Chicago at leisure: deep dish pizza at Gino's East, "Crazy Taxi", Navy Pier, soaring to new heights on the Sky Deck - October 15-16, 2011

Yup, you guessed it, I didn't make it to my 10am workshop...way too tired.  I did make it to a workshop at 1:30pm; however, the speaker didn't show up so I had to rush to my second choice workshop as it was way across the conference center.  This was followed by one more workshop at 2:45pm...then the conference was over!  I met up with Rita and Tammy and grabbed a taxi to head to Gino's East for dinner, known for their deep dish pizzas and graffiti-laden surroundings. It was 5:30pm and there was a line outside, but we only waited about 15 minutes before being seated.  We ordered a pizza with half "four cheese" and half "cheese and spinach".  Boy was it cheesy!  I could only eat about a slice and a half of it.  It was very delish.

deep dish, nom nom

of course we must top a super cheesy pizza with more cheese

Afterwards, we headed to a bar that was recommended by Rita's friend, called the Watershed.  The taxi driver who took us in that direction was crazy...he drove too fast and missed a turn he needed to take, then drove like a maniac to get back on track, almost running over a woman crossing the street.  Tammy had already told the driver to slow down, but once he almost hit that woman, we all screamed at him to stop the car.  Rita threw a $10 bill into the front seat and we jumped out as he peeled away.  I hadn't had a taxi ride like that ever, not even in other countries where you may expect that kind of driving!

We walked over to Watershed, located under a champagne bar so it was a bit hard to find.  There was a line...since we were still pretty full from pizza and there wasn't any live music, we decided to go find a piano bar.  I found one on Google Maps, but when we got there, it looked a bit seedy, so we kept walking and found a club to check out.  It ended up not being that interesting as the dance floor was super small, plus we weren't really dressed to be at a club, so we left.

we passed by a Weber Grill restaurant, how odd

We ended up walking to Navy Pier to look for the spiked ice cream that we didn't get the other night.  There wasn't any, but there were alcoholic coffee drinks, so Rita and Tammy got some, and I got a hot chocolate.  We found a table outside to sit down and enjoy our warm drinks in the cold night...it happened to be located in the perfect spot to experience the Saturday night fireworks.  If you wanted, you could purchase tickets on a boat that went out into the harbor for a grander view.

Navy Pier was also home to the Smith Museum, exhibiting stained glass windows.  They were very beautiful, including some pieces from Louis Comfort Tiffany.

isn't there a window tint like this at Home Depot?

someone had a bad dream

perfect for the holidays

Tiffany piece

another Tiffany, the colors are gorgeous

another Tiffany, the detail is really nice

a lot of work!

At the end of the night, we took a taxi back to the Hyatt and called it a night.  On the way back to the hotel, we passed by the "Occupy Chicago" group camped out at Millennium Park.  There were a lot of police surrounding the area.  I now know that the silver coffee bean (aka Cloud Gate) is in this park...I saw it in the movie "Source Code".

We woke up the next morning to check out of the hotel and grabbed a little bit of breakfast at the hotel cafe before taking a taxi to the Willis Tower (used to be the Sears Tower) to do the touristy thing and experience the Sky Deck, located on the 103rd floor of the building with glass ledges that hang out over the street.  People who are afraid of heights may not like the idea!  We got there about half an hour after it opened, and it was a good idea, as the lines got really long when we left over an hour later.  My ears popped twice on the elevator.  I tried not to think about if the elevator cable would snap, especially when the car would sway from side to side.

Willis Tower

nickname

spectacular views from the 103rd floor

skyscrapers galore

proof we were there

there were four ledges you could walk out on

is this freaky?

I know I'm not going to fall

hanging out on the ledge

this machine stunk so bad

Shopping was on our list, so we took a taxi back to the Magnificent Mile to peruse stores like Forever 21, H&M, and Zara.  All three of us were able to find some nice apparel to take home in the limited amount of time we had.  Lunch was at a cafeteria-like restaurant called "foodlife" located at Water Tower Place, which happened to be the seven story shopping mall I had gone to many years ago with my guyfriends!  (we had crammed into the glass elevator and took it straight from the 7th floor to ground floor, screaming all the way down)

We took a taxi back to the Hyatt, grabbed our suitcases from the bell desk, then Rita and Tammy left for the airport.  My flight wasn't for another three hours, so I just relaxed in the hotel lounge area until it was time to go.  My taxi was a Prius and had a very nice driver.  He told me interesting information about the Prius taxis, such as how they're only given to drivers with clean driving records.  So if you're looking for a safe taxi, hail a Prius!  He also commented on how shiny my hair was when the sun hit it, that it looked like a Pantene commercial.  Yup, he got a big tip. :)

I didn't get upgraded on the way back, but I wasn't surprised.  I was but a lowly Premier Executive catching a Sunday night flight at United's home hub.  Too many business people take the Sunday night flights to get where they want to go before the work week starts.  I had an aisle exit row seat anyway, which was comfortable in its own right, but as I was so tired, I had wished I booked a window seat to rest my head.  Then things start to unfold:  the lady at the window seat asked me if I would be willing to swap seats with her husband who's sitting in the aisle seat kitty corner to us, but in regular economy class, not Economy Plus.  I refused, saying it was not Economy Plus, otherwise I would.  The lady was a bit miffed to know it was regular economy as her husband swapped his original seat (the middle seat of the exit row) to the aisle seat as the gate agent said that it was in Economy Plus, which was clearly untrue.  The lady told me that she was a 1K member, so I told her that she should talk to someone right away to get the middle seat back for him.  She disappeared to talk to someone and then came back, telling the husband to return to the exit row.  He took the window and she took the middle.  She asked him if he was okay with the window, so at that point, I offered to give him my aisle seat as that was a win-win swap.  He was happy and I was happy.  Then to top it off, an agent came to the exit row and asked for the lady, saying that she got upgraded.  The lady gave the first class seat to her husband and she moved to the aisle.  Unfortunately, the middle didn't stay empty for long as a gentleman ended up sitting there, who kept intruding into my space with his crossed leg and reading newspapers with his arms wide open, ugh.  Oh well, gotta take the bad with the good...overall, I've done really well with the complimentary upgrades.

Next blog entry will be about my impromptu trip to Penn State to watch a football game between the Fighting Illini at Nittany Lions amidst a freak snowstorm, how fun! :P

Conferencing in Chicago - October 12-14, 2011

This year's Society of Women Engineers (SWE) conference was held in Chicago...a bunch of fellow female engineers from my company nationwide descended upon McCormick Place for the 3-day conference to enrich our knowledge and personal growth, to network with others, and recruit young talent at the career fair.  I was never actively involved in SWE though I knew friends who participated.  I think I went to one SWE meeting at the beginning of my engineering career.  This would be my first SWE conference.  My manager allowed one external conference a year to be sponsored by the company, so I chose to go to SWE to see if it would help spark innovation inside me, to shake up the doldrums of day-to-day thought.  It was a good decision.

Not deviating from my usual travel habits, I took the 6:20am United flight to O'Hare airport.  My complimentary upgrade cleared 72 hours before departure (as expected for Premier Executive status) so I got to sit up front.  You've seen this breakfast plate before; I should have chosen the full fruit plate instead when the gray meat sloshed around my stomach...

mmm, appetizing, eh?

I had to take the early flight in order to try to make it to a company-sponsored workshop starting at 1pm.  Thankfully the plane landed early to make me less late.  I had already made reservations online for a shuttle to take me to the Hyatt McCormick Place, my home for the next few nights.  When I got to the shuttle desk, I found that the price was $3 cheaper without a reservation!  I suppose if there was a long line of customers, my reservation would propel me into the next departing shuttle and the $3 was for that privilege?  I did board the next available shuttle, and the van was not full, but we sat there for a while, maybe to wait for more passengers. Finally we were off!  It took about 40 minutes to get from the airport to downtown.

I thought this was funny

The shuttle made 4 stops before dropping me and another gentleman at the Hyatt around 1:45pm.  I immediately stored my bag with the bell desk and rushed to the conference room where the workshop was being held.  It wasn't a big deal to be late, but I didn't want to miss anything.  I was pleasantly surprised to see lunch served in the conference room...an array of salads, ingredients to make sandwiches, chips, desserts and beverages were spread across a long table for participants to help themselves.  (Sorry no pics...I felt it would be a bit odd for me to take pictures while the workshop was going on...)   Everyone had already eaten lunch but the amount of food leftover was enormous, probably due to the fact that the room could have held 100, but there were only about 25 people present.  I enjoyed half a warm BBQ beef sandwich, tomato salad, and a slice of tiramisu for dessert, washed down with a cup of hot tea.  There was an intermission between the two presenters, during which people got another chance to get food before the servers took it away.  During the next presentation, we noticed more food was being set up!  It was a snack station, with fresh cut fruit, energy bars, bags of chips, and trays of assorted desserts.  Even though I was full, I couldn't resist getting some fruit and a rich brownie. :)  I grabbed a couple of energy bars for later.

The workshops weren't ground-breaking, but a good reminder about how to think outside the box and also an opportunity to meet engineers from different sites and divisions during break-out sessions.  Once the classes were over, we were off to a company-sponsored dinner cruise along the Chicago River.  I didn't have a room yet...I was sharing rooms with my friend Jennifer, but she wasn't arriving into Chicago until later that evening and the reservation was under her name.  I found out later from her that she added my name to the reservation, but it wasn't a big deal as I met up with Rita (one of Babe's colleagues whom I had briefly met for 30 seconds at the base of Picacho Peak in Arizona the last time Babe and I hiked there) and put my stuff in her room.  We met up with her friend Tammy and headed off to the lobby to catch the limo bus that would take us to the riverbank and our awaiting ship.

The limo bus took forever to get to the riverbank...we saw the same landmarks pass by a few times!  The driver must have been lost.  It was fortunate we were on the first busload, as the second busload was still waiting at the hotel lobby for the limo bus to return. We were able to get on board, enjoy cocktails from the open bar, mingle amongst ourselves on the deck of the ship, and take some pictures of the area.

imposing buildings

sky high

on deck with Rita and Tammy

Eventually the second busload made it, and we all headed down inside the ship seated at tables to listen to a few speakers, including the past president of SWE, Siddika Demir.  During the talks, Jennifer called me on my cell phone...she arrived at the Hyatt and asked if there was still time to make it to the dinner cruise!  The ship wasn't to set sail until 8pm, and it was 7:15, so I told her to come.  A few more directional calls later and Jennifer made it, just in time for the buffet to start and the ship to take off.  A simple Italian dinner was offered, with salads, chicken parmesan, spaghetti, and rolls.  There was a separate offering for vegetarians that looked like stir fry noodles, which I heard was not appetizing.  I didn't eat very much, as the food was so-so and I was still full from my snacks in the afternoon.

After dinner, we set out on the deck to enjoy the beautiful crisp Chicago night.  The weather was dry, the moon was bright, clouds streaked through the night sky, and many of the tall buildings in the skyline were specially lit up in pink for breast cancer awareness month of October.  At some portions of the cruise, deck hands would tell us to sit down as the ship passed under very low bridges.  Sometimes it felt like your head would get cut off if you stood up!

buildings topped with pink

eerie moon...watch out for that bridge!

the mothership...United headquarters

self-portrait

The ship returned back to the dock and after some closing remarks and distribution of company T-shirts to wear during part of the conference, the event was over and all of us headed back to the hotel.  People were a lot quicker to get onto the limo bus this time, so we were relegated to the 2nd busload.  As Jennifer, Rita, Tammy and I were chatting, all of a sudden, this guy sidles up to us!  Literally, the space between Rita and Jennifer was empty, then the next second, he's there, and I didn't recall seeing anyone around.  I had to blink my eyes and shake my head to make sure he wasn't a figment of my imagination.  He said hello and asked if we were engineers.  What a weird question!  Did we look like engineers?  Jennifer was wearing a very elegant (albeit short!) black dress, and the rest of us were wearing fashionable tops and jeans.  He told us he heard that SWE was in town, which was why he asked.  His story was that he left his hotel in search of frozen yogurt and saw us standing around so thought to stop by.  I don't remember all the details of our conversation, but I think he was in town to meet with a university dean, as he was a recruiter for some engineering firm.  We chatted for a bit and almost decided to take a taxi to Navy Pier to get some spiked ice cream, but after a phone call finding out the place was closed, he decided to go on his merry way to resume his search for frozen yogurt.  I didn't see a ring on his finger, so I thought maybe he was trying to hit on one of us.  My guess was Jennifer, because she was dressed really nice, and he sidled right next to her.  I'm sure once he noticed the huge diamond ring and wedding band on her finger, it was game over. :)

The limo bus came to pick us up and we returned to the hotel.  It was 11pm, but our bodies felt like it was 9pm, so Jennifer and I chatted until 1am!  Thankfully our first seminars weren't scheduled until 10am, so we had time to get some shut-eye.  It's amazing how Jennifer can fall asleep within a minute of turning off the light and putting her head down on the pillow!  How do I know this?  Her snores end in a high note. ;)  I eventually was able to fall asleep at some point.  I'd get used to the sounds over the next few nights. :)

The next morning, the weather was rainy, and we were so glad we were staying at the hotel connected to the convention center, as all we had to do was cross over an interior walkway to the main complex.  Any other hotel and we would've had to catch shuttles that departed every 15-20 minutes.  Another convenience of everyone in the company getting a room at the Hyatt was that we could all come and go and meet up as we wanted.

Jennifer and I grabbed a quick breakfast from La Brea Bakery at the conference center, and went to class.  I learned about brainstorming presented by Google (I won a Google umbrella for answering a brain teaser correctly!  Jennifer really wanted the stuffed Android), building new businesses presented by IBM, risk management, and diversity.  Lunch was not provided, so Jennifer and I ended up grabbing something from the food court.  During the course of the day, I noticed a lot of women were dressed up in suits...I figured these were collegiate women who were also there for the career fair, which kicked off in the evening.  The rest were dressed in business casual clothing.  I think I was the only one in all of McCormick Place who was wearing jeans!  Well, I wasn't looking for a job, not a presenter, and not trying to impress anyone.  Maybe the looks I got from others stemmed from envy that I was dressed comfortably. :)

That night, as we weren't involved with the career fair kickoff, Jennifer's colleague Galina came by our room and we headed down to the lobby to catch a cab to get to dinner. We ended up waiting 30 minutes in line just to ride in a taxi to South Coast Sushi a few minutes away, ugh!  The restaurant was decorated in contemporary style, with very dim lighting unsuitable for picture taking.  We ordered some appetizers, rolls and nigiri.  The waiter brought us a complimentary fried seaweed appetizer to start.  The food was decent, but nothing out of this world.  At least the amaebi was fried well.

neat chandeliers

seaweed appetizer with two dipping sauces

rolls to share, and amaebi (love that fried shrimp head!)

more rolls

We hailed a cab from the sidewalk and headed back to the hotel.  I'm not used to riding in cabs in the city.  Usually I take public transit or walk if I don't have a car or a ride.  As this was Chicago, rainy, and late at night, taking a taxi was a safer bet.  Though I did print out a bus schedule for the CTA #3 line that picked up in front of the hotel before I left on the trip, as I had planned on taking public transit on my own.

Jennifer and I decided to be "good" and do laps in the hotel's indoor pool after dinner.  We ended up completing 10 laps with a huge break in between, chatting in the pool with another hotel guest who was there for the anesthesiologist conference.  An interesting thing he told us was that an orange was a good medium to practice doing spinal taps with as it simulates the back's thick skin, then puncturing into the fluid.  He assured us that he guided new interns carefully during their first tap, though Jennifer and I will probably ask during a future encounter with an anesthesiologist if it is their first time. :P  After swimming, we talked until 1am again!  This time I was able to fall asleep quicker. :)  On Friday, we were scheduled to wear the company T-shirts we received on the cruise on Wednesday night.  They were white T-shirts with our company logo and a QR code on them, and prospective employees were supposed to scan them to get an URL to submit their resume and enter to win a laptop computer.  I don't think anyone bothered to scan our T-shirts; at least I wasn't stopped at all.  Wearing the T-shirts also made us even more casual than everyone else, which was a bit awkward.  I was already wearing jeans to begin with, and now a white T-shirt on top.  I was glad that I packed a white long sleeve to wear under it to make it more "hip".

Today, Jennifer and I shared the same workshops on how to lead "courageous" and "crucial" conversations, held in the morning and afternoon.  There was a lot of good role-playing in the classes, especially a scene where I was to confront Jennifer with a problem she was causing...she swiftly managed to change the topic within 10 seconds of the conversation without me noticing it until a bit later!  Now I know what goes on in her household.

Lunch was sponsored by another company today, so we had a box lunch with our choice of turkey, ham, or vegetarian subs.  After lunch, we had a bit of time before class, so we roamed around the career fair, picking up loot for ourselves and also for Rita and Tammy, who were working the company booth and couldn't get away.  Unfortunately we were dressed in our company T-shirts, so we couldn't be too blatant in grabbing all the freebies.  We still managed to get some nice items like a travel bag with 3 oz. plastic containers, a container filled with mini office supplies, first aid kit, Chevron cars, keychains, K-cups, wooden brainteaser puzzles, purse hangers, insulated coffee cups, energy bars and toiletry samples.  Our company was giving away emery boards!  There was a "higher quality" item hidden away, to be only given out to good candidates, but I think that's lame.  We should have given away quality freebies!

pretty nice company booth

huge career fair

company makeshift interview booths

After class, Jennifer and I changed into dressier clothes for our dinner at Les Nomades, one of the top rated restaurants on Yelp.  I was excited that Jennifer was willing to eat there on Friday night, as I was already planning to go there myself on Saturday night, as I wasn't sure if there were going to be any other planned dinners during the conference (turned out there were none).  Now I had company!  Learning from our taxi line experience last time, we tried to hail a cab on the street outside the hotel.  It was more difficult than we thought, as it was windy ("The Windy City"!) and we were getting cold, plus we had to walk a ways up the street to intercept the cabs before they made a forced right turn into the Hyatt property.  I wasn't sure if anyone would want to stop for us in the right turn lane, but a Prius cab did...we got in and the cab veered left out of the turn lane.  The cab ride was about 15 minutes, so we had a nice chat with Obi, the taxi driver.  We were joking about wishing it was the "Cash Cab", and we talked about taxi culture in general and how he has regulars who call him.  Since we had a good rapport with Obi, Jennifer got his phone number so we could call him to pick us up when we were done with dinner.


I had read in Yelp reviews that Les Nomades was frequented by older clientele, had a subdued atmosphere, and requested guests not to use cell phones or take photographs in the dining room.  I think the staff was surprised to see "young'uns" walk into the restaurant.  We were relegated to speaking in hushed tones and taking food pics with our iPhones, no flash, so pictures ended up a bit dim.  The menu was prix-fixe, with a choice of three or four course meal, with selections of our choosing.  Of course we went with the four courses!  Not every course was eye-rolling good, but there were memorable dishes like the mushroom soup, scallops, and the meats.  The sauces were really good, typical of French cuisine.  I would return to the restaurant, though I wouldn't bring a big party of people there as it may get too rambunctious.

sexy mama!

mushroom soup amuse bouche

house made pates

scallops

grilled octopus salad with lardo

sea bass in lobster sauce

enjoying my venison

angus beef filet

pastry assortment and complimentary petit-fours

After dinner, we called Obi, and fortunately he wasn't too far away, so he came to take us back to the hotel.  Jennifer needed to leave for the airport at 3:30am Saturday morning and hoped Obi could take her, but apparently there is a rule stating that passengers can't call for a specific taxi to pick up at hotel lobbies; they had to take the next available taxi in the queue. :(  Well, if anyone needs a number for a good cab driver in Chicago, let me know and I can give you Obi's number.

Of course Jennifer and I talked until 1am again, giving us 2 hours of sleep before she had to get up to go to the airport.  I also had to get up too, because I needed to check in to the same room with my credit card to stay Saturday night.  There were classes starting at 10am on Saturday morning...what are the odds that I will make it?  Find out in my next blog entry!