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

T-Day Minus Three Days and Counting...

Hey All,

What's going on for Thanksgiving? I'll be back in Muskegon and I'm sure I will be up for lots of drinking and hanging out from Wednesday evening till sometime Friday. With my parent's getting divorced, it doesn't look like it's going to be too festive around the Kraus house. Anyway, give me a call...

Sleeping...


Federal Plaza


The History Channel sponsored an event for their show Engineering An Empire, which is one of my favorite shows. I was real excited to hear they were going to be at my work. Although, I was really disappointed that the host, Peter Weller (of Robocop fame) wasn't there.


Setting up for competition for vision of Chicago in 2106


More set-up


Again...


Placing X-mas decorations before the Festival of Lights on Michigan Avenue.


Trump Tower


Rebekah and Martin on Martin's last day of work. Tour and Membership department just got back from lunch with him before having a little celebration at his desk in CitySpace.


Judges looking over the models for History Channel competition.


More judging eyes...


Listening to the Hamburg, Germany group.


Lt. Governor Pat Quinn announces that Urban Labs wins. My contribution was giving him the envelopes that contained the winners. How very Oscar!


Jame Party of 4, which had 5+ members @ the Two-Way


Nick with the robotic eye.


Nick, Mike & Matt's boss, and Matt a day after getting hit by a car @ Two-Way.


The boss, Mike, & Matt @ Two-Way


The North Ho(tel) near my apartment.


Another adventure into cat porn. Oh yeah, Lady!


There's the money-shot!

Here's a late movie review:

Borat - I laughed through that whole movie. It was so vulgar that some 25-30 girl next to me had to leave. Awesome!

The Departed - One hell of a movie. Great story and good acting. Some good funny parts too. Last shot is cheesy, but whatever...

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Terrible. About an hour too long. Especially since there was no story or point to the whole excursion. It would have been nice if their poor fake accents were understandable too.

See you all soon.

xoxo,

The Kraut

The Immortals Are Laughing At You. (Pics)

I've been spending most of my weekend thinking. Thinking pretty much about everything. I've been studying. Been working on my art. Working on my finances. Where in the world I would like to travel to complete my final yearly goal. So, I've been listening to music and reading books. Doing quite a bit of soul searching by being a hermit. A recluse.

Tonight, I will head over to Cleo's for Monday Knight Klub-Chicago Chapter for some wings. Alice said she wanted to go and I'll give Nummerdor a call after he's done with work. That's really it. I've paid the rent today and all my other chores are done. Monday is really the best day of my weekend. It's like a Sunday where everything is open and nothing is too busy...

Here are some pics. Nothing much. Just thought many of you haven't seen my place and all yet. Soon to be featured in Better Homes & Gardens...

This is the livingroom. Notice the decor. I call it "Broke." The TV stand and coffee table are homemade. The couch, rug, wine holder, and table in the bottom right corner are found. The "Chouch," (half-chair, half-couch) is a mystery to me. Comfy as hell though. Legend has it that is was sold as a "Nintendo Chair" in the late 1980's. Proof one man's garbage is another man's treasure.

This is the kitchen. Nothing too remarkable about it.

Here's my room. My old computer on it's fancy computer desk. A painting. A couple of pictures of kids I found in a dumpster behind a store while walking home drinking and the Brown Line was closed. The little German flag above the closet is from the German-American Parade in Lincoln Square when I first moved back to Chicago.

My room again.

This is the OPEN exhibit at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. It's really cool. There's all sorts of TV's and information and diagrams and blueprints and stuff all over. Makes me kind of wish I went into architecture.

A ground level view of the OPEN exhibit.

A elevation view of the OPEN exhibit.

Since I have a master's degree in Nonprofit Management, they decided that part of my job should be to handle giving donations to local schools and charities for fundraisers. I'll get a request, sign a couple of forms, and ship them out a package for a silent auction or whatever. One request was for a school band and this was their logo, a lion playing the big ass drum. To me, this is the best kind of art there is.

That's all from the "Paris on the Prairie." I hope everyone is doing alright. Hopefully, I will more interesting pictures next time. Unfortunately, the last time I went out I didn't have my camera because I had to recharge the batteries. Tis pity.

xoxo,

Mike