weather can NOT make it better

so that picture down there was just about the last time i ever saw my bike. when i finished studying about 2 hours after i took that picture, i moved it to another bike rack downtown, locked it on the standard chicago bike rack with the extra safe lock (thanks, kryptonite) and left it there for about 4 hours while i went to see a play with kim. and then i went to get it, and it was gone. no trace, no wheel, no chain, no busted lock, just gone.

: (

weather can make it better

oh my gosh you guys, have you been outside? it's so nice outside today!!! my computer says it's 67º! (i know because i am inside with my computer, and it tells me how nice it is outside while i study and observe that it certainly LOOKS nice out there from in here with my books.) on sunday it was blowing snow so hard at night that the snow drifts were stuck to the side of our house on monday morning! and today it's like summer outside. i unwrapped my bike from its winter cocoon of tarp and ropes and cleaned it up just so i could ride downtown and study this afternoon. that's my bike right there--look how happy it is be have its chain nice and greased up, sitting downtown in the sunlight. i'm surprised it didn't get rickets from not getting any sunlight all winter. i'm really surprised about that. that it didn't get a vitamin d deficiency and then osteomalacia from its 3 months without sunlight. isn't that really surprising? i'm really glad my bike doesn't have rickets. oh, these medical jokes just NEVER stop being funny. right, guys?

pictorial update essay, pt. 5--anniversaries

On June 30 we made it to our 1st Anniversary – much to our own great surprise. Despite being extremely busy with school stuff, Jeremy found a way to sneak around and craft an incredible surprise treasure hunt. I came home from work on July 3 to find an empty house and a poem about zombies. Tres romantique! The poem led me to a glass head sculpture where Jeremy had hidden the next clue – a list of “inside references” that we’d cultivated over the last year about locations in our neighborhood. So I got on my bike and criss-crossed the neighborhood collecting sealed envelopes from under mailboxes, behind street signs, and from local shopkeepers.


Each envelope held a line from one of our favorite songs – “This Will Be Our Year” by the Zombies – which, when I put them in order, provided latitude and longitude coordinates. So I used the GPS to follow them downtown to where Jeremy had managed to get us an executive suite at the Hyatt, overlooking Lake Michigan, the river, and Navy Pier. After getting our free happy hour and dessert buffet, we walked 5 minutes to the Independence Day fireworks over the lake. What a clever clever boy!

The next day, the 4th of July, we wandered downtown for a while, watched the kids playing in the fountains in Millenium Park and finally headed to a friend’s BBQ. And then, the REAL fun began… as the sun started to set in Pilsen, the cars disappeared from the streets as families emerged with literally armloads of fireworks. From about 8 pm to 2 am, our neighborhood was about as close to a war zone as I ever hope to get – smoke billowing through the streets, explosions everywhere, sparks and shrapnel flying, booms, cracks, hisses, and ratatats echoing off of buildings. At one point we had to ride our bikes through it, and we can attest to the fact that fearing for your life is a great adrenaline rush.

From the roof our building, we could see probably thousands of fireworks being set off all across the city. It was the best 4th of July ever – a 360 degree panoramic show. Here's a video of a little bit of what it looked (and sounded) like:

wish you were here

as you may recall, my good friend aaron is in town this week to enjoy some chicago summertime fun. i thought since he's here and doesn't have anything better to do i'd have him guest-write about our activities thus far. aaron, take it away!

my name is aaron and i got jeremy's secret password, guarded by several laser beam-emitting guard dogs whose breath releases tiny little tracking devises which eventually shoot spikes that drive straight through your heart if you're not him. needless to say, it was a pretty tough, but i was inspired by the most recent film i saw, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." thanks george lucas. i thought there would be aliens involved at some point in my quest, but jeremy remained unpredictable even in his password defense system. he obviously did not consult mr. lucas. this, however, is not the purpose of my entry. it is, rather, to talk about the current state of affairs in chicago since i am here.

yesterday i arrived just in time to watch the usa v. england soccer match. even though the usa looked poorly outmatched, that did not mean that a person could not have fun in this country. we soon made that fun part of our life with an evening of grilling burgers topped with 7 or 8 different condiments. it felt more like the america i was used to. if there had been a burger- stacking competition with us (jeremy, kim, and i) versus some brits (let's say, tony blair, winston churchill, and king john) i'd say we would make them miss revolutionary war-era america.

anyway, lots of fun is set up for the next 2 days. a concert tonight, a spy game this afternoon (look for me reading suspiciously in a café, jeremy playing his guitar ever so slyly on the corner, and kim strategically yakking on her cell phone). tomorrow we have an ushering gig at some highfalutin theatre. maybe jerm will blog about it later.

-aaron

summer to-do

since this summer is both the first and last break we'll have as medical students (and therefore the last one ever), "what are you doing this summer?" was probably the most popular conversation starter the last month or so of school. so i thought i'd let you all know a little bit about what i'm going to do with my 102 days of freedom.

officially, the big thing this summer off from classes is...more classes. as some of you may have heard, in addition to working toward a medical degree, i plan to also get a masters in public health, and classes for that degree begin this summer. explaining what exactly public health is should probably be its own post, but briefly, i'm taking these classes to hopefully be a smarter doctor, one who thinks not only about what his patient is sick with, but also what about his patient's life is making him sick--where he lives, his behaviors, etc. in some ways it's like focusing on the leaky pipe instead of cleaning up the puddle on the floor, if that makes sense.

but of course that's not all i'm doing this summer--far from it! there's going to be lots of voluntary reading of non-textbook books (with an emphasis, though, on books about medicine and...uh, saving the world), and going to concerts (starting with m83 with aaron next week, and also including a couple free days at the pitchfork festival), and buying a condo (we've almost decided--very soon there'll be an extra bedroom for you the next time you come to chicago!), and watching soccer (the champions league final was yesterday, and the european championships start june 6), and maybe traveling (we're waiting to see if any smoking deals show up for last-minute flights), grilling food and then eating it, and riding my bike all over the place, and just a whole bunch of fun things. i'm pretty excited, and i guess now you know a little of what will be populating the old blog the next several weeks--so there's something to look forward to!

what about you guys? got any good, exciting plans for the summer? the comments section isn't going to write itself!

best summer ever

ok, sorry about that absence there. i counted, and this year i filled out 28 of those bad boys up there this year. if it makes you feel any better, all you really missed by me not blogging is "i studied today" posted about 100 times. not that much to read.

but today life got a lot better: i finished my first year of med school. a classmate informed me we have 102 days until next year starts. 102 glorious days!

anyway, while this post is full of numerical data, i realize it's a little low on funny. but fret not--consider yourself warned that the blog is back, and i'm going to make all kinds of stuff happen around here. you'll see.

Kim vs. The Chicago Transit Authority

Dear long lost friends -

Please forgive our great delay in the land of blog. Mr. Howe Jr. has science-y factoids coming out of his ears and is in no state to compose witty blog posts. Recently he has become addicted to the soundtrack for the musical Wicked, and yesterday I overheard him in the bathroom singing something along the lines of "anterior pericardiacophrenic-fraschia minor" to the tune of "Popular." (Now that I think of it, that DOES sound like something the Wicked Witch would say.)

And I, dear readers, have been studying for my own upcoming test, because - being a chronic biter-off-of-more-than-I-can-chew - I am applying for grad school as well. Marriage, med school, new job, new neighborhood, grown up life... it's just not ENOUGH!

And as a super awesome bonus to these already super things - we also experienced several tragic deaths this month: jeremy's laptop and our transmission are both in technology heaven, to the tune of of $2000. [Update: Engine mounts now... make that $2300.]

Anyway, those are a smattering of excuses for the great delay in our blogging. But we don't want to leave the people's votes unanswered, so without further ado...

Kim vs. The Chicago Transit Authority
* * WARNING * *

Includes language inappropriate for children under 18 or parents over 50.

Several weeks ago my job took a field trip, as we often do. The purpose of this particular excursion was to familiarize ourselves with the buses and trains that service our worksites, even though none of us would actually be using these particular buses or trains to get to our worksites. That's just what we do. Don't ask questions.

We were a group of 12; 10 of us had the normal cardboard passes, and 2 of us had those newfangled plastic psychic cards that are connected to your bank account and which the CTA has been pushing for "convenience and ease of boarding."

I got on the bus last, waved my psychic card over the "magic spot," and went to sit down. About halfway to my seat, the driver called me to come back.

Me: "What's wrong?"
Mr. Driver: "You have to pay."
Me: "Oh, sorry. I thought I did." (waves card again)
Mr. Driver: "Your card doesn't work."
"But I just used it on the last bus like two minu..."
"You can't do that."
"Do what?"
"You can't use it like that."
"Like what?"
"You have to wait 20 minutes." (not true)
"Uh... how are you supposed to change buses if you have to wai..."
"You can't do that."
"Okay. I'm a little confused. What's the problem here exactly?" (she says, politely)
"Your card doesn't work."
"Well, how do you know? What does the machine say? It is invalid? Or just not deducting? Overdrawn? Does it SAY it was used too recent..."
"Pay the fare, ma'am."
"This is supposed to be a transfer from the last bus! I shouldn't have to pay again if you can't even tell me why!"
"Pay the fare or get off the bus!"
"What?!"
"PAY THE FARE OR GET OFF THE BUS!"
"You are freaking kidding! Unbelievable!! FINE!"
(And she stomps to the back of the bus to beg change from her coworkers.)

At this point, the slow forward momentum of the bus comes to a screeching halt, and I nearly fall down in the aisle.

Mr. Driver is standing at the front of the bus, feet planted like a gunslinger, pointing at me and yelling: "PAY THE FARE BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE!!"

Me (shouting back across the length of the bus and over several Mexican women): "I'M COMING, FOR F***'S SAKE!!"

Marching back to the front of the bus, I end up nose to nose with Mr. Driver, and holding my two dollars above the machine, I whisper in a voice of barely suppressed rage:
"Here's your two dollars. But I shouldn't have to pay this. I already paid, my card works, and you are rude and an idiot."
(money enters machine)
Mr. Driver: "Get off my bus!"
"No. I already paid."
"GET OFF MY BUS OR I'M CALLING THE POLICE!!"
"NO! I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE HERE! AND I WANT YOUR BADGE NUMBER!"
"Well then find it."

And we stood there glaring at each other, while the rest of the bus waited for the climax of our epic faceoff.

Eventually I spotted his badge number and ferociously scribbled it down while I scowled at him, and then stomped back to my seat, while he continued glaring at me in the rearview mirror.

The best part: A few minutes later the old lady sitting next to me leaned over and whispered, very knowingly, as only old ladies can, "He's kind of bastard..."

About a week later, after calling twice and sending two emails and a letter to the CTA, I received the following note: "As soon as your initial complaint was received, it was immediately forwarded to the General Manager of the garage where the #60 route originates to begin an investigation. That review showed your card actually did register the 25-cent transfer fee when you boarded the #60 bus at about 2:47 p.m., so we will have to check the farebox to see if there was a malfunction."

And that's basically the end. I guess this story is a bit anticlimactic after all that shouting' and stompin'. It would have been better if we'd had a throwdown in the aisle, and then Mr. Driver went unconscious after my wicked pile driver, and then I'd commandeered the bus and given free rides for everyone. And tootsie rolls. Yeah. That would have been awesome. Maybe next time.

Next up: Sleep Talking or Cadaver Life (or Living Cadavers Talking in Their Sleep... one of those).

life in the city

when i moved out to chicago, one of the big exciting reasons for being here was the rock shows--chicago is obviously a big city, but it's also a music city, so there's a non-stop supply of excellent shows coming to town. and when i got here i was not disappointed with what was on offer. among others, i saw modest mouse, bjork, menomena (to name three bands i'd never seen before but really wanted to), and have just really enjoyed the scene out here. what i hadn't thought of, though, is how hard it is to be in a town with all those great shows and be so busy i can't go to them. last weekend the flaming lips, bloc party, and andrew bird were in town, for example. meanwhile i had a physiology test to study for. or a really great show will come to town (the national and st. vincent next saturday), and i will be unsure of my schedule and the show will sell out by the time i know i can go. (sad!)

while missing the music is sad, though, i also hadn't thought much about all the soccer that would come to town. this sunday kim and i and some M1's from school went to see the US play an awesome game against brazil. i high-fived and hugged friends and strangers, i screamed until my voice was hoarse (and screamed some more), and left feeling pretty good about US soccer again. we played really well, taking the early lead, and then pulling even again at 2-2. and when ronaldinho scored on a curling free kick to make it 3-2, the disappointment of going behind was eased by the excitement of having seen such a wonder in person.

in other headline-worthy news, last night the new stereo finally came in the mail. you may recall, as part of God's "happy birthday lightning extravaganza" package, i got the opportunity to replace my fried stereo with something new. and behold the wondrous result:



look at its switches! its knobs! its needles! it's so glooooorious! after a couple weeks without music in the house (an eternity!), kim and i celebrated our new arrangement (which also includes a new replacement wireless router with wireless music capability) by setting up camp on the couch and listening to music (well, and sleeping) for a few hours. yay, music!

Adulthood Update

Hello family and peeps around the world.

I have some big news. I am a grown up now and I have proof. Hard evidence in the form of an annual salary and a health plan.

As of Monday, I will be starting my first ever full-time adult-type job. Of course, I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs, but until now in my life, people have overlooked that little part about adequate reimbursement. Usually around April 15, the IRS sends me a little note that says, "We are sorry about your sad situation. Here's some money for groceries."

But after much looking, I've been hired by the University of Chicago as faculty in their Literacy Department. Basically, in the mornings I'll be working at Head Start locations with a team of Americorps volunteers, teaching English to the parents of Head Start kids, and in the afternoons I'll focus on mentoring the Americorps folks, who are all local community members - GED students, moms whose kids are in school, etc.

So it'll be a really great blend of classroom time and relational focus, with lots of strategy and challenge. AND, I work like 5 minutes from Jer's classes, am on an academic schedule (so we get the same breaks), and get FREE TUITION at UIC! Whee! Higher education, here I come! And of course there's that bit about having a real income for a change.

Plus, to top it all off, in congratulations for getting the job, the Howe parentals sent me a lovely houseplant (the houseplant of my dreams!) so not only do I have a job, I also have a kick-butt plant.

Really. Could life get any better?
(Yes. But it would involve more houseplants, probably.)

overdue update, part 3: our apartment

editor's note: this is the third in a three part series of...overdue updates. gosh, my title was so effective this editor's note feels sort of superfluous. anyway, the other two are directly below this one. don't miss out!

after a lot of painting, hauling, throwing away, and stowing in hidden places, our apartment is finally completed. last night we had an open house so our friends around here could see us and our new place, but just in case you couldn't make it and you don't live close enough to expect you'll be able to stop by in the next couple weeks, here are some photos of our place.

when you first walk into our apartment, this is what you see. it's our kitchen, and we're pretty pleased with it. note the shelves and radical dish arrangement, which we did ourselves, and the excellent yellow ("semolina", the paint can says). also note the fire escape exit out the window, which is how you get to our excellent roof-top views of the city.





here's the other wall of our kitchen. as you can see, there's not a lot of storage space, which leads to such things as dish displays, or (as in this photo) a suspended dish-drying shelf system, which is unanimously referred to (by kim and myself) as "ingenious". hm...also, we have a mat by the sink, which is nice.

if you look to your right when you come in the front door, you see a bathroom. this one, in fact. but i mean, it's just a bathroom, so...let's move on, shall we?










don't just stand there in our front door, come on in! you could walk, for example, into our living room. it has these windows, which is pretty much my favorite part of this place. that, and the tall ceilings. it's really pretty nice. if you come over, you can have dibs on the love seat. kim made the coverings for the cushions you see here, and even though it was her first such endeavor they turned out really great. she's kind of amazing that way.

to the right of those windows is the old music corner. as you can see, i've got some more plywood crates--my dad and i were busy when i got back to nebraska. this is probably my favorite corner of my favorite room in the house. i just think it looks really quite nice. and now there's room for expansion of the collection, which is of course really important. what good is a record collection if you're not always getting more and more and more? exactly.

next wall to the right is the door back to the kitchen. don't you just love how ridiculously detailed this tour is? aren't you glad you're not here in person, and feeling obligated to say "oo, neat!" or "i love what you've done with the color in this room!"? yeah, i thought so.


i'm sure you're wondering, so i'll tell you. the criteria for the selection of records to place on a wall display is complicated, but can be broken into four broad categories: musical quality, artwork, overall value, and context. obviously, if i don't actually like the music, the album has no business being displayed. and, since it's doubling as decor, the artwork had better be pleasing to look at. value refers to a record's worth. this could mean monetary value, as in the case of that death cab album, which is both an original pressing and out of print, or to sentimental value, such as its neighbor the notwist album, which i purchased in barcelona. what a souvenir! finally, context can mean the color of the wall behind the record, or to the records around it, or to any records also being displayed. two records by the same artist just wouldn't do, for example.

fret not, dear reader, our tour is coming to its end. here's our bedroom, and the final room in our apartment. i like the bedspread, and the color, which kim selected and even painted while i fell asleep on the bed, mumbling how i'd be very happy to help her tomorrow if she'd just quit for the night.

here's a very nice piece of furniture, which we bought off the previous tenant of this apartment. not only is it full of books we love (well, mostly), it's also got a ton of character and looks just amazing. plus, we didn't have to move it really at all, since it was already in the apartment when we got here. i wish i could at least pretend to be ironically taking this much pride in the apartment, or at least in the detail to which this pictorial show is going, but...i can't even pretend!

here, for the sake of completeness, is the last walls of our bedroom. and there's our closet door! as you can see, my desk had to sacrifice its amazing paint job for the room, which was kind of sad, but ultimately i suppose the desk and i both knew that one day its wild color scheme would meet its end for some greater, more color coordinated good. all the same, i sleep better at night knowing its bright colors aren't gone forever, they're just resting beneath the olive exterior.


so that's the apartment--believe me, it's even better in person, so come by and see it (us)! we'd love to have you come visit.

and finally, this is my 100th post on this blog. i wish i had something momentous to say, but i feel like the milestone entry being one that droned on endlessly about the boring minutiae of something like home decor feels ironically, beautifully appropriate on its own, and we'll leave things at that.

overdue update, part 2: silly jobs and free things

on friday i worked for the company which had previously employed me as an international man of mystery. but my job this week was to be a street musician. i played songs downtown, and the teams had to find me, give me a dollar (yes!), and then identify the song i played to get points for that mission. this ought to be a pretty straightforward task, but i was pretty stressed the morning of the job because of my inability to identify what qualifies as a well-known song. i spend such an inordinate amount of time listening to music, or finding new music, or reading about it, that i've sort of lost track of what normal, non-music nerd people know about. add to that that the people playing were a generation or two removed from me (but not so old that they grew up on rock in the 60's), and you see why i was wringing my hands, deciding if "rebel rebel" (or any david bowie song, for that matter) is really as famous as i think it is, or as it ought to be, or if people who aren't within 10 years of me know anything by radiohead, or do 40 year olds like kelly clarkson, and so on. it was a tough job, and i hated to be so unoriginal, but i ended up using the beatles. beatles songs are pretty much as universal as oxygen, which probably means it was too easy, but at least people had fun. and gave me money.

it's very interesting to people watch whilst playing guitar in a place with lots of foot traffic. when the first group came, they gave me a cup to put money in so i could collect money from passersby while i waited for other teams. so i was able to note the before and after difference: when you play on the street without a place to put money, people look at you freely, curiously ("where's his money collection place?"). they don't mind when you smile at them and make eye contact, and they smile back, and even sometimes talk to you if you're not singing. after i got the money cup, though, some people tried to look at me without making it obvious that they were looking at me, or even implicitly admitting they knew i was there. and let me just say, most people are pretty bad at doing that. in fact, i'm going to recommend that unless you've been trained in the cia or some other spy institution/ninja school, that you should not try. you're probably not very good, either. i would quit, but like i said, i've been hired as a spy as recently as a month ago, so i'm good to go.

other people (probably people who have seen video footage of themselves trying to look without looking) tried a different sort of covert operation. as they approached, they assessed the situation: "street performer. wants my money. probably desperate. will attack me with guitar or look angrily at me if i don't pay up. DON'T want to pay." so here's the great escape plan. as they come by, they look down at the ground (the first rule is always to avoid eye contact), and then just as they pass, they reach about half the length of their fingers into their pocket as if to reach in for some money, continue by, and then once at a safe distance, remove their hand. it was funny, because it's like they care enough to pretend to want to pay, but not enough to make it convincing. it's the thought that counts, after all. and i'm not complaining at all--in fact i felt sort of guilty when people did throw a buck in my cup, like they imagined i was starving or something, and if they knew i was getting paid like $20/hour they'd feel like i scammed them or something.

speaking of scams, you know those annoying pop-up ads you sometimes find on the internet about getting free electronics? you know, the ones you don't even read, the super annoying ones that mean that epileptics can't ever be on the internet? well, it turns out they're not all evil scams at all--photographed above is the macbook kim got for free just by doing one of those things. she had to sign up for several free trials of various subscription services or credit cards or various other things, and then cancel them before she had to pay anything, and then hassle the business in charge, and they eventually sent her this little beauty, which is so much cooler than my computer that i'm a tiny bit jealous of her. actually, i guess it isn't quite true to say it was free--one of the services charged her $70 because she didn't cancel in time. but, she also got about $80 in gift cards by signing up, so she ended up $10 in the black. $10, plus one free laptop. she's a pretty smart person, even if she is crazy.

overdue update, part 1: adventures with aaron

boy howdy, things have been pretty crazy lately. since getting hitched, kim and i have been racking up the frequent flier miles: trips to colorado springs, california, and nebraska, and this week we're heading to maine to see my friends chris and tarah get married. the day after i get back, med school orientation starts. unfortunately being so busy has meant not having time to update this blog with all the excellent things we've been doing. i think my new year's resolution next year will be seeking that balance: having enough time to write on my blog, but not having so much free time that i never have interesting things to tell about when i write. ah, the zen of the taoist blogger's life. here is a story from recent life...

last weekend my friend aaron came and visited our humble abode so we could all go see sevilla, our hometown team (in spain), play soccer here in chicago. we did, and that was fun, but the next night as we walked around downtown, we came across quite a scene. policemen were running around everywhere, putting up caution tape and herding people along, trying to stop them from taking pictures. we walked a little further on, and saw the burned out body of a crashed helicopter laying on the intersection amongst all the skyscrapers.

we walked a bit further and saw an armored police van, and as we looked closer we saw where someone had shot it several times. we also saw along the side where it said "gotham police department", and then we noticed that all the cars along the street had gotham license plates on them. we had walked right onto the set of the new batman movie while they were still setting up the perimeter tape to keep us out. as we took pictures, some movie people with headsets and walkie talkies ushered us away, but not before kim talked to one of them about being an extra in the movie.

that guy told kim the name of the casting director, so with our taste for movie crashing adventure thus piqued, we walked further along and talked to another official looking person, claiming to be extras and asking where we might find that guy. our use of the name was impressive enough that that official looked us up an address, which made us even more convincing when we got to the next person, asking for an address, a name, and with a plausible movie role. unfortunately, at this point we were back to the people who had first kicked us out, so aaron and i, fearing we'd be recognized (they call it "made" in the business), walked on while kim gained access to the building where the extras go. a security guard there asked for her name, which she supplied, and when he told her she wasn't on the list, she replied "really? i was told to meet (director's name) here at 7:00 with all the extras." so security guard told her where to go, and she made it in where all the extras were waiting to film the movie's big chase scene that night. apparently, there were snacks and assorted free foods, but kim only hung out for a little bit before she left to find us again.

anyway, here's a few other pictures from the weekend:

here's the three of us post-game, after walking from soldier field to the museum campus to enjoy the skyline at night. it's really a very nice skyline--come stay with us and we'll show you!





here's aaron and i enjoying chicago dogs. because i am stuffing my face, you can't tell how happy i am to have found a hot dog eating buddy (kim is apparently biologically or philosophically opposed to "encased meats" as she calls them. see, i told you she's crazy.). plus, these were pretty good dogs.






on saturday we went on an architectural cruise, which was pretty cool. after that (and before batman), we checked out this flamenco show in millennium park. it's a nice view from here, but we mostly watched the show a little closer. like, where you could see what was happening on the stage.


after our batman adventure we grilled out (on my third story fire escape stairway), and had a sing-along time. aaron and i used to play together all the time, so he brought his guitar out with him so we could enjoy that together. hopefully our neighbors enjoyed it as well, even when it got sort of loud singing oh, darling at about 2am. well, we had fun anyway.

moving in, kim and jeremy style

here's a shot of our new apartment. and our old car. and our ingenious method for moving and hauling the groceries, etc. ultimately we hope to involve several pulleys and lots of clips and wenches and things. when you come to visit us, if you don't feel like walking up stairs we'll probably just put you in the basket. it'll be fun!

things are going well--we're still getting settled in, and there's of course the decisions about the color of the paint and the arrangement of boxes and records and furniture and all of that stuff. but it's coming together. when everything is in its place kim and i will give you a grand tour of the place. it should be a good time.

oh and by the way i'm using the apple store's internet right now, where i also tried out an iphone and hot diggity they are just really, really, really neat. i realize that they're sort of a big item you've already heard about, and that i should probably have something more to say if i'm going to mention such a ubiquitous device/pop culture phenomenon, but...that's all i have to say. it's really, really, really neat. and also hot diggity.

chicago, leading the way

chicago is a notable, leading city in many things. we've got the olympic bid, we've got the cuisine (i'd mention more than chicago dogs and italian beefs if it didn't seem so much like bragging), the architecture, the culture, the list goes on and on. and this summer we're #1 in a whole new category: gas prices. that's right, the highest! the number 1, most expensive in the whole country. in your face, everyone else!

and as if that wasn't enough, we're also at the top (or bottom) of another pile. our mail service is the worst in the country. that probably explains why i STILL can't get mail forwarded to me from my lincoln address. this honor is special, though. i mean, anybody can just jack up gas prices--shoot, i'll sell you a gallon of unleaded for $50 right now--but it takes a special something to lose letters, delay parcels, destroy postcards, (and the packages! don't even get me started on packages!) quite the way the chicago post office does. it's a real thing of beauty to behold.

so, in summary. chicago rules. we lead in so many things that we even lead in things other people don't want to lead in. because we lead. we rule.

the cicadas

as you might remember from a lazy saturday discovery channel program (or wait--didn't you spend your lazy saturdays watching the discovery channel?), periodic cicadas are fantastically disgusting looking bugs that live underground for 13 or 17 years and then come up to make a huge racket, find some insect lovin, and then very quickly die as their offspring head underground for another 17 years. perhaps upon hearing this information you thought "how interesting! what a strange life cycle!" and maybe you also thought "but this information will never have any real impact on me". i did. but then, i wasn't planning on moving to chicago and getting married the summer that three "broods" (that's what they call them) would emerge from their subterranean lairs to make really noisy mating calls (they say it gets up to 100 decibels!), litter the ground with their carcasses, and gross out innocent people throughout the city and in any outdoor weddings that might be happening in any of the city parks. like the one i'm planning on having in a month, just at the height of their infestation.

we, the intrepid bandit wedding planners, are going on as planned with our wedding, plague of locusts or no. perhaps someday we'll look back at a wedding overrun with noisily horny bugs and laugh. or maybe we'll end up miserable and wonder why we didn't take God's warning more seriously. i mean, it's a plague! on the wedding day! what else would you expect?

i guess probably we'll look back and joke that we're miserable, perhaps in response to questions people ask about why we have a cicada's molten body framed on our wall (which also sounds like something else we'd do). probably we'll grossly exaggerate the number of cicadas, the noise, and how many we accidentally ate because they ended up in our sandwiches. probably i'm already exaggerating the number of bugs we'll have in our park and how loud they'll be. if you're planning on coming out for our little picnic/wedding, do us a favor and try not to let the facts get in the way of a good story. and...bring some mosquito netting.

the weekend is free!

this is a shot of the congress theater in between modest mouse's sound check last night and when the doors were opened. i was there to take the picture because i was an usher for the event. that's a job which doesn't pay but does afford one the opportunity to watch the soundcheck...and, you know, actually see the show for free, from more or less wherever you want. plus it provides a fun format in which to chat with other enthusiastic concert-goers, and the ageless quandary of what to wear to the show is handily resolved: i think i'll wear black slacks and a button-up white shirt.

i had a great time, in other words, and really enjoyed the show. this was my first time seeing modest mouse live (but not my first attempt) and they were the rocking energetic crazies i had expected them to be. plus they played the view and paper thin walls and that made me pretty happy. and as an added bonus it's at this exact same theater i will reprise my ushering role in a few weeks for bjork's concert, whom i have also never seen in concert (that one ought to be memorable--i'm excited nearly to the point of incontinence over that show).

friday night was ushering a play called black diamond, which was about liberia and their civil wars and bloody history. that was not quite the same pick-me-up atmostphere as the rock show, but it had some very solid parts to it (amongst the gritty violence and occasionally dismal moments) and i'd say i benefitted from having seen it.

i wish i could say i had some point to this post other than to brag about going to concerts and plays for free, but it seems to me that's all i really have to say right now.

home is where my habits have a habitat

i have now officially, completely, and as permanently as can be expected (given the temporary nature of my chicago stay) moved into the apartment which from this point forward i will refer to as my apartment. this triumphant return to chicago will, i hope, coincide with the end of this awkward blog silence and is now going to be kicked off with a photographic tour of my room, furnished as it is with a smattering of belongings most accurately summarized as "stuff".

we begin our tour with probably my greatest wood-working achievement ever (it wasn't just a weird coincidence that we never had shop class at the same time in high school--i was probably in choir that period or something). while i was home this weekend my dad and i made these 6 open faced cubes for my records. they might look a lot like what you've been calling "crates", but given the amount of energy expelled in making them, and making them actually uniform and actually cube-like (and not trapezoid-like), i feel like open faced cubes is a much more prestige-appropriate title. note also my brilliant use of suitcase as speaker stand and my freakishly tall bed. i'm actually putting in a bid to host the 2018 summer games entirely under my bed. that's how much space there is down there.

moving your head slightly to the right, you begin to suspect that nearly all the space in my car was devoted to musical things. and you are right. (we feel the musical culture surrounding the underbed area will be a huge draw for the IOC.) also, i'd like to thank, from left to right, sarah, betsy, and jordan for these excellent wall-hangings which, in a pinch, have also served as very capable articles of clothing, especially in cold weather. thanks, guys!

snap that head back to the left, and you see the epcot center-like covering of the olympics complex. my grandma made that for me. my grandma is way more hip to geometry than your grandma.





this last picture is pretty much just here for completeness, so you can have seen the fourth wall. there's a closet, a mirror that the former inhabitant left me (probably as a hint about my grooming skills) and a door, which i think is probably one of the most underrated, least appreciated parts of any room. because either you use that or you have to dive in and out of the windows to go anywhere.

baila, guapa

in addition to black history month, the chinese and korean new years, groundhog day, family day, and darwin day, in chicago february is also host to the chicago flamenco festival, a month-long celebration of the spanish music and dance form, with various performances given throughout the city. i am by no means a flamenco afficionado, but i just totally love watching and listening to it. the music and dancing is at once delicate and aggressive, the movement is fluid and also abrupt, and the wrists are just...enchanting! this saturday was the final performance, and i thought it'd be fun to go. unfortunately, so did a lot of other people who presumably had heard about the event before i'd even arrived in town, and they got all the tickets.

i really wanted to go, so i told my new friend kim about this dilemma, and she said she figured we could get in. we made some calls and planned our possible points of entry. the first move was to arrive early to the show, when ticketless potential patrons would be given a number based on their arrival, which would then determine the order in which returned or cancelled tickets were distributed. so we got to the front of that line, and while we waited kim reviewed our other options. we'd both come dressed as ushers in the event that more were needed, and kim had brought black tux jackets so that we could dress up as caterers and walk past the ticket takers in that capacity. (this is a ruse kim has successfully pulled off before, and is both one of many things that has made getting to know her a real adventure and the main reason i think she is a direct descendant of macguyver. also, i think she might be crazy.)

it was a very stormy and snowy night, so several tickets were returned and as kim and i were first in line, we had no trouble getting in after all. the show was quite enjoyable, and afterwards we went to a reception where was served tapas and sangría. the wine, the bocadillos, and the spanish accents flying around the room transported me back to ehspain, and overall i had a really great night. kim did, too, although i expect she would have preferred to have gotten in in some way that required a grappling hook and made less use of the front door.

faq chicago

q: so, you're out in chicago now. what part of the city are you in?
a: right now i live in lakeview, which is on the north side. but in a couple weeks i'll be moving to an apartment in humboldt park.

q: oh. i don't know where that is. should i probably come to chicago and check it out?
a: yeah, you probably should.

q: ok, cool. i think i will! so...how are things over there? keeping busy?
a: things are pretty great. i'm kind of busy, but not in a working all the time kind of way. my job is pretty flexible (a friend here says i don't have a day job. but she also says i'm going bald, so what does she know?), so i've been filling my time with a few of chicago's exciting areas--the museums, the restaurants, the places where homeless people pee, and so on.

q: oh. i see. what IS your job, anyway?
a: i work as a medical interpreter, which means i go to appointments and speak in english and spanish between a doc and a patient. it's pretty cool.

q: really? because it sounds boring.
a: oh, no way! i really like it. like last week i interpreted for a birth, which was awesome. and i get to see lots of different kinds of medicine and imagine myself doing them and decide if i'd like it, which is kind of like shopping for clothing, if you were going to only wear one suit for the rest of your life.

q: i have a sinking feeling you're about to tell another gross story involving bloody or detached body parts. let's change the subject before i start to wish i hadn't eaten such a heavy lunch. so what hospital do you work at? the one from ER? have you seen george clooney there? PLEASE give him my phone number! he's soooooo cute!!!
a: i'm actually not employed by a hospital or health clinic. in fact, i'm technically not employed by anyone--i'm an independent contractor. i work with an agency that finds interpreters for places that need them, so i work all over and around the city. this is in some ways a pain, but it's also been fun and a great way to see lots of the city. if i see george clooney i'll send him your love, but to be honest i'd always imagined the person behind the "q" was a man. weird.

q: well, i mean, it's not like i LOVE him. i just said he was cute. and that's all. so, uh...what else do you do when you're not at work?
a: well, i've found an incredible and interesting group of friends here who i have really enjoyed getting to know and hanging out with. and they know so much about chicago--i'm finding out all the great places to go, the cheap or free ways to see the city, and where to go for good falafel.

q: so you've been in one place for a month and a half--got any big plans to leave the country?
a: as a matter of fact, i do! in march i'm going with my lincoln church to mexico for a medical missions trip. i'll be interpreting over there and hopefully perfecting the triage system i tried out last time i did this trip, two years ago. i'm very excited to go back and to learn and see what i can while i'm there.

q: haha, i was kidding when i asked. you travel too much. you suck. but hey, weren't you planning on coming back to lincoln to get your stuff?
a: hey, what did i tell you about that kind of language?!? yes, i am coming back to get my stuff. i ended up waiting a little longer than i thought i would, which has meant that i wear the same pair of pants to every job i have, and one of two sweaters. it's easier to live out of a suitcase when you're on the move and nobody sees you twice, but i think some people in various medical clinics in chicago are beginning to think folks from nebraska can only afford one set of "dress-up" clothes. we're a simple folk. anyway, i'll be back in lincoln for the second half of next week. give me a call and we'll see if we can't hang out a little. it'd be fun!

q: i guess i might. it sounds like things are going really well for you. are you surprised?
a: to be honest, i kind of am. when i was in ecuador i told an american doc about my plans to become an interpreter out here, and he told me i wouldn't be able to do it because i'm not a native speaker. at the time part of me thought this was likely more a reflection of his own inability to speak spanish effectively (gosh, he was pretty bad) than an indication of the feasibility of my plan, but it was also really discouraging to me--he said it like he knew what he was talking about, and that he was very definite about it. so this whole experience has been a really great lesson to me to just go after whatever it is i want, no matter what anyone says. i mean, no matter the odds or--

q: you're starting sound a little too much like one of those inspirational posters, man. that's really lame. i think i need to go.
a: oh, ok. well, maybe i'll see you in a couple weeks? when i'm back in town?

q: eh, whatever.
a: ok! i'll wait for your call!!!

real news

the whole idea of this electronic webpage was, at inception, to inform interested parties of my doings. lately, though, i've been more into using my considerable talent for talking without actually saying anything. so i thought i'd give an actual update of my life rather than an off-kilter observation or a lenghty story about...nothing. so here goes:

on the work front, i've been training for this interpreting job, which has been boring but not as boring as the similar class i took in lincoln. training ends next week, but i got to start actually working early and i had my first paid jobs this week. i did all kinds of different appointments, and pretty much enjoyed the job as much as i thought i would--a lot. it's so fun to see ultrasounds or whatever healthcare situation they put me in. and it's a great challenge, and i am learning a lot, and it's just so interesting!

the second sunday i was here i went to the church one of my roommates attends. i enjoyed the sermon, and in the bulletin they had some information about an esl class the church does for free which was to start that very week. this combined three areas in which i am, if not an expert, at least pretty well-versed: teaching, working for free, and the english language. so obviously i signed up and started doing that right away. i really enjoy doing it, but more importantly, it allowed me to get to know a lot of people at the church, and i found much to my delight that they're really great people! already in the few weeks i've been out here i have people i can call and who call me for various fun times, and they're people i genuinely enjoy. i consider myself very blessed in this regard, and am just really happy out here--i can't imagine this first month going any better. i'm enjoying every minute out here, and i'm really looking forward to all the next months.

so that's my life lately. stay tuned for a zany story about the mishaps that befell me the other day when i tried to order a pizza.