welcome fall

today i brought out my northface windwall (lifesaving wind-blocking fleece) to be my company at work. sometimes walking down the block towards my office, the wind just hits you like an ocean wave almost knocking you over so you have to lean foward and steady yourself to regain balance. it's not bone-numbing cold yet; just chilly. and i brought out the long pants and stockings, though i've heard that summer can make random appearances until october. my favorite georgia tech sweatshirt and flannel pajama pants have escaped from under tank tops and shorts in the depths of my dresser drawers to start warming me at night.

fall doesn't arrive in atlanta until october or november. so it's too soon! summer was too short! but they tell me just wait for the first snow dusting everything is beautiful clean confectioners-sugar white. and new clothes and fall colors. window shopping and hot cocoa. christmas decorations and curling up with a good book. oh, and soup. it was on the menu for lunch today. a delicious curried cauliflower soup. mmmm.

then welcome fall. your stay in atlanta is usually so brief. maybe we can become friends this year.

a tourist in my own town, part 2

after dad left, i spent the weekend showing my friend from college and her family around my new city. i have to give them props for bringing a 6 month baby with them. while it was something to consider wherever we were going, it was actually quite nice. i needed a baby-fix now that i can't see ethan every day and we had built in rest/nap time in the afternoons when the baby needed a break at the hotel. and he was super cute and pretty much always in a good mood.

friday afternoon, we went to the shedd aquarium. what's so special about the aquarium? well it was actually quite a feat to build in chicago because it is inland, miles from any ocean. plans for the aquarium began in the 1920's, when john g. shedd, retired president of marshall field & company, was inspired by daniel burnham's charge "make no little plans" to build the world's largest aquarium. more than 1 million gallons of seawater was shipped by rail from key west to fill the galleries making the shedd the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater collection. when the shedd opened on may 30, 1930 it housed the greatest variety of marine life under one roof and brought a much needed boost to chicago society following the stock market crash of 1929. the director of the shedd during the 1933 world's fair wanted to bring in unique species to attract all the fair visitors to the aquarium. he brought in granddad, an australian lungfish in 1933 and granddad is still alive today; he is claimed to be the oldest fish in any aquarium in the world. my favorite animals were the seahorses, sea dragons, and penguins.

saturday we met up for brunch at my neighborhood favorite, 3rd coast cafe. its got great food, great price, neighborhood feel. after brunch, we made our way the lincoln park zoo for some free fun in chicago. the zoo is close to my place and i've visited often (it's free, it's close, it's animals...what's not to love?). i like the monkey and lion houses. after our built in rest time/baby nap time, we made our way northwest to jefferson park and the copernicus center for the 2008 taste of polonia: a gathering of poles in chicago, beer, sausage, pierogis, potato pancakes, and polka.

after being sufficiently full, it was back to downtown and a visit to the sears tower. now, i always take people to the john hancock signature lounge because it's free and you can get a cocktail while you are enjoying the view. but i do have to say i enjoyed the sears tower. you get to watch a short film about the building of the tower and the skydeck (observatory) has walls of information on chicago history. and absolutely amazing views of the north, south, east, and west chicago. and i recommend going for the sunset. it was breathtaking.


* the sears tower itself is a magnificent structure which i shall have to devote a separate entry to.

sunday morning we met up at the adler planetarium on museum campus. museum campus is literally a collection of museums along chicago's lakefront: the field museum, the adler planetarium, the shedd aquarium and nearby is the art institute of chicago. it's a tourist friendly town. unfortunately for me, i had stayed up late (4am) the night before hanging out with other atliens in town, so i was out cold under the star dome as soon as the lights were out. had i been awake, i might have reminisced my grade school days when every year we took a field trip to the montgomery planetarium. i've never been one interested in science (chemistry and physics only and that's because there was math involved), so i didn't get my money's worth at the planetarium. it was however really neat to see all the little kids running around being interested in space and stars and science. i do recommend walking all the way down the road toward the planetarium, keeping your eye on it, and then when you get to the end turn around and see this:


*on a clear day

post-planetarium, we had chicago style dogs at because well, we'd never had before. what makes a chicago dog? well, it's an all-beef dog, steamed, in a poppyseed bun. top it with mustard, onion, relish, pickle spear, tomato slices, sport peppers. never ketchup (some stands don't even stock this condiment). vienna beef hotdogs, made here in chicago since before the 1893 world's fair, are the most common here. you can even go to the factory on n. damen avenue and get you one right off the line (...in the cafe actually).

we tried to make it to garrett's for popcorn, but the lines at both loop locations were out the door and around the block. i told you i wasn't lying. as a less tasty substitute, we walked the magnificent mile. we didn't make your usual stops at clothing stores, but instead visited american girl place where they sell miniature bureaus for the same price as a real one and sell "american girls" that were made in china...

monday was my friend's last day in town. she really wanted to see navy pier and get a christmas ornament to start her family's tradition of collecting those wherever they go. now navy pier is very touristy, but the ferris wheel, imax theatre, and the best freakin lemonade you've ever had is here. and there's history. the pier was built in 1916 as the 2nd of 2 piers, part of daniel burnham's plan of chicago. the 1st pier was never actually built (sorry daniel, no symmetry). the pier was supposed to serve many purposes necessary for public infrastructure: a cargo facility for lake freighters, warehouses, docking space for excursion steamers, and a social and entertainment gathering spot (it was nice a cool sticking out into the lake in pre-air conditioning days). during world war II, chicago leased the pier to the u.s. navy which in turn used the pier for training purposes. about 60,000 sailors and 15,000 pilots (including george h.w. bush) used this area for training. after the war, the pier went to the university of illinois which used the space for a undergraduate program for returning veterans. during the university days, the pier also hosted exhibitions and world attractions that drew a lot of visitors. but the university moved out in 1865 and the pier was abandoned, becoming an blemish to the city skyline until 1989. the metropolitan pier and exposition authority took over and began a $200M renovation completed in the 1990's. the pier includes restaurants, a beer garden, ballroom, concert stage, convention exhibition halls, shakespeare theater, imax theater, the chicago children's museum, the smith museum of stained glass, and a 150' ferris wheel. it is the #1 tourist attraction in the state of illinois and some hundreds of thousands visit it each summer. (they also set off fireworks every wednesday and saturday nights from memorial day to labor day. i can see them out my window at home!)

the long week and weekend of being a tourist in my own town was actually a lot of fun. i love all the city has to offer for tourist and glad i have done all that so i can continue to explore.

a tourist in my own town, part 1

after my recent jaunt back home to atlanta, i spent the next week seeing all there is to see (for tourists) in chicago. my dad come to visit monday-friday since he had the week before labor day off. i like the way he tours, we have the same style. we walk around for a bit, look at the beauty in architecture, flowers, side streets, quaint homes. then we stop for a coffee (in the a.m.) or beer (anytime around or after lunch). and always end the day with a great meal. we have no plans, no agenda, no race-to-see-all-you-can-see attitude. but we still ended up doing quite a bit.


on monday night we let the early evening roll in while sippin' margaritas at the oak street beachstro. it's quite amazing when you're sitting there; look right and see sand, waves, palm trees, and kids playing in their swimsuites; look left and see the john hancock, the gold coast highrises and lake shore drive commuters.



a stroll led us to old town for dinner at a delicious outdoor french restaurant, bistrot margot. we had vin blanc, l'escargots, le paté, et les poissons. perfection.

tuesday, dad kept himself busy renting a bike and heading north along the lakeshore up towards loyola university. i was in cubicle-land like a good little worker. but we met up afterwards at giordano's for the world's best deep dish pizza and beers (well probably not the world's best..it was bud light). then we met up with a new friend (friend of a friend from san francisco) who just moved to town. what better way to learn your new town than a lake a river boat tour? i knew chicago was full of architecture and history, but i learned a great deal on the tour (so i highly recommend if you make it up this way). i shall talk more in length and include pictures of all my new-found knowledge in a future blog.

wednesday, dad and i met up in the loop and made our way to chinatown and lee wing wah restaurant as recommended by my colleague. she says it's the closest to authentic chinese food you'll get off cermak road (she knows, she's chinese). chicago's chinatown could almost be china, but it's not as big and crazy as new york's chinatown. i mean i didn't see any ducks hanging from windows. or maybe i just didn't hit the right streets. we walked around for a bit, but it was hot and there were no street-trees (a term dad and i coined because when it's hot, trees make a big difference).

after chinatown, dad wanted to checkout the northwest side of town so we headed to the bucktown/wickerpark area. for those who don't know that area, it's the "hip" place to be. it used to be scary where only drug dealers, the homeless, and starving artists would hang out. of course the hip follow the artists and the yuppies follow the hip. i still like it, but i've heard others knock it for being "too safe" and losing its edge. we walked until we got too hot and then stopped at miko's italian ice. miko makes huge tubs of italian ice and sells it in styrofoam cups out a window of his basement. you can sit in his tiny front yard on plastic lawn furniture. it's dang tasty italian ice (i recommend the lemon).

we basically kept walking from there and walked and walked under the interstate, past some rundown buildings and warehouses, and the river. my dad asked why i decided to take him on a tour of the most uninteresting part of chicago. i dunno. =) our ulimate goal was to make it to greektown for dinner. greektown is directly west of the loop off halstead between monroe & van buren avenues. chicago has the 3rd largest concentrated greek population in the world. and though the neighborhood is small, i felt like i stepped into athens. flashy cars, guys with slick hair and white pants, girls with big hair and tight clothes, well and greek letters on every sign (even the walgreen's was in greek). a few greek churches and a museum. you know if the greeks are hanging out there, the food must be good. at a friend's suggestion, we tried santorini on halstead&adams. they import their olive oil from greece made specifically for the restaurant. it was delicious; crisper than italian olive oil. very light and easy. i would have bought some to take home but they don't sell it. i had a fresh greek salad, greek fries (fries w/ feta and olive oil...yum), a spicy feta cheese dip, and kadaifi (shredded pastry dough with walnuts and honey) & baklava (layers of filo, crushed nuts, and honey) for dessert.

ok, after being decidedly full, we rested our feet at the imax movie theatre on navy pier for my first screening of the dark knight (the latest installation of the batman series shot mostly in chicago). everyone i work with has been shocked (almost offended) that i haven't seen it yet. chicago is obsessed with batman since they started using the city as the new gotham in batman begins. everyone talks about it. thousands went to see it opening night (wednesday at 12:01am). and it's been 5 weeks since the release and i still hadn't seen it. now, i really like the '60s tv show and michael keaton batman movies, but i do agree with everyone that this was by far the best of the series. it was so dark and yet funny. so intense and detailed. my dad doesn't understand why there has to be such violence and over-the-top special effects, but i say because they can and people want to see that. there were a lot of great scenes of chicago and the loop (which looks gloomy and gothic with all the old architecture). and i know everyone else might doubt it without seeing it, but heath ledger as the joker was truly the best acting in the movie. but i'll always love christian bale since i saw him in newsies.

thursday morning, dad and i walked through the lincoln park neighborhood and wind through streets off armitage and lincoln avenue. there are some beautiful homes and streetscapes; my dad found his favorite street in the world (outside of paris) somewhere off of armitage. our eventual destination was nookies too for breakfast. what a decision i had! i always get something sweet (and the crepes looked delicious) but i went for heuvos ranchero, a seasonal dish, and it was mouthwateringly delicious. i will most certainly go back for strawberry filled crepes later this year. the restaurant was a place i saw myself taking a book, sitting for hours, with an endless cup of coffee, and no one will mind.

after, we headed south...south...and further south. the green line to the garfield stop. stepping out of the 'L' station was almost like entering a 3rd world country. burned out buildings, crumbling streets, boarded up windows. very sad, and had it not been daylight, very scary. why did we go down there? well the southside, jackson park in particular, was the setting of the 1893 world's fair which we read about in devil in the white city (great book! read it...more about the fair in another blog). the university of chicago and frank lloyd wright's robie house is also south near jackson park. our main reason for heading down there was to walk around and feel as if we were at the fair, but not much has survived. the southside area isn't as maintained or appreciated as it could be. only 1 building remains from the fair: the science & industry building, which has been converted into a museum. we met up at the museum with a friend from college, her husband, and 6month old baby who were in town for the weekend to visit me. now the architecture, exterior, of the building was magnificent (and when you think of it in comparison to the other fair buildings, you will be overwhelmed at the size of the fair). however, the inside was a little kid-like. and frankly, i just don't like science that much. there was a train room that was complete with full-size locomotives, the spirit of america, and to-scale cities, mountain & train models. hard to explain and the pictures didn't turn out, but ethan is going to LOVE it. they also have a huge U-505 submarine; apparently this is the coolest part of the museum, but dad didn't want to go in it...

we left the museum early to tour the prarie district, chicago's first 'gold coast' where all the wealthiest of wealthy lived. it's south of the loop around indiana street and 18th avenue. most of the homes remain though the area is exploding with new construction. the oldest house in chicago, the clarke house, built in 1836 is a landmark. it survived the great fire of 1871 and was moved in 1977 to a different address off wabash avenue. the glessner house still stands in the prarie district and is the last building in chicago by h.h.richardson, famous for his richardson romanesque style.

thursday night was a trip to wrigley field, the first for my dad and friends, to watch the cubs take on the philly's. we had hotdogs, brats, and beers. and the weather was perfect. unfortunately, the baby got tired during the 6th inning, so my friends left. and then dad, not being a huge baseball fan, wanted to beat the crowds home. i gave it because the cubs were losing and i didn't really want to witness a loss. of course, aramis ramirez hits a grand slam in the 8th inning and the cubs win...

friday was dad's last day. we skipped the field museum where my friends went so we could walk around astor street in the gold coast, get coffees and explore the near north side. we stopped in one of my favorite parks off walton&dearborn. it's sided by the newberry library which is a gorgeous old building mixed with romanesque and gothic style architecture. i truly could have sipped my coffee on that bench in that park all day. but hunger called, so we went downtown to eat under the colorful umbrella's of park grill at millenium park. um yeah, we had mojitos at 11am. stuffed, we headed into the loop to look at one last piece of architecture and make one last stop at a chicago "must": garrett's popcorn. in the loop, on adams&lasalle, stands the rookery. a magnificent structure designed by john root & daniel burnham, used as the headquarters for the 1893 fair design team, and remodeled by frank lloyd wright. i watched many people just pass it by, but my dad.. my dad, was in awe of it. you could see the way he looked at it that he completely appreciated all the effort, skill, and passion that went into creating that masterpiece. inside, was breathtaking. every detail was attended to. the lightbulbs, the small tile flooring, the engraving in the wall that indicates where the vault is. the staircase. i will return with a suitable camera to attemp to capture the beauty, but all who visit chicago should stop for just a few moments to take it in.

and now this has become a long blog. if you read til the end and are still interested, i will continue into the weekend with part 2 later.

=)

distance makes the heart grow fonder

i recently spent a week and two weekends back in atlanta and the next week and weekend in chicago with my dad and friends from out of town. while in atlanta, i felt so comfortable and familiar, went to eat at my favorite places, spent a lot of time with my stubborn nephew and visited with friends. i even went back to good ol' buckhead church to get some religion. basically, i spent the whole time comparing my new life with my old life. to be fair and positive, i'll list the pros of both places:

atlanta:

• family
• southern people
• buckhead church
• small group & friends
• awesome former boss & colleagues
• georgia tech football
• grits
• freedom of having a car
• good weather most the year
• figo pasta, the V, agnes & muriels
• proximity to charleston & the panhandle of FL

that's a good list. how could you not love it?

chicago:

• public transportation & freedom of walking everywhere
• high rise condo with a great view
• great architecture
• lake michigan and the chicago river
• low humidity
• 1 mosquito (yep, only one, and it bit me behind the knee this weekend)
• deep dish pizza
• active city (running, sports, red bull flugtag)
• candidate city for the 2016 olympics
• neighborhoods, restaurants, museums, exhibitions, festivals, live bands & concerts, the beach, flowers
• a few months of absolutely *perfect* weather and the city takes advantage of it
• the cubs
• experience of the different seasons
• window shopping
• garrett's popcorn (yes popcorn is a pro...you have to try it to understand)
• the history
  
  
  

also easy to see why to love this city...

i was definitely ready to get out of atlanta when i finally left this spring, but these 5 months away have made me appreciate the wonderfully green & friendly city set in the heart of the south. but in the plane on the way back to my new home, i was filled with excitement of what's to come. i expect to feel a great connection to chicago in the next few years, and maybe to the yankees as well ;)

future posts: a tourist in my own town, chicago architecture, gangsters of the midwest

homecoming

i spent 2 and a half years trying to get to chicago, who would have thought i'd be so happy to leave? well i'm not so much happy to leave as happy to go home to atlanta.

i think my new boss took the hint and assigned me to a project that includes a week of travel to atlanta. i'm extending the trip by the two weekends around that week. ethan has been growing up without asking me, all having conversations and potty training etc. i neeeeeed to see him and give him a huge hug and a leetle kees (think 'nacho libre'... haven't seen it? see it!)

2 midwest colleagues are coming with me and i've got to entertain them. here's what i have planned:

• sunday night - a huge southern meal at my sisters, complete with the bean bag game (though that's more popular up here than in the south), mosquitos, runnin' around barefoot, lite beer. you know, typical stuff.
• monday night - a tour of atlanta, maybe a visit to the varsity and georgia tech
  

Originally uploaded by khakiaraki

• tuesday night - a battle re-enactment at kennesaw moutain complete with a band playing 'dixie' .. alright that's not really going on. maybe a nice dinner somewhere downtown.
• wednesday night - a visit to la fonda latina - home of the freakin' best mojitos in all of the land. and they come in pitchers. =D
• thursday night - a night on the town, maybe a visit to figo pasta and paolo's

the colleagues leave on friday and i have the weekend to play! i'm thinking pool party, a brunch complete with grits (yum! they don't have them up here!), maybe a hike up kennesaw mountain. in general relaxing and getting as much ethan-time as i can.

stay tuned for pictures!

the scene

every year, the yuppies of chicago like to relive their frat party days... on water. they call it the chicago scene boat party. the party is held during the warmest time of year (august) and part of the day (noon-6pm), otherwise lake michigan isn't too friendly.

ok, so you have to find a boat to go on. you can't just swim out there and mooch off everyone else. i happened to know someone who knows someone who knows someone with a boat. and since i'm a girl, i naturally got an invite. we head up to montrose harbor bright and early last saturday with enough sandwhich meat and bread for 35 people (i didn't know everyone else would bring sandwhich meat and bread too...). once everyone arrives and takes their dramamine, we head for the play pen which is the area inside the barrier walls at chicago avenue beach. we hitch up to literally 20 other boats to make this huge line of slippery wet fiberglass that intoxicated people can hop across to check out the offerings of other boats.

* courtesy other's blogs and a google image search

needless to say (i hope), i was a little out of my element. so i sunned and chatted with people on my boat. i eventually got the courage to get into the water and it was coooold! but you do get used to it and once i got on a enormous 12 person float complete with mesh bottom to let water in, cupholders, and floating cooler, i was doing pretty good. people would come over to sit in the float and chat a while: a bacherlorette party (not my idea), an annoyingly drunk florida fan (he was wearing a florida t-shirt, i wasn't profiling), water gun weilding folks etc. i got supersoaked a few times.

you're thinking 'who got hurt?', right? all is going well the first few hours. a few close calls of people slipping, catching themselves and laughing about it. then, a jump, slip, and thud. everyone hears it and cringes while they look around trying to find out where it came from. then we see a girl face down on a boat. a few seconds go by and she lifts up her head and blood is literally gushing out of her face. i realize who it is - my friend who invited me! it was terrible. blood was everywhere. the dj (yes dj) on the boat next to us cuts the music and calls out for the coast guard over the speakers. they come to pick up my friend and speed away to shore. i learned later she went to the emergency room and got 13 stitches.

surprisingly, they turned up the music and everyone started to get their party on. there were some more accidents, a rousing rendition of 'take me out to the ball game', a dude with nipple rings (gross) trying to get some people to dance with him (we all just watched), a inflatable hampster exercise ball they crammed 4 people into, a beach boys song (finally!), and more beer and seaweed that anyone knew what to do with. well some people threw the seaweed. and actually they drank the beer, so i guess they knew what to do with it. i was good though ;) i did forget to reapply sunscreen and have lobster legs now.

as the sun started to set, boats started to leave and head back to their harbors: montrose, belmont, monroe, diversey, burnham, etc. on our boat, everyone headed for the kitchen to gorge on all the food they were bypassing in lieu of beer. i'm glad i brought sandwich fixins for 35.

remember my friend who got hurt? she was such a trooper; she rode her bike over to meet us at the harbor when we came back. she even had a beer to wind down the night!

the scene boat party was an experience, i'll say. i'm not sure if i can handle it more than once, but who knows? if that's the only time i get in the water all year, i might have to go back.

ghost town

i got to see a special preview last night of the new movie 'ghost town' with ricky gervais, greg kinnear, and téa leoni. it probably won't rake in $155M its first weekend like batman, but i haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a long time! ricky gervais (the 'michael scott' of the british office) is perfect for the main role. you can tell he improvises and feeds off the other characters. i'm not a movie reviewer and i'm not going to explain the plot or build it up too much. just go see it or rent it. i'm sure i'll add it to my collection.

a weekend of festivals and sports and wicker park

the excitement of my near-death experience yesterday distracted me from documenting a really packed weekend.

friday i met up with katelyn after work at the plymounth bar rooftop lounge. it had a great view and good people watching and weird mist spraying out of pipes into the air. i guess the mist was supposed to cool you off, but it only helped my hair frizz. thanks, don't need any more help.

after that, i went home to make sure i met up with my friend alison coming in town from atlanta. we almost relived our college days by getting ready and leaving the condo at 12:30am. our destination: the rainbo club in wicker park (damen & division). supposedly wilco likes to hang out here when not on tour. i loved it already. it was a very small intimate club/lounge. no dancing going on, but there was a small stage where i bet a 1-man band could play a gig, a photobooth if you wanted to prove to all your friends you really did meet a cute guy, and a pinball machine if you didn't feel like socializing (though why would you go to a club in the first place?) alison and i met up with katelyn there and i'd say we had a pretty good time. i mean, i'm going back. most clubs stay open til 4am, which i definitely could have done, but this one turned on the lights at 1:45am and started kicking people out. note to self: go earlier next time.

in spite of the late night, i made it up for the 10am softball game. let me preface this paragraph by saying i truly enjoy the company of most the people on my softball team OFF the field. on the field, they (one) think we are in the world series or something and get so bent out of shape if anyone makes an error. we totally were winning 5-1 until the last inning when we lost our mojo and let the other team score 9 runs. so we didn't make it to the next round of playoffs. fine by me because it was stinking hot and humid and i was ready to quit. we all went to el neuvo mexicano on clark st. for lunch after. it probably wasn't the best idea to order sugary margaritas and sit the hot sun... we learned our lesson; i think everyone's stomach hurt. food was awesome though. i will definitely go back but on a cool evening or in the fall.

following some afternoon errands, alison and i made our way to the taste of lincoln festival. supposedly they had food and bands and crafts for sale, but all i saw was drunk people. and i wasn't one of them. ok i lie, i saw some bands. one even played 'sweet home alabama' and made me feel quite at home (except i was the only person to yell out 'roll tide roll!' after they sang the chorus... guess they don't do that up here). i figured out the point of festivals is not what they portray themselves as (taste, art fair, etc); it's about beer and meeting people. lots of beer, lots of people. basically a huge street party every weekend of the summer. it's pretty awesome, but i'll have to get there earlier again.

i love that i go to church at 6pm on sundays (yes i am following a paragraph about beer-filled street festival with a statement about church). 6pm church = still get to sleep in. which i did and then met mj and jenna (gals i've met through rose) at 3rd coast cafe for an amazing weekend brunch. i went home to change clothes (sundress on a windy day is never a good idea) and run some more errands. at 4pm i filled in for another softball team hoping to redeem myself for saturday's poor showing. again, the guys on the team take it way to seriously. one guy ran over from shortstop to catch a fly ball that i clearly could have gotten. on another play he so easily floated the ball to me at second and screemed at me not to go for the double play. i shouldn't have listened and gone for it, but when people scream you usually take a few seconds to react. oh well. i also walked and struck out. i have learned to restrain myself from giving the ground a severe beating with the bat after a strike out; i think i'm maturing!

after the game, i got all spruced up and headed to wicker park for church. i was actually supposed to go to church and then run a booth at the wicker park festival. i never actually made it to church because i thought surely they wouldn't be preaching while the loudest band i've ever heard was jamming on a stage literally outside the school where church is held. so i just found the booth and let everyone know i was there. want to know what booth we had? it was a 'make free buttons' booth. yep, buttons. like the ones you had all over your bookbag in 3rd grade. but those cooky wicker park people totally ate it up. we were non-stop button-making-machines from 7-10pm. everyone wanted to know why we were giving stuff away for free and we said 'we're with citichurch and we wanted to share the button-love'. facetious, but you get the point. the church wants to be good neighbors and reach out without being fake. i love it.

so that was my weekend and that's kind of how all my weekends have been. busy. non-stop. great.

p.s. if anyone can think of another word i can use instead of 'awesome' i would really appreciate you letting me know.

it was bound to happen

as the title indicates, something happened that was bound to happen. working in a highrise and living in a highrise and using elevators every day, i was bound to get stuck in one.

well it happened yesterday at work. going to a meeting with some colleagues, we get in the elevator with 2 other people. push the 32nd floor button. nothing happens. push door open. nothing happens. push all the buttons. nothing happens. then all the lights on the buttons go off.

and we all chuckle but are maybe secretly a little nervous.

we push the emergency button and a loud bell sounds. a person comes in over the intercom and tells us to "stay calm" to which we all kind of laugh because are we really going to be in here a while??

in the end, i like to make it sound worse than it was. we were "freed" after about a minute and a half. kudos to the security desk in the building for such a quick response.

i shall keep you posted on any other near death experiences i have. any near train derailments or collisions with cabs, i'll be sure to include.

;D

D-F Day

i'm debt freeeeee!!!!

this may not be something to brag about for most people; but to me, this is a significant statement. i have been a slave to citibank, american express, mbna, the government, for credit cards and student loans since i was 19 years old. and i thought this was just the american way.

in september 2006, i was introduced to dave ramsey and his concept of "debt is normal; don't be normal". i have to give credit where credit is due though; my sister and brother-in-law got on this crazy debt-free, no-credit-cards, beans-and-rice lifestyle at the end of 2005 and i thought they were a little off the deep end. but their determination to get out of debt and be free (and my brother-in-law's semi-crush on dave ramsey) peaked my interest and i started listening. dave teaches simple concepts that apparently no one wants to think of on their own: budget, plan for large expenditures, have an emergency fund, tithe; if you can't afford it with the money you bring home, you can't afford it! a little extreme, but you know what, my grandparents did not have credit cards and they turned out just fine. they were even able to leave inheritances to their children. will our generation be able to do that??

when i listen to dave, i hear people in their 50s call in asking for help with their 60K, 70K, 100K debt and they make 40K a year. and they have 3 kids. and creditors calling. and then i hear how the #1 cause of divorce is money problems. and then i read that your heart is where your money is. do i want my heart to belong to citibank? or american express? for skymiles?

never (again)!

i don't mind sharing how much i was in debt, more reason to be ecstatic that i am out of debt. when i graduated from college at 23 years old in may 2004, i had $11,000 on my american express card, close to $4,000 on my mbna card, a few thousand on my bankone card, and a whopping $35,000 in student loan debt. that's over $50,000... wow, i just added that up for the first time. scary how much money banks will give people who don't have jobs.

i remember my coach in high school telling me not to get credit cards once, but no one really hit me over the head with it. now i know: have some personal responsibility and don't think for one minute that a bank is going to turn you down for credit and an opportunity for them to rake in billions in interest. don't get me wrong, i'm all for capitalism and earning money when you have an idea and drive and ambition. but now i am an advocate for personal responsibility and eliminating consumer debt (at least in my life and whatever children i may have in the future). and you better believe whoever i marry will share that. marriage is hard enough (i hear) without introducing major issues like disagreeing over money.

so this is my blog and you're choosing to read it. this is my point of view on debt and money. not a soapbox or a lecture.

i will say, that i will NEVER be in debt again!

today july 17, 2008 is d-f day.

bastille day 2008

* from www.someecards.com, a ridiculously inappropriate and politically incorrect greeting card website

the cousins invited me to join them for a prix fixe (fixed price) dinner at brasserie ruhlmann in the near north side. for $40, we got all we could eat and drink, including veuve clicquot rosé. delicious. a nice bonus, my friend andrea from the former small group was in town for work and was able to join us.

so when food is unlimited, you can kind of treat that as free food. and people, now matter how dressed up they are or what high class part of town they come from, all act the same when they want to get their money's worth. just create your own mental picture.

however, i cannot judge. it was a monday night and i still definitely got my money's worth of champagne.

house of blues

one of the oddest looking buildings in chicago, in my opinion, is the house of blues. it looks alike so:




despite it looking like a fish, the joint can put on some pretty good shows as well as a sunday gospel brunch (any takers?)

so far, i've gotten to see 2 free shows at the house of blues. first i was invited by a friend to see the b-52s in their comeback tour/new album tour. the show rocked and we got to meet the band after. the opening band was eagle*seagull - cure-esque, 80s british rock-type band. i really like them.

ok, next, and my most favorite. i found out last minute that the house of blues was giving away complimentary (free with fees) tickets to see my first love: gavin rossdale. he was back on tour with his first album since 2005. imagine how dismal the world seemed the past 3 years; it's because gavin was out of the public eye. ok, i'm being silly, but his first band, bush (bad name choice...they're british), was my first concert ever and i've loved the band and their sound ever since.

my favorite songs:
sixteen stone: everything zen, comedown, glycerine (who doesn't love glycerine?)
razorblade suitecase: swallowed, mouth, straight no chaser
deconstructed: mouth (remix)
the science of things: the chemicals between us, prizefighter, letting the cables sleep
golden state: hurricane, float, solutions
distort yourself (from the band institute): when animals attack
wanderlust (gavin rossdale solo): forever may you run, love remains the same

back to the story. so i got to see gavin for free last night and it was just like i was back at the civic center in birmingham, al in 1995 (!?!) at my first concert. he opened with machinehead (also good song) and continued to play a mix from all albums. and man, was he full of energy, jumping around the stage. one thing i like was that he kept looking around making eye contact and pointing at the fans. and he talked in between songs with his british accent. he did remark that he will not make it be so long before he comes back to chicago because he loves our "energy".

i should also mention the opening band for gavin was we are empires. they had an interesting sounds. very loud. i like half of their songs. you can download their album for free at their website.

so besides getting to see 2 free shows, i like the house of blues because it is a very intimate venue. there are no bad seats/standing room in the place (except if you happen to get behind the only tall guy who also feels compelled to raise his cup to the band every few minutes when he really digs the song). it's close to the clark/lake or state/lake 'L' stop and all the shows end around 11pm (i know i'm old, but i like to get my beauty sleep!).

margaret's last night in the city

to go out with a bang, that's what margaret wanted to do.

so we got all dressed up, including our new friend katelyn, and hit the town. we started at the signature lounge at the top of the john hancock and enjoyed some delicious martinis and an amazing view of a storm rolling in over the city. black clouds and a lightning show.







then we caught a cab and zoomed down michigan avenue towards my new favorite place, pops for champagne. it turned out to be an interesting night as we attracted a lot of attention, had some odd conversations, and made it home by 2am.


on a school night!

fireworks, the taste, and wisconsin?

independence day. in atlanta, i went to the pool and may have watched fireworks in marietta. nothing too elaborate, but always celebrating our nation's birthday in some way.

ok, in chicago, it's a different story. independence day is more of a week here, starting the friday before the 4th and ending the sunday after. why, you ask? lemme tell you:

the famous taste of chicago started friday before the 4th and it took up about 8 city blocks including buckingham fountain and the grant park music shell. restaurants from all over the city set up mini kitchens and were cranking out food for literally millions of people. there was a ferris wheel, cooking demonstrations, huge chess sets, and and, should you desire, a station where you could test yourself for adult adhd.



entrance to the taste

after the race

buckingham fountain

they also had 4 stages where live bands played pretty much all day long, with some popular acts headlining the shows at night. fo free.

on first sunday the city had a 5k/10k "race to the taste". i totally did it so i wouldn't feel as guilty for going to eat all the delicious food afterwards. after the race, we tried some of the foods available to tickle the palet. here were my favorites:

• bolat african cuisine (jerk chicken, spicy rice & beans, plantains)
• soul vegeterian east (vegan sweet potato pie)
• chicago joe's (calamari)
• polka sausage & deli (pierogies with sour cream)
• aunt diana's candy makers (frozen chocolate bananas!)
• fireplace inn (bbq meatballs)
• lagniappe-creole cajun joynt (beignets)
• lou malnati's pizzeria (uh..deep dish)
• star of siam (pot stickers)
• c'est si bon (cajun chicken tenders & hone biscuit)

lest you think me a pig eating all that at once, i will have you know that i went to the taste on 4 separate occasions. it was actually a few blocks from my office, so i went for lunch one day. long lunch.

some of the (free!) concerts we watched were josh kelly, plain white t's, ryan shaw, and joss stone (love her!). we missed chaka khan, stevie wonder, bonnie raitt, dave barnes, broadway in chicago, old 97's, and about a half-dozen others. i can honestly say, there was too much to do.

hi!

other than the taste, there were street performers and shopping sales galore. fireworks on july 3rd (they want people to stay up late and not feel bad because they have the 4th off from work) which lasted for about 30 minutes. the most amazing show i've seen to date. there were over 1 million people at grant park to watch the fireworks. the crowd was so big, that the people spilled off of the sidewalks into the streets and they shut michigan avenue down. literally wall-to-wall people on the streets.

michigan avenue

pritzker pavilion

after the fireworks show

the extremely unfortunate thing was that there were 4 gang-related shootings downtown as everyone was leaving the fireworks. we heard them but didn't realize that was gunshots we were hearing. a tad unsettling.

on the actual day of the 4th i slept in. and slept in good. i think i got up after 12pm. then margaret and i did some sightseeing since it was her last weekend here. we went to the sears tower, marina city (aka corn cob buildings), state street shopping, and a walk along the chicago river.

wrigley building, tribune building, chicago river

marina city

then we went to a friend's rooftop condo for a cookout and again more fireworks. this time however, you could look 180 degrees around the rooftop and see a dozen or so fireworks displays from all the neighborhoods. it was unlike anything i had seen!

and how does wisconsin fit in? on the 5th we trekked (well, drove) to milwaukee, wi for the biggest outdoor music festival in america: summerfest. it was kind of odd, all the people we saw, though it made for good people-watching. the main reason we went was to see steve winwood and tom petty & the heartbreakers in concert. it was sooo good! they played all my favorite songs and some new ones; tom petty kept saying "you guys are so amazing" (in his stoner type voice).

my neighborhood

at alison's boyfriend jeff's house on the northside

sarah, jessica, and jeff

jessica and me at the tom petty concert


when margaret told one of her friends back in alabama that she went to see tom petty in wisconsin, her friend said "what's wisconsin?" no lie. a tribute to the school system.

oh, i almost forgot to tell you. the last and most important difference between an atlanta 4th and a chicago 4th. it was in the 60s. i wore pants and a jacket! but...no mosquitos. no humidity.

:)

cross-town classic

this weekend chicago is gearing up for the cross-town classic, battle of the #1's, the redline rivalry.... the cubs vs. the white sox

to set up this great series and rivarly, here's a little history of the 2 great major league baseball teams of chicago.

the chicago cubs: in 1876, the chicago white stockings (as they were originally known) became one of the 8 charter members of the national league. they win the inaugural national league championship with a 52-14 record. after that, they kind of sucked until 1880 when they won the NL championship again (and they do for 3 straight years). those pesky boston red stockings took away the potential 4th straight championship. they have up and down years, trying to change things up a bit by changing their name to the colts in 1894. the sole highlight of a disappointing 1897 season was a game against louisville where the colts put up 36 runs! in 1902, the chicago daily news referred to the team as the "cubs" because of all young players on the team. the young team improves and goes all the way to the world series in 1906. who do they play? their now rivel, the white sox (see below); the event seemingly put the whole city on hold for a week. the white sox take the series though. the cubs get their revenge as they take the 1907 world series, holding their opponents the detroit tigers to 3 runs combined. 1908 is the same world series show down: the cubs vs. the detroit tigers. the cubs win indeed, and become the first team to win back-to-back world series. but as we all now know (or you do as of reading this post), that was the last world series the cubs have won. legend has it, there is a curse on the cubs, placed on the team by billy sianis who was kicked out of the world series game in 1945 because of his pet goat. despite the cubs' drastically different seasons, their fans are full of optimism and wrigley field is packed each baseball season. the talk on the town is 2008 (the 100 year anniversary of the last world series win) is the year for the cubs. we shall see!


the white sox: in 1900, charles comiskey moved the st. paul saints minor league to chicago. the cubs owner, wanting to preserve the fan base of his already established team, filed suit against comiskey. after a battle, it was decide that comiskey could move his team to chicago on 2 conditions: 1) he could not use 'chicago' in the team name and 2) the team had to play south of 35th street. so the team became the white stockings (the original name of the cubs from 1876-1889) and set up camp on the south side, thus pitting northside cubs and southside sox fans against each other for the past 100+ years. during their first few years, the white sox had some hitting problems and were dubbed "the hitless wonders". but as mentioned above, the white sox did take the 1906 world series. in 1915, the white sox purchased the contract of shoeless joe jackson and along with him a few record hitting seasons. then a dark cloud settled over the sox in the 1919 season. 8 players lead by ex-underworld street brawler chick gandil and including shoeless joe attempted to throw the world series. the plot became obvious and a criminal investigation ended with the 8 players (later known as the black sox) on trial. in a bizarre turn, all confessions disappeared and the players were acquitted. however, the newly appointed baseball commissioner forever banished the 8 from the game of baseball. after some disappointing seasons, the sox renewed their enthusiasm in 1959 and earned the name "go-go" sox. the 1960s saw an intense rivalry with the new york yankees and the sox were almost sold to milwaukee. in 1984, the sox win the longest game in history: 2 days, 25 innings. in 1988, the sox were threatened to move down to florida, but the fans of chicago held "save our sox" rallies in front of the state capital. it came down to the deadline, but the funds were raised and the sox were destined to stay in chicago. in the late 90s through mid-2000s, the sox would finish 2nd or 3rd in the AL. then in 2005, the season started our normally, but the sox go all the way to the world series against the boston red sox and end up taking the series in a 3 game sweep. this was the team's first series since 1917.



between 1903 and 1997, the cubs and white sox occasionally met in a 'city series' or single charity games called the 'crosstown classic' or the 'red line series'. because these games did not count toward any team ranking in their respective leagues, they only served to provide bragging rights.

then interleague play began in 1997, and the cubs and white sox have routinuely played each other 6 times a year (1 3-game series at each ball park). in the 10 years, 60 games have been played. 30 won by the cubs, 30 won by the white sox. naturally, the heightened excitement and rivalry has led to some, shall we say, disagreement among fans and players.


this 2008 meeting will be even more intense. the cubs are #1 in the NL, the white sox are #1 in the AL.

as an impartial outsider (a southerner), i have the option of cheering for both teams. they're both talented, both full of history, both have die-hard fans, great parks (though to me, the white sox park is more like turner field in atlanta, while wrigley has the feel of an old classic stadium).

i have been to 3 white sox games, and 2 cubs games. i live on the north side. i work in the south loop. i live off the red line. if you made me choose, it would be tough, but i guess i'll have to route, route, route for the cubbies!


go cubs go!

managerish

managerish (n): a language devised by middle-managers for the purpose of sounding more intellectual and important than they really are.

examples:
"response point-by-point via return email"
"people culture"
"anemic addressment"
"trend patterns"
"manually pattern"
"granular level"
"feature function capabilities"
"business strategy of cost optimization"
"repository for catching observations"
"team member synergies"
"manual workaround process"
"manualized processes"
"granularity"
"low hanging fruit"
"home-run!"
"fully crystallized"

note: this blog will be updated as middle-managers continue to introduce me to this language
another note: to help you determine if you're working with someone speaking managerish; they love to print out 10 page documents, highlight one sentence, hand it to you, and ask you to explain the highlighted part.

band party, softball, books, ribs, and face paint

that in one sentence summed up my weekend.

i joined this group called the chicago sport and social club when i signed up to play softball and kickball for the summer. kickball is NOT as much fun as it was when you are kids. the guys try to show off and pitch the ball so fast that you either a) air kick or b) kick an easy-out pop fly in the in-field. the girls join to meet guys, so girls outnumbered guys 2-1. not that i mind girls; i joined to meet people. but the girls on my team are not competitive; 1 girl actually watched the ball as it sailed over her head... she didn't even run! our team name is 'take out the catcher'; a name cleverly devised after we won the first game by 1 point when one of the guys ran into the catcher of the other team when she wouldn't move away from the plate.

softball IS fun! it's slow pitch, so you can easily look like a dork by swinging too fast. people with skills join softball, so there are only 3 girls on my team. the weird thing is that 4 people including myself lived in alabama. the softball team name is 'there's no crying in softball', a lil tribute to a great line from 'a league of their own.' we have a good team, won all games but 1 and are in first place. i did strike out once and totally pulled a buehrle (white sox player who let a space heater have it).

anyway, long background to the start of my weekend. the chicago sport and social club puts on social events in addition to sports events. this weekend they put on a band party (yes band party) on the fake boat at the north avenue beach. the band was a really rad 80's cover band, sixteen candles. it was a beautiful night, breezy and in the 70's.

the next morning, margaret and i got up bright and early to be at the softball fields for a 9am game. unfortunately, not enough players for the other team showed up so they had to forfeit. but we wanted to play! so we gave them 2 of our players and played a 9 on 8 game. we creamed 'em. afterwards, most of the team went out for unlimited brunch and $1 mimosas at this place in lincoln park.

i decided to skip kickball and take margaret to one of my favorite places in the city: printer's row. we took the 'L' there; i think she's getting used to it. there was a huge book fair this weekend, and all these booths were set up selling rare and used books, magazines, maps, and a few VHS tapes. i didn't get any. it was very crowded this past weekend, but normally, the place is quiet and there is a nice square with benches and a fountain where you can sit in peace and think for hours (if of course, that is what you wanted to do for hours).

ok, by this time we were hungry. so we headed up north to the lincoln, damen, irving park intersection (one of those crazy 6 way intersections i still haven't quite figured out) for ribfest chicago. yes my friends, a street of meat. and fried candy bars, root beer, regular beer, watermelon, and hummus (that's not normally included i don't think). i don't think the participating food vendors had to submit portfolios of meat before joining the ribfest line-up. we learned quickly that if there's no one standing in line for the food, it's probably not that good. we did try some awesome root beer and key lime pie. whenever chicago does a festival, there's always at least 2 stages with band line-ups. i only paid attention to one band, skybox, and i quite liked them.

ribfest, complete with tornado watch, ended in early evening (well that's when we left). i thought i would be up for dinner or drinks at the top of the john hancock building, but i passed out. it was a good day.

sunday was another early day. in order to get involved with this new church i'm trying out, i volunteered to help with this kids carnival they put on in wicker park. i signed margaret and myself up to run the face painting table. we were a huge success! non-stop face painting from 9:30am-12:30pm. margaret made a little girl cry when she realized she was not getting a pink unicorn but instead a pink blob with a purple line sticking out the top. kids have crazy imaginations; i got asked to paint a red bear, a submarine, a white horse with purple spots, a leopard (really?), and one girl asked me to write "killer" on her arm. i didn't question, just painted. we were supposed to paint until 3pm, but i guess the rain wasn't done unleashing its fury on chicago and we got completely drenched. another good day though.

having margaret in town is a lot of fun. we realized we must be on the same brainwave occasionally because we say the exact same thing at the exact same time often. it's fun.

a day in the life at the new job

get to work at 8am (with 1 coffee in hand)

review data analysis portion of new project, defining fields, objectives, scope, identifying contacts and setting up meetings 8:30am-4:30pm

determine that you are looking at the wrong information and your day was pretty much a waste of time 4:30pm

this has happened to me more than once! arg.

the new job is getting better though. i have a new rowmate who is talkative and has a nice laugh. we have also had 2 other new people start this week which meant their assigned 'buddies' brought in donuts, cookies, cinnamon rolls from anne sathers (yum!). this department likes to eat!

me-me

day 1 - my little sister, margaret, wanted to come live with me for the summer. she lived with lea in new york last summer and wanted to take advantage of my new town this year. we met up in new york over memorial day weekend and she was going to fly standby on airtran U (for college kids) back to chicago. we get to the airport on tuesday and there are no flights to chicago! so instead, she hopped a plan back to atlanta (sad) in hopes of making it to chicago within the next few days. what airtran doesn't tell you (or at least emphasize) is that you can fly standby for $69 per segment and you cannot check luggage. so i had to take margaret's luggage with me to chicago and sent her to atlanta.

in atlanta, margaret learns the people in new york lie and there really are flights to chicago that day. multiple! so she gets another standby ticket and gets on a plane to the midwest. i however am at the airport, on the runway, in the air, at my destination airport for 10+ hours on tuesday. so margaret makes it from nyc to atl to chi before i'm halfway through my flight.

but she made it! and i did too! we took the elevated orange line into the city and margaret commented on how it's kind of scary to ride on elevated tracks. i said 'oh these have been around forever and nothing happens.'

day 2, 10am - green line derailment

e-man

i talked to my nephew today for a good 5 minutes. he's only 2, so i couldn't understand everything he said. if i was quiet (because i can't talk in loud 2-yr-old-speak in the office) for even a second, he would say 'you here? you here re-re?'

i asked him if he wanted me to come over and play, to which he replied 'oooohhh yeeeeeeeah!!!'

he's so amazing. a little person who i can absolutely and honestly love with no reservation. unconditional love. in those moments, i get sense of why God made us. who wouldn't want to love fully and completely? it's an amazing feeling.