Snug in my Pod

I'm in New York for a couple of days on business, and I'm staying at an intriguing hotel in Midtown Manhattan, the Pod Hotel.  The prices are low, the rooms are miniscule, and you have to share a bathroom - but there is a display above the inside of your door with lights that indicate which bathrooms are occupied, so no one stands out in the hall waiting.  My pod is sort of like a college dorm room, only much smaller, and with a plasma TV and ipod docking station, not to mention JM Rizzi artwork.

I keep thinking, am I in Japan?

In place of the usual binder listing local church services, there's a little booklet including a page of survival tips for New York City.  For example: free public bathrooms are located in Starbucks and Barnes & Noble; nobody ever uses the bus; in any store that isn't a national chain you should haggle.

There's also a social networking site, and I received a login to it along with my reservation confirmation.  You can see who else is staying (if they have chosen to make public any details about themselves) and who wants to hook up for what purpose.  People traveling solo were using this to organize group outings to a ballgame, dinner, drinks, and theater.  (Why didn't someone think of this ages ago, when I was single and traveling more?)