Chi-town

MARCH 23RD, 2008
CHICAGO

To celebrate my two days of unemployment, I decided to return to one of my favorite cities – Chi-town. It was a good opportunity to make up for a missed New Year’s Eve visit and see both Doug and Debbie as well as get the chance to see Jon and Emily.

Trips to Chicago are usually surrounded by adventure and good times and this time proved to be no different beginning with the drive to airport. I decided to fly Southwest into Midway because it was cost effective and less prone to delays. As I got started early Thursday morning, I was running a little late because I had to get gas, hit the ATM, and get stuck behind one of the slowest drivers in the world on a single back-ish road to the Turnpike. As I hit the highway, I became a little concerned that I may not make it to the airport in time as I was already feeling rushed.

I get to the airport in the knick of time just to find out that *surprise* the Economy lot is full. I start to become a little more worried as I make a mad dash (cutting off cars left and right) as I get back on 95 to head to some offsite parking. I make it there, park, and hop on the mini-bus that will take me to the terminal, just to wait while the overly optimistic driver goes to newly arriving cars and sluggishly helps them with their bags.

We get moving eventually and I get dropped off at the Southwest terminal. I rush into the gate to find that my particular flight leaves out of Terminal D and not the main Southwest Terminal which is E. Because Philadelphia is such a spectacular airport, you can’t get from Terminal E to D once you pass through security and there is a maze of hallways in between that one has to navigate. I get to look important by running into people to find that the security line for Terminal D is about 4 x’s as long as the one in E which excites me. I get to the screeners and should have ample time to make the flight. However, in my haste this morning, I forgot to remove my toiletries and place them in a 1 quart see through bag. The wonderfully cheery TSA reps pulled my luggage, slapped on the latex gloves and started to go through everything. The guy said “I’m going to ask that you don’t speak to me while I go through your bags.” No problem except that the same guy proceeds to ask me questions while he is rifling through my things. Do I answer? Or do I follow his earlier advise? You just can’t win with these people. After carefully examining each item in front of everyone and actually holding up the line, he decides to put some items back in my bag while others he has to throw away.

Now let me take a step back. I admit that I didn’t follow the rules. However, the guy went through and examined them by hand. Why, oh why would he have to throw them out? Because they weren’t in a clear plastic bag?? I know that Ziplock bags are rates to withstand an explosion equivalent to a quarter stick of dynamite but come one – what is so important about those little bags? Is he punishing me because I didn’t follow the rules? If so, I’m not in kindergarten anymore…

I loathe the TSA. I should qualify – I loathe the TSA at the Philadelphia airport.

Anyway, Southwest in the meantime has decided to implement a thoroughly confusing boarding procedure which I decided to bypass and go right onto the plane. The flight went really smooth from there which gave me a chance to de-stress a bit.

I arrive in Chi-town, take the Orange Line to some random station and meet Doug who was my chauffeur. Doug has decided that he doesn’t like engineering anymore so he has taken the bold step of going back to school to get a masters in Apple Maggot Flies. Well, I don’t really know what his degree is in other than it has to do with plants, and one of the flash cards he was studying had Apple Maggot Flies written on it. He had his final exam at Northwestern that afternoon so I took the opportunity to head up there and see the campus. I must say, while nice, I was not impressed. I was expecting this big, antique campus and it failed to deliver. They had a few old buildings but they were a bit boxy. At least I saw it and got some good pictures. It was the first time I got to take the camera out and really exercise it.

That night we headed to a restaurant called Uncommon Grounds (which is not to be confused with a great coffee shop in Burlington, VT by the same name).

The next day, Chicago celebrated the first day of Spring by dumping about 8 inches of snow on us. Whenever I go to Chicago, it seems to bring out the worst of its weather for me and that’s exciting. Last time, it was negative 300 degrees and this time, it snows…a lot…the first day of Spring. But we were not deterred. Doug and I went to a Conservatory (the plant kind, not the music kind) and it was actually pretty cool. A lot of the flowers were in bloom and it was in this massive greenhouse. Afterwards, we stopped for some tea and hung out of bit before dinner.

Jon and Emily were planning on making the long trek from DeKalb to enjoy dinner with us but were sadly deterred by the ice and snow. Safety first people! So, Doug, Debbie and I decided to take the reservations anyway and headed to Greek-town to a restaurant called Costas. It was a pretty good place that set cheese on fire…OOPA! I got this sampler which was really good but made my stomach feel a bit unsettled for the rest of the night. While we missed Jon and Em, good times were had.

At the restaurant, this couple came in and was about to sit next to a family with kids. They asked to be re-seated – apparently kids are contagious. This couple reminded me of the Julia-Louise Dreyfuss couple from Christmas Vacation. And they were equally as annoying; ironically, more annoying than the table with kids. The woman decided to talk on her cell phone the whole night and share with the restaurant how they just got back from Fort Lauderdale and will be going back soon, how they will meet people in Vegas, and most notably, she began every conversation with “Hiiiiiii, it’s John and Kimmers!!!!!”. Subesquently, Doug and Debbie became Douggers and Debbers for the rest of the weekend and probably for a good while.

We concluded the evening with and old skool game of Wizard (a specialized card game similar to standard card game Oh Hell! If you even know what that is). I almost won but Doug took me at the very end.

The next day, Douggers and Debbers were supposed to play Ultimate Frisbee and since I had not the desire to play in the snow or the freezing cold, I had planned to spend the day in the Loop (Downtown Chicago). At the last minute, their game was cancelled and they joined me. We had read in the paper that Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 was National Pillow Fighting Day and there was supposed to be a pillow fight downtown by the art museum.

I should take a step back and let you know that any adventure I planned with these guys usually ends up in disappointment. This was a prime candidate to continue that tradition so we decided to start our day there. On the train ride down, we saw a few people with pillows and we started to get pretty excited.

The event was based along the concept of a “flash mob”. It started as a social experiment by a guy and is meant to have something happen “randomly”. More information is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob

Anyway, a group of people gathered at the corner of Millenium Park and at the “leader’s” whistle, they ran down to the art museum screaming a pillow fight ensued. There were about 40-50 people and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. The security people at the art museum had no idea what was going on and these people were going at it. One guy had a fro wig and his pillowcase had “Momma said knock you out” silkscreened on it. Priceless.

After laughing hysterically and taking waaaay too many pictures, we headed up to Millenium Park, played around on some of the sculptures ultimately making our way up to what is my absolute favorite sculpture….ever – the Silver Bean. For those who haven’t seen it, it is a huge bean that is made of mirrorlike metal. It reflects the entire skyline and is simply awesome. My only problem with it is that it’s a bean and therefore belongs in Boston but I can get over that seeing as I am in Chicago more than I am in Boston (odd, isn’t it?).

We walked the Maginificent Mile making our way to the John Hancock building and in turn up to it’s observation deck. We got a great view of the skyline on a beautiful day. On our way back home, we went to a restaurant called Chicago and Pizza Oven Grinders. Douggers had been raving about this for the past couple visits and we decided to give it a chance despite the fear of a 2 hour+ wait. The restaurant is certainly unique in both it’s menu as well as it’s host. You see, you don’t give your name, you just give the guy the number in your party. He remembers your face and finds you when your table is ready. Douggers said it isn’t foolproof but it worked that night and I must I was impressed. Debbers had imvested a significant amount of thought into how to get seated the quickest. We learned that the host remembers girls more than guys and that face time in important.

The menu is also unique. They don’t sell normal pizza like you would think of it. They sell oven grinders which is basically pizza made in a soufflé dish with a special meat sauce and the crust on top. It comes out looking like a mushroom with the crust on top and the waiter basically flips it and scoops the pizza out of the dish. Good eats.

We finished the evening with a fire, some Smores, and our traditional game of Scrabble. The next morning, we had breakfast at m. Henrys which is a GREAT little breakfast place in their part of town. We headed to the airport for a smooth flight home where I got ready for my first day on the new job.

Oh, and that offisite parking place….$15.98 per day! That’s compared to the $9 in Economy. Oooooooooo, I was pissed.

New job

Yesterday, I gave my two weeks notice and it was an intimidating prospect. It’s so strange for me to think that I’m ending my tenure at a place which has had such a profound impact on my life over the past few years. I’ve learned a lot while at Lutron; what to do and what not to do. I’ve worked with people I respect and people I don’t. It’s hard not to struggle with the fact that all of my efforts over the past 5 ½ years are for naught.

In two weeks, I leave Lutron for a better opportunity at B. Braun medical. It seems like a great company that is progressive and growing. I'm going to be a Corporate Commodity Manager which is apparently a big deal there. My commute is shorter and it's definitely a good step up.

But first thing is first. Along with my resignation comes the fleeting sense and awareness that I could be making a mistake; the I shouldn’t have made the choice I did and kept with what was safe and comfortable. I know that I could survive at my current place of employment and be secure for quite some time. Coupled with that would be a large amount of frustration and a career that won't get me where I need to be professionally.

In the end, I know deep down that I’m making the right decision. This move will help build a solid foundation to advance my career to senior management level someday and that’s exciting. I won’t be perfect and there are some ways in which I will fall short of their expectations but that’s okay. But, it's better in pretty much all regards - money, advancement opportunities, culture, and the fact that I have a biiiiig office (with multiple windows). However, my friend Jeff was quick to point out that while my office may have more windows than his, I don't have a closet. I told him that a Senior Vice President (his title) deserves a closet and I don't...yet. That seemed to pacify him.

But before I can get truly excited about this move, I have to deal the reality of my resignation. I have to handle it in a professional manner but I need to be truthful in my reasons for leaving. There are certainly things about Lutron that I will miss; some of the relationships that I’ve been able to build there have been fantastic and I hope to stay in touch with some people. In addition though, I hope to meet a new cast of characters as I move on.

After I resigned, I have to say, it's been awesome. Word has started to leak out and the reaction I get from everyone has been awesome. Some people are jealous, some are sad to see me go, but overall, everyone believes I'm making the right decision that helps tremendously. It's also funny to see some people live vicariously through me, ask me for contact info and tell me to "keep my eyes open" for any opportunities that might be of service to them.

So here goes nothing... These are exciting times indeed.