My Hotel Room

A running stream of consciousness diary from this morning's attempt to reserve a hotel room for Comic Con.

8:55 AM - Load comic-con.org website. Site loads slowly. Bad sign.

9:00 AM - Hit refresh on my browser. Nothing happens.

9:01 AM - Still nothing happening. Start dialing the phone number for reservations.

9:01 - 9:04 AM - Busy signals. Redial over and over again.

9:04 AM - Comic Con web site loads.

9:06 AM - Loads the tphousing.com site. Get my first choice of hotel! Can't believe it.

9:07 AM - Finish filling out all the forms. Now just need to enter my credit card information on the secure server page.

9:08 AM - Secure page is loading slowly. No big deal. The important thing is that I got my first choice of hotel.

9:10 AM - Still waiting for the secure page to finish loading. Starting to get worried.

9:11 AM - Think how horrifically funny it would be if my browser crashed right now.

9:12 AM - Sigh. The page isn't loading. Hit refresh, holding breath that it doesn't reset my session.

9:13 AM - Still loading.

9:14 AM - The browser status bar tells me that the tphousing.com site has completed 3 of 4 items. That 4th item is DEAD TO ME.

9:15 AM - Sob quietly.

9:16 AM - Start to question reality. Perhaps the page has already loaded... but MY MIND is so closed to new experiences that it won't let me see the page for what it truly is. Wonder if I should be seeing a psychiatrist.

9:17 AM - Can't take it anymore. Close the window and try refreshing the secure server page again.

9:18 AM - Completed 1 of 3 items.

9:19 AM - So tired. So very tired.

9:19 AM - Now it tells me there was an error loading the page. I hit refresh again.

9:20 AM - Kinda black out here. Don't think I fell asleep. Wonder what happened to this minute of my life.

9:21 AM - PAGE LOADS! Quickly fill out credit card information and click accept.

9:22 AM - Credit card accepted! Do a little jig in my office chair.

9:23 AM - Wait for confirmation window to load.

9:24 AM - Still waiting. Completed 5 of 6 items. Halfway expect it to say, "Sorry, you took too long to enter your credit card info. You've lost your reservation. Have fun sleeping in the Convention Center Lobby..."

9:25 AM - This is like the time I had to go online and hit refresh millions of times to get U2 concert tickets... only not as cool.

9:25 AM - Confirmation page loads. Have to click all the stuff and click CONFIRM RESERVATION.

9:26 AM -

Validate Object error '80040201' 

(2/6/2007 12:26:26 PM) UserName : , SQL String: , [Object: 
Validate, Function : Let HoldID,Error : <-2147220991> 
(2/6/2007 12:26:26 PM) UserName: sa,SQL String: Select 
TierLockedCount from ReservationOnHold (nolock) Where 
HoldID = 4281898, Object: LockChecker, Function : 
GetTierLockCount, Error : <-2147220991> No Lock Exist 
for HoldId 4281898.] 

/res/confirmation.asp, line 316

9:26 AM - Hit refresh.

9:27 AM - Waiting for tphousing.com to load. Really starting to hate tphousing.com.

9:28 AM - Check my email, hoping that I got a confirmation email. Nope. No luck.

9:28 AM - Page loads. I'm back to square one.

9:29 AM - Just as I feared. The system doesn't recognize my reservation attempt. It's making me start from the beginning again.

9:30 AM - Try to get my first choice hotel room again. And whaddya know - it's still available? Click "Book It".

9:31 AM - Here we go again. Let's hope second time's the charm.

9:32 AM - I'm trying to enter my personal information, but the page is only half-loaded. It stops at Country - Nicarauga.

9:33 AM - There it goes. Finish filling it out - click "Continue".

9:34 AM - Fill out Credit Card info. This is a lot less fun the second time around - and the first time wasn't exactly Mardi Gras to begin with.

9:35 AM - Click "Confirm Reservation". Fingers crossed.

9:35 AM - New window says, "Please wait while we process your reservation." This is new. Cautiously optimistic.

9:36 AM - Cautious optimism replaced by cautious pessimism.

9:37 AM - SUCCESS! SUCCESS! I have a confirmation number! I'm staying Friday and Saturday nights at the Marriot. I have a hotel for Comic Con!

9:38 AM - I have buyer's remorse...