Here are a few more photos I took with my Evo phone during my mom’s visit last week:
October 4, 2010
Mom’s Visit
Last week, my mom visited us for the first time. Even though she had visited the Windy City when she was a child, she hadn’t seen Chicago as the modern, world-class city it is today.
Since she was arriving at night, I knew I had the perfect opportunity to show off one of the best views of the city at the Museum Campus. If I had a wide angle lens and the ability to use a long exposure, this photo would look quite impressive:
Afterward, we had a nice meal in our neighborhood at Feast, where I forewarned her that tomorrow we would be doing a lot of walking. I wouldn’t be kidding.
The next morning, we fueled up before our big day at our favorite breakfast spot, Toast. My mom went with my recommendation, the pancakes with mascarpone and toasted pine nuts. Here she is about to enjoy them:
So good. And since Toast is so filling, we were good until dinner time. We proceeded to walk off our meal, first checking out a garage sale near the Damen Blue Line, and then getting on the train to venture downtown.
The next few hours were spent shopping on State Street. Apryl had some ideas, including the massive Filene’s Basement and the beautiful interior of the once Marshall Field’s:
One of the biggest hit, though, might have been my mom’s finding, Loehmann’s. My mom has a strong devotion towards this department store. When its branch closed in Memphis, she was one of the last to leave before they locked up the doors for good. She told me it had been seven years since she had stepped foot in one. So, she was a bit excited when she looked up and saw the Loehmann’s signs beckoning her in from the cold (did I mention there was a chill in the air?):
However, as much as my mom loved rediscovering an old favorite, she might have been the most impressed with Apryl’s favorite downtown spot, the Chicago Cultural Center. It is here where one can see the awe-inspiring, world’s largest stained glass Tiffany dome:
There was also an interesting Louis Sullivan exhibit:
After hours of shopping and sight-seeing, we finally regained our appetite. And, you know that we couldn’t show off Chicago to my mom without a little pizza from a certain place:
After stuffing ourselves, we walked down Michigan Ave and to the John Hancock Observatory:
And here are some views:
The last image captures the fireworks going off at one of the nation’s most visited tourist attractions, Navy Pier.
On Sunday, my mom and I went to breakfast by ourselves at France’s Deli, which I believe serves the best pancakes in the city. My mom thought they were quite tasty.
Since it was cold, we decided to skip out on a boat tour, and instead checked out the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest conservatories in the United States. It is quite impressive. I would love to check it out again in the summer as well as in the winter, especially when there is snow on the ground. I took a lot of photos so here are just a few:
On the way back home, I took a detour to show my mom Harpo Studios:
That evening, my Mom and I went out by ourselves to dinner at Buona Terra in Logan Square. Great food. Great company. We had a nice conversation about our family history over some tasty Italian food.
The next day, I took my mom on a driving tour of Chicago. We started on the South Side in Hyde Park neighborhood, home of the Museum of Science and Industry. I found a rare parking spot on the University of Chicago campus, and we walked around checking such places as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel:
Leaving Hyde Park, we drove out to the far North Side to Evanston, where one can find Northwestern University and many, many beautiful homes.
On our way back to the city, we stopped in at the Chicago History Museum. Here my mom is in the Chicago Jazz and Blues exhibit:
That evening, we rejoined Apryl and took in the sights of Millennium Park:
Afterward, we walked across the street and had a wonderful meal at The Gage.
As we retired for the evening, my mom got a kick out of seeing the street workers watering all the downtown plants. I didn’t get a shot of their watering trucks, but here is a freshly watered pot:
The next morning, we had some Dunkin’ Donuts before heading out to Midway. It was a bit sad seeing my mom go, but we had a nice visit. I’m glad that she got to see where I live and work. Perhaps next time, she will visit during the summer, and won’t have to worry about layering up. We could even go to the beach.
For photos from my mom’s trip, click here.
September 30, 2010
September 22, 2010
Hayden the Vegetarian
Few know, but I have been a vegetarian for a month. Yep, that’s right.
Now, I have flirted with vegetarianism in the past, most notably for a few months in college. But at the moment, I am giving it a real shot. Part of my reasoning came from the fact that I don’t eat that much meat anyway, since Apryl is basically a vegetarian. More importantly, I saw Food, Inc., which made me really feel guilty about buying into a system of abuse and neglect. If you haven’t seen Food, Inc., I highly recommend it, although I’ll warn you that it is a film that will stick with you. I saw it months ago, and it was strong enough for me to make a change in my diet months afterward.
While I am going without, I want to stress that I am not making a judgment on those who eat meat. In Food, Inc. there is a farm highlighted that treats their animals with respect and without feeding them an improper diet or injecting them with hormones. If I could find a farm like that around here, I would be happy to rejoin the meateater team. So until then…
September 16, 2010
Sox vs. Twins – Attended Game #9
Sox 3, Twins 9
The White Sox’s season is over. All last week’s hopes have now been crushed. Zero chance making the playoffs. Now, we’re just playin’ for fun. Yet, little fun is being had.
September 13, 2010
My Evo.
Did I mention that I finally purchased a smart phone? The HTC EVO to be exact. I’m not one to usually go ga-ga over new technology, but I was excited about this new phone. I even bought it on launch day. Unlike an Apple release, no one was cheering me on as I walked into the Sprint building, nor did I receive a high five after dropping down a couple hundred. No, the most festive it got was a few balloons tied to the register. Whatever. It’s a good phone that keeps me connected with my clients throughout the day (so that I don’t lose a job) as well as entertains me with near a hundred downloaded apps (my favorite is this one). And whatever sexiness it lacks compared to the iPhone 4, it makes up for with no dropped calls, something that can’t be said for the AT&T service here in Chicago.
Anyway, I don’t really want to get into a tech review here. Really, I just wanted to share some arty photos taken by the EVO with the Vignette camera app during Apryl’s mom’s visit last week:
All of them here.
September 12, 2010
Cubs vs. Mets – Attended Game #8 (9/5/10)
Cubs 5, Mets 18
Last week, Apryl’s mom came to visit. A few days prior to her visit, she had mentioned that one of the things she wouldn’t mind doing while she was in town was attend a baseball game. She had a good reason for wanting to do so… she had never been to a Major League Baseball game. Since the White Sox were on the road (defeating the Red Sox in dramatic fashion, I might add), we hoped on the Addison bus and made our way to Wrigley Field.
Even if the Sox had been in town, I’d like to believe that I would have forgo my own team loyalties. For someone who has never been to a MLB game, Wrigley Field is one of the purest places in the world to experience our National Pastime. A day at the Friendly Confines isn’t marred with gimmicky promotions or loud, obnoxious music. The scoreboard doesn’t tell you when to start cheering or pressure you into kissing the person next to you. No, you have to make those decisions on your own. And while your insatiable need to text might take your attention from the play on the field, the fault of that diversion lies directly on you. Simply, if you want to experience baseball, Wrigley won’t let you down.
Not to say that the quality of play will always be stellar. During a disappointing season, the Cubs have given their fans ample excuses to daydream. At the time of this post, the Cubs are 19 games back and have the 4th worst home winning percentage record. This has resulted in some of the worst attendance in recent history at Wrigley (though still larger than most other ballparks). Surely, the new owner hadn’t planned on a season like this when he took over operations.
We didn’t experience a lackluster crowd. It was Labor Day weekend. The weather was beautiful. It was a perfect day for baseball. We arrived early. Earlier enough to catch Ronald McDonald throw out a pregame pitch from the mound:
As well as being Apryl’s mom’s first MLB game, it was also the first time Apryl kept score. I taught her right before the game started, and she grasped it quickly. However, she didn’t find it as relaxing as I do, and stopped in the 3rd inning. Though, she did keep it going while I went to the concession stand or the bathroom. Below, Apryl keeping score:
At the start of the 5th inning, the Cubs were winning 4 -2. And then, everything went wrong. Very wrong. The Mets scored five runs, which they would also do in the 8th and 9th inning. Around the 7th inning, a large majority of the crowd had left the ballpark and gone to the bars.
During the top of the ninth inning, when it seemed like the Cubs were never going to find a way to get that final out, a fan next to me told that I was going to run out of room on my scorecard. I told them there was plenty room left on the Cubs side. Below, the real story of the game:
Scorecard – Cubs
Scorecard – Mets
I love how the scorecard tells you more than the boxscore ever will. You can see how it took 3.5 hours to finish the game. Which might have been more than Apryl’s mom had bargained for. I am reminded of a story my friend Aaron told me about a cousin of his that didn’t like baseball, yet agreed to go to a Pirates doubleheader. The second game went into extra innings that I believe went to 18 innings (not as long as this one). So it could have been a harder introduction. In total, we witnessed 4 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, and 9 strikeouts from the starters. As for Apryl, I think her favorite part of the long day was finding out that there was a ballplayer named Angel Pagan.
Below, the gals:
August 30, 2010
Hollywood comes to Holstein Park.
Today, there were film crew trucks lined up all down Holstein Park as 20th Century Park were in our neighborhood filming a scene at the 16 inch softball field for an upcoming television show. I should have gotten a better picture of the actual filming, especially since you could walk right up to the scene. Instead, I got a photo of the sound mixer and these crew trucks:
August 29, 2010
Sox vs. Yankees – Attended Game #7 (8/28/10)
White Sox 9, Yankees 12
The last time I attended a ballgame, it was the love not lost match up between the two Chicago ball clubs. As a ranking of rivalry, I assumed when it came to the White Sox, the Cubs topped the list (with the Twins a close second). However, as I realized last night, the real hatred is reserved for the one and only New York Yankees. And let’s be honest, if you aren’t a fan of the Pinstripers, there is a good chance you take a certain joy in seeing them fail. When your ball club has won 27 World Series and 40 AL Pennants, you’re just showing off. And no one likes a show off.
Still, it is the Yankees. And I have never seen the Yankees. For one reason, tickets are prime for Yankee days, so it has usually been out of my price range for a ticket. But thanks to Steph and Adam, I used my Sox gift certificate from Christmas and bought a ticket just behind the right field wall, third row. A perfect spot for a souvenir homer run ball. Check out my view:
Pretty nice. You are so close to the field, you almost feel like you are a part of the game. Unfortunately, all seven home runs were hit to left field. Can you believe that? Oh well, it was a nice vantage point, and a seat that I will seek out in the future.
The game was also the first of the season that I decided to score myself. Every time I score, I seem to fascinate those around me. The guy behind made a point to show his wife what I was doing, as well as inquire me on what my plan was if in one inning, the lineup started over (which it almost did in the 5th, until Jeter flied out to center field). Another fan seemed obliged to tell me that I had bad handwriting when he was trying to figure out what had just happened on the field. Oh well, you could have just asked, and I would have been happy to translate my chicken scratch. You should be able to see, however, how Yankee pitching phenomenon C.C. Sabathia earned his keep as the highest paid pitcher in baseball history, collecting nine strikeouts:
The Sox did have a few bright moments, including the shortest home run that I have ever seen hit by Paul Konerko. Below, fireworks for Paulie:
Although the Sox made it interesting in the 9th, the Good Guys fail short to the Yankees. No shame. A lot of teams do. However, there seems to be a certain disappointment losing to a dynasty like the Yankees. Who wants to see Goliath win?
And oh, I forgot to mention how I saw three Yankees fans ejected from the game, including one right in front of me. A rough bunch, I tell you. As this fan’s shirt depicts, the Yankees are not a well liked ball club:
August 16, 2010
4th Anniversary!
Check out photos from our trip this past weekend in Galena, Illinois and Dubuque, Iowa.