Jericho: A couple of $50 steaks and I'll be fine!

Okay, travel for work stinks. But, now that this trip is almost over, it feels pretty good. Okay, probably standing in a pile of manure after leaving prison feels good, too, but you get the idea. I put in 74 very frustrating hours last week. I was lonely and broke - but the food was fantastic!

Okay, I haven't eaten very much since I've gotten here. How did that happen? Is the fat guy sticking to a diet. Sure I am! If you call stress, lack of time and a I-don't-give-a-rat's-ass attitude a diet, then that's what I did. Basically, I didn't have time to eat, and trying to eat on one of these deals is a real pain in the ass. It's not like I can go back to my room and whip up a meal, either I eat out or I don't eat. If I eat out it's expensive and I better get a receipt so I can expense the meal. I'm not made of money, ya know.

So, sure, I've eaten at Micky D's, Wendy's, Arby's, BK and Dunkin' Donuts since I got here, not in that order. But, I've also gotten a lot of room service! I started off the week with ribs from room service. Okay, I had chicken fingers, ribs, a strawberry shake and a coke, but it was my first and only meal of the day! Yeah, the ribs were pretty darned good. They hit the spot.

There are Dunkin' Donuts on every corner in this city. How people don't die from donut induced heart attacks before age twenty, I'll never know. There were several boxes scattered around for us to munch on as we worked, thank god there were, other wise I would have died of starvation by Thursday!

Speaking of Thursday, I think that was the night of my first $50 steak. Okay, it wasn't quite $50, after the shake, the delivery charge, the %15 gratuity and the tip, I was still under $50, but the New York strip was the bulk of it! Damned good steak. The garlic mashed potatoes were pretty good, too. But the steak was the star.

That is, until last night ...

We brought a vendor into town to help out with the voicemail issues. He used to live in Chicago, so he had a spot he wanted to take me. We drove around and saw some of the nicest houses I've ever seen in the mid-west. All the while, we're quoting lines from our favorite movies filmed in Chicago. At one point, we were discussing "Risky Business" and "Ferris Bueller" when "Don't you forget about me" by Simple Minds came on the radio - it was like I had found Shermer! It's somewhere between Glencoe and Winnetka. It was so cool!

So, we go to this place called Pete Miller's. Nice steak house in a nice little neighborhood. This is the type of place where they bring out a tray of raw steaks, so you can see what you are buying before you buy. On the tray was a Porterhouse the size of a math text book! It wasn't on the menu because of availability, but they had them that night! I was sold! After all, I wasn't paying for it, the vendor was. I'm not sure I'm supposed to accept gifts from my vendors, but, considering that I can't approve anything, they were wasting their money buying me a steak. We talked shop and talked some personal stuff and then the tuna medallions arrived. I don't know how you all feel about sashimi or sushi, but I'm becoming a fan. These were thin slices of very fresh tuna that had been lightly seared and served with wasbi cream. Oh, man! You take a bit with your fork, touch the wasbi and lightly chew - it's like eating candy, no fish taste at all. Yum!

The Porterhouse showed up in a limo! The first bite off that steak was damn near orgasmic! Even the broccoli was good! I told the waiter if the cook came out I'd give him a kiss - the cook never showed. The steak was incredible. I thought I'd pop by the time I finished, but it was well worth the effort. A quick look at the check revealed the steak to be $42 and change. I'm very glad my vendors like me!

The vendor drove me back home via Lake Shore Drive, yes, I went back to the hotel on LSD. I got up late this morning, found left over pastries in one of the pantries from yesterday, had BK for lunch and am looking forward to dinner out with a friend. The voicemail system is up and working pretty darn well. I'm sure bugs will show, they always do, but we're good at this point. All the forwarding work I did on Sunday was for naught, SBC did their job and took over the lines, my five hours of work went to waste. Oh well.

I'm on an 8:25 train tomorrow morning headed for STL. I get to see my mother and then later my wife, the two most important people in any young man's life, I've missed them both very much. I hope to post again later next week to tell you all about the trouble Max and I caused while together. Should be a big thrill for you!