July 31, 2012. As usual, when there is time after work and I have the energy, I rode a little extra on the way home. Today I pedaled up the lakefront to Fullerton, where I watched a police helicopter circle the area for a while, then down to Ohio Street Beach, with lots of stops in between. At Oak Street Beach on my way back to North Avenue, I witnessed this couple putting up a volleyball net. Teamwork, y'all - that's the way to get things done. I myself still need to get that lodged in my brain. I'm a notorious do-it-myselfer.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Day 334 - Bye Bye Papa
July 30, 2012. The morning of June 21st, a big red Papa Smurf greeted us like a smurfy sunrise from the wall next to our work parking lot. Next to it was an equally tall, though wider, tag that read "Volt." Volt was buffed within a week, but we were all amused that Smurf went untouched. Just over five weeks later, the Smurf was finally blasted off the wall. Papa Smurf, we'll miss you - and Papa Overocker, too, who was laid off on the same day. Boo, I say!
Day 333 - Calendar Check
July 29, 2012. Saturday's exhaustion carried over into a Sunday sleep marathon. I woke up with time to hang some curtain rods and curtains in the newly painted bedroom before band practice. At rehearsal, I shot this photo of Paloma putting recording dates into her calendar.
Day 332 - Running
July 28, 2012. I had every intention of walking over to Wicker Park Fest, maybe shooting some bands: Screaming Females, Foxy Shazam, Kill Hannah. I felt like there would be a lot of good people photos too. I was far too tired, though. A late night the night before, early work, and fasting left me with no energy for the street fest or any of the other probably awesome things going on. On my way home from work, I did get a photo of this couple running toward Wicker Park Fest, so at least I had a shot in the camera. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have dragged myself over there anyway.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Day 331 - Fabulous Birthday
July 27, 2012. The lovely Jenny B had a birthday, and celebrated it in style. She had friends and family filling up High Concept Laboratories and threw down on the dancefloor with her comrades from the Fabulous Ladies of Fitness.
Day 330 - Arm Up
July 26, 2012. I stopped around the bridge on my way home to get a few scenic shots. Downtown was beautiful from there, but for my daily entry, I give you this safety arm on the drawbridge. I don't know when it was last used, but I believe the bridge was built in 1909.
Day 329 - New Blue
July 25, 2012. At this point, our house still had one more day of painting to go. This blue in the kitchen is the first coat, and each room has its own distinct color combination. There are common neutral colors throughout the house, preventing very different colors from abutting one another and providing a common path through the house. The result is fantastic. It's colorful and vibrant, and really a beautiful space. Thanks to our painters, Larry and Joe, and congratulations to Shereen, Christine, Rick, and myself on the colors, especially Christine and Shereen. They put several full days into colors. I spent about four hours on my birthday with Christine choosing colors and nailing down particular shades. Then Rick spent the first half of my birthday party suggesting changes, most of which I think we used.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Day 328 - So Many Bikes
July 24, 2012. Most of the power in my work building, and the rest of the block, was knocked out today. We hung around for a little bit, then most of us left. I took the opportunity to swing by the lakefront before heading home. The coolest thing I saw was this group of dozens of bicycles, primarily kids' bikes near Oak Street Beach. That's how you spend a summer day.
Day 327 - New Friend
July 23, 2012. With our friend Julie in town from Austin, and our house in the midst of being painted, our good friend Amy hosted a cookout so that Julie could meet some of our Chicago friends. One new friend was introduced to us, and here she is. Hooray, friends!
Day 326 - Chest Bump
July 22, 2012. I won tickets to see an exhibition match between AS Roma from Italy's Serie A league, and Zaglebie Lubin of Poland's Ekstraklasa league. It was an unevenly matched game with four goals from AS Roma in the first half and no goals from Zaglebie Lubin. In this photo, two girls celebrate the fourth goal, scored by Bojan Krkic. It was a fun day, despite the mismatch, and it was nice to see a soccer game after missing the Chicago Fire v Aston Villa game the night before.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Day 325 - The Winning Run
July 21, 2012. After work I made a loop through the southern end of Lincoln Park to see what I could see before holing up in the house, and saw a baseball game with snazzy uniforms going on, so I took a quick left and leaned my bike against a tree just outside the first base foul line. As I did, the inning was changing, and the right fielder coming on explained that they were engaged in a game of 1858-rules base ball. He explained some of the rules that were different from the current evolution of baseball, then took his position, and I took mine. I shot a couple of innings of this matchup between the Douglas Dutchers, of Douglas, Michigan and the Bonneyville Millers, of Goshen, Indiana. The Chicago Salmon played earlier in the day. A Bonneyville player is running toward the camera in this photo to score the winning run. Both teams have facebook pages, and more can be learned about the game and their thirteen-team league at the Vintage Base Ball Association's website www.vbba.com.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Day 324 - Happy Roofers
July 20, 2012. Forty-three years ago today, two men walked on the moon. Today, these men were on the roof of a church in my neighborhood. Careful with the gravity!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Day 323 - Cubby Girl
July 19, 2012. Back in Chicago, and I suppose there was a Cubs game today. I saw a lot of Cubs gear wandering the streets after I got off work. This picture contains at least three people decked out in Cubs blue.
Day 322 - Purple Pop
July 18, 2012. Before going to the airport, my Dad and I visited JJ at Fricano's Deli, where he works. I got one of their "famous" black and white cookies, which made a delicious snack on the plane. It's always great to see my Dad, even if an alleged dental mishap keeps him from giving a full, toothy smile.
Day 321 - JJ and the Kid
July 17, 2012. I stayed a couple of nights with JJ and Kid in Austin, and made this charming portrait in their courtyard.
Day 320 - Unthinkable
July 16, 2012. Sunday, Shereen came back from a visit to Jill and Cody's with baby drool all over her shirt. That would be typical for a lot of people, but Shereen doesn't touch babies. Usually the mother will insist she hold the baby, and she furrows her brow, purses her lips, and waves her hands back and forth saying, "No, I don't want to touch it," or some other thing, always using "it" to refer to the baby. So, of course I asked her what she was doing holding a baby, and she said (kind of screamed), "I couldn't help it, he's so cute! He looks just like Jill!" The next day at lunch, she pounced on the opportunity to hold him some more, eating quickly, then scooping him up so Jill could eat. Well, that Benjamin is really freaking cute.
Day 319 - Birthday Girl
July 15, 2012. Allison's Birthday! And she made it out to meet us at the Black Star Co-op. Sunday night there is a well-attended pub quiz going on, but we took over a corner of the place anyway. I need to be careful to not let people slip away along with the places I used to live, because my friends are incredible. I love them all.
Day 318 - Dillon
July 14, 2012. The day after my birthday, and its party, Shereen and I flew to Texas in the morning. She got a little sleep, but I didn't bother with it. As sleepy as we may have been, we were kept on our toes by Dillon, the four-month-old Pekingese that Mom and Bob are in the process of adopting. Puppy teeth: now I remember what they feel like.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Day 317 - Birthday Me
July 13, 2012. I had a birthday. And I had a birthday party. Here I am, seconds before blowing out my candles. Thanks to Tara for snatching my camera away and taking photos.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Day 316 - Neck
July 12, 2012. Fabulous Ladies of Fitness had their monthly dance party at Cole's Bar with Dream of the Nineties for the theme. Marky Mark, House of Pain, Extreme(?). Inn this frame, I like how AJ looks like a vampire trying with all his might to resist the temptation to dig into this girl's neck. I believe she survived the night unscathed.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Day 315 - Colors
July 11, 2012. Our house is getting a paintjob soon, and Shereen and a friend spent all day picking colors. They also spent large chunks of previous days picking colors, but this was the day to make the plan. In a week the painting begins.
Day 314 - Cycling Parrot
July 10, 2012. I don't know what to say. I ate lunch and walked the long way back to work, and there it was: a parrot riding on some guy's handlebars. I have a tendency to evaluate photos without having taken the shot, thus missing the opportunity entirely, but I took no chances this time.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Day 313 - Polaroid
July 9, 2012. I went riding on the lakefront in the morning since I left for work too early. That makes for a long day, but it was nice out and I got some decent pictures. I came upon these two, with bikes - cool - and a Polaroid camera - cool. You still have film? Not long after they did the jumping-in-the-lake thing, which resulted in some of my better photos of that particular activity, but I have enough of those in this collection already.
Day 312 - Robbie Keane
July 8, 2012. The Chicago Fire hosted the LA Galaxy, who didn't have David Beckham for the match and didn't start Landon Donovan, but they did have Irish star Robbie Keane in for the full match, and he scored two goals - the only two goals of the match. This is Keane gathering the ball, brought downfield by Landon Donovan, to score his second goal. His first goal was scored on a penalty kick that bounced in off of the right goal post. While I certainly appreciate seeing stuff like this from him wearing a green jersey for Ireland, I'd rather it not happen against my team. Then again, what really shouldn't have happened is a foul committed in the penalty box, and a lazy pass in front of Donovan, who knows how to create opportunities and keeps looking for them until the game is over. He stole the ball from the Fire in LA's half that we see here on Keane's foot. His efforts are also appreciated in his national jersey, the USA, but a Galaxy jersey can't have my cheers.
Day 311 - Steady Cat
July 7, 2012. I went all day without photographing - it happens occasionally. I intended to go to West Fest and shoot Man Or Astroman? and The Black Lips, but I was just too tired after 3 days of showing visitors around in 100-degree weather. So, late at night I took photos of Malicous and Eamon. I took a few of Eamon with the camera on the floor and long exposures. This one is two seconds, and Eamon is remarkably still.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Day 310 - Tattoo and Haircut
July 6, 2012. While at the Art Institute, I caught this tattooed girl looking at a painting of a 1932 tattoo shop. Unfortunately, she didn't linger long enough for me to take a second shot with a greater depth of field. Nonetheless, the painting in the background is Tattoo and Haircut by Reginald Marsh.
Day 309 - A Shower at Kuma's Corner
July 5, 2012. There was plenty of sweating going on at Kuma's Corner on a day where the temperature surpassed 100ยบ and Kuma's air conditioning wasn't doing much of anything. The ceiling fans were either not turning or rotating at a speed that simply indicated that the electricity was still on. The food was still excellent, of course, and a rain shower halfway through our meal helped the temperature a little and cleared the smoke from the grill out completely. Two thumbs up, Kuma's! Two sweaty thumbs up.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Day 308 - Fireworks
July 4, 2012. Our friends Joe and Amanda arrived from Austin today. After a little chit-chat at home, we took them to our favorite pizzeria, then to the lake to watch the fireworks at Navy Pier. We found a spot just north of Ohio Street Beach up by the wall separating us from Lakeshore Drive and had a seat. They were exhausted, having driven directly from Texas with only the occasional power nap for rest, so we went home afterward. As I write this, Joe is snoring away, and my neighborhood is still booming with the sounds of fireworks being fired off on every other street.
Day 307 - Stars & Stripes & Storage
July 3, 2012. Here's a display of patriotism in the window of a storage facility in Lincoln Park. The mannequin stays year-round, though the display changes regularly.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Day 306 - Pick Up Stix
July 2, 2012. It was a nice, warm day, with northerners predicting heatstroke. After work I made a pass by the beach, as I often do. I shot a couple of volleyball games for a few minutes, and got some good shots, but I do that often. I don't often see the lifeguards struggling to get their oars under control and return them to the lifeguard station.
Day 305 - One Happy Dog
July 1, 2012. After band practice, my friend Leland invited me to join him at Montrose Beach, where there was an electronica festival going on (where the tents are in the background). He was at the dog beach just north of the insanity with Sam. We hung out at the beach until the fireworks started. Sam was having none of that, so it was time to go.
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