For reasons I won't go into here, I currently find myself in a Chicago suburb attending a rather-technical training course. This trip has, almost from the get-go, been bad news.

I was informed that I needed to take the class because we'd budgeted for it and would lose the funding if I didn't go. Since I did want to take the class, I tried to schedule it in a locale I was more familiar with. I've got NOTHING against Chicago. It's just that I have only been here once on a whirlwind visit and I really don't remember it. Regardless, the only venue available to me was this one. I'm nothing if not easy-going, so I scheduled the class here and made arrangements through our travel folks to get here.

When I left for the airport, I realized my gas tank was low in the Mustang, so I stopped to fill it up even though I was already running a little late. It seemed that every car I got behind on the roads to the airport was traveling about 40 mph, even if the posted limit was 65. Not an auspicious start. I finally did get to the airport, got through the checkin line, and got through security literally just a couple of minutes before they boarded my plane.

The flight was reasonably smooth, though the landing was a bit rough. I made a wrong turn coming out of the gate and found myself going the opposite way from Midway's baggage claim area. Eventually I got there, picked up my bag, and hauled it to a taxi. At this point, the backache I've been nursing for a couple of weeks kicked back in full-force.

I found an available cab. The driver told me it was going to cost $73 to get to my destination. No problem, I told him. He then began flipping through some books and/or maps to try to figure out where my destination actually was. This was not a good sign. At this point, it's about 11:30am Chicago time on Sunday. Around noon, the cab driver called the hotel for directions. Not finding the hotel, he called them again, and again. Somewhere around 1:15pm he'd had enough driving around the area (and so had I,actually). The hotel had also, I suspect, gotten fed up with him calling them, and sent a courtesy van to pick me up. I didn't have to pay for the cab ride, but I did tip the driver for being a good sport.

The hotel was excellent, as I've come to expect from a Marriott. I checked in, dropped my stuff in the room, and went out to find a place to eat dinner. I ate, came back to the hotel, and rested for a while. I later had dinner in the hotel bar and called it a night. Things seemed to be turning around.

This morning I missed the shuttle to my training facility while talking to a nice person who was also going there (and missed the shuttle with me). They sent another immediately. (As I said, nice hotel.)

When lunchtime came, I was told that there were places to eat "just across the highway". I tried walking that direction but a large fence prevented me from getting there. I went back inside and located a map showing the nearby roads and eateries. I was told it was a short walk to the nearest places. That short walk turned out to take about 25 minutes.... and I walk pretty fast.

I got there, got a sandwich, and realized I had very little time to get back to the class before it picked up again, so I left immediately with my lunch. About 10 minutes into the walk back, it began raining... and I don't mean a little. It was a downpour. By the time I got back to the training facility, my hair and my shirt were soaked. The rest of my wasn't much better. I toweled off in the facility's restroom with the tiny paper towels they offered, and wrung the rain out of my shirt into the sink. Yes, this was a wonderful day.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon in a nicely air-conditioned classroom wearing a freezing, soaked shirt. It (mostly) dried by the time the hotel's shuttle arrived at 5:15. When I got back to the hotel, I stripped off the wet clothes, took a hot bath, and dressed in something much warmer and drier.

I'm now about to go out for dinner. There is a brazilian restaurant within walking distance of the hotel and I am hoping to make it there and back in one piece. If you don't see an entry here tomorrow, I might not have made it...