Highlighting the city I've called home for 39 years

The 'Horse Capital of the World' Is an Underrated American City With Beautiful Nature Trails, Craft Beer and Bourbon, and a New Luxury Hotel

Mostly showing off our new luxury hotel, the Manchester, but a nice write-up by Travel+Leisure on Lexington itself, as well.

Prologue - Act One

So, I'd done lots of things to get prepared for the trip, but I had lots of little things to do beforehand, everything from taking the trash out, returning a library CD, and doing a libation to the Gods for safe travel, but knew I needed some sleep. So I went to bed at 8 pm Wednesday night, determined to get up at 1:30 so I'd have a couple of hours to do everything I needed before I'd normally be up. And it worked. I didn't sleep well, as I was worried I wouldn't get up in time, but I actually got all the plants watered and the rest of my list at home completed, left a little earlier than what Google told me to so I could return the CD, get gas, put a cheque in the bank--that sort of thing. While at the gas station getting gas for $1.93 in Lexington per gallon (It's $2.69 or so here), I got a drink and a blueberry cheese danish sort of thing. Not ideal, but I didn't want something heavy, and it was cheap, and I'm trying to go as cheaply as possible. Then I drove around a good portion of the city (I live on the opposite end of town from the airport), parked in oeconomy parking, and went through security. I'd checked in using the Delta mobile application, and so spent the day scanning my phone rather than a piece of paper, which was convenient, but, I had to have my phone out an awful lot, and it was hard to juggle. I may just check in tomorrow the old-fashioned way, particularly as I have something to hold the ID and boarding pass to make it easier to keep up with.

It's always a joy to be behind me at a TSA checkpoint, as I have to take out liquids, CPAP, laptop, take off my shoes, and load my various bags (I had three, as one didn't count as it was medical supplies only). When I went through the body scanner, I guess they couldn't see my lower left arm well in the image, because they patted down just that lower arm. Weird. I gathered my stuff, put my shoes back on, and went to the gate, where I gate-checked my rolling bag for free when they requested volunteers. I noticed many people were not volunteering. It's a small plane, and I like gate-checking, although I didn't realise they would check it on to my final destination, and my liquids and other minor conveniences were in there, so I spent the day without a comb, eye rewetting drops, or lip balm, for example, something I'll keep in mind tomorrow when I pack.

The flight was pleasant and went off without a hitch. It was very dark, as they fly with the cabin lights down and no one really turned on their own personal lights. We arrived in Atlanta about the time the sun finally got up. I had a soda and a cookie packet there in the dark. Once we disembarked, I grabbed a drink and some pretzels and went to the next concourse, where I had an hour and a half layover until the Chicago-bound plane left. There was a mechanical delay, but we left on time and arrived at Chicago on time. I learned that one person can charge their phone (my seatmate did) while on the flight, at least on the 717 we were on. I was in the O'Hare airport, and meant to call YKWIA to let him know I made it okay, but then got distracted redistributing things into my purse and purchasing my 1-day (24 hour) transit pass, wound up taking the train to Division, where I lugged bags up many stairs to a world of newspapers blowing everywhere, oriented myself by the sun to be heading south on Ashland, and then caught the bus to a stop right across from my hotel. I got here at noon, conveniently, as that was when I could check in, and my meeting was at 12:45 CST.

I checked in, actually was able to use the key they gave me for the elevator (I had trouble the last time I stayed at this hotel, and had had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get me to the room then). I washed my face, located my comb, used it, and called YKWIA briefly to let him know I was alive. He was concerned, and had called the hotel already. I hadn't expected it to take two hours to get from the airport gate to the hotel (quite a while, yes, but not quite that long), so I apologised for not contacting him sooner. Then, somewhat more presentable, I took just my purse, put on a light jacket (it's all about the layering, as many Chicagoans are wearing their winter coats today; I had a heavy sweater over a thinner shirt, and had been sweltering in the airports and on transit, so it felt good. But I was happy to have that little layer of jacket.

We had lunch before our meeting, and it included sandwiches with mozzarella, arugula, and roasted pepper. We had an absolutely wonderful meeting, mostly on outreach, and I had a brilliant outreach idea that wouldn't work in my present position, but I might be able to partner with someone to do. I was afraid it would fade; I wrote it all out. It would be easily fundable as well. Part of the meeting could have been webconferenced, but the participatory exercise really couldn't have been. I'm very glad I came, even though it wasn't a direct flight.

After the meeting, a few of us walked to an Italian restaurant a few blocks away called Francesca's, which was excellent. I was tempted to get the salmon, but instead went for a lentil salad and a Napoleatano pizza. None of us could do desert. We walked back. Throughout my stays here, my rock of a landmark has been the St Basil Greek Orthodox Church, which is on the corner of Ashland and Polk. The library we had our meeting at is on Polk; the hotel is at Harrison and Ashland. So it really has helped me get my bearings. A couple of years ago they were using all this scaffolding, but now it seems in much better shape. It's beautiful. [I love the varied architecture in Chicago, and not just the stuff downtown. On the way over on the train I saw an esquisite Turkish bath.]

We got back to the hotel, grabbed some complimentary hot chocolate, and I've already told you the rest. I guess tomorrow will be Act Two. Wish me luck. I've got to get up at 5 am, eat breakfast when they open at 6 am, check out, catch a bus by 6:30 to get to Midway Airport by 7:30. My plane leaves for Detroit at 9:19 am CST, on a smaller plane. Then I'll have another hour and a half layover there before arriving home sometime around 3 pm our time. Whew!

I look and feel sunburnt

but except for about 15 minutes today, with lots of sunscreen on, I haven't been in the sun except what has come through the window while driving, and the most painful part is on the back of my head, where it should have been safe in the car. So I'm not sure what happened. I've been red-faced and hot all day, inside, and a little sweaty. I really used the fan my co-worker let me borrow a lot today. We had our big sports clinic at work today, too, so most people were out there. I volunteered to make the certificates (we'd already printed them on cardstock, so all I had to do was add the name and a gold seal, the latter of which weren't particularly sticky, so I found a decent glue stick and went to work with that). The good news about that is I contributed, but didn't have to spend the day out in the sun and heat (it's 88 at the moment with a heat index of 96, and that's in the late afternoon, not in the middle of the day when everyone was outside). We got a free lunch, but I don't do hamburgers or hotdogs (or baked beans with meat in them), so I had a cheese sandwich with Fritos and a fountain drink. I'm hoping to have something more substantial for dinner. I kind of wish I'd ordered a shirt, but I didn't. They're a heather blue. In the past a lot of times they were pretty much neon, which I cannot wear without looking washed out. I do have one from last year in cyan that I got after the fact when someone didn't pick theirs up. Maybe that will happen again. :)

After work I ran some errands, but didn't get my allergy shot. I'll have to get back on track on Tuesday. I paid my rent (yes, it's late), and requested a new lease be drawn up for me to sign (eighteen months and it only goes up $5 a month, which isn't too bad, and after all I've been here 10 years and would like to stay).

I'm on my own for tonight. Last night I finally got some rest, and recuperated fully from the weekend of training last week. Today I'm going to try to watch something or do some reading, something fun, rather than just go in there and crash. I may go into the pool, for that matter, depending on how I feel after dinner. I did find the glasses I couldn't find this morning (they were of all things on my dining room table, not at the bedside (their place) or the bathroom). So I could wear them over to the pool. I had a spare, older pair as a backup with me that I packed in my bag just in case I had any trouble with my contacts. On any given day my purse or bag contains as a minimum:

1. Medical supplies (a bag with my oral meds, a pill reminder box, pen needles, injection pens, and the charger for my glucometer)
2. Glucometer
3. Epi-Pen twin pack
4. Asthma inhaler and spacer
5. Ear buds
6. Phone charger
7. Kindle charger
8. Kindle
9. Bag with toiletries such as a small hairbrush, lip balm, contact case and solution, glass cleaner and microfibre cloth, fingernail clippers, mirror, magnifier, and measuring tape)
10. Eyeglasses in case
11. Wallet
12. Pen and highlighter

So obviously small purses are right out. I do have a wallet case on my phone for the absolute essentials such as driver's licence, credit cards, and AAA card. Everything else is in the normal wallet. But if I'm over at my friends' and have to run to the store, I can just carry my phone in my pocket without bringing the bag. On the other hand, I discovered last weekend that putting a key card for a hotel room near your phone is a quick way to get it not to work. I don't know if it erased or just scrambled it, but I couldn't get in. Fortunately a nice lady in the room next to me saw me and went down and asked them to key me another, since I had all those bags and it saved me a trip down. On the other hand, women who look nice but who perhaps aren't could have easily fooled the staff into giving her a key to my room, so I don't know exactly if it really was a good thing or not. :)

Okay, dinner's here. I'll write later, after I check today's news.

I made it, yay!

I got onto the Interstate around 4 pm, after checking the oil and tyres, and putting a quart of oil in, and pretty much stayed behind tractor trailers that were doing between 60-65 mph (the speed limit is 70), and just let anyone who wanted to go around me do so. It worked out that, with one exception, I didn't even have to worry about people trying to merge into my lane. So all is well.

I did really well on the Interstate, although my hands are a bit cramped from holding the steering wheel for so long and so hard. :) I got off the Interstate at the correct exit, got to the next couple of streets, and only had trouble with the actual street for the hotel I'm in. I went down the wrong way and back and forth a couple of times, then decided there was a big white building on the other side of the road that might be the correct building, and it was. Yay! I checked in, but my keycard didn't work, either because it didn't take when they keyed it or because I put it next to the phone. So a nice lady in the next room who was going back down told them (I had all five bags and a jug of distilled water with me, so she thought she'd save me the trip), and she brought up the new one. I came in, put my stuff down, and plugged in my phone, which was kind of low on battery, and called YKWIA to report.

The quarters are nice. There are two double beds. The bath is just a bathtub/shower and toilet, with the sink out at the entrance to the room. It has a TV, microwave, mini-fridge, etc. The only thing so far I'm having issues with is that the outlet for my CPAP seems to be behind the actual bed. I waited until my roommate came in to choose beds, wanting her opinion. Now that I have mine (near the window), I can try to get behind the pillows and see if there's anything there. The clock is plugged up, so there must be something. The bedside lamp doesn't have any outlets. The desk lamp has two, one for the fridge and one free one, which is currently hosting my phone charger.

It's nice and cool in here, which is great. Even though I don't normally use my car air conditioner, I did on the way up because 1) it's very hot outside, and 2) it means less drag on the car at higher speeds. But I'm still sweaty from the trip.

I double-checked with one of our hosts and we're on our own for tonight, with the agenda starting at 7:15 am. My roommate did check in; she and another lady who she gave a ride to are out eating dinner right now. I'm going to check and see what's around here. I did see a Subway, but there might be something better. I wanted to charge the phone up a little and rest a bit, but I haven't eaten in almost 7 hours, so I'm getting a bit peckish.

At least the hotel does have free Wi-Fi. That's nice. So I can update here, although over the next couple of days, I'll have very little time to. Tomorrow has a very early start and could run twelve hours in terms of training; Sunday we'll be here at least until 4:30 or 5 pm.

Okay, I'm going to check out what's around here. The hotel serves breakfast, but not any other meals, so I'll have to go back out in the heat to find something. With that in mind, I'll check online and see what's around first.

Have a good weekend!

Well, I made it

Trump Tower

despite a delay of an hour-and-a-half at the Lexington airport due to fog. My plane was supposed to be in Chicago at 11:16 local time; we made it by about 12:20, and I grabbed something to eat at O'Hare before getting a transit pass and taking a train into the city. Then I got lost after I got off at my station. The buildings are so tall, so reflective downtown, that even with the sun up it's hard to navigate the directions. So I walked quite a bit (in fact, over 10100 steps today, and about 4.78 miles), got turned around at first, but finally headed east and found Wacker, then found the Hard Rock Hotel (not mine) but was able to get directions there. I checked in at 3 pm. By that time it was too late to go to the museum, so the plan is to start early and go before my seminar tomorrow. The museum opens at 9 am; I have to be at the University of Illinois--Chicago by 1 pm. So I think I'll be able to spend a few hours exploring.

Tonight we went as a group to Park Grill, which is right at Millennium Park, in front of Cloud Gateway, the shiny sculpture known locally as the Bean, which was bigger than I had thought from looking at the pictures. I had beer-battered cheese curds and a black bean burger, and I'm now officially stuffed. But since breakfast and lunch was McDonald's it was nice to have something a little fancier. We're going to the same place tomorrow for dinner--there are two groups on this trip, and I was just invited to the first dinner because I'd gotten into town early. Each group voted, and each liked it. I will say the service was excellent, as were the curds. The portions were very generous. The bread and fries were very good. The burger was, well, a little mushy, but it was still good. Tomorrow if I can swing it, I'd like to try the salmon. But it's pretty expensive. We'll see.

Park Grill with Cloud Gateway ('The Bean') behind it, and a skating rink in front

When I got in this afternoon, I called a friend to let him know I'd arrived at my destination, and then I tried to nap for a little while before meeting one of the other librarians to walk to the restaurant, but I couldn't stop my mind racing or relax. I finally put on some Loreena McKennitt, which helped, and then took a shower, and decided to work on the computer, but I was having some trouble with the hotel's Wi-Fi. Apparently the equipment is in the centre of each floor, and where I am, a corner room, things don't receive as well. There's always the second floor, which has a lot more connectivity (it's a meeting room/lounge area, apparently). I'm on the 20th floor. But I'm back on now, and doing much better, even though I only have three bars on the Wi-Fi. At least it is connecting to web pages and not trying to give me simplified text instead. :)

I'm staying at a hotel on the Chicago River, and as you can see, the view from my room is, at least on one side--I have two windows due to being on a corner--taken up mostly with the Trump Tower. It's a nice room, a little small, but utilitarian (the hotel caters to business travellers), with a queen bed, a bathroom with a shower, a desk for working on, a chair and light for reading, and a closet and bedside tables--not bad for the space.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up early, take the bus to the Museum Campus, and go to the Field Museum, getting there right as they open. I also noticed on the walk over that my bank is about two blocks away, so I may go and get some more cash for the day first. I know where to catch the bus; I saw the right bus at a stop as I rolled my bag up to the hotel. I must have been a sight--a rolling carry-on bag in hand, a laptop bag on one shoulder across the chest, a purse on the other side (also across the chest), and a CPAP bag on my shoulder. That's one reason I was so hot and sweaty when I got here, and had to take a shower--it's in the high 40s, maybe even low 50s here, or was today, and my fleece jacket, although lightweight, was more than enough. It was good for tonight, where there was a breeze and it was a little cooler. But this afternoon, if I had had another arm, I'd have had it off. Still, I think it was a good choice to bring that jacket and not a heavier or lighter one.

Okay, since there's a nice sitting chair and reading lamp in here, I think I'll try reading a bit on my Kindle before I turn in. It's almost 10 pm Chicago time, which means for me it feels like it's almost 11 pm. So I'll probably go to sleep fairly soon. Good night.

Whew!

Since I got off work, I have been running errands. I:

1. Went to the bank.
2. Paid my rent at the leasing office.
3. Went to Home Depot and bought a toilet seat (long story that I won't get into. Suffice to say it is very difficult for a girl when a seat pops apart at the hinge while in use. You tend to slide into the bathtub, given my bathroom's arrangement.)
4. Got a small housewarming gift I promised almost ten years ago when my friends moved into their house, and it's one that can save lives.
5. Went to the grocery store and got very healthy food.

Now everything's put away and, most importantly, the new seat is on the commode. (I was going to stop at the apartment when I paid my rent to use the bathroom, and realised that there was no point until that new seat was in place. Guys, really, you have it lucky, with the whole stand-and-pee thing. So I'm sitting down to the computer with some of the Kroger Mediterranean bar items (Tuscany bean salad, mozzarella balls, and artichoke hearts). I'm also eating a bit of a multigrain baguette. Yummy!

I found out today that when I go to Chicago next month, I won't be staying near the University of Illinois-Chicago campus, as I have in the past, but in a hotel downtown, Club Quarters on Wacker at Michigan. Which means I'll be near lots of neat stuff to see in the heart of the city. I really don't see how I can afford to stay an extra day and go to the Field Museum, but I would love to. I'm going to work out the finances and see if there's any way. In the meantime, I've got a query into how expensive the hotel room would be for an extra night. That's the main expense--the flight and the one night at the hotel will be paid for by the regional office. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Take note, hotels and other establishments selling access to wi-fi

Marriott Slapped with $600k Penalty by FCC for Jamming Mobile Hotspots

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a complaint that this particular Marriott location was blocking Wi-Fi signals in conference rooms. Once guests would complain to the hotel about the lack of Wi-Fi reception, they would be offered optional high-speed internet services (both wired and wireless) at a cost of $250 to $1,000.

The FCC conducted a further investigation into that matter and confirmed that the hotel was in fact using jamming equipment so that it could upsell hotel guests. However, this practice is a big no-no, as blocking Wi-Fi signals violates Section 333 of the Communications Act.

This was at Marriott's Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm an infrequent traveler, but when I do stay in a hotel, I expect to be able to use my mobile hotspot/tethering feature that comes with my cellular plan and phone, because really, there's no reason to pay for something I already should have access to. Plus, I've noticed my hotspot is usually more reliable than many 'public' wi-fi you find out there. Good that someone got caught. Maybe the rest of the business world will take note that jamming signals is, well, illegal, as well as just greedy and despicable.