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Chicago IV: The Mag Mile
Jul. 29th, 2003 09:34 amWe crashed after returning from Grand Rapids. I had the whole week to explore Chicago. The city had so much to do, so many things to see. Still, being tired from the night before, and getting to bed around 3am, it was already afternoon by the time we got out of John's (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blithwulf) home.
We got in the car and I was playing tunes on my iPod. We were headed to Romeoville to pick up Roger (aadroma). Now Romeoville, it was explained, was a mysterious little town that weird things happen in. Sort of a cross between the old Eriee, Indiana series and The Oblongs. You had to wonder about the levels of Cesium in the ground. Now this is not to say that Roger has any weird appendages or any...well, actually...
My first sight of Roger was him opening the door to his home holding a labrador that was about as big as he was. The dog got away from him and tore through the yard and out to the street. Roger bolted into action running after the dog screaming her name, arms rocking back and forth like a trained sprinter. He finally caught the dog and John went out to help him reel her back into the house.
Back on the road, none of us had lunch, but we wanted to get back into the city. It took a long time since we ran into traffic. The plan was to hit The Magnificent Mile today. Shopping was the name of the game, not that I had much in the way of money to spend. We caught a quick lunch, somewhere. I don't quite remember where anymore. I'm sure it had bacon, Roger loves his pork products. That's the problem you get when journaling several days later.
We ended up on North Michigan Avenue and started at the Virgin Superstore. Looking at movies and music made me with I could buy a whole bunch of things, but I resisted. My money could be better spent. From there we moved up the street, coming across the place i was really wanting to see, the new Apple store. It was nice and big, and it impressed John and Roger. I didn't feel that it was to far different than Apple's other stores, just bigger. They had a little more stock out, but a store this big still shows that Apple sells a limited number of product offerings. Not a bad thing, but it doesn't fill a store this large, well. I had heard that there was a coffee bar in the store, but there wasn't. I resisted the urge to post from the store, but Roger did it anyway. Addicted to LiveJournal.
We continued up the street, passing stores like Coach and Neiman-Marcus and all. The creme de la creme of stores were here, and I have absolutely no use for them. I'm a simple guy. Really, Macs are one of my biggest splurges, my clothing is never designer, I have American Tourister luggage from a former job, and I'm running around Chicago in a pair of worn-down New Balance sneakers. No fashion plate here.
We run into Marshall Field's in Water Tower place. A shopping mall that's built vertically, taking up seven stories of space. Not the most practical place for window shopping, really. I guess it does better during winter when people don't want to get out on the cold. We stopped in the Target-owned Marshall Field's for one thing...Frango mints. Apparently they are a big deal. I tried to find a very small box, not wanting to buy a whole bunch of silly, overpriced mints. I found the small box was $2.99. Roger found a green teddy bear with a box of mints attached and had to buy it. I was waiting in line to check out, and this old lady with a horribly too young wig comes up and tries to put her package in front of mine! I had waited patiently for the clerk to finish with the previous customer, and she thought that she could just sneak in and get taken care of!?! Nope, I calmly moved my small package of mints in front of hers and the clerk then took it and rung me out. The nerve! Did she thing that because she was old that she could just go around me without even asking? She seemed put off that her ruse didn't work and when she began to check out, she emphatically told the clerk that she was a special customer of some type, and had a credit card that showed her special status. If I know right, the company sent her a special card to denote that she's a troublemaker.
Had I known that the John Hancock Tower was right next door, we would have gone. You think you would notice a 100 story building right next to you, but you just stick what's in easy line of sight. We walked all the way down the street to the Chicago River. From the vantage of the Michigan Street bridge i got a sense of the familiar, probably from all of those episodes of ER and other shows and movies about Chicago. It was everything I thought it would be.
We headed back home so we could get some dinner. Matt (vianegativa) had called John to see if we could meet up. After a bit, he comes by the house and we run out to the Melrose, a coffee shop place near the forest preserve in Northwest Chicago. Now I had wanted to meet Matt. He seemed like an interesting challenge to get to know. I think John had been a little worried about our meeting, but as usual, I can get along with just about anyone. Matt asked me about dating chris, and I told him that it was going well. Matt's own relationships are interesting, to say the least. i asked him about his polyamoury and how that all worked. It was interesting to listen to, sort of a mind-opening experience hearing how his life interacts with those he loves.
Matt was dealing with some problems at work, and here I come in with all this advice and all. Really, the advice was solid, what I didn't tell him was that advice was something I've been trying to do for the last few months, and failing. Not that the actions are failing, but that I haven't gotten off my duff much to actually go and put out the resumes like I should be doing. *Grumble*
Still, I wish I had gotten more time to talk to Matt, he's really and interesting fellow. I know how his personality could put some people off, but it wasn't a problem for me.
Side note: All of the food at a sit-down restaurants in Chicago come with soup. what's up with that? I don't particularly like soup, (or salads, for that fact) so here's all of this wasted soup. Strange.
John, Roger and I retuned to the house and fell asleep. More adventures to come, but for now, Roger, all 5'2" of him was stealing all of the covers. He can just spin like a top in bed and wrap himself up. Being between us meant he was pulling from both sides.
Spin, Spin, Spin
blithwulf) home.We got in the car and I was playing tunes on my iPod. We were headed to Romeoville to pick up Roger (
aadroma). Now Romeoville, it was explained, was a mysterious little town that weird things happen in. Sort of a cross between the old Eriee, Indiana series and The Oblongs. You had to wonder about the levels of Cesium in the ground. Now this is not to say that Roger has any weird appendages or any...well, actually...My first sight of Roger was him opening the door to his home holding a labrador that was about as big as he was. The dog got away from him and tore through the yard and out to the street. Roger bolted into action running after the dog screaming her name, arms rocking back and forth like a trained sprinter. He finally caught the dog and John went out to help him reel her back into the house.
Back on the road, none of us had lunch, but we wanted to get back into the city. It took a long time since we ran into traffic. The plan was to hit The Magnificent Mile today. Shopping was the name of the game, not that I had much in the way of money to spend. We caught a quick lunch, somewhere. I don't quite remember where anymore. I'm sure it had bacon, Roger loves his pork products. That's the problem you get when journaling several days later.
We ended up on North Michigan Avenue and started at the Virgin Superstore. Looking at movies and music made me with I could buy a whole bunch of things, but I resisted. My money could be better spent. From there we moved up the street, coming across the place i was really wanting to see, the new Apple store. It was nice and big, and it impressed John and Roger. I didn't feel that it was to far different than Apple's other stores, just bigger. They had a little more stock out, but a store this big still shows that Apple sells a limited number of product offerings. Not a bad thing, but it doesn't fill a store this large, well. I had heard that there was a coffee bar in the store, but there wasn't. I resisted the urge to post from the store, but Roger did it anyway. Addicted to LiveJournal.
We continued up the street, passing stores like Coach and Neiman-Marcus and all. The creme de la creme of stores were here, and I have absolutely no use for them. I'm a simple guy. Really, Macs are one of my biggest splurges, my clothing is never designer, I have American Tourister luggage from a former job, and I'm running around Chicago in a pair of worn-down New Balance sneakers. No fashion plate here.
We run into Marshall Field's in Water Tower place. A shopping mall that's built vertically, taking up seven stories of space. Not the most practical place for window shopping, really. I guess it does better during winter when people don't want to get out on the cold. We stopped in the Target-owned Marshall Field's for one thing...Frango mints. Apparently they are a big deal. I tried to find a very small box, not wanting to buy a whole bunch of silly, overpriced mints. I found the small box was $2.99. Roger found a green teddy bear with a box of mints attached and had to buy it. I was waiting in line to check out, and this old lady with a horribly too young wig comes up and tries to put her package in front of mine! I had waited patiently for the clerk to finish with the previous customer, and she thought that she could just sneak in and get taken care of!?! Nope, I calmly moved my small package of mints in front of hers and the clerk then took it and rung me out. The nerve! Did she thing that because she was old that she could just go around me without even asking? She seemed put off that her ruse didn't work and when she began to check out, she emphatically told the clerk that she was a special customer of some type, and had a credit card that showed her special status. If I know right, the company sent her a special card to denote that she's a troublemaker.
Had I known that the John Hancock Tower was right next door, we would have gone. You think you would notice a 100 story building right next to you, but you just stick what's in easy line of sight. We walked all the way down the street to the Chicago River. From the vantage of the Michigan Street bridge i got a sense of the familiar, probably from all of those episodes of ER and other shows and movies about Chicago. It was everything I thought it would be.
We headed back home so we could get some dinner. Matt (
vianegativa) had called John to see if we could meet up. After a bit, he comes by the house and we run out to the Melrose, a coffee shop place near the forest preserve in Northwest Chicago. Now I had wanted to meet Matt. He seemed like an interesting challenge to get to know. I think John had been a little worried about our meeting, but as usual, I can get along with just about anyone. Matt asked me about dating chris, and I told him that it was going well. Matt's own relationships are interesting, to say the least. i asked him about his polyamoury and how that all worked. It was interesting to listen to, sort of a mind-opening experience hearing how his life interacts with those he loves.Matt was dealing with some problems at work, and here I come in with all this advice and all. Really, the advice was solid, what I didn't tell him was that advice was something I've been trying to do for the last few months, and failing. Not that the actions are failing, but that I haven't gotten off my duff much to actually go and put out the resumes like I should be doing. *Grumble*
Still, I wish I had gotten more time to talk to Matt, he's really and interesting fellow. I know how his personality could put some people off, but it wasn't a problem for me.
Side note: All of the food at a sit-down restaurants in Chicago come with soup. what's up with that? I don't particularly like soup, (or salads, for that fact) so here's all of this wasted soup. Strange.
John, Roger and I retuned to the house and fell asleep. More adventures to come, but for now, Roger, all 5'2" of him was stealing all of the covers. He can just spin like a top in bed and wrap himself up. Being between us meant he was pulling from both sides.
Spin, Spin, Spin
