Windy City Sans Wind

First thing's first - absolutely nothing of significance has happened since I last posted to this blog 13 months ago. We could analyze the fact that a simple 26 hours in a new place out of my daily routine is all it takes to get me motivated to blog again, but we shall save discussion of a career change for another day.

So let's jump write (get it?!) back into it...

This weekend, I took a one-day trip to Chicago. I had my heart set on getting a free ticket to Chicago this year, but I was thinking about the sweepstakes for Oprah's Farewell Spectacular, not a cardiology conference. I was concerned that much of this cardiology material would go over my head because I was attending in place of a doctor who backed out because he had to take his daughter to a Taylor Swift concert. (She sounds pretty spoiled, no?) Well, wouldn't ya know that as I sat in the airport on Friday afternoon awaiting my flight to Chicago, I learned via a celebrity gossip website (don't judge me) that Taylor Swift had cancelled said concert due to bronchitis. Harumph. Suddenly, the good doctor has a free weekend and I'm giving up a Saturday to science! Or as Ms. Swift would put it: He's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers.

Upon landing at O'Hare, I received an email from Bank of America alerting me to suspicious activity on my debit card. I called the bank and learned that my account had been frozen due to a bogus $535 charge at a Wal-Mart in Sugar Hill, Georgia. Wherever that is. (It was kind of like that time I landed in Bangkok to find that my bank account had been frozen. Except you can use credit cards in Chicago. And the phones work. And people speak English. And it wasn't 110 degrees. And I wasn't a split second away from losing. my. shit.) I asked the customer service agent how they knew to deny the charge. "Well, most people don't spend $535 in Wal-Mart," she said. "But what if I tried to buy a TV? Are you saying I can't do that?" She gave a non-committal answer, and I decided to drop it. Whatever Big Brother tactics they're using to characterize my spending are obviously working.

The Saturday work meeting was shorter and more interesting than expected, so all good news there. Predictably, my name tag was misspelled, so I probably could have skipped the whole thing if we're getting technical.

And we were getting technical. One of the vendors at the meeting mistook me for something I'm not and began teaching me how to use a new device during a percutaneous cornoary intervention. Pulling the guidewire out of the catheter, she said, "See? Just like riding a bike." I nodded in agreement. The irony of her statement is not lost on me, seeing as I can perform neither of the aforementioned "simple" tasks.

The shorter meeting time meant more free time than expected, which was great, but also a bit of a tease. I had time to wander Navy Pier on Friday night and then take a quick bus tour of the highlights on Saturday afternoon, but not enough time to actually DO anything. Nonetheless, it was exciting to be in a big city again! I felt my spirits rising and I walked down into the train station and breathed it all in. There's just something about the aroma of underground public transportation in mid-July. Smells like college.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are some very good-looking men using public transport these days (decidedly not like college). Friendly to the environment and cute! On Friday night, 6 uniformed police officers suddenly boarded the bus on which I was traveling. Concerns for public safety aside, this was very exciting because 2 of them were gorgeous (like could be butt doubles for Mark-Paul Gosselaar on NYPD Blue gorgeous). One of Chicago's finest stood facing me, directly over my seat. We briefly made eye contact and I'm pretty sure he was looking down my shirt. Mostly because I was pulling the old squeeze arms together to create cleavage move. But still! (Ladies, don't even pretend you don't do this. You're lying.)

I then boarded a train and encountered 2 attractive young (and intoxicated) men with a female friend, engaged in singing and general merriment. During their 2nd round of  Air Supply's "All Out Of Love" - and by 2nd round, I mean continuously yelling out "I'm all out of love; I'm so lost without (high note!) you" - they caught me watching them. One guy yelled, "this girl wants to join in!" I did. I really did. But, you see, I made a promise to myself to not get inappropriately drunk on this trip and embarrass myself in front of my co-worker, thus shifting the entire power dynamic of the office come Monday morning. Trust me, it can happen. The guy continued, "do you want to come drinking with us?" My inner Marilyn said yes, yes, yes! Exiting a train with strangers in a strange city is exactly the type of poor decision I would usually make, but it's also the type of poor decision that could cause me to lose all credibility with the co-worker (at least in my mind; sometimes I worry too much). So Maureen said no. She is such a DRAG sometimes.

Chicago: The Land of (Lost) Opportunity

View of the Skyline

The Bean in Millennium Park

The Magnificent Mile

Sears Tower (that isn't actually named Sears Tower anymore)