Chicago

Part I: Too Many Notes
Part II: Dissonance On Division

Read Part I: Too Many Notes

2007 ended on a very, shall we say, entertaining note. It was a veritable symphony of entertaining notes. If you’ve seen the movie “Amadeus” you may remember the line “too many notes.” It was like that.

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by Marcus Riley from NBC5 about contributing content to their website. Of course I jumped at the chance!

Six years ago today I moved to Chicago. This single event changed my life more than any other (except for the birth of my son, of course).

I had been wanting to move here for awhile. My son lives with his dad et al in the far west suburbs and I’d been commuting from Indianapolis to see him. That is not a short commute, and I-65 has to be the most boring stretch of highway this side of Kansas. I knew the mile marker number for every rest area, gas station, town, and point of interest. Yet, I kept delaying the move. I didn’t know a soul up here, except for my parents, and they lived in another suburb. Besides that, I’m as stubborn as a redheaded Irish Taurus can be and I wasn’t about to follow my ex up here, uh uh no way.

Then came September 11, 2001. On September 15 I drove up to Chicago, found a place with a view of the Sears Tower, and signed the lease with a move-in date of October 20. My parents didn’t even know I had been looking until I was already on my way back to Indy. I had to move to Chicago, and move here now. I was missing out on too much in my son’s life, and I was missing out on too much of my own.

I very obviously love Chicago. The diversity of events and environments suits almost every conceivable mood. But sometimes, gasp, even I need to get out of town.

Ah, the chill is in the air, the beaches are empty, the idea of alfresco dining isn’t nearly as appealing, and Halloween candy is on the shelves. What does all that mean?

It’s football season!

If you’re the type of person who’d rather see the sites on your own instead of tagging along with a group, you’re in luck. The Chicago Loop Alliance has created audio tours of downtown Chicago.

So I went to the candy expo last week which isn’t open to the public but as a member of the press I was able to attend so I could tell you about all the cool new candy and gum and mints that are coming out and how the old standbys are holding up for example

You can’t help but love a diner. Especially when that diner gives you Milk Duds while you’re waiting and a basket of donut holes makes its way around the restaurant.