Iowa Wrapup

Day 2: Tuesday

And now I know why they made the curtains non-closable. So the sun will wake you up in the morning. Oh, you might be thinking that’s what the alarm clock on the bedside table was for, but that would assume the power didn’t go off at some point during the night. The power ALWAYS goes off when traveling and you need to be up at a certain time.

But I didn’t. At least not since I still didn’t have any clothes. Still, it was good to be awake sooner than later, because any later and I might have dehydrated. Those damn heaters put off such a dry heat that I think I actually lost 28lbs in water weight. Which of course meant as soon as I got in the shower my body ballooned up as I acted like a human sponge (not to be confused with my ‘human loufa’ friend).

So where’s my luggage? Not there. Off course they don’t call or drop by by 8:30. So now I call them. They don’t seem to understand the concept of "Customer Service". So I decide to go back to the mall to find one of those internet kiosks so I can at least email. No such luck of course. Although signs say Open at 9am, by 9:22 no stores actually open. But there are people in the mall. Mostly old folks walking. Worse, they’re lapping me.

Back to hotel, finally luggage there. Instead of indicator light for message, phone rings. And rings. Even after you pick it up, it still rings. Ugh. Changed and ready to go, but now I’m hungry. Continental breakfast - $6. WTF? So I go elsewhere. Steak and Shake – 24hrs. They needed all of them to prepare my chicken I think. Dammit. So cold my brain was frozen, so I forgot to ask without Mayo. Ugh.

Miles and miles of corn later, I’m in Dubuque. Woohoo. Or not. Iowa – yes, there is a lot of corn there. Clean air, nice skies, no people. Anyway, I do get to meet the folks I’m supposed to and get on with things. Of course during the Virtual Reality Demo they pull a trick test on me. Knowing that the only people in attendance would be geeks, my guard is down. Which is why they brought in one of those stand-in geek-model babes. Damn them and their evil ploys.

Meetings finally end, day is over, off to hotel. Now I’m staring at the front desk girl of the hotel – man, this is going to be a long trip, lol. Having nothing better to do, I go over to Dubuque’s mall. This was a bad plan. Not a good mall. Even worse parking lots. Kinda like haphazard road-tar day or something.

Time to eat. Wendy’s should be safe. Even with that little order window thing, they managed to screw it up. Of course ‘tomato only’ becomes ‘everything but tomato’. Dammit. More cell phone calls. Time for bed.