Wicker Park Fest

Davis and Martin


I love the "L"

Wicker Park

Biggest Bowl of Gauc

A Break

Some Randoms

A nice pair of shoe

The Fest

...Part II

ok so now I am down at the station getting booked. Basically they just write a lot and you sit there, hand cuffed to a bench. We are in a small room where there is a person on either side of me and two cops in front of me at a desk. The cops, one a guy and one a girl, are the ones that arrested me. Later I come too find out that there is a common bond between the three of us getting booked that night, we are all named Louie, hehe. So after awhile of waiting the kid to the right of me starts talking, he sounds kind of drunk, he is apologizing to the cops and telling them its his first time he has done anything wrong. He realizes he broke the law because he is only 19 and shouldn't be drinking. He then puts a towel over his head and says he is not feeling good, so the officer kicks him a little garbage bin. The kid then starts throwing up right there in the room in the garbage, not holdin back anything. A group of officers then gathered at the door to watch, laugh and make fun of this kid, at which point I may... Or may not have said something to them to get them to leave. Shortly after that they brought us into a different much bigger and brighter room. To the left was a large semi circle desk with two cops in white t-shirts. In front of us was another white shirted cop doing the mugshots. We were lead into the room by the two arresting officers they then hand us over to the white shirts for finger printing and mug shots. The other two Louie's went before me, when it came my turn I said, "I am not getting a mugshot and fingerprints till somebody tells me why I am being arrested." I guess they didn't like that to much because next thing you know I am in a 10 X 10 laying on a metal bed with no belt and no shoe laces. Ahhh a jail cell, so nice and cozy. This was my first time camped out in a cell and like I said before it was very interesting. They were nice enough to take my hand cuffs off but it didn't make anything more comfortable. The room is painted an off white, like a smokers college dorm white after they had been in there the whole year. The lights were all on but not super bright, rather just bright enough. The room really is 10 X 10 with big steel bars and big locks just like you would think. On the left side jetting out of the wall is what I guess is the bed it was also painted the same color as everything else but was made out of steel unlike the concrete that surrounded it. In the middle of the back wall was the facilities a stainless steel sink and toilet in one. The whole toilet-sink was made out of one piece which I thought was pretty impressive. After starring at the sink for awhile and then coming to the conclusion that, NO I don't think I could make it I just laid down. Sleeping was near impossible for a few reasons, The first being I was still soaking wet from the water fight earlier that evening and steel and concrete don't generate that much heat so yes, on the hottest day of the summer I was freezing cold. Secondly the lights I was talking about are actually just bright enough to keep you awake, a great idea by the county because someone who is tired is probably not going to cause as many problems. And last they don't exactly give you a pillow and a blanket, trying to get a good positioning on a flat piece of cold steel is not that easy. I did however manage to fall asleep a few times. Normally though I would just be sitting there starring at the gang signs that were etched into the bed. Several hours later one guy came in and offered up his left over ham sandwich to us, me and the two cells next to me, I rejected, but the guy with a DUI to my right accepted. After that there was another long period of waiting. Then a new white shirt came in and asked me if I wanted to be "processed", finger printed and mugshots, I said, "If you can tell me why I have been sitting in a jail cell all night, cause I don't know what I did wrong." The guy said hold on and then left. 45 min later he came back almost laughing and said, "You are in here for disorderly conduct, a joke charge, no one gets arrested for that its just a ticket, I don't know why you are in here, just get your prints then you will get out of here and the cops won't even show up for court." I said fine and then was taken out and finger printed and smiled for the camera, all on some pretty high tech equipment, no ink stamp, instead it was scanned on a computer. After that I was put back in my cell to sit and wait again. A few more hours later I was released on an "I" bond which means I am released promising that I will show up to court. Well I was finally out of there at 2:45pm, 13 hours later. But, now, how was I going to get home...

Interesting Weekend Part 1

Well this is a little late, but my weekend was a strange one to say the least. Friday night I went to my friends birthday party at Quartinos (Happy Birthday Jackie), which was a nice restaurant on State and Ontario. I then went back to my apartment for a little bit before I was to go to a going away party for a softball teammate. When I got to the stoop though there was already plenty going on. The crew was there sippin on some beverages and hanging out so I decided to join them. Of course what shortly came about on a hot Friday evening...A water fight, this was a big one too. Everyone was soaked head to toe, there were water balloons, water guns, hoses, and even buckets being used, I was drenched. We then settled down and just grabbed our perspective places on the stoop and held it down. While hanging out we started to notice a party brewin down the way. People kept walking up to our stoop asking, "Is this where the party is?" We would reply no and then tell them its probably down the block. The kids seemed young like they were maybe 15 or 16 years old, like I said it was a weird night. Eventually the crowd was huge and there were people everywhere, but they weren't bothering us so we didn't care. Then all of the sudden you could tell a fight was either in process or about to be. Stevie noticed that some of the guys who were starting the fight, who were in our alley at the time, had bats, so now we knew all hell was about to break loose. Someone in the building across the street yelled out their window from the third floor, "hey, you would be smart to get the hell out of here, I just called the cops." The crowd immediately started runnin all different directions. The cops were defiantly called and were there real fast but, really all they did was harass us. They kept yelling at us to get inside, as we were trying to tell them the people down the block are the ones causing the problems. Here is where a funny thing happens, my friends all go inside and while I am still outside I walk to take out the garbage and while in the alley 2 not one but two squad cars pull up and surround me, well, while my hands were on the hood of the car I can see in my kitchen and see my friends walking around. When getting searched all I can think is that no one will know if I get arrested. Sure enough I find myself sitting in the back of a cop car soaking wet and nobody knows where I am. Luckily we pull around in front of my apartment and the cops stop to talk to another cop who is there and my friends see me from the stoop. So at least someone knew where I was, but it didn't really matter I was off to jail and nobody even told me why.

The Apartment

Started a new blog with the stoop crew, its called The Apartment: Some Stories and Pictures From the Stoop. Its made up of Dan, Ryno, Stevie, Tina, Vorrel and I.

Water Balloon Wars

I love the summer. So far in this month alone I think we have gone through over 1200 balloons, soaking everyone and everything. This past weekend though we stepped it up a notch and went with not only water bombs, but also about 7 water guns and had a huge all out water fight...All in about a 15 Ft radius, which ensures everyone is soaking wet. Luckily though the sun was out all weekend to dry us off quickly.

BBQs and water fights in Chicago, can't think of anything better.

The Russian

The long awaited return of The Russian is happening on Thursday. Joe is coming back from Russia, hopefully to stay. He has been gone for a year living in a place where they still have a sickle and hammer statue in the town square and where during the winters it gets so cold they tell you not to go outside or your eyeballs will freeze. Joe was doing some teaching in Russia which is pretty impressive considering he did not speak or read Russian, he just had a love for the old USSR. From what I hear now though not only can he read it, he can speak it. I cant wait to here some stories and adventures, welcome back Joe cant wait to see you.

Cirque du Soleil - Corteo

July 14 to Aug 20 Cirque du Soleil will be at the United Center performing Corteo, well not exactly they are in huge yellow and blue spiraling tents in the parking lot. I have never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, but from everything I have heard people say both friends and actually reviews they are supposed to be truly amazing shows. So I thought I would let people know they were in town. I am going to definitely try and go, but the tickets are expensive, minimum $50. So it probably is not going to happen, which sucks.

Veni Vidi Vino

The Enoteca Roma and Letizia bakery are amazing places. They are two seperat entities, but are connected as one. The whole place feels small and intimate, but is really quite big, as I found out during the World Cup (viva Italia). The place is seperated into three parts, The wine bar, the bakery and the outdoor patio.

The Enoteca revolves mostly around, obviously, their wine, but they do offer a very well rounded variety of beers, also they have a great bruchetta menu and pizzas, Roma style.

The bakery is not exactly a bakery it is more of a coffee shop with an amazing amount of food. They serve sandwiches pizzas bruchettas and more. This place is good for lunch and dinner.

The only time I had been out on the patio was during the World Cup on Sunday, but it was really nice. It was set up so that everyone, which was about 80 people, were all facing a giant TV set up at one end of the patio. Small tables and chairs were spread out all around with giant red umbrellas blocking out the ridiculously sunny day. Some how amid the chaos we were able to get good seats and saw an amazing game.

This place is good for lunch, a date, or just hanging out, I suggest giving it a try.

"The Miracle on Dirt" - Al

Yep it happened, yesterday, the unthinkable. The Thursday 16" softball team that I am on, The Little Joe O'Connors, with a not so stellar record of 1 and 4 beat the undefeated 16" of Fury. It was one of the greatest softball games ever, great defense good hitting and all around heads up ball. The Little Joes took an early lead of 2-0 and held it till the top of the fourth., but then the bad guys scored three quick runs putting us down by 1. The team though immediately bounced back scoring 2 more. Going into the top of the 7 and final inning the fury scored 2 more runs and with what could have been a devastating blow to the little Joes the team took it in stride knowing they had the last at bat and a chance to steal one from a great team. Asak lead of in the bottom of the ninth and with a ground ball back to the pitcher it seamed like we were off to a bad start, but for some reason, even though Asak had been doing all game, the team didn't hustle and Asak was for sure going to beat out the hit. The other team then scrambled and through the ball away so Asak kept running and didn't stop till he slid into third on a close play. HOLY CRAP it was getting intense now, the tying run at third and no outs. Colleen came up next and hit a grounder to the short stop, but they were so concered with holding Asak at third they let her have the base. Finn came up next and squeezed one through. Al then hit a rip and got on base scoring Asak, TIE GAME. The winning run was now on base and Mcginty came up to bat a SMASH, and Colleen easily scored, The Little Joe O'connors pull the upset. That was truly an amazing game.

I am sure I might not have that story perfect, but it was going by so quickly and intensly my brain couldn't keep up with it all, so if i made a mistake, sorry, but the end result is the same...the 1-4 team beat the 5-0 team

King Tut

Well happy friday. This weekend I really want to check out the King Tut exhibit which is at the Field Museum. It looks really nice and all the things I have been reading about it say how amazing it is. It is there until January 1st, but dont wait until the last minute to go see this because they are actually selling tickets way in advance and it could possible sell out.

The Patriot Games

The third annual Patriot Games go off tomorrow starting at 11. The Patriot Games started three years ago when Al Asak Blair Ellie and I decided we should have a softball tournament drink some beers eat some food and have some fun. The first year was almost a complete disaster because it downpoured right at game time for an hour but we waited it out in a bar. In the bar we held a live draft and passed out the team jerseys, once we did that and had a couple of drinks we were off to the soaking wet field, to play in the first ever Patriot Games. The games started of with three teams, red white and blue and had a total of about 37-40 participants. THis year we are prepared for any where between 100-150, my how it has grown. We also now have three fields and 8 teams.

I will let you know how it goes...

Fire, Fire, Fire

Went to the home opener of the Chicago Fire in Bridgeview on Sunday. They played the New York Red Bulls. The stadium, Toyota Park, is brand new and pretty amazing. It holds 25000 which is small but it is MLS soccer so they are not drawing huge numbers, this size though is really nice because anywhere you sit you are right next to the field. I went with the 1610 crew. It was a lot farther than I thought it was going to be, it ended up being an hour from the apartment. Bridgeview is about as far west and south as you would ever want to go. The atmosphere in the stadium when we entered was awesome, The people in the crowd were going nuts and the game had not even started.

Our seats were in the general admission seating ($20) also known as the "Fire Pit", it is in the stands behind the goal. This section was full when we arrived, which is crazy because we were not even late. It made sense though because the people who were in the section were not messin around, jerseys, flags, face paint, drums, chants and cheers. We came to the conclusion you need to have the cheer book memorized before you can truly be aloud in the middle of this section because there were about 50 complicated cheers going on. Also once the goalie from the other team came to our side after half, stuff started getting really interesting. People were throwing beer bottles (luckily plastic) at the goalie, streamers were flying on the field along with confetti and paper airplanes and twice during the game smoke bombs were thrown into the goalie box. There was nothing the security could do about the "Fire Pit", no matter what they tried and they did tried.

Anyways the Fire beat the Red Bulls 2-0 in the first ever game at Toyota Park and I had a great time I plan on seriously looking into 2 or three more games with the possibility of season tickets for next year.

Oh and I had to buy this Jersey which is amazing.

The Bitter End

A good beer I tried the other night. The brewery is actually located in Warrenville, IL not to far from Chicago. It is a nice smooth PA with...a bitter end. It is not the greatest PA out there but I found it rather enjoyable.

"Warriors Come Out To Play"

I just saw the great classic Warriors. I cant remember if I had seen it before, so I kind of had to watch it again. This movie is amazing, it is a cult classic from the late 70's, about gangs in the streets of New York. In the beginning all of the gangs are brought together for a common cause under one leader when all of the sudden he is assassinated and the warriors are framed as the gang that did it. They are then forced to be on the run and make it back to their turf, Coney island.

If you have not seen this movie I highly recommend that you see it and if you have not seen it in awhile, go watch it again.

Some Chairs and Stools

None of these are a fully completed project, they are prototypes that will eventually be perfected.

The Little Joe O'Connors

This is the design for our Thursday softball team. Stevie is the creator.

Screen Printing

Well just completed my first set of shirts. Yesterday Vorrel and I screen printed shirts. They came out really nice.

The screen printing process isn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, well that's not completely true, I had some problems. The process starts out with an idea on a piece of paper. You tape the picture, drawing, whatever on the bottom of the screen and then trace over it drawing on the actual screen itself, once you are confident you have drawn all of your lines remove your paper. You then take what is called the screen filler and paint on the screen in all the places you do not want to use. This is a very delicate and important process because if you do not fully cover the screen it will let paint through later and ruin the shirt. Also this is hard because if you go outside the lines there is no erasing it. Once you cover all the spaces that need to be blocked out you smooth out the other side that will be touching the shirt so that it will later lay evenly on whatever it is you will be making. Then let dry overnight.

When it is all dry and there are no leaks of light through the filler you can starting making shirts. First put something inside the shirt so the paint does not bleed through. Then have someone hold down your screen firmly against the shirt, pour in a little paint, the paint is a special fabric paint, the length of your screen and then squeegee it over the open parts of the screen then repeat. You do not want to do it to hard or to soft but just enough to force the paint through the little holes in the screen. After about 5-8 passes you can pull up the screen and you have your first shirt.

Sorry, it's been so long.

Went to Vermont this passed week for my sisters graduation, congrats Noreen. I ridiculously long road trip that took us up through Canada and then down to Burlington. A total of 16 hours I believe. I had never been to Vermont before, it is beautiful out there. It rained a lot, but it was still really nice. The mountains in the spring are beautiful all fully covered with green trees, hence the name the green mountain state, but it was really cool to drive through the mountains and see all the little small towns. Noreen really did graduate and we got to hang out with the Grandparents, our Aunt and some cousins who I had never met before. Got to try some Vermont food and beers, it was all a good time.

On the way home we went through Niagra Falls a place I guess I had already been to, but dont remember because I was probably five. That place is amazing, but I think it would be better seen when it is a little farther into summer becuse Buffalo decides it is ready for warm weather a little after the rest of the country, but still an awesome sight.

I promise I will be wrighting more often, been busy.

The Opener

Well the 16” Softball season was off to a great start this year. at first I was not sure it would even happen, but thanks to the girls who filled in we were able to play and not forfit. Thank you Carmel, Stephanie and Stevie. For those of you who were not there, you may have missed one of the greatest games I have ever seen.

It was a chilly and rainy Saturday afternoon, the field was wet, but there was no standing water. The Truth, that is the name of our team, took the field to start the game. It had been awhile since anyone on the team had played, but everyone came ready to play.

Our defense was not as sharp as the end of last year, but it was good none the less especially in the conditions we were working with. We let up two or three runs in the first inning, but we did not let that phase us.

Asak lead off for The Truth, the first pitch and…gone, a blast by Asak to left center field, a stand up home run. We now thought there was no way they were going to beat us, but it quickley did not go our way. We did not score again that inning.

In fact we were not doing well offensively for most of the game the score going into the sixth inning was 6-2. But then we started to heat up, we strung together a few singles and a couple of great sacrifice hits in order to score three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Then in the bottom of the seventh inning when it is looking hard, the score was 7-5 Keller starts the inning off just like the game was started off a solid smash to center field and a stand up home run, 7-6. It gets blurry for me but I believe Cochran got on then Carmel Tobin and Martin Syvertsen got out. George Russo, a new addition to the Truth straight from Ecuador, came up to bat. 2 outs one man on he swings, a shot to the center fielder...he can’t get to it, George cruises as fast as his legs will take him it looks like there could be a play at the plate, but no its not even close. George with the game winning walk off home run leads The Truth to there first victory of what will be another fantastic season.

Dark Lord Imperial Stout

This beer is only sold at Three Floyds brewery in Hammond Indiana and it is supposed to be amazing

Gargantuan Russian Stout brewed with coffee, molasses, and honey;
13% abv 2002 Bronze Medal Indiana State Fair

Here is the deal

Saturday, April 29th, is the annual release of the Three Floyds"Dark Lord" Russian Imperial Stout. The 'imperial stout' is arguablythe king of all beers—the most complexity of flavors, the fullest inbody, the richest in smell, and the strongest in alcohol content. TheDark Lord is ranked as the number one imperial stout in the world, the best beer in America, and the second best beer in the world. The one barrel that they produce each year will be sold off in a day or two.

And I will be there trying to get a pint. Thanks to Martin who gave me the heads up we will be driving down there tomorrow early in the AM. Where we will hopefully be early enough to get a ticket. While waiting we will BBQ play some bags and sip on a few lessor beverages. The actual tour starts at noon so hopefully we should be able to get in.

I'll let you know if it is as good as the hype.

The Fizz

Since I have been taking swing dance classes and loving it, on Monday night I went to Fizz, a bar right near the Belmont/Lincoln/Ashland intersection, for their swing dance night. It was as expected, at first awkward as hell, but then once more and more people got there, making me not stick out like a sore thumb for not dancing, it became great. There was amazing jazz and blues music, the people were genuinely nice to everyone and people were dancing everywhere. My cousin Carmel was dragged out on the dance floor, to her chagrin, by many a dude wanting a good looking dance partner. We both had a blast and loved that there is no pressure to dance. You do not, unless you are Carmel, who by the way is taking the classes with me, have to dance. So that is mostly what I did. I can't wait until next Monday when Fizz has their next swing night. I think I might start making it a small tradition and I know I will be dragging my friends to come along. Also If you wanted to the bar which is downstairs from the dancing looks like a pretty cool place it has good food and a really big beer garden which in the summer can't be beat.

The Secrets Of Nimh

Ha, last week I saw this movie, The Secrets of Nimh. It is a movie for little kids, and a cartoon, but then again I am weird and have seen almost ever Disney movie so I didn't see anything wrong with watching it. What I was surprised about is I have never even heard of this movie till recently. It is not a Disney movie, it's MGM, but still has the same style as the original Disney movies, Dumbo, Cinderella, etc. And before I talk about a children's movie to long I will just say go watch it if you haven't seen it because it is good and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be 10 years old again.

Happy Birthday Stevie

Another April Bday. Happy birthday Stevers

The Softball Season

The 16" softball season officially begins at the end of this month and I cant wait. It is starting to feel like summer around these parts, hopefully it will last. The stoop is in full effect and the neighborhood is starting to show real signs of life.

I am really excited for our team this year I think we have made some great improvements and will for sure make it much farther in the playoffs and in my opinion win it all, but I am biased.

This summer is going to be great and I cant wait to have a million BBQ's.

Happy Birthday Stephanie

Little Joe O'Connor and Machismo

On last Sunday while BBQing with Al we were told a story, a fantastic story about a women and her chicken. Well Al and I could not believe our ears there is someone in Chicago who has an actual live chicken running around in her house. Obviously we were beyond intrigued and needed to know more. Who, what, where, when, how, why? So many questions and... Kind of a lot of time. After our curiosity was somewhat quelled we went on to dreaming, what would it be like to have a chicken or what if there were other animals we could get, a goat, ducks, sheep, little pigs... We could start a petting zoo in Bucktown, charge a dollar and then let people feed the animals. Man our minds were racing a mile a minute. We knew that we were in over our heads but you could no longer stop the train of ideas that had begun. Eventually we calmed down, a few people had come over by this time so we had to concentrate on cooking food.

When the food was all gone and people were inside watching the NCAA tourney we had our opportunity and slipped away from the party to see if we could verify the legend of the woman and her chicken. We ended up on Chicago and Paulina, Al, Tina and I were walking in a somewhat crowded Mexican neighborhood when I spotted it from across the street, the chicken store. I took off running through traffic to a dirty storefront that had a giant yellow awning with green writing that simply said Pollos.

When inside I had to hold back the vomit that was trying to come up because of the putrid smell of chickens and probably death. The store looked as though it at one point was a deli and had the glass windowed counters where you would pick your meats, but instead there was nothing in any of it. The whole Store was empty until I noticed the back room. There was a door to the back with two men standing in front of it. A little old lady was talking to them and through the door you could see small cages all up and down and around the walls filled with live chickens clucking and rustling around. "Tres pollos" the lady asked the man and he went into the back room grabbed three chickens by their necks brought them out to a scale right near the door weighed them and then took them into the back. Don't know and don't want to know what happened next, but I am sure you can guess. I now wanted to get the hell out of here, but first I had to ask. "How much for a chicken?" He went into the back grabbed a chicken by its neck threw it on the scale and said $5.90. Holy crap a whole chicken for 6 bucks. I had to do it. I paid the man and as he went back to grab it I said, " I'll take it. Alive" The man looked at me as though I was completely insane, (even though he kills chickens all day long) and said, "what?" I said, "I will take it alive" and so reluctantly he put the chicken in a corona box and handed it to me. So, I walked out of the store onto a busy street in the middle of Chicago with a live chicken in a corona box.

Tina, the one who told us the story of the woman and the chicken in the beginning, called her friend and told her of what we just did and she told us to come by and we could have her chicken, she did not want it anymore. So of course we did. We now had two chickens and then decided to name them...Little Joe O'Connor and Machismo.

They now live underneath my stoop in a make shift chicken coop and are doing quite well and definitely doing better then if they stayed in that store.

Second City

I went and saw a show at Second City for the first time ever, which is pathetic because I live in Chicago. The show was on the etc. stage, the smaller of the two second city stages. The name of the show was "Immaculate Deception". It is a satirical look at popular culture. The show was unreal, it was really genuinely funny from start to finish. I went with a friend who has been to more than a dozen shows at Second City and he said that this was one of the best if not the best one he has ever seen. If you are waiting for a reason to go and see a show there this is it, because it was only $24 and is well worth every dime. I am actually really looking forward to going and seeing their other show on the main stage called "Iraqtial Dysfunction" which is more political humor.

New York, New York

Sorry this is way late , I'm an idiot, but whatever

So a couple weekends ago, which seemed like months ago I was fortunate enough to go to NY. This is not the first time nor is it the last that I have gone to New York. I used to actually go there almost once a year, but lately job has been more time consuming. Anyways flew to NY on a Friday afternoon with Al. Here are some pics of the weekend. They are really only of one day, but definitely show how we had a great time with the NY crew.

More pics here

Woodworking Classes

I am taking a woodworking class right now and even though it is only the second class I am real excited and know I will learn a lot. The class is at the Chicago Bauhaus Academy in Rogers Park and is run by an old master craftsman from Germany named Berthold Schwaiger. I cant wait to be making things out of both metal and wood. The telephone table (pictured), which we make in the third course, looks even better in real life.

Frankie Flood

I just wanted to show these because they are the coolest pizza cutters I have ever seen. I have no info on them though except this little bit I could find on the internet about the person who made them, Frankie Flood

Saw Doctors

The Sawdoctors, a great Irish band, are playing this weekend and I am sure it will be amazing. I have seen them live a couple of times and have always been blown away by how much fun it is. Plus everyone will be in the St. Paddy's day spirit so I am sure the concert will be that much more exciting.

The Concert is on:

Sat, Mar 18, 06
8 pm

At the Vic

3145 North Sheffield

and tickets are $27.50

Forever Green

Hey this is a great party for St. Patricks day. It's at Navy Pier and will have live bands and lots of drinking. The proceeds also go to a good cause so you can feel good about the price, which is not that bad to begin with. I will be attending and hope you all can come too.

If you cant see anything just click on where the image is and it will download it.

The Purple Chevy Cavalier

The New Car

1982 - 1995

This was the criteria for the movies some friends and I rented over the weekend. We had been talking a lot about old classics the other day so we thought for the weekend and this week we would watch as many movie in between the years 1982 and 1995. This happens to be the time period of many of the greatest movies of all time. I mean there was Tom Cruise (the only good time for him), The Ghostbusters, Pee Wee Herman, ET, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I mean come on, you have to admit this was a better time.

So far I have watched:

Karate Kid 2
Gremlins
Labryinth
The Adventures of Baron Munchaussen (thanks to the Nondorfs that I even no what this is)

Next is:

Footloose
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Some Kind of Wonderful

Every movie so far has been just as good as I remeber it. Obviously, not done yet, but they only let you rent so many at a time. I know, I know... Neverending Story, it will all be watched I promise.

My Jeep

Well it was only a matter of time, but it finally happened, my wonderful Jeep decided it did not want to go on.

I was driving home from the suburbs when it happened. The engine started to become increasingly louder and louder the car began shaking and the interior lights were fading fast. As I tried to accelerate to make it off the highway nothing happened. The more I accelerated the more it slowed down so with its last bit of strength it was nice enough to get me to the side of the off ramp. That is where its last stop would be, the Kimball off ramp on 90/94. The car began smoking and there was a pungent smell all around. As I sat there on the side of the highway at 1:00 in the morning, my mind racing a million miles a minute, thinking about how hours from now I would be getting to work. Thinking, how would I be able to buy a car seeing as I am broke most of the time. Or whether I would have to rent a car for the rest of the week or get rides from co-workers. Suprisingly enough I had forgotten to worry about the immediate future, what was I going to do right then.

I did not even realize that as soon as I had pulled off the highway someone had pulled up next to me. I would have rolled down the windows, but obviously that didn't work. So I got out of my car went up to the man and he told me to try and make it to the end of the ramp where there was a gas station. I told him no way the car was dead. "what's wrong?" he asked, " It's dead, she isn't workin at all, it has a lot of miles (240,000 to be exact) and this is the end for her," out of no where he says, "alright then get in, where you going?" I told him and he was going some what near there so he gave me a ride. Man, I was lucky I would not know what to do sitting on the highway late at night with barely any money and no idea where I was in relation to public transportation.

So my car, my great car, my companion and friend who was always there for me (except when it would break down) is gone, its sad and can not be replaced, but I must move on. So I have a rental and am looking for another. I'll let you know what I get.

Tamales

2 - Packages of Ojas De Maiz
2.79 - Pounds of Tomatillos
1 - 5 Pound Gaud Masa
1.28 - Pound Jalapeno Peppers
3 - Full Chickens
1 - Giant Tamale Pot
7- Hours

This, along with some old myths and legends is what you need to make a whole lot of tamales.

Last night I went my friends moms house, who is from Mexico City, to make tamales. I love tamales so when I had the chance to learn how to make them I had to go for it.

First you take the chickens and start boiling them with some onion garlic and salt. While that is happening you take the Gaud Masa, (Crushed corn, lard, salt, other stuff), and scoop it all into a big bowl. Add 2 parts water and stir. This part is tricky you want to in the beginning stir it around like brownie mix, but as soon as it gets soft and a smoother consistancy you need to actually whip it. This process is supposed to be done with your hands, but I used a really big spoon. You whip the masa for 45 min or until your arm falls off. The real way to know when it is done is you drop a piece into water and if it floats you are done. Actually though the longer you go the better your tamales will be and whoever starts the stiring process has to finish it otherwise it will not be good.

Once the masa is whipped you rinse off all the ojas de maiz, the corn shuck the tamale is wrapped in, all the time watching the chicken. Next you prepare the Tomatillos, little green tomatoes. These tomatoes are specifically for the type of Tamales that we were making. There are many different types of tamales, basically red green and sweet. We were making are tamales with salsa verde. So you clean off and boil the tomatillos again with onions garlic and salt. You then twist the stems of the jalapenos to make them mad so that they will be spicier. They are then thrown into the pot with the tomatillos.

While the tomatoes and the jalapenos boiled the chicken was cleaned and then shredded. The tomatillos were then done. You can tell they are done by the color that they change and they become very very soft. Put them in a blender with the onion and garlic that was boiling in the pot add some salt and liquefy. The same is done with the Jalapenos and then they are mixed together. A separate pot is used to heat up a thin layer of oil, any kind, and then the peppers and tomatillos are thrown in. When this happens there is a loud whoosh and what looks as though it is all going to come flying out of the pot, but it does not. If this does not happen, if your oil is not hot enough, you might as well start over because it will be no good any more.

The salsa is then cooked and is ready once it is cooled. It is then mixed with the shredded chicken and always use a healthy amount of salsa because it is what is keeping the chicken from being to dry.

Then on to making the tamales you take a healthy spoon full of the masa and spread it directly in the middle of the ojas de maiz and then make a indent inside that and put the salsa chicken mix, kind of like mashed potatoes and gravy. You then fold over the two sides trying to get the masa to surround the chicken. Then one more fold at the bottom.

After about 65 of those you bless them,(Very Very important part), and then you put them in the tamale pot. The tamale pot has levels inside it so you put water up to the first level, then a tray sits inside of the pot above the water. You stack the tamales on an angle always pointing up. You can just keep laying tamale upon tamale as long as the open end is facing up. When all are inside start the steaming. When you hear the water boil that means you have one hour.

An hour later you check, if they just fall of the side of there wrapper they are done, if any part of it sticks then 15-20 minutes more.

Mine took a total of 2 and a half hours, I forgot to bless them. The end result though was 65 delicious tamales and a great time learning. I cant wait to make them again, but it will not be for awhile.

Fry Daddy

Well my brother gave me a little fry daddy. I have not yet gained 100 pounds, but I am not doubting the potential downfalls and heart attacks this little thing can cause. So far I have made fries, tater tots, chicken fingers, and onion rings and I have only used the thing twice. To add to its goodness I happen to have a plethora of different dipping sauces that I don't use enough, so it gives me the excuse to fry up more things. The cleanup though is a major ordeal and literally takes me two days to get it perfectly clean. I am trying my hardest to use it at a minimum and so far have been doing a good job, but in a few months if I have gained a ton of weight you know why.

The Green Mill

The Green Mill is a really great little old place that plays live music almost every night. It is setup as though it is the 1920's and you are sitting at a club where Frank Sinatra might be singing.

At one time this famous place was actually run by Al Capone through one of his hench man "Machinegun" Jack McGurn. There is a replica booth where Al Capone used to sit when he came to the club, it was located perfectly so that both entrances could be seen. In this great place there is also a trap door in the floor behind the bar, where now they store the liquor, but back then it was for hiding it. It is also said that this door leads across the street to the Aragon ballroom in case anyone had to leave in a hurry.

The bar has a couple of major rules though that all pertain to when the music is playing. "Big Al", the one enforcing the rules, lets you know right away what they are, when the music starts no smoking and no talking. If you really have to do one or the other you are sent to the way back corner of the bar. These rules are tough, but the music does sound much better when you are hearing it in such a quiet room.

This may be my new favorite bar in Chicago and I plan on heading back there again and again.

Charlie Hunter

The Charlie Hunter Trio is a jazz group that I went and checked out this weekend at the Green Mill, (separate entry), and this show was unbelievable. I am actually not lying I could not believe my ears and eyes.

Charlie Hunter plays an 8-string guitar, this means that the guitar is more than just a guitar it is also a bass. It is not like the old 80's guitars where it is two different instruments combined, it looks from a far as though it is a normal electric guitar, but when you get closer you can easily realize there is something special about his guitar.

When he is playing you do not know where to look, his left hand, his right, his face, his feet, everything is moving a mile a minute. Because he is playing both the bass and the guitar at the same time he can not take his right hand and just go across all the strings like a normal guitar, but instead has to pluck each individual string every time. While this is happening his left hand is somehow playing two different parts of the instrument with his fingers. Two are playing the guitar part and two are playing the bass part.

My favorite part about Charlie Hunters playing though was his expressions. I can only imagine the amount of work that is going into the way he plays, but I got some sort of idea of it by the way he contorts his face and mouth. The music almost seems to be coming out through his body expressions.

The music was amazing and his ability was gifted, but he was not the only part of the band. John Ellis on the Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Wurlitzer & Melodica, (google it, its worth it) and Derrek Phillips on the Drums and other percussion instruments.

These two were also masters of their instruments and made it look easy to be playing two or three instruments all at the same time.

My favorite part of the show came during one of Derrek Phillips' drum solos, he was jammin and then all of the sudden Charlie hunter came over and started playing the symbols while Derrek kept bangging away at the drums, one hand with a drumstick the other just his hand. Then John came over with moraccas and some other noise maker and all of them crowded around the drums and played in perfect rhythm.

They will not be around again for awhile, but I am going to make it my mission to see these guys again.

Sushi Samba

Went to Sushi Samba last night. They have really good food there. It is a mix between Brazillian, Japanese, and Peruvian meals. Which is actually really nice if you do... or don't like raw fish. I am someone who not only likes, but loves sushi they had me covered.

Not going to lie at first I was kind of turned off by the trendy "Mod" look they were going for, but the waitress was nice and not pretentious, so it worked out.

I ordered a couple of sushi rolls. First the standard spicy tuna and then one of their special Samba rolls. It was called the Unagi Tamago, which is fresh water eel, zuke tuna, cucumber & tempura flake with wasabi tobiko crema. It was un real. This sushi was delicious and was one of the better sushi rolls I have had.

A great finish to the meal was an amazing dessert, Valrhona Chocolate Fondue. Which came with coconut marshmallows, japanese rice crispies, passionfruit cake, brigadeiro, fruta fresca & sorvete. I could not eat it all but sampled one of everything and it was all perfect.

The end price wasn't to bad and I am going to be back there real soon.

Big City Swing

Well I actually did it. I started swing dance classes at a place called Big City Swing. I never could have seen this happening, but my cousin asked me awhile back if I would be down for checking out a dance class with her. I said yes, which is scary because I already knew that she was good at dancing therefore I was definitely the one who was going to make a fool out of myself.

We actually found the dance studio over the summer, but we just missed the signup and therefore had to postpone until yesterday. The class though is really awesome.

The set up is such that you do not always have the same partner. So even if you are bad your partner does not really know because you are only doing a small part of each step with one person. Since there are less men than women (honestly though not by much) the men form a circle around the outside edge of the class and the women rotate in the middle. The instructors are in the center explaining and showing each step. After their presentation they turn on the music and everyone practices it. "Thank your partner then rotate."

I did not get told I was bad so I guess that was a good sign, but really it is only the first class so who knows. I think though this is going to work out and we are having and will continue to have a lot of fun.

Thanks Carmel for asking me to go, see you Monday.

The Saturday Evening Gentlemen

Well this weekend was great. It started off with the Disco Biscuits and the MOE concert at the Aragon which was really good. The place was packed. I did not realize how big the Aragon was and how popular Moe is.

That happened to be just the beginning of what would be a ridiculous weekend, mainly because of my Saturday night.

My Friend Pat was in town from New York for what was supposed to be a Bears- Colts Super Bowl, turns out it was neither, oh well, so we met up on Saturday at the old APT. There were a few people over and we were doing the standard chillin listening to music sippin on a couple of beers watching bad TV, or good, depending on your opinion (Elimidate).

We decided the night needed a little something more because it was seeming a little boring. After a few outlandish ideas that were thrown around Al decided talk was cheap and he was actually going to follow through with one of our ideas, so...Martin grabbed the markers and we started making sketches. No one truly knew where this was headed, but Al was not backing down and then the hilarity began.

Al went first and choose the 1980's Mike Ditka/ Coach Dyer mustache in the color black. So I proceeded to use a good old fashion crayola marker and drew to the best of my abilities a mustache on Al. To my amazement it didn't look bad and in fact it looked real from more than 3-4 feet away.

This started a chain reaction next was a fu-manchu with the upper lip missing, I believe it was called the Mick Mars. Then there was the pointy villain mustache, the Yosemite Sam, the pencil thin just above the upper lip, the 1920's barber, a bar code, and a Hitler.

This alone made the night absolutely ridiculous, but the night was just beginning. We decided that it was perfectly normal and definitely socially acceptable to draw mustaches on oneself and therefore we should go out to bars looking like this. So we did.

The first bar, "Louie's Pub: Where Friends Meet", happened to be having
karaoke night which was not not all that surprising because at this particular bar they have karaoke 4-5 times a week.

We all were singing on the mics, talking with complete strangers, dancing and if anyone asked us a silly question such as, "Why do you guys all have drawn on mustaches?", everyone would reply, "what are you talking about", "who has drawn on mustaches", or "Its saturday night isnt it", people were so suprised by the ridiculousness of the situation that they soon didn't know what to do or say so they just stopped asking.

The bar was coming to a close and so for the finale "The Saturday Evening Gentlemen" where called apon to sing Black Water by the Doobie Brothers. I am sure it was the most aweful sounding thing in the world, but hilarious none the less. The night went on, but this is where I departed. Only to wake up and find out that they were not washable markers.

Pictures to come soon, being developed. Here is one off my phone, its Pat with a pencil thin.