Day 4 (Belated): Chicago & Washington, IL

Why is this belated? Yonto and I spent most of Wednesday fighting against his new couch. We picked it up from a place nearly an hour away, and also picked up some ratcheting clamps - which sure were fun. But when we got it back to the apartment, it barely got through the door. It most definitely didn't fit in the elevator, although that didn't stop us from trying for close to three hours. We weren't even going to try the stairs, especially with Yonto on the 5th floor. At 2:30, we called it a day. I headed for Washington while Yonto went back to the store to try his luck at exchanging the couch.


The majority of my drive to Washington was spent on I-55. For the first stretch of I-55, I couldn't go more than 5 miles without running into some sort of slowdown. City traffic, flaming car wreck, general confusion over entrance and exit ramps - you name it. As Meg predicted, once I got past I-80, things cleared up. Good thing, too - after the couch ordeal, I wouldn't have been able to handle 100+ miles of congestion. While I was on the road, I was able to get this great picture.


Also while on the road, I wrote a couple of reminders on my hand. I didn't try to take pictures of the reminders while driving, but I did once I got to Mike and Meg's. On the back of my hand, I reminded myself to give Patrick his baptism card from Klondike. (Patrick, by the way, was baptized last October.)


On my palm, I reminded myself that the season premiere of Rescue Me was on Wednesday night at 9 central. That's a good show.


Next I tried to take pictures of Patrick, with varying success.



Finally, Mike and I went on a quick beer run to Friar Tuck's, which features mix-and-match six packs. Not pictured is Golden Pheasant, the Slovak beer I purchased. Since I was only in Washington for a few days, Mike and I decided not to purchase the bottle shown below:


I spend all of Thursday in Washington before heading out to the Field of Dreams and College World Series Friday. That's assuming I can figure out how to get in 8 hours of driving before 6 PM. Wish me luck

Day 3: Chicago

No pictures today, just words. It was another quiet day. Had I actually not spent so much time procrastinating, I might have actually gone somewhere or seen some people.

Yonto, Jess, and I did end up at a U of M bar named Duffy's. Fortunately, we were all incognito. It was dollar hamburger night, so Yonto and I each had two. Hey, one hamburger was cheaper than a side of fries. There was an American Idol-type contest going on, followed by a live band. The band's sound levels were a little loud, and Yonto and I were in direct line with the speaker. I hope I have hearing back in my right ear by tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, after helping Yonto move in his new couch, I'll be off to Casa Del Hatton in Washington, IL.

Day 2 (Belated): Chicago

Monday, I did (almost) nothing, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Actually, Yonto and I got up early for mass at St. Clement's - it was their end of school mass. After that, we went over to Jess' to take advantage of the Internet connection.

That evening, we found our way out to Downers Grove to meet up with Pete and Klondike at Ballydoyle, a "serviceable Irish pub."

I call this shot in my portfolio "Time Passes Along." Actually, I just accidentally hit the shutter button when I was passing my camera to Klondike.


"Eight megapixels?! You'll be able to make out my nose hairs!"


At Ballydoyle, I tried the chicken and spinach boxty. Presentation: A. Taste: A. Photography: D-.


Yonto's Guinness was served in a Beamish Stout glass. I thought his glass said "BE AMISH"... despite the fact that I myself was drinking a Beamish at the time.


Yonto and Klondike, and Pete and I entered the bags tournament the bar was having. "Bags" is apparently the local slang for cornhole. I still like to call it bean bag toss. Unfortunately, there is no photographic evidence of how awesome we did. Or not.

I neglected to pay attention to the bus schedule for the ride home. So, as Yonto and I were standing outside of Union Station, we had some time to kill. Here's a picture of the Sears Tower, taken before I learned how to turn off my flash.


Here's another picture of the tower taken from a different angle, after I learned to turn off my flash.


As I said, I dropped the ball on the bus schedule. But fortunately Jess was able to bail me out by picking up Yonto and me in front of Union Station and taking us home.

On deck for Tuesday: visiting the bones I didn't see yesterday and planning my trip to Washington, IL tomorrow.

Day 2: Chicago

No new pictures this time, but I just wanted to comment on how easy it has been to update the site so far. I wasn't able to pick up any wireless networks on ND's campus, but that hasn't been the case so far here in Chicago. I picked up 6 or 7 open wireless networks from Yonto's apartment. ("That's it?!" was Nick's response.) We're in Jess' apartment now, and there are no less than 17 wireless networks at my disposal.

Day 1: Notre Dame & Chicago

On my way out to Chicago, I decided to make a stop at Notre Dame.

One of the first things I saw was this lovely banner on Morrissey. I have a feeling that Dave and Mike will have some comments on that one.


This is the stained glass window closest to the Grotto - across from the old parish center. I'm not sure if this is a planned renovation, or if it's related to all the wind damage.


Speaking of wind damage, I walked around to the front of the Basilica, expecting to see rubble from the damaged spire. Wow, that fixed that pretty quickly.


This is the new statue behind Colman-Morse. I call it "Fake Field Goal Holy Family." The snap is back to Joseph. The Virgin Mother approaches for the kick and... OOOH IT'S A FAKE! Joseph tosses the Holy Child to Mary and she's off to the races!




I started wandering around campus looking for an open wireless network. As I rounded a corner, I glanced at these two people but kept on walking. Fortunately, they recognized me - it was Pete and Sarah, in town for Emmett O'Leary and Kathleen Eich's wedding. So I decided to wander around with them a little bit.

Pete wanted to make a stop in Keenan, and we visited the chapel for a second. My Grandma's Byzantine, so I knew she'd appreciate this painting.


Now that Pete knew I had a new digital camera, he decided to start taking pictures of Sarah and me in front of various monuments. We approached First Down Moses, and Pete and Sarah started talking about the various things that students had placed on Moses' hand and/or head over the year. In this picture, I tried to demonstrate to Sarah how such a trick was performed; she was not impressed.


Pete insisted on the traditional Touchdown Jesus shot. Funny, for all the years that I've walked by the Word of Life mosaic with my hands in the air, I've never actually taken too many pictures in front of it.


I guess the three of us were being artsy with this one. I guess.


After the last picture, Pete graciously Klondikized my camera.


After the three of us left Notre Dame (Pete took Sarah to the airport before returning to his new home), I headed out to meet Yonto and Jess in Chicago. We went to this little pizza place near Jess' apartment to watch the Cavs game. They had root beer on tap, see?


This shot is a "before" picture of two Cavs fans.


I'll be in Chicago til Wednesday morning. I'm hoping to round up everyone in the area for a bone dinner one night. On the off chance that someone in the area is reading this, how does Monday night at 8 sound?

EDITED While at ND, we briefly met up with Pete's sister. That led to this classic exchange:
PETE: Laura, this is John. Otherwise known as Kanka.
LAURA: Hi.
KANKA: Nice to meet you.
PETE: And that's probably the last time you'll hear anyone call him "John." Kind of like "Jim Moran."
SARAH: [honestly confused] Jim Moran? [pause] Oh, Klondike!