… And Other Signs Of Summer!
Tag: chicago
Five Days Before TheConference
My two colleagues (one remote from Texas and one from our London office) arrived in Chicago on Saturday night, and I spent the whole Sunday showing them Chicago my way. We started with the Architectural Cruise, and then I showed Millennium Park, the Chicago Cultural Center, The Art Institute, Chagall’s mosaic, and the first skyscrapers. We made it around the Loop on the Pink Line and went back to see the Chicago Public Library and the Fine Arts Building.
I left behind several old skyscrapers, Picasso, and the Riverwalk, but it’s only that much you can fit in one day. I mean, I could feet more, but I’m afraid the guests reached their Chicago capacity limit:)
Boris arrived last night, and he only told me a day earlier that he had been sick for that whole week. Now he has no voice at all, so I it looks like I will have to find another room host!
The WBEZ Chicago Showdown Champion
I voted for this Chicago Icon in all rounds!
Spring Prairie In The City
On a more cheerful topic, on Saturday, after our visit to the Art Institute, we went to Millennium Park and took a detour to the Lurie Garden. I never checked it out in spring, and it turned out that the spring prairie was it full bloom! I was running from one flower patch to another and couldn’t get enough of it. I have nothing else to say, just pictures:)
Spring Equinox
Theft, Building Access, And What To Do About It
We had several cases of stolen packages in our building back in December, and you may remember that some of my outgoing mail (four packages with holiday cookies) was stolen as well. At that point, our association raised a question of rekeying the building, but many residents doubted that the theft had happened due to somebody having the building key. They thought that, most likely, the residents were buzzing visitors in without looking. I doubt that (everyone has windows facing the gate, and it takes a second to check). Also, I knew that my packages were stolen during the night hours. In December, everybody agreed to wait till we got new management in January.
A week ago, there was another case of theft, and the same as with me, it happened during the night hours. Once again, there was a conversation about the building re-keying, but this time, our board member related that this project is expensive, and she does not think it will help since the locks are not difficult to break. She even shared the link where you can buy a “lock gun” online.
At first, I was distraught with the decision not to rekey the building, and I was about to write an angry letter to the board, especially when they suggested I could have my packages delivered to a nearby Walgreens (it’s not “nearby,” and time is the most precious resource for me). But then I thought about it and reread the email one more time. This time, I realized that she was right and that locks do not stop thieves, and I am very well aware of that. If somebody is determined to steal, no lock will stop them. The theft does not exist when there is no reason for it. I thought about how I was always against “gating” oneself from the rest of the world and how now I was about to suggest just that, so something was wrong with my moral compass. And then I thought I already knew the answer: the only way to reduce crime, including theft, in my community is to improve the community itself. And my participation in the beat meetings and my new idea to get involved with Howard Community Board were all about that.
I often hear people complaining about the increasing number of homeless people on the streets of Chicago, and I hear their cries, “What do police think?!” I understand that seeing a lot of this misery is disturbing and unpleasant. And I hear some well-off people articulating that they want to be able to pay for never seeing “all that.”
Recently, I thought about how it felt on the streets of Chicago 150 years ago, when there were a lot of very poor people and very few rich people, and how these rich people felt walking the streets and seeing other people’s misery, and how they probably didn’t want to see it, and the policemen were here ready to remove the beggars from the public places. And how these rich people could isolate themselves from the reality behind the closed gates. And I do not want to be one of them.
And I do not want to be that
Welcoming The New Year
Igor and I went to the City of Chicago fireworks, and I have nothing but good to say about how everything was organized this time. We should have come earlier and watched “The Best of the Art on the Mart,” but I was not sure that the CTA would deliver as promised (it did!), so we decided to come later and saw only a little bit:
Did They Have These Wreaths Before?
I do not recall this decoration, and in any case, I find it very amusing 🙂
The First Skating Of The Season
I tried to go on Monday and then on Tuesday, and both times, I didn’t have 1.5 hours straight when I didn’t have any meetings, but I finally went on Wednesday. As usual, I came just in time after resurfacing – just twenty minutes later, the ice was already messy. As it always happens at the beginning of the season, there are way too many people skating, and most of them were doing it for (almost) the first time. I know it will be much better starting from the second week of January, but it’s so much fun when everything around is decorated and the holiday music plays over a skating ring! Besides, I will hardly have any options until almost Christmas!
Halloween For Myself
That was one of the few days for a very long time when I didn’t have any obligations after work: no volunteering, no visits to my mom, and nothing urgent to write about. And I had plans just for myself. The plan was:
- Finally, visit the newly reopened Pret on Monroe
I should mention that Halloween was the coldest day of this fall so far. It was freeing and it was snowing for the good part of the day:
However, by the end of the workday, the snow stopped and the sun came out:
- After Pret, I walked towards the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on North Michigan Avenue. I rarely walk in this direction these days, and I enjoyed every minute of that walk.
Hettie's Reflections 