A Mild Uproar of Fun

This past weekend my dad made his second trip to visit us in the Windy City. Last time it was around Halloween, before it got as cold as it is now. You see, my dad actually enjoys the cold weather. And while we did get some cool temperatures, nothing like the single digit lows this week. Anyway, I digress.

My dad rolled up in his pickup around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. After settling in, I drove my dad around a few of the neighborhoods near us, including Logan Square, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, Lakeview, Wrigleyville, and Lincoln Park. He seemed to be amazed at how they all seem to flow into each other yet are all unique to themselves.

That first night we stayed in our neighborhood and walked over to Nick’s Pit Stop for some tasty charbroiled chicken dishes. Evidence below:

After we stuffed our bellies, Apryl and I continued to overload with some desserts from Margie’s Candies. Yummy!

On Sunday, my dad and I had tickets for the Chicago Blackhawks hockey game. But before, we took the train over to the sub shop Bari Foods on the Near West Side. My dad had heard about the wonderful subs here and wanted to try them out. We were both surprised to find that the sub shop was in the back of a small grocery store. A small sub is a 9 inch, and they wrap it in white paper. Both of us got the Italian Sub, and I believe we were both satisfied.

After giving up on the bus, we decided to walk over to the United Center. It wasn’t that bad of a walk and probably helped us walk off our lunch a bit. Below, the stadium:

The Blackhawks were playing the Colorado Avalanche. I had not been to a NHL hockey game since I was kid when we had traveled to St. Louis to see the Blues take on my once favorite New York Rangers (the Rangers lost). Since we walked, we arrived a few minutes late. As were taking the escalator up to our level, I saw the first goal of the game one of the TV monitors. A Blackhawks goal! There wasn't another score for the 1st period but we did get to witness another Blackhawks goal in the second. My dad and I both commented about how large the crowd was which was expected for a Sunday game. But, according to Wikipedia, we attended the United Center’s largest crowd for a hockey game (21, 715). Amazing!

Other observations of note: 1) Even with a lousy team, fans of the Blackhawks are very passionate about their home team 2) Fights are more celebrated than goals 3) Hockey is far more exciting in person than on the tube

Above, John Stirratt (bass player of Wilco) attempts a goal during the 2nd Period break. He missed.

Below, my dad poses outside with a Blackhawks statue:

We took the bus back to Wicker Park where we stopped in at Myopic Books, which is one of Chicago’s oldest bookstores. My dad picked up a copy of the Chicago Tribune to take back to my nephew Jackson who was writing a school report about Chicago weather. Good luck, Jackson!

Later that day, I drove my dad around to a few more neighborhoods such as Lincoln Square and Chicago’s Indian district, West Rogers Park. During the sight tour, we shopped for some DVD’s which we watched later that night. For dinner we walked a few blocks from our apartment at John’s Pizza and Lounge (home of the “football pizza”) where we all enjoyed some pasta dishes in this 51 year old restaurant.

On our last night, we hung out at the apartment watching a couple of episodes from my DVD purchase of The Very Best of One Step Beyond and my dad’s pick, Los Gavilanes (The Sparrowhawks), an old Mexican western completely in Spanish. Yes, we went to bed very confused.

My dad left Monday morning around 6 o’clock. I got up to tell him goodbye and then went back to rest up for a shoot later that day with the Oprah show (this time it wasn’t with Oprah herself but with Valerie Bertinelli for an upcoming episode). As with the last time, the weekend went too fast. It was so fantastic getting to see my dad in Chicago. It certainly means a lot to me that he was able to visit. I only wish we had had more time together.

Eva checking out Sampaw.

It was a good weekend.

On Friday, our friend Trey invited me and Apryl to a house party that was going on in our neighborhood. The party was being hosted by Trey’s friend Jim, a very talented photographer. At the party, there was a musical performance from the legendary Sally Timms (The Mekons) along with Janet Bean (Eleventh Dream Day, Freakwater, etc.), and Jim Elkington (The Zincs). To call the performance intimate would be an understatement. Below, the group playing in Jim’s amazing apartment (above his studio):

Since there was no cover, it was up to Pepsi Co. and their new drink Tava to help provide the funds for the band and the pizza. Because of the Tava sponsorship, you weren’t allowed to drink anything other than Tava until a certain time. And while you sipped away on the Tava, a photographer roamed around snapping photos of you, and a video crew took random folks downstairs to the studio to interview them about their Tava experience. I kid you not! So if you see me and Apryl on a billboard chugging down Mediterranean Fiesta, you know how it happened. And that our payment was pizza.

Saturday, the owners of the company I work for a lot were screening a film they just produced called Senator Obama Goes To Africa at the Music Box (where we watched White Christmas). I believe that anyone who watches this film, no matter what your political outlook is, will get to see Obama as more than a politician, also as a keen listener, and an individual who is honestly sensitive to others’ hardships. Beyond the subject matter, this low-budget film is quite a technical achievement and makes me proud that I get to work with this company.

That night, Apryl and I got Mexican DELIVERED. How great is that? Most importantly, it was good.

On Sunday, Apryl and I ventured out to our friends Brooke and Jeff’s apartment in Edgewater to watch the Super Bowl. And what a venture it was. We were waiting for our bus for close to forty minutes until we finally got a cab (our first time in Chicago). Well, our cab driver was from the suburbs and didn’t know how to get to Edgewater without me telling him. On top of that, he only had three dollars in change. What?!? So instead of having him take us all the way, we had him drop us off at the Fullerton train station, where we took the Red Line to Edgewater. We got there about five minutes before half time. Oh well, the real action took place in the second half, right? What a game! I would have to go way back to remember a better Super Bowl. Congratulations, Giants!

During the game, it starting snowing really hard outside. Above, Apryl humors me for a second as I take her picture walking back to the train station. Notice the Tupperware in her hands, which contains leftover homemade brownies and butter cookies. Yummy!

The Thorndale train stop in the snow. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long. Instead of dealing with another late bus, we decided to take the Red Line all the way to The Loop (downtown) and transfer over to the Blue Line. A little out of the way, but we didn’t have to wait outside in the snow.

Check out a few photos I took around the neighborhood of our recent snow storm.

Every year, after Christmas, a program called “Green To Blue” sets up recycle centers at various parks throughout the city to take your Christmas tree and send it through the grinder, shedding it into a thousand bits of mulch.

See below:

Not only is it fun to watch, it’s a far better way of disposing of your Christmas tree than dumping it in the trash. So this morning I grabbed our tree and headed to our nearest participating location, Humboldt Park.

Most of the trees came into the park fastened on the top of a car’s roof, but my favorite way of getting a tree to the park came from this couple below:

The atmosphere is actually quite festive for what would seem like a sad event. For bringing in your tree, you’re offered a gift of either a compact fluorescent light bulb, a reusable water bottle, or blue recycling garbage bags. I took the bags.

So long tree. We shall all miss thee.

The Best of October

While work kept me busy in October, it didn’t keep me from enjoying my favorite month of the year. So here are a few of the highlights:

1. Oak Park Farmer’s Market

For the second time this year, Apryl and I traveled out to my favorite Chicago suburb to take in the Oak Park Farmer’s Market before the end of the season. This time we went with our friends Trey and Rachel and enjoyed some of those famous donuts as well as Wisconsin cheese. Most importantly, we picked through a variety of apples to use for our first entry in the Bucktown Apple Pie Contest.

More on that in a bit.

2. Nosferatu w/ Tortoise at the Chicago Symphony Center

The day before the apple pie contest, Apryl and I ventured downtown to the beautiful Chicago Symphony Center to see a screening of the silent horror classic, Nosferatu. Tortoise, the post-rock legends from Chicago, performed the soundtrack for the film live on stage. There were a few miscues (mostly in the beginning), but overall we thought Tortoise did a good job providing the right amount of creepy vibe for this timeless vampire tale.

Best of all, the event was free!

3. Apple Pie Contest

Now, this really deserves its own post, but Apryl decided to enter the 2007 Bucktown Apple Pie Contest. You may recall our post from 2006 when we took in the event as a non-participant. Well, this time we decided to join in on the fun and bake our own pie. Actually, Apryl did most of the baking, but I was a helpful assistant. This was Apryl’s first apple pie in years so she wasn’t too excited about the end result, but I ate it up. Well, not right away.

We didn’t have time to bake a practice pie. In order to enter the contest, you had to bake two identical pies, one to be judged by its appearance and one judged for its taste. By the time we had two baked pies, it was time to turn them in across the street at the Holstein Field House. For doing so, we were given a gift, which included free tickets for pie as well as this awesome coffee cup!

Below are a few photos from the event:

Well, we didn’t win any of the awards you see above, but it was still a lot fun being a part of it all. Even our friends Trey, Rachel, and Tim came by to check it out. Each in the gang had 6 food tickets ($5 for non-participants) which got them each 3 slices of apple pie.

Once everyone had used up all their tickets, we took everyone’s slices back to our apartment where everyone shared each other’s picks over ice cream and coffee.

Yep, a good day!

4. Pumpkin Carving Contest

We didn’t attempt this our first year in Chicago, but we did have a pumpkin carving contest when we were living in Memphis and wanted to start up the tradition here as well. In all, we had eight folks that night (10 including us) scraping out pumpkin guts all over our living room floor (don’t worry, we were prepared). Prizes were given out to Scariest, Most Creative, and Best Overall.

The winners: Trey carves his first ever pumpkin(!) and wins Scariest.

Michael wins Most Creative with his design of a man about to get it from both a knife-wielding maniac and a figure with a chainsaw. See below:

Anna wins Best Overall with her difficult cat in the window carving. Below:

More photos from the night can be seen here.

5. Horror Movies

Starting on the 13th day before Halloween, I spent nearly every day watching a scary movie, many of which were rented from my favorite video store, Odd Obsession. A few of the flicks I watched were The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Beyond, Equinox (recommended by Trey), Inferno, Tourist Trap, Rituals (aka The Creeper), Demons, and Alice, Sweet Alice.

6. Halloween

My favorite holiday! Now since I can’t follow around my nephews and niece trick or treating, the next best thing is having a horror movie marathon at home. I picked out several flicks as did my friend Trey who came over to share the evening with me. Unfortunately, Apryl had to go to class that night. During the day, I had gotten a pretty gruesome skeleton costume, which I dressed up in to answer the door throughout the night. I actually scared one little kid but not before she got her candy. (Sorry, there are no photos of me in this costume.) It was great that for the second year in a row, we got a lot of children ringing our bell. Trey helped out a lot with the door since I was also making homemade pizza and Halloween cookies, and it took way too long to get in and out of that costume. Plus, it was really hard to see where I was going in that thing. During the day, I had to practice getting to the front door, studying how many steps there were up and down the stairs. We watched several of Trey’s selections including the Halloween episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete and a Mario Bava short film called A Drop of Water.

Sadly, we got a phone call from Trey’s wife Rachel, who was coming over on her bike that night, telling us that she had been struck by a car and wasn’t sure where she was. Trey and I hopped in my car and found her a few blocks shy from our apartment. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt, only a little bruised and certainly shaken up. Afterwards, we called it an early night. I drove the two of them home, watched my ritual viewing of Night of the Living Dead, and went to bed.

The next day the realization that October was over settled in and left me depressed for the entire day.

Up next, The Holidays

I know, I know, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve last written a post. Apryl and I have been both real busy with school and work. Hopefully, I will have enough energy to fill you all in on what we’ve be up to (including how I wound up in the local Decatur, IL newspaper) later this week.

Until then, I thought some of you might be interested in this new function on Google Maps. First, from the viewing options, chose “street view” and then click on Chicago. After that, you can just drag the little Google person to any street that is outlined in blue to see a 360 view of the street. Unfortunately, the feature stops just before our apartment, but if you click on the intersection of N Western Ave and N Milwaukee Ave, you can see the area near our train station. Very cool.

A few days ago, I finally ventured over to the Vienna Beef Factory. Since the Vienna Beef brand is Chicago’s official hot dog, it’s odd that it’s taken me this long to make a trip over to the factory, especially since it’s less than a mile from our apartment. At first, I wasn’t aware that it was open to the public, but I must admit I found out the contrary several months ago and have done nothing with the new information. Well, I decided it was time to give it a try. I grabbed Lady Blue and peddled over to the factory, crossing my first major intersection in the process.

Once inside, I instantly noticed that there were a large percentage of construction workers on their lunch breaks, which my dad always taught me was a good sign and a clear indication at how good the food was at an establishment. There are three places to order from: take out deli meat, sandwiches, and hot dogs. Well, I was here for the hot dogs. I ordered a double dog which is two hot dogs on a poppy seed bun with all the trimmings. Chicago style trimmings are neon green relish, mustard, onions, sport peppers, tomato wedges, pickle, and celery salt. See below:

Man, it was good! We’ve been here for over a year now and this is probably the most authentic Chicago hot dog I have eaten. Which makes sense since the dog comes from the factory/corporate office of Chicago’s official hot dog. Now, I still love the other hot dog stands in our neighborhood, but the Vienna Beef factory is where I’m taking visitors who want an honest-to-goodness Chicago hot dog.

A while back, my dad and I picked up an old Schwinn bicycle at a garage sale. I don’t recall the exact price but it was practically pennies. The only thing we added were some new tires. For the past few years, the bike has been resting in my dad’s storage unit. Well, not anymore.

Before leaving Memphis, I grabbed the bike so I could ride it around Chicago. At first, the thought of riding a bike through Chicago traffic was a bit intimidating. But with some encouragement from my friend Trey, I was ready. So after working on the brakes and installing a new rear flashing reflector, I took to the road.

The new ride is a women’s Schwinn 1979 Collegiate 3. Yep, a female’s bicycle. The main difference between a men’s and a women’s bike is the crossbar. The fellow’s crossbar is straight while the lady’s slopes. Actually, there are advantage’s for a guy riding a female’s bike. The main one is that it’s easier to get on and off the bike. And there’s no threat of accidentally racking yourself in the crotch. Ouch!

Now, I’ve only been riding the bike for a few days but it’s already got me thinking why has it taken me this long to start riding a bike here. Not only is it quicker to get around but it’s a great way to see the neighborhood. As for the bike, I’ve given her a name: Lady Blue.

Check her out:

Today marks our one year anniversary of living in Chicago.

(Photo from Day 1)

Apryl and I had a good time at this years Bucktown Arts Festival, which took place practically right outside our door at the Senior Citizens Memorial Park this past weekend. The festival has been showcasing local and regional talent for the past 22 years and is run completely by volunteers. Last year when we moved up here, we missed the festival by one weekend. Which is probably for the best, since it might have been just a little too much to take in right away. Along with the art tents, there were poetry readings, theatre performances, live music, food, games for the kids, and even a short film festival.

And while it was extremely convenient and cool to be so close to large happening, I probably got the biggest kick out of the amount of folks that didn’t live in the neighborhood, but traveled out to Bucktown to attend our festival. And while there was a good crowd on Saturday, Sunday seemed to be twice as packed.

Along with window shopping, Apryl and I partook in watching the short film festival (our favorites were probably “Carmichael and Shane”, “Profiles In Science,” and “The Hideous Secrets of Hock Streedlefork”), watching performances such as an Aztec dance, and checking out bands like…

…The Diminisher, who certainly wouldn’t seem out of place on the Makeshift label.

And, of course, I had to pay a visit to my neighborhood pizza joint My Pie’s vendor station.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the recourses to buy any of the artwork, but we did have some favorite artists: Stan Piepenburg, Hiroshi Ariyama, and Dolan Geiman.

I did however get a cool t-shirt!

Check out all 17 photos from the weekend.