Chicago Travel 3
7:48 am
Crawl out of bed. I'm not entirely hungover yet but it's still early. I need some breakfast and Advil. Walk to the CVS around the corner first then back across the street to a greasy spoon diner where I get ham and eggs. The coffee is terrible so I'll drink a little to help stave off the headache but I'll hold out for the free hotel coffee which is better.
8:32 am
Sitting in the hotel lobby drinking my free coffee which is so much better than the diner shit. I had 2 sips of that and said no thanks. Luckily it was the fastest food I've ever been served short of a canned food place. I've only been awake for 44 minutes so that gives you an idea.
People watching here in the lobby. There's a chubby older guy with 3 attractive blondes, one of them drop dead gorgeous, all of them as tall as me. Curious what they're in Chicago to sell. The divide between business travelers and tourists is interesting. Not a lot of people splitting the difference in attire, like I am. I'm neither wearing a party shirt nor a suit. I do, however, have to crap soon.
Someone mentioned last night that some people are going out again tonight for a farewell gathering for someone I don't know. Of course at the time I was like, "Hell yeah, sure!" But I can't do this again tonight and tomorrow night. I feel like I got a little lucky with the way the night played out that I don't have a pounding headache. I still have to take a shower so that could always change.
9:16 am
Let's roll to work. All cleaned and caffeined up. Still a bit woozy but I'll take it considering.
11:18 am
Got some more group exposure today which is good. Should be able to make myself more useful going forward but I think there's still a lot of room for me to create stuff to do on my own accord. That's good, as a nice balance of load and freedom makes for the best work environment.
I think I need some fruit.
2:33 pm
The week is basically halfway over at this point. Went out for a chicken sandwich for lunch. Running a bit high on the intake side today so if we go out tonight I may blow a gasket and start to have to unbutton my pants. It's a beautiful day out and we sat outside for lunch as I looked repeatedly at the Sears Tower. I really need to go up in that puppy before I leave. Maybe after work today.
5:57 pm
Ok, time to roll out of the office. Going to do some real meandering tonight. In less than 15 minutes I'm standing in a huge line to buy tickets. Man this is a tourist meat market. At the same time it allows me some time to blather away about my day and trip. This afternoon was more of the same in terms of information discovery and it was productive. I think a 5 day trip is too long but I'll do my best to hang in tomorrow and absorb as much as I can.
Now I have 4 hours to burn and I suspect this will be at least an hour when all is said and done. It's a nice clear day out so I should be able to see my house. Or at least Lake Michigan. I feel like a loser here by myself. Everyone else is in groups of 2 or more. I'm the only solo guy. After you buy the ticket they make you wait in another room. Then they make you sit and watch some Over Chicago movie, which is just a History Channel video. What is all this shit? I just want to go up and look out over the city. Why must they torture me?
7:08 pm
Back on the street and looking for a place to eat dinner. The tower was cool once you get up there but man they really milk out the process. After 10 minutes I was good to go. It was a good perspective and really shows how much there is to Chicago. I'll definitely have to plan out my next trip better.
I ended up looking for a Japanese place but came up empty so I went back to the hotel restaurant. I got a beer, a scallop appetizer, walleye entre, and a side of beets. This place is top notch so the food is excellent. And remember, I'm not paying!
Boy this beer tastes good, too good. I'm probably going to have to get another. After 3 bites of bread, 3 scallops, and a beer I'm almost full. That doesn't mean I'm not going to eat the fish, mind you. And the beets.
I ate the fish, and some of the beets, but not all of the "stuff" that comes with it. It was pretty good but maybe a little confused, trying a bit too hard. A for effort, B for execution. I'm certainly full now.
8:28 pm
Back in the hotel room and I'm full. With tip, dinner came to something like $69. That's a lot. Whatever, my dinner Monday was $4.19 and last night I skipped dinner in lieu of beer. So it all evens out. I wanted a nice meal and I got it. Back to beer tomorrow night.
I'm considering whether or not I should go back out for a walk or not. I took my pants off and turned the TV on. I figure either this will be really comfortable or I'll get bored and go out.
Laid around for 10 minutes then got up to go out and Nat called. By the time I was done talking it was 9:00 and I had lost some mojo. After 15 minutes I finally get up and go.
10:05 pm
Back at the hotel after a 45 minute walk. I'm glad I went out because it's a gorgeous night and a load of people were out at Millennium Park. I'm starting to like this town more and more.
And I found The Bean.
Crawl out of bed. I'm not entirely hungover yet but it's still early. I need some breakfast and Advil. Walk to the CVS around the corner first then back across the street to a greasy spoon diner where I get ham and eggs. The coffee is terrible so I'll drink a little to help stave off the headache but I'll hold out for the free hotel coffee which is better.
8:32 am
Sitting in the hotel lobby drinking my free coffee which is so much better than the diner shit. I had 2 sips of that and said no thanks. Luckily it was the fastest food I've ever been served short of a canned food place. I've only been awake for 44 minutes so that gives you an idea.
People watching here in the lobby. There's a chubby older guy with 3 attractive blondes, one of them drop dead gorgeous, all of them as tall as me. Curious what they're in Chicago to sell. The divide between business travelers and tourists is interesting. Not a lot of people splitting the difference in attire, like I am. I'm neither wearing a party shirt nor a suit. I do, however, have to crap soon.
Someone mentioned last night that some people are going out again tonight for a farewell gathering for someone I don't know. Of course at the time I was like, "Hell yeah, sure!" But I can't do this again tonight and tomorrow night. I feel like I got a little lucky with the way the night played out that I don't have a pounding headache. I still have to take a shower so that could always change.
9:16 am
Let's roll to work. All cleaned and caffeined up. Still a bit woozy but I'll take it considering.
11:18 am
Got some more group exposure today which is good. Should be able to make myself more useful going forward but I think there's still a lot of room for me to create stuff to do on my own accord. That's good, as a nice balance of load and freedom makes for the best work environment.
I think I need some fruit.
2:33 pm
The week is basically halfway over at this point. Went out for a chicken sandwich for lunch. Running a bit high on the intake side today so if we go out tonight I may blow a gasket and start to have to unbutton my pants. It's a beautiful day out and we sat outside for lunch as I looked repeatedly at the Sears Tower. I really need to go up in that puppy before I leave. Maybe after work today.
5:57 pm
Ok, time to roll out of the office. Going to do some real meandering tonight. In less than 15 minutes I'm standing in a huge line to buy tickets. Man this is a tourist meat market. At the same time it allows me some time to blather away about my day and trip. This afternoon was more of the same in terms of information discovery and it was productive. I think a 5 day trip is too long but I'll do my best to hang in tomorrow and absorb as much as I can.
Now I have 4 hours to burn and I suspect this will be at least an hour when all is said and done. It's a nice clear day out so I should be able to see my house. Or at least Lake Michigan. I feel like a loser here by myself. Everyone else is in groups of 2 or more. I'm the only solo guy. After you buy the ticket they make you wait in another room. Then they make you sit and watch some Over Chicago movie, which is just a History Channel video. What is all this shit? I just want to go up and look out over the city. Why must they torture me?
7:08 pm
Back on the street and looking for a place to eat dinner. The tower was cool once you get up there but man they really milk out the process. After 10 minutes I was good to go. It was a good perspective and really shows how much there is to Chicago. I'll definitely have to plan out my next trip better.
I ended up looking for a Japanese place but came up empty so I went back to the hotel restaurant. I got a beer, a scallop appetizer, walleye entre, and a side of beets. This place is top notch so the food is excellent. And remember, I'm not paying!
Boy this beer tastes good, too good. I'm probably going to have to get another. After 3 bites of bread, 3 scallops, and a beer I'm almost full. That doesn't mean I'm not going to eat the fish, mind you. And the beets.
I ate the fish, and some of the beets, but not all of the "stuff" that comes with it. It was pretty good but maybe a little confused, trying a bit too hard. A for effort, B for execution. I'm certainly full now.
8:28 pm
Back in the hotel room and I'm full. With tip, dinner came to something like $69. That's a lot. Whatever, my dinner Monday was $4.19 and last night I skipped dinner in lieu of beer. So it all evens out. I wanted a nice meal and I got it. Back to beer tomorrow night.
I'm considering whether or not I should go back out for a walk or not. I took my pants off and turned the TV on. I figure either this will be really comfortable or I'll get bored and go out.
Laid around for 10 minutes then got up to go out and Nat called. By the time I was done talking it was 9:00 and I had lost some mojo. After 15 minutes I finally get up and go.
10:05 pm
Back at the hotel after a 45 minute walk. I'm glad I went out because it's a gorgeous night and a load of people were out at Millennium Park. I'm starting to like this town more and more.
And I found The Bean.
Labels: business travel, chicago
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home