Chicago

Today was one of those awesome Chicago days where I get to do a lot of neat things and appreciate what the city has to offer. Here's what I did today:

-Went to a protest thing. Chicago city politics can be pretty tricky sometimes and sometimes picketing an alderman's office is a good idea. Here's some news coverage. Basically it is related to affordable housing stuff I am still interested in. I went with a former coworker and ran into a few other people I knew, which was neat.

- It was super cold here today so after spending an hour or more out in the cold my friends and I had to go get some coffee to warm up and chat. We went to the coffee shop in the Monadnock building were I used to work which is a very Chicago building- it was the tallest skyscraper at the time it was built.

- Went to the Harold Washington Library with my friend and stumbled on a concert that was going on in the library. The library is pretty neat by itself but having the some really great music in the lobby made it even better.

- Went to Chipolte. Okay, not actually related to Chicago, but I hadn't been in months! I promise!

- After running some other errands, and unsuccessfully looking for Christmas presents, I went out to dinner with Ericca. As a Christmas bonus, my work gave out two free entrees at Vong's Thai Kitchen which you might remember from my rave reviews. While we were there we ran in to my boss-boss and he actually sat and chatted with us for a bit and it was nice to talk to him on a personal level rather than a sometimes scary work level. Sadly, VTK is closing at the end of the month so Ericca and I decided to go all out and got drinks and a dessert since this would be my last chance to eat some of my favorite food. When the bill came, however, the waitress said "Actually, Boss-boss took care of it." Ahh! Fifty dollars of free favorite food! Plus, this means I still have my free entree coupons so I can go back if I want to! I guess there are some upsides to working for a big corporation afterall....

Part of what makes this great is that all accomplished without a car. My morning activities were all within walking distance of each other and trains and buses filled in the spaces between the rest of my errands. I like that just going about daily life, I ran into a public concert today. Also, I get a kick out of seeing people's cold weather gear, if you watch the video in the link above one kid is wearing just a t-shirt (idiot) while other's are so bundled up you can't see their faces (my approach).

In other news, I submitted my first grad school application last night and I can't wait for my time off around Christmas. See you Iowa folk soon!