Indianapolis

The first thing I did when I got to Indianapolis was check out the War Memorial. It's got a beautiful obelisk and some great large classic architecture. I went inside the museum and snapped some pictures which I'll upload some other time. They have a huge selection of authentic war memorabilia. It's unfortunate that they put these old uniforms and clothing on the cheesiest of mannequins. It looked like a bad clothing store window. I was more interested in the displays that didn't have any mannequins. Especially the displayed WWII Japanese swords.

As mentioned earlier, I got the job at the hotel in San Diego. The human resources department there wants me to fill out their paperwork as soon as possible, even though they know that I'm on the road. So they asked for my itinerary so that they could have me stop at one of their managed hotels to do a drug test and sign some documents. That's kind of a pain in the butt, though I know that they need to finalize things as soon as possible. I told them I would be in Indianapolis on Friday and St. Louis on Saturday. When I reached Indianapolis I got a message from HR instructing me to stop into a local hotel and ask for the HR manager there. Naturally, the HR manager was not expecting me. She and I had a confused conversation as we tried to figure out what exactly it was that I was supposed see her about, but we eventually straightened everything out and she directed me to a local Occupational Health Center so that I could do a pre-employment drug screen. I hate peeing in cups. I also hate handing my cup of pee to another human being. But the drug screen didn't take too long.

From there, it was time to find a place to stay. The hotel where I met the lady from HR, was too pricey. The one across the street, barely cheaper. I wandered for a bit, but I was getting impatient. Driving around the center of Indianapolis can be tough if you don't know exactly where you plan to end up. Many of the streets are one-way and they aren't as clearly signed as Manhattan. I eventually parked in a municipal lot and shelled out the dough for a really nice hotel in competition with my current employers, because they offered me an even better rate. My room was gorgeous, clean, and was on the corner of Illinois and Ohio streets. Most of the city's center streets are named after states, but I thought it was funny I was at the corner of the two states surrounding my current state.

When it was time to eat, I checked out an Italian restaurant called Buca Di Beppo. It's an enormous eatery with nine dining rooms and there was still a 15 minute wait for parties of 3 or more. I was alone so they sat me at the bar right away. I asked the bartender to recommend a meal and a wine. Everything was delicious.

I walked back to the hotel and hopped into a cab. I told the Somalian driver to take me to the Jazz Cooker, 925 E Westfield Blvd. Based on a suggestion in a road trip book, I wanted to see some live music. It was quite a trek out of the city to find the spot, but when we pulled onto the street, we could hear the music right away. A band played outside on the patio. Two horns, keyboard, drums, bass guitar and a male and female vocalist. The Kingsley Street Band. These guys were on fire. They don't have a CD out yet, but kingsleystreetband.com is their myspace page. After the show was over, and after three tanqueray/tonics, it was time to get home. Cabs were plentiful in that area of the city so it was no trouble to get back to the hotel to immediately crash into my bed and sleep.