Space Pron

Can't help posting things like this. Here's the Endeavour docked with the ISS, taken by an Astronaut using a slow exposure so the lights on Earth below streak. Love it when real life kicks sand in CGI's face.

Crysis Management

Celebrating Memorial Day by playing an American soldier in a high tech combat nanosuit. When this game came out in 2007 it was the universal benchmark for your rig's video processing power. If you could play it with all settings maxed, you had geek bragging rights. Well I'm only playing it now, but I can set all the settings to the top so take that 2007 gamers.

100,000 Is A Lot

Best fantasy book I've read in a long time.

Aural Assault

Turn up your speakers. Now set this video to endlessly loop for about 6-7 hours. Welcome to Cicada hell. They start around 1 in the afternoon and go until the sun is completely down. If you don't have music or the TV on loud enough to drown them out it's like a dentist drill. I don't feel so bad about mowing them down in my car anymore. It's only been a week, they're supposed to be around until the end of June.

Third Taste

Since we missed the third thing we decided to have it delivered. Probably not as good as having it made fresh in front of you, but it was still damn tasty.

Chop Chop

Last night's storm tore down half of our left Bradford Pear. This is after about an hour of trimming all the branches down to the main limbs. At least there was no major damage, just a few dings in the fence.

Adventure Shoppin'

Went out grocery shopping on a weeknight. After dark. In the rain. We live on the edge baby! The title, BTW comes from a favorite Andy Griffith line:

Opie: "Aw, rats! If you was stayin', I was gonna get to sleep on the ironing board between two chairs."
 
Malcolm Tucker: "Sounds terrible!"
 
Opie: "No it ain't, that's adventure sleepin' "

Cicadaside

We thought we'd dodged the Cicada outbreak when we left for Chicago as we hadn't seen or heard a single one. Nope, they were just warming up. Swarms of them everywhere on every surface. And you can't drive a block without splattering half a dozen on your windshield.

Home

Good to be home with two dogs and a duck. Cleaned up the blog and added some from the big camera if anyone cares to go back. We didn't have Internet at the hotel because they charged 15 bucks a day and we thought that was ridiculous. The Hyatt was really nice but very mercenary, if it could be charged for, it was. Also for those who might wonder what the third thing you must eat in Chicago is, well we never got there. It's called Garrett Popcorn.

Walter's House

Another shot of Soldier Field. This was actually taken on the Bus Tour, which explains why it's suddenly foggy.

1985

And finally, that hallowed ground. Soldier Field.

The Bones

Inside the Field Museum, the pride of Chicago: Sue the dinosaur. Thems real bones.

The Field

No not Soldier. The Field Museum was next.

The Fish

From lunch we went on a quick hit trifecta of locations. First the Shedd Aquarium.

The Dog

The second of three things you must eat in Chicago. A Chicago style dog from Portillo's. And it was good. Really good.

Learning Is Fun

From the Architectural Tour, that's our guide in the pink 'splainin' something architectural.

Miraculous Journey

Many people had mentioned the Architectural Tour, both before we went and once we got here. What with the bus tour under our belt the first day, and the whole boat thing, it wasn't on our To Do list. We finally gave in and it was everything people had said it was, a highlight of the trip. AND Mari on a boat!

Second City

Sketch comedy can be hit or miss so I wasn't sure how this would be. End result: It was really great and more importantly very funny.

Soul Food

Adobo restaurant in Old Town, great food and atmosphere. You can see the entrance to Second City next door.

Found

We've really enjoyed Chicago, but never felt the "soul" like we did in New York. Well we found it when we went to the area Second City is in. It's called Old Town. Loved it.

Glass Cieling

This is the Skydeck in Willis Tower. You stand out in a glass box 103 floors up. The head says it's safe, but I have to admit I got a little adrenaline going walking out there.

High Sears

The view from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower. Sorry the Willis Tower.

Sky High

The Sears Tower is now known as the Willis Tower. If you look closely at the top you can see the Skydeck boxes.

Getting Deep

One of the three things you must eat when visiting Chicago. A deep dish pizza from Giordano's. Worth the hype? Oh yes. Bonus? Served by an authentic Italian. Somehow that always seems to make the food better.

The Navigator

The real draw of the park is called Cloud Gate, a giant reflective sculpture. Locally everyone just calls it the bean.

Watery Eyes

Next up, Millennium Park and the slightly creepy digital water fountains with peoples faces.

One Room To Rule Them All

Favorite section, an entire room devoted to Van Gogh. Honorable mention, Nighthawks.

Art Start

First stop of the day, the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Berry End

The bus tour took us all over the city, showed us all the interesting spots, history and landmarks. Lots of pictures but took most with the "real" camera. Might upload some later. Was tiring for something that mainly required sitting. Ended the day with an excellent meal at a place called Stetson's in the hotel. Hard to see because I didn't want to use my flash in a nice restaurant, but they gave us a complementary pair of chocolate dipped strawberries served over dry ice.

Shrouded

Downtown Chicago, hidden in a very localized fog.

Trumped

Thought this was a pretty building, loved the sun halo effect, then found out later it was the Trump Tower. Boo.

A Bus To A Tour

Two architecturally cool buildings flank the picture, below the bus we will spend the next three hours on. (Wrigley Building - left. Tribune Tower - right.)

A Bridge To A Bus

First on the list, take a tour of the entire city on a double-decker bus. To get to the bus stop we passed a bridge with this carved on the entrance, commemorating the rebuilding of the city after the great fire.

A Room With A View

The window from our room on the 32nd floor of the Hyatt.

Getting Windy

We're off for a weekend in Chicago.

The Bad Before The Good

Really looking forward to going to Chicago tomorrow, but as always there's the melancholy task of dropping the puppies off at the kennel.

Slave Away

This was a pleasant surprise, wasn't expecting much but turned out to have an excellent story and voice acting.

Final Endeavour

Shuttle Endeavour went up for the final time on Monday. Another amazing picture here.

Lunch, Year Two

Attended my second JIS Policy Committee Lunch today. Satan invented neckties, that's all I'm saying.

Punked

Been in one of those zones where I chew through books lately. Here's the last victim, Boneshaker. A steampunk novel set in an alternative history America at the time of the Civil War.

Salud

It's been far too long. My only regret, I didn't get to sit closer to the people I most wanted to see, but there's never a bad seat at La Ha.

XTREME

An action snap of my new neon green striped, griffin crested water bottle. Because it's too cool for a still shot. I would have added some lens flare too but I didn't have time.

CR-eVerywhere

My CR-V is on the far left. On the right are the two CR-Vs that park directly across from me (both the same color as mine as well, to make it worse.) I pass two CR-Vs on my way up to my parking spot. Directly around the corner is a white CR-V. This brings to mind the old saying, "I am unique, just like everyone else."

Slim Fast

Dusted off the sequel fairly quickly.

Gods And Goddesses

On a day set aside to celebrate Moms, we went to see Thor. It was better than I expected, but the most important thing was that Mari enjoyed it. And she did. I'd also like to point out I gave her her choice of chick flicks and she still picked Thor so, yeah, she's pretty awesome.

Last September's

Easily our favorite restaurant, so of course, September's has closed. Not sure where we're going to eat when we want a nice meal other than Mexican in Hendersonville. Meh!

Fixed That Glass Hole

It was more of a crack really.

Slim Down

Modern fantasy, very Dresdenish.

High Impact Poetry

A rock off the glass is a pain in the ass, but a crack in the view reminds me of you.

Suspicious Package

We all had to evacuate the building and spend almost two hours standing outside, well into the evening because of an envelope. We got the full show, blocks taped off, cops everywhere, they even wheeled the bomb bot in.

WOTM

It's that time again. Go on, adopt one, you know you want to.