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They’re still filming Transformers 3, and I got to see some Army guys running around. They really did a number on that street! I’m hoping to see more of the destruction by standing on/crossing some nearby bridges. Enjoy! (I’m such a tourist!)

Signs they have nearby

Total destruction in front of Hotel 71

More of the destruction

The set of Transformers 3

My flight yesterday was delayed by over 2 hours, so I didn’t get into Chicago until 10 pm. As the cab got closer to my hotel, I saw all these signs for road closures. Then, there was a sign that read, “Filming involving gunfire and explosions ahead. Do not be alarmed.” As I was checking in, I asked the manager what they were filming. Transformers 3! I didn’t get to peek at the set last night because production assistants were carefully guarding the area, but I managed to see part of it this morning on my way to work. Sorry the pic above is grainy and dark. It’s cloudy here, and the window from the cab wasn’t super clean.

I imagine it’ll still be set up for another day, so I should be able to get another peek on my way back to the hotel tonight. Apparently, they paid the city $22 million to blow up the bridge. My friend Cat said they had one of the bridges up with cars dangling off it the other day, and when the Weather Channel was zooming in on Chicago, they showed the set on national TV. How fun is that?

I’ve been having trouble sleeping the last few nights, and Joe has also. I just can’t seem to find a comfortable spot or I’m too hot/cold. I don’t know if it’s because of my recent travel schedule or what, but my body feels wrecked. My back is achy. I’m slightly congested (I’ll try to neti pot tonight and see if that helps). I’m sometimes wired and jittery, yet yawning and exhausted. This is going to be a long-ish week. We have an offsite until after dinner tonight. All day tomorrow, plus a meeting, then finally on the 8 pm flight home. Tomorrow is the office summer party, which should be a lot of fun at the Highball. I have a feeling I won’t be doing any after-partying though. I need sleep! And then, there’s still Friday after that. We’re planning on starting the bathroom painting project this weekend. That’ll leave a nice mess around the house for a while. :o)

I finally got my car back yesterday morning. They called Joe to say the little back windshield squirty thing had come in, and everything was ready for pick-up. As it usually goes, there was a tiny thing awry. The bumper, back hatch, spoiler and all looked good. But when we got home and tested the windshield spray thing, it didn’t even squirt on the glass. It shot to the ground. It looks a little chipped too. We’re going to have to take it back to get that fixed. Otherwise, everything looks pretty good. It’s all shiny and pretty.

I missed my car so much. It just handles great, and the feel of the seats and the steering wheel is awesome. The rental (Focus) didn’t even have an oh-sh*t bar. You don’t realize how important one of those things are until you don’t have one, and people around town drive like maniacs!

We’ve had a wonderful weekend, even though it’s pretty short. I didn’t get back in from Philadelphia until 11 Friday night. Soooo long to travel. (Good news was that the client meeting went exceptionally well!) After we picked up the car from the body shop, we dropped off the rental (good riddance) and picked Jenny up from the AT&T Executive Center on campus. She went to Richard’s class presentation that morning and was all dressed in burnt-orangey colors. It was really cute. Silly aggie.

We went to the Austin Farmer’s Market downtown. The renovations at Republic Square Park look awesome! They built a deck area around the large oak tree on the southwest corner that had seating. There were a lot more vendors there than I’d seen previously. We picked up some tomatoes and okra and mushrooms, ate a breakfast taco from Tacodeli, had some iced coffee/iced soy chai, tasted some Brazilian cheese bread (mmm) and listened to local music. Jenny was very excited by all the local and organic produce, and I think when she finally sees the San Francisco Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building, it will blow her foodie mind.

Afterward, we went to Eliza Page, which is this little boutique jewelry store on 2nd St. I had bought a Groupon ($25 for $50) that was about to expire next week. I found a cute little necklace for $70, so I only had to pay an extra $25 after tax. Jenny was really impressed with all the up and coming designers that were featured, and she told me that the one I got by Gorjana is usually only found at places like Saks, Neiman’s and other high end stores.

So I’ve been carefully tracking my AA miles, and we already have enough for two round-trip tickets to Europe. We haven’t settled on dates yet, but most likely in May. Technically, up through mid-May is considered off-season for redeeming miles, so if we go earlier rather than later, we may not even need to use 60k each. It would come out to 40k per ticket. I’m likely to fly another 9,000 miles by the end of this year, so double that as bonus for being Platinum status.

I was going to use some miles to piggyback a trip to Taiwan with either my mom or my dad this fall, but Mom said her flight was completely booked, and she was lucky to even get a ticket. And Dad will be visiting friends, so that wouldn’t be fun for me to travel alone with him. That got me thinking where else I could go.

PUERTO RICO! There are direct flights to San Juan from DFW, so not too many connections to deal with. Flights aren’t outrageous. I won’t NEED my passport, but I’ll bring it anyway just in case. They use US dollars, so no conversion hassles. It looks gorgeous. It’s a mix of old historic, quaint city, lush rainforest, beautiful sea cliffs, beaches and the home of Bacardi Rum. It’s pretty much 83 degrees year round.

I’ve never done the island thing. We had originally wanted to go to St. Lucia for our honeymoon, but having just started my job at the time and paying for foundation repairs that year made it difficult.

We’re thinking we leave the Wednesday before Thanksgiving – and yes this does mean we’re skipping Turkey Day with either family – so Joe doesn’t have to take more than 1 day of vacation off. We’ll fly into San Juan and arrive by evening. Check in at a tiny boutique hotel right in Old San Juan for the night. Walk around the old Fort the next morning and visit Bacardi’s distillery. Then, take a shuttle from the airport to the northeast coast of Fajardo and enjoy a few days at a resort with its own private island. Hiking, beach time, sun and surf. I’ve never had a vacation that didn’t have strict itineraries and trying to cover a ton of ground. This will be the complete opposite of what I normally do.

We’ll use some miles for his ticket but pay for mine so that I continue to collect even more miles, giving me a better chance of making Platinum status for another year. It’s kind of the perfect plan! If anyone wants to join us on our trip, let me know and I can give you the prices that I’ve pulled so far.

I’m kind of really excited. I’m trying to squeeze out all the fancy exotic travel I can before the impending doom of future children. After that, it’ll be road trips galore until they’re old enough to appreciate the full travel experience!

Me and Darryl Sydor at Skate with the Stars 2001

It truly is an end to an era as members of the original Dallas Stars from the 1999 Stanley Cup team are leaving the NHL one by one. Sydor officially retired from the NHL on Tuesday after 18 years, and he’ll be going to the Houston Aeros as an assistant coach. The Aeros are the farm team for Minnesota.

Mikey Mo is still shopping around for a team. It doesn’t sound like he’s ready to retire JUST yet. And while it seemed that everyone was almost pushing Jere Lehtinen to retire, he is still a free agent that Dallas may bring back into the mix. Now, whatever happened to Matvichuk? Langenbrunner has done well for himself with the Devils. I need Razor to write up another one of those “Where are they now” posts!