Good morning. 🐦🐦🐦

11 May 2026

It’s early morning, and I’m typing in the dark so I don’t wake my wife. I’ve got SiriusXM running on my phone, feeding the news straight into my hearing aids. I kind of enjoy listening to Joe in the Morning while I drink my joe.

I’ve noticed how hotel technology has changed over the decades. I remember when checking in meant filling out a little questionnaire, knowing your license plate number, and being handed an actual metal key. Checking out meant going to the front desk to settle up before you left. Then hotels started slipping the invoice under the door at dawn and charging the card you checked in with. Eventually the metal keys gave way to keycards, and now even those are shifting from the old slide‑in slots to the tap‑to‑unlock style.

The hotel we’re in now still has the old‑fashioned slide‑in keycard reader. Maybe the tap locks won’t completely take over—kind of like how Betamax lost the war. Time will tell.

What really surprised me at check‑in was having to sign an actual piece of paper that included the make and model of my car. I haven’t had to do that in at least a decade, and I’ve stayed at this hotel before. When I asked about it, they said it was in case something happened with the car—like if I left the lights on. It also doubled as a sort of affidavit acknowledging that the rooms are non‑smoking.

The old saying came to mind: two steps forward, one step back.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” — Bert Lance

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them.” — Lao Tzu

“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” — Marshall McLuhan

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