A Day in Chicago

Rob, Trisha and I had a fun day in Chicago today. The day started early as we had to drop off Ricky at the airport and so had to leave our hotel at 6 AM! But having to leave early was good since we avoided much of the traffic between here and downtown. By 7 (or so!) we had made it to Lou Mitchells, a famous breakfast place our friend Connie from work had recommended. We ordered jumbo omelets and enjoyed them tremendously. One thing Lou Mitchells is known for is handing out donut holes to everyone and little boxes of milk duds to the ladies as they are seated!

After breakfast, we intended to immediately go up the Sears Tower, but we soon found that they didn't open until 10AM. So, we begin walking . . . First we saw the fountain (which unfortunately had no water since they drained it for winter), then some cool statues as we walked around the museums.

Later we headed over to Navy Pier where we took pictures in front of the funny mirrors and saw some nice great views of the city. By then we were getting hungry so we headed to Buca di Beppo for a good Italian lunch of salad, lasagna and some chicken noodle stuff (which I can't remember the name of - Trisha's better at restaurant food names!). I think Rob and Trisha have exposes me to more new restaurants this week thank I've seen in such a short amount of time!

Finally we got back to the Sears tower and were able to go up it and see the city. It was fun to be able to see from one place all the areas we had walked. If you look at the picture on the left, we walked from as far to the left as you can see (the museum area) to pier sticking out on the far right (Navy Pier) and then back again to the Sears Tower. According to my pedometer, we walked 17,300 steps in downtown Chicago today (which is about 8.3 miles!). Needless to say, we were all a bit tired. The weather was a little chilly though not too cold for walking. However I think the wind made our eyes tired. Rob's been kind in doing all the driving since we arrived so I got a bit of a rest as we drove back here to our hotel.

Our test is tomorrow. It starts around 8:30 or 9, so we may know by 12 or 1 if we passed or not. Keep praying!

Chicago update

Installation has been going pretty well - just a little slower that I had anticipated. I thought we would be finished by yesterday afternoon, but now it looks like we should finish by sometime around noon today.

Last night for dinner, we went to the Cheesecake Factory below the John Hancock Center (we went there in August too). The food was great (I think my cheesecake was called "Chocolate Oreo Mudslide!"), and it was interesting to see the tower at night this time. Chicago is such a busy city. It's cold here, yet still there were people walking and driving all over the place.

A Drive to Chicago

After 12 hours in the car, we have made it to Chicago once again! The trip went really well. Usually I end up reading most of the time in the car, but this time didn't open my book once. It was nice to just talk with Rob and Trisha as well as to get some sleep and drive some. I don't think a 12 hour car trip has ever gone so quickly. So, we're back again and ready to start installing our product first thing in the morning for our test on Friday. Please pray that all goes well - from materials to actual testing!

Chicago Test Update

We finally received official word earlier this week that we did NOT in fact pass the test. So now we get to decide what changes to make and have parts made for another test. Though it's disappointing to have to re-test, it was the result we expected based on what we observed in the test.

Here's a side note on hobbies: Scrapbooking can be useful in an engineering job. I spent most of yesterday choosing the best of the 160+ pictures taken of the test and making "scrapbooking" them in Microsoft word. After seeing the documentation (or lack thereof) in other tests and looking at old pictures and having no idea what they were from we felt it important to document what we did. I also wanted to send pictures to some of the other individuals involved in the test as well as post it for our plant to see. So, if you like to scrapbook, maybe you should be an engineer! No? But seriously, it was fun to get the pictures together though by the end of the document I was absolutely ready to be done!

Chicago Pictures

I arrived home from Chicago today. The plane was barely delayed and the trip went very well. We definitely knew we were in Alabama when the blast of heat hit us! The difference between 85º and 100º is huge!

It's good to be home. The test went well though not perfect. There was one part in which we did not meet the requirements and until our project manager there reviews the test results with his boss, we won't know exactly what the outcome will be. Watching the test revealed where our weak spots are so we now know what we will change if we have to do another test. Overall, I was pleased with the test though I would have been much more happy if the results had been completely within the test parameters.

Here's a view of the John Hancock Center from the bottom as well as what we saw from the top at the observation center. I guess you can't help but be amazed at how tall skyscrapers really are! Especially when there are so many in one city!


It always amazes me to see the swimming pools on the top of tall buildings like you do here and at the St. Louis Arch. We only saw out one side of the building. If you want to see more, make sure you visit Chicago on a very clear, cloudless day.






This building was interesting because at first glance it looks like the windows are kinda fancy projecting out like that in the middle. The you realize that it's actually just a really good paint job. Most buildings were not just plain boring buildings but had something special to make them look neat.





While walking around downtown, we also passed the Contemporary Art museum. This car is I guess contemporary art. Rob is wondering how it came out of the ground like that!

Chicago - Test Tomorrow

Today, the final pieces were installed on the doors for the fire test. The installation has gone amazingly smooth without any insurmountable surprises.

The test should begin tomorrow morning. We have to be there at 8 and the test should start by 9. If all goes well, it may be finished just after 12.

This afternoon after dropping the superintendent who led the installation off at the airport, Rob and I did a little sight seeing in Chicago. We were able to see a bit of downtown Chicago. The buildings are really quite pretty in Chicago. I will post some pictures sometime after I get home. We went up to the John Hancock Observatory and then had a nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. The view from the top was hidden on three sides by clouds, but we did see out (the west side I think) down to the ground. We also read about Chicago's growth as a city in a display up in the Observatory.

This afternoon, I've been catching up on my blog reading. I'm now using Google's reader so I won't miss anything - Thanks Elijah for suggesting the reader! I read one of Josh Harris's new posts and then scrolled down and read many of the older posts that I never actually read before. I found this one about online dating interesting as I have used eharmony in the past. It brings up some good advice in the pastoral counsel section.

Chicago, Flying and Eternity

For many, a business trip typically involves traveling a distance greater than one desires to drive so a plane flight is a necessity. I've always somewhat enjoyed flying. It's fun to look out the windows, you (typically) get somewhere faster than if you drove, and you are going somewhere that is either new or different from your home. Though I usually do prefer to be home and am always glad to return, traveling is nice and usually provides something interesting to look back on or tell people about once you are home.

There seem to be a huge number of people who travel for business almost full time. I think that for them the excitement of travel is completely lost. Frustration due to delays are a way of life that either build or are dealt with calmly as they come.

I am certainly glad that my business travels has been limited to a couple times a year. Right now I'm back in Chicago for a fire test for one of our products. There were problems when we tried this six weeks ago, so we're back to try again.

The trip home last time took a turn for the worse when we were almost stranded for 24 hours in Charlotte. The flight from Charlotte to Montgomery was cancelled only a few minutes before it was to board. We soon found out that our options were to either wait 24 hours for the next flight with empty seats to Montgomery or to fly to Birmingham later that night. As my mom was willing to pick us up from Birmingham, we gratefully took that flight.

The annoyance of changing flights, having to inconvenience my mom to pick us up, not getting home until midnight, then getting suitcases the next day and arrangements to pick up my car from the Montgomery airport convinced us that layovers were not a good idea. When planning this trip to Chicago, we were excited to find that we could get a direct flight from Birmingham. What could go wrong? The weather was great and we were on time to the airport.

Upon finding our gate, we noticed that the time for our departure flight had changed to an hour later. Not a big deal. Waiting an hour is not too bad. As time went on, flight updates were scarce and the updates we received were never true. The flight was always an hour away, but somehow the plane never arrived. Almost five hours after our intended departure, our plane finally arrived in Birmingham and we were soon off.

Arriving in Chicago and getting the car and driving to the hotel went well and sleep was quite welcome. Something about not getting to sleep until midnight will make one appreciate rest! Today's installation went well. We had no problems so far and I hope that tomorrow we will finish all that we need to do in preparation for the Thursday test.

Why is it that I get annoyed at airport delays? Is it because I sense that the airport flight announcements are intentionally misleading and I like the truth? Is it because I feel that I have a right to get on the plane at the time my ticket says?

There is really nothing difficult about sitting in an airport - especially when you are in a comfortable building and have a book to read. In reality, I didn't really get that annoyed at the delay, it just gets annoying when you realize that almost every trip seems to have similar delays. When will airlines find a way to avoid these types of delays? Or when will we learn to drive instead of flying?

Life in the long run can be compared in some ways to my flight to Chicago. As believers we know that this life is just a spec of time compared to the eternity we will spend in heaven. We are really on a journey to heaven. All we know is that someday soon we will be there. We never really know the exact time the last leg of the journey will take place. We can either use the time we have in transit for good or just waste the time in unholy pursuits. One of these days we will arrive and maybe we'll be surprised at how soon that will be.