You'd think that having spent three days in San Diego at a hotel with free wireless internet, I would have found more time to blog. Well, not if it's a bad hotel. The wireless was indeed free, but the connection was always so very low that I couldn't stay connected worth a damn. So I got very little done.

I've been to San Diego once before. I stayed at a place called the Hotel Del Coronado, and I think it screwed up my expectations. This is one of those places where, when you put in your wake up call, not only does the operator say "Have a pleasant night, Mr. Morin" but there's an actual human who calls you in the morning to say "Good morning", not just recorded music. Even better, the event that defined the standard for me for all good hotel service? When I took my rental car out for the day to go into town, and I came back, the valet opened my door and said "Welcome back Mr. Morin, did you have a nice day?" I mean, come on. I knew when that happened that I'd be talking for years about the quality of service. Look at that, I still am.

So I'd gotten it into my head that all San Diego hotels were like that. When I found out I had a conference at the "Resort Kona Kai Marina", I thought I was in for sometihng special. Nope. Not at all. Totally generic hotel. As I mentioned, free but lousy wifi. No minibar. Not even a pen and pad of paper by the phone. And would you believe, no gift shop? I go looking for some quick gifts for the kids, maybe a magazine to carry around for downtime – nothing. There's a sign that says "Gift Shop", but I'm told they no longer have one. They say that maybe — maybe — the hotel next door does.

To understand that little statement you have to appreciate the geography. The hotels are not built up, or deep. They are built…long. So from lobby to your room could be a five minute walk. My coworker Gary was in the "next" hotel which was about 10+ minutes away. They really are next to each other, there's just such a long line of buildings represneting each hotel that it's hard to figure out where one ends and one begins. Sure enough, by the way, Gary's hotel does not have a gift shop either. The third one does, though – but no magazines or books.

So here I am on the floor of Phoenix airport, waiting for my flight back to Boston. This is the best connectivity I've had. I'm getting lots of work done. 🙂