Thursday I had a professional conference in Chicago, hopefully learning how to be a better General Counsel. After arriving Wednesday night I woke to a sunny, crystal clear, 68 degree day, which got me out and about at lunchtime.
I learned that Lake Michigan is big . . . like, really BIG. I also learned that Chicagoans really seem to like the cold -- not outside, a perfect 68 degrees which was fine for me, but apparently it was reason for Northwestern University to absolutely crank the air conditioning in the auditorium where the conference was being held -- I think I have found Rick Bozzelli's people. I had to wear a coat just for sitting inside.
Once the first day was over, I headed out into a spectacular Chicago evening.
Birthplace of the Skyscraper and home of Frank Lloyd Wright, it is a wonderful feast for the eyes just to walk around and see the architecture as the evening sets in.
Plus their street art is kind of cool.
I found a little sidewalk Italian cafe advertising the "best spaghetti and meatballs ever," and had to try it out.
They were right! I thought, 'I could really like this town, the only thing missing is my beautiful wife.' She is my forever travel buddy, and I can't go anywhere on my own without really missing her.
Lost in that thought, I wandered back towards my hotel, when suddenly I was jolted by this:
"Not Ostentatious" as Kate said sarcastically after I texted her a picture (as to that text -- who doesn't enjoy annoying their teenage daughter, right?). It was definitely a scar on an otherwise beautiful city, and I am telling you, from the moment I saw it, everything changed.
The next morning, I woke up too late, to a pouring rain. Lunch at the conference left much to be desired, and what I ate gave me a stomach ache that I thought was going to turn out much worse than it ended up (thank you Tums). I left the conference earlier than I wanted to because I was worried about getting to the airport through traffic for my 6:30 flight (and people in Chicago apparently believe that even conferences should go to the very end of the Friday workday). I proceeded to sit in standstill traffic for at least an hour and a half, only to arrive at the airport and find out that my flight was delayed until 10:00 that evening. Despite my best wandering around forever efforts I found only very mediocre food, and then settled in, having plenty of time to explore. The only positive was finding this F4F Wildcat.
Then it got worse. I thought it was raining before, but I had no idea. "Rain" in Chicago also apparently means lightning every five seconds or less. Kathleen later told me that 5 inches came down in an hour. Of course, and appropriately, this meant flights being cancelled right and left. Except mine. Delta kept telling me, "delayed by one hour," again and again. At 10:00 pm, the plane we were waiting for was just pushing back from the gate in Salt Lake City, and I asked the Chicago gate attendant, "are you sure that the plane will actually take off if it lands here at two in the morning?" Just as I said that, Delta sent me a text saying my flight was rescheduled to 2:24 am. So I sat, and waited in an uncomfortable blue chair. Meanwhile, this was going on all around the airport:
Thinking I would be leaving, I did not grab a cot when they started laying them out. Silly me. At 1:00 am I received a text from Delta saying "Your flight has been delayed until 9:00 a.m. Saturday September 28. Sorry for the inconvenience." Really, it said exactly that. WHY couldn't they have told me that at 9:00 pm, when I could have had a cot, or better yet, high-tailed it for a hotel and some decently long sleep? AAARGHHH. Staring at my blue chair, I just couldn't do it, so I called the downtown hotel where I had been staying, begged them to put me up for the next five hours, grabbed a cab, and proceeded to have the most expensive four hour sleep in all the history of my sleeping. The plane didn't take off until 10:30 Saturday morning, leaving me dragging my poor tired butt back to my family at 3:00 pm, having wasted half the weekend.
Lessons learned:
1) O'Hare is purgatory, avoid it like the plague;
2) Delayed planes NEVER take off at 2:00 a.m., no matter what any idiot airline is telling you; and
3) Whenever you see the word "TRUMP, " avert your eyes like your life depends on it -- it will infect your life with chaos otherwise.
You have been warned.
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