I've been here in Chicago for a few weeks now... finally settling down and getting use to this new life of mine. In the short time I've been here I've: seen a (still sort of) green river, an enormous anti-war protest, the sun rise over the city, more Guiness consumed than I'd like to admit. I've almost been run over ON THE SIDEWALK in front of Wrigley during a drunken walk home, have shot 63 for a round of golf and was the highest of the foursome, been taken over the fence by Alex Rodriguez and seen Mark McGwire strike out and have become a "regular" at The Irish Oak... and this was all in the last 3 days. Well, that's a bit unfair seeing as I had all my high school friends in town for a Chicago-style "St. Patty's Day Massacre" (it's not normal to be nearly killed on the 5 block walk home from the bar, I don't think). It was a long weekend filled with many priceless one-liners and more inappropriate conversations than I'd had in many years. I loved every second of it.

Anyways, back on topic. I've made a little list of the things I've noticed about Chicago since arrival...

1. On the sidewalks, every 6 steps I "break my mother's back."
2. What is the deal with everyone running off the el? Seeing as I didn't take mass transit in DC - and even when I did we had escalators that took you up and down - this whole stair racing thing is new to me. People jump off the train and head straight for the exits, only to literally run down the stairs. I've come to two conclusions so far.
   1. It's cold. Everyone's is in a hurry to get home and out of the bitter winds that this place is famous for.
   2. It's what I like to call the "Last Day of School" Syndrome. You know that last day of school when every kid is excited about the upcoming summer? The prospects of doing nothing but sleeping in, hanging out and catching up on their tv shows. You distance yourself from the majority of other kids in your school just to forget about school. Sure, there's a select few you still see and those are your true friends but everyone else you can't get away from fast enough. Well, it's like that. But everyone is so excited to, not get out of school for three months, but to get off this crowded, uncomfortable train that've been on for the past half hour. They are so filled with joy to be off the train they want to distance themselves from the strangers that were pressed up against them in awkward positions for so long. So they run down the stairs to freedom. Or maybe I've just over analyzing this and I walk really slow...
3. I have trouble focusing on my writing when listening to songs I know the lyrics too. This brain of mine can only process one thing at a time. I'm listening to my Podsafe Music mix right now (Matthew Ebel, Valley Lodge, Brother Love) but I know all the words to these songs. Every once and a while I'll find myself typing out some lyrics and not thinking about it. Thanks Brother Love...
4. Every morning, at the Belmount stop, the Red and Brown line trains coordinate to be at the stop at the same time. I CANNOT stress enough how important this is to me!
5. If you ever tire of this skyline, something is seriously wrong with you. There's a little area on the Brown/Purple line between Armitage and Sedwick where you see an entire panoramic of the skyline, from the Hancock to the Sears. Just awesome!
6. Speaking of the Sears Tower, did you know that it's so flat here in the Midwest that I can see it from Ikea? No joke. It's nearly 30 miles apart but you can for sure see it. Quite freaking awesome if you ask me.
7. How in the world did I ever live without Fox Soccer Channel? I mean, seriously. It is, by far, my most watched station. It's not even funny how much soccer I've seen since moving. Just gets me ever more excited about a trip to London. Alexis, how about this summer we actually do it instead of talking about it? But here's my catch, we have to catch an EPL match on the trip. That's all I need and I will be forever happy... well, that and a World Cup match in a country that CARES about soccer.
8. I've found a nice little podcast by the great people at Hungry Magazine all about Chicago cuisine. I'm a HUGE fan of this and based on their recommendations will be checking out Butter when Alexis comes to visit in a couple weeks.
9. Not having any bedroom furniture really stinks. I'm waiting for my bed frame to be delivered but, seeing as it's on back order, this may be a while. So in the meantime, check out the Flickr set of my living room. Sorry about the poor images. Somewhere during the move I lost my digital camera.
10. Ugh. Yes, I LOST MY DIGITAL CAMERA! So buying a new one has been added to the list of things to do in Backpack, which I've been using a lot lately to help me accomplish little tasks (ie responding to important emails, changing bills over, freelance job progress, when I need to blog again and such). It's really a lifesaver.

And on that note, it's my bedtime. Count another task checked off in my Backpack.

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