Opening Day at Club Safeco

Gemma had organized a group of 6 of us to all purchase tickets together to go to Opening Day for the Mariner's. When the day finally arrived, it was miserable outside. Pouring down rain. The day before and the day after were perfectly nice and sunny, but the baseball gods weren't exactly looking out for us. Plus, Clint had come down with a 24-hour bug, so he had to stay home. I unsuccessfully found anyone to buy his ticket, but I wasn't gonna miss out. 

We all planned to meet at Jimmy's on First at 5:30pm for drinks before heading into the game that started at 7pm. Apparently, the rain created horrendous traffic for everyone but me coming from West Seattle. I got the the bar 15 minutes early, and waited for my friends. Luckily (or maybe unluckily), a group saw that I was alone and invited me to sit with them for a beer while I waited. Had I known I'd be waiting an HOUR AND A HALF for my friends to show, I may have declined. But, they were friendly and continued to by me drinks, so it wasn't so bad after all. One guy was even a childhood friend of a coworker of mine, small world. When my friends finally arrived, it was time to head to the stadium.

Our seats were up in the nosebleeds, and I've never seen the stadium so packed before. It took us a while to hike all the way up there, but the view was nice once we finally made it. I watched a couple innings with Matt and Gemma, and Kyle and Jen…but then decided I didn't want to be the 5th wheel anymore and walked down to the beer garden to find some other people I knew were at the game (grabbing a hot dog along the way of course).

Robby Cano at bat

I ran into Henry and Duane who I talked business with (he was helping me with a refinance on my home) over shots of Fireball. I watched the rest of the game from downstairs where the Mariner's won 5-3 against the Angels. Then it was into a cab, and home I went. Despite the rain, we all had a great time!

Gemma, Matt, Duaney and me

bluLink Headquarters

Clint decided that since his company, bluLink Solutions, has been growing lately…it was time to get some office space. He'd been looking all over the Eastside (wanting to be close to Microsoft - his biggest customer), and finally found the perfect spot in Kirkland Parkplace. It's a really nice space with 4 private offices, a big open walk-in area, a conference room, and a big space for a "bull pen" and a break room. 

It did however need some work, so Clint brought in reinforcements - his mother and me. Clint's mom Karen flew into town for over a week just to help Clint get his office set up. She really is a saint. There was so much to do, and I don't think any of us anticipated how long it would really take. 

The biggest task was building a wall. Clint wanted to split the open area by building a wall to section off a break area. Luckily he knows how to do everything, so it was no problem for him.

getting the wall raised

securing it down

Clint's offic

painting the conference
room

Another task was furnishing the place. Clint and I spent a good 6 hours at Ikea one Sunday, then had everything delivered. There were easily over 100 boxes. Luckily for Clint, I love assembling furniture, and coerced Colleen into helping who shares my same passion.

So. Many. Boxes.

Starting to make progress.

installing a projector
in the conference room

finishing up the wall

And finally, the employees had their first week in the office. Things were still being finished, but overall everything was coming together.

finished wall

tv mounted

conference room coming together

installing speakers

After one long week of continuous work, and a couple additional weekends, the place is looking great and fully functional!

Clint hung his art on the wall

break area

"bull pen"

conference room

Congrats on the big step, bluLink. Now Clint has a reason to leave the house every day!

Chicago

I had been really looking forward to my trip to Chicago, and it was finally time to head out. Traveling for work always makes me feel so adult (especially since I get to expense things I wouldn't normally buy on my own). When I got to the airport, I started to see some familiar Boeing faces. No one I knew really well, but important people that I should try to impress. Turns out there were about 20 of us on the same flight, so it was a good chance for me to network. Although, maybe it would have been better to go unseen. Going through security, I was chatting with an exec who then watched me struggle with my bags trying to get my laptop and liquids back in my suitcase. He asked if I got to travel often for work...obviously not since I made the rookie move of not checking my bag! Later at the gate, I bought a coffee - cause that seems like something an important business woman would do. How did I think I was going to manage a suticase, a carry on bag all while holding hot coffee? I got on the plane and walked past all 20 faces since I was sitting in the back and finally reached my seat. I dumped my bag and coffee off, then tried to deal with my suitcase. But of course, no overhead space near me. I then had to fight upstream to find a spot. Once I did, my suitcase didn't fit! I had unzipped the expanded part making it too wide. The flight attendant said I would need to check it. Just then, the same exec from the security line made a nice gesture to hold my suitcase on his lap while people tried to get by so I could get to the front with it. He grunted while picking it up and asked if I was taking bricks with me, ha. After the aisle cleared, I messed with my bag to zip up the expanded part, making it fit. I heaved it up (while tweaking my back in the process), got it in an overhead bin, and did the walk of shame all the way back to my seat...sweating and out of breath with a nice hot coffee waiting for me.

Luckily, I had downloaded the Veronica Mars movie for the flight so I could block out my embarrassment.

The flight wasn't so bad, and actually went pretty quickly. The view as we arrived in Chicago was amazing. Crazy to see snow patches with such sunny weather.

Since there were so many of us going to the same place, we all carpooled. I hopped in a cab with my boss's boss and two other ladies. The whole time they talked about people in the company I didn't know and groups I didn't know existed...so I sat there and listened to all the gossip that made absolutely no sense.

I was relieved to get to the hotel, check-in, and be on my own. I was hungry, so decided to explore the city for some food and a place to get a manicure.

Hotel Intercontinental - Chicago

fancy pool

view of Nordstrom from my room

I stopped at the first cafe I could find for a sandwich, and checked Yelp for a nail salon. I found one just a couple blocks away, so I walked there once I was finished. I swear I was in the right spot, but there was no salon in sight. Frustrated, I went back to Yelp to find another. After walking 6 more blocks, that one was non-existent as well. What was going on?! I gave up and headed back to the hotel with sore feet from wearing heeled boots (note to self - bring a pair of flat shoes while traveling). When I got back to the hotel, my need to be pampered struck again, so it was back to Yelp. I'd give it one more shot. Luckily third time's the charm, and there it was. $40 for a manicure, but I didn't even care...I had earned it.

exploring Chicago

When I got back to my room, I texted my friend and coworker (Brittany - who was also receiving an award) to see if her flight had gotten in yet. After an hour of waiting, I called, but no answer. Finally she texted back that she was sorry, but another work trip came up and she wasn't going to make it. There went our plans of grabbing dinner and partying it up in the city on our first night. It was getting late to make new plans at this point, so I went downstairs to see if I knew anyone in the bar. After coming up short, I decided to have a nice night in by ordering room service with a big glass of wine.

Apparently I was hungry for a feast - steak, potatoes, a ginormous serving of brussel sprouts, and three dinner rolls. I put on my pajamas, ate dinner in bed, and watched tv on my iPad...not a bad night.

pity party for one

The next morning, I decided I would go on the lunch tour of the Chicago Boeing offices, and told the guy in charge the night before that I'd be interested. When I woke up, I checked my email to see if he had responded to let me know what time, but no word yet. Then after about an hour of doing nothing in my room, my phone buzzed. It was an email asking if they should wait for me...the first email from 7am hadn't come through, and it was now 9:30am, the time they were planning on meeting in the lobby. Since I wasn't close to ready, I told them sorry and to leave without me. Another failed plan.

Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I got ready to explore the city...in the wind...and misty rain.

I walked down to Navy Pier since I hadn't seen it on my previous trip to Chicago, and thought that sounded cool.

I got there, attempted a selfie, and then I was done. I just wanted to get back to the hotel.

forcing myself to look happy

made it

Back at the hotel, I saw a group of people I knew from work having lunch in the bar. Finally, people I knew and liked! They asked me to join, and I wasn't on my own anymore. When we were finished, it was getting close to dinner time, so I went back to my room to rest and get ready.

From here, things got much better, and my misadventures were over. I went down to the ballroom of our hotel where they would be holding cocktail hour, dinner, and the award ceremony. There were a ton of people there, and tons of wine to drink. We all had fun mingling and snacking on hors d'oeuvres. They then moved us into the main room and I found my table with my fellow award winners. Most of them I had never met in person since they work at different Boeing sites.

The food was so-so, but the company was nice. I had fun chatting with the ladies I had only met through email. Once we were done with dinner, the ceremony started. Tom Downey, the VP of Communications, hosted the event and called each group on stage to accept their award. Our team selected a spokesperson to speak on all of our behalf, so I just got to stand up there and look pretty.

After the awards, each team got to take a picture with Tom. Since Paul and Kati were missing from our team, Paul photoshopped themselves in once we got the photos back.

Functional Excellence team

totally legitimate

After the night was over, I headed upstairs to change, and then met up with my friends Crystal and Frank. They happened to be in town for a wedding that weekend. The three of us had fun checking out a few bars in the area. Chicago sure does have a fun nightlife. We lasted until 2am (even though bars stay open till 4am there), and shared a cab back to our hotels.

In the morning, I really wanted to check out the bean and Millennium Park before I left, so I forced myself out of bed to walk down there before I had to leave for the airport. So worth it! The weather was better (no rain at least), so the walk down and back was much more pleasant. The bean is a popular spot, and lots of people checking it out that morning. I took some photos, but then I had to hustle back to the hotel.

 

bean selfie

cool view from underneath

amphitheater in the park

crossing the river

Overall, I had an amazing time. Chicago is such a fun city to visit, and I can't wait to get another chance to go back!