114/366 - Gordon Ramsay book signing

113/366 - Dark skies

Chicago weather is crazy

On my way home from work tonight I was stopped at a light on the corner of Chicago Ave. and Michigan Ave. I was on the east side of the street. There was a bit of a breeze, but it's wasn't extremely windy, at least not on the east side of the street. As I was waiting for the walk signal I noticed that the wind looked to be blowing significantly harder on the west side of the street. The people waiting for the light over there were struggling with their umbrellas. Their pants were wilding waving in the wind. I checked the wind on my side of the street. Was it really that much winder on the other side of the street? Sure enough, I didn't really feel any wind. I started walking across the street, and as I hit the yellow line the wind picked up. By the time I got over to the west side of the street I was feeling near-gale force winds. Yes, in Chicago it can be calm on one side of the street and wild on the other side of the street.

I love you, Chicago, but sometimes I don't love your weather.

112/366 - Tattooed Rock

111/366 - Blackbird

110/366 - Spring has sprung

Wireless

I love looking at cell phone coverage maps because my little section of Illinois is always brightly colored, indicating good coverage. It always makes me sad to see some of those states that are beige, indicating little or no coverage. Then I worry that one day I will be driving a beige patch, my car will break down, and I will be unable to get help because I won't get a signal. This doesn't weigh on my mind very much, though, because I can't remember the last time I was on a beige part of the map.

Because I feel the need to be connected all the time I have a great data plan as part of my cell phone package. Horror struck on Sunday, however, when I realized that my phone was alternating between the network with which the data plan works, and the network with which the data plan doesn't work. I had issues Sunday night and yesterday morning. Throughout the rest of the day, all was well. My e-mail was working. My Internet browser was working. All seemed okay, that is, until I returned home and started having problems again.

So I called my provider, who then connected me to someone at RIM, and basically I found out I have a signal problem. We found this out because I am getting the right network in the kitchen, dining room, and part of the living room, but not in the bedroom or the other part of the living room. I don't normally take my cell phone into the kitchen with me, so I didn't notice the fact that it worked in there before. The kind gentleman on the phone said it could be anything. Construction in the area. Someone in the next apartment putting up a metal shelf and blocking my data signal.

I guess if I'm going to lose my data signal it's best that it's while I'm at home. At least I have my computer there. Thank goodness I'm not one of those people who have no phone reception in their home.

109/366 - Rush hour + night game at Wrigley = public transit nightmare

As someone who rides the Red Line during rush hour, and is also a Cubs fan, perhaps I shouldn't complain. But, really, is there anything worse than being on the Red Line before or after a ballgame when you aren't actually going to the game?

108/366 - The price of gas keeps on rising, nothing comes for free

Of course the week I have to drive down to the Southwest Suburbs the price of gas nears $4 a gallon. Thank goodness I'm not commuting to Schaumburg anymore, eh?

107/366 - Elevated train wall

106/366 - Incoming

105/366 - Good night, Lawrence

Tonight was one of those perfect weather nights. The sort of night when you leave the bar but don't notice a temperature change. Where you don't notice the weather until there is a slight breeze that tussles your hair, because the temperature is that comfortable. These are the nights I live for.

104/366 - Sundial

Okay, I know it's not the word "Sundial," but as I was uploading this picture this song popped into my head, so I thought I would share.

103/366 - Street art

102/366 - It's official

For the first time in my life this song seems relevant. Not that teachers ever gave me dirty looks or anything. But I think I'm done with school for the rest of my life now.

101/366 - Contruction

100/366 - Fire escape

099/366 - Cup o' heaven

Today is the perfect coffee shop day. It's cold and a bit rainy. Is there a better kind of day for curling up in a coffee shop with a cafe au lait and a good book? I think not. What made today even more special was that I started a new book, a book I'm reading for sheer pleasure, for the first time in over a year. While I was finishing school I didn't really have the motivation to read a whole book for pleasure. I would read magazine articles and newspaper articles, but nothing as long as a book. A new read, a yummy cupcake, and a huge cup of coffee made for a heavenly afternoon.

Oooh, could somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?

It appears that tickets sold out in less than 10 minutes, but we got them. Finally, I have tickets to another show! The show is the day after my birthday, what a lovely present :)

Thanks, Flight of the Conchords!



Now, do I get tickets for South or not?

098/366 - What is that, a martial arts attack dummy?

097/366 - Smoke dreams

As you may have noticed, I'm a little behind on my Project 365 posts. Dissertations will do that. I will be taking a few photos a day until I'm caught up. As you can see I'm getting desperate. Look at this. Why would I take a picture of this? Because the train stopped and I needed a picture, that's why. I'm hoping that once I'm caught up the photos here will be more interesting. Bear with me.

096/366 - Blue skies, finally

What a beautiful day. This weather has been so weird. Last weekend was beautiful, probably the first full weekend of nice weather we've had this year. Then it was rainy and icky for a while. But today was nice. I see the weather people are predicting a gross weekend. Mother Nature, she is evil isn't she?

095/366 - Stone face

You can't see it, but I'm hanging my head

This makes me very unhappy.

The White Sox and Blackhawks today will announce a far-reaching marketing partnership in which each club will promote themselves in the other club’s building and within the other club’s media inventory, a rarely heard-of practice for clubs not controlled by the same ownership group. The pact, signed for one year but eyed for a longer term, will begin today at the White Sox’ home opener with a video to be shown at the stadium that will feature Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane and C Jonathan Toews in White Sox hockey jerseys.

Given that the Blackhawks' president used to work for the Cubs, isn't this a bit weird?

The lineup is out!!!

So the Lollapalooza lineup has been announced.

Who am I most excited about so far?

Well...

Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
Nine Inch Nails
Kanye West
Wilco
The Raconteurs
Love and Rockets
Gnarls Barkley
Bloc Party
Broken Social Scene
Mark Ronson
Flogging Molly
The National
Gogol Bordello
Girl Talk
CSS (I hope they actually make it this year!)
The Kills
The Gutter Twins
Yeasayer
MGMT
The Weakerthans
Louis XIV
The Ting Tings
Kid Sister
Office
The Cool Kids
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's
Witchcraft

It's not that I'm not looking forward to other artists, it is just that at first glance these were the ones I was happiest about. The "excited for" list will probably change weekly.

094/366 - My new shoes

093/366 - A store I will never shop in

092/366 - PB&J Omelet

Is my boyfriend pregnant? Because this is just wrong. No, I didn't try it.

091/366 - Yarn & wigs, though not together

090/366 - Fourth Presbyterian Church

089/366 - Spicy mango shrimp

Tonight my boyfriend and I had dinner at Summer Noodles and Rice. We first noticed the place back in about January, but it's been open since October. We thought it looked interesting at the time, and decided we want to check it out. Then I read in the Red Eye a week or so ago that it's a BYOB with no corkage fee, and then I decided we needed to go soon. Like today.

The first thing I noticed was that it was sleeker looking than most of the other small Asian restaurants on the Far North Side. Electronica music was being played, and that added to the atmosphere.

I had the spicy mango shrimp, and it was very yummy. My boyfriend had the panang salmon, which was also great. We brought a bottle of Ryan Patrick Naked Chardonnay that we bought at another recent local find, Taste Food & Wine.

Overall we really enjoyed the place, and we plan on going back.

088/366 - de-troit-sucks

Okay, so they really don't, but they did last night.

087/366 - Tulip

One of the tulips I received from a coworker for successfully defending my dissertation.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

I've lived in my neighborhood since August of 1997, and I've seen many changes during that time. Most of these changes have been for the better.

The crime rate decreased.

There are more coffee shops (I have a bit of a caffeine addiction)

New restaurants - some mom and pop's, some fancier ones. I welcome both.

Through all of this, the diversity in my neighborhood doesn't seem to have changed. That's a good thing, since that is what I like best about my neighborhood. I love going to the park by the lake and seeing that most of the people there don't look like me.

That said, a memory of a now-gone business has me feeling a sense of mourning today. When I first moved into the neighborhood there was a music shop around the block from the apartment I was living in at the time. I think it was called Vibe, but I might be wrong about that now. It had new and used CDs. I sometimes looked at the new CDs, but usually I only browsed the used ones.

I still remember the first album I bought in there. I went back to the suburbs one weekend, and spent one evening hanging out with a friend of mine that I used to work with. She was a huge David Bowie fan, and I realized around mid-week, after coming home, that I had had "Suffragette City" in my head since the weekend. As shocking as this might be to people who know me well, back in the late '90s I didn't actually own an album with "Suffragette City" on it. So I went into the music shop, found a used copy of Changesbowie for cheap, and picked it up. I must have played that album on repeat for days.



It wasn't long before the music store closed. Given that on most of my visits I was the only customer in the store I can't say that I was surprised. Just saddened. It was vacant for a while. Now it's a Starbucks, and as much as I love Starbucks coffee, I loved my music store more. I wish I could just walk up the street and browse used CDs again. I could go to Reckless Records, which is a great store, but I miss having a music store so close to my home. Maybe it's a good thing, though, as I'm broke enough the way it is.

The reason I'm missing this shop more than usual lately is because my boyfriend managed to put the song "Ashes To Ashes" into my head a few days ago, and it's been firmly implanted. There are no signs that this earworm is going to be gone any time soon. That song is also on Changesbowie, and, well, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this.