I don’t usually blog much about hotel sales, but this one has sentimental value for me–I spent many a night in my ill-spent youth hanging at the bar in the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. Not that we could afford to buy a drink or anything, but we hoped some of the coolness of the place would rub off on our scruffy 20-something, work-three-jobs-to-afford-to-live-in-the-Valley selves. And they tolerated us, even when the inevitable celebs came in. Gotta love that place. Someday, I hope to actually stay there.

But I digress. The news is that The Broadmoor has bought the Hotel Jerome, and I can’t think of a better deal than that. I’ve only been to the Broadmoor a few times–and staying there remained a dream throughout my Colorado years–but it has a similar feel to it as does the Hotel Jerome, and I know they’ll take good care of it.

Now I’m starting to wax seriously nostalgic for some of my old Rocky Mountain haunts…

Another country heard from: The American Society of Travel Agents has issued a statement that, like the statement issued by ASAE, MPI, and PCMA, expresses a less-than-thrilled attitude toward labor union UNITE HERE contacting meeting planners directly to inform them of labor issues at their hotels.

Is there anyone left who hasn’t chimed in on this one yet?

Here’s a do-it-yourself kit on how to make wireless work for you wherever you go, with a little homemade box powered by a car’s cigarette lighter:

To use it all you do is plug it in to the cigarette lighter of a car (or a 12v supply when at home). It automatically boots up and links in to Verizon’s "Broadband Access" service, turning itself into an access point. Turn on your laptop, join the network and voila — you’re on the net! It’s just like using a hotspot (such as they have at Starbucks and airports), but it goes anywhere you car goes.

I haven’t yet ventured far enough into geek-dom to try to make one of these, but it’s nice to know someone’s working on it for the rest of us.

I had an interesting time at NEMICE,held at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center yesterday. I went to a really good session on contracts and negotiation, which I’ll try to write up and post shortly. The BCEC also is gorgeous–I hadn’t seen it since a hardhat tour a while back. But they need to figure out the parking thing–I drove around for a half hour looking for a lot, and kept getting shoved out of the area by construction detours.

Anyway, what really blew me away was the weird juxtaposition of keynotes they had.