Sounded like fun on the surface and started out well with a quick (albeit bumpy) flight directly to Rock City USA. I stepped off the plane and thought: "wow - nice airport...i figured that Detroit had basically disintegrated into nothing at this point...i'm impressed"
I meandered over to the rental car counter and got my car. As I pulled onto the highway I noted that:
a. Detroit's roads are still paved (vs. my assumption that the roads had disintegrated to all dirt roads at this point)!
b. 89% of the cars were American made (i wondered where they all were!)
Note: Saw plenty of t-shirts like this in Michigan
Note: Typical car in Detriot - remininscent of old Havana!
After a typical day of working away, I dropped a co-worker at the Airport and went to find my hotel: The Detroit Airport Marriott. As I, the one who stays at the Waldorf=Astoria when in the "City" (either that or the Holiday Inn Express on 29th and 7th!), checked out the DAirMar I was struck by a couple of things:
a. There is a Westin ACTUALLY IN THE AIRPORT. Why did travel put me off site??
b. The workout room at DAirMar is pretty poor. I labored down to get a quick run on the treadmill in and was stuck watching TV to pass the time, because I forgot one of the most important pieces of workout equipment: my IPOD. While running (8 minute miles) I was watching a "hidden camera" show. Why is it that "hidden camera" shows now all appear to take place in Europe? Americans must be too saavy to get caught in a hidden camera gig such as: having a fake policement give you a ticket WHILE NOT WEARING ANY PANTS (ie - tighty whitey briefs only)? Would American's simply say "Where's the camera dude?" and ruin all the fun???
So, I ordered some room service (review: too hot and crappy for my sophisicated Waldorf taste, so hot and crappy that in my rush to consume a portion of the veggies, i burned the top of my mouth) and went to bed, after setting the alarm for 5:53 (3 is my lucky number).
At 6:15 my wake up call came (had pre-arranged the night before). Crap, I'm late...rush....rush....rush...to run outside and find out that the earth had finally spun out of orbit from the sun, or at least it felt like it because it was what cold experts call "damn" cold. So cold that your feet hurt. The trusty american rental car was frozen shut and ice was on the inside of the windows, no ice scrapper, of course. A scary drive to the rental car return (forgot to get gas) and I rush into the airport and rush over to the gate....to wait...and wait...and then get up to start getting on the flight to Chicago...and then be told to sit down...and wait...and wait...and wait...and then be told that the flight was canceled. I being mr. works for a big firm and have american express travel services said to myself: look at the poor suckers running back to the ticket counters outside of security, I will call american express and have them simply rebook me on the next flight, only to be told by american express travel to go back to the ticket counter. Great, that means I would be last in line for the limited seats on the next flight. So I went back to the ticket counter (outside security).
Some times you think, "wow, life is good" and other times you think "WOW LIFE IS AMAZING." The two people behind me in line had been on "Deal or No Deal" and they told everyone who would listen about it for the entire 70 minute wait in line. Here is how the conversation went:
Guy on Deal or No Deal (GDND): "I was on Deal or No Deal!!! It was crazy man, they got us all hopped up on Red Bull prior to going on the show!!!"
Random Person in Line: "That's AMAZING!!!"
GDND: "Man it was CRAZY!!!!!!!, They loved me!!!! You could play video games prior to going on camera!!!!!!"
Random: "That's AMAZING!!!!".
In any event, I eventually got to the ticket counter...and booked a different flight home at 9pm and spent all day in the NWA lounge on conference calls.
1 comment:
Sounds like a regular day at the office. :) Ha! Very funny - nice to see you still have some humor left in you. I thought you were all work and workout and no fun any more.
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