Category Archives: Living in the City

Bicycling, Facebook, Living in the City

Each Day As It Comes

Ardmore Stop and Hydrate

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The northern terminus of the Lakefront Path is a good resting spot and watering hole. Unfortunately there are only a few options to continue -- Evanston is not one of them.

When October comes around the days get cooler, the weather less predictable, and one must take each day as if might be the last opportunity to ride.  Our “Seniors” group tends to do Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at the beautiful Rulland Grove at DuSable Harbor.  North or South depending on wind to the end of the train and back using an alternative set of streets.  Routes that involve Evanston are rapidly becoming something that this author is putting on his “Do not ride” list.  Sheridan Road or Chicago/Clark are really not bicycle friendly.

Fall rides are especially colorful with both leave and hardy wild flowers along the way.  I need to bring my big, heavy, multi-lens SLR along to do justice to the scenery.

Facebook, Living in the City

July 4th Dibs

The Griswold's Picnic
The Griswold’s Picnic

The Griswold family was on their way to Disneyland when they decided to stop off in Chicago for the fireworks at Navy Pier.  Clark had the large grill in the back of the station wagon with a cooler filled with sausages from Milwaukee.  They were clever to cordon off their private space using trash and recycling containers provided by the Chicago Park District and some left over crime scene yellow tape.  The actual show started at 9:30 pm but Clark had some of his own fireworks from a visit to Indiana where he gassed up the car (less tax).  By morning they had packed up and were taking US 66 to California.

Living in the City

Good Cop

Good Cop, Bad Mayor?
Who’s the villain here?

Years ago I served on the Board of Trustees for a village on the North Shore.  One of our duties was to hire a new Chief of Police.  The process allowed us to spend some time with the final candidate and learn a few things about law enforcement work.

Serve and Protect, or?

The new Chief mentioned that not everyone who wants to become a police officer is necessarily motivated by the desire to serve and protect.  Some, he confided, are attracted by confrontation and the potential for violence that often comes along with the job.  We suspected that one of the current force fell into that category.  Because of union contractual rules, it took over a year to dismiss this one officer.  Our situation was one small microcosm of the City of Chicago.

Too Much Ingrained Inertia

It is unrealistic to think that one person, even at the top of the chain, can change the entrenched interests within the Chicago Police Department in a few years, let alone overnight.  I’m all for the expression of concerns and am disappointed by the continuous unraveling of fact after fact in these latest cases, but to take out the frustrations on one or two individuals is not going to solve the problems. It merely drops them into someone else’s lap.

Back to Square One

McCarthy handled many potential situations admirably and deserved our support.  Now it’s start all over again.  In my opinion McCarthy is one fine copper.  I’ll miss him.

Living in the City

Elegant Master Bath Project Completed Successfully

It seemed to be the never ending project.  The concept was done last year, the demolition this summer.  It wound up costing more than our first home, a 3-bedroom, 2-bath structure in Tiburon, California with a view of San Fransisco  Bay and melodious tone of the fog horn on the Golden Gate.  We’re not sure this is a reflection on that first home, an indication of inflation over a 45-year span, or just how deluxe our new master bathroom has impacted our home.  This is just one bathroom and has no view or fog horn, but we feel it has made a tremendous upgrade to our condo unit that we have lived in for almost 20 years. We’ve done projects in the kitchen, dining area, and throughout most of the living areas.  We need to do the powder room and other bath, but that will wait until after the beginning of the year.  Right now we want to enjoy the new master bath improvement.

Overview

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Removed the tub and made it a bigger shower and took the old shower to add storage.