listen to the music that is played at dances, but I really enjoyed myself at prom. I was just somehow able to find the beat really well and go with it. Prom was at Southfork Ranch while after prom took place at Shenaniganz from 1am to 5am. I have to say that I did probably enjoy the dance more than after-prom which comes as a shock to me because when I went to homecoming this year I had less than a stellar time. But the whole night really seemed quite surreal. I noted to my date that while we danced to slow dance it "took me back" to my middle school years, which really didn’t seem that long ago.
Oh how great life is, all of it - the friendships, the heartbreaks, the love, the hate, the joy, the pain, cherish all of it, and live in the moment. For the moment is time, and time is all there is.
Coming soon…
Posted by Snowy in Uncategorized on April 19th, 2010
Hey all,
Sorry I haven’t posted a blog in a while. Just generally been busy or haven’t felt quite so motivated to write one. But anyway I should have some more time in the upcoming future so I’ll go ahead and outline what I’m planning on writing about… Here’s just a few:
- Study on Creatine
- McDonalds vs Burger King vs Wendy’s: Dollar Burger Battle
- End of track write up
- College/future
- Who makes the best coffee?
- Sony Ericsson C510a Phone Review
Anyway those are a few topics I hope to write about in the near future. So keep a look out on the blog!
Thanks much!
Debra Medina for Governor
Posted by Snowy in Uncategorized on March 1st, 2010
Greetings Texas Readers,
I hope that you know by now that this coming Tuesday, March 2, is the final day of voting in the republican primary. Since I enjoy politics and a good political discussion, I am writing this to formally announce my endorsement of Debra Medina for the next governor of Texas. I ask that you support and vote for Debra this coming Tuesday. You may not be very familiar with Debra Medina if you do not watch the news regularly or if you missed out on the KERA or BELO debates. Please allow me to take a moment of your time to explain to you why I am supporting Debra Medina.
-Debra is for the elimination of property tax. In Texas, you never truly own your property, you merely eternally rent it from the government. Medina is for eliminating property tax and replacing it with a broader based sales tax. With this, we Texans will see a $3 Billion dollar increase in net personal income, and it will create upwards of 100,000 new, REAL, PRIVATE SECTOR jobs.
-We have independent school districts, but Medina questions “independent from what?” I recall her questioning as to why a school from El Paso has to look exactly like a school from Dallas or Rockwall – It shouldn’t! School districts know what they need best and Debra Medina is for restoring more power back to the local level.
-Debra Medina strongly supports state sovereignty and nullifying federal mandates that do not apply to Texas and are not supported by the constitution of the United States.
-I think most importantly, Debra Medina is not a career politician. She is a hard working middle class American like the rest of us. I want to keep this (somewhat) on the short side, so I will end my explination of why to vote for her at that.
Now, why to NOT vote for Rick Perry
-One thing that Rick Perry will tell you is that Texas has a balanced budget. But the thing he won’t tell you is that he used stimulus dollars to balance it, and we’re now facing a $15 billion dollar budget short fall this year.
-Rick Perry signed a piece of legislation a few years ago that allows illegal immigrants, if they’ve been in the US for more than 3 years, to get the in-state tuition price as long as they’re “working toward citizenship”. What he’ll forget to mention is that there is a federal law that does not permit any immigrant, if here longer than three years, to be a valid US citizen.
-Rick’s all for toll roads. Rick supports the Trans Texas Corridor, which is basically like a superhighway toll road. It’ll cost tax payers billions. While Perry will tell you the TTC is “dead”, it has just been renamed numerous times and will threaten private property rights all over the state and cost tax payers billions.
Any further questions I would be happy to answer them in the comments section.
Thank you
Go Facebook, Go
Posted by Snowy in Economy/Business on February 13th, 2010
If you have used Facebook the past year or two like I have, there’s no doubt that you’ve noticed changes to the site’s layout multiple times. It seems like every time Facebook changes their layout out it’s met promptly with criticism. "Why’d they change it", "If it’s not broke, don’t fix it", "I hate this new layout". Those are just some of the comments I hear about the style of Facebook whenever they change. All of them are valid points, Facebook has never really had any show stoppers with their UI (user interface), so why do they always change it? I can say I’ve been a critic myself, while I’ve never seen the layout change so dramatically that I can’t use Facebook, I’ve never really seen the reason to change it in the first place. And that’s exactly why they should continue to change their layout.
Yes, that may sound absurd, but that’s what they need to continue to do. Do we all remember when Myspace reigned king of the social networking websites? And do we all remember the vast UI changes that Myspace went through? Oh, you don’t? Well that’s exactly why Myspace isn’t a social networking dominance anymore. Yeah, some could argue that it’s for other reasons like it’s slow, it has too much ads, etc. and they’re right, but if it’s made well enough, users will put up through those ads - I mean they did, for the 4-some odd years that Myspace was king of the hill, right? Here’s the issue with Myspace… they never changed their UI- whether they needed to or not. This caused a huge lack of innovation. It was always the same with no change and people got tired of that. I can guarantee you that if Myspace would have made changes to their UI, they would have stumbled upon some of the things that people flocked over to Facebook for. But they didn’t.
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that Facebook changing their UI is a good thing. With their changes they will continue to innovate and create a better user experience in the long run.
A word about customer service
Posted by Snowy in Economy/Business on February 3rd, 2010
First off, sorry I haven’t posted anything on this blog in months… I really haven’t had a whole ton to write about, but I see that changing in the near future.
I have a little story to tell about how just the way a company can handle a mishap can make your relationship with that company 10 times better. Some of you may know that I like to lift weights. I got into weight lifting over the summer and have really just stuck with it ever since. As every good bodybuilder knows, you need some protein supplements to build good muscle. Well anyway, I needed some more protein so I ordered some protein and creatine off bodybuilding.com. I had ordered it last Friday and was enthusiastic to learn via my tracking number that it was scheduled for delivery on Tuesday. So Tuesday rolls around and I get home from school and look on my front porch… nothing’s there. I figure oh well, it’ll probably come in a few hours and I head back out to go to track practice. So about 6:15 I get home from track practice and look on my front porch again, and still, same result… nothing’s there.
So now I’m at the point in the story where things can really go downhill quick. I’ve never had a package stolen from me, so I’m a bit disconcerted as to what to do. I decide to give bodybuilding.com a call and explain my situation to them. An actual person answered quickly at bodybuilding and assured me that everything was going to be okay and that they would call the shipping company and go from there.
Now, the customer service was great and all at bodybuilding.com, and I was impressed, but what really made me happy was the customer service from FedEx. About an hour after I called BB, I was out getting some food when my phone rang. It was an unrecognized number, but I figured I’d go ahead and answer anyway since I thought it might be bodybuilding. To my surprise however, it was FedEx. I honestly would have never expected a corporation this large to contact me personally in order to help get this straightened out. After all, I’m just one guy, right? So I explain to him my story and he says he’ll contact the driver and see what he thinks. The next morning at about 8:45 as I’m getting ready for school, I receive another telephone call, this time again from FedEx. I again explain my situation and the man on the other end says that the driver believes he just delivered it to the wrong house. Hoping he’s right, I’m already reassured as I had just received a new tracking number from BB for my reshipped order. Anyway, later that day at about 3:45 I hear someone knock on the door, and to my delight, it’s the FedEx man, there with my package! He had sincerely apologized to me about the mishap, but I explained how it was okay and that FedEx had treated me well.
So what exactly is the moral of the story here? What did we learn? Well, FedEx screwed up. They delivered my package to the wrong house. I could have been very easily turned away from ever using FedEx again, but in fact, I think the exact opposite might occur. You see, nobody ever wants to have a packaged mis-delivered or stolen, but the facts of life are that some things like that happen. FedEx or BB could have easily just said "Sorry, your loss", but they didn’t. From the very beginning, both companies let me know that they cared. Even though I hadn’t placed a big order - my order total was sub $40. Now from FedEx’s point of view, they never want this kind of thing to happen. So will I ever ship with FedEx again? Absolutely. Yeah, UPS might have handled the situation the same way, but now I know exactly what I’m getting with FedEx. Customer service on the personal, real, person-to-person level, something often missed with large companies.