The school where I teach is just a few blocks south of McCormick place, a huge convention center here in Chicago. I've seen all kinds of conferences. You can usually tell what kind of conference it is based on how many people are waiting for the bus afterwards and how many are trying to hail a cab. Doctors are always trying for cabs.
This morning when I was on my way into work, I noticed the bus was unusually full and realized there must be another big conference in town. I didn't see signs up anywhere or special tote bags that announced what the conference was for, but then I saw a nametag around someone's neck -- at the top it said NRA. I groaned inwardly. Gun control is a major source of controversy with my family. My sister married a hunter who owns various guns and mounts his kill on the living room wall. My father is a military man who, at least once in his life, has argued in support of the second amendment. Wes and I are more like the British -- all bobby sticks and the queen looking down at you for breaking the law. We are not fans of the NRA. I saw, and really liked, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. He asks a valid question -- why are we such a violent nation? And how much does gun control contribute to that?
So I'm having this internal arguing match with the NRA people on the bus. We finally get to the stop at McCormick Place, and in my head I'm like, "Yeah, you get off and stay off." And then I saw the signs -- National Restaurant's Association.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
These are a few of my favorite things...
...about Chicago
1. Spring. There are tuplis and bushes and hanging plants and baseball games and parks and the lake and a breeze that keeps everything bearable outside. It's the reason you live here in the winter.
2. Harold Washington Library. Who wouldn't want to live in a town with a library this big and in such a beautiful building to boot. We don't have a school library, so we just take the girls down when we're doing research papers. And it has a HUGE children's library.
3. The Tribune building. It has pieces of stone from other famous buildings around the world, representing a myriad of nations and all 50 states. Isn't that cool.
4. Restaurants. Cheap and mid-range and expensive and everywhere. We don't eat out a lot, and we usually don't go just so we don't have to cook. It's planned and a special outing. I don't think we've found a truly bad restaurant in Chicago yet.
5. Musicals, ballets, symphonies, concerts, and plays. We've been to Wicked, two or three ballets, the symphony 3-4 times, concerts at Ravinia, and heard Carol King, James, Taylor, Allison Krauss, Garrison Keilor, the Indigo Girls, Norah Jones, and have tickets this summer to hear Aretha Franklin. Tickets to Ravinia are $10 on the lawn, and concerts in Millenium Park are free if you're on the grass.
6. Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory. Beautiful. Fun. Free.
7. People are nice. It's true -- midwesterners are a little more welcoming than in, say, the northeast (but they don't try to immediately befriend you like they do in the South, which is a plus in my opinion). They offer to give directions when you look lost, are fairly polite in public places (much as anyone is these days) -- so long as you're not wearing the wrong baseball cap.
8. It's a dog town. There are dogs everywhere and of varying sizes. The further up the north shore you get, the smaller and more portable they are. Here in the South Loop, they're bigger -- to extra-large in the case of the St. Bernard and Great Dane that frequent the park nearby. There are dog parks and poop bags around for your -- and others, of course -- convenience.
9. The lake and the river. I like living near water, but I don't like the beach that much. Running, walking, and biking along the lakefront is so nice, and it's beautiful even in the winter when it's frozen over in spots. They're putting in a riverwalk.
10. It's a town that knows what it is. Chicago doesn't try to be New York or Boston, even though it has great shopping, a financial district, and several highly esteemed universities. It accepts its faults -- corrupt politicans (though many say they don't mind because the corruption makes the city work), issues of segregation and racial tension, and bad schools. People are fiercly loyal to their team of choice, be they Cubs, Sox, Bears, or Bulls. The public transportation is great, the airports are accesible, and cabbies don't try to rip you off.
Just so you can't say I've never liked a city.
1. Spring. There are tuplis and bushes and hanging plants and baseball games and parks and the lake and a breeze that keeps everything bearable outside. It's the reason you live here in the winter.
2. Harold Washington Library. Who wouldn't want to live in a town with a library this big and in such a beautiful building to boot. We don't have a school library, so we just take the girls down when we're doing research papers. And it has a HUGE children's library.
3. The Tribune building. It has pieces of stone from other famous buildings around the world, representing a myriad of nations and all 50 states. Isn't that cool.
4. Restaurants. Cheap and mid-range and expensive and everywhere. We don't eat out a lot, and we usually don't go just so we don't have to cook. It's planned and a special outing. I don't think we've found a truly bad restaurant in Chicago yet.
5. Musicals, ballets, symphonies, concerts, and plays. We've been to Wicked, two or three ballets, the symphony 3-4 times, concerts at Ravinia, and heard Carol King, James, Taylor, Allison Krauss, Garrison Keilor, the Indigo Girls, Norah Jones, and have tickets this summer to hear Aretha Franklin. Tickets to Ravinia are $10 on the lawn, and concerts in Millenium Park are free if you're on the grass.
6. Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory. Beautiful. Fun. Free.
7. People are nice. It's true -- midwesterners are a little more welcoming than in, say, the northeast (but they don't try to immediately befriend you like they do in the South, which is a plus in my opinion). They offer to give directions when you look lost, are fairly polite in public places (much as anyone is these days) -- so long as you're not wearing the wrong baseball cap.
8. It's a dog town. There are dogs everywhere and of varying sizes. The further up the north shore you get, the smaller and more portable they are. Here in the South Loop, they're bigger -- to extra-large in the case of the St. Bernard and Great Dane that frequent the park nearby. There are dog parks and poop bags around for your -- and others, of course -- convenience.
9. The lake and the river. I like living near water, but I don't like the beach that much. Running, walking, and biking along the lakefront is so nice, and it's beautiful even in the winter when it's frozen over in spots. They're putting in a riverwalk.
10. It's a town that knows what it is. Chicago doesn't try to be New York or Boston, even though it has great shopping, a financial district, and several highly esteemed universities. It accepts its faults -- corrupt politicans (though many say they don't mind because the corruption makes the city work), issues of segregation and racial tension, and bad schools. People are fiercly loyal to their team of choice, be they Cubs, Sox, Bears, or Bulls. The public transportation is great, the airports are accesible, and cabbies don't try to rip you off.
Just so you can't say I've never liked a city.
Lewis and Clark, and Liz and Wes
Wes and I are taking a trip the end of June. He has two weeks off (just prior to my summer vacation starting, naturally), and we haven't taken a trip with just the two of us to somewhere fun for no particular reason -- ever. We came to Chicago just after we got married, which was a lot of fun. It was really a pseudo-honeymoon and a long way to Cleveland, where Wes would spend the following month (yes, my husband left me for a month one week after we were married) doing a rotation at Metro Health. We went to Africa the follownig spring -- me for 2 weeks and him for 6. It was a trip for fun, but he also spent 5 weeks working at the local hospital in Kilimanjaro (yes, he spent a second month away in our first year of marriage -- learning to live together was very easy, I must say, with only one of us there). We both love to travel, but there just hasn't been the time or the means to do it before now. The way I figure, the window during which we have the money to take a trip, the time to do it, and the freedom (ie. no children) is a short one that hopefully will close soon -- so we should go.
Hence, a trip to Portland. Wes visited Portland, Oregon, when he was interviewing for residency. He liked the town and could have gone to the program, but he wanted a bigger program with a more prestigious name for his training, and I'm glad we came here. But as we think more and more about life after residency (which, according to a conversation we had the other day, scares Wes), I become more and more skeptical that we can comfortably raise a family here in Chicago. It's expensive, Wes's pay would be a bit lower because ED doctors aren't in as much demand, it's freezing in the winter, Wes hates the suburbs and if you live in the city you don't own any grass (which is important to me), the public schools are crap, and so forth. Mind you, there's much I love about this city -- perhaps that will be a separate post -- but there is much to recommend a move post-residency. And so I have become enthralled with Portland. It's a mid-size town with arts and cultural offerings, good schools, lots of parks and flowers and nature. It's environmentally minded and has a light rail. And, according to a reportI heard on the news today, it has the friendliest drivers in the US -- important if you drive like I do (Chicago had the 7th angriest drivers; Miami had the most angry).
I will share much, I am sure, about our plans and visit, but for now, the cool fact about our going to Portland (aside from 6 days and 5 nights away from home in a romantic hotel on the Willamette River) -- Lewis and Clark traveled from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Portland, Oregon, on their journey west. Once we've been to Portland, I'll have seen, in person, the start and end points of that trip.
Hence, a trip to Portland. Wes visited Portland, Oregon, when he was interviewing for residency. He liked the town and could have gone to the program, but he wanted a bigger program with a more prestigious name for his training, and I'm glad we came here. But as we think more and more about life after residency (which, according to a conversation we had the other day, scares Wes), I become more and more skeptical that we can comfortably raise a family here in Chicago. It's expensive, Wes's pay would be a bit lower because ED doctors aren't in as much demand, it's freezing in the winter, Wes hates the suburbs and if you live in the city you don't own any grass (which is important to me), the public schools are crap, and so forth. Mind you, there's much I love about this city -- perhaps that will be a separate post -- but there is much to recommend a move post-residency. And so I have become enthralled with Portland. It's a mid-size town with arts and cultural offerings, good schools, lots of parks and flowers and nature. It's environmentally minded and has a light rail. And, according to a reportI heard on the news today, it has the friendliest drivers in the US -- important if you drive like I do (Chicago had the 7th angriest drivers; Miami had the most angry).
I will share much, I am sure, about our plans and visit, but for now, the cool fact about our going to Portland (aside from 6 days and 5 nights away from home in a romantic hotel on the Willamette River) -- Lewis and Clark traveled from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Portland, Oregon, on their journey west. Once we've been to Portland, I'll have seen, in person, the start and end points of that trip.
Rhapsody...by the El
Last Tuesday, Wes and I went to the Norah Jones concert he got me tickets for as a birthday gift. The concert was wonderful. She has a beautiful voice and such a nice demeanor about her. The Chicago theater is, like the others in town, just breathtaking. Beforehand, we decided to try out a restaurant Wes thought looked interesting. Rhapsody is a nice, fancyish (without being pretentious) restaurant on Adams and Wabash just next to the El. The weather was nice, so we sat outside, and the noise from the train actually wasn't that bad. The menu there is limited -- one entree each with beef, chicken, lamb, fish, and vegeterian fare, plus a special (which this week was another fish offering). There are a few soups and salads and a basic dessert menu with homemade sorbets. It's pricey, but I can say after just one meal there, it's worth it! Here was our menu:
Chilled Avocado Soup with Spicy Shrimp & Pineapple Ceviche (shared)
Pan Roasted Amish Chicken with Grilled Asparagus, Wild Mushrooms, Fava Bean Ravioli & Basil Chicken Jus (for Liz)
Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon with Coconut Mustard Rice, Shiitake Mushrooms & Curry Corn Butter (for Wes)
Plus a bottle of Riesling
The food was so amazing. It's one of those meals that you rave over with every bite and talk about days later. My chicken and Wes's salmon were so moist. The wild mushrooms were sauteed to perfection, and Wes's coconut mustard rice was unbelievable. Wes always gives me a hard time for ordering chicken in these situations, but I don't love really fancy unusual dishes -- I like basic food done exceptionally well. Really good chicken is just, well, really good. And this was.
We didn't try the homemade sorbet because the flavors for the day weren't ones that interested us. Or maybe that was an excuse to go back...
Chilled Avocado Soup with Spicy Shrimp & Pineapple Ceviche (shared)
Pan Roasted Amish Chicken with Grilled Asparagus, Wild Mushrooms, Fava Bean Ravioli & Basil Chicken Jus (for Liz)
Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon with Coconut Mustard Rice, Shiitake Mushrooms & Curry Corn Butter (for Wes)
Plus a bottle of Riesling
The food was so amazing. It's one of those meals that you rave over with every bite and talk about days later. My chicken and Wes's salmon were so moist. The wild mushrooms were sauteed to perfection, and Wes's coconut mustard rice was unbelievable. Wes always gives me a hard time for ordering chicken in these situations, but I don't love really fancy unusual dishes -- I like basic food done exceptionally well. Really good chicken is just, well, really good. And this was.
We didn't try the homemade sorbet because the flavors for the day weren't ones that interested us. Or maybe that was an excuse to go back...
Spring Cleaned
I spent about 8 hours cleaning our two-bedroom apartment on Saturday. Anyone who's seen me clean knows that a "big clean" includes doing all of the laundry, including linens (and in this case changing from the big heavy winter comforter to a lighter coverlet, which meant climbing into the storage locker downstairs), vaccuming dog hair from the deep recesses of the closet, straightening sweaters on the shelf, scouring the bathtub, removing dog food from beneath the chair in the living room (which Lucy is not supposed to be in), and in this case, cleaning the refrigerator, including all the shelves, and receiving a giant order from Peapod. Still -- 8 hours! All I know is, if it took me this long to clean a 2-bedroom apartment, I'm not ready to own a home.
You got blood on your face, a big disgrace...*
When Wes came home from work the other night, I noticed that he had something just below his left eye. I was about to do the mom thing where you lick your finger and reach out to clean it off your child's (or in this case husband's) face when I realized it was blood. And then it occurred to me that, given his job, currently in the MICU where there are very sick people, it probably wasn't his blood -- and it wasn't. Granted he doesn't work in infectious diseases, but I figured it was just as well he wash it off himself. Sometimes I forget exactly what it is my husband does every day.
*with apologies to Queen
*with apologies to Queen
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