Homeless guy and supper

Yesterday afternoon I left the hotel to grab some supper, heading towards the PotBelly a couple blocks away in search of soup.  On the way, a homeless guy was walking along side me.  He waved or something, so I said hello.  He started motioning with his hands awkwardly, asking for money or food - it was hard to tell exactly.  The assumption was that he couldn’t speak.  I told him I didn’t have any cash.  2 dollars?  No, I don’t have any cash.  But I’m hungry, he motioned.  Tell you what, I said, I’m going into this PotBelly here to grab some dinner.  I can buy you dinner.  How’s that?  Maybe a little reluctantly, he agreed. 

I got up to order and ordered myself a baked potato soup and a turkey sandwich for him.  While waiting in line to specify toppings, he walked out of line and starting asking for money from the other patrons, this time with his vocal cords fully in tact.  By the time I got to the cashier and paid, he was gone. 

When I walked out, I could see him a block over, begging.  I considered walking over and handing him his sandwich, but half out of laziness and half out of spite, I walked the other way, back to the hotel.  He lied, so I didn’t give him his sandwich. 

Back in the room, I spent another evening watching mindless TV.  I can’t wait to come home. 

Lunch @ the Sears Tower

Had lunch with a business associate in a pizza place at the bottom of the Sears Tower.  Mmmm.

Heaven and Bloomingdale’s

I had dinner with my mother-in-law last night, who works in downtown Chicago.  We went to a cajun place called Heaven on Seven.  Their motto was something like “When people come back from heaven, they always say… Try the gumbo.”

The walls were lined with varieties of hot sauce bottles…

And the tables had a good 20+ bottles on them. 

I ordered the Louisiana Soul Deluxe, which included a yummy spicy sausage of some kind, and three different kinds of rice/bean mixtures, along with some greens (blech!).  It came with soup, so following in my current trend of new and different, I got turtle soup.  It was awesome… I may have had turtle in the past, having been the granddaughter of a turtle fisherman type, but I don’t recall.

Anyway, it was a unique flavor, worth looking into.  I may try to recreate it with chicken or something, unless I can get the boys to wrangle a turtle from the river. 

Afterwards, we browsed through the Bloomingdale’s, filled with expensive stuff I can’t afford.  The building however was beautiful… here’s the ceiling:

That’s all for now.  Can’t wait to come home.

 

 

Downtown Chicago

Tall building in front of training center.

Ah, internet access returns.  I’m in the class now (I’m not slacking - still waiting for it to start…) and have internet connectivity.  This morning, stopped at Starbucks for an iced tea (mmmm) and a yogurt/granola/blueberry/strawberry concoction.  I may try to eat healthy this week, since I am doing a wee bit of exercise (walking between the hotel and the class - like 5 or 6 blocks).

View of Sears Tower from training building.

Some links of interest:

• 10 Great Cheeses You Should Try

The Hotel Allegro Chicago

Bad news.  In my hasty packing, I neglected to bring my laptop charger, so I will probably not be blogging as much as I’d hoped.

Quick review of the hotel so far…

Pros

It’s pretty.  It is certainly aesthetically pleasing, with bright colors and modern themes.  It’s shiny.

Free wireless, at a decent speed.

Mirrors on the wall in front of the bed.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Pleasant staff.

Really cold air conditioning.  Goes down to 65 (just the way I like it) and can be set to high.  Ahhhh.

Cons

You can’t smoke.  The windows don’t open, so you can’t cheat and smoke out the window.  You have to go out the main entrance and 15 feet away from the door.  I know, I know, it’s like this everywhere now and it’s actually a plus for nonsmokers.  But since I’m still a smoker I’m entitled to complain about it.

@#$%^   - No electrical outlets in plain sight.  None on the desk lamp, none behind the desk… there are even electrical outlets that have been covered!  The only way to plug in one’s laptop (if one was smart enough to bring one’s charger) or cell phone charger (which I did remember) is by scooting the mattress over to access the ONE plug available.  Note to future Hotel Allegro clients:  bring a power strip!

Tiny room!  Ok, maybe I have been spoiled by my other hotel stays which had ample space and even separate living and sleeping areas, but this room is tiny.  Smaller than my living room.  Slightly bigger than my small bedroom (which does not have a desk in it).  Feels cramped.

The view.  I have a lovely view of the backs of buildings and a rooftop.

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And with that bit of whining, I will end this post and get off to bed.  Possibly more to come tomorrow, unless my battery dies before then.  So much for late nights of playing Guild Wars. 

Photoshopped sky, hotel

Today the sky looked photoshopped to me. 

Packing right now, heading out to the hotel a bit later (training in Chicago this week):

Thursday afternoon

Well, I’m pretty tired of Calgary now, or at least of being away, so it’s good that I am coming back tomorrow.  Not much exciting to report.  The actual work I came up to do here didn’t go so well, lots of technical stuff that I prefer not to bore you with.  A few late nights.  Well, not late so much as long.  But all that is behind me now and I have left the office now.

Last night, I had dinner with my boss (CFO) at a fancy place called the Seven Restolounge, where I enjoyed a wonderful steak and mushroom soup.  Mmmm soup.  Tonight I’ll probably hit the hotel restaurant, the Keg.  This time I think I’ll have a steak.  Here’s their cooking levels to choose from:

BLUE RARE Cool, blue, all the way through.
RARE Cool centre, bright red throughout.
MEDIUM RARE Warm centre, red throughout.
MEDIUM Warm, pink centre.
MEDIUM WELL Hot, small trace of pink in the centre.
WELL DONE Hot, fully cooked throughout.
CHICAGO Charred outside, cooked to order inside.

I’ll probably go with the CHICAGO, well done in the middle.  I didn’t realize the way I like my steak was actually a Chicago thing.  Is it, fellow Chicagoans?

Monday, continued

Having lunch now from a place called Jugo Juice.  I got a “Banana Buzz” smoothie (iced coffee + bananas + yogurt) and a Mediterranean veggie wrap.  Yum!   Probably back to the hotel shortly.

Some links of interest…

• I’d like to build a Secret Rooms in my house somewhere
• How to Create Invisible Shelves
• The Traveler’s Guide to Nuclear Weapons
• Get a signed copy of John Scalzi’s next book

A quote from Nietzche:

“There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”

Calgary Trip, Monday morning

Last night I had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant…

The Keg Steakhouse & Bar

Great Keg steaks, a casual atmosphere, and friendly, knowledgeable service are the proud trademarks of The Keg Steakhouse & Bar. Our location offers a truly comfortable and satisfying dining atmosphere accompanied by a fun and casual bar setting.

I was feeling like healthy fare, so I just had a spinach salad with pecans, cranberries, goat cheese, mandarin oranges and a vinaigrette dressing.  A little too citrus-y for my tastes, though.  I also had half a glass of red wine, since that’s good for you.  Afterwards, settled back into the hotel room and went to bed.

This morning, no rush to get to the office… took a leisurely shower and got dressed, headed out for breakfast.  Nothing grabbed me along the way, but right near the office is a Tim Horton’s (Canadian version of Starbucks) where I got an iced coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and two dozen donuts for my Canadian friends.

Right now I am just chilling out here in the office with not a whole lot to do.  Figuring out what to do for lunch.

Calgary trip, Sunday

Here it is Saturday afternoon and I am on a United Airlines plane bound for Calgary, Alberta. I lucked out and got an empty seat next to me, so I can stretch out and have a wee bit of privacy.

The weekend was spent packing mostly, or involved with otherwise mundane activities, but on Saturday my brother came out for our informal movie night, and we watched the latest Alien vs. Predator (not bad for its genre) and one called He Was A Quiet Man with Christian Slater, which was surprisingly good. The main character reminded me of the guy from Office Space whose desk was constantly moved, eventually down to the basement, and who had his red Swingline stapler stolen. Only instead of burning the office building down, he brought a gun with him everyday to work and imagined blowing the building up. Anyway, it was an interesting exploration into the ability of people to change and I would recommend it.  Also, the special features include alternate endings!

And now here I am, with two hours to go on this flight, a charge of 66% on the laptop, a Layers magazine, two sci-fi books, and some ice water.

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Wrote that first bit on the plane.  Now I’m tucked into the hotel, and deciding what to do with the rest of the night.  I took a few pictures with my berry, which have been posted over at Flickr.  Here’s a few highlights…

The smoking ban in Calgary is apparently more stringent than Chicago’s. One of the few smoking areas outside the airport was covered with signs, and accompanying “graffiti”, like this one:

Interesting, since I work for said industry.   There are a bunch more in the Flickr set.

Also, here’s my room at the Westin:

Again, more pics in the Flickr set.

Alrighty, now I am off to figure out what to do with my free evening.  Love to all.

P.S.  Radiantreader - got your message, meant to call back, got busy, etc.   Let’s hang out when I get back ok?