That Toddlin’ Town

Today was the first day of the UCDMO conference in Chicago (well, the first full technical day; Monday was working groups). I arrived last night, taking the opportunity to try Chicago’s famous “L” by taking it from O’Hare to Clark/Lake, and then walking to the hotel near Wacker and Stetson. Not a hard walk, but in the humidity, I was dripping when I to the hotel.

Today was a good day with a lot of technical information about upcoming DOD processes and such, but you don’t care about that. What you care about is that toddlin’ town. So here’s an interesting fact I discovered about Chicago: they have this thing called a Pedway, which is basically an underground walkway through buildings and understreets that allows you to remain in air-conditioned comfort during the summer (at least somewhat), and more importantly, keeps you out of the winter weather and lake effect snow. You should fear any city that requires underground walkways to keep you out of the weather.

Tonight for dinner I had planned to walk along the Pedway to go to Giordano’s, which is evidently pretty famous stuffed pizza here in Chicago. I walk to the restaurant… only to find their pizza over was broken. So off I go to hunt down dinner. I wander through most of the theatre district, and eventually end up at State Street Pizza. So I satisfied my pizza urge.

Walking back, what did I run into but the giant statue of Marilyn Monroe that has been in the news. Yes, there were tourists taking all sorts of pictures, especially from behind. I know your curious, so here’s your answer: yes, she’s wearing lacy panties, but they are quasi-see-through, except for the crotch. Yes, there were tourists taking pictures of Marilyn’s exposed behind. Still, it was really neat to see it.

It was equally humid today, so when I got back to the hotel, I was dripping again. Now it is off to work for a bit, for that’s what you do in the evening on a business trip.