we apologise for the delay

I haven't given up, there's just a lot going on. In the next few days, expect a full account of my first visit to WRIGLEY FIELD as well as a multi-part epic on the incredible HOOD TO COAST.

In the meantime, here is a frivolous link to occupy your time: Six Horrifying Parasites. Sleep tight!

planes

The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels were flying this weekend at the Chicago Air & Water Show. I went to the beach on Saturday to watch, along with Tom, Brian, Bradley, and a host of other folks who were in town this weekend. For the uninitiated, here is what a Blue Angel looks like:


Naturally, I didn't take this picture, but you get the idea. The air show itself was pretty awesome. On Saturday morning I went for a run along the lake, and out of the fog rumbled a B-1B strategic bomber on its side, making a banked turn back to the North Ave beach. It's huge, and majestic, and it soared along for a while as I stopped and stared before it disappeared into the fog. To give you the scale of things, here's a B-1B. When it's banked and flying low, it's even more impressive--it's got a 137-foot wingspan when the wings aren't swept. And it's loud.


The airshow was great, but the preceding two days were even better, since the Angels were doing practice runs. I first became aware of this as I was walking back from the El after a meeting, and a solo F/A-18 flew directly overhead at near rooftop level with an absolutely terrific roar. I had no idea it was coming, but when it was gone I was smiling and giggling like a little boy. I used to go to airshows with my dad when I was younger, and during Fleet Week in San Francisco you can walk up the hill from my house and see them flying out of Moffett Field. Like most little boys, I had a thing for planes, and it resurfaces every once in a while. It sounds trite, but they fly so fast and are so impressive that one can't do anything but marvel.

The loft where I work is right near North Avenue, close to the beach, which is the focal point of the airshow. Since my coworker was traveling, I moved operations from the dining table to the desk near the window, where I could see the diamond and the two solos do their passes not far above the taller apartment buildings nearby. According to their website, Blue Angel maneuvers go from 15,000 feet all the way down to the 50-foot "sneak pass," so they were really down on the deck. During the air show, one of the solos did the sneak pass over the lake and flashed by so fast and so low that it was kicking up water--and of course, only when it was gone did you hear the tremendous BOOM! that followed.

Occasionally the flight pattern would take them right over the loft. I had all the windows open so I could hear and feel all of it, and the Angels delivered by shaking the windows, rattling glasses, and generally thrilling me to the core. I was in a happy mood all weekend.

on your marks

To get things moving, I'm going to do a quick Brent-style recap. What have I done since relocating to Chicago? Well, a lot:

I've left the friendly confines of Webster St., ridden the El, crashed a med student conference, grilled brats at one in the morning, gone to two Sox-A's games but no Cubs games, met a bunch of complete strangers who turned out to be awesome, walked everywhere in the city...

continue reading »...got tired of that and bought a sweet ten-speed at Working Bikes, been to Vegas for the first time, attended my first lacrosse game, won $300 in a road race, eaten some quality pizza and Polish sausage, saw my little sister graduate from college, nearly got killed by a Puerto Rican dude when Jon refused to take his coffeemaker, worked a ton, went shopping on Michigan Avenue (totally against my will), spent a week in New York City, found out I'm living two doors down from a minor celebrity (TV's "the Bachelorette"), played Capture the Flag in the streets (twice), took a picture at the Shit Fountain in Wicker Park, had my I'm-finally-okay-with-retiring-from-running moment, watched the Fourth of July fireworks with 500,000 other people on North Avenue beach, had lunch with my cousin, helped crew a 38-foot racing sailboat, met Boots Riley of the Coup, barbecued on the South Side, attended the first house party I've been to where a trampoline was present, eaten at McDonald's, played pickup baseball many times, been inducted into a bike posse, seen some awesome concerts (Gogol Bordello, Boris, the Intonation festival, Of Montreal, the Coup, and most of all Sleater-Kinney for the last time), hit the town in the legendary Mystery Machine, eaten a real Philly cheesesteak, had dinner at Ali Baba's, ridden my bike as fast as possible through nearby Cabrini-Green, run the lakefront, seen a free concert at Millenium Park, attended both days of the Upright Citizen's Brigade marathon in NYC, cooked for an entire weekend with Mari and Emily, gotten sprayed by Buckingham Fountain, played NHL '94, and, mainly as a result of moving here without knowing anybody, been putting myself out there and generally being a total badass.

It's been a lot of fun.

Things still on my list:

1. Go to a Cubs game. This is the single most important thing I can do while I'm in Chicago and I haven't done it yet. I'm always out of town when they're in town. It WILL happen. Fortunately, they suck, and scalped tickets are cheap. Wrigley is the church of baseball.
   
2. Hit the museums. The Art Institute, the Field Museum, MoCA, etc. Saving these for when it turns cold.
3. The Second City. I live about one block south of the Second City and there's really no excuse. Improv usually doesn't do much for me, but after seeing UCB with Jon and Tim in New York, I'm excited.
   
4. Find some decent Mexican food. La Pasadita is closest, but it's no La Costena. Actively soliciting suggestions.
   
5. See a show, or many shows, at the Empty Bottle
   
6. Eat a sundae at Margie's.
7. Wiener Circle between the hours of two and four a.m., or Tim will disown me as a friend.
   

You can expect further adventures to be documented, and posting frequency to pick up.



A final word: many of the links above contain pictures. If you're in one, and you don't want to be, email me. I'll take it down, no questions asked.