Wet sidewalks..Good, Icy sidewalks...Bad

Last Monday, January 21, 2008, I hopped onto an American Airlines jet headed for Chicago. 4 ½ hours later, (excluding the 4 hour delay) I landed in O’Hare. Next stop, the Conrad hotel in downtown Chicago miracle mile. Only 45 minutes from O’Hare and a $2 train fare(that is the best bargain ever) I made it safely to my hotel. As I emerged from the subway I was greeted by the wonderful snowy sidewalks and the light flurry of snow. Good thing I was wearing my street clothes (vs. work clothes) which included some grippy running shoes. I really had no idea where to go except for a few directions, turn left on Grand and keep going straight. Fortunately the 2 block walk to the hotel was uneventful and I made it safely. Here are a couple of things I learned rather quickly in my 1st week there…

1) 0 degrees is cold. Even if you have a nice warm jacket, a scarf, gloves, a beanie and the “entire power of the sun” in your pocket. Its damn cold.

2) Wet sidewalks become your friend. Because the alternative is slipping on icy sidewalks (leather soles = NOT GOOD) I even had an episode where I tried to enter a locked revolving door, slipped, frantically grabbed onto whatever I could hold on to, and banged my head on the entrance. Not fun.

3) Chicago Miracle Mile is a shoppers dream. They have everything you could want. (assuming you have the Benjamins $$$ ) However, you feel like you could be anywhere, San Francisco, LA, New York. As big city shopping goes, its pretty standard stuff.

4) The funniest thing is that… I thought people that live in Chicago, would be used to the cold. However I find it really funny that people still complain about it, even though it seems to be the status quo. I guess it’s like in LA when we complain that its too hot. I guess that’s human nature.

5) I finally saw the de-icing of a plane. All I could think of was Richie Valence and Buddy Holly, and how their plane crashed in a rain storm. It’s the funniest thing. It’s like a giant carwash for planes. It caused our plane to be delayed (what’s new) but it was neat to see.

I am scheduled to be in Chicago for about a month. I think plenty of time to say, been there done that. The cold is actually not that bad. It’s very manageable. Especially since I have a 3 minute commute from my hotel room, through a Nordstrom shopping mall, and down 1 block to the office. (The greatest commute ever) The client is nice, the Hitachi Consulting management is nice. The only downsides are the terrible plane commute with all its waiting around, delays, and 4 ½ hour plane flight. But the worst part is leaving my wife behind. Although she was once used to me commuting, this past year we once again grew accustomed to being around each other. Life is about adjusting I guess. Its only a month, so were trying to make the best out of it.