Now that I'm back, here are my thoughts on my trip to Chicago, in brief little notes to those who had an impact (completely copped from The Zero Boss).
To Glenn F. Tilton, president and CEO of United Airlines: Mr. Tilton, "Ted" airlines sucks. From the buggy "choose your seat" menu in the self-check-in computer to the downright rude gate people, the whole experience was terrible. Apparently on "Ted" you don't pre-board children or infants (just frequent flyers and other muckety-mucks), which along with the completely retarded "look at your boarding pass at your boarding grouping number and then get in line when we tell you to" system, makes boarding a plane take an extra half hour at least. You want to cut costs and have an actually profitable business? Maybe you should find someplace else to do it besides nickel and dimeing your passengers, making us pay $5 for a crappy snack pack or not giving us the whole can of soda. It only makes us feel worse about the horrible experience we are already having. At least you didn't lose my bags.
To the Ted gate check bitch at gate 22B in O'Hare who, after telling us they "normally don't pre-board infants" (after her co-worker told us they would), threw two gate check tickets at us saying "HERE!": Have fun on the unemployment line.
To the two dudes (one going, one coming) who had to sit in the next to my wife, me and my monkey of a 10 month old little daughter in our lap: Thanks for being so cool.
To my Boston Red Sox: Thank you for crushing the Cubs on Sunday night and making it one of the best times I've ever had at a baseball game ever.
To the Chicago Cubs fans in Wrigley (and elsewhere): As the guy in the crowd not rooting for the home team, I've never met more good-natured, fun loving fans in my life. Thanks for being so cool and thanks for the Old Style.
To our family and friends who put us up, babysat for us, cooked for us and generally made the trip the great time that it was: Thanks. We'd love to return the favor soon.