Last night I went to bed about 9pm, got up once at 1:15, Teresa was next to me and said something about me getting up, I told her I have an alarm set for 3am, couldn’t fall back asleep, got up at 2:20, and found this message from Bryan, the private driver who was supposed to take me to the airport:
A taxi had rearended him.
I took my shower, dressed, packed my laptop, kissed Teresa
goodbye and headed down to the porteria at 3:30. I asked the portero for a
taxi, he made a call and said, “5 minutes” but it seemed like the car arrived
in 5 seconds. I had a nice conversation in my broken Spanish with the driver
and I arrived at the airport by 4:15. I had my bag checked, went through TSA,
then immigration with 2 hours left before my 7am flight. (I gave the
immigration officer my passport and he asked me when was the last time I
arrived in Medellin. I gave him my old passport and he found the date himself.)
I had a latte at a small restaurant named Cumba House right next to my
gate.
I had an aisle seat to Miami which, with my laptop under the
next seat, at least allowed me to stretch on leg on occasion. When we arrived
it was quite a long walk to the immigration checkpoint and then there was a
Disneyland style que that took about 20 minutes to get through. No problem
after I gave him my passport. I found my gate then with an hour before takeoff
I backtracked my steps and had a slice of pizza from 305 Pizza. I would
have had a Coke too but the bottles were so large I knew I wouldn’t finish it.
My seat number was 30B so I fully expected to have to sit in
a middle seat ☹ but someone was already there
so I just took the aisle seat and no one was the wiser.
We arrived in Chicago on time and it was a bit of a walk to
baggage claim. After some time, I still didn’t have my bag and Jim texted me he
was circling the parking area waiting to hear from me. I knew something must be
wrong when I was the last person waiting for their bag. I went to the Baggage
Service desk and Jimmy showed up while they were explaining that my bag was
still in Miami. They took down Jim’s contact information and promised to bring
it to our house when it arrives on the next flight in 2 hours or tomorrow
morning.
Jim drove us not too far away to a mall with a T-Mobile
office and I bought a new sim card and signed up for a 3.5Gb speed/data plan with
Unlimited Talk/Text for a month for $28.02.
We decided to go for pizza and I googled my favorite pizza
place and it’s now a Bulgarian restaurant. Another check of Google Maps and I
couldn’t find my 2nd place either. Jim suggested Barnaby’s with
their corn crust pizza so we went there. Jim ordered a large half sausage half
pepperoni pizza and I had a root beer and he a coke to go with it.
Around 9pm Jim checked a website and it appears it’s now in
Chicago and should be delivered in the next 5 hours.
Jim’s condo is on the 24th floor of a 30 floor
building with a view of Wrigley Field, the Sears Tower and (although distant) the
United Center.
He gave me a set of keys with an electronic fob and gave me
a tour of the lobby area and exit doors.
I texted my old friends, Jack & Arlene, and started arrangements
to meet Thursday for brunch at the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.
I went with Jim to walk Murray around the block. Murray was
just out of the puppy stage when I last saw him and he’s an older dog now. He
sill performs when you point your finger at him and say “phew” he rolls on his
side and plays dead. When you say, “okay” he gets up and expects a treat.
We checked FedEx tracking and my package doesn’t show up.
Jim watched the end of a NBA conference championship won by
the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers so I didn’t get to bed until
about 10:30.
Why My Kid is
Crying
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