Today I got a late start for running errands and headed to Costco on Clybourn. Not a good idea. Traffic was awful and by the time I got there almost the entire lot was full. I didn't want to battle the crowds so I didn't even park and headed home. One little problem...I needed to get dinner.
Clybourn was backed up and I knew Trader Joe's would be packed. However,
Since everyone in the known weboverse is penning “best of” 2008 columns, I figured I’d do my own sort of hodgepodge. Check it out and feel free to comment/disagree in the comments.
Best Food
We tried a number of new places in 2008, even though not as many in past years because of parenthood arriving. However, it was our take in favorites of Papjin for Chinese and Wing Stop for wings that were probably the most useful. My personal favorite new eat-out spot was actually The Counter, with Freshii being my new obsession. I usually eat there once a week. Although my Spicy Thai Chicken soup today was filled with rice on top of the noodles. Rice isn’t supposed to be there.
It took me two hours to get the five miles from my office to our place. The roads were atrocious and I doubt our garbage will get picked up tomorrow, for the second week in a row.
But when you just take photos it doesn't look so bad. One or two more shots below.
Continue reading "Winter Wonderland, Plus Two Hour Traffic" »
Today I got a late start for running errands and headed to Costco on Clybourn. Not a good idea. Traffic was awful and by the time I got there almost the entire lot was full. I didn't want to battle the crowds so I didn't even park and headed home. One little problem...I needed to get dinner.
Clybourn was backed up and I knew Trader Joe's would be packed. However, I took the side street and saw that the relatively new Jewel Urban Fresh was relatively empty. I parked and headed inside. I'd been in twice before but with a list of a just a few items. Now, I had to find something on the fly.
I used to freelance for RedEye. It’s an interesting concept and all, but I don’t think it should be used as a blueprint for the Chicago Tribune proper.
This shot of a potential Trib redesign is hideous. I don’t mind the “trib” nickname actually. In fact the nameplate with Hester looks good although huge. And if you want to save ink costs it probably shouldn't be black.
I really hate the bleeding image in the lead story. Find another way of figuring out your lead story please! I also don’t mind the graphics on the lower half of the page.
What do you think? Yes to Trib? No to huge, bleeding images? Or no to everything?
'Chicago Tribune' Redesign Prototype Boasts 'Trib' Nickname -- Here's a Glimpse (E&P)
One nice thing about being in the city is getting to see things like the Blue Angels fly over your head, in your own parking spot. Courtney got to see a few planes fly overhead on Friday and on Sunday we stayed around the house to check out what we could see from Bucktown. Turns out plenty. From the roof, which we stayed on briefly, there was a great view of everything, but we needed to stay closer to the baby.
We still saw plenty as my guess would be that the pilots used St. Mary's as a landmark to make their turns back to the beach. So everybody basically flew over our heads many times. I got lots of video, of course can't get the darn dvds on to the computer, and I can't really tell why. Oh well. It was still fun.
We were not immune to the heavy winds and lightning last night. Check the flicker set above for major damage to some poor schmuck's car.
As the sun came out this weekend our new place in Bucktown offers a lot of new sounds for us. You can hear the pleasant din of all the people eating outside at the restaurants below and later in the evening the drunk people yelling at each other from across the street. Not sure why drunk people need to yell so much but what can you do.
And of course this morning before crossing the river on Wells I heard the most telling sound of spring, construction.
Mike over at Chicago Carless found a gem at the Museum of Science and Industry, a Dyson Airblade hand dryer. For some reason I have been oddly intrigued by this thing since I first read about it.
Getting ready for the baby means the rest of the house has to be organized too. That meant the office/my sanctuary had to be done before the deliver. Any day now btw.
These photos aren't the best but show how we set up the room with a dark brown chair/love seat which is also a pull out twin bed with a storage ottoman (filled with cd books). The desk we downsized greatly and I'm exercising the greatest organization with that ever. There is some clutter in one corner by the cabinet. That's going to storage soon. I haven't told the wife yet, but you can definitely chill on the sofa and watch DVDs (or webTV) on the computer quite nicely...
