Lucas Oil Stadium

So have you seen the new stadium?

I'll be the first to admit that when the talk of a new stadium started up, I was completely against it. Indy did not NEED a new stadium! There was nothing wrong with the RCA Dome, which was still being paid off. If the Colts weren't on top of the NFL, there was no way a new stadium could've or would've been justified. Sure... we're getting additional convention center space out of it now... but then, the Dome was used for conventions, anyway... so the additional space is a bit of a mute point since the 'new space' will go in place of the Dome when it's demo'd. But the new stadium was approved, additional sales tax and all.

So now the new Stadium is done... Lucas Oil Stadium towers above the south edge of downtown, the monstrosity that it is. It IS massive!! And yes, it's nice. I made it to the first pre-season Colts game and got to check it out. All the modern features you could want in a stadium... but is it worth $720 million and does it justify it's existence. I still say 'no'. But what's done is done, and Indy and the State of Indiana have something that they'd damn well better be proud of and plan to maintain a keep for a very long time!

So here you go... for those who haven't made it yet, here are a few pictures. It is a pretty cool stadium... but the way it came about still kills me... :P

Chicago

Wendy and I ventured up to Chicago for our annual Cubs game on Thursday morning. Normally, it's a weekend day trip, but this time, I got tickets to a Thursday game and we planned to stay overnight and see more of Chicago.

The game was, as usual, a great time! We did get drizzled on a little bit, but we were lucky enough to have someone sitting near us that was smart enough to bring a cheap roll of painters plastic and share with a dozen people around him when it got a little steady! But in the end, the Cubs won, and we sang the Cubs song! :)

We drove to our hotel downtown and settled in before going out to eat. What better thing to eat in Chicago but authentic Chicago deep dish pizza! We were going to go to the original Pizzeria Uno's, but the wait was an hour-and-a-half!! So after a phone call to Eric for a suggestion, we ended up at Giordano's and the pizza was amazing!! It was well worth the 45 minute wait we had to endure, not to mention the walk there and back from the hotel. After that, we went back to the hotel and crashed!

The next morning, we woke up a little early since our bodies were on eastern time still. Not a bad thing. So we got up and moving and after a good (free) breakfast at the hotel (complete with cooked to order omelets), we headed out for some sight seeing. First we trekked over to Navy Pier. Nothing on the pier was open yet, but we went really for the sights, anyway. It started getting a little dreary on us there, so we headed back inland. From there, we hit Millennium Park. The sun came out for a bit here, as we checked out Wrigley Square, The 'giant bean', and the 'Faces of Chicago' fountains. After we cooled our feet a bit in the water from the fountains, we continued our trek down to Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. I've seen it up close before, but it's size still amazes me. The blip is has on the Married with Children intro does its size no justice, nor do pictures or even driving by on Lake Shore! Finally, we headed back to the hotel to check out. I'm not sure how much walking was involved during this part of the day, but it was enough to make us really enjoy sitting down for a few minutes before checking out. :)

After we officially checked out, we headed to Michigan Avenue to do a little shopping. We weren't planning on any serious shopping, but we still had fun. We both found some things that we 'needed' and picked up a few items to give loved ones. We didn't have time to do the whole strip, unfortunately. it was Friday and I wanted to beat rush hour out of Chicago. So we headed back to the car at 3pm and headed out of downtown at 3:30pm. We beat it. I was happy.

We stopped for grilled cheese at Fair Oaks Farm for dinner. After telling her about Eric and my stop last month, it just sounded good. :) We finally made it home just after 8pm, both of us exhausted! It was a great trip! And just like my last trip (with Eric), I think by making it NOT on the weekend, it was more enjoyable (less people and hassle). We might have to make this our annual trip now instead of just a day trip for a Cubs game! :)

A Tribute to LeRoi Moore

I woke up to some very sad news this morning... Dave Matthews Band saxophonist and one of its founding members, LeRoi Moore, died yesterday from complications of his injuries sustained in an ATV accident he had in late June on his farm near Charlottesville, VA. Ironically, DMB was set to play a tribute concert to him last night in LA when he died just hours before. He will be dearly missed by fans and friends alike.

DMB will not be the same without him, as anyone who saw them this year in their tour can attribute. To play his part is just that - playing a part. But anyone who can take on the challenge of the role will be playing a tribute to him with each note of every song.

Lobster Boil

I can't say I eat lobster very often - it's usually 'Market Price' on menus, which means major moolah. So obviously it's not a 'normal' purchase. But When Jen sent out an eVite for a Lobster Boil yesterday, I couldn't pass it up!!

Jen was in Boston last week and was able to buy a bunch of lobsters almost directly off the boat - CHEAP! So that 'cheap' price passed along was only $10/lobster. REALLY CHEAP!! As usual, Jen played the part of a great hostess with plenty of wine and other food to eat as we waited for the lobster boil to officially begin. We were going to race the lobsters to see who got boiled first, but they don't do too well on land. So we started throwing them in the pot. There was one little guy that was still pretty feisty - they had to put 2 rubber bands on each of his claws (compared to the normal one rubber band most lobsters get). And when they came off, those claws opened up and he was ready! He even snapped at the scissors and later at one of the other lobsters on the way into the pot! It's no wonder they rubber band the claws - to protect the other lobsters! Not sure who ended up with him, but I bet he was still fighting till the very end!! And maybe he still is today... ha ha ha

Before long, we were all sitting down to lobster dinners, complete with instructions on how to eat them 'properly'. And it was good! There's something about having to work to get to your food that makes it more satisfying... you definitely had to work for all the meat in these guys! Though I think most of us stopped with the claws and the tails - that's where the good stuff is, anyway. :) Actually, I tried to get more out of the rest of my lobster, but it's even harder work for less meat if you go much further! Phooey!

But it was all good, actually. It was a nice night (gorgeous weather!), good company, and just an all around relaxing time with friends.

First Week on the New Job

One week down and a lifetime of working weeks to go!

My first week back after being unemployed for 6 weeks. I know so many people want to know how things are going and I wish I had exciting stuff to say, but it was the first week! Nothing much ever happens in the first weeks… you spend a lot of time watching videos and filling out paperwork, getting to know your way around the office, and just getting familiar with things, in general. I can’t even really say whether I like it or not – it’s just different from the development side I came from before. It’s kind of weird being back on the consulting side again.

It is different, especially looking at what I’m going to be doing – Airport Design. Never done that before! And I did already go to two different board meetings for a couple of airports. Ironic… all the travelling and airports I used to travel through, now I’m going to airports, but not actually going anywhere. Oh well.

I can say this… so far, so good. It seems like a good place to work and the job itself has potential. I'll know more in a few weeks, so I’ll keep you updated.

What Else Could Go Wrong?

Last week I had a great trip to northern Indiana - nice, simple, relaxing... no problems. This week I took a trip to FL and it was a MUCH different story!!

It started out fine, I guess, with good intentions. I had a conference to go to in Naples, FL to get continuing education credits for my FL PE license. After that, I planned to go over to the east coast and see my niece and nephew and go to the beach with them. Did the normal airport thing - flew from IND to DTW to RSW. It was the late flight, arriving at RSW at midnight basically. And that's when things started going array...

I waited and waited, and my bag never came. Great. I didn't think much of it, though, because it's happened to me before. Only, I was normally on my flight back, so it didn't matter. I was just starting - not a good sign. Plus, I had to be somewhere first thing in the morning - no time to wait for it to come down on the next flight from DTW!

Well, the baggage claim attendant was nice enough to 'share the wealth' at 1am and said they'd reimburse me for up to $50 to buy things for the next day to wear. What's open at 1am, though??? Wal-mart. Eewww. But I had no choice.

For those who know me, I never go to Wal-Mart. I just can't bring myself to go there for any reason but a cheap oil change once every three months. The 'supposed' money saved isn't worth the hassle you have to deal with, including the insane amount of people, rude employees, and need I even start with the 'interesting' people you sometimes can't help but cross paths with? Besides... Target's closer to me. :) And there's a Meijer still closer than the closest Wal-Mart. So I avoid it, at ALL costs!

So anyway... after filing the claim, I got to my rental car and just wanted to get to the hotel. I was exhausted! There were very few cars left in the Alamo lot, so I picked the silver HHR that was closest to me, got in, looked quickly at everything, and left. And off to Wal-mart I went (joy). And I found something to wear the next day. Mind you, it was cute, but cheap - the freak'n dye bled on my arm throughout the next day and the insides of my arms were blue by lunch time!! So my first opportunity, I went to Target, which was way out of the way in Naples. But VERY worth it!

I didn't get to the hotel until almost 2:30am. I had to be up and gone by 7:30am to get to the conference. But this was my hotel. My always dependable, always a good sleep, always willing to go out of the way for me, Doubletree in Naples. I love this hotel. This is almost the only hotel we'd ever stay at during our constant travels when we'd be on this coast. They knew us by name when we walked in the door and would just hand us our keys. Room upgrades we virtually guaranteed unless they had something going on in the hotel. They just took care of us. Always. And this trip was no different. They did what they could to help me out in my time of distress with no luggage. And even called me after I left to let me know they were continuing to keep an eye out for it.

So the next morning, I get up and ready to go, head down to my car, and the Low Fuel light came on and dinged at me as soon as I started the engine. You've got to be kidding me!! I was so tired that when I looked at the fuel gage the night before, I thought it was on the 'full' end when it was in fact on the 'empty' end! I wasn't about to pay for an extra tank of gas!! I've never rented from Alamo before, so I wasn't sure how they'd handle this. So I called and, I'll admit it, whined about my experience the night before and basically made it clear how upset I was that they let me even have this car if it was never properly filled up. But they were okay about it and marked in my file that it was to be returned to MCO empty. Thank goodness - that could've been a quick $60 gone for nothing. As it was I was having to buy new clothes when I didn't want to.

I go do my thing and after my conference was over and I went back to the hotel, I came to find out I still had no luggage. So I called Northwest. They had no update to give me. They suspected that the baggage claim tag got ripped off somehow (which is more common of an occurrence than they let on, I think - have you seen how many tags are laying on the tarmac as they load bags??). They said it may come in on the late flight (the one I arrived on the night before). So I called back once that flight was in the air - there was no record of it being on board. So they took more info from me - certain identifiable contents IN my bag - and said they'd call me if it was somehow on that flight. In the meantime, I had another $25 I could get reimbursed for. Wow. How generous. Not really.

So Friday comes, and I go to Day 2 of my conference. This time, in slightly better quality clothing, as it's NOT from Wal-Mart. Since I was leaving for the east coast at the end of the day, I ended up playing phone tag all day with the Northwest Agent, trying to get them my new location info. Never actually talked to her... but it didn't matter. There was still no bag. It didn't come on Friday at all, either. Yay - another $25 to spend! Wait... I already spent it the day before because you can't really get anything for $25! I had to even get a new bathing suit since I had the intentions of going to the beach on Saturday and didn't trust or expect to see my bag before then. Plus, I bought a new suitcase, because you can't exactly haul all of this valuable new stuff back in the shopping bags they came in! Oh, and let's not forget the extravagant toiletries they gave me when I initially lost the bag - I shan't leave those behind!

I head over to Palm Bay, just trying to keep positive at this point. The trip up to this point hadn't been all bad. But the lost bag really preoccupied my mind, so the dinner I had with some friends and the little bit of pool side time I got at the hotel just wasn't as relaxing as it should be. But there were other nuances, too... like the forgotten SunPass. However, I was heading to see family and go to the beach. These were good things. And that was justified when I got huge hugs from my niece and nephew upon arrival late Friday night. I almost forgot about the lost bag... until I had to get ready for bed.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and got ready for the beach! Nothing was going to keep me from enjoying this! I made one more call to Northwest before we left and left a message since the attendant I needed to talk to wasn't in yet. Then we head to Target to get some sunscreen (since mine was in my bag). Finally, we got to the beach around noon. Unfortunately, it had just finished raining, so it was a little overcast. But the kids could care less, they just wanted to play! Finally, the sun came out, and I relaxed a bit. I checked my phone to see what time it was about an hour or so into the day and saw I missed a call. From Northwest. They found my bag!!! I immediately returned the call and confirmed it was my bag! There was no way to get it to me before I left the next day, so we made plans to send it back to IND where I'd pick it up the next day. Yay!

Around 2:30pm or so came more rain, so we went and ate a late lunch at one of the restaurants on the beach. I was just happy they found my bag! This was a time to celebrate!! Not that I really needed to, but I was happy. :) We went back out when it cleared up again, around 3:30pm. Just as I was getting to the relaxing point, leaning back on my elbows and watching the kids, my top came unhooked. I stayed covered, but it was annoying! So I reached back to re-hook it... Oh, Sh** - the hook BROKE! So I pulled my t-shirt on real quick and ran up to one of the shops right there and bought myself a cheap new suit (which turned out to be a real good suit on sale!). But this was the 2nd suit I bought in as many days - I had no plans on buying ANY suit!!

Damn you Northwest!

So despite the swim suit debacle, it was a good day. The kids had a blast and wore themselves out and Northwest found my bag. If only it could talk and tell me where it had been. Regardless, there was no way I was going to check my NEW bag the next day. So I made sure that it was able to be carried on - I followed the 3-1-1 rule!

The next morning, I headed to MCO after a late breakfast. There were some major idiots on the Bee Line, though - one guy totally came over on me and I had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting him, and in turn, a huge Tahoe honked at me cause I had to slightly swerve into his lane. The guy that cut me off had NO clue, either - completely oblivious to it all! But the last thing I needed was to wreck the rental car only about 5 miles from returning it!

I actually made it right on time... but I'm used to that being the case. Walked right on the plane and, thankfully, had been upgraded to first class. Threw my bag up and sat down. We pushed back and what sounded like a loud cell phone started ringing. The flight attendants reminded us that cell phones should be turned off, and it stopped. But then a few minutes later, it went off again! They got pissed at this point! Turns out, it was the smoke alarm in one of the bathrooms! So they had to stop taxiing. Dammit! Luckily, the pilot was able to just come out of the cockpit and make the call that there was no fire and it was safe to take-off still. But it still put us a half hour behind schedule. It's my luck.

When we landed in DTW, I had three frantic voicemails from some guy trying to deliver my lost bag to my house and it needed to be signed for. HELLO!! I'm still on a plane!! Apparently, they failed to see I wasn't home from the very trip they lost my bag on. And he ended up leaving my bag with a neighbor I never talk to! Unbelievable! Luckily, she was listed with information, so I called and asked her to put my bag on my porch - I was getting in too late and needed it first thing in the morning. She was nice enough and I thanked her. But why would they do that??

My final leg ended up taking off late, as well, because we were missing a pilot. So I ended up getting back to IND about a half hour late. I was so glad I didn't have to wait for a bag. I just wanted to go home. And I did. And my bag was there. My house never seemed more welcoming than it didn't coming back from this trip.

I guess, all in all, the trip wasn't THAT bad. It really just had a lot of mishaps that eventually corrected themselves. And I, being laid back and able to roll with the punches, probably took this better than a lot of people out there would. But it sure wasn't as relaxing and enjoyable as I had hoped. Especially finally going back to work Monday - this would be my last trip for awhile.

I still have to deal with getting my reimbursements from Northwest. I have to send receipts in. That kind of worries me. I'm still debating if this warrents a complaint email, as I've done in the past. This is a pretty different situation, though...

Oh well. At least I got to go to the beach. That's my serene place. :)

What I Did on My Summer Break (Unemployment)

A little play on the traditional 'What I did on My Summer Break' essay kids always have to write when they go back to school. I've been unemployed since the end of June and start my new job on Monday, so I kind of had a summer break, just like the kids! Only, I'm not in school... so I'm going to cut corners and just list things out. Consider this a 'List of Options' for anyone out there that may find themselves in a similar position. These are in no particular order...

1. Build a set of cornhole boards (because who can't use their own set)
2. Clean and reorganize guest room
3. Clean and reorganize computer room
4. Clean and reorganize garage
5. Donate $1500 worth of stuff to Goodwill
6. Go to a concert or two (or three)
7. Take a trip someplace new (and close) to get away from the stress of being unemployed
8. Take advantage of all the local festivals and going-ons around the area
9. Start eating healthier since you have time to cook
10. Watch all 10 full seasons of Friends
11. Keep the memory sharp by going to a seminar in your field (granted, I need it to keep my PE in FL)
12. Get some sun in your own backyard with a kiddie pool on hand to cool off

So yeah... I kept busy. But even on the days I did nothing, I didn't get bored. I truly enjoyed this 'forced vacation' of mine. It's almost hard to think about going back - it's going to be weird to be on a schedule again. But of course, I've got to!

So come Monday, keep your fingers crossed for me at my new job. I'll be learning a whole new aspect of my field, so hopefully it'll be interesting and hopefully I'll like it. :)

A Weekend Trip (in the Middle of the Week)

So Eric and I had planned to take a trip to northern Indiana on Thursday, just for a short overnight stay and visit. We both just needed to get away. So you can imagine my surprise when I got a phone call at 8am on Wednesday (the morning after Buffett) from him wanting to leave that morning - there was rainy weather forecasted for Indy on Wednesday, so why stay in the dreariness when we could head north and get out of it? So we did just that.

Eric got to my place just before 9:30am - I hadn't even made it to the shower yet. But I quickly got ready and stuff packed for overnight. We were off pretty close to 10:30am. The drive wasn't too exciting, as US 31 rarely is.

We hit LaPorte, first - that's where Eric grew up. He showed me around a bit; the house he grew up in, the old bakery his family use to run, the bar his parents used to own, etc. It was a neat glimpse into 'him'. From there we headed a bit north to New Buffalo, MI. Why, you ask? To go to Redamak's - Home of the Legendary Burgers that made New Buffalo, MI Famous! And they were good! I can see how that place draws such a huge crowd!!

After we had our fill of burgers and fries, we headed down the coast of Lake Michigan (that sounds so weird to me since I'm used to to 'the coast' referring to an ocean) back into Indiana to go to Indiana Dunes and see Mt. Baldy. For those who don't know, Mt. Baldy is this HUGE sand dune that is actually moving inland slowly. It was pretty cool to see - they don't have dunes like that in FL. It was pretty hot, so we didn't stay long. As much as I love to go to the beach and would of liked to enjoy it for what it was (a beach), Eric's not much of a beach person and we still had lots to do.

We headed into the heart of Michigan City and hit the Shoreline Brewery (which is right next to the power plant, oddly enough). We cooled off with a couple of drinks and then hit the outlet mall for a bit. After that, I got to experience Carlson's Drive-In - a true, old school, root beer and hot dog drive-in where they come up to your car to take the order and hang the trays on your windows to eat. They even make their own root beer! It was pretty cool. I never knew you could dress up a hot dog in so many ways! The the root beer was spectacular!

The sun was starting to go down at this point, so we went to Washington Park. What better way to end the day then to watch a gorgeous sunset on the beach?!? As an added bonus, Washington Park also serves as a pretty large boat harbor, complete with large yachts, so there's a functioning lighthouse to add to the scenery. We couldn't have asked for a better sunset - beautiful coloring and just the right amount of breeze. It was awesome!

After we enjoyed the sunset, we went back up into New Buffalo and hit the Stray Dog for a few drinks. Only stayed there for a bit before we decided to walk down to the beach (this is yet another beach - three in one day!). We sat down in the sand and just listened to the night. Not quite as good as an ocean - not the same smells, no crashing waves - but it was still nice. We finally got to the hotel close to midnight.

Thursday morning we got up and decided to check out the new Four Winds Casino Resort for breakfast. It just opened up within the past year and since it's on an Indian reservation, it's massive (by other Indiana casino standards)!! They did an awesome job with it, too - absolutely gorgeous detailing in both the interior and exterior architecture. So we grabbed a bite in one of their cafes and walked around a bit. We threw away about $20 in the slots, just to be able to say we gambled a bit. But it wasn't in our plans initially, so neither of us had any desire to stay.

After we had our share of the sights and sounds of the casino, we headed back up to New Buffalo to do some final 'touristy stuff', like buy souvenirs. And we went to Redamak's for lunch again. (It really is a good burger!!) Then we got back on the road and headed to Blueberry Dune Farm and picked our own blueberries. It's the perfect time of year to get some great blueberries!! We only picked about 2 lbs., but we didn't know what we'd do with too many more! After picking our share of blueberries, we headed a bit south to Garwood Orchard in hopes that we might get to pick some early season apples. But we were still too early. So instead, we bought some really fresh and really good farmer's produce.

At this point in the day, we still had plenty of time before we felt we 'needed' to be home. So we headed over to Merrillville to find some good Cubs apparel. There just isn't a good selection in Indy. And we found what we wanted and then some. It worked out good to be inside while a pretty bad rainstorm blew through, too! We finally got back on the road and headed south on I-65.

One more stop had to be made - we felt the hunger pangs a bit right before we came to Fair Oaks Farms. So we stopped and had ourselves some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Nothing like truly fresh grilled cheese sandwiches! I had the ice cream there before, but this was the first time I did the grilled cheese. I highly recommend stopping in for either/both if your cruising between Indy and Chicago sometime. :)

And that was the end of our excursion. We made it back to Indy around 8pm, both of us just exhausted from all the activities. But it was so much fun and needed even more so! And since it was mid-week, we didn't have to deal with any weekend crowds you'd normally get. So it was relaxing, to boot. You can check out more pictures here. Couldn't have asked for a better 'weekend' trip. :)