Friday, November 20, 2009

Tales from the Road ... and the Airplane

I just got back from a whirlwind business trip to Green Bay and Chicago. My travels were eventful as always, including the following:

  • My luggage took a different flight than me. Thank you, American Airlines.


  • Drank my first Spotted Cow beer. Thank you, Debbie Henry.


  • Spent $17 on an official cheesehead hat. I guess that’s a lot of money for a big block of inedible cheese. However, my son was insistent. In case you’re wondering, he’s a bigger fan of cheesy hats than the Green Bay Packers.


  • Won $60 at a casino on an Indian reservation. I took a tip from the great Kenny Rogers by knowing when to walk away … if only he had walked away from that plastic surgeon.


  • The good folks at the Swissotel locked me out of my room after promising me a late checkout. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, anyone can take a reservation; the key is keeping the reservation. Usually when I can’t open a hotel room it’s my own fault. Maybe science will eventually unlock the room key-cell phone conundrum.


  • Escaped a close call from a woman with a dog on an airplane. I’m allergic to dogs, although I’m not sure this lady would even recognize her traveling companion as a dog, based on the ongoing conversation between the two of them.


  • Not so lucky when it came to the puking woman just one row ahead of me. Thankfully, I narrowly avoided a sympathy barf.


  • At the AHIP conference, I saw a woman’s presentation interrupted by her own cell phone. It wasn’t even a cool ringtone. I chalked it up to karma since presenters are always telling audience members to turn off their phones.


  • Enjoyed two dinners at Brett Favre’s steakhouse in Green Bay. The restaurant is still in Green Bay even though Favre isn’t. He now plays for the Minnesota Vikings … the Packers most hated rival. The food was good, but the merchandise wasn’t moving. I did hear about some bozo paying $17 for a cheesehead. That’s enough to make you want to puke on an airplane.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

From Cheese Plate to Cheesehead

We all know men are from Mars and women are from Venus. That point was dramatically driven home to me the other day when I asked people of different sexes about the very best place to stay in Green Bay, Wisc.

A young female professional who is very familiar with the area recommended a place “owned by a Catholic college that is cute, quaint and has a nice brunch.”

The male, also a professional, went another direction. He recommended the Hilton Garden Inn. Not so cute, not so quaint, but located directly across the parking lot from Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.

“They have the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame there,” he explained. “If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to check it out.”

So much for that nice brunch.