freedom

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Boston and Chicago

My business trip to Boston and Chicago went really well. Fast and tiresome, but it was fun. Flying out I was surprised to discover one of the women on the trip is from my home town. I don't remember her, but I know her brother who graduated three or four years before me. She's the daughter of the hardware store owner in town. She knows my parents, grandparents, brothers and even my little sister. I sang "it's a small world after all..." the whole plane ride.

The company jet landed at Logan International around 1 p.m. (P.S. the jet was smaller than I'd imagined. I had to duck to walk around and if I stretched my arms out my finger tips wouldn't touch the walls, but it would have been close.)

After dropping off our bags at the hotel we went straight to the focus group location where we stayed until 10:30. I was only slightly annoyed b/c we were right on the waterfront and I was stuck behind a two-way mirror for six hours. There was an old wooden ship docked in the harbor next to the facility and I didn't have my camera. Nor did I have time to take any pictures. If only work hadn't gotten in the way. :-) After we got back to the hotel, I talked the engineers of the Westin into taking me up to the roof to shoot the sky line... While I didn't see much of Boston, what I did see was enough to make me want to go back.

The next day we flew commercial to Chicago. We left our bags at the Hilton Suites downtown and headed out for lunch at the California Sun Pizza Company and a few hours of shopping. The focus groups started at 4 and we didn't get back to the hotel until 10:30 again. I decided to venture to the Signature Lounge - the bar in the 96th floor of the John Hancock building - for some pictures. Despite being harassed by the waitress for being "rude" after politely asking the people at the near by tables if I could shoot over them, I got a few good shots of the skyline. I hadn't been to Chicago since my brother's graduation from boot camp. And I don't remember the shopping aspect of downtown. I only remember going to Sears Tower and Navy Pier.

Our final focus group in Chicago was at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday. We met the company jet again at 11:30 and headed home. I was so tired I almost fell asleep on the plane. Not a good idea when all of my co-workers were discussing the work at hand. I went back to the office for a couple hours - just to get my 40 hours in for the week. I took a nap when I got home and enjoyed my Friday off by doing some fundraising for the town committee... and that was an experience for a future post.

Baby's first pictures

My sister let me take photos of her big, pregnant belly. These are my favorites, but we took quite a few. Hmm... just now realizing I didn't exactly ask her permission to post these. But knowing my sister she probably won't care so I'll post them until she tells me to take them down. Provided of course she reads my blog...