And then I commence a Chicago 2-day trip among the sea of trips…
I wake up at 5, hop on the bike in the basement and watch Roma. I shower, eat breakfast, and pack everything in 1 backpack for this trip. I have a meeting, then get into an Uber and work in the car while we head to EWR for another slog across time zones. I’m way early and the TSA takes me 5 minutes to get through.
I work in the terminal, then write in the terminal. I have a cappuccino, a banana, and an orange. My lunch is an energy bar, a banana, and water, which I eat on the plane. I work and watch the end of Roma on the flight, and it is a rough movie. I do not see the appeal of this one.
I get to Chicago and decide to stay in town instead of with Tommy & family. Slogging out to the suburbs for this 1 night is a bit much, especially since Tommy won’t be there and I would be hanging out with his family until he gets home later. I’m not comfortable with that so I get a cheap room in the city. It ends up being a room in a hostel.
I get on the train for $5 and head to the city, then make my way to Intelligentsia for a $15 cup of specialty coffee they have, but just right now. It’s extraordinarily expensive and while it’s good, it’s not worth $15. I enjoy it, nonetheless.
I work, do some calls, then leave and walk the city. Even though it’s October it’s cold as anything out here.
I go to Ramen San for dinner, which is a place D and I have been to before. It’s so, so good. Totally worth the company flying me out here for this meal.
I go to the coffee shop down the road and get a decaf cappuccino and work some more. Then I hit up the hostel and get the room and do a bit more work. Normally I wouldn’t be working this much, but I’m being hammered by one org that wants attention so I need to eat this one. It makes the time pass.
The hostel is cleaner than you can imagine, and while there are 4 beds, I only have 1 roomate. He comes in at 11:00 and is very quiet. I sleep shortly after and it’s so-so at best. My leg hurts a lot in this bed but at least it’s one night only then I can go home.
I wake up at 6:00 and shower. It’s snowing out.
I get a free shitty breakfast in the basement and the cross section of people here is fabulously interesting.
I then go to Intelligentsia #1.
Then I walk to Intelligentsia #2. It’s truly miserable out.
Tommy picks me up and we head to the McCormack Center and I end up seeing a bunch of old friends there, which is nice. Otherwise, the show is a waste of time.
For lunch we go to Wasabi ramen, which is excellent. The meat here is perfection.
We go back to the show to pretend we’re here doing what we’ve been sent for. But the Sales guy didn’t bother coming so we’re sort of pointless in a sense. Whatever, free food trip.
Tommy drives us to Naperville and we meet his family and go to Jeni’s, which is super expensive ice cream you can find at Whole Foods and Kings here, for $10 a pint.
After the ice cream, Tommy drops me off at the airport and I’m through the TSA line again, easy as pie. I’m ready to go before 7:00.
Then I’m delayed until 11:49.
During this time, the airport gets less and less crowded. Planes take off, and it gets later and later. We experience a few more delays and at a certain point there are only 8 total flights left on the board.
A collection of people crowd around the TV and watch the (former) Expos win the World Series. Nobody is really rooting for anyone but when one guy boots a routine play the crowd collectively groans.
Eventually I take off, then land, then go home. I get home at 3:31am.
Then I eat a taco.
Traveling Normandy 