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Saturday, June 29, 2013
The "Great Debate" has ended
I can't believe it's been over 3 years since first moving to Illinois. How time flies by! Well, lots has changed since that decision, but one thing has been a constant. That is the fact that although the previous owners of the home I purchased kindly left their kitchen appliances behind, I really was never a fan. Especially of the refrigerator. After all, it NEVER made ice!! That was a "feature" that was broke from day one. Who knows, it's probably why they deserted it. They likely realized, as I now have, with what has been spent on purchased ice, we could have bought a decent replacement.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
out of place
After spending an evening in the city last Friday night, i woke up early and went for a walk down Indiana St to venture the few blocks to Dunkin Donuts for my morning ritual, coffee. Despite the fact that I was going to run 10 miles and probably should really be consuming water , I just have to have my caffeine in the morning.
Well, on the return, I passed by a building that had a few carve-outs along the front and in one was placed a pay phone. What I found so odd about it, is that it actually is still here. After all, almost every where I go, I see all kinds of attempts made to cover up the spots where these things used to exist. Yet, here, on this very busy street in Chicago, in fact in a pretty upscale neighborhood, this lone pay phone still stands.
I surely expect that this thing is not functional. And even if it was, who carries actual change anymore to even deposit? Come to think about it, when I was younger, and the day of the cell phone had not yet dawned, I never was all that keen on using these things anyway. I guess it's because I pretty much always had put these things in the same category as restroom doors. You really want to avoid touching at all cost, and if you must, make sure you have a paper-towel handy.
Oh, and that just reminded me of the kids I grew up with and how they got a kick out of sticking gum and other very gross stuff on the ear portion of the handset....
ya, gross, i know.
Posted with Blogsyjust how fast..
i wonder how long it takes to post a few sentences along with a photo from 30k in the air, all on a iPad running Blogsy?
45 seconds..
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Chicago Soldier Field 10 Miler
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| Bib |
As usual, I tend to be very conservative in my estimates of how well i'll due in an upcoming race. For the last several days i've pretty much outlined all the reason's that I WON'T do well. Then in the end, it actually all works out ok. This year I finished in 1hr 24min. A 8:23 pace.
Of course, with the great support of Edyta and friends like Kevin, Carm & Phil, it's just made the entire even all that more enjoyable. From a great Mexican meal the night before and an excellent post breakfast, the whole day was more like a vacation than exercise.
Big "THANKS" to Kevin for his hospitality. Pretty convenient that he lives just blocks away from the stadium.
Oh, normally i'll take a small camera out on the run with me. This time I did not.. but between all of us, we have a few.
City Bound
Back in December I registered for yet another race. After the 2012 Chicago Marathon, I pretty much swore I would not do anything more than a 1/2. This was due to the fact that I injured my foot so bad, it literally took 3 months to recover.
Friday, May 24, 2013
One Upon an Evernote
Some people make New Years resolutions, well I made a 5/20 one. After constantly struggling to keep my office organized, I finally decided to STOP shuffling stuff around and make decisions on the spot if something needs to be kept or discarded.
I purchased a book with the title "Getting Things Done", better known to it's cult following of GTD. The basic premise is of bringing order to your life in all things. For me, the immediate need to omit the clutter. How did I start?
Well, 1st step was getting rid of of every single piece of paper on my desk, floor, cabinet and the pile found in what is known as "the basket". I litterally scanned and uploaded every single document to Evernote (more on this later), THEN, and this was the hard part, SHREDDED IT.
Take that, my office is now clean.......
Friday, November 23, 2012
One Down
You see, my house was built in the mid 90's, and lets just say, it's a "stock house". In other words, ZERO upgrades.. Everything, and I mean everything, was contractor grade. From lighting, to plumbing. right down to the knobs on the closet doors.Although we did a couple of upgrade type things, like put knobs on the cabinets (which made a HUGE difference), the reality was, it was still the same crappy oak stained finish. Worse where the hideous faucets which I swear, not a one of them worked correctly. If it didn't leak from the knob, the sink was missing the drain stopper. And of course, after having spent a ton to get into the house, having a plumber come in and correct all that, well, that was out of the question.
My one regret though, was not taking advantage of the power of YouTube two years ago. You see, after watching a few of the DIY (do it yourself) videos on plumbing, I realized, "I CAN do that!!"... So, with my new found confidence, I went out and and purchased new faucets and all the new cool tools that are needed to make the job as easy as possible.
Now, here is the lesson learned, well, actually there were much more than one, but it's the one I'll stress. You see, I took on the plumbing job AFTER I had already took on the project to redo the cabinet. And let me say, that is the wrong order of things. After having to climb under the sing 2 dozen times with a wrench the size of a broom, i pretty much had to redo the cabinet all over again...
So, here is the first bathroom in it's finished state.. complete with a new light and all. That would be Electricity, which is another blog entry in itself.
Cost of project: $95.00
Faucet-$35
Tubing-$12
Paint: $5
Tools: $10
Rug: $13
Lighting: $20
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Rock Candy
Rock Candy
Originally uploaded by -shawn-
Chicago is blessed with many things. Food, Art and great sports teams. Add to that countless local musical talent such as Rock Candy. Literally every weekend you could have a lineup of musical options at some wonderful different venues both downtown and in the suburbs.
Check some this scene out!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Business Casual
Business casual
Originally uploaded by -shawn-
I very rarely every get overly excited about a car. After all, it's just transportation. Something that gets you from point A to point B. My theory has always been that money would be much better spent on things you actually spend more time in, if not at least move around in..
But, after picking up my last rental while in Boston, my thought changed a bit. Perhaps it's that I'm getting a little older. Maybe because I'm realizing I don't really spend all that much money on myself because I don't find that there are all that many things I actually need to keep me happy.
Well, thanks to the fact that National Rental, my absolute favorite rental car company, I was able to pick out the Infinity G37.
Man, this is the car I want to own!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
2011-HP Hood Cook-Off
Well, despite best intentions, this blog has been incredibly neglected. Not due to lack of coming up with content, after all, it's about photography, and I take a camera everywhere I go. So, i've decided to re-commit to writing my thoughts down again with the hope that it is at least a bit more regular.
Right now I'm flying high, probably about 35,000 ft on a return trip from Boston. In the last couple months, this has been a routine and much of it has been due to the fact that there have been special events for me to shoot in New England. One of the more recent, was the 3rd Annual HP Hood Cook-Off that was held in Portland, ME.
This event is probably one of the most enjoyable for me. Why wouldn't it be? Portland is a beautiful city, especially in the fall and the theme of the event is food. Yet another great topic.
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