“Can I use your bathroom before I go?”
“Sure,” I obliged.
“What’s with all the soap and shower gel?”
“Um, do you need any?” I asked as I stammered for an answer.
“No, and apparently you don’t either.”
That quick conversation lasted less than fifteen-seconds, but outed me as a thief.
Come on, admit it. How many bottles of shampoo, shower gel and bars of soap have you pilfered from hotel rooms over the years. I’ve amassed quite a collection. My stash is large enough to keep me clean and smelling fresh for over a year.
I’m sure you’ve got at least one bottle of the Holiday Inn special hanging around. It’s ok. We’re all friends here, you can admit it.
I love it when a hotel or ship provides a sewing kit as part of the experience. They’re gold when you find them, because how many of us have a needle and thread in the house?
A friend of mine has a collection of ash trays that he lifted from places that used to allow smoking, like airplanes. I’d rather something a little more useful.
If you’ve ever taken a hotel towel, raise your hand. Ah, ha! Those I never take. They freak me out to begin with. I have a hard enough time getting used to the fact that the towel I just used was all over the bodies of hundreds of people before me. Taking that towel back to my house… ain’t gonna happen.
The soap and shower gel remain free game, however.
– – –
On to the mailbag:
Via Email: The other day you mentioned that a website should be redesigned every 18 months or so. How much does a redesign cost?
Well, that’s a tough question to give an exact answer for. A redesign can run anywhere from the single-thousands to the double-digit thousands depending on what you want to do with the site. Of course, charges from developer to developer is going to vary as well. Always get three quotes for the work you want to have performed and research the design firm you are leaning towards selecting. I always like to say, a redesign doesn’t cost…. if done right, it pays.
Via Email: I’m considering leaving {PLATFORM NAME DELETED} and moving to {PLATFORM NAME DELETED}. Can I just copy the design of my site over to the new [host]?
Chances are it’s not going to be an easy thing to do. You’re still going to need to pay the new provider to do a migration of your data from your old site to your new one. Depending on how clean that process is, determines how much time and cost will be involved in doing it. I’m not a fan of moving platforms unless I’m told I have to. It’s a lot of work and there are SEO risks involved. One thing you want to make sure of is that whatever platform you move to, you want the ability to keep your URLs the same. So if a URL on your existing site is https://www.yoursite.com/thisismyitem.html you want that to be the same on your new site, you don’t want it to look like this https://www.yoursite.com/thisis.asp Good luck with your move.
Via Facebook: I think your comment about Dick Clark was insensitive.
Well, for those who didn’t see the comment in question, here it is: “I always thought it was a shame how they paraded him out for [New Year’s Rockin’ Eve] after his stroke.” Granted, the news articles have always said that Dick “wanted” to participate in New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, it’s my opinion that after his stroke he should have let his fans remember him as they always have rather than seeing him in declining health year after year. But then again, we’re all entitled to our opinions.