Me, Myself and (Hurricane) Irene

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—After all the media-induced hoopla over the supposedly apocalyptic implications of an approaching weather system, and after said implications so spooked New York City officials that they decided to stage an unprecedented complete shutdown of the MTA public-transportation system, the hurricane ominously named Irene came and passed by New York, at least, with generally a whimper, as what had been a Category 4 storm as it approached landfall while coming up the Atlantic weakened into a Category 1 upon touching down on land and eventually became a tropical storm. (Neighboring New Jersey, however, wasn't quite so lucky; as of now, there is still serious flooding on some major roadways, and many areas are still without power.)

Nevertheless, all of us prepared for the worst...especially Wall Street Journal employees, some of whom, upon hearing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announce the MTA shutdown midday Friday, immediately scrambled to make hotel reservations and/or other such last-minute accommodations in order to be in a more convenient position to be able to get to work on Sunday morning. As I've undoubtedly said before: Welcome to the journalism world, folks, where the news never sleeps and reporters and editors are always on call.

Actually, I was already preparing Thursday evening, when one of the editors I work with came over to my desk and suggested I start thinking about how I planned to be in the office on Sunday (because, it seems, they really really wanted me to be there! For once!). So that night I decided to be on the safe side and book a hotel immediately.

My company usually recommends Club Quarters, a discount hotel chain with which I assume Dow Jones has a special pricing deal or something like that. But when I tried to reserve a room there online, I discovered they  were all booked up for Saturday night. Then someone sitting near me suggested I look into the Marriott Marquis located in Times Square; "they always have vacancies," he said. He was right...but, even though this particular hotel stay would ultimately be on the company's dime, I figured I might as well see if there were cheaper or similarly priced options even closer to my office. So, through the Marriott Marquis website, I looked into other Marriott hotels in the surrounding area....and came upon...

...the Algonquin Hotel, legendary for being the daily lunchtime meeting place during the 1920s of a slew of writers, critics and actors including such luminaries as writer/critic Dorothy Parker, humorist Robert Benchley, comedian Harpo Marx and playwright George S. Kaufman. The price for one night's stay seemed pretty close to that being offered by the Marriott Marquis, so...I decided to stay there. At the Algonquin. With this...

Natalie Ascencios's The Vicious Circle

...and this...

First time I've been at a hotel that offered a complimentary issue of The New Yorker!

...and this...

This was on the door of my room at the Algonquin.

...and this...

A portion of the wallpaper at the Algonquin—a virtual museum of New Yorker cartoons!

...and this...

This is what my hallway looked like. Jokes related to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining popped up often.

...and this:

Apparently, the Alongquin has a famous cat named Matilda. Well, here she is.

Not a bad way to spend an evening gearing for a supposed hurricane apocalypse, huh?

Yes, I just conceived and executed a blog post as an excuse to post photos of my stay at the Algonquin. I hope you, um, aren't too jealous...