Chicago

Thanks to Rockwell, I got to take a trip out to Chicago this weekend for the DEW Tour. I'd never been to Chicago before, but I'd heard a lot of good things, so I was excited. Unfortunately I was working most of the time, so I didn't have much of a chance to do many touristy things, but I was able to check a few things out.

Timmy G, our CFO played a pretty good trick on me. He told me public transit was the way to go in Chi-town and I totally fell for it, so he didn't rent me a car. I wish I had a picture of myself logging some serious mileage hauling my OGIO 9800 (great bag, by the way) though the city, but I was way too tired to even think of it. I had to bring a bunch of product to set up our booth, so the weight in addition to 90 deg + heat and maxed out humidity left me hammered after 3 days.

I will say this, public transit in Chicago is really good. If I were there just to hang out, I'd be all about it. But when you're toting the entire contents of a booth, you gotta have a car. Don't tell my boss, but there was no way I was hauling all that stuff back to my hotel, so I left probably close to $15,000 worth of watches completely unattended in my booth overnight. Luckily no one stole them. Unluckily there was a torrential rainstorm right after I left (which I got caught, and soaked, in) that got most of my shirts wet, ruining a few. I was, however, still able to sell them all the next day, minus the ruined ones of course.

All in all it was a great trip. My flights were interesting. I had the polar opposites in flight attendants on each trip. Heading out to Chicago I had a beautiful Australian flight attendant who came and sat next to me and chatted most of the way. She was amazing. If anyone knows the hot Aussie flight attendant that works for American Airlines and lives in Chicago, tell her to freaking call me.

On my way back I had a total doucher for a flight attendant. He got mad at me on two separate occasions and took his job way too seriously. Just because my bag isn't all the way under the seat in front of me doesn't mean I'm a threat to national security. I'm kind of tall. My legs have to go somewhere.

But all-in-all it was a fun trip. I definitely want to go back soon to just check out the city. Hopefully I'll make it back this fall, once it has cooled off a bit.