Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The Return of Smith

What a crappy day last Friday was! Ughh, horrible!

I won't go into the details, but I'll say that I arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 6:45 to catch my 7:15 flight. It was by the luck of Randomness Almighty (R.A.) that there wasn't a line at the check-in counter or the security checkpoint, and I arrived at the gate with a few minutes to spare.

Unfortunately that wasn't the last of my Friday woes. Dayna was planning to pick me up after I arrived. A flat tire on the car changed all that.

It was as if R.A. said, "Well, I'll let you make your flight this time, buuut you're going to have to sit at passenger pickup for at least an hour, aaand I'm afraid it can't be Dayna that picks you up. Sorry, Murphy's law."

Eventually, I arrived home and was glad to be back. It will be short-lived though. I'm flying back to Chicago on October 1, and will be there for an indefinite amount of time. I'm hoping that AJ will allow me to come back periodically.

Until then, just thank R.A. that it's a beautiful, sunny day in Houston. What will it mean for tomorrow, though??

Monday, September 11, 2006

Short Suburban Honeymoon

I was thrilled to be picking Dayna up at the airport. We weren't sure that she was going to be able to come up because of the babies at home, but she made it happen and I was glad she did.

On Friday evening, despite not having slept much the night before, Dayna wanted to go bar-hopping downtown. We drove down and I took a random exit, not knowing which was most appropriate. We drove around for a while looking for an area with people and bars, there didn't seem to be one near the loop. I remembered from the weekend before where I had seen an area with bars, so I tried my best to get there.

When we made it there I found a parking lot to put the car. By that time Dayna and I were both hungry and wanted to eat before going into a bar. Dayna wanted to sit and eat, but all those places were closed. We walked around for a couple of blocks with no success. By this time, Dayna was hungry and tired. We decided just to go get the car, find somewhere to eat, and call it a night.

The rest of the weekend was spent between driving around in the suburbs and "relaxing" in the hotel. We had originally planned for Dayna to fly out on Sunday morning around 11:00am, but we both wanted her to stay longer. So we rescheduled for a 5:50am flight this morning. We both overslept because I hadn't set the alarm clock properly.

Ultimately, Dayna caught a flight out at 9:50am this morning. Presently, she is about an hour from landing back in Houston. I was so sad to see her go, and I'm going to miss her this week. We had such a terrific time together and away from the babies. It was like a short but productive honeymoon that we never had. I miss her so much.

I'm going to have to re-adjust myself back to being up here alone until Friday when I fly back to Houston. I hope it goes by fast.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Chicagoland

I'm here
I arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport last Friday evening. I met up with Rob from BMP's corporate office in Miami, who brought me out to the office in Elk Grove Village so I could see it and know how to get to it. He gave me some good news about future prospects, which I was glad to hear.

That same evening, I had planned to just stay in my hotel room since it was late by the time I'd arrived. I got hungry though and decided to make a trip to McDonald's. (The McD's corporate office is in Oak Brook, Illinois, just a few miles from the office.) Instead of going back to the hotel, I detoured onto North Avenue from Mannheim Road (the road on which is the hotel). I needed to drop off a prescription to be filled. I didn't find a pharmacy close enough that was open, but I continued driving all the way until I reached downtown.

Although I didn't stay there long, I did get to get a glimpse into what it was like. I dipped into the northmost part of downtown, and, getting tired fast, I headed back toward the hotel.

I tried to be as productive as possible on Saturday. I drove through Arlington Heights, just minutes from Elk Grove Village, and was impressed with the way it looks. I got a little bored and tired pretty fast. I don't spend so much time in a vehicle that often. Much of the rest of Saturday and Sunday I spent in the hotel room. You can't do much without the funds with which to do it.

The Work Week
It was strange to be here at the office last week. I was alone in this eerily quiet place, and unfamiliar with where everything was or goes. But I made due. I talked to Dayna quite frequently -- if a few hours went by without hearing from her, I called her. There were plenty of tasks to keep me busy though.

It went by pretty fast, and on Friday, I was glad that Dayna was coming to see me. After work, I picked her up at O'Hare.