on assignment in Chicago

the high points:

- most of the slides were done before the meeting (I realize that sounds like it should be bloody obvious, but you'd be surprised)
- the client has calmed down now that he sees that we really do have our act together, and this is not the first time we've done an ad board
- the first day of the meeting went well, and ended on time, and features a chairperson who is enthusiastic about the topic and knows how to keep things moving and reign people in, rarer qualities than one might think
- the entire hotel is suites - it's nice to get a suite instead of a room every once in awhile, though my luck with getting bad views from my room windows is still unchanged
- the hotel is right on Michigan Avenue, though whether I'll have time to go shopping before I have to leave to catch my plane remains to be seen
- the suites have odd things as part of their mini bar, like Moleskine mini notebooks (though that's rather clever considering that if you're in a hotel for a meeting, and you've forgotten a notebook, which I do more frequently than I care to admit, it's handy to be able to grab a notebook from the mini bar, weird as that sounds)
- I was able to upgrade my plane seats to economy plus, and the extra $30 is worth it for the leg room and elbow room

the low points:

- traveling the day after the "no liquids in carry-ons" rule went into effect (although it took an hour to check bags and get through security, it could have been worse if I had left on Thursday, when my co-workers were in line for 2+ hours)
- giving up yet another weekend for work
- having to board my pets yet again
- not having a screen to shield Stephen and me from the arrogance flung around at the meeting (why is it that when docs get together, it always ends up as a pissing contest? We spent all day yesterday listening to docs brag about how much more data they knew than the other docs and how many more studies they were participating in than the other docs, and badmouthing PCPs, and I had to take notes on all this!)

I'm seriously reconsidering my future career with this company. I'd be stupid if I didn't.