Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Nostalgia
Wow. I'm looking at the Blogger version of this and getting all nostalgic and stuff all of a sudden. It seems like forever ago. That's so weird...
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Blog moved to Wordpress
Hi all,
I'm in the process of moving this blog over to Wordpress. The reason for this is that they have a much better dashboard (ie it's easier to manage) and they have a better way of keeping stats so you can know whether people are actually reading the blog or not. Also, they make a fascinating distinction between "categories" and "tags" which Blogger hasnt cottoned onto yet.
The new blog will be located here. Please change your bookmarks accordingly.
For those who like to type their URLs directly in, it's at a new easy to remember location, namely faranaaz.wordpress.com
Yes, Wordpress hasn't caught on as much as Blogger has just yet so although I couldn't get the faranaaz domain here at Blogger (too many Faranaaz's in the world I guess), I actually managed to get it over at Wordpress. Yay me. Alas, Team Parker was also already taken there as well.
So anyway, hope to see all you guys over there in future.
I'm in the process of moving this blog over to Wordpress. The reason for this is that they have a much better dashboard (ie it's easier to manage) and they have a better way of keeping stats so you can know whether people are actually reading the blog or not. Also, they make a fascinating distinction between "categories" and "tags" which Blogger hasnt cottoned onto yet.
The new blog will be located here. Please change your bookmarks accordingly.
For those who like to type their URLs directly in, it's at a new easy to remember location, namely faranaaz.wordpress.com
Yes, Wordpress hasn't caught on as much as Blogger has just yet so although I couldn't get the faranaaz domain here at Blogger (too many Faranaaz's in the world I guess), I actually managed to get it over at Wordpress. Yay me. Alas, Team Parker was also already taken there as well.
So anyway, hope to see all you guys over there in future.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Idols and CSI
After an uninspiring episode of American Idol (Ironically, this week's theme was "inspirational songs". The contestants were all terrible.) and half of the 80s teen flick Lucas, I watched You Tube videos about how Gareth Gates sought treatment for his terrible stutter, and now I'm watching - you guessed it - CSI. It never fails with the ew factor.
Anyway, since the weekend we've had a busy day followed by a not so busy day. On Monday we went to Chicago Premium Outlets, an outlet mall in the town of Aurora (where we later found out Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are filming a movie). An outlet mall is a a mall that is situated out in the boondocks - it took us over an hour by train to get to the town and then it was another half hour by bus to the mall. They have stores where big name brands sell good direct to the public at discounted rates. Just to tantalise you, some of the stores there were Armani, Calvin Klein, Banana Republic, Ferragamo, Gap, Guess, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Polo, Puma and so forth and so forth. Everything was cheaper than what you would find in a regular store and loads of things were 20 - 50% off that. Unfortunately, some things are just so expensive we couldn't even afford it at 50% off. *cough* $500 Armani pants *cough* But we did come away with some nice shoes. I think the buy of the day for us was from Puma which had a buy one, get one half off sale. Sameer also got a nice pair of pants, a shirt, and a golf shirt from Banana Republic. Also, a really spiffy Guess jacket that was reduced, reduced again, and then reduced a further 25%. Unfortunately, after all the Wolfson food and the Garrett's popcorn, I couldn't find anything to flatter my spare tire. *sigh* You can't have it all. I wouldn't say we shopped til we dropped but we did work our way through a lot of what I earned during my stint at Elecheck. ;) Here's Sameer feeling giddy at the end of the day after buying his first pair of uber spiffy All Stars, which I am totally jealous of.
Anyway, that took up pretty much our entire day yesterday and we spent the evening laying out all our stuff on the floor, grinning and removing pricetags, then tallying all the bills, having an attack of conscience and then trying to shake the feeling by lacing up our new shoes.
Today we got up early and caught the bus to campus. Sameer had a meeting and I just wanted to wander around the area. Alas there's not an awful lot going on in Hyde Park (thank goodness we opted not to stay in that area!) and I quickly grew bored. There was this one secondhand bookshop which was quite nifty simply because it was just books, books, and more books.
I was browsing the really large sci-fi/fantasy section when I looked up, and there before my eyes, was a copy of The White Dragon. *cue Holy Grail music* Now I like Anne McCaffrey as much as the next telepathic-spatial-travelling-warrior-dragon loving fantasy buff and I have read loads of the Pern books but for some reason, I could never get my hands on the White Dragon. And it was such a tease when Ruth was born and impressed Jaxom and I thought "I have to know what happens to these two!" and for years on end it never happened! I could never get it in bookshops or at the library. And now, all of a sudden, I look up and there it is! What luck! Of course, I had to buy it, and so I did.
I also picked up a book called The Vanishing Point by someone called Mary Sharratt. I was just browsing - and by that I mean wandering aimlessly with my eyes running along the level of the third shelf - when I spotted this one. I read the blurb and a few random pages and thought "Hmmm. Sounds interesting." Well, so far its alright. I'm already about a hundred pages through so it's definitely a page turner, which is more than I can say for Wizard's First Rule, which I am labouring through.
Sorry, but between Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind I think there is a clear winner and that is definitely Robert Jordan. I mean I burned through The Eye of the World in pretty much one sitting (one very long sitting) and had heart palpatations during the chase scenes for that one, so Wizard's First Rule is definitely paling in comparison. Richard Cypher is a bit too doe eyed and Kahlan (Do you say Kaa-lun or Kay-lin or Ca'lan?) is just dull. And the dialog is soooo stilted. Oi! Litmus test - When I read a fantasy book, I want at least one character to be so cool that I want to be them. To date, there's no-one in Wizard's First Rule that I want to be.
Anyway, moving on swiftly. Well, this Vanishing Point novel is alright so far. A bit on the porno side (the main character's sister is a bit of a ho') but it looks like there's adventure in store for the young heroine. My only complaint is that it tells soooo little about the time in which it is set. I mean, I have a vague idea of what 17th century America was like but I sometimes find myself struggling to fill in details about clothing, buildings, accents and home decor! A bit more detail would be appreciated. But still, it's a page turner, which is always good.
After Sameer's meetings we had lunch in the common room. We bought tea from the most awesome cafeteria I have ever been in. Oh my god. There was a cooked foods section, a cold foods section, a soup section (with croutons and a dozen types of bread and rolls, some even drenched in garlic butter!), a pizza section, a sandwich section, and a salads section (greens and fruits), soda fountains, tea dispensers and coffee dispensers. The list goes ever on and on! I almost died from the food smells. But they were all so expensive and in a preemptive strike against frivolous money spending I'd already packed sandwiches for lunch, so we had those. *sigh* I would have killed for those fried sweet potatoes chips with dip though. Ah well.
Then we decided to rush off to catch the next train home. We missed it my seconds, literally, and that really infuriated us because the next train was only an hour later. So we went back and wandered around the building and stopped at the labs to check mail and bus routes. Then we tried to catch the next train, which again, we missed by seconds. It wasn't a good day for us as far as public transport was concerned. Fortunately, this time there was another one due in a few minutes so we waited at the station. I read my book so it didn't seem like such a wait. But once we got back into town, we had to walk all the way home. I am soooo tired of walking everywhere. My kingdom for a bike!
Anyway, here I am in bed with the laptop blogging. And outside there is one big thunderstorm on. It's not raining as far as I can see and the thunder seems to be a long way off (apparently out in the Skokie area) but I can see flashes of lightning every few minutes and it's really cool they way it lights up the Chicago Skyline. Lovely.
Finally, here's a picture I haven't managed to fit in anywhere. Before we left for Aurora, on the walk to the train station, we saw this - authorities raising the Monroe Street bridge (not sure why - we didn't stick around to see if there was a boat coming or anything). The bridge is four lanes wide so it was really impressive to see. I didn't even know those things could be lifted.
Anyway, since the weekend we've had a busy day followed by a not so busy day. On Monday we went to Chicago Premium Outlets, an outlet mall in the town of Aurora (where we later found out Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are filming a movie). An outlet mall is a a mall that is situated out in the boondocks - it took us over an hour by train to get to the town and then it was another half hour by bus to the mall. They have stores where big name brands sell good direct to the public at discounted rates. Just to tantalise you, some of the stores there were Armani, Calvin Klein, Banana Republic, Ferragamo, Gap, Guess, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Polo, Puma and so forth and so forth. Everything was cheaper than what you would find in a regular store and loads of things were 20 - 50% off that. Unfortunately, some things are just so expensive we couldn't even afford it at 50% off. *cough* $500 Armani pants *cough* But we did come away with some nice shoes. I think the buy of the day for us was from Puma which had a buy one, get one half off sale. Sameer also got a nice pair of pants, a shirt, and a golf shirt from Banana Republic. Also, a really spiffy Guess jacket that was reduced, reduced again, and then reduced a further 25%. Unfortunately, after all the Wolfson food and the Garrett's popcorn, I couldn't find anything to flatter my spare tire. *sigh* You can't have it all. I wouldn't say we shopped til we dropped but we did work our way through a lot of what I earned during my stint at Elecheck. ;) Here's Sameer feeling giddy at the end of the day after buying his first pair of uber spiffy All Stars, which I am totally jealous of.
Anyway, that took up pretty much our entire day yesterday and we spent the evening laying out all our stuff on the floor, grinning and removing pricetags, then tallying all the bills, having an attack of conscience and then trying to shake the feeling by lacing up our new shoes.
Today we got up early and caught the bus to campus. Sameer had a meeting and I just wanted to wander around the area. Alas there's not an awful lot going on in Hyde Park (thank goodness we opted not to stay in that area!) and I quickly grew bored. There was this one secondhand bookshop which was quite nifty simply because it was just books, books, and more books.
I was browsing the really large sci-fi/fantasy section when I looked up, and there before my eyes, was a copy of The White Dragon. *cue Holy Grail music* Now I like Anne McCaffrey as much as the next telepathic-spatial-travelling-warrior-dragon loving fantasy buff and I have read loads of the Pern books but for some reason, I could never get my hands on the White Dragon. And it was such a tease when Ruth was born and impressed Jaxom and I thought "I have to know what happens to these two!" and for years on end it never happened! I could never get it in bookshops or at the library. And now, all of a sudden, I look up and there it is! What luck! Of course, I had to buy it, and so I did.
I also picked up a book called The Vanishing Point by someone called Mary Sharratt. I was just browsing - and by that I mean wandering aimlessly with my eyes running along the level of the third shelf - when I spotted this one. I read the blurb and a few random pages and thought "Hmmm. Sounds interesting." Well, so far its alright. I'm already about a hundred pages through so it's definitely a page turner, which is more than I can say for Wizard's First Rule, which I am labouring through.
Sorry, but between Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind I think there is a clear winner and that is definitely Robert Jordan. I mean I burned through The Eye of the World in pretty much one sitting (one very long sitting) and had heart palpatations during the chase scenes for that one, so Wizard's First Rule is definitely paling in comparison. Richard Cypher is a bit too doe eyed and Kahlan (Do you say Kaa-lun or Kay-lin or Ca'lan?) is just dull. And the dialog is soooo stilted. Oi! Litmus test - When I read a fantasy book, I want at least one character to be so cool that I want to be them. To date, there's no-one in Wizard's First Rule that I want to be.
Anyway, moving on swiftly. Well, this Vanishing Point novel is alright so far. A bit on the porno side (the main character's sister is a bit of a ho') but it looks like there's adventure in store for the young heroine. My only complaint is that it tells soooo little about the time in which it is set. I mean, I have a vague idea of what 17th century America was like but I sometimes find myself struggling to fill in details about clothing, buildings, accents and home decor! A bit more detail would be appreciated. But still, it's a page turner, which is always good.
After Sameer's meetings we had lunch in the common room. We bought tea from the most awesome cafeteria I have ever been in. Oh my god. There was a cooked foods section, a cold foods section, a soup section (with croutons and a dozen types of bread and rolls, some even drenched in garlic butter!), a pizza section, a sandwich section, and a salads section (greens and fruits), soda fountains, tea dispensers and coffee dispensers. The list goes ever on and on! I almost died from the food smells. But they were all so expensive and in a preemptive strike against frivolous money spending I'd already packed sandwiches for lunch, so we had those. *sigh* I would have killed for those fried sweet potatoes chips with dip though. Ah well.
Then we decided to rush off to catch the next train home. We missed it my seconds, literally, and that really infuriated us because the next train was only an hour later. So we went back and wandered around the building and stopped at the labs to check mail and bus routes. Then we tried to catch the next train, which again, we missed by seconds. It wasn't a good day for us as far as public transport was concerned. Fortunately, this time there was another one due in a few minutes so we waited at the station. I read my book so it didn't seem like such a wait. But once we got back into town, we had to walk all the way home. I am soooo tired of walking everywhere. My kingdom for a bike!
Anyway, here I am in bed with the laptop blogging. And outside there is one big thunderstorm on. It's not raining as far as I can see and the thunder seems to be a long way off (apparently out in the Skokie area) but I can see flashes of lightning every few minutes and it's really cool they way it lights up the Chicago Skyline. Lovely.
Finally, here's a picture I haven't managed to fit in anywhere. Before we left for Aurora, on the walk to the train station, we saw this - authorities raising the Monroe Street bridge (not sure why - we didn't stick around to see if there was a boat coming or anything). The bridge is four lanes wide so it was really impressive to see. I didn't even know those things could be lifted.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Adventures with Augurs
Or not.
Ugh... The less said the better. Let's just say, these American toilets are finicky and Sameer was never cut out to be a plumber. But kudos to him, he did a fantastic job. Unfortunately, after doing most of the dirty work, wifey got left with the remaining dirty work ie the cleanup.
*shudder*
Moving on swiftly.
We found an informal market on the other end of Clinton Street and it was the weirdest thing. Like being at the fleamarket at Muizenberg on a Sunday except with everyone speaking Spanish and eating burritos instead of gatsbies. We want to go back next week so hopefully I'll get to take some pictures to show you guys.
We entered the Wicked draw at Borders again today but we didn't win. Again, both partners in three different pairs got drawn, only this time, they took both sets of tickets. We resolved to keep entering at both at the Borders draw and the theatre draw for the next few weeks.
And on the way home we spotted this - pigeons warming themselves around the eternal flame at an armed services memorial in town. It was like a fireside gathering for birds I tell you.
Ugh... The less said the better. Let's just say, these American toilets are finicky and Sameer was never cut out to be a plumber. But kudos to him, he did a fantastic job. Unfortunately, after doing most of the dirty work, wifey got left with the remaining dirty work ie the cleanup.
*shudder*
Moving on swiftly.
We found an informal market on the other end of Clinton Street and it was the weirdest thing. Like being at the fleamarket at Muizenberg on a Sunday except with everyone speaking Spanish and eating burritos instead of gatsbies. We want to go back next week so hopefully I'll get to take some pictures to show you guys.
We entered the Wicked draw at Borders again today but we didn't win. Again, both partners in three different pairs got drawn, only this time, they took both sets of tickets.
And on the way home we spotted this - pigeons warming themselves around the eternal flame at an armed services memorial in town. It was like a fireside gathering for birds I tell you.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Getting out at last
So, if you've been keeping up with the blog the last week or so you've probably noticed that I haven't been doing much except surfing the internet while laying in bed. And you know, okay it's a bit of a waste of life considering that I'm actually in a different city and what but coming off my forced bedrest of yay ten days and then Sameer disappearing of to campus (loneliness is me) and the depressingly overcast weather, there was really nothing pushing me to move. Seriously, the one day I just got up to brush my teeth. And then I just sat here with my laptop in front of me, remote control nearby and a handy supply of Garrett's popcorn to snack on. Fortunately I'd also gotten a bottle of water for myself the previous night and that was right next to the bed so I really didn't have to move at all for a good ten hours. :P Pathetic - I know! But imagine how cool and futuristic it would sound if I was telling this story fifty years ago. You have this little electronic book on your lap and from there you can play games, watch movies, read books, the paper, magazines, write your journal, send "telegrams" to your friends, and even have a telephone conversation with your parents. Do you really ever need to move? I think there's a horror story in this somewhere or at least a very creepy revisionist version of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.
At last, yesterday I actually dragged my sorry ass out of bed but only as far as the Citi Bank one street over to collect our bank cards and then four blocks the other direction to go to the supermarket for supplies. It was during this walk that I realized we live only a few blocks from Harpo Studios. I started to wonder if I shouldn't spend a few mornings hovering around in the hope of catching sight of some celebrity or Oprah herself.
Today we woke up late and decided to go to Navy Pier to have a look around. We caught the bus one street over and it was on the way there that we realized this pier probably had a very kiddy orientation. The bus was filled with parents and children, most of who were whining and screaming. Sameer and I started having second thoughts about that baby issue. :P
Anyway, we got there and started to wander around. The building itself looks like the Waterfront. Lots of munchies, bits and bobs being sold from barrows in an atrium, loads of food shops and an Imax cinema. Outside it's similar to Kalk Bay or Simonstown area with a sort of Sea Point vibe. Lots of people walking along the pier, kids in buggies, people rollerblading or biking. And we noticed loads of young girls dressed as cheerleaders. It turns out that a cheerleading competition had been held at the convention center by the pier. I didn't really want to whip out my camera and take pics of the scantily clad little girls (how creepy!) but this group were all posing for their entourage of mums, dads and grans so I took the liberty of sneaking a pic.Then, because there wasn't much else to do, we decided to ride the ferris wheel ourselves. Here's a picture taken from the top.
After that we collected fliers for bike and boat tours and decided to come back another day. And then we headed back up to Michigan Avenue and found ourselves once again at Borders. We checked out a lot of travel books for the USA because we're hoping to take a few side trips along the way. We also got coffee but it was so disgusting, we've sworn off it.
After that, we started walking back in the direction of home. Along the way we stopped at a place called Wow Bao, which looks awesome and tastes great! The decor was sort of a split between Simply Asia and Vida and the food was Asian fusion - slightly Chinese, slightly Thai. They had these little buns called "bao" which are made of a sweet dough and stuffed with your choice of fillings, then steamed in a pot. They are yummy! You can also get Thai style soup with Chinese style dumplings in them. The dumplings are similar to the boa, just shaped differently and with different flavoured fillings inside. And the other great thing they had there was the iced ginger ale, which is made with freshly grated ginger. Fabulously refreshing and a great change from gassy, over-sweet cooldrinks. For me, it's even better than Panda Express and is now on the top of my list of favourite fast food places in Chicago.
After that we stopped at another Borders where they were having a draw for Wicked tickets and we tried our luck but failed. Incidentally, they drew about ten names and three times people turned down the tickets because their partners had just won the previous round. It was so strange. Anyway, we've decided to go back for tomorrow's draw. You never know, we might get lucky.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Xbox is Go!
At last! Our PAL to NTSC converter finally arrived and now we can play Xbox in all it's glorious color! Yay, bliss!!!
So we've just plugged it in and Sameer is now playing Gears of War online and in color and he's still getting his ass kicked by nine year olds. You just hear them going "Oh man, Warlock!" every time he gets killed. :P
If I play online I'm going to need a new title. I think Elliot Slade sounds too badass. I don't want to raise expectations.
After watching Joe play Oblivion that day and being such a backseat player I realized once again how much I like that game and even though I didn't think I'd get to play it for a long while, I suddenly was like Ohmygod I must play Oblivion! So we bought a second hand Game of the Year edition which means it's two disks, and both the original Oblivion as well as the two add ons, the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. Guess I'll be taking over the Xbox from Sameer now. :)
So we've just plugged it in and Sameer is now playing Gears of War online and in color and he's still getting his ass kicked by nine year olds. You just hear them going "Oh man, Warlock!" every time he gets killed. :P
If I play online I'm going to need a new title. I think Elliot Slade sounds too badass. I don't want to raise expectations.
After watching Joe play Oblivion that day and being such a backseat player I realized once again how much I like that game and even though I didn't think I'd get to play it for a long while, I suddenly was like Ohmygod I must play Oblivion! So we bought a second hand Game of the Year edition which means it's two disks, and both the original Oblivion as well as the two add ons, the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. Guess I'll be taking over the Xbox from Sameer now. :)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
New York trip booked
We've just finished booking our next trip. We depart Chicago, late afternoon April 18 and arrive New York that evening. Staying at the Days Inn (sort of like a Holiday Inn thing) in North Bergen which is not on the island coz everything on the island, including hostels are so frakkin' expensive I don't know how you could possibly afford it! As soon as we started looking for places off the island, the prices dropped by over 50%.
We decided to go that weekend so that we could attend the New York Comic Convention on the Saturday. In true geekly fashion, we're totally stoked about that. :) Then we hope to do some general New York sightseeing on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning. And then trek back to the airport Tuesday afternoon, so Sameer can be back in Chicago to prep for his classes.
Our biggest regret in the planning stages was that we couldn't get tickets to go see Conan O'Brien. Unfortunately, his show is booked out six months in advance. We could potentially have queued early in the morning to get some of the tickets they reserve to give away on the day but they don't shoot the show on a Monday, only Tuesdays through Thursday, and even if we could get last minute tickets we're leaving too early on Tuesday to attend the taping that day. :(
We decided to go that weekend so that we could attend the New York Comic Convention on the Saturday. In true geekly fashion, we're totally stoked about that. :) Then we hope to do some general New York sightseeing on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning. And then trek back to the airport Tuesday afternoon, so Sameer can be back in Chicago to prep for his classes.
Our biggest regret in the planning stages was that we couldn't get tickets to go see Conan O'Brien. Unfortunately, his show is booked out six months in advance. We could potentially have queued early in the morning to get some of the tickets they reserve to give away on the day but they don't shoot the show on a Monday, only Tuesdays through Thursday, and even if we could get last minute tickets we're leaving too early on Tuesday to attend the taping that day. :(
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Sunny becoming overcast
My day today started off good and then went downhill and has now evened out. I woke up at the crack of dawn. Okay, it was a quarter to seven but that is way too early for any unemployed person to wake up! Not sure why I woke up that early. Mayhap it was because I could feel a thudding through our too thin walls. Sameer was still fast asleep probably because he couldn't sleep last night and was pacing up and down til all hours. Anyway, I grabbed the laptop and started doing Google searches for Disney related things. The reason for this? Well, just before I woke up, I dreamed that I was looking at a Google Map of the Orlando area in Florida and hotels around Disney World. So my waking thought was "I wonder if my mind actually filled in all those details in the left hand panel in a realistic way..." It was very strange. Sameer eventually woke up and was all groggy and wot and I was peer pressured into showering. *sigh*
He also cunningly requested that I walk into town with him as we were going the same way. He was going to Millenium Station to catch the train to campus and I was supposed to be going to Randolph Street - the theater district - to see about tickets to see Wicked (the musical) and to get a travel guide from Borders. And I know this is a ploy, like him offering me coffee when I don't want to wake up from a nap but have assignments to do, or making me breakfast to get me out of bed. I'm sure he thought that if he didn't get me out of the apartment right then I would be googling things until he came back home. Well, I can't blame him. He's probably right.
So we started walking and he mentions that, in future, he's thinking of taking a bus to campus coz it would drop him off right "There". We look over and there's the bus that will take him to campus. So I'm like "Well, why don't you just take it now? Then you don't have to rush for the train." Epiphany moment for Parker. So I walk him to the bus and say my goodbyes and then, all grown up and independent, start walking up Madison. Then I realize I've forgotten which corner the bookshop I'm looking for is on. Ah well. Street names and directions were never my forte. Follow my nose is what I do. And I figured I'd recognize the right street name when I saw it, so off I went.
Well, I did recognize the street and managed to find Randolph, so yay for me. I was feeling pretty good. The sun was out and it was warm (you know you've been away from home a long time when 9 degrees is warm) and I was feeling good. I decided to walk into odd looking building that I was passing and was I glad I did. It's called the James R. Thompson Center and it's even more interesting looking on the inside than on the outside. It's got all sorts of red girders and glass panels and exposed elevators and is basically a huge atrium. It's very nifty. There's a food court on the lower floor, shops on the ground floor, and government and business offices on the sixteen floors above.
There was a budget shoeshop inside and at first I was looking for boots but then realized that the season for that is over here. Ah well. I found some soft, sneaker type thingies with velcro straps the I really liked and it turned out they were on sale. So I got my foot measured for the US size (I'm a 6.5/7) and looked for the right one but it turned out they didn't have any in my size left and then I was just sad.
On to Borders Books to look for a Lets Go USA, which I eventually found but then decided not to buy. I want to check on Amazon to see if I can get it cheaper. If not I can always go back. But I guess I must have been wandering around for too long in my oversized coat because suddenly all the sales assistants started staring at me and asking if I needed help and I practically felt hounded out of there. And that was when I started to feel a bit irritable.
Then I went back to the theater (which only opened after ten) to find out about Wicked tickets. The guy behind the desk couldn't understand what I was saying and I kept having to repeat myself. Maybe it's my accent but I also think it was the three inch glass between us. I felt like I was going deaf. I couldn't hear him and he couldn't understand/hear me. Eventually it turned out that they have a daily lottery for Wicked tickets but you can only enter at 2pm and then you have to be there at 5pm for the actual draw. (As if.) And the cheapest full price tickets, which get you seats in the last row of the balcony above, cost $35 each! So I left empty handed.
By this time it had become cold and overcast and I was feeling a bit miserable. I wanted a Panda Bowl for lunch but didn't think my moodiness justified the $5. So I decided to go to the market downstairs and get mixa-pancakes and maple syrup using the rationale "This will make at least five servings, and cover both lunch and breakfast tomorrow." I also finally gave in to my temptation to buy chocolate milk. You see, us Third World peeps have to get our milk, get our Nesquick, and spoons, and do a pouring and stirring thing. But here in the US of A, they charge you 49c for a pint (235ml) of premixed chocolate milk. And guess what? It tastes just like Nesquick. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I was expecting a much smoother, more chocolaty flavour. Well, now I know.
He also cunningly requested that I walk into town with him as we were going the same way. He was going to Millenium Station to catch the train to campus and I was supposed to be going to Randolph Street - the theater district - to see about tickets to see Wicked (the musical) and to get a travel guide from Borders. And I know this is a ploy, like him offering me coffee when I don't want to wake up from a nap but have assignments to do, or making me breakfast to get me out of bed. I'm sure he thought that if he didn't get me out of the apartment right then I would be googling things until he came back home. Well, I can't blame him. He's probably right.
So we started walking and he mentions that, in future, he's thinking of taking a bus to campus coz it would drop him off right "There". We look over and there's the bus that will take him to campus. So I'm like "Well, why don't you just take it now? Then you don't have to rush for the train." Epiphany moment for Parker. So I walk him to the bus and say my goodbyes and then, all grown up and independent, start walking up Madison. Then I realize I've forgotten which corner the bookshop I'm looking for is on. Ah well. Street names and directions were never my forte. Follow my nose is what I do. And I figured I'd recognize the right street name when I saw it, so off I went.
Well, I did recognize the street and managed to find Randolph, so yay for me. I was feeling pretty good. The sun was out and it was warm (you know you've been away from home a long time when 9 degrees is warm) and I was feeling good. I decided to walk into odd looking building that I was passing and was I glad I did. It's called the James R. Thompson Center and it's even more interesting looking on the inside than on the outside. It's got all sorts of red girders and glass panels and exposed elevators and is basically a huge atrium. It's very nifty. There's a food court on the lower floor, shops on the ground floor, and government and business offices on the sixteen floors above. There was a budget shoeshop inside and at first I was looking for boots but then realized that the season for that is over here. Ah well. I found some soft, sneaker type thingies with velcro straps the I really liked and it turned out they were on sale. So I got my foot measured for the US size (I'm a 6.5/7) and looked for the right one but it turned out they didn't have any in my size left and then I was just sad.
On to Borders Books to look for a Lets Go USA, which I eventually found but then decided not to buy. I want to check on Amazon to see if I can get it cheaper. If not I can always go back. But I guess I must have been wandering around for too long in my oversized coat because suddenly all the sales assistants started staring at me and asking if I needed help and I practically felt hounded out of there. And that was when I started to feel a bit irritable.
Then I went back to the theater (which only opened after ten) to find out about Wicked tickets. The guy behind the desk couldn't understand what I was saying and I kept having to repeat myself. Maybe it's my accent but I also think it was the three inch glass between us. I felt like I was going deaf. I couldn't hear him and he couldn't understand/hear me. Eventually it turned out that they have a daily lottery for Wicked tickets but you can only enter at 2pm and then you have to be there at 5pm for the actual draw. (As if.) And the cheapest full price tickets, which get you seats in the last row of the balcony above, cost $35 each! So I left empty handed.
By this time it had become cold and overcast and I was feeling a bit miserable. I wanted a Panda Bowl for lunch but didn't think my moodiness justified the $5. So I decided to go to the market downstairs and get mixa-pancakes and maple syrup using the rationale "This will make at least five servings, and cover both lunch and breakfast tomorrow." I also finally gave in to my temptation to buy chocolate milk. You see, us Third World peeps have to get our milk, get our Nesquick, and spoons, and do a pouring and stirring thing. But here in the US of A, they charge you 49c for a pint (235ml) of premixed chocolate milk. And guess what? It tastes just like Nesquick. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I was expecting a much smoother, more chocolaty flavour. Well, now I know.
Monday, March 31, 2008
The mystery of the curious fridge contents
So in search of munchies, I opened the fridge, not expecting much except week old, leftover blueberries, crushed garlic, milk, and an assortment of condiments. Instead, I was surprised to find this curious cooking implement.
Sameer has taken the 5th.
Sameer has taken the 5th.
Madly in love with BSG... again
I've been watching episodes on end and also rewatching that awesome intro I posted earlier. It is so beyond cool. :)
S, I cannot believe that you fast forward through that! It's the one TV series intro I never get sick of because it's different every week (you've noticed that, right?) and because the music is so great.
I love the clips of the destruction of Caprica, the swearing in of Roslin, and the surviving humans fleeing from the Cylons. It gives me goosebumps every time.
Here are two pictures that I think demonstrate how the BSG writers try to draw their audience in by subtly tapping into our underlying consciousness of world events. The first is of the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The second is the swearing in of Laura Roslin after the destruction of the twelve colonies. That scene is so poignant that you just couldn't "make this stuff up". The show's writers deliberately scripted it this way. Similarly, the memorial hallway on Galactica recalls the photo memorials put up by family and friends of lost ones in the days following 9/11. And of course, I probably don't have to remind any South Africans BSG viewers about the references to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Ooh, now that we have broadband I'm dying to listen in on the podcasts of the writer's meetings that are posted on the official website.
S, I cannot believe that you fast forward through that! It's the one TV series intro I never get sick of because it's different every week (you've noticed that, right?) and because the music is so great.
I love the clips of the destruction of Caprica, the swearing in of Roslin, and the surviving humans fleeing from the Cylons. It gives me goosebumps every time.
Here are two pictures that I think demonstrate how the BSG writers try to draw their audience in by subtly tapping into our underlying consciousness of world events. The first is of the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The second is the swearing in of Laura Roslin after the destruction of the twelve colonies. That scene is so poignant that you just couldn't "make this stuff up". The show's writers deliberately scripted it this way. Similarly, the memorial hallway on Galactica recalls the photo memorials put up by family and friends of lost ones in the days following 9/11. And of course, I probably don't have to remind any South Africans BSG viewers about the references to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Ooh, now that we have broadband I'm dying to listen in on the podcasts of the writer's meetings that are posted on the official website.
Lonely Monday
So I'm feeling a bit lonely today. Not only am I lucid enough to have a realistic idea of how slowly time is passing but Sameer has gone off to campus to sort out his student card and his first assignment. His classes start tomorrow. So far today, I've made a trip to the market downstairs to get Strawberry Yoghurt Frosted Cheerios and a Downy Ball, bought a Subway sandwich, and saved a lady's hat from traffic.
Cheerios are similar to Honey Nut O's back home (they have that flavor too) but the O's are really tiny in comparison. They're tasty but obviously junk food cereal. As you know, I usually like to have both healthy cereal (low GI and fiberful) and junk food cereal (high in sugar, salt, and fat, and low in fibre) in the cupboard. My instant oats and fresh blueberries served me well but I felt I needed a change and some crunch. So Cheerios it was. They're pretty good. Crunchy, tasty and with the cheerfully deceptive tang of strawberry. Of course, I was starving an hour after breakfast but, contrary to what the All Bran Flakes people say, you can't get it all from one cereal. So I had some of those disgusting Oke-Dokes we got -- artifically flavored buttered popcorn in a bag the size of toddler. Costs $3 and Sameer managed to polish most of it off in one sitting. I had to forcefully remove them from him. I much prefer my Garrett's Caramel Crisp popcorn, which cost $2.50 for about one tenth the serving but lasts three times as long.
Uhm, what? Oh yes. The Downy Ball. Downy is a fabric softener that they have here. We bought some but couldn't use it because you have to put it into a little plastic ball and pop it in with the wash. I bought it in anticipation of laundry day, which will probably be tomorrow. (I also anticipate that Ferzana will Skype Call us just as we head off to do the washing.)
Funny thing about the US - all their washing powder is, well, liquid. We went wandering up and down aisles at Target when we first got here, looking for a box of washing powder and we just couldn't find it. It didn't help that it was so hard to find a label that said "detergent" anywhere on the bottles. We had to really look hard to find them. Eventually we settled on Tide, because it sounded familiar. I just found it so strange because in SA and also in the UK, they have powder detergent and liquid fabric softener, or those dissolving cubes that the O' Donaghues had. But liquid and liquid? It was just a bit strange. Anyway, now we have our Downy ball so we can add fabric softener to the wash.
Anyway, after breakfast I surfed the Net, a lot. Not in the sense of flicking from site to site looking at arb stuff but more in the looking for interesting articles to read. That meant trips to Salon, Slate, and the New York Times. And of course my compulsory stop at YouTube. And then it was lunch time, what do you know?
So, I had $5.90 to my name and didn't think that I should use all of it. I considered going back down to the market for soup but I got there and all the soup smelled so disgusting I gave up. (Note to self: cook your own soup!) Considered going to Panda Express - my new favourite take-out place - for Chinese but decided to try to save some money and instead went to Subway. It's the advertising I tell you. They have this advert that comes on no less than 15 times a day (not even exaggerating) and it's people in different situation making hand signals and the soundtrack goes "Five! Five Dollar! Five Dollar Footlong! At Subway!" and after about the third time I saw it I started singing along every time it comes on and it drives Sameer absolutely crazy. :P
On the way back, I saw a woman in a Cubs hat crossing the street, pulling a huge cart piled high with boxes and bags. The wind swept her hat off her head and into the traffic. She looked at the hat kind of regretfully as it blew further and further away from her, and then just walked off. I waited for the lights to go red, then made my way between the cars to retrieve her hat, which had stopped rolling around. Then I ran after her and gave it back. She seemed surprised and I felt like I'd done a good deed. Then I felt really fatigued and tired. I guess the flu may be over but I'm still recovering.
Anyway, many jalapenos later, I'm back at the PC. There was a brief interlude with the parents who, I think were just trying to show the family how Skype video chats work, coz they got me to dig out the webcam and hook it up and point around the room with it and asked me what I've been up to and I gave them the same answer I've given them the last three days - nothing much. Sad, boring but true.
Right now I'm watching the Battlestar Galactica season 1 episode "Hand of God" and I've finally found out which episode of the series the song Wander my Friends is from. :) Whenever I listen to that I try to remember what the context was, because it's so Irish and seemingly out of place in the BSG world, and now I remember, so yay! I thought it was pretty well used in the episode - not too overbearing or too emotional.
They're having a BSG marathon on the Sci-Fi channel - nothing but BSG from 8am to 6pm this evening. :D It's a great way to catch up with everything before season 4. I think they'll probably run through all three preceding seasons before Friday. It's cool because you forget about all the tiny things that happen to the characters, little mysteries that get glossed over or forgotten, places characters have come from and things that motivate them. I am so psyched for season four! At least I don't have long to wait - season four premiers this Friday "10/9 central". I have cleared my nonexistant calendar.
I've also noticed that the intro here in the States is different from the one they show in the UK and in SA. It's got some arb mood music instead of the awesome mantra that we get with our intro. (Sorry Bear but you know Raya's intro is way cooler!) For those of you who've never seen Battlestar, here's a taster, along with Bear McCreary and Raya Yarbrough's awesome Hindi inspired intro.
Cheerios are similar to Honey Nut O's back home (they have that flavor too) but the O's are really tiny in comparison. They're tasty but obviously junk food cereal. As you know, I usually like to have both healthy cereal (low GI and fiberful) and junk food cereal (high in sugar, salt, and fat, and low in fibre) in the cupboard. My instant oats and fresh blueberries served me well but I felt I needed a change and some crunch. So Cheerios it was. They're pretty good. Crunchy, tasty and with the cheerfully deceptive tang of strawberry. Of course, I was starving an hour after breakfast but, contrary to what the All Bran Flakes people say, you can't get it all from one cereal. So I had some of those disgusting Oke-Dokes we got -- artifically flavored buttered popcorn in a bag the size of toddler. Costs $3 and Sameer managed to polish most of it off in one sitting. I had to forcefully remove them from him. I much prefer my Garrett's Caramel Crisp popcorn, which cost $2.50 for about one tenth the serving but lasts three times as long. 
Uhm, what? Oh yes. The Downy Ball. Downy is a fabric softener that they have here. We bought some but couldn't use it because you have to put it into a little plastic ball and pop it in with the wash. I bought it in anticipation of laundry day, which will probably be tomorrow. (I also anticipate that Ferzana will Skype Call us just as we head off to do the washing.)Funny thing about the US - all their washing powder is, well, liquid. We went wandering up and down aisles at Target when we first got here, looking for a box of washing powder and we just couldn't find it. It didn't help that it was so hard to find a label that said "detergent" anywhere on the bottles. We had to really look hard to find them. Eventually we settled on Tide, because it sounded familiar. I just found it so strange because in SA and also in the UK, they have powder detergent and liquid fabric softener, or those dissolving cubes that the O' Donaghues had. But liquid and liquid? It was just a bit strange. Anyway, now we have our Downy ball so we can add fabric softener to the wash.
Anyway, after breakfast I surfed the Net, a lot. Not in the sense of flicking from site to site looking at arb stuff but more in the looking for interesting articles to read. That meant trips to Salon, Slate, and the New York Times. And of course my compulsory stop at YouTube. And then it was lunch time, what do you know?
So, I had $5.90 to my name and didn't think that I should use all of it. I considered going back down to the market for soup but I got there and all the soup smelled so disgusting I gave up. (Note to self: cook your own soup!) Considered going to Panda Express - my new favourite take-out place - for Chinese but decided to try to save some money and instead went to Subway. It's the advertising I tell you. They have this advert that comes on no less than 15 times a day (not even exaggerating) and it's people in different situation making hand signals and the soundtrack goes "Five! Five Dollar! Five Dollar Footlong! At Subway!" and after about the third time I saw it I started singing along every time it comes on and it drives Sameer absolutely crazy. :P
On the way back, I saw a woman in a Cubs hat crossing the street, pulling a huge cart piled high with boxes and bags. The wind swept her hat off her head and into the traffic. She looked at the hat kind of regretfully as it blew further and further away from her, and then just walked off. I waited for the lights to go red, then made my way between the cars to retrieve her hat, which had stopped rolling around. Then I ran after her and gave it back. She seemed surprised and I felt like I'd done a good deed. Then I felt really fatigued and tired. I guess the flu may be over but I'm still recovering.Anyway, many jalapenos later, I'm back at the PC. There was a brief interlude with the parents who, I think were just trying to show the family how Skype video chats work, coz they got me to dig out the webcam and hook it up and point around the room with it and asked me what I've been up to and I gave them the same answer I've given them the last three days - nothing much. Sad, boring but true.
Right now I'm watching the Battlestar Galactica season 1 episode "Hand of God" and I've finally found out which episode of the series the song Wander my Friends is from. :) Whenever I listen to that I try to remember what the context was, because it's so Irish and seemingly out of place in the BSG world, and now I remember, so yay! I thought it was pretty well used in the episode - not too overbearing or too emotional.
They're having a BSG marathon on the Sci-Fi channel - nothing but BSG from 8am to 6pm this evening. :D It's a great way to catch up with everything before season 4. I think they'll probably run through all three preceding seasons before Friday. It's cool because you forget about all the tiny things that happen to the characters, little mysteries that get glossed over or forgotten, places characters have come from and things that motivate them. I am so psyched for season four! At least I don't have long to wait - season four premiers this Friday "10/9 central". I have cleared my nonexistant calendar.
I've also noticed that the intro here in the States is different from the one they show in the UK and in SA. It's got some arb mood music instead of the awesome mantra that we get with our intro. (Sorry Bear but you know Raya's intro is way cooler!) For those of you who've never seen Battlestar, here's a taster, along with Bear McCreary and Raya Yarbrough's awesome Hindi inspired intro.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
On non-standard McDonald's products and lack of excitement in my life
So I've been in bed for the past, oh five days or so. Needless to say, Sameer is totally bored out of his mind. I've just been drifting in and out of sleep so it seems more like three days in bed, hence I'm not quite as bored as he is.
I told Sameer I was happy to go out with him later this evening so we tried to book Pablo Francisco tickets. But the online booking thingy didn't want to accept his non-US credit cards and the trip planner outlined a walk-train-bus-walk strategy that wound up being about an hour either way. And that I was not so enthusiastic about. I couldn't quite hide my lack of enthusiasm from Sameer (he knows me too well) and he didn't go to extreme measures to find an alternate way to book the tickets. So here I am again, in bed, watching the umpteenth episode of CSI on Spike TV. (At a certain point it starts to feel like you're just watching one looonnngg episode.) So we're staying in again and having toasted sandwiches and orange juice for dinner.
Anyway, let me tell you about how completely disappointed I am in McDonald's. I mean, I thought McDs was supposed to be all about standards and standardization. The beauty of McDs is that if you're in a foreign country and can't read the menu, you can order your meal and still know exactly what will be in it and how it will taste. Well I've just found out that this is a complete fallacy! McDonald's has differences!
As some of you may know, I am super addicted to MacDonald's apple pies. They are the most divine, most delectable desserts. I have even on occasion been known to make special trips to McDs to buy nothing but milkshakes and apple pies. They have the thick, cinnamony syprup, the tender apple cubes, and the best part - the crunchy, bubbly, philo-like pastry. Heaven!
So last night I ask Sameer to get me an apple pie from the McDs downstairs, and settle in for coffee and apple pie. I open the box and the smell of apple comes wafting out - hmmmmm... Then I removed the pie from the packaging and - horror. Dull, powdery, non-crunchy pastry! I took one look at it and knew what it would taste like. I steeled myself for one bite, too many! Ugh!!! Sameer wouldn't even taste it, it looked that gross. It tasted flat and doughy. There wasn't even the telltale crunchy sound when you bit into it. The filling didn't even ooze! I was totally grossed out and had to toss the remainder of the pie.
I could not believe that McDs could drop their standards this way. Surely they wouldn't trade in the fabulous South African/British McDs apple pie for this pretender? Or what, is this just standard American pie? Please God, no! Not after watching Waitress and dreaming of Nathan Fillion and hundreds of different types of pie - peach pie, banana caramel pie, cherry pie. The list goes on as does the visual imagery. My dreams are shattered...
Quickly, change of topic.
I'm reading: Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
I'm listening to: nothing!
I'm playing: Gears of War on Xbox Live in black and white (long story) by proxy ie Sameer is actually playing and I'm just watching. I refuse to play until we get this darn PAL/NTSC thing sorted out.
I'm watching: YouTube videos of people playing Guitar Hero, way too much CSI and season 2 of 30 Rock
I told Sameer I was happy to go out with him later this evening so we tried to book Pablo Francisco tickets. But the online booking thingy didn't want to accept his non-US credit cards and the trip planner outlined a walk-train-bus-walk strategy that wound up being about an hour either way. And that I was not so enthusiastic about. I couldn't quite hide my lack of enthusiasm from Sameer (he knows me too well) and he didn't go to extreme measures to find an alternate way to book the tickets. So here I am again, in bed, watching the umpteenth episode of CSI on Spike TV. (At a certain point it starts to feel like you're just watching one looonnngg episode.) So we're staying in again and having toasted sandwiches and orange juice for dinner.
Anyway, let me tell you about how completely disappointed I am in McDonald's. I mean, I thought McDs was supposed to be all about standards and standardization. The beauty of McDs is that if you're in a foreign country and can't read the menu, you can order your meal and still know exactly what will be in it and how it will taste. Well I've just found out that this is a complete fallacy! McDonald's has differences!
As some of you may know, I am super addicted to MacDonald's apple pies. They are the most divine, most delectable desserts. I have even on occasion been known to make special trips to McDs to buy nothing but milkshakes and apple pies. They have the thick, cinnamony syprup, the tender apple cubes, and the best part - the crunchy, bubbly, philo-like pastry. Heaven!
So last night I ask Sameer to get me an apple pie from the McDs downstairs, and settle in for coffee and apple pie. I open the box and the smell of apple comes wafting out - hmmmmm... Then I removed the pie from the packaging and - horror. Dull, powdery, non-crunchy pastry! I took one look at it and knew what it would taste like. I steeled myself for one bite, too many! Ugh!!! Sameer wouldn't even taste it, it looked that gross. It tasted flat and doughy. There wasn't even the telltale crunchy sound when you bit into it. The filling didn't even ooze! I was totally grossed out and had to toss the remainder of the pie.
I could not believe that McDs could drop their standards this way. Surely they wouldn't trade in the fabulous South African/British McDs apple pie for this pretender? Or what, is this just standard American pie? Please God, no! Not after watching Waitress and dreaming of Nathan Fillion and hundreds of different types of pie - peach pie, banana caramel pie, cherry pie. The list goes on as does the visual imagery. My dreams are shattered...
Quickly, change of topic.
I'm reading: Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
I'm listening to: nothing!
I'm playing: Gears of War on Xbox Live in black and white (long story) by proxy ie Sameer is actually playing and I'm just watching. I refuse to play until we get this darn PAL/NTSC thing sorted out.
I'm watching: YouTube videos of people playing Guitar Hero, way too much CSI and season 2 of 30 Rock
Friday, March 28, 2008
Insular thinking
It all makes sense now. The reason why the average American knows so little about the world. I've been watching a lot of news on ABC and FOX and it's suddenly occurred to me that they have absolutely no world news section! Oh there's a sports section and a weather section and a finance section but no world news. Everything is US oriented and in fact pretty much all of the news that I've seen has to do with the mid-west ie just that middle portion of the US where Chicago is situated. What is up with that?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Chicago roundup
So I've been ill the last couple of days and feeling generally ugh. Sitting in bed with the laptop and tv remote controls nearby, the blinds open, and faithful hubby making frequent food runs. It would be fun, except for the fever and phlegm.
Anyway, here are some highlights from the last couple of days.
Though we're not huge fans of the zoo, Sunday was a Sunday and also, Easter Sunday so most things were closed. So we went down to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free) for a look around. It was pretty cool, as cool as zoos can be. The poor giraffe looked really really lonely. But at least the polar bear had a friend and a pool to swim in, the lions had their own little pride, and the gorillas had a whole family with both indoor and outdoor enclosures and the use of vertical space too.
Papa lion came into the indoor enclosure to roar at everybody and that was quite an experience given that we were standing two feet away. But the leopard was all alone and kept pacing and pacing and glaring at us with his beautiful green eyes. We felt kind of sad for him.
The gorillas were quite cool. We watched them play around, the smaller ones playing with the snow and tasting it. One of the younger ones ticked of Kwan, the big daddy, and he put on a bit of a display, growling and dragging branches around and generally intimidating the little ones. You probably know this zoo, the gorilla enclosures and Kwan from the movie Return to Me, with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.
That was Sunday. On Monday we went down to Wicker Park (seen the movie Wicker Park?) for a look around. Well we got a bit lost when Sameer decided we should check out the local GameStop (video game trade store) and ended up in a fairly dodgy area. You know you're off the beaten track when you can't find any Starbucks anywhere. So we quickly scuttled back to the trendy part of town. It was a bit too trendy for us I think. I think people who like vintage clothes and designer clothes would really like it but we didn't go into those stores much.
One clothing store we did like was called The T-Shirt Deli. We didn't buy anything because they were a bit pricey but we just got such a kick out of being in the store. It was set up like a butchery or delicatessen with fridges and coolers and things but instead of meats or cheeses in the trays, there were t-shirts! The theme was carried through to every last detail. The t-shirts were garnished with parsley, the prices were written up on big chalkboards, and there was additional deli machinery all round. It was awesome!
There was a huge second hand bookstore with first hand book prices, called Myopic Books but it was so run down and cool that I know I'll go back some time. It reminded me of the old main library at UCT. (Check out the website for some good pics.) It spread over three floors and all the sci-fi and fantasy was in the basement. There was a grey and black striped cat purring and slithering around down there. He was cool but did't want to talk to me, only Sameer. They sell large cups of coffee for a dollar in the store and people come in, buy a cup and just mousey for ages. The weirdest thing about it was the huge papermache figure of a cop being pecked to death by a flock of pigeons, which was in the window.
The other cool shop we went into was a book store called Quimby's. Again, it just had the most awesome retro vibe. They sold comic books, philosophy books, photography books, magazines, and loads of independently published stuff. I told Sameer, Quimby's is what Wizard's should be like. But I must say there was an inordinate amount of comic book porn and fetish mags in there. Every time you turned around it was naughty, naked nurses and dildos. Sameer bought a Batman comic and we skedaddled.
The next day (Tuesday) we stayed in coz I was really feeling under the weather but we went out on Wednesday coz Sameer was going stir crazy indoors. We went to the Chicago Field Museum, which is the Museum of Natural History. It was huge and airy and bright and had the coolest exhibits. Their most famous exhibit is Sue, the T-Rex. It's the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever unearthed and I gotto say, she is scary as hell. The Ancient Americans exhibit and the Slavery exhibit were also pretty hectic. They also had some great photo exhibits. One details a science expedition to the North Pole and there was another all about women's rituals from around the world. Tres cool.
On the way home we finally spotted the Sears Tower, the third tallest building in the world. As I suspected, we can never see it because we're too close to it and all the other towers block it out. It's just a few blocks away from us.
And then we discovered our new favourite supermarket - Whole Foods Market. Everything in there looks so wholesome and fresh and yummy. I have to go back. They get extra special brownie points for stocking Nando's garlic peri peri sauce. Needless to say, we stocked up.
Oh, before I forget again. Another new thing we discovered in Chicago. We were walking down the street downtown and I thought it was starting to snow again. But then we realized that snow was blowing off the tops and sides of buildings and falling to the ground, sometimes in huge chunks. And that's when we also noticed the huge signs and placards up that said "Caution, falling ice." I never knew that could/would happen. Weird but kind of pretty.
Anyway, here are some highlights from the last couple of days.
Though we're not huge fans of the zoo, Sunday was a Sunday and also, Easter Sunday so most things were closed. So we went down to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free) for a look around. It was pretty cool, as cool as zoos can be. The poor giraffe looked really really lonely. But at least the polar bear had a friend and a pool to swim in, the lions had their own little pride, and the gorillas had a whole family with both indoor and outdoor enclosures and the use of vertical space too.
Papa lion came into the indoor enclosure to roar at everybody and that was quite an experience given that we were standing two feet away. But the leopard was all alone and kept pacing and pacing and glaring at us with his beautiful green eyes. We felt kind of sad for him.
The gorillas were quite cool. We watched them play around, the smaller ones playing with the snow and tasting it. One of the younger ones ticked of Kwan, the big daddy, and he put on a bit of a display, growling and dragging branches around and generally intimidating the little ones. You probably know this zoo, the gorilla enclosures and Kwan from the movie Return to Me, with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.
That was Sunday. On Monday we went down to Wicker Park (seen the movie Wicker Park?) for a look around. Well we got a bit lost when Sameer decided we should check out the local GameStop (video game trade store) and ended up in a fairly dodgy area. You know you're off the beaten track when you can't find any Starbucks anywhere. So we quickly scuttled back to the trendy part of town. It was a bit too trendy for us I think. I think people who like vintage clothes and designer clothes would really like it but we didn't go into those stores much.
One clothing store we did like was called The T-Shirt Deli. We didn't buy anything because they were a bit pricey but we just got such a kick out of being in the store. It was set up like a butchery or delicatessen with fridges and coolers and things but instead of meats or cheeses in the trays, there were t-shirts! The theme was carried through to every last detail. The t-shirts were garnished with parsley, the prices were written up on big chalkboards, and there was additional deli machinery all round. It was awesome!
There was a huge second hand bookstore with first hand book prices, called Myopic Books but it was so run down and cool that I know I'll go back some time. It reminded me of the old main library at UCT. (Check out the website for some good pics.) It spread over three floors and all the sci-fi and fantasy was in the basement. There was a grey and black striped cat purring and slithering around down there. He was cool but did't want to talk to me, only Sameer. They sell large cups of coffee for a dollar in the store and people come in, buy a cup and just mousey for ages. The weirdest thing about it was the huge papermache figure of a cop being pecked to death by a flock of pigeons, which was in the window.
The other cool shop we went into was a book store called Quimby's. Again, it just had the most awesome retro vibe. They sold comic books, philosophy books, photography books, magazines, and loads of independently published stuff. I told Sameer, Quimby's is what Wizard's should be like. But I must say there was an inordinate amount of comic book porn and fetish mags in there. Every time you turned around it was naughty, naked nurses and dildos. Sameer bought a Batman comic and we skedaddled.
The next day (Tuesday) we stayed in coz I was really feeling under the weather but we went out on Wednesday coz Sameer was going stir crazy indoors. We went to the Chicago Field Museum, which is the Museum of Natural History. It was huge and airy and bright and had the coolest exhibits. Their most famous exhibit is Sue, the T-Rex. It's the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever unearthed and I gotto say, she is scary as hell. The Ancient Americans exhibit and the Slavery exhibit were also pretty hectic. They also had some great photo exhibits. One details a science expedition to the North Pole and there was another all about women's rituals from around the world. Tres cool.
On the way home we finally spotted the Sears Tower, the third tallest building in the world. As I suspected, we can never see it because we're too close to it and all the other towers block it out. It's just a few blocks away from us.
And then we discovered our new favourite supermarket - Whole Foods Market. Everything in there looks so wholesome and fresh and yummy. I have to go back. They get extra special brownie points for stocking Nando's garlic peri peri sauce. Needless to say, we stocked up.
Oh, before I forget again. Another new thing we discovered in Chicago. We were walking down the street downtown and I thought it was starting to snow again. But then we realized that snow was blowing off the tops and sides of buildings and falling to the ground, sometimes in huge chunks. And that's when we also noticed the huge signs and placards up that said "Caution, falling ice." I never knew that could/would happen. Weird but kind of pretty.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Forced into comment moderation
I am so miff right now. Some random, frakkin' idiot posted a comment that had a link which I accidentally clicked via the silly touchpad on this laptop and I almost ended up installing a spyware thingymabob because of it. I am so pissed off by this. It's just rude and mean and unnecessary.
I couldn't just remove the comment because I didn't have comment moderation enabled and I ended up deleting the entire post because of it. Fortunately it was a short post. But now I feel as though the only way I can prevent this from happening in the future is by screening posts. I really don't like comment moderation because I like the immediacy of posting comments without waiting for moderation but this a-hole has forced my hand. I'm just generally upset about the whole thing. Apologies to everyone who posts here for the now enabled moderation. It's a pity it had to come down to this because of some random person. Meanwhile I've reported the knool to Blogger. Hopefully they'll take him /her down soon.
PS: Okay, after a chat with Joseph I've decided to disable moderation again but to also prevent search engines like Google finding my blog. Hopefully this will prevent anything like this happening again. If it does happen again though, I'm going to have to remove the blog from the blogger listings as well. But anyway, boring admin stuff. Moving on swiftly.
I couldn't just remove the comment because I didn't have comment moderation enabled and I ended up deleting the entire post because of it. Fortunately it was a short post. But now I feel as though the only way I can prevent this from happening in the future is by screening posts. I really don't like comment moderation because I like the immediacy of posting comments without waiting for moderation but this a-hole has forced my hand. I'm just generally upset about the whole thing. Apologies to everyone who posts here for the now enabled moderation. It's a pity it had to come down to this because of some random person. Meanwhile I've reported the knool to Blogger. Hopefully they'll take him /her down soon.
PS: Okay, after a chat with Joseph I've decided to disable moderation again but to also prevent search engines like Google finding my blog. Hopefully this will prevent anything like this happening again. If it does happen again though, I'm going to have to remove the blog from the blogger listings as well. But anyway, boring admin stuff. Moving on swiftly.
Millennium Park and Michigan Avenue
I got up quite early the next morning, I think because my clock is still out of whack. The previous day, Sameer and I had spent a lot of time just looking out the window because we were just so taken in by the view of the buildings, the snow, and the cars coming and going below us. When I got up, I went to the window and looked out to see everything covered in snow. It was still snowing at that time and I noticed that there were only two lanes in the streets open for traffic.
Sameer got up shortly afterwards and we got showered and had breakfast. Before we left, we looked out again and by this time the clouds had gone, the sun was out, and someone must have been out with snow shovels and machines to move the snow from the streets because all the lanes were now clear, and parking lots and pavements were also snow free.
We took a walk up our street, Madison Street, all the way through to Millenium Park. Along the way we passed a number of Starbucks, a couple of Dunkin Donuts and a Garrett's Popcorn. We stopped to have Dunkin Donuts (the were okay) and I got a bag of caramel corn at one of Oprah's favourite Chicago traditions, Garrett's Popcorn. Near the end of the street we also came across a comic book store, which of course we had to go into.
Then on to the amazing Millennium Park. We wondered around all starry eyed and snapped away along with the other tourists. We were really entranced by the Cloud Gate Sculpture, which is more commonly known as The Bean. Can you tell why?
After that we walked through Grant Park which is across the highway, along the lake. It was a very plain park, no major centrepieces or flowers, probably because it was winter and totally snow. But with the benches facing the lake and the tall towers of the city as a backdrop, it was beautiful.
While we were there, we spotted a small group of people on a private tour. The strange thing about them was that they were all on these machines which I was raving about six months ago and for some reason now can't remember what they're called. :P Can anyone jog my memory? Anyway, after reading all about them on Slate and Wikipedia, it was really cool seeing them in real life and seeing how they move and turn. Cool. :)
Then made our way to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. It's a long street lined with posh shops. We couldn't really afford anything but we had a good time wandering through Macy's, Bloomingdales, the Apple Store (ohmigod), Levis and so on and so on. We did actually buy something in Borders (been in one, been in them all) where I picked up a copy of Wizard's First Rule to keep me occupied. Though I gotto say, pricewise we were both still missing the second hand bookshop in the market at Cambridge. Here's a picture of the city from Michigan Avenue.
We stopped for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, a famous pizza place which is listed in all the tour books. Predictably, it was packed and there was a 20 minute wait for a table and an hour long wait for the deep dish pizza. The pizza was divine though and Sameer has come away with a new idea - cheese underneath, chunky tomato sauce on top. Just to make you luss, a picture of the famous Chicago deep dish pizza. This is an individual sized pizza. We were going to order a medium but the lady who took our order took one look at us and said "I think it would be better if you ordered an individual." It was more than enough. We were stuffed after one slice and took the rest home for dinner.
Sameer got up shortly afterwards and we got showered and had breakfast. Before we left, we looked out again and by this time the clouds had gone, the sun was out, and someone must have been out with snow shovels and machines to move the snow from the streets because all the lanes were now clear, and parking lots and pavements were also snow free.
We took a walk up our street, Madison Street, all the way through to Millenium Park. Along the way we passed a number of Starbucks, a couple of Dunkin Donuts and a Garrett's Popcorn. We stopped to have Dunkin Donuts (the were okay) and I got a bag of caramel corn at one of Oprah's favourite Chicago traditions, Garrett's Popcorn. Near the end of the street we also came across a comic book store, which of course we had to go into.
Then on to the amazing Millennium Park. We wondered around all starry eyed and snapped away along with the other tourists. We were really entranced by the Cloud Gate Sculpture, which is more commonly known as The Bean. Can you tell why?
After that we walked through Grant Park which is across the highway, along the lake. It was a very plain park, no major centrepieces or flowers, probably because it was winter and totally snow. But with the benches facing the lake and the tall towers of the city as a backdrop, it was beautiful.
While we were there, we spotted a small group of people on a private tour. The strange thing about them was that they were all on these machines which I was raving about six months ago and for some reason now can't remember what they're called. :P Can anyone jog my memory? Anyway, after reading all about them on Slate and Wikipedia, it was really cool seeing them in real life and seeing how they move and turn. Cool. :)
Then made our way to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. It's a long street lined with posh shops. We couldn't really afford anything but we had a good time wandering through Macy's, Bloomingdales, the Apple Store (ohmigod), Levis and so on and so on. We did actually buy something in Borders (been in one, been in them all) where I picked up a copy of Wizard's First Rule to keep me occupied. Though I gotto say, pricewise we were both still missing the second hand bookshop in the market at Cambridge. Here's a picture of the city from Michigan Avenue.
We stopped for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, a famous pizza place which is listed in all the tour books. Predictably, it was packed and there was a 20 minute wait for a table and an hour long wait for the deep dish pizza. The pizza was divine though and Sameer has come away with a new idea - cheese underneath, chunky tomato sauce on top. Just to make you luss, a picture of the famous Chicago deep dish pizza. This is an individual sized pizza. We were going to order a medium but the lady who took our order took one look at us and said "I think it would be better if you ordered an individual." It was more than enough. We were stuffed after one slice and took the rest home for dinner.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Bloggin the Windy City
Wazzup ma homeys?!
Can you tell I'm watching Scrubs? No? Pretend JD just said that first line to Turk. Heheheh.
Anyway, I'm feeling slightly ill and slightly moody and I guess it's not the best way to write my first blog on the Windy City but I'm already soooo behind I have to get a move on.
Our flight from Heathrow was 8 hours long but because of the time difference we arrived only a few hours later. :P So it felt like one in the morning (of the 21st) for us but in Chicago was still only about 7pm on the 20th. When we got off the plane, we went through customs and they were very polite and professional and didn't give us any hassles except to make a few remarks about the hot pink ink we'd used to fill in our landing cards. (It was the only pen I had on hand.) But then we found out that BA had left one of our bags in London and it turned out to actually be the box that Sameer's Xbox was in, so there was some stress and drama that we didn't need.
We caught a taxi to the Best Western River Park North, checked in and took hot showers - bliss after the flight. It was also really cool having a TV in our room post-Wolfson. There was so much nonsense on the three channels we had access to and the one thing that really stood out was how much endorsements movie stars here do. Everything from Tylenol to Car Insurance was endorsed by some Hollywood person. And also, the news was all about the impending snow showers and whether the city had enough salt for all the roads and highways. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing, and not just light Davos snowing but seriously snowing.
We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had) gathered all our baggage and caught another taxi to Presidential Towers, where we'd rented an apartment for the duration of Sameer's term at the Chicago GSB. Erin, the leasing agent, gave us our access cards and keys and then took us through the building to show us all the amenities. Here are some pictures of Sameer standing outside the entrance to Towers 1 and 2, Sameer in the main foyer area, me outside the McDs downstairs, and then Sameer outside the supermarket which is also downstairs.
She also showed us where the laundry room, business center (ie computer room) and gym are. Alas, you actually have to pay for the gym membership but they have everything - pool, sauna, track, all cardio and weights machines, and studio sessions. We're still trying to decide whether to join or not as it's quite expensive.
Anyway, then we went to the room/apartment (ie studio) and looked around. We're in apartment 6 on our floor (there are 45 floors in the building) so our floorplan looks like this. It's small but bigger than our room at Wolfson, and it has comes with kitchen and tv, so it's definitely a step up!
Then we went back down to get our bags. Here's Sameer pushing the trolley thingey around with all our stuff on it.
And then the people from Cort Furniture Rentals came with all our stuff. Here's a pic of Sameer wandering around while they set the bed and the table up.
One of the guys had been in the US army for six years and he was telling us where the best place to get a tv stand was (we hadn't hired one) and where the closest grocery store was. Very friendly guy. Funniest thing about him was that his accent was exactly like Bill Paxton's in the movie Aliens. He sounded just like Hudson! I didn't realize people actually spoke like that. :P
After they left we unpacked the boxes they'd left with all the kitchen stuff and bedding in it. This company is so awesome and I think if anyone is ever relocating to the States they need to get this service. You order online and they deliver a set of boxes to you and it has everything you need in it -- different sized glasses, bowls, cups, saucers, plates, sideplates, pots, pans, knives, sieves, cutlery, baking implements, cooking implements, placemats, napkins, plastic food savers, dish clothes, toaster, coffee machine, telephone etc etc. There was only one thing they didn't get us and we found out that this is just an American thing. We have a coffee machine but no kettle. So if we ever want hot water, we have to boil it on the stove. Go figure. Anyway, point is, about an hour later we were all set up, and the place looked like this.
Then Sameer had to go register at the university so we took a taxi to the Metra station because it was snowing and we weren't exactly sure where the station was. Afterwards we realized that it is so close - just a few blocks - that we might as well have walked. The picture on the left was taken from inside the taxi as we drove down our street, Madison Street, which is right in downtown Chicago and slap bang in the center of everything. We are right near the offices for Citibank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, JP Morgan, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago Civic Opera House is two blocks up the road and we're just one street over from the Chicago Theatre District. We walked down that street the other day and there are like three theatres within two blocks.
Also, another thing I noticed right away is that there is a Starbucks on every street corner. Okay, maybe not every street corner but I am not exaggerating when I saw that no matter which way you look, there is always a Starbucks in line of sight. Hectic! One of the taxi drivers we were speaking - a really sweet old Iranian guy - told us that it's because Chicago is such a cold city. The harder it snows, the more people make for the coffee shops.
Point? Oh yes, Hyde Park, where the University is. It was very quiet, I guess because it was Good Friday (we later saw a number of families coming out of churches) and because it was snowing steadily. We went to the Office of International Affairs and Sameer signed up and updated his contact details, then we went to the Graduate School of Business to look around. Here's a pic of their main foyer.
Then we headed back to the train station. It was snowing really hard by this time and the snow was stinging our faces, so we had to keep our faces down as we walked. We were both covered in snow and our feet were freezing too.
The train station at Hyde Park is really basic. Just a wooden staircase up to the platform, which is also made entirely of wood. It has no kiosks or benches or anything, just the wooden platform that the train pulls up to. Also, there is no-one at the ticket office so you have to buy your tickets from a vending machine. We were looking at the stairs and I saw what I thought might be either snow or salt. I asked Sameer to test it but he didn't want to, so I picked up a piece and tasted it. Yep, definitely salt! The salt helps melt the snow off stairs, sidewalks and roads.
So we caught the train back to Millenium Station, the Metra station we'd originally left from, and then caught another taxi to Target, which is sort of like Hypermarket. We got some groceries and detergents there and also a shower curtain for the bathroom. Here's a nifty pic of this escalator they have for shopping carts. You push your trolley onto a special track and then get onto the escalator yourself, and it meets you at the top. Tres cool!
After the shopping we very fortunately caught a taxi back home (Target is quite far from us!) and then went upstairs to unpack the rest of our stuff. Also, Sameer called a company called RCN and organized for them to come through the next day to hook us up with cable and high speed internet. And that was it for day one for us.
Can you tell I'm watching Scrubs? No? Pretend JD just said that first line to Turk. Heheheh.
Anyway, I'm feeling slightly ill and slightly moody and I guess it's not the best way to write my first blog on the Windy City but I'm already soooo behind I have to get a move on.
Our flight from Heathrow was 8 hours long but because of the time difference we arrived only a few hours later. :P So it felt like one in the morning (of the 21st) for us but in Chicago was still only about 7pm on the 20th. When we got off the plane, we went through customs and they were very polite and professional and didn't give us any hassles except to make a few remarks about the hot pink ink we'd used to fill in our landing cards. (It was the only pen I had on hand.) But then we found out that BA had left one of our bags in London and it turned out to actually be the box that Sameer's Xbox was in, so there was some stress and drama that we didn't need.
We caught a taxi to the Best Western River Park North, checked in and took hot showers - bliss after the flight. It was also really cool having a TV in our room post-Wolfson. There was so much nonsense on the three channels we had access to and the one thing that really stood out was how much endorsements movie stars here do. Everything from Tylenol to Car Insurance was endorsed by some Hollywood person. And also, the news was all about the impending snow showers and whether the city had enough salt for all the roads and highways. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing, and not just light Davos snowing but seriously snowing.
We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had) gathered all our baggage and caught another taxi to Presidential Towers, where we'd rented an apartment for the duration of Sameer's term at the Chicago GSB. Erin, the leasing agent, gave us our access cards and keys and then took us through the building to show us all the amenities. Here are some pictures of Sameer standing outside the entrance to Towers 1 and 2, Sameer in the main foyer area, me outside the McDs downstairs, and then Sameer outside the supermarket which is also downstairs.
She also showed us where the laundry room, business center (ie computer room) and gym are. Alas, you actually have to pay for the gym membership but they have everything - pool, sauna, track, all cardio and weights machines, and studio sessions. We're still trying to decide whether to join or not as it's quite expensive.
Anyway, then we went to the room/apartment (ie studio) and looked around. We're in apartment 6 on our floor (there are 45 floors in the building) so our floorplan looks like this. It's small but bigger than our room at Wolfson, and it has comes with kitchen and tv, so it's definitely a step up!
Then we went back down to get our bags. Here's Sameer pushing the trolley thingey around with all our stuff on it.
And then the people from Cort Furniture Rentals came with all our stuff. Here's a pic of Sameer wandering around while they set the bed and the table up.
One of the guys had been in the US army for six years and he was telling us where the best place to get a tv stand was (we hadn't hired one) and where the closest grocery store was. Very friendly guy. Funniest thing about him was that his accent was exactly like Bill Paxton's in the movie Aliens. He sounded just like Hudson! I didn't realize people actually spoke like that. :P
After they left we unpacked the boxes they'd left with all the kitchen stuff and bedding in it. This company is so awesome and I think if anyone is ever relocating to the States they need to get this service. You order online and they deliver a set of boxes to you and it has everything you need in it -- different sized glasses, bowls, cups, saucers, plates, sideplates, pots, pans, knives, sieves, cutlery, baking implements, cooking implements, placemats, napkins, plastic food savers, dish clothes, toaster, coffee machine, telephone etc etc. There was only one thing they didn't get us and we found out that this is just an American thing. We have a coffee machine but no kettle. So if we ever want hot water, we have to boil it on the stove. Go figure. Anyway, point is, about an hour later we were all set up, and the place looked like this.
Then Sameer had to go register at the university so we took a taxi to the Metra station because it was snowing and we weren't exactly sure where the station was. Afterwards we realized that it is so close - just a few blocks - that we might as well have walked. The picture on the left was taken from inside the taxi as we drove down our street, Madison Street, which is right in downtown Chicago and slap bang in the center of everything. We are right near the offices for Citibank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, JP Morgan, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago Civic Opera House is two blocks up the road and we're just one street over from the Chicago Theatre District. We walked down that street the other day and there are like three theatres within two blocks.Also, another thing I noticed right away is that there is a Starbucks on every street corner. Okay, maybe not every street corner but I am not exaggerating when I saw that no matter which way you look, there is always a Starbucks in line of sight. Hectic! One of the taxi drivers we were speaking - a really sweet old Iranian guy - told us that it's because Chicago is such a cold city. The harder it snows, the more people make for the coffee shops.
Point? Oh yes, Hyde Park, where the University is. It was very quiet, I guess because it was Good Friday (we later saw a number of families coming out of churches) and because it was snowing steadily. We went to the Office of International Affairs and Sameer signed up and updated his contact details, then we went to the Graduate School of Business to look around. Here's a pic of their main foyer.
Then we headed back to the train station. It was snowing really hard by this time and the snow was stinging our faces, so we had to keep our faces down as we walked. We were both covered in snow and our feet were freezing too.
The train station at Hyde Park is really basic. Just a wooden staircase up to the platform, which is also made entirely of wood. It has no kiosks or benches or anything, just the wooden platform that the train pulls up to. Also, there is no-one at the ticket office so you have to buy your tickets from a vending machine. We were looking at the stairs and I saw what I thought might be either snow or salt. I asked Sameer to test it but he didn't want to, so I picked up a piece and tasted it. Yep, definitely salt! The salt helps melt the snow off stairs, sidewalks and roads.
So we caught the train back to Millenium Station, the Metra station we'd originally left from, and then caught another taxi to Target, which is sort of like Hypermarket. We got some groceries and detergents there and also a shower curtain for the bathroom. Here's a nifty pic of this escalator they have for shopping carts. You push your trolley onto a special track and then get onto the escalator yourself, and it meets you at the top. Tres cool!
After the shopping we very fortunately caught a taxi back home (Target is quite far from us!) and then went upstairs to unpack the rest of our stuff. Also, Sameer called a company called RCN and organized for them to come through the next day to hook us up with cable and high speed internet. And that was it for day one for us.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Luck o' the Irish
Hey all. Guess who has internet again? :) We're in Chicago and are hooked up with cable and high speed internet so, yay! Also, I'm having a minor infatuation with this city. All I want to do is gush but I will lay off coz I know that if I go ahead with it, Dublin, Balbriggan, and St Patrick's Day will be lost in time. Now, I kind of fell behind on this bit because when we were in Ireland, I was still busy trying to catch up on the last of the Davos posts, which I did but it means I haven't blogged anything about Ireland. So I'm going to do my failsafe "Follow the pictures" technique which usually works to jog my memory and flesh things out. Here goes.
We got a RyanAir flight to Dublin and both promptly fell asleep. We woke up just before landing. When we arrived, we were in a queue with a horde of young American tourists who kept talking about all the Guinness they were going to drink while they were there. :P There was an EU queue and a non-EU queue. The EU people had about four people tending to them and the rest of us had one guy. So it took us about an hour to get through the queue. Not sure what was up with that but anyway. At least they were nice to us once we got there. We met Joe and Ethné met us at the airport and after hugs and hellos we hopped into a taxi to get to Balbriggan (Baile Brigan) where they stay.
It was quite cold and overcast and we spent the rest of the evening in front of the warm fake fire catching up. The next day we caught the train to Dublin. It was a DART train and was quite new and comfortable. (Chicago trains are neither of those!) Joe gave us a running comentary of the place on the way and the O'Donaghues pointed out birds that we'd only heard of before - rooks, starlings, and magpies.
Once in Dublin, we walked towards the main street in town, O'Connell Street, with it's tall spire, the Monument of Light. Well, it didn't show up that well on the day because it was pretty dark and overcast but I took this picture a few days later and it shows the sparkliness of it pretty well. This is both Joe and Ethné unsuccessfully attempting to hide behind Sameer.
So, then we did a bit of a walking tour of the area and ten minutes later we lost Sameer. We crossed a road towards O'Connell Bridge with a hoard of tourists. He went straight and we all turned right. And then after a brief panic, and me thinking "I bet he didn't see us turn and just wandered straight over", I went back to the bridge used the last of my airtime to call him, turned around and as he picked up the phone, saw him standing on the opposite end of the bridge. Here's the lot of us looking relieved to have found Sameer again.
Then we crossed the River Liffey via the Ha'Penny Bridge (pronounced "Hay-Penny") and went into Temple Bar, a cultural center in Dublin which has medieval cobbled streets and loads of tiny shops and restaurants. By now we were already pretty much soaked because of the constant drizzle. We popped in to a couple of comic book shops and regular book shops, looked for some memorabilia (didn't find any we wanted to buy), and I ogled some nifty Doc Martens in a shoe shop, but didn't buy any. In retrospect, I really really should have bought a pair! Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the area. After that we went to Trinity College for a quick look around and then moved on to Grafton Street - a busy shopping area in Dublin - and after being further soaked opted to warm up in Bewley's Coffee Shop. I had an average tasting apple crumble pie with a divine apple tea. Strangely yummo!
Anyway, then we wandered off to St Stephen's Park, which again, looked inviting but we were too soaked to really take it in. We resorted to doing impersonations of Derek Zoolander's Blue Steel look.
After that headed home and immediately got into freshly tumbled dried clothes and sat back to some hot soup and general vegging out. Sheer bliss - reminded me of all those times we got soaked as kids, coming home from school, and got sent to take hot baths before getting into freshly ironed PJs, and eating soup.
The next day we did nothing much in particular. Joe suggested we go down to the beach but it was cold and overcast and we felt really lazy so we spent most of the day playing the Xbox, watching tv, surfing the internet (in my case updating my blog) and talking nonsense. Oh, and we watched the first Alien movie in the dark and I jumped out of my skin and was generally scared witless. Good movie that. Too good.
The next day was Saint Patrick's Day and we got up and rushed off to catch the train to town. We got a late start so we were running a bit behind and just when we were starting to think we wouldn't make the ten o'clock train, a taxi happened to pass by. So we caught that and got there in time to see all the parents and their kids in a all shades of green gathering on the platform.
When we got to Dublin we joined the flocks of people heading for O'Connell street. It was so much fun seeing all the adults and kids in their paraphernalia -- green shirts, wigs, hats, antennae, painted faces, Irish sunglasses and shorts, fluffy hats big and small, and so on and so on. There was such an incredible party feeling and I kept thinking "Wow! To be a kid on St Paddy's must be such a big deal!"
We stopped along the way to buy some Irish looking things to help us get more into the mood. Ethné got a big, floppy hat, Joe got a pair of glasses with an Irish flag painted over it, Sameer got a green hoody that said Ireland on it, and I got an aliceband with a pair of floppy green antennae attached. Here we are in our goodies.
Then we went off to look for a good spot to stand. Well, arriving an hour early turned out to be too late as there was already a crowd three rows deep there. We eventually stopped looking for a good spot and settled for an alright spot. Some experience St Paddy's people had turned up with step ladders or climbed statues to get a good view. This might be an idea for next time. Or else turn up really early and bring a blanket and some boardgames. :P
Once we had a good spot, we sent the guys off to get munchies and then stood around people watching and waiting for things to start. The adults were cool to watch but again, the kids were the cutest. Some were happy to site on their parents shoulders and wave a flag, others got bored and started playing games or chasing each other around, and others fell asleep in their parents arms. For me, I think of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade as a special treat for children, with the adults fun just being secondary.
Then the Parade started properly. There were marching bands - five or six of them from different places - police men on horses, large paper mache puppets, metallic, moving sculptures, huge floating balloons, motorized floats, people in costume, dancing people, fire blowing people, and people on stilts. It was a case of sensory overload.
After an hour, we started to get really cold and opted to break for lunch. We went off to Costa at a nearby mall and Sameer got KFC. Then I got "lost". I prefer to think of it as a case of miscommunication and bad timing. Then Sameer and I both got lost. Then we all tried really hard not to get lost. At one point, when Sameer and I had been separated from Joe and Ethné, we came across these two strangely lifelike mannequins.
The next day, Joe and Ethné went to see their cat Sliver, who is in quarantine after relocating from SA to Ireland, so Sameer and I went off to Dublin on our own. The weather was better but it was still cold and after wandering about fairly aimlessly we ended up taking one of those City Sightseeing tours, which was a nice way to take a look at the more out of the way areas that you wouldn't really want to walk to. When it ended we ran to the train station to catch the train to Drogheda (Dro-huh-da!), made it by the skin of our teeth, and found that the train had been cancelled. Then we tried to get some admin for our Chicago accommodation done at a nearby internet café and caught the next train. We made Sameer's Jamie Oliver Mushroom Sarmies for dinner (drool) and then played a few cut-throat games of Munchkin, which shamefully, we lost to the O'Donoghues. Methinks we shall not live it down...
Since Joe was leaving early the next morning, we said our goodbyes. It was sad coz we realized that it would probably be years before we saw each other again. Then we packed up most of our things and went to bed.
The next morning, we had breakfast, bid Ethné goodbye and walked to the main street in Balbriggan where we had to find an internet café to print some forms and fax them off. Between the insanely slow internet and the odd owner who couldn't fax our forms properly, this seemingly simple task took about 45 minutes. In that time we missed about three buses to the aiport. One of them drove by just as we exited the internet café. I was so mad! But it all panned out I guess coz the bus drive there was quick and uneventful and when we got there we were the first people to check in for our flight. Also, we didn't get any hassle about our business in the UK when we touched down, unlike our racial profiling incident after our Switzerland trip.
Inspite of all the trademark Irish sogginess, we had a great time in Ireland with the O'Donaghues. Again, thanks for looking after us and letting us invade your home guys. We really appreciate it!
We got a RyanAir flight to Dublin and both promptly fell asleep. We woke up just before landing. When we arrived, we were in a queue with a horde of young American tourists who kept talking about all the Guinness they were going to drink while they were there. :P There was an EU queue and a non-EU queue. The EU people had about four people tending to them and the rest of us had one guy. So it took us about an hour to get through the queue. Not sure what was up with that but anyway. At least they were nice to us once we got there. We met Joe and Ethné met us at the airport and after hugs and hellos we hopped into a taxi to get to Balbriggan (Baile Brigan) where they stay.
It was quite cold and overcast and we spent the rest of the evening in front of the warm fake fire catching up. The next day we caught the train to Dublin. It was a DART train and was quite new and comfortable. (Chicago trains are neither of those!) Joe gave us a running comentary of the place on the way and the O'Donaghues pointed out birds that we'd only heard of before - rooks, starlings, and magpies.
Once in Dublin, we walked towards the main street in town, O'Connell Street, with it's tall spire, the Monument of Light. Well, it didn't show up that well on the day because it was pretty dark and overcast but I took this picture a few days later and it shows the sparkliness of it pretty well. This is both Joe and Ethné unsuccessfully attempting to hide behind Sameer.
So, then we did a bit of a walking tour of the area and ten minutes later we lost Sameer. We crossed a road towards O'Connell Bridge with a hoard of tourists. He went straight and we all turned right. And then after a brief panic, and me thinking "I bet he didn't see us turn and just wandered straight over", I went back to the bridge used the last of my airtime to call him, turned around and as he picked up the phone, saw him standing on the opposite end of the bridge. Here's the lot of us looking relieved to have found Sameer again.
Then we crossed the River Liffey via the Ha'Penny Bridge (pronounced "Hay-Penny") and went into Temple Bar, a cultural center in Dublin which has medieval cobbled streets and loads of tiny shops and restaurants. By now we were already pretty much soaked because of the constant drizzle. We popped in to a couple of comic book shops and regular book shops, looked for some memorabilia (didn't find any we wanted to buy), and I ogled some nifty Doc Martens in a shoe shop, but didn't buy any. In retrospect, I really really should have bought a pair! Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the area. After that we went to Trinity College for a quick look around and then moved on to Grafton Street - a busy shopping area in Dublin - and after being further soaked opted to warm up in Bewley's Coffee Shop. I had an average tasting apple crumble pie with a divine apple tea. Strangely yummo!
Anyway, then we wandered off to St Stephen's Park, which again, looked inviting but we were too soaked to really take it in. We resorted to doing impersonations of Derek Zoolander's Blue Steel look.
After that headed home and immediately got into freshly tumbled dried clothes and sat back to some hot soup and general vegging out. Sheer bliss - reminded me of all those times we got soaked as kids, coming home from school, and got sent to take hot baths before getting into freshly ironed PJs, and eating soup.
The next day we did nothing much in particular. Joe suggested we go down to the beach but it was cold and overcast and we felt really lazy so we spent most of the day playing the Xbox, watching tv, surfing the internet (in my case updating my blog) and talking nonsense. Oh, and we watched the first Alien movie in the dark and I jumped out of my skin and was generally scared witless. Good movie that. Too good.
The next day was Saint Patrick's Day and we got up and rushed off to catch the train to town. We got a late start so we were running a bit behind and just when we were starting to think we wouldn't make the ten o'clock train, a taxi happened to pass by. So we caught that and got there in time to see all the parents and their kids in a all shades of green gathering on the platform.
When we got to Dublin we joined the flocks of people heading for O'Connell street. It was so much fun seeing all the adults and kids in their paraphernalia -- green shirts, wigs, hats, antennae, painted faces, Irish sunglasses and shorts, fluffy hats big and small, and so on and so on. There was such an incredible party feeling and I kept thinking "Wow! To be a kid on St Paddy's must be such a big deal!"
We stopped along the way to buy some Irish looking things to help us get more into the mood. Ethné got a big, floppy hat, Joe got a pair of glasses with an Irish flag painted over it, Sameer got a green hoody that said Ireland on it, and I got an aliceband with a pair of floppy green antennae attached. Here we are in our goodies.
Then we went off to look for a good spot to stand. Well, arriving an hour early turned out to be too late as there was already a crowd three rows deep there. We eventually stopped looking for a good spot and settled for an alright spot. Some experience St Paddy's people had turned up with step ladders or climbed statues to get a good view. This might be an idea for next time. Or else turn up really early and bring a blanket and some boardgames. :P
Once we had a good spot, we sent the guys off to get munchies and then stood around people watching and waiting for things to start. The adults were cool to watch but again, the kids were the cutest. Some were happy to site on their parents shoulders and wave a flag, others got bored and started playing games or chasing each other around, and others fell asleep in their parents arms. For me, I think of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade as a special treat for children, with the adults fun just being secondary.
Then the Parade started properly. There were marching bands - five or six of them from different places - police men on horses, large paper mache puppets, metallic, moving sculptures, huge floating balloons, motorized floats, people in costume, dancing people, fire blowing people, and people on stilts. It was a case of sensory overload.
After an hour, we started to get really cold and opted to break for lunch. We went off to Costa at a nearby mall and Sameer got KFC. Then I got "lost". I prefer to think of it as a case of miscommunication and bad timing. Then Sameer and I both got lost. Then we all tried really hard not to get lost. At one point, when Sameer and I had been separated from Joe and Ethné, we came across these two strangely lifelike mannequins.
The next day, Joe and Ethné went to see their cat Sliver, who is in quarantine after relocating from SA to Ireland, so Sameer and I went off to Dublin on our own. The weather was better but it was still cold and after wandering about fairly aimlessly we ended up taking one of those City Sightseeing tours, which was a nice way to take a look at the more out of the way areas that you wouldn't really want to walk to. When it ended we ran to the train station to catch the train to Drogheda (Dro-huh-da!), made it by the skin of our teeth, and found that the train had been cancelled. Then we tried to get some admin for our Chicago accommodation done at a nearby internet café and caught the next train. We made Sameer's Jamie Oliver Mushroom Sarmies for dinner (drool) and then played a few cut-throat games of Munchkin, which shamefully, we lost to the O'Donoghues. Methinks we shall not live it down...
Since Joe was leaving early the next morning, we said our goodbyes. It was sad coz we realized that it would probably be years before we saw each other again. Then we packed up most of our things and went to bed.
The next morning, we had breakfast, bid Ethné goodbye and walked to the main street in Balbriggan where we had to find an internet café to print some forms and fax them off. Between the insanely slow internet and the odd owner who couldn't fax our forms properly, this seemingly simple task took about 45 minutes. In that time we missed about three buses to the aiport. One of them drove by just as we exited the internet café. I was so mad! But it all panned out I guess coz the bus drive there was quick and uneventful and when we got there we were the first people to check in for our flight. Also, we didn't get any hassle about our business in the UK when we touched down, unlike our racial profiling incident after our Switzerland trip.
Inspite of all the trademark Irish sogginess, we had a great time in Ireland with the O'Donaghues. Again, thanks for looking after us and letting us invade your home guys. We really appreciate it!
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