McCrone, Day 1.5-Observations on Chicago

I took some pictures of my hotel room, just to give an idea of how....compact it is. Here's the desk/tv/computer/office space.



Here's the view from the window beside the bed


Here's the view from the entrance. I'll get some pictures of the city up tomorrow. But first, some observations on Chicago:

I had dinner tonight at Ditka's. For as much as I spent, which was basically all my per diem for the day, I would have expected MUCH better food. It was just good. I had the NY strip, looked like it was about 12-14oz. At the restaurant, you buy the food items separately. So the fries were extra. $7 extra. Good thing that I've almost stopped drinking soda at restaurants! I have no idea how much they were, but I'd guess that they would be about $2.50. The water was free. I checked. The steak was cooked correctly, medium, but didn't have any...flavor. You know how steakhouses always season their steak with something? Not here. Don't get me wrong, it tasted really good, especially after I walked almost 2 miles to get there. But it wasn't $38 good. While I was there, I think Johnny Damon came in. Sat down at the table next to my booth. For about 2 minutes. Then they (there were 3 in his party, and I didn't recognize the chick and the other dude) got moved into the banquet section of the restaurant. I'm 90% sure it was him. So there's my brush with fame for the day. Maybe I'll see O-prah or O-bama tomorrow. Well, probably not Obama...he's fighting with Hitlery over Pennsylvania tomorrow. Too bad it's not gladiator style.

As I walked down the street, I noticed that probably 4 in 10 of the people I saw walking alone had i-Pod headphones in their ears. No i-Pods visible, but definitely the white ear buds that go with the iPod. Probably 8 in 10 men had some type of messenger bag or backpack. I tried to talk my wife into letting me get a Maxpedition jumbo Versipak, but noooooo. "It looks like a man-purse!" Bah.

Lots of women who listened to their fashionista friends when they told'em that, "That outfit looks great on you!". Oh, honey they lied! Those oversized sunglasses make you look like you got in a fight with your meth-cooking-trailer-trash-boyfriend-of-the-moment, and you had to cover the black eye he gave you when you told him to get a haircut and get a real job. Never mind the short skirt and mid-calf boots. You're not Mariah Carey. More like Harry Carey. Enough of the fashion report.

Lots and lots of cabs. Mostly old Crown Vics, several mini-vans and some Lincolns. I guess the limos come out at night, cuz I didn't see them earlier. There sure were a bunch of them out tonight. Lots of public transportation. In between the El, the subway and the busses, I may have to give one of them a try. I can ride a bus in SC, so the train it is!

The magnificent mile is interesting. All the shops you could want in a mall, out on the street. Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, Nike, Disney, blah, blah, blah. No gun stores. No Bass Pro Shops (there's one on the way home). So Chicago's not all great. Panhandlers on every corner. None of them were actively begging for money, but danged if they didn't all have cups out with some loose change in'em. I saw three guys playing saxaphone, a duo with flute and bongos (hippies!), and a blind guy with a harmonica. He was asleep, though. Enough for one day...