A big thanks goes out to Cliff and SME for hosting the completely awesome BBQ Wednesday Taco Party last week. It was a nice break from the sausages.
It's like a daycare center for young adults...
Cliff, Frances, and Mike Nummerdor BBQ Taco Night
Brent (Remember it's Red Wings & Pistons Playoffs tonight!), Amanda, Karli, Nick, Angela, and Kevin. I think I got that all right...
While all my friends went up to Manistee to shoot guns and all, I stayed in Chicago with Megan while her friends from New York City came in. Here's Ian, not from NYC, and Danny, from NYC. We're playing Apples-to-Apples.
He's much happier when he plays the "Helen Keller trump card."
This just looks like one of those photos you find of your parents from before you were born.
I don't understand why it's so difficult to get her to take a nice picture with me once in a while...
Danny, Chessie (sp?), Kevin, and Lorraine.
I sat next to this kid for a long time and can't remember his name. What an ass I am...
This is some very serious Apple-to-Apples play.
Man, you'd think we were gambling or something.
Here's Paul. I think he's a distant relative of someone from Muskegon because he's a very Muskegon-esque kind of guy.
Me and Ian. Ian seems to be awaiting my "Festering Wound trump card."
Megan demonstrating how to straggle someone taller than you.
Com'on guys, just one nice photo...
WHIRLYBALL! Here's a description of the game from
http://www.whirlyball.com/home/index.php:
"Agility. Speed. Strength. None of these qualities will be of any use in the highly-competitive world of WhirlyBall. Although it combines lacrosse, hockey and basketball with bumper cars, WhirlyBall has caused great athletes of every stripe to laugh and holler their way to a crushing defeat.
If you choose to accept the challenge, you'll use hand-held scoops to propel whiffle balls at your scoring target. In a team of five, and with the help of a professional referee, you'll have a bang-up time trying to outscore the competition."
I found it amusing that the only other people at the Whirlyball place when we were there was a group of eight year olds playing pool.
Here's my team: The Chicago Queef! We never did get to do the flying-V in the bumer cars. Next time...
I like this photo because it looks like I smeared vaseline on the lens. It was difficult to take pics while playing because the bumper cars shook so much.
Have you ever been in a car accident. You know how you remember things happening in a blur? This is the best photo I've ever seen capturing that kind of moment right before Danny smashed the hell out of my cart.
Sweet Victory
Here's couple of the all-stars from my team
Gotta love action shots
I guess Johnny Depp is in town for the new gangster movie "Public Enemy." Here's more info if you want it:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152836/. This was on the set, which is actually just Lincoln Ave. (just north of Fullerton) all dolled up.
Here's the Biograph Theater. You might know it as the place where the Feds killed Dillinger. If you are a hipster, you might know it as the theater next to Clark's Diner. If you're a Lincoln Park Trixie, you don't know anything about it and think the gangsters where around in the 1800's when Chicago wasn't anything more than a swamp in the western United States...
So many people were talking about how much nicer the area looked without all the billboards, neon signs, and other junk. It's an international trend to ban that kind of stuff. Think Olympics 2016 Chicago...
Look at the streetcar rails in the center of the road. Those are not real. It's a think veneer of bricks and metal to replicate the old streetcar system.
Here's Fiesta Mexicana Restaurant. It's pretty hard to recognize since they literally put an entire new facade on the place. It was pretty amazing that all of the stores and restaurants were still open during the down time of the shoots.
From old architecture to new. Here's the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building downtown. It's a 30-some story tall building on the north side of Grant Park. It was designed so it could be added to and they decided to do so. So, they are going to add another 25-30 stories to the building. Pretty amazing.
Here's Trump Tower. I don't care what architecture snobs say. This is far better than the Sun Times dumpy warehouse that stood on this spot. It's a whole lot more interesting than Mies van der Rohe's super boring IBM Building. Yeah, I said it...
The new stature of King Lear on display at Tribune plaza.
That's about it for now.
xoxo,
Mike
