4. The city skyline. This is not my favorite view, but it is the
easiest for me to access.
5. Lake Michigan. In 2009, the lake never warmed up for good
swimming, but 2008 was awesome. I was in the lake the last week of
September, not just wading but up past my waist while inde was swimming.
6. The lake shore trail, when it is not crowded. This reminds me of
the trail by the Schuykill River in the best city in the world.
7. Screwing St. Louis. When I look out into the lake, I see the intake
towers for the city water supply and I'm reminded of how the engineers
reversed the flow of the Chicago River and sent the Chicago sludge
south to St. Louis. Well done.
I will think long and hard to see if I can come up with three more
things I like about Chicago. Feel free to help me.
I also have a number of albums that I inherited from my older sister.
I believe that some of these are no longer available. These include
Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Frampton, the Rolling Stones (Sticky
Fingers - you know what I'm talking about). About four years ago I
bought a turntable to convert selected vinyl to digital. Today, I
finally started this project. I picked Jethro Tull as my first album.
After some difficulty setting up the player and installing the
software, I carefully pulled the album from the special protective
sheath that I purchased 30 years ago and placed it on the turntable.
Now, I'm blasting Teacher, Aqualung, Thick as a Brick and Bungle in
the Jungle. It really takes me back. I'm psyched that this actually
works, but not excited about: (1) manually entering the track breaks
as it converts, (2) manually entering the track information. There is
something nice about the little crackling you get when you listen to
vinyl.
This project should take me well into the summer. It took me almost a
year to load my 1,200 CDs into iTunes and that was largely automatic
after inserting the cd.
I thought not.
We are at our gate engaging in some class A people watching. So far,
three Saints shirts, zero colts shirts, 7 OSU shirts / hats, a whole
plane of KU, one ND, one Blackhawks, one Shamrock shuffle t-shirt, and
a raccoon wearing a flight attendant uniform. Full plane of Saints
fans. And when did it become ok to wear spandex tights and a tube top?
I know I ramble on about the superiority of the east coast, but I want
to emphasize that I am referring to the northeast - New York,
Philadelphia, and, maybe Boston.
1. Although flying is no longer the special event that it was say in
the fifties (when people dressed for a flight like they dressed for
church), at least one young boy still gives it the respect it
deserves. He showed up at the airport in his Iron Man costume. And,
no, he didn't set off the metal detector.
2. A pint glass at the airport pub actually is smaller than a pint and
still costs $6.75, plus tip.
3. Unlike Philadelphia airport, there is not a standard delay of 20-30
minutes when boarding every flight. So, if your flight is scheduled to
leave at 4, you really do need to be at your gate at 3:30 for them to
start boarding. If you show up at say 3:37, they will already have
boarded the entire A group and the first 50 people in the B group. You
will be stuck in the middle of 18 high school cheerleaders going to
some meet or competition.
4. Funnel cake is not just for county fairs. Nuts on Clark now serves
funnel cake and it is very good.
5. My watch no longer sets off the metal detector. I feel much safer.
6. The expert line at security actually goes slower for a number of
reasons: (a) everybody has a laptop and smart phone, which they are
using instead of getting their stuff into the bins; (b) the xray
machines have a shorter conveyor belt, which causes a log jam; and (c)
there are only two xray machines.
To those critics who wanted me to list the things I actually like
about the Midwest, here is the first one: my flights usually leave
midway on time or early. Don't worry, Philly, they still have an
unusually long wait at baggage claim.
