Work: It goes. I visit a school up near Hoboken on Thursday that was completely flooded; the school now holds class in 40,000 sf of modular space. So there’s that.
My office mate has left; he has been grousing (that’s too strong of a word, but, it works..) that he wanted to go home, never should have come here, ready to really retire for good. Had even asked about leaving before the minimum 90 day commitment was up…and been rebuffed. But, his mother-in-law (his 93 year old mother in law) fell and broke her hip, and he used that as a “family emergency” and left today. Which is too bad, we got along fairly well. I will miss him.
NJ: I did venture out away from the hotel for one meal worthy of writing about; lunch last Sunday at JBJ’s Community Soul Kitchen. That JBJ is Jon Bon Jovi, and his restaurant has an interesting premise; no prices on the menu. No money? Ok, you can work / volunteer for your food? Suggested price is $10, $20 if you want to donate towards someone else…
I had money, so, didn’t take that option. The seating is ‘community-style’ which left me sitting with a middle-aged woman who shared entirely too much of her life with me in the twenty to thirty minutes we were there (really, I don’t need to know how you husband died and left you in massive debt)….
Pork Wrap ‘slow cooked pork w/peppers & onions”
The meal? Good, not great. You get three courses; the salad had this way-too-sweet Italian dressing (it was served with clementine slices; more sugar in the dressing than the fruit). Entrée, for me this day, was a pork wrap (not much flavor in the pork but I thought the beans and sauce were pretty good). And the carrot cake was good (the top half was good, the bottom half was great!)…..
Hotel follies: I’ll be switching hotels on Friday. This will require some explanation…..
For this work I am governed by federal per diem and hotel rates; when I came here hotels were in short supply, so, everyone jacked their rates (as I’ve said, hotel stock after major disasters is the place to be) and the government issued a temporary ‘uplift’ to 150%. That uplift expires Jan 31.
When I heard this was coming a week back I went out and found new reservations for the rest of my stay (2-1 through 2-8 and 2-18 through 3-14); couldn’t find anything at the approved rate where I was at but about 3 miles further away there is another Courtyard, and I made the reservations there, thinking I could cancel them when Red Bank lowered their rates. When the official announcement was made, Red Bank did lower their rates for current reservations but refused/wouldn’t do it for future reservations (my 2-18 through 3-14 one). A good reminder that even though I’ve spent the last 7 weeks there, I am nothing to them.
So, since I want/need to be in the same hotel on either side of my rotation home so I can park my luggage , I’m checking out early from Red Bank and heading down the road. There look to be more food choices right near the hotel (my major complaint about this hotel; there isn’t a restaurant you can walk to) but Red Bank had really fast internet…I hope that the Eatontown internet is just as good.
I know there is an Applebee’s adjacent to the hotel; I imagine I will be expert on that menu by mid-March!
Today: Am missing a birthday at home; Cpher seems to be ok with it, or, at least understands why I had to put my trip home where it is in February instead of now. But it still kind of sucks.
