A Few Obvious Signs of Summer

Megan and Katherine at Goldie's. I believe this was Katherine's first weekend off since I've known her...

Megan: Okay guys, now it's your turn for a picture... No... That's no good

Megan: No, not that one either...

Megan: Mike, stop it!

Mike: I'm getting bored...

Megan: Come on, let's get a good one.

Mike: That's it, I'm snorting my beer...

Memorial Day brats

Megan and I went to Margie's with a couple friends after dinner. For those of you who don't know, it's where the Beatle's get ice cream when they are in town. And, they have a little Ringo figurine to prove it (along with everything else)...

I was mesmerized by the watermelon cake when we decided to hang out in Dominick's. But, then I saw the hamburger cake and it blew my mind.

Another sign of why my work is awesome. Taco parties, panini potlucks, the mysterious "Random Acts of Kindness" committee, and now they are giving me chocolate bars. Oh, and a paycheck too...

More pics of more stuff

Dave showing off his tattoo at Party In the Park when I was up in Muskegon. It's Yoda coming out of a tree.

Megan organized a visit to WGN for work

WGN setup

A bee!

The bee from further away

M & M guys

A Piggy Food Bank

NEMO!

The Joker

Hoover Dam

A Chicago Dog and Beer

Obama

Ice Cream in hand

Gumball machine

France and Noah at the Lily Pond or something when we hung out last weekend

Big Bird

A view of Chicago from Lake Shore Drive

DePaul University has some of the strangest public art. This looks like a hand with children's heads as stubby fingers...

Finally, a sign of the times...

R.I.P. Good Friend...

RIP good friend. He died at the Chicago Bulls game last friday. This Kodak EasyShare CX7530 5.0 megapixel camera was the best camera I've ever had. I beat the hell out of it and it should have died sometime in the summer of 2005. I've dropped it in sand, spilt all kinds of liquids on it, and all sorts of other things. The hard drive and all still works, but the lens refuses to open anymore. With that said, that means there probably won't be many photo blogs in the near future.

*Kodak, if you would like to sponsor my blog, I'm willing to negotiate...


The last image taken on my little Kodak. Batman riding My Little Pony off into the sunset...

Chicago Is the Best Friggin' Place On Earth In the Summer!

Well, the title about sums it up...

Let's start off by paying tribute to the American Empire with an eight story flag.


Constrution of Block 37


Another view of Block 37


Nick and Karli enjoying a banana split from the "Ice Cocaine Truck." Little background for those who don't know. We have a ice cream truck that drives around our neighborhood at 10pm or later almost every night. Just seem a bit suspicious since most kids should be in bed. But, it keeps us adult kids all sugered up, I guess...


Went to Kuma's Corner for "Heavy Metal Burgers." This was the "Melvins!"


Karli got the "Judas Priest."


Nick had the "Iron Maiden."


And Mike is polishing off the "Metallica" burger. They were the best burgers I've every had. Especially since I was hungry at 6pm and didn't get it until 9:30pm. It was gone is seconds.


"A Private Bathroom" in Humboldt Park.


RIBFEST! Frances, Karli, and Mike waiting in line for Ribs from Hecky's, which served ribs from a school bus. The ribs were great and the baked beans were awesome. MESSAGE TO KATE DIAL - I OWE YOU RIBS AND THIS IS WHERE WE'LL GO! THEY ARE WAY BETTER THAN APPLEBEES!


Andrew and Matt relaxing at Ribfest.


Frances and I at Goldie's after Ribfest where we met up with Julianne and Damanda Talmadge.


Francy Pants.


Frances taking a nice picture with Mike at Goldies!


This about sums it up.


Mike, Nick, Frances, and I headed down to Maxwell (Canal) Street Market. Nick got Wheel of Fotune and Double Dare for Nintendo. Frances got giant pink sunglasses. All of us got really good tacos.


Frances scoping out the goods.


Looking for a good pair of sunglasses.


While waiting for Damanda to get out of work, Frances and I headed down to the book fair.


We met up with Damanda at the Andersonville Midsommer Fest. It was by far the gayest festival ever. I don't mean that as an insult. I mean there were more gay people here than at the Gay Pride Parade. Here, we see a scene where a cover band was playing all the hits from Journey, Rick Springfield, R. Kelly, Will Smith, and more!


I can't even discribe what this is. Basically, super-muscle gay men dancing with each other topless and either drunk or drugged up. It's not often that dancers in the back of the crowd get more attention than the band on stage.


This was another stage that featured a Motley Crue cover band with hair and all! We didn't even know this was going on until we went on the hunt for food and ended up at T's. Get the burger if you ever go yourself.

That about sums it up. Frances has another day in Chicago and we've just been going to all the great stuff around here.

Either tomorrow or Wednesday (depending on the source) is that start of the Puerto Rican Festival in my neighborhood (Humboldt Park). I'm really excited about it since it looks like chaos will reign. The neighbor kid has come over to do chores for us to earn money so he can go to the carnival. I may have to take some time off of work for this...

xoxo,
Mike