Bathroom Recession
I was staring at the wall in the bathroom at Eastern Standard last night when I got into a discussion with a fashionably-dressed man about the recession. More specifically, the effect the recession was having on the bathroom. See, usually Eastern Standard has these delightfully fancy paper towels of a dense enough weight and weave that skirts the borders of the napkin family. Nice enough at least to feel a little badly about tossing them away. This time however, the countertop by the sink was stacked with the typical dispense-style folded paper towels.

Not necessarily proof of the recession; perhaps just a shortage of the usual towels. However, when coupled with the installation of a brand new hand dryer, one's gotta wonder. I have this half-impression that they were actually installing it while we were there, but I can't back that up. But in any case, behold! The Dyson Airblade.

I hadn't seen a dryer like this since Japan, home of weird ways to dry things. This baby adds an interesting challenge to the whole bathroom experience as the night wanes on. It's not too far off from the refueling sequence in the old Top Gun game, or a really wet version of Operation. It also pushes the skin around on your hands like an Xlerator does, but this time from both sides at once. All the more amusing. Who says economics isn't fun?