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.