Chicago: Day 1
- Awake to discover that I’ve caught a cold.
- Make it through airport security in record time. Do not have to remove belt, saving myself that whole “stripping in public” sensation.
- Flight is uneventful and about 15 minutes late. Much to my disappointment, my seatmates are not young, available women with an interest in fuzzy, geeky gentlemen with Southern accents, but are in fact two nondescript middle-aged men. Watch an episode-and-a-half of Bionic Woman on my iPhone while my neighbor plays Solitaire on his Windows Mobile device. Try my best not to look smug. Probably fail.
- Check into hotel. Card key doesn’t work, so I haul my luggage back down to the lobby and back up again.
- Only one ice machine and vending machine in the whole place. WTF?
- Discover I’ve forgotten my laptop power adapter. (So yes, I’m blogging on borrowed time.) Looks like I’ll be checking out the local Apple Store tomorrow.
- Settle in and call the folks. Change into fresh clothes to go in search of dinner and explore a bit.
- Discover that it’s colder outside than an Alaskan well-digger’s ass, become far more interested in dinner than exploring. Vow to put the liner in my coat and wear gloves tomorrow.
- Stop to photograh the Chicago River, which has been dyed green. At least I hope that’s dye.
- Settle on a TGIFriday’s, because my palate is certainly not one of adventure. Yes, I’m a Philistine. Shut up.
- Having eaten and warmed up, decide to walk up the street a bit more and take some pictures. Experiment with longer shutter speeds and low light settings. Find the Apple Store that I need to visit tomorrow. Couldn’t tonight because it closed at 6. In fact everything closed at 6. I thought that only happened in the South.
- Turn back to head for the hotel and am accosted by a man wanting to sell brand new Apple merchandise that came “from the store right across the street.” I’m sure it indeed came from the store, but that’s about all I’m sure of.
- Stop at Walgreens for some supplies. Wonder yet again where people in cities shop for groceries, because the only place I ever see that carries them is Walgreens. Clearly I’m missing something.
- Back at the hotel, head down to the bar and have a rum and Coke just for the sheer novelty of it. The bartender and hostess are both quite attractive. The hostess is young and insecure, the bartender asks me what kind of rum and I tell her to surprise me.
- The drink is nice and stiff, but there’s not much going on at the bar, despite being nearly full. Everybody has somebody else to talk to. I text some folks on the phone and finish my drink. Bartender asks if I want another, but I tell her I’m my own cheap date tonight and tip her a couple of bucks on the $6.50 drink. Wonder what she makes of that.
- Back in the room where I wind down and think more about what to do with my week when I’m not attending the conference. It’s supposed to rain and hover in the low 40s, so I’m thinking indoor activities.
- Discover that not even a handful of pictures turned out. My experiments with slower shutter speeds look like I have Parkinson’s. Decide on 1/50 of a second as the magic number.
That’s all for now. More tomorrow!