That Millenium Park looks really really cool. Another reason to come to Chicago!

And so biking seems to be the thing, eh? The other day I met this kid Charles who, with his friend Foucauld, will be biking from France to Cambodia. It seems like a crazy idea, but once you check out the site, it's like, it'd be crazy to NOT do it.

Random Thoughts

Hey folks, just some random thoughts on Sunday night. First of all,They Might Be Giants.com is a pretty cool site. Not only can you download their latest tunes, and web-only content, but they also have a link to the cool movie by the StrongBad guys. It's the video for "Experimental Film," of the Giant's latest album.

Second, The newly opened Millenium Park here in downtown Chicago is one of the most wonderful public works I've ever seen. The size and beauty of the park are world class. The architecture throughout the park is excellent, and is the landscaping. Just another exampe of how Chicago is the place to be.

No word from Andy and Sarah in two weeks. Hopefully they're enjoying their trip across this great country of ours. I can't wait to reclaim this country for all the sane people who live her. Mobilize for November folks.

Well, I think that's all for now. Peace out!

I LOVE MY NEW PARK

So for those of you who are not living in the greater Chicagoland area, this weekend marked the grand opening celebration of the new Millennium Park. Yes, we know it's 4 years late and all that, but after seeing the park today I think it is 100% worth it. Catherine and I went downtown to check out the park this afternoon. (Paul and I had been by the night before to see a a little story put on by Ira Glass). Normally, being around any sort of crowd, or really just people in general makes me cranky and upset. But today was one of those idyllic day when you just love living in Chicago. Everyone you saw walking around had smiles on their faces, I'd say that's worth the $475 Million.

The Crown Fountain
I'd been looking forward to seeing this fountain for a long time. There were two 50 foot tall glass brick towers that face each other overlooking a small shallow pool. The artist filmed 1000 chicagoans and their faces appear on the blocks, just looking out at the crowd.



Then every few minutes the faces purse their lips and squirt water out their mouths.



Neat!
One of my other favorite parts of the new park is the sculpture affectionately known as "The Bean."



I think the real name of this sculpture is "Cloud Gate," but it does really look like a giant jelly bean. Paul and I have been admiring it from the road for quite awhile. The reflections of the surrounding buildings are amazing.





But, little did I konw that the inside was even cooler! It kind of curves up and reflects everyone standing underneath it.




But, of course the most noticable part of the park is the Pritzker Pavilion. I'm a fan of Gehry so I love this pavilion.



Another great feature of the pavilion is the netting above the lawn which holds the speakers. Everywhere in the park you have excellent sound. Plus it looks really cool.




Hmm, so is it obvious I'm a fan? Hopefully someday Paul and I will find ourselves back in Chicago so we can enjoy the park even more.

The new They Might Be Giants album is pretty much the best.

That is all.

Jen, oh, Jen. I'm at work here by myself, shoes kicked off, listening to a pretty good-albeit poppy-mix CD I fell upon while cleaning up a very, very dusty filing closet, called "the OC mix" (left behind by an Obie at some point here in Paris? Not unlikely...). I just read your entry and I'm smiling, smiling, smiling. (Also, Spoon's The Way We Get By just kicked in!). Jen in love, that's wonderful!!! Actually, it's the best. Jen in love, that's the sentence that makes perfect sense. I barely know Aaron Leavy, but he certainly has worked for the good guys and causes, all I can remember of him is his nuttiness (in that Oberlin way, of course); I think falling in love for someone you know well is a GOOD THING, and that makes you, Mr. Leavy, a 150% lucky guy, because it's Jen.

Keep up the good work, Jen, and thanks for the updates. Mix CD? What mix CD?

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’ve been like, the worst poster ever. And I’m still the worst CD exchanger ever. I’m so LAME.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way.

So, it’s been an incredible crazy month or so, since I last posted. The biggest thing is that I fell really improbably in love. With Aaron Leavy (OC ’01- I feel like I’m writing to an alumni newsletter. Which, actually, isn’t far from the truth...). The improbably part is just about distance, really...he’s in Colorado, managing a state senate race. I saw him in Iowa last January, and since then, we’d been emailing and talking occasionally, and from May onward, just about every day. He came out here towards the end of June for Matt Pierce and Rachel Anderson’s wedding, and it just became clear that the feelings were mutual and wonderful. And so I’m heading out to Fort Collins over Labor Day weekend. We’ll see what happens after that, but he’s talked about moving out here in November, once the election is over, and I’m not even a little bit scared about that. Just excited.

I also moved out of my big apartment, where I had three roommates, to a little apartment that feels big, because it’s all my own. It’s so lovely! It’s all sunny and bright and cheery and colorful, and it’s exactly what I always wanted my apartment to look like. I started a new job, which is, really simplified, counseling high school students who smoke pot. Not to make them quit, or even cut back, just to help them get educated about marijuana and give them resources if they *do* want to reduce their use. It’s part of another research project with the same people I’ve been working for since I moved out here, so it’s been an easy-ish transition...definitely a more interesting and challenging job than before,

Then there’s the kind of silly stuff...I’m playing beach volleyball, I joined an organic farmshare, my best friend in Seattle is moving to Spain, I have a new favorite word game, called Snatch...

But these are all silly things.

And now you are all caught up.

And I haven’t forgotten that I owe you all CDs.

This news article from yahoo includes a little interesting tidbit about the way W runs his campaign. Specifically:

"Two Bush opponents, taken out of the crowd in restraints by police, said they were told they couldn't be there because they were wearing shirts that said they opposed the president."

So, let's see, keeping some losers in off-shore hacked together server rooms from spamming the crap out of this country is a violation of free speech, but being kicked out of a rally for wearing an anti-bush shirt isnt?

Score one more for the bad guys.

Andy and Sarah have updated their website with lots of bike-trip goodies. Fun City. They seem to be having a blast, which really makes me want to take lots of time from work and do whatever the hell I want. . . my office-malaise is getting to be a bit too much, if I can complain to fervently after a wonderfully fun 3-day weekend.

Hopefully, I can work the funk out at the gym.

---

On an interesting side note. . .
Here is a nice picture of Saddam's solid gold AK-47 that we recently found. One guess where that's going.

I just saw a guy shoot up this morning, in the metro. That's f*cking scary if you ask me. On the platform, 10 am, it's just me, and this guy with a needle in his arm, talking to himself. Never before have I ever wanted so much to be completely invisible.

Huh...I thought that first post had been banished to the land of wind and ghosts after Areca's computer crashed. Guess not!

Hey from Minneapolis!!! We are leaving tomorrow after a fun-filled few days, but we knew we couldn't leave without updating our website! So, without further ado,

www.mightykarlsons.com

Freshly updated, and chock full of neat photos! Give it a look, and drop us a line! Love you all, and hope the fourth treated everyone well!

Big Hello from the Mini-Apple!!! Sarah and I are about to leave the comfort and domesticity of Areca and Karl's, where we've been for the 4th. We have recently published and updated our blog, so check it out! MightyKarlsons.com, y'all.

Actually, Claire. Tweedy was sued by the "owners" of that voice. He settled out of court.

Check out the story here: Step off, Tweedy.

Last night I went to see my favourite band play for the first time ever in France. That's right, people, Wilco played at La Maroquinerie in Paris! It was the first time ever that I went to that club, and the perfect club it was: 200 people max, so in case you are standing at the way back, you are still but 15 metres away from Tweedy. A few songs from A Ghost Is Born, plus a good number from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, not much of the old stuff. It was wonderful, especially the 7-minute long Spiders, with two different rythms alterned throughout the song. The only thing I missed was the woman's voice repeating over and over again "Yankee. Hotel. Foxtrot" at the end of Poor Places, and, granted, maybe I just didn't hear it, but I could hear it when I saw them last at the 9:30 club in DC, so... That's my question to you, Mr. Tweedy: where was the hypnotizing voice? ... Ah, never mind, it's ok this time, it WAS a really awesome show, and besides, you really can't go wrong with a show ending with California Stars.

What's up bloggers? It's summer-time!! That means that you should be goofing off at work and posting your fun and frivolous tales on this here blog. I'll get the ball rolling.

This past weekend Paul and I moved one step further towards impending yuppie-ness by attending and having a wild time at The Chicago Antique Market ! (I would like to note that perhaps "antiquing" is not a sign that we are becoming yuppies, but a way of practicing urban archaeology). I should have brought my camera because we found so much neat stuff and had a great time. We purchased a very cool object I have since discovered is called "nesting drawers," that is from downstate Illinois and made from old boxes that once held cheese. It is cool and I will be putting my beads in there. Paul purchased a nice cheap set of mini-martini glass- 4 for $6! It's the last Sunday of each month and hopefully we'll be attending more.