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Chicago Illinois Is Like A Shiny Toy

So, Aaron and I are planning a quick getaway to Chicago over Labor Day Weekend. We decided that there’s enough interesting and fun things to do within a day’s drive of Toledo that there’s no excuse for us not to get out and experience them. Right?

We have a few ideas of things to do: check out the view from the Sears Tower, eat some pizza, walk around Millennium Park and enjoy sounds of the jazz festival, and hit Mitsuwa Marketplace, the giant Japanese market northwest of town. One friend suggested the planetarium, which sounds totally cool. Another friend is trying to convince us to go see Blue Man Group, too, but we’re not totally sold on it yet.

In order to generate ideas for things to do and places to visit, I decided to Google the phrase, “in Chicago, you have to…”

Here’s what I came up with, vacation-appropriate or not:

  • In order to brave the elements in Chicago, you have to dress yourself accordingly—three fleeces layered on top of each other and a ski mask.
  • If you are in Chicago, you have to go here [Giordano’s Pizza] for dinner at least one night.
  • You’re in Chicago- you have to pay a visit to River North.
  • When running in Chicago you have to run along the lake.
  • But [Sears Tower]’s the third tallest building in the world and once you are in Chicago you have to go!
  • I still don’t understand why in Chicago you have to pay for parking at the hotel you are paying to stay at.
  • Are you still in Chicago? You have to make a pilgrimage to Hot Doug’s! Gourmet hot dogs.
  • (In Chicago, you have to ask for ketchup on your hot dog.)
  • Also, when you’re in Chicago you have to try chicago style hot dogs and Italian Beef.
  • In Chicago, you have to pay double tolls if you don’t use the automated system, and it’s a lot slower.
  • If you are in Chicago, you have to go and see a concert to get the real summer in Chicago experience.
  • In Chicago, you have to get the deep dish.
  • If you’re in Chicago, you have to visit Michigan Avenue, and since you’re seeing Michigan Avenue, you have to amble down Oak Street.
  • I started out in Chicago. You have to learn the business.
  • If you are in Chicago, you have to try Goose Island and it’s even better if you drink it at one of their fine establishments.
  • If you’re in Chicago, you have to have a potbelly [sandwich].
  • Now, since you’re in Chicago, you have to get a flame broiled steak at the Weber Grill (yeah, sounds touristy, but the quality is excellent) and a stuffed pizza at Giordano’s – just don’t have the pizza for lunch before a game.

Well, then. That should keep us busy.

To wrap up, I’ll leave you with this little number from the 1982 movie Victor/Victoria:

randomness

Nourishing Friends

The graphic designer Milton Glaser once said,

There was in the sixties a [gestalt therapist] named Fritz Perls who … proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them.

Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much, but at the end of that time, you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired, then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy, you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.

My friend Dan has to be one of the most nourishing friends there is.

Dan and Diana, 2006
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