Beautiful night for a Chicago walk

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Excellent walk down Michigan Ave on a cool winter night. :-)

The #Freebook Experiment

Last week, when I was in Chicago's Midway airport, I finally remembered to test an idea that I'd had long ago--which is very similar to Book Crossing--to leave a book in a crowded place with a note that it was free for whomever was interested in reading it.

How that book ended up in Midway is quite the story; a journey in itself. I bought "Lisey's Story" by Stephen King in Kansas City and took it to San Diego about a month ago. I didn't finish it on my first trip there (in fact, I had a hard time getting into it), so it sat at a friends' house until my return when, again, I didn't finish it. So, it made the trek with me to Alaska's Glacier Bay and during my incredible stay there I forced my way through it to the end (read my review of Lisey's Story here). I had intended to drop it in the airport in Anchorage, but I was so distracted by the people and the noise that I forgot. So, the book traveled with me all the way back to Chicago. I'm sure it was as tired of being in my backpack as I was tired of lugging it around in there.

In the note that I left, I asked that the finder of the book please drop me an email or a tweet (follow me @zamees). Yesterday, I got an email that thanked me for the book and that it had made it's way to San Antonio, Texas. She also promised to leave it somewhere!

It kinda made my day!

BTW, I've been using the #freebook hashtag on Twitter if you're interested in following.

night by the lake

The Killer Cocktail

Picked up a book that was chillin' on a friend's desk while I was up here in Chicago, "The Killer App," by Tim Sanders. I've intended to read the book for quite some time, largely because I worked with and knew many of the people that Sanders writes about during the time that we were both at broadcast.com & Yahoo!

I got about 40 pages into the read and was giving my friend the gist before we took off to see a place that I'd never been off the Damen Blue Line stop, aka Wicker Park, called The Violet Hour. This place is the mecca of mixology: an obscure wooden door leads into a dark hallway, heavy velvet curtains line the walls and provide room division, while a dimly lit interior draws your eye away from the patrons and toward the wall of alcohols in bottles of brands that you've never seen in your life. We sat down and started watching the barkeep concoct fancy drinks with liquors, eyedroppers and fiery, citrus zest.

It was the perfect example of what Sanders is trying to say in his book about knowledge, network and compassion.

Knowledge: As he made the drinks, he pontificated the source and history of every alcohol that was being used in the drinks. Foreign ones. Rare ones. Homemade bitters.

Network: His network of distributors and friends were the ones that helped him to locate all of the ingredients from around the world. In fact, the barkeep himself was lured out of NYC as one of the best bartenders in the country.

Compassion: He went out of his way to share his knowledge and his network with us, whether we asked for it or not.

That barkeep was a big time LOVECAT.

C-H-I-C-A-G-O LOVE

CHICAGO, my favorite city in the entire country. Yeah, I can hear everyone whining about the cold, but d-e-a-l. There's only been one time in my life when I raised the white flag in this town and that was shortly after my DIGITAL camera (i.e., one with no moving parts) FROZE. Indeed, it was a battery thing.

My tribute to this Chicago trip:

• C is for nothing other than COOL.
• H is for HELLS YA, which I was told I said way too early this morning.
• I is for ID (both my happy id and my I.D.; it gets checked, I feel young).
• C is for CITY, urban is me.
• A is for AMAZING, yes she is.
• G is for GIRL, see "A" above.
• O is for OH, it's time for beer.

CYA.

[sheesh, this may be the most lame post i've ever written]

Backdraft Chicago

I came back to my friends' condo after the MU loss last night to hear a ton of sirens heading toward me from all different directions. All I had to do was step out on the balcony to see billowing smoke about 3 blocks from me. Threw the shoes back on and went to check it out... never imagined that it'd be a huge gathering of emergency services! Here are some iPhone pictures and my micro-blog of the event via Twitter (follow me).

• watching and listening CFD go to town on a burning building. Chicago & Wolcott.
• lots of glass being smashed. 2 ladder trucks. Another line into bldg.
• ferverishly pulling more line into building. Looky-loos building. Can hear firemen giving updates over radio.
• Lots of updates about location in bldg over 2 way. More firemen going in.
• 4 story bldg. H&R block at ground.
• Lots of shit being thrown out of bldg. Heard over 2 way, "no fire here. Further investigate."

• Lots more window smashing. CFD don't play. Pumper trucks still pumping.
• Fire coming up from first to second floor (overheard)
• Longest non-truck ladder ever raised from ground to third floor now.
• More sirens approaching. Hmmmm. Gurney waiting at entrance of bldg.
• 8 trucks that I can see. 3 ambulances. Countless support vehicles.
• More first floor glass pummeled. More sirens approaching
• Female EMS-PIC Murphy using hose leak to wet towels.
• (radio) we're gonna bring her out the front door
• Big time smoke from first floor adjacent bldg. More sirens approaching.
• Another gurney. And the sound of power tools.
• Smoke turning from white to black. Glass getting smashed over and over.
• Master use of pole axe only before seen in Diablo video game.
• Firefighters yelling, "anyone live in this bldg?" girl next to me says YA

• Hugging and crying happening behind me. "I was dead asleep in there and barely got down stairs"
• Overheard: "I'm glad your alive"/ "thank you!"
• Overheard: I was a little bit awake and burned incense earlier and I looked out my window to see flames (cough) and holy fuck!
• Another line going in. 2 fighters coming out with oxygen tanks ringing. Expired.
• Real American heroes walking out of bldg and declining wet towels.
• Real American heroes getting new oxygen tanks and going back in.
• Guy on phone behind me: my car is parked right in the middle of the action.
• Holy crap. Just looked around. At least 30 vehicles here now.
• Overheard smoke so thick nine blocks away (bar: happy village?) that they closed.
• Overheard: they brought a girl out. No idea on status.
• Last microblog. When these guys come out someone else pours them some Gatorade. Props to the CFD.

The Iron in Irony

This is going to be an interesting weekend...

The woman that I've spent the most time with in my life--relationship time, that is--just happens to be getting married this weekend. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm totally happy for her and our relationship(s) are many years ago. I think that she's with the right person (I knew him before she met him) and I think that they will be fantastic together. Well, that's an easy call too since they've been living together for several years already!

Irony #1: I'm in Chicago this weekend staying with friends from our college days. I helped them get into a cab yesterday to jump on a plane to her wedding. That was kinda strange.

Irony #2: I've been writing a semi-non-fictional book about a man trying to find true love. As you can surmise, most of the stories are from my own life. The irony lies in that I happen to be on the exact chapter of my life that deals with the episode of our life together.

Irony #3: And every station I turn to is playing her favorite performer, Billy Joel, or the band that we listened to constantly, Dave Matthews Band.

Irony #4: I don't know how much she is going to drink on Sunday, but I'll be doing my fair share! :)

Therefore, the iron in irony is not one that is in the fire; poking is not what it's about. The iron in the irony is the fortifier that I will get this weekend--the shot in the arm--by getting past this part of my book!

Good luck Dean & Stacy! I wish you the best!

OHHH, and thank you Jeff & Laney for giving me the run of the condo to write in peace while you are away. I can't leave yet, still 2.5 bottles of wine to consume! Heehee!

Chicago "Bean"

Welcome to what my Chicago friends call "The Bean." Maybe if I get close enough, this thing will give me a shave.
From the underside of the Bean looking upward.
Kinda like a fisheye lens, eh?
Candid shot with my friend Shelley-Shelley.
I definitely have to go back to The Bean someday with a high res camera instead of the iPhone... some really creative stuff that can be done there. Loved it! Thanks, Shel!

Where's Bob? Two-festing & Road-trippin'

Bobby Blogger took a few days off, have you missed me? I'm going to give you a quick photo montage to get you caught up with what's going on in my world.

After having been immobile for most of the year, I've broken out and taken to the road! WOOT!

First photo is a shot from the Lee's Summit, MO Oktoberfest where my niece did the cutest little dance number ever... sassy-walk girl! She's just the cutest lil' thing and loves to dance pretty much non-stop all day and night. SMOOCH!

The next photo is from the KC Beer Festival (hence the play on words with Two-festing) where a good time was had. Unfortunately we hit up three bars AFTER the BeerFest and that pretty much ruined my entire Sunday. I definitely made a new friend in Brenda at the first bar we visited, then completely copped-out on a real dinner and macked on some chili-cheese fries (which will be the death of me), totally don't remember a debate about preferences in regard to sexual frequency (which I'm sure was more interesting than the VP Debate last week) and then hit up another bar on the way home. I think the tally was about a case of beer, three DarkRum+OJs and two Negronis. Oops.

Photo #3 was snapped cruising east on I-80 through Iowa. It's tough to tell, but this SUV flew past me swerving all over the road. The SUV was covered with Obama stickers and the trailer had a bunch of banners duct-taped to it. I later saw the trailer make an emergency roadside stop... hopefully this isn't an indicator of the campaign trail yet to come for the Senator.

The fourth photo is from last Saturday night. The Cubs got swept, but some lady in the bar was having a Bachelorette or Birthday party (after a day of bocce ball and drinking I can no longer remember which) and she made us all feel better with the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever had in my life. Thanks, Cupcake Lady. BTW, MIZZOU kicked some Cornhusker arse that night which made this MO boy feel better than the IL crew.

Reader VOTE...
Where should I stop on the way home from Chicago?

• The Bridges of Madison County (& home of John Wayne).
• Herman, MO Oktoberfest.
• A B&B somewhere on the Mississippi River.
• An MU game at Faurot Field.
• Tour an ethanol plant.
  

Log your response by placing a comment! Thanks!

HALT! Departure on Hold

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the road trip to Chicago is on hold. I started not feeling well yesterday morning and I haven't quite recovered. Hey Chicagoans, I cracked open a Linne Calado "Problem Child" last night... so YUM YUM that it made me feel a little bit better!

However, I will be fully into the contest tonight when the CUBS take on those DODGER dogs.

Hit the Road, Jack!

After a really crappy 2008 of little traveling and lots of recuperation, I'm finally going to hit the road and head up to the Windy city tomorrow. Partly in payback for messing up our annual wine trip to Paso (because I thought I'd be smack in the middle of the Unity08 Online Convention) and partly because my fav Senior Circuit ball club is the best in the NL and they kick off their post-season tomorrow vs. the Dodgers.

Torre against Pinella. Go Sweet Lou!

I will arrive bearing great gifts: 3 Tobins, 3 Linnes and 1 Wild Coyote... still packed from when I was allowed to stuff a few cases of wine on the private jet from San Diego to DC (that's a story for another day). :) There are also 3 wonderful ports in that box, but I don't think we'll be pounding those back in Chicago.

What I really want to write about this morning is "the road." I love the road. I've never driven the route from KC to Chicago, so I look forward to the experience. Now, I've driven KC to STL a billion times and KC to Des Moines a couple of times, so it's the second leg of whichever direction I choose that will be the new experience. I have this thing with highlighting the roads I have traveled on a map that's been with me since one of the times when I rolled from KC to Cali.

It's a strange concept if you've never done it... striking out on the road on your own. I've struggled through two books recently (Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Least Heat-Moon: Blue Highways) because they just don't have any continuity. They are about driving around the country, so they read like a series of short stories. I suppose they are examples of how difficult it is to write about being on the road.

The continuity is in the traveler and not the travels. Heat-Moon hits the nail on the head when he says (and I paraphrase here) that "the road forces you to know yourself for there are times when you have been without companionship for so long that you crave a passenger, a pub or a canine."

My trek to Chicago won't be that long, but being back on the road after practically 6 months of being in the same place will be nice. And maybe, just maybe, I'll meander my way back home on the Blue Highways instead of punching the accelerator on the Red Highways.

Morning GRRRRRRRRR.

My tire's flat again... Firestone plug didn't work or they didn't plug both holes even though I told them there were two.

I've no energy this morning.

My condo is going to be delayed until who knows when (again). It was initially scheduled to be done in May 2008.

Condo delays are probably going to interfere with road trip to Chicago and plans to party as long as the Cubs are in the playoffs.

Maybe this is just a bad start to what will end up being a fantasmic day... after all, there is beer on the agenda for later.