Chicago

So, I got sent to Chicago, aka the windy city, for a work training seminar. We're on Day 4 of 4, and I can not wait to get the hell out of here.

Monday
The first day I was here was an endurance trial of jibber-jabber and rambling that tested even the limits of the most bold of coffees. Around 11:30 that morning, I saw the pizza guy show up with our lunch rations. Around 12:30, we were still sitting in the conference room and still no signs of being released for lunch. Around 1:00 we were finally released to eat our lunch. Now, I am no stranger to cold pizza, but come on. Usually it's cold because it's leftover; plus, you're usually drunk so who cares. But when you open the box the first time and everything is cold, it sucks. If that wasn't bad enough, they didn't even serve us deep dish pizza. What the duece? We're in Chicago, the friggin land of the deep dish. I was pissed.

So, finally around 5:30pm they let us out for the day. I head over to the Blue Line "L" Station to take a ride into the city. I get to the station and hit up on of those Pay-On-Foot machines, as there were no booths. It was going to cost me $4.00 to get into the city and back. I put in my $10.00 bill and the machine spits out a ticket.......and no change? I ask the guy standing by the machines "Why did the machine not give me change back?", to which he replies "It says it right there on the machine, 'This machine gives no change'....I guess you would call that a 'Buyer Beware'" Now, while I realize that the machine might have said that on there somewhere, most likely in microscopic lawyer verbiage, but the guy didn't have to be such a dick about it. I go to the turnstile and attempt to put my ticket in. Guess what, it won't take it. So, I try again....and again....and again. Finally, douche-magouche decides to come over and attempt to further belittling me. Before he can say much, I get the stupid thing to work and I turn to him and say "For $10 per ride, I expect so much more". I head down to the track and begin to wonder whether Chicago might be the worst place I've ever been. I try my best to clear my thoughts and not let this jackass ruin my trip. The train finally comes and I make my way into downtown. By this point, I've refreshed my disposition and I'm ready to check out the city.

I didn't have much of a plan, I just figured I would walk around and see what the city had to offer. The only thing I really wanted to do was find Giordanno's, which is one of the famous deep dish pizza joints in Chicago. I walked up and down and all around and really didn't get very far, but I did get a feel for at least the downtown loop district. Around 8pm it was getting dark and I didn't feel like walking around anymore so I made my way over to Giordanno's. I go in to Giordanno's and get seated, and wouldn't you know that they have the Red Sox game on; sweet! So, I order my pizza, which does not (by the way) come in slices or anything smaller than a 10" pie. The girl tells me it will take about 45 minutes to cook, which was fine by me; more time for drinking, right? About 3 miller lites later, my pizza arrives and I dig in. The pizza, cheese and sausage, was absolutely delicious. I really like deep dish, it's a lot more cheese and ingredients and a lot less dough/crust. I only ate half of it, so I asked for a box, paid my bill, and headed back towards the hotel. The train on the way back was crackhead-a-riffic, which was nothing surprising to me (or any other regular train rider).

When I got back to the station, I jumped across the street and hit up a grocery store to stock up on cheap beer. I get back to the hotel, have a beer or two and hit the bed. It was about 11pm or so, so I was toast at that point. What a first day!?!

Tuesday
Tuesday, I woke up and immediately went to the hotel workout room. I hit the treadmill for 45 minutes and went back to the hotel room to get ready for my next session in futility. I get to the conference room, set up, and prepare for the worst. Luckily, this session was much more interesting/bearable so the day went by pretty fast. We ended up the session around 4:30 or so and all prepared to go out to dinner (the company was taking us out). We get to Basilico's and get seated and order a few bottles of wine. When it came time to order, I was torn between two pretty good sounding veal dishes, so I asked the waitress what she recommended. The dish she recommended, Bracioline di Vitello, was the best veal I have ever had in my life. The weird thing was, the pasta and meat sauce side that accompanied it was the worst pasta dish I've ever had; it tasted like generic-label spaghetti-o's. We all got a little tanked and decided it was time to go out on the town.

We went to a place called RAM, which was a local micro-brewery. It was a pretty decent mirco-brewery, and their pints were $2; score! I'm pretty sure I had 3 pints and shotgunned a bottled beer (yes, it's possible). The shotgun set me straight, to the point where my eyes went asian (you've seen it before); which everyone got a big kick out of. I guess if you don't know me, and thus haven't seen me like that before, you wouldn't know that I'm not falling asleep and that I'm just drunk. So, given that these folks didn't know me, they all thought I was passing out and I was constantly defending myself. All in all, I had a blast and didn't spend one dime. We went back to the hotel and I passed out like it was my middle name.

Wednesday
Wednesday, I woke up and headed immediately for the gym again. I got my workout on and headed back to get ready for class. When I got to the conference room, everyone was shocked and awed that I was not suffering from the night before. Come on people, last night was nothing; or, at least nothing like a night at C's. We didn't even have one Jagr shot!

The session for this day was the best yet, and we even got out early (around 2:30 or so). It was early in the afternoon, and about 70-degrees outside, so I hauled ass over to the train station to check out the notorius Magnificent Michigan Ave.

On a side note, when I got back to the hotel room, I got an urge to check on my pizza and beer (you know room service people be stealin'). Much to my surprise, the beer was warm?! Turns out that the brainiacs that run the hotel never plugged in the piece-of-crap. No big deal with the beer, but my leftover pizza is ruined! I was pretty pissed.

I walked down Michigan Ave to Soldier Field and checked out all the sights. Millennium Park (www.millenniumpark.org) was awesome. They've got a huge open-air amphitheatre that's got a shell over it to hold all the speakers and such. It's like a new-age Lakewood Amphitheatre. As a structural freak, I really liked this; and I stood there in a daze for a few minutes taking it all in. As if this wasn't enough, they have a 40-foot by 20-foot stainless steel bean. This thing was one of the more freakishly large, albeit amusing, pieces of art I've ever seen. Check it out on that website, it's nuts.

When I was done at Millennium Park, I headed back up Michigan Ave. All of the buildings I saw along the way were awesome. Most of them dated back a few hundred years, and their Architecture was awe-inspring. There were also several newer buildings that were also pretty kick-ass. The new Trump Tower is amazing, and the Hancock Building is massive. I hit up a few shops and found a gift for my wonderful wife-to-be, and eventually reached Lake Michigan. By this point, I had walked around for about 2.5 hours and my feet were beginning to get sore. I decided to hit up Gino's East, which is another one of the famous deep dish pizza joints, and see how they stacked up to Giordanno's. I grab a seat and the bar, and ask the bartender if they're running any specials. He tells me the only special is a $13 bud light pitcher. "Great, I'll take one" I said. He informed me that he couldn't sell me a pitcher, since I was alone, but that he would pour me one glass at a time and charge me for the special; awesome! I sat there for about 2 hours, drinking, eating, and watching the Red Sox (I'm starting to think Chicago doesn't like the Cubs either). The pizza at Gino's East is far superior to Giordanno's, FYI. With my gourd filled and my drunkometer of "Yay Yay", I headed back towards the hotel. I got back to the room and had the rest of my beer stash with a quickness. I watched the rest of the Red Sox game and then turned in for the night. All in all, this was a great day and I was now convinced that Chicago is an awesome city.

Thursday
Well today is the last day of my Chicago trip, and I am very much ready to go back home. I like Chicago, but I'm missing one very important part of my life; Carla. The past 4 days have leftm e longing for my soulmate and I am excited about getting back to her. It's about 2:30 now, and there's a chance we'll get out early and I could possibly get stand-by on an earlier flight. As it stands my flight isn't until 7pm, which puts me home at 10:40pm (which will make getting up for work tomorrow awesome). Hopefully this blog was not the most boring this ever written. I know it is a testament to how bored I am in this class :)