"For one thing, it's been a bit of a relief to confirm that despite the weirdness-and-despair amplifier that is the mass media, people in the United States are in fact still basically sane ordinary folks and haven't turned into some kind of slavering jackbooted Borg oriented on grinding the planet beneath the iron boot-heel of totalitarian oppression."

Ha! Fooled you!

By the way, what happened when you complained to the hotel desk about the AC not working? Did you ask for your room to be switched if the AC couldn't be fixed? Also, if they had any humidifiers?