Where's Stizl?

Well, I'm in Orlando now, and leave for Baltimore tomorrow. But first a little rewind. As predicted, last week ended much better than it began. Chicago proved a fantastic host in many ways, and ORD couldn't even dampen the trip. We had a large group from corporate for the Chicago meeting on Thursday, so Wednesday was Big Dinner time. Went to Gibson's, near ORD. AWESOME steak. Plus, one of our field personnel swore up and down that Martin Scorsese was in the restaurant. It was totally not him, but it was funny watching her talk herself into it. Something about that Wednesday dinner and socializing led us into a great meeting on Thursday. Chicago's franchisees can be a tough crowd for our company, but we handled them well. I really hit my stride as a presenter/facilitator during my hour of the meeting, even dropping a personal anecdote about my wedding (awwww). Seriously though, just chatting about anything other than the content of the meeting helps me relax, and then I cover the content better, too.

[aside]
I haven't watched much of the MLB playoffs, but with only a few highlights last night and currently glancing at the 1st inning of the ALCS, I have seen nothing but Tampa Bay Rays' batters smashing huge home runs over the Green Monster. What happened to home field advantage, Chowds?
[end]

Thursday night provided a new Chicago experience of EPIC proportions. Dave & Heidi (my bro- and sis-in-law) -- well, mostly Dave -- decided it was time to welcome me to the world of Gene & Jude's, a strangely famous hot dog stand. Yes, hot dog stand. I can't consider it a restaurant, even though it had 4 walls and a ceiling. This place was a tin can with a neon sign, a potato cutter, and a line of 8 fryers. It is nothing but those skinny Vienna hot dogs & fries (well, tamales too, but I wasn't in the mood). And NO ketchup. For each ketchup you ask for, they kill you.

On Dave's advice, I went with 2 double dogs with everything and a Coke. This is the great part: the dogs come piled with the fries on top. So you order 2 dogs, and you also get 2 orders of fries! This should be standard in any restaurant! And you must eat them all together, the fries essentially a condiment for the hot dogs, smashed into the bun. I started picking fries off the top of the first one, and Dave almost backhanded me for insulting the G&J culture. I guess it's like ordering philly cheese steaks in Philly - you gotta know the culture. So I crushed those 2 double dogs, standing at the counter like a champ.

I just realized that I had 2 distinct dinners in Chicago, and I spent 200 more words on the hot dog stand than on the critically adored steakhouse. Such is life.

Orlando hasn't been that interesting - hot & muggy & rainy. So-so meeting, sort of dull. But the biggest thing is it's only Tuesday, and it feels like I've been gone a week again already. The weekend was nice (time with the wife, beers with the boys, didn't watch Michigan lose to the Toledo Rocket-football team), but it flew by, and heading to the airport again early Monday was miserable. I just want this week to be done, so I can go home for the weekend...again...and leave on Monday again...

Schmotel

How can the littlest amenities become wondrous luxuries? When a hotel fails to meet even the most basic of those needs and lets you walk across the street to another hotel! We held our meeting at a hotel in Romulus, near DTW (Detroit airport). I think its exact location was Runway B3. Anyway, this hotel worked out very well last April, and it has a great banquet room. Unfortunately, within 5 minutes of checking in I had deduced that about 80% of the TV channels were blank and their free internet service was down. We were assured it would be fixed, and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner -- a group of 6 of us. Apparently they were only expecting 4 patrons for the entire night, because they ran out of french fries and turkey - on just our table. And only 1 guy ordered turkey.

This hotel was operating on fumes.

Fortunately, the Courtyard by Marriott across the way had rooms, and that's where things got back to good. Functioning television, immediate internet connection, smiling front desk staff who provided chilled bottled water (fancy!), those great Speakman shower heads, a comfortable bed and pillows, on and on. Are these things necessities? No, but I'm a business traveller this week, and when all the fun and games are done, I need to check email and watch stuff. That's it. That's all.

To the other hotel's credit, our meeting room was accommodating, functioning, and lunch was actually quite good. They even had sliced turkey. Maybe it was because we gave them a dinner tab or had a banquet room booked, but we were alarmed at how casually they let us check out and move to another hotel last night -- no questions, no attempt at concession, no timetable for hiring a network controller. Oh well.

Off to Chi-town tomorrow. Better hotel and better food culture. I'm expecting improvement...at least until O'Hare gets involved. Good night then!

Seatbelt update

If you haven't read about the Seatbelt Shot, consider yourself lucky. It hit me last week that I hadn't tried it since then, so after I picked the kids up from daycare the other day, I tried it about 5 or 6 times -- never got close. The kids also thought I had suddenly become entirely inept, mechanically speaking. (In reality, I'm only MOSTLY mechanically inept).

It just proves that the Seatbelt Shot is something to be admired and treasured. Feared even.

6 Cities in 18 Days

Time to hit the road again. This time I'll be facing groups of franchisees who will be demanding answers and explanations for our company's bankruptcy (which they are emerging from...), and who are facing a bleak retail season. Can't wait! Should be nothing but laughs and hugs. I'm also not looking forward to the extended time away from the wife and kids (I love saying that). At least I have the weekends, and a regular trip to Chicago for fun/family time at the end of it all.

Just for kicks, and since I have already scheduled some visits for friends in various cities, here's a glance at my itinerary:

Mon. Oct. 6: Detroit...

Wed. Oct. 8: ...to Chicago

Fri. Oct. 10: Back home

Mon. Oct. 13: Orlando...

Wed. Oct. 15: ...to Baltimore

Fri. Oct. 17: Back home

Mon. Oct. 20: Cleveland...

Wed. Oct. 22: ...to Newark...

Thurs. Oct. 23: ...to Chicago again (for fun, not work!)

We're not regionally assigned at the corporate office, but due to scheduling needs, my marketing co-worker has San Fran, Phoenix, St. Louis, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle. I'm not complaining though, I mean, I get way more frequent flier miles.

I'm hoping a few good stories are dropped in my lap as I will have some time to blog in the various hotels and airports. My Stepdad-themed blog has yet to get off the ground as I couldn't figure out how to attach the URL I bought to the blogger format. I also haven't had time to design it. So that's going really well.