Ok, so it's not exactly spring break, but I did spend most of my day at the hotel just sitting at the pool. And isn't that really what most Americans do when they go to Mexico? You never hear of anyone renting a car or exploring. It's Señor Frogs or bust. The problem with my situation is that the hotel is close to the airport, but not really close to anything else. The main city of Monterrey is about 15 miles to the southwest and not really accessible from where I am, so I just accepted that I would be staying up here for the day. I downloaded lots of magazines to my airline-issued Microsoft Surface and sat out by the pool while struggling to see the screen through the glare.
The crew and I met for lunch at the neighboring hotel's attached restaurant. Again, the pickings were slim in this area, but this place came well reviewed by the man on the hotel shuttle, so the decision was made. I ordered carne a la tampiqueña, which is a local dish with foods representing different things from the area, but I ordered it because it sounded good. I enjoy how one can order a steak this massive and get the bill which is about $8. Nom nom nom. After lunch, I did some lounging by the pool. I read various articles from travel magazines about different countries and cities to add to my travel list.
That is . . . if I could see the screen. You see, the Microsoft Surface is one of the most poorly designed tablets in the history of tablet makery. When Apple came out with the iPad, it came with a few quirks, which were fixed and the iPad became faster and more efficient and an overall solid product. Microsoft looked at Apple and thought to themselves, "We need to make something like the iPad, but let's make it terrible!" Rather than use the iPad as a starting point and improve upon it, they tried to make this weird hybrid desktop/tablet thing that just . . . doesn't work. It freezes, the buttons sometimes lack functionality for turning on/turning off, it lacks touch screen sensitivity, and finally . . . the screen is reflective. The picture at right is not a selfie. It is a picture of the screen of my surface while I was reading a magazine. Do you see the magazine? No. You see everything behind me. I curse at it daily, as does every other Captain I've flown with. Do I prefer it over paper charts? Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't whine about it over and over again.
There, I saved you $12, or whatever the Microsoft Surface costs. Until next time dear reader, I bid you Adios from Monterrey's industrial district.
