Chicago Part 1

I've been in Chicago for 23 hours now, and it's been a bit of a whirlwind. My plane arrived late last night, after having been delayed for a couple of hours in Toronto. Fortunately, all my luggage arrived and Gena picked me up from the airport and delivered me to the Hilton. I got the fun tour (not that she got lost) and saw some of the beautiful architecture as well as the shopping paradise that is the Magnificent Mile.

The hotel is amazing, with incredible painted ceilings and everything is very reminiscent of the Old Chicago that you see in the movies. Naturally I tried to play it cool when I saw the lobby, not wanting to do Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman as she walks into the hotel lobby. But it was hard not to gape - after all, at the last conference I stayed in a student residence. This is something of an improvement.

After I got settled, Gena and I went for a drink in the hotel lounge. I was hoping for a quality martini (which I got) at a reasonable price ($14 per drink...ouch). We shared a fantastic gorgonzola, baby arugula, and creme fraiche pizza, which was the best thing I've eaten in ages. Totally worth the money - especially since that meal was on the university.

This morning I registered and picked up the conference package (along with the classy nametag) and wandered around some sessions to see what was available. I had to get work done, so I came back to my room during lunch, and of course, my computer had a little fit. Probably doesn't like Chicago. After fiddling for an hour and a half, I ran Norton and left it to do its thing. I had a couple of hours to kill, and wasn't particularly interested in the GIS sessions, so I headed out to see the Field museum.

What an amazing museum! The Pompeii exhibit displayed stories from the eruption in 79 AD and fragments that have been recovered, including some amazing frescoes. Dinosaurs, Egyptian mummies, animals from around the world, and other exhibits were quite amazing. I've never seen such a comprehensive collection of animals from different parts of the world. Remember the Lions of Tsava from The Ghost and the Darkness? They were there.

I left the museum with just enough time to take in the Shedd Aquarium and see the seahorses, beluga whales, dolphin show, penguins, and endless tanks of sea creatures from around the world. There was even an Australian lungfish that's been there since 1933.

As I was walking along, bits of movies kept running through my head. In the Egypt section, I saw references to the Book of the Dead and thought "hey, Brendan Fraser should be here to point at that". And in the lemur exhibit, the song from Madagascar kept running through my head (Move it, Move it!). At various points I thought of just about every Pixar movie including Shark Tale, Finding Nemo, Shrek, and Ice Age as well as other assorted blockbusters. So much for an education...all I remember is Hollywood Films apparently. And I'm sure they're wildly accurate!

And now I'm back with my articles, working on the thesis and presentation for Saturday. I've covered a lot of ground today, and between the museums and the amazing food (lunch was at Corner Bakery in the Field Museum and it was fantastic), things are good!