Mike Kraus and the 21st Century!

So, after many years, another new milestone has been met. No longer am I rocking the 1999 iMac DV. As of this evening, I have the new iMac. It's so fancy, it took me 5 minutes to find the "on" switch. It's official: I am getting old.


Megan at the "Highway Oasis" on our way to camping in Lake Geneva


We got in just before dark. So, I had to use every precious moment putting up a tent and all and the first photo of the evening was this fire. In fact, it was such a good fire that some poor college couple from U of Wisconsin asked me to help them build their fire.


Megan admiring the fire


Here's our campsite. It was a bit like camping in someone's backyard, but it was nice.


Megan overlooking the great Lake Geneva


This is the narrowest beach I've ever seen...


Megan on "Romantic Bridge."


Me being "romantic."


A STEAMBOIT! Well, an old steamboat that use to deliver mail in the area.


We have to take a nice picture every once in a while...


Downtown Lake Geneva


Since the neighbor kids woke me up at 6am, I took an afternoon nap. Slowly but surely, I'm turning into my grandpa...


It was "Maxwell Street Market Days" in Lake Geneva. Unlike the original Maxwell Street Market (which was moved to Canal Street until developers chased them out. I guess it's on Des Plaines Street now) nothing here is shady or stolen...


While in town, we checked out Lake Aire Restaurant. It was a pretty good little greasy spoon.


Megan's so happy about food from Civilization!


I tried to resurrect last years "pictures with a statue" series. This is as close as I could get. They designed the pedestal well by having no traction.


Apparently Andy Gump is a famous comic strip and the creator was born here. I guess...


The Rivera.


For some reason, they had a keg of something suspended in the air in their park...


A view of downtown Geneva from some rich guy's backyard


The path from the lake to another rich guy's house


I like to go camping because I like to see wildlife. This was the first time in a long time I didn't see anything. The closest thing was these turtles and they were in the harbor in downtown.


The view from the public library overlooking the $6 admission beach


Megan working on dinner


Getting the grill all fired up


If these cups could talk, they would tell unbelievable stories about the travels they've been on and the horrible drinks they've endured...


Dinner was grill veal with some veggies.


Even non-civilized food was good!


That's right, I stayed at Big Foot Beach State Park, which had some creepy religious ceremony take place in the woods one night...


The handsomest man in all of Lake Geneva


Lake Geneva


I highly suggest checking out the Olympic Restaurant. And, if you are a douchebag from Chicago, please do NOT bring your Starbucks coffee into the diner...


Rich guy home


Rich guy home


There's a public access path that goes all around Lake Geneva and lets people into rich people's backyards. I guess this path exists because in the old days, rich people wanted the streets to look nice by making their poor servants take the lake path hidden in their backyards. There's no aristocracy in America...


Rich guy home


Even richer guy home


From another angle


When I bought this towel sometime in high school for a dollar at a thrift store, it was ironic. Now, I look like one of those guys who loves them since they have a new album. The times are a changin'


A taste of Miami in Lake Geneva


FLUGTAG! What is this? Ever see the Red Bull Energy Drink commercials where people drive un-fly-able contraptions into the water from 3 stories up? This is it!








About 700,000 people showed up for this in Chicago in 2003. I haven't heard how many for this years yet. Take a guess...

See If You Notice A Theme

Here's Megan very happy with her Turtle Blizzard from Dairy Queen. If we didn't go to Dairy Queen "right now, summer would be ruined."


Here's the heart attack the DQ had waiting for me. As some of you may know, this is their "healthy choice" on the menu...



Oh sweet Irazu. I never had their Pepito Sandwich before, but I had to get it when it was listed as "Chicago's Favorite." I agree, it's a Midwestern Costa Rican delight.


So, as many of you have heard by now, my job is great. It's nothing but bubble gum and lollipops. There was a Sox game last week, a kickball game next week, and this week was model building. Here are a few pictures of the model our department submitted for a hospital competition. For those who don't know, Children's Memorial Hospital is constructing a $1 Billion hospital in downtown Chicago that will look like this. But, it will be constructed out of something a bit more stable than construction paper and double sided tape.








As "new guy," I was designated to work on the helipad and placing proper logos for the helicopter and ambulance.




Can you see the resemblance?


Here's a mock up of what the new Hospital's rooms are going to look like. All rooms will be private. The couch pull out into a bed for parents staying overnight. There's a private bathroom. Two TVs (one for the kid and the other for the parents). And they will have all sorts of artwork and other things. The patient rooms are so nice that I'd live in one should the hospital decide to rent a few out as apartments to employees.


Here's me, Jacob Dykema, and Megan outside of the L & L on Clark near Belmont. He was in town for a conference and we also spent some time over at My Thai and Exchequer the next day. Thanks for coming down, Jacob!


I got my first paycheck from Children's today and decided to make this fine purchase. Megan and I headed over to R.J. Grunts in Lincoln Park. This is the "Gruntburger" which is a hunk of meat slathered in bleu cheese and sauteed onions. MMMmmmm...


Such a delicate lady. So, the theme is food and work with Jacob thrown in for good measure.

Thanks for playing!

xoxo,
Mike

Even My Dreams Weren’t This Good

For all you car guys reading my blog, here's the latest addition. Not sure what it is, but it's nice.


Albany Park has a sizable Middle Eastern population and this is a hooka for sale that was about the size of myself


Here's my co-workers, Christyn and Ruth, working on our top secret project. I'm sure more of this will be revealed at a later date.


Ok, so Thursday I was paid to go to a White Sox game. THIS IS MY DREAM JOB! Also, during the game there were four consecutive homeruns hit, which ties an MLB record.


After an organizational meeting, we went to the game!


Here's Nathan. He's a great guy and sits on the other side of my cubicle wall.


Our seats were along the third base line by the bullpen and foul pole. Three of the four consecutive homeruns were hit near us.


bullpen


Due the the Air & Water Show this weekend, the "Leapfrogs" or something like that flew into the stadium.


There were a ton of these guys


USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!


After the Sox game, went to Millennium Park to check out the tribute to Sun-Ra. Sun-Ra is a fairly interesting story along with being a good musician. He had a huge influence on George Clinton and others. Check him out at: http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~moudry/




Saying our final goodbyes to Ronan tonight. He had his going away party last weekend. Tonight, I helped him pack up his stuff into the Yaris. Megan gave him his personalized calendar. He left his apartment of the last 3 1/2 years for the last time. And, tomorrow morning will be on his way to Houston. Ronan, you will be missed...

Time of the Feast!

Rich, Megan's brother, was in town for Lollapolooza. By his rockin' devil horns, you can tell he's more of a Rage fan than a Wilco fan.


Just a few of the other people that were there...


Here's where I now work at the Children's Memorial Foundation of the Children's Memorial Hospital. I love my new job. It is so awesome. Here are some things about my first week:

1) everything (ie toilet, sinks, door handles) is reachable at kid's height.
2) there are millions of inspirational stories about sick kids
3) We held a 36-hour Radiothon on 101.9FM the Mix
4) We had a BBQ in the park for lunch on Thursday followed by a Blizzard at Dairy Queen
5) There's a new $1 billion hospital going up in Streeterville (downtown Chicago) that will be complete sometime in 2012.
6) They are constantly feeding us: Since I've been there I've had Panera Bread for breakfast a couple times, Outback Steakhouse, Pizza from a nearby restaurant called Pizanno's or something, Chipotle Burritos, and lots I turned down.
7) All my co-workers are so nice and are overachievers. So, I really have to up my game.
8) On Thursday, we are having a retreat at US Cellular field which includes watching the Sox play against the Royal.

AWESOME!


Stop by my office at B.015 sometime...


It's a little bare right now, BUT IT HAS A WINDOW!


One thing that's great about working at a place "where kids come first," is the fun stuff everywhere. It's great that my job encourages me to "play" because i naturally tend to do that anyway.


Here's the Radiothon in the lobby of the hospital


Here's a "trabby" (sp?). If I remember correctly, these are cars from Russia or Eastern Germany during the time of the USSR. When I was in Germany in 1997, they were all the rage for new kids learning to drive because they were very cheap. I want to say they cost only about 1000 marks, which was about $500 USD at the time.


Megan and Ronan at Ronan's going away party. It's the end of an era as Ronan moves to Houston to be with his lady and his great new job. It's a loss for us personally, but wish him all the luck of Ireland down in the heart of Texas!

Mike On the Mic - August 8th & 9th on the Mix 101.9

I probably won't be on the mic at all. But, we are having a Radioathon at work for 36 hours starting tomorrow morning. It's for a super good cause of providing quality children's healthcare. To make donations, please go to the link below:

https://secure3.convio.net/cmf/site/Donation2?df_id=1280&1280.donation=form1

PS - I will post images of my work and all the other stuff too once I have some more time. Sunday?