9 May 2006

Surprise, surprise! It’s 4 am and I can’t sleep! After turning around in this comfortable bad over a million times, I decide to anticipate the beginning of my first complete day here:

get up at 4 a.m.!

I am writing some notes with my laptop and soon I’ll be searching for a fast food for having breakfast.

What they call a Deluxe Breakfast in McDonald's is a very mixture of USA food: we can find stuff raging from Hamburgher to maple tree syrup Pankakes. It's amazing to find myself able to eat all of that stuff (am I becoming US-like after a day only?).

The interesting thing here is that they provide some sort of prepaid Mc-cards you can use instead of Credit Cards.

[see picture 1 at the bottom]

Man, it looks like it is quite impossible to reach a cash advance for gaining US Dollars trough American Express. Lucky me that my company has mandatory policies forcing to use Amex for everything. Who said the don't accept VISA? They actually accept only VISA and MASTERCARD; let's go on.

Hey, look at that sports house: is there anybody who still doesn't know what YMCA is?

Well, for those who didn't believe it, I ifnally got the prove.

[see picture 2 at the bottom]

Time to go to work right now (actually it is quite early in the morning); and... hey...

would you believe me if I now can say I am proud of being a Motorola?

You would agree with me if you had the occasion to take a look at this head queartier; what we got here is a building just in the middle of almost nothing, sorrounded by green trees and, guess what, a big parking lot. Just for having an idea you could compare it to the space sourrounding our major Stadio in torino: the Stadio Delle Alpi.

That's only the very beginning of my surprise; if outside the building is big, inside if possible is greater! Oh gosh, there is the day care for the little children of my colleagues... no, that's not true, I'm sure I got the wrong plane and instead of landing in Chicago, I lent in Orlando and went to Walt Disney World.

Inside the building everything is perfect: just imagine the headquartiers of a reasearch center you can see in US movies... that's all true.

Ok, now I can definitively lose my senses: they have a Game Room with pool (not one, they got 2!!!, ping pong tables and calcetto (I'll ask how they call it in english).

My first working day here.

…

Here we go!

…

The alarm rings at the very same time of a normal working day but, guess what? Today I am not rushing to my office in Turin: a Taxi is waiting at 9 o’clock to bring me to the airport. And my travel to Chicago begins!

Tiredness is everywhere in my body because, well, I didn’t sleep that much last night: no, it’s not because of the excitement; it is much more simply a matter of time: I went to bed late.

First step of the travel is the flight to Frankfurt: I haven’t quite noticed the departure because I got asleep as soon as I sat down and it is already time to land.

No time to realize I was traveling that I suddenly arrive in Frankfurt Airport! That’s a big one and since my next flight will be in 3 hours, my first thought is dedicated to Lufthansa lounge room: there I can entertain myself; you wouldn’t even guess what is the satisfaction tin being a Business traveler with Business tickets (enjoy!).

[see picture1 at the bottom]

The room is very comfortable, sits and cubicles are waiting for me and I don’t let them wait. Sweets and entries are available for free just there. If I like anything to drink or eat the only thing I have to do is get up and pick it up. Now let me read what happened yesterday: Ferrari is again at the top in the European Formula 1 championship; let’s go Schumi! Juventus will be probably winning the national championship: still 3 points ahead of Milan.

While I‘m sitting here, they come some interesting people…BME recordings stuff: haven’t you ever heard about Black Eyed Peas? Well, I’m just sitting in front of their singer but at the moment I will leave him with his privacy; no pics: his body guard is not that small.

What an illness internet is… as soon as I grab a free place ad the internet point I run and win a free connection. Here a shared PC let me have some Email check and, mostly, some chat with my friends. They are all a bit surprised seeing me connected (they knew I was going to fly today) but, you know, for the Power of Internet, The Power is with Me. But now just let me have a rest in the bathroom; the surprising Auto-cleaning bathroom.

[see picture2 at the bottom]

It’s almost 4pm; I better get nearer to my gate to Chicago: number 62. There they give me a present: a card for 30 minutes free internet connection… from the fly! I am a bit excited about that: Internet is really everywhere! I hope I’ll be able to use that despite the firewalls in my laptop.

[see picture3 at the bottom]

At time being I am at about 11 km up in the air, trying to get connected to the wireless network (it doesn’t look like it’s an easy thing to be done and… maybe local firewalls prevent me to get connected?).

Well, I am just in the middle of a dream. It’s hard trying to explain the feeling being here in this kind of amusement called “business class”. My sit has almost everything you can imagine. I have Shiatsu massage, the position can be changed to almost anything I want, movies, music, games a go-go and... last but not least, the dinner (what can I say about the football shaped butter? [see picture4 at the bottom]). Wine, Australian one each time I want; everything is quite perfect. I have just seen a science-fiction movie. Currently I am listening to Japanese music and I think Morpheus will grab me in a few minutes. Some sleep is needed, definitively. I am a little bit tired, really….

The last movie that I will have on this flight is Chicken Little: a quite amusing one with a science fiction component I couldn’t foresee (I loved the little orange 3-eyes alien).

After a little beat the captain of the aircraft warns us we’ll be landing in half an hour. It’s time to compile the immigration modules and put everything together with order so that I don’t leave anything here. The immigration process is quite long; I can’t believe it, they made it more complicated since last time I came here in 1999: now there is a triple check and they even take your digital finger tips and place a picture to your tired face.

Outside of the airport, well… it is just an airport. About 10 minutes separate me from the shuttle who will carry to the AVIS rental car where (oh no, they told be it is a bad one!) they give me a Malibu! Actually it is not that bad: I and the car have a good relationship since the beginning: there is the automatic gear change, a good steering wheel (many, many buttons inside) and, most important, the CD player (I’ll have to check if it is mp3 compatible). It takes me about 40 minutes to reach Libertyville driving trough the 45 Highway; it’s quite easy here, just pay attention to the speed limits which range form about 20 to 45 at maximum.

Now what I really want is a bed where to put my tired body and try to sleep. I will think about the accommodations and the rest of the stuff tomorrow.