...in Chicago (Day One)

It's the evening before The Midwest Clinic and I've had a pretty productive day. The first thing I took care of was setting up our booth at the McCormick Place. This was no small task, but got it busted out in about two hours thanks to the help of Norm Kellar of the Chicago Area Alumni Association.

While I was running supplies from my car to the exhibit hall, I was lucky to run into a number of Sinfonians:

Chris Donze: president of Ludwig Publishing

Frank Ticheli: 2009 National Honorary

Col. Alan Bonner: Executive Director of KKPsi and TBS

Col. John Borgeoius: 2000 Man of Music...among many other things

Dr. Ray Cramer: president of The Midwest Clinic

Once we finished up, I went to check into my room at the Hyatt and did a recon missiion throughout the building with the hope of finding some food. The whole facility is huge. I think The Midwest Clinic made the right choice in moving from the Hilton...the exhibit hall looks fantastic...but we are a good distance from the local area restaurants which allowed me to diversify my meal options. As it stands for today, I found a McDonald's in the "nether regions" of the building for lunch (blah!).

On the plus side, the rooms really are nice and the Hyatt has a free workout facility (the Hilton charged $20/day). No climbing the stairs in the fire exits this year.

With a free evening and no real plans, I got in touch with my best friend and fraternity brother, Tim Cooper and attended a holiday concert at his high school and had some dinner at a local bar and grill...which shouldn't burn a hole in my pocket. I just need to remember to keep the beer on my own tab.