chiggity Chicago

My trip from NY to Chi-town was less than pleasant. My flight was delayed 5 hours, and when we finally got in the air (after sitting on the runway for 3 hours) we had turbulence. I mean the kind of turbulence that you see in movies right before everyone dies. The kind of turbulence where things are flying off the tray tables and people are screaming. The oxygen masks did not drop, but I'll admit that I had a few thoughts of Pink Floyd's The Wall being the last thing I ever see. Obviously I made it through and survived to eat bad oatmeal.

The conference was fun and busy. I met lots of new people, including, oh I don't know, AMY SEDARIS! She signed my book for me. It says "des, go with what you know - good times!"
See?
(Actually, she's signing Count Mockula's book in this photo, but mine was just before it. I have the book as proof.)

Speaking of the Count, we recorded a video thanks to AOL Body, one of the pointless sponsors of the conference. Though they did give out bitchin laptop bags. As a preface to the video, realize that we thought we were hilarious when we said we looked like the Pet Shop Boys, before "taping" began. (The video auto-starts. Sorry. And I don't think Blogger will let me upload it directly to the page. Poo.)

At the end of the conference, and completely unrelated, Suzanne took us to the Venetian Festival, which is Chicago's term for decorating boats with pretty lights and sailing them around for all to see. All to see, that is, except those who are too lazy to walk down far enough, as we and hundreds of other people were. BUT after the non-parade (though we did see 2 boats, one less decorated than the other) came the best fireworks display I've ever seen. About 45 minutes of eye-popping delight. And I took a bunch of really cool pictures, so look for them in the near future... maybe as my new header.

THEN we went on a Suzanne-guided tour of the Windy City, and we learned that it got that name not from the horrible ice-wind that stabs you as you walk towards that Great Lake, but from the Chicagoan politicos of old that boasted that Chicago was as great as New York. The NYers are the ones that gave Chi its name. With good cause. Don't get me wrong, I had an awesome time in the Windy City, but I'm a NYer, born and bred (in theory). And I met a few people that still used the phrase "anything you can find in New York, Chicago has too." I won't mention any names, Suzanne's dad.

YOu can read more details about my adventures from my suitemates that were laptop-equipped and so did not have to bottle up their blogginess until they came home to their trusty old desktop.
Here are some that mention me specifically, and that I was going to write about anyway (but I won't now) though you should read all of everything because they are my friends for a reason!
-Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants: Camping in My Mom's Underwear
-Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants: Best breakfast EVER
-Count Mockula's Naught Bits: The Great Pizza Bill Debacle
-Count Mockula's Naughty Bits: Not Gonna Remember it All
-Formula Fed & Flexible Parenting: Day One of Blogher
-red stapler: Mea culpa
Fun times indeed.