is not chicago

a funny thing that i still haven't gotten used to about business trips is the way that even though you're staying in the same hotel as everyone you work with and you're spending all day with them at the convention center when the bell rings and yabbadabbadoo and all that you're on your own, buddy. you find your own way back to the hotel and you find someone to go have dinner with because we're with clients. there's absolutely no malice in it. it's just what we do. we, for the most part, are not friends. we are colleagues and we work well together and then we go our separate ways until when early in the morning the factory whistle blows.

so you sit on the shuttle bus and you see things out the window that look nice and you wish you were in this town for enough time to see anything besides your sweet hotel and the totally unsweetened conference center. like restaurants and theaters and bars and parks and commuter trains. i like life. i want to see what life is like here. but i bet i never will. and i definitely won't on this trip. because tomorrow i get on a plane all alone. everyone else left today. for some reason they left me here tonight to fend for myself so i went to dinner with someone from another company who also was leftover. friend for a night. this was lovely. my pork chop was amazing. thanks for letting me taste your chicken. we'll be in touch. right?

business trips are funny things.