peanut's Profile

I don't know about the Do Not Disturb option, but I know very well from working in live theater that Airplane Mode DOES NOT disable any alarms you may have set. At least three times a week, some person who has politely turned their phone to Airplane mode gets mortified (and a thousand other people get enraged) when a loud, clear ringtone comes crashing through a silent theater, and gets louder and louder as the phone is hastily jostled out of a pocket or a purse, because there is some previously-set alarm that Airplane mode does not affect. Alarms also are not affected by switching the toggle to vibrate - you'd have to manually go into the alarm settings and change the type of alarm to affect the alarm sound - and even then, you'd be surprised how loud a vibrating phone can sound in a silent theater. Double-check your alarm settings to be sure all potentially disrupting alarms are disabled, or (my preference) just turn your phone off completely.

It's amazing how many people seem to set alarms to go off at precisely the quietest, most meaningful moment in Broadway shows.... ;)

Rural and Rueful, I wear dresses all the time! Where do you get the idea that they're for beaches only? I love dresses because you can wear one with cute sneakers in the daytime and walk a whole city, and then just change your shoes and you fit in at almost any non-black-tie evening events. Plus a dress can also double as a skirt - just put a shirt over it and you have a kind of different look!

I love packing, and I think I am pretty awesome at packing light. I can't remember the last time I checked a bag. I was particularly proud of myself last summer when I spent a week in Miami for pleasure, and then flew straight to DC for a week of work. I am a petite woman who likes cute dresses and colorful shorts etc, but I work in stage carpentry where the uniform is black and the pants are bulky, so those are two VERY different wardrobes, and two different environments too (beachfront versus middle of the city). The work shoes were the challenge - steel toe, but not boots at least - but I still managed the two weeks and the two functions with a single carry-on. I was proud.

The key, for me, is to pack wisely. I plan out how to pack trucks for touring shows, as part of my job, and you'd be surprised how much more space you have than you think you do - in almost any bag or container. It's about packing smart almost as much as packing light.

My boyfriend also says that my clothes are smaller than normal people's and that I have an unfair advantage. I'm not so sure about that part...

I love the Swans Island throws - they are so classic and beautiful!

Agreed, eliz! I was really psyched for these pictures because I'm a nerd like that, but most of them seem to be basically day-trip 'packing' or pictures of someone's carry-on bag. Unless there is some pervasive movement of people jetting off and then buying a whole new wardrobe when they arrive. Which: uncool.

I'm heading to Vegas for a wedding this week and I will totally take a picture of every single thing I'm packing. "Real" does not have to conflict with "minimalist" - despite having two separate dress-requiring occasions, I'm still only taking a carry-on. SO THERE, HIPSTERS.

I will say that I like the pictures from the guy who clearly works for On&On - judging by the link in his profile and the sheer quantity of On&On gear. I tracked the company down and it's out of my price range, but I like his aesthetic and I appreciate his courage in posting what he actually packed, as opposed to what merely looks stylish.

To clear up any confusion, I have never stayed in a Pod room without a private bath and have almost never paid over $150. I've (very) occasionally gone under $100. Of course I imagine that depends A LOT on the time of year and week that you're staying. I usually stay on weeknights, booking within three or four days of the night I'll be staying - basically when it's crunch time and my job in midtown has a less than 6-hour turnaround and I don't have time to go back home to Inwood.

I have stayed here many times! NEVER for anywhere NEAR $229/night - depending on the night and the season, I've gotten a double-bed room for $75. Usually it's about $150.

I actually don't really find the rooms excessively tiny. Then again I live in NYC already so maybe I'm pretty accustomed to small spaces? (I know - why am I staying in a NYC hotel when I live in NYC? I'll never tell - I'm a lady.) They are certainly not places to sit and lounge around for an afternoon but I've never really wanted to do that in a hotel room anyway, NYC or elsewhere. They're all efficiently designed and laid out, so they're functional for what you need. In the rooms I usually get (double bed, though I have also gotten the queen-size bed room when that was all they had available) there is a little desk area with a metal chair so that you can get some computer work done; aside from that, you basically can only sit on the bed (or on the toilet...). This is a room for sleeping, showering, and getting dressed, basically. There IS a little closet area in addition to under-the-bed storage so there is plenty of room for stuff to go, so that what little space there is in the room is all yours.

The showers are quite nice and I love the tiling. I am a very bathroom-shy person - let's just say I get stage fright - and the Pod bathrooms have sliding doors, which somehow seem less "closed" than normal doors. Plus the doors are frosted-glass type material, while the shower portion is just clear glass - with the room being so small and the sink mirror nearby I just...no. So when sharing one of these rooms I actually often use the communal bathrooms, of which there are several on each floor. They are single-bathroom units, not like dorm bathrooms with stalls or anything, and have always been impeccably clean in my experience. Never had to wait for one or anything - there seem to be enough on each floor to comfortably support the population.

The communal areas in this hotel in general are pretty nice. I have spent a fair bit of time reading or doing light computer work in the lobby and never felt anything but at-home.

PucciLevy, you're probably talking about the Swiss Miss house tour - I love that picture: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/09/sneak-peek-swissmiss.html

I put a shot glass on mine, with q-tips in it. No use yet for the toothbrush holes.

I don't really understand why people assume that gift closets are crammed with bought-on-sale Hallmark crap? I keep an under-the-bed box in part because I loathe shopping "for" a birthday gift, in that "I need to find something by x date" sense hunt. If I see something that reminds me of a certain person -- a DVD of a movie my mom used to love back when VHS was new, a great vintage photograph of some women from my sister's college, etc -- I buy it and put it in the box. When holidays and birthdays come around I get it out and wrap it up. My gifts are generally very personal and deliberate, because they are things I "look for" all year long. I find that far more personal than giving something I specifically went out and searched for because I "had to find something" to cross that person off my list, or whatever. The gift box helps me translate my "thinking of you all the time" sentiments into meaningful gifts, that's all.

I also keep very basic favorites on hand in the gift box, for last-minute options. ie if my downstairs neighbor surprises me with a bottle of wine for New Years', I run to the gift box and pull out something marginally appropriate. The usuals are things like small tubes of L'Occitane hand lotion, high-quality lip balm (Elizabeth Arden 8-hour, the best ever), Smartwool socks, etc; the sort of thing that could be given on its own to an acquaintance, or given to bulk up an individual but too-small-to-stand-on-its-own gift to a friend. Old Beanie Babies or Disney figurines, in case someone with kids is coming for an afternoon. That sort of thing.

I do put some re-gifts in there as well, but only if they're things I would be comfortable giving. ie, things I think are (or could conceivably be) nice, useful, appreciated, etc; just not by me. I hold onto them until I either find an appropriate occasion and person, or get sick of looking at them and just donate them.

It's not like I raid the tchotchke shelf at JC Penney every time there's a sale, and stock my gift box from that, or anything. Surely some people do, but not all of us!

The site may be in Japanese, but if you just want to browse for visual prettiness, it appears that scrolling over the links gives you an English translation of the category you're clicking on (chair, tableware, accessory, etc). There is also the Maisons avec IDEE section with some house tour-esque pictures.

If you're interested in price information -- I haven't browsed the whole site but it appears that the price should be on the second column down on each individual item's page. Just plug the numeric amount into google -- ie "22,000 yen to dollars" and it will give you an idea of the price range.