Last Week in Chicago

Last week I was in Chicago to train a client. It was COLD. I wrote some things down in my journal to Blog about - I am just now getting around to it.

I got there Monday night and battled with the incompetent man in the "business center" over printing issues - it's too long of a story to go into, but needless to say I was really frustrated.

Tuesday morning I caught a cab from my hotel to the client site. Chicago is a BIG place. I was staying on Michigan Avenue where all of the shops are - "magnificent mile". My cab driver was Nigerian - in fact, all of the cabs I took in Chicago had Nigerian drivers. This particular one was my favorite though. I told him it was my first time in Chicago and he asked where I was from. When he heard I was from Seattle he said that he didn't like Seattle because it was, "full of liberals and way too close to Canada." He went on to tell me that the last time he came home from Lagos he had to sit next to a person who was French-Canadian, "Can you ever imagine a worse combination?", he said, "French AND Canadian!" He shook his head and laughed as if this were the most obnoxious and silly thing a person could ever be.

He then went on to tell me more about liberal Seattle. "Oh - Seattle - they voted for Kerry in the election, but it was very close in the state because of the Eastern contingency that is right-minded!" Yes, the pun was intended. It turns out that my Nigerian cab driver was a conservative Christian from Lagos who was obsessed with American politics. He proceeded to tell me about the voting record in the the last Presidential election for any state I named. I admit - I was impressed.

Mr. Cab Driver was, in his own words, "one of the big reasons why Bush won Ohio." Apparently he took his cab to Ohio and volunteered for the Republican campaign as a driver to the polls and as a leaflet distributor. What was the most important thing he learned while doing this? "Fear is the way to get people to vote. Fear is what makes people go and get involved, not anything else." Hmmmm...something he learned from Mr. Bush himself perhaps. What in the world did they use to make the voters fearful? Saddam? Iran? North Korea? Social Security? Nope - Mr. Cab Driver said he and others put out flyers in Ohio about how the Democrats planned to legalize gay marriage and end marriage as we know it. Some of the flyers suggested that, "soon you will only be able to marry someone of the same sex and all traditional marriages will be banned." He also said they used many biblical quotations to enforce the idea that the Democratic party was not on the RIGHT path.

I had been watching the local news the night before and seen many commercials and an expose about the election they were having - yes it was actually election day in Chicago. I asked Mr. Cab Driver how he had decided who to vote for. I figured I shouldn't really ask someone I didn't know WHO they would vote for, it might be considered rude. He replied that he couldn't vote for the conservative guy because he is, "just not a person you can trust." He also said of the conservative candidate that he,"just runs for everything." Therefore, my politically obsessed, conservative right-wing Christian, Nigerian cab driver was NOT going to vote. This stunned me. If ever there was a person who would vote - it would be him - right? I told him of my surprise and he said, "Well, sometimes it is just best to go home, eat popcorn, and watch TV if there is no one worth voting for."

John says, "Ach! I'm on the Internet!"

This is an email I received from John today. I keep telling him that people find him sexy and he says he has no idea what I am talking about. Finally - proof!!

From John:

Hah, this cracks me up!!!

http://www.fanartreview.com/listbookcomments.jsp?storyid=44973&novelid=null&page=1

"He does have rugged good looks!"
"he certainly is quite handsome and love the rugged outdoorsy look to him. Now....is he single?"
"A very handsome young man"
"Yep !! I've always liked the tall dark and handsome.!!"
"I love the way you've filled the frame with this very handsome GQ man!!"
"Couldn't agree more - he is a very hansome man - and he has a happy smile in his face"
"The focus is crisp and clear. Right up to the rugged beard.LOL."
"he sure does look like one of those gorgeous models and i like the cloudy blue sky that makes him stand out."
"I think you are right...your friend could get a job modeling dockers."
"I love the look of concentration on his face. And yes he looks like a model for sports wear."
"and of course the distinguished expression on the handsome subject."

Pictures of the Dash Day

Here are a few pictures of dash day that John captured - if you want to see the whole set click on one of them and it will take you to my Flickr site where all of pictures are stored.



Trying to pin on my number and balance my motorcycle gear (in the bag).


There were about 12,500 people running/walking/crawling the dash route through Seattle.




People of all ages joined the fun!



This guy was really into the spirit of the dash.

I ran in the St. Patrick's Day Dash!!!

Yes, it's true. I entered my first 5K race and I ran the whole way! OK - I jogged the whole way, but still, I didn't walk. My time according to my stopwatch was 34:34 - I have to check later today or tomorrow to see what my official time was. Heart rate was 180 AVE and 200 HIGH - WAY TOO HIGH - but I wanted to keep going. It's usually a high of 175 - 180 when in the gym It was a beautiful morning for a run - 38* and sunny. It warmed up considerably by the time we were done - about 44* by the time we finished at 10:00.

The route took us from Seattle Center around Mercer street to the 99N ramp, through the battery street tunnel, up on the top deck of 99 along the waterfront, off to 1st Ave near Quest Filed and to the finish line at Safeco Field. John has a few pictures that I will upload later. He got 1 of me running and then waited for me to come out of the tunnel - but I was already out before he got there. I ran faster then both of us thought I would.

Running with 12,500+ other people - most dressed in odd green costumes and talking about the beer tent - was quite an experience. I liked seeing if I could do it, and I liked running with all of those people - it was like a group effort!

Right now we are in West Seattle at Starbucks (of course). I have some more work to do to prepare for the class I am teaching tomorrow and I still have to go to the grocery store, but I think riding around on the motorcycles more sounds like a much better idea. John also took pictures of the bikes - I will post those as well.

I bought a new motorcycle - again

Yes, for the second Saturday in a row I spent most of the day at a motorcycle dealership. This time we called and asked the salesman to put the bike on hold at 9:15AM. When we got there at 12:30 we waited around for the dealer for 30 minutes (looking at gear) and then he told us that the bike was sold and so was the black one and would I mind waiting until Tues or Wednesday. I didn't think I had much choice so I said ok. He asked me to "stick around because he had some questions." After waiting another 20 minutes John decided to call the other dealer in Tacoma. Sure enough - they had exactly what I wanted. We put the bike on hold, found our salesman and told him what we were doing (he wasn't happy and said he could have the bike delivered to our place - probably would have taken him 3 days!)

We rode John's bike (the 1200GS I purchased last weekend) down to Tacoma to South Sound BMW. It was weird riding on the back of a motorcycle. When we walked in to the new dealership we were greeted professionally, the receptionist notified Steve (our NEW salesman) that we were there and we went to look at their BIG selection of gear. They have a big display room with new bikes, collector's bikes, used bikes, a fireplace and couches, a huge gear area...and free wi-fi access. Within 5 minutes Steve came over and introduced himself, asked if we wanted refreshments and let us know where he would be when we needed him. We continued to look at gear and found the stuff we wanted. Ironically at the other dealership we were told that the jacket we looked at did not come in women's - not only does it come in women's, there are three different colors, it also comes in long, and there was a VERY knowledgeable gear saleswoman there. We didn't buy gear yet - waiting a bit, but we know where to go when we want it.

The sales process took a while as it always does, but it was handled so professionally! We were shown through the service department, met the service manager, the sales manager, the insurance and finance manager and at every step were told that customer service was their #1 priority - it shows!! I can't say enough about how great our buying experience was there.

Here are pictures of our bikes - from a review site, not the actual ones we have, but you get the idea. I couldn't find a picture of a silver one like mine - so you get to see a black one. Mine is "iceberg silver metallic" - almost light blue in some light - but silver. Click on it to go to BMW and see the real one.