Chicago is big

Yup. The title is still true.

I was in Chicago last week for a training class. I was learning about Business Object's product Data Integrator. I realize I'm writing this to a reading audience of 0, but Data Integrator is a program that allows me to move and transform data from one database to another. We've created a Data Warehouse at work and I'm now in charge of it. Thus the training ... nevermind.

My trip was actually mostly a disaster, but I got some good stories out of it. Ask me about it sometime.

For example:
I arrived in O'Hare around 9:45am and couldn't check in until 3:00pm so i decided to go into the city. I still had my luggage, but i was able to fit it into a backpack so it wasn't that bad. After walking around the city for a few hours, I decided to try to get back to my hotel. (At this point, anyone who's ever gone anywhere with me at any time should say, "oh man, he can't go anywhere without getting lost" - and you'd be right.)

Here's what I knew at the time. The piece of paper I had, said that my hotel was in Rosemont. I looked at the subway map and to my surprise, there was a Rosemont stop. Score! No expensive taxi ride for me, i'll just get off at Rosemont and walk to my hotel. Nothing to it.

I got off at Rosemont and started walking. At this point, my backpack was getting pretty heavy having carried it all day - but I'm tough (I told myself), I can do it. I knew that my hotel was 3190 RiverRoad and I was in the 6000s. I figured that this would go pretty quickly. I was wrong.

About 2 miles down the road, three policemen approached me with what looked like riot gear. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing, or what to stop doing. It turns out that they were helping me cross the 4 lane street. I didn't want to cross the street, but when three policemen tell you to do something, I do it. I had no idea why they did this for me, but I figured I could recross later after they couldn't see me. I soon figured out why they were there.

Soon after, the sidewalk on that side of the street ended. I thought: "Lucky me." However, I had not gone far before the sidewalk ended on my side too. I was now walking in the grass beside a large rural road, and feeling a bit discouraged. This was turning into more of an ordeal that I had hoped and now it was getting dark.

I was getting hungry and started looking for someplace to eat. Unfortunately I had wandered into an industrial area, so there wasn't much to find. The one restaurant that I did find was closed for renovation and next to it was a residence with a sign saying "Thursdays: Female domination! Sign up now!". Feeling glad that it was Monday, i pressed on. At this point I had walked around 5 miles and was in what looked like the middle of nowhere. Noticing the casing to a switchblade on the ground, I walked faster.

Finally after what seemed like 2 hours, mostly because it was - carrying a now very heavy backpack, I reached my destination. A dirty truck stop not in Rosemont ... Figures...



It wasn't all bad though. I met a lot of great people:


It was an 'adventure' to say the least. If nothing else, the next time I go on a business trip, I'll be able to say, "this is so much better than last time!".

The moral of the story boys and girls is "Don't let your boss book your hotel"