Cute

Baby Baby Baby

Points of view (a different sunset)

Points of view (a different sunset)
Originally uploaded by *Ivan*.

Love it. This guy is so surreal, hard to imagine that these scenes started out as real locations, then warped in his eyes.

Kumquats are sexy

From a NYT article:
"Kumquats, which are not citrus fruits but belong to another genus, originated in China and have been cultivated across Asia for centuries. They inspired some unorthodox grafting techniques: in "The Oxford Companion to Food," Alan Davidson cites this bit of instruction from the "Book of Nabatean Agriculture," a 10th-century Iraqi text: "The branch which is to be grafted must be in the hand of a beautiful damsel, whilst a male person has disgraceful and unnatural sexual intercourse with her; during intercourse the woman grafts the branch into the tree."

New bar

Anyone want to go?

http://victorhotelchicago.com

Torino 2006: Jeret "Speedy" Peterson

Torino 2006: Jeret "Speedy" Peterson
Originally uploaded by the_journey_2006.

WOAH!

Mommy...I wanna

I want to hold one...look at this how can you not even think about it.....lucky zoo employees

How precious is this

En Route: 1

En Route: 1
Originally uploaded by carolyn8.

Pictures from Montreal are ready. :) This one's my favorite.

Here's the rest of the set

Montreal

Montreal was beautiful, with the one exception that I did not realize until after passing through customs that Citibank had cut off all access to my checking and savings account due to “fraudulent activity.” They shut everything down before they contacted me. So I’m in Canada, with no cash and no ability to withdraw any cash. All I have is my AmEx. And, it’s late Saturday afternoon. Amex office is closed until Monday.

I was so pissed. The only form of transportation I could use with a credit card was a limo. I made Citibank reimburse me for that, and half the cost of the limo back. I convinced the limo driver to charge an extra $10 and give it to me in cash. I exchanged the $9 US I had on me at the hotel, where they didn’t charge me an exchange fee. So I had a total of $19.72 CDN to last three days. I’m in Canada. Just like in the States, the only people who accept American Express are rather pricey restaurants and upscale stores.

I rode the Metro once (it's $2.50 CDN), and used the cash I did have to buy food. My dinners while there consisted of a loaf of fresh bread, a liter of fresh orange juice, pate and gruyere. I did treat myself to pomme frittes with remoulade sauce ($4 CDN) and a meat pie ($4.50 CDN, not worth it). Also, a croissant and coffee for $2.25 CDN. I haven't been on such a tight budget since I was in college. The benefit of not having any cash to get into museums or ride the metro, is that I had the chance to walk all over the city. There was a 5k walk on Sunday, of the Underground City, so I did that. Followed by a walk to Chinatown and to the Latin Quarter. I tried to go to the Beaux Arts Museum on Monday, but of course, it was closed on Mondays. I did, however, have plenty of time to spend with my new digital SLR, so learned a lot about how to use it over the weekend.

I was quite close to squatting on a corner and begging for cash to take the metro.

I can’t believe I’m bitching about limo transportation and pate.

The Ultimte Extreme

I'm depressed
I'm frustrated
I'm agitated
I'm bored
Life has never been easy for me
I try and I try
And dont move an inch
I just hope someone is looking down on me
And help me get through this tunnel of light
And Darkness.......

Urban Tribe

All,

It looks like this is the new restaurant where mod used to be, Spanish! I really wish they just kept MOD!


http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/search/40995,0,1736340.venue

Pizza Heart

Pizza Heart
Originally uploaded by Sandmanic.

Wow, there really is heart shaped pizza. though this one seems to have been broken into two.

Chicago Autoshow 2006

Chicago Autoshow 2006 - Eva Driving An Orange Car
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater.

Eva and I checked out the Chicago autoshow last Friday. Go in the evening - much less crowded. We didn't notice any amazing concept cars, but we had fun sitting in a lot of different cars. We even got a ride around a track in a strange car that will replace the Neon. - The line was obviously the shortest for a ride in the Neon-replacement!

urrhhhhhhhhhh!!!

How adorable!!!!

Valentine's Day Balloons...Deflated.

Valentine's Day Balloons...Deflated.
Originally uploaded by carolyn8.

These heart-shaped balloons got caught in some power lines outside the office. As they deflate, they are beginning to look a lot like sagging breasts. Look at that pink one in the middle. What a depressing Valentine's Day sight.

Delicious Cream Puff

Delicious Cream Puff
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater.

Ok - we actually don't meet any of the franchise requirements, but these cream puffs are delicious.

Carolyn with Her New Necklace

Carolyn with Her New Necklace
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater.

Happy Birthday! :) Hope you like your new necklace. We are all wishing the best for you.

Any one watching the olympics?

Sasha Cohen
Originally uploaded by the_journey_2006.

I barely realize the Winter Olympics is about to start!

Go USA!!!!

Why Can't We Do This!!!!

Housing Porn

Zillow
Originally uploaded by thomashawkblog.

Try it -pretty amazing.

http://www.zillow.com

Type in any address and it will estimate a value. Doesn't seem to work great for condos but very interesting for houses.

Carolyn has spoken!

This is her choice for Sunday after Brunch. It is the Around the Coyote Winter Arts Festival. The theatre, film and spoken word presentations are all evening performances, so we shall go to the visual arts exhibit during the early afternoon...here's the website so you can see what it is all about.

Brunch will be at Le Peep in the West Loop at 12.oopm.

http://www.aroundthecoyote.org/winter2006/

Suggestion for Carolyn Bday on Sunday

Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption
October 22, 2005 – March 26, 2006


“A fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire…. Darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a dark room.”

One of nature’s most violent cataclysms was vividly described by Pliny the Younger, who survived the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. But untold numbers were buried in its volcanic debris, and a vibrant, cosmopolitan society vanished overnight, while other societies sprang up in its place. Now the exhibition Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption brings this lost world to life.

Casts made from human remains show real people caught as they fled with their most prized possessions. Past and more recent excavations in the area around Pompeii have revealed hundreds of objects that illuminate the inhabitants’ daily lives: gorgeous room-size frescoes and mosaics, gold coins and precious jewelry, marble and bronze sculptures, and a variety of everyday household objects. Visitors will visit three sites devastated by the eruption, seeing for themselves how the inhabitants lived and died. Visitors will learn how volcanoes are born—and how they wield their destructive power.

*** Exhibit is at the field museum. Tickets are $17, students $13. We can also try picking up museum pass at Public library to waive general admission. This is the link http://www.fieldmuseum.org/pompeii/about.asp

Carolyn's Designer Puppy is here!!

Wonder if it's OK??? but don't worry, I'll take good care of it till Sunday!!!

P.S. I've taken photo off due to Carolyn's sneaky ways!

I know it's there...gimme it!

CHICAGO, IL, US 02/08/2006 7:49 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
02/08/2006 4:39 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

What are we doing Sunday? I am in some serious need of fun and activity to get my mind off my failures. :(

Happy Birthday Carolyn!

Happy Birthday Carolyn!
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater.

Check out her birthday pictures!

Click Here For Carolyn Pictures

What could it be, what could it be??

SuperDave

SuperDave is gone. Sorry, I know you guys got taken in by the same aspects that attracted me to him. He was funny, warm, seemingly sincere. But in a relationship, he was limited. He and I went through an experience that I would not wish on my worst enemy, and he was unable to be a part of my healing process, even though I did ask him very specifically. My last words to him were, "I love you." And I don't intend to add any more to that. I gave up my pride and now I need to lick my wounds. (Well, the child in me says, "You're a selfish dick and you don't deserve your nuts," but I digress.)

I've learned from every relationship I've been in. From this one, I learned that it's possible to fall in love for the wrong reasons. I fell in love because I needed to see that after Fotis, I was still capable of loving someone else. And I did, do, love David. But he didn't love me the way I needed. I need to be with someone who can love me when I cannot forgive myself. (When I say I can't forgive myself, I should also say that I never cheated on him. I was 100% faithful.) With everything that I've been through, I don't believe that love has limits. I belive that love is the one commodity that you can continually give, and give, and give, and it never diminishes.

I'm not bitter, just tired. There's been a lot placed on my emotional plate since Christmas, and I've decided that I'm not celebrating any holiday in 2006, because every holiday so far has been a complete disaster.

I've been blessed with the ability to heal myself. As an only child, you learn to deal with things on your own terms. I gave Dave the space he needed to deal with his own issues, but during that time, I realized that he was detrimental to my own needs. So please, no questions. I rely on all of you to be my cushion for when I fall. But please let me heal my wounds on my own, and then fall on my cushion when I'm ready.

O'HARE airport transit stop Chicago,IL

O'HARE airport transit stop Chicago,IL
Originally uploaded by worldwide1.

Love it! What a great idea. :)

Dog eat Dog

Wasp performs roach-brain-surgery to make zombie slave-roaches
Ampulex compressa is a wasp that has evolved to tackle roaches, insert a stinger into their brains and disable their escape reflexes. This lets the wasp use the roach's antennae to steer the roach to its lair, where it can lay its egg in it. Parasite Rex author Carl Zimmer tells the story in gooey, graphic detail:
The wasp slips her stinger through the roach's exoskeleton and directly into its brain. She apparently use ssensors along the sides of the stinger to guide it through the brain, a bit like a surgeon snaking his way to an appendix with a laparoscope. She continues to probe the roach's brain until she reaches one particular spot that appears to control the escape reflex. She injects a second venom that influences these neurons in such a way that the escape reflex disappears.
From the outside, the effect is surreal. The wasp does not paralyze the cockroach. In fact, the roach is able to lift up its front legs again and walk. But now it cannot move of its own accord. The wasp takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it--in the words of Israeli scientists who study Ampulex--like a dog on a leash.

The zombie roach crawls where its master leads, which turns out to be the wasp's burrow. The roach creeps obediently into the burrow and sits there quietly, while the wasp plugs up the burrow with pebbles. Now the wasp turns to the roach once more and lays an egg on its underside. The roach does not resist. The egg hatches, and the larva chews a hole in the side of the roach. In it goes.

The larva grows inside the roach, devouring the organs of its host, for about eight days. It is then ready to weave itself a cocoon--which it makes within the roach as well. After four more weeks, the wasp grows to an adult. It breaks out of its cocoon, and out of the roach as well. Seeing a full-grown wasp crawl out of a roach suddenly makes those Alien movies look pretty derivative.

Chewy has his own blog!! Check out his singing!

http://rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnhhhh.blogspot.com/

Tatoos to the extreme

Flickr on Google Homepage

Thought some of you might enjoy knowing that you can have Flickr photos appear on your Google homepage, it refreshes with a new picture every time. I kinda like it. :)

Atari meets Fine Dining

UWink Bistro Plans to Open First Restaurant in California

By NICK WINGFIELD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 2, 2006 3:25 p.m.

A pioneer in videogames and restaurants, Nolan Bushnell, has taken a step closer to a goal of once again combining those two fields.

Mr. Bushnell, the founder of Atari Inc. and Chuck E. Cheese pizza restaurants, has chosen the first location for a new restaurant concept called uWink Bistro, where diners will sit at tables with touch screens for playing games and ordering food. The first bistro is scheduled to open in the Westfield Promenade shopping mall in Woodland Hills, Calif., this summer, with a goal of expanding the franchise with more restaurants after that.

In an interview, Mr. Bushnell, CEO of uWink Inc. of Los Angeles, said his objective with his bistro concept is to blend affordable dining with a high-tech computer system that encourages diners to socialize with each other through games. Diners will be able to play against other diners at the same table, or they will be able to join forces with parties at other tables, which Mr. Bushnell hopes will prompt interaction between strangers.

"The love affair with the video screen, no matter who you're connected to world-wide, is not really a social experience," he says. "I believe we need to bring it back to a social experience."

Mr. Bushnell founded Atari in the early 1970s, introducing hit videogames like Pong into living rooms and kicking off an industry that has become a mainstream form of entertainment. He later created Chuck E. Cheese in an effort to blend dining, animatronic entertainment and coin-operated videogames.

A string of start-ups created by Mr. Bushnell since then haven't taken off. Mr. Bushnell, meanwhile, has become disillusioned with the hyper-realistic, immersive nature of much of modern videogames, which he believes isolate gamers from each other. At the uWink bistros, he plans to feature so-called casual games, such as trivia contests, that are easy for novices to play as they eat food with a group of people.

"We really want the games to be games that increase conversation with other people at your table," Mr. Bushnell says.

Citi-wide wireless by year's end???

It may actually happen, take a look...

http://www.suntimes.com/output/pincus/cst-fin-pincus31.html

Wow, I did it

I just applied for my first home equity loan to do my wood floors. I called around to WAMU, Chase and Citibank, and got an incredible rate. Most of them are 8% plus/minus .2%. However, with Citibank, I qualified for 7.75%, plus an additional quarter point deduction if I have them auto-debit from one of my accounts! That's a 7.5% rate!!!

Freaking amazing. Wood floors and new kitchen cabinets and appliances, here I come!! WOO WOO chunga chunga chunga *arm pump*

Oooh, good prank

"Lifelike Oversized Trapped Mouse Stickers!

Bring the magic of an Urban Safari to your home or office with these fun, versatile vinyl stickers.
Printed on transparent low-tack removable vinyl, these trapped mice will blend seamlessly into your surroundings."

Success at last....But our lovely Carolyn is worth it.

So after a couple of weeks of tracking down the gift we had selected for our dear Carolyn, and only a couple of hours away from going to select something else, sucess at last. A phone call this morning, saying: "Ms. Gallardo, your item is indeed sold out at ALL our stores nationwide. We did receive a handful (literally) yesterday. We could ship you one if you like." And so I said, "I like"!!!!!

This item is so hard to find, there are even people on Ebay requesting them with no success....but our dear Carolyn will have one very soon. Confirmation for order below:


Dear MICHELLE L GALLARDO,
Thank you for placing your order with XXXX.
Your order number is: 66530
The billing address that we have for this order is:
MICHELLE
XXX W ILLINOIS ST
APT XXXX
CHICAGO, IL 60610
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Below is a summary outlining your order details:
Item Description - XXXX,
Quantity - 1, Price - XXXX


P.S. BTW, you're going to have to wait till your actual Birthday!!!! ;-)

Who Knew - Dick Cheney

I remember being in Vegas recently, eating an early breakfast in a near empty buffet before the conference and perusing USA Today. What a sad, sad scene. But I did come across this giggle, which goes to show that no matter what our beliefs are, a little humor goes a long way...

"Last September, Cheney had surgery to repair arterial aneurysms behind each knee. The vice president has often joked about his health, as he did in Kansas last week when he carried a cane.

'I don't ordinarily carry a cane like that,' Cheney said, 'but (Defense Secretary) Don Rumsfeld has been chewing on my ankles.'"

Plantains are FUN!

So NYTimes food section features plantains today...it's a great article about this retired janitor (named "Edwin") who invents a plantain peeler and turns it into a company. :)

Read the article (it's really well written)
Then watch the demo"