1. Because with your help I can breathe through my nose. No one, no matter how sincerely they may try, can breathe through their mouth without looking rather like a trout, which honestly isn't my best look
2. Now the balloon in my head is smaller and more manageable (though I still think my head is at least the size of a large pumpkin)
3. No one wants to go to work and be "that" person snorfling and sneezing in their cube all day
4. While you make me sleepy, you don't make me so sleepy that I spontaneously pass out on the couch and wake up the next morning crackling like a bowl of rice crispies
In somewhat related news, I have found cross stitch nirvana (because nothing says I'm home and sick and feeling sorry for myself like an epic cross stitch project). The site is called Heaven and Earth Designs and if I live to be around 300, I can actually finish all the projects I want to do. A minor problem, I know... I'll have to work on that whole "live forever".
Catching up on vacation news. Chicago stopped only a very little short of being a total disaster. It was totally my fault, though. I had somehow managed to miss the fact that the one weekend I was free to go was also NATO conference weekend. Even after I found out, I thought it would be OK (the conference wasn't scheduled to start until the day I was leaving). But no. Most of the major museums were closed that Saturday. So, no famous Art Institute, no Field Museum, no great views of the city from the Aquarium. *muttering*
The Chicago City Museum was, very fortunately, quite nice and it was still possible to see a lot of the architecture. I also got to see Millennium Park (the bean is actually really, really cool) and the waterfront and do some shopping. A note on being a pedestrian in a city expecting the NATO apocalypse - when you see a platoon of mounted police heading to the place were all the helicopters are hovering, it's best to head the other way.
Stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel - the pool alone is worth a trip to this hotel. It's also right next door to the Tribune building. Chunks of stone from all over the world are embedded into the tribune building, so you can see pieces of the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, I think I saw a plaque for the pyramids, etc in the facade of the building. I know, nerdy, but I love rocks.
Also loved, despite the New Yorker in me screaming bloody murder about my treachery - Chicago deep dish pizza. Ate at Gino's East (worth the wait, both standing outside for a table and inside waiting for the pizza) - as a hint, unless there are at least 3 of you (or two if one is a sumo wrestler), do not order an appetizer if you get even a small deep dish pizza.
Ultimately, it's not fair to compare Chicago and San Francisco. I saw one on a tough weekend, the other on a perfect weekend, though it was much easier to walk around Chicago... fewer hills. Here are some other good things about Chicago: the people are really, really friendly. The architecture is amazing, and there's a lot of variety, from sky scrapers (Sorry, Willis Co. it will always be the Sears tower to me) to Frank Lloyd Wright. It has great park spaces, and they're spread throughout the city so each one has a slightly different character. Public transit is efficient and convenient, so you can save your rental car money for a nicer hotel or shopping, etc. Pedestrian friendly and great downtown core.
Highlights: Millennium Park, deep dish pizza (I will deny everything if confronted about this back home), City Museum
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