The 43

This trip to Chicago has felt great, a nice little reset that I semi-desperately needed. But, it was bound to come to an end.  I intended Friday to be a writing day, and I was able to write a little, but for the most part, I just relaxed. No train trips or bike rides or nostalgia cruising. I went for a longer walk in the morning and camped out on my dad's front porch for a little while to write, but the day went quickly. I picked up SuperDawg one last time for lunch, then gave up on writing in favor of just lounging in the sun for a while. I was meeting two of my high school friends in Kenosha for dinner, and that snuck up on me sooner than expected, ending my lazy afternoon. Hanging out with John and John was nice, and I got home at a decent hour. My last day in Chicago also went quickly. My stepmom made a nice brunch for all the kids in town, and I needed to pack for my departure. My cousin's baby was being baptized at a Ukranian church in the city, and I managed to eat a sal

I didn't sleep well last night -- this insomnia is really becoming annoying -- but I was determined to get out of my dad's house and do something today. With only a few days left of this trip and this the most likely day I could get downtown, I forced myself to board a train and head into the city. I didn't bring big plans into my downtown excursion, I really just wanted some sort of Chicago experience. My big complaint about downtown is that most of the really cool things are so expensive. Skydeck at the Sears Tower (I will never call it the Willis Tower)? $40. Architecture tour by boat? $60. Even a peek at the gears that operate the Michigan Avenue bridge costs $5.  But, I had heard good things about the American Writers Museum , which was relatively not expensive and sounded incredibly interesting. So that turned out to be my first destination. The museum was great -- inspiring in many ways. The featured exhibit was on game writing, and that should have interested me mos

I am approaching 5,000 calories burned today, which is just nuts. Besides suggesting I could be in better shape, it shows how active I was today.  After not sleeping well again last night, I did wake up a little earlier, and Dad, Susy and I went out for a bike ride on the North Shore Trail. I have lost most of my nerve on a bicycle, but the uphills were still tough, and I was using muscles I haven't used as much when running. The ride was nice, though hot, and we got back to the house; I ate the rest of the Caesar salad from the night before for lunch. I wanted to relay and enjoy the summer heat a little, so I walked to Whealan Pool via the bike path through the woods. Despite growing up on the northwest side, this was my first time visiting Whealan, which is operated by the county. It was crowded but not too crowded, and I found a spot in the grass, put down my towel, and lounged in the sun and occasional clouds obscuring the sun. The water was a little chilly, so I didn't swi

I wanted this trip to Chicago to be inspiring and creative -- to get me to write after a long stretch in which I haven't felt like writing. To facilitate this, I went on a little bit of a nostalgia tour today. I started by driving to the old, old neighborhood -- before we moved to Oriole Park in 1977. I cruised past the old house, which didn't look too different but I swear we had a bigger front yard than what's there. I also drove past my first grade school around the corner. My mom didn't want me walking across a busy street to get to the Catholic school, so I attended the nearby Lutheran school instead for kindergarten and first grade. The building, which was used for a charter school before the church was sold to another denomination, wasn't too big to begin with and looked as small as I remembered it (and was also painted gray).  After circling the perimeter of Riis Park, I headed back north to my old stomping grounds. After passing our apartment on Irving Park

I'm starting the recap of this day with details from decades before. My father's group of childhood friends in Chicago have remained friends since the 1960s (maybe earlier with some of them). Other friends joined the group, too, and were the core of Dad's softball teams in the '70s and '80s. Dad was mostly the oldest one in the group, and I've always gotten a sense my friends kind of looked up to him. Back in the early and mid '70s, he was already married to a pretty wife, had kids, was a police officer -- he mostly had it together before most of them did.  I loved going to my dad's softball games, and though he played with other teams (either the police league or with other officers), the ones with his friends created the most memories. The smell of dusty evenings, Clincher 16-inch softballs and Old Style feel like summer as much as my other summer nostalgia hoards. Dad's teams -- he was the pitcher and was tough to hit -- always were really good; t

I survived the last few days of work and made it to my reset break in Chicago, where I'm typing from tonight. But I made it just barely. The insomnia that was plaguing me last weekend continued through the week. The heat ramped up in Utah, and I had a few episodes of feeling dizzy. I've been watching what I eat all week, and I may have overcompensated and not consumed enough calories a couple days. I was so tired and couldn't wait for vacation to actually start when I flew out Friday evening. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed into late Friday night/Saturday morning, so I just rebooked for Saturday morning. Alas, I didn't sleep well the night before and was exhausted on the flight (and I can never sleep on airplanes). My dad picked me up from the airport, we got Superdawg, and I tried napping after lunch. The rest of the Saturday was better as I settled into a sort of Chicago experience that I'm hoping to get from this trip. I walked along the forest preserve, whe

The last two weeks haven't exactly zipped by, but here on June 10, I already feel like summer is slipping away before it astronomically has even begun. Honestly, the two weeks haven't been that bad. Lori and I saw Sarah McLachlan in concert last week, and the show was great. We split a canned margarita and a bag of popcorn, and though the heat was unusual for early June, it cooled off enough once Sarah took the stage. We didn't stay for the encore -- she played a new song and "Angel," which might be our least favorite of her songs -- and got out of the parking lot quickly. Our summer is coalescing somewhat. I'm going to Chicago next week for a break from work and Utah. Ben and I were thinking of going to Vegas for that week, but his club team is traveling to Oregon for a meet in July, and he doesn't want to miss too much time off work. Plus, Lori and Michael were already planning some sort of trip to the Pacific Northwest, so they are combining the excursi