see as i saw

Sometimes the West Coast and the Windy City intersect in the Great Lakes state.  Not in an actual shifting of tectonic plates kind of way, but in a meeting of old friends.  It's crazy and amazing to think that there are some people who walk into your life and, despite thousands of miles and multiple years of separation, your friendship remains unbreakable.

Those are the people that you want more of in your life.  Or at least I do.  Although I'd love for my amazing long-distance friends to permanently congregate in my city, I know that's not really how it works.  So instead I appreciate that our distance has allowed me to realize the strength of our bonds and how important it is to cherish them.

That's all.  Short and sweet tonight.

As a kid, I recall my parents pretty consistently tuning into the evening or prime time local news.  Do I remember the contents of the newscasts?  Not particularly.  What I do know is that, at the age of 28, I often have a difficult time working the local TV news into my agenda, because it tends to feel more depressing than it does informative.

From a psychology standpoint, I suppose I understand that their mission is to focus on the juicier and more sensational bits.  In general, that's what draws people in.  It just causes me to wonder if there happen to be good things occurring in our society.

For example, in the first five minutes of a local newscast tonight, here's what they told me about.

1. Bank robbers escaping from a downtown Chicago prison, with a focus on how the trail has gone cold in the search
2. The death of a NIU freshman at the hands of fraternity hazing
3. A Chicago fire that is now looking suspiciously like a murder

We went on to talk about less sensational topics for a minute, although still in a dramatic tone (CTA fare hikes, blizzard-like conditions), before moving back to Newtown and the NRA's response to all of the talk about gun control.  Revert to sports news: the Bears have another injury, Joaquin Noah is leaving his wild ways behind, so on and so forth.

Finally, thirty minutes in, for the final story of the newscast, we were graced with a blip about how a tweet from Ann Curry is causing random acts of kindness.  I'm not sure if we even glossed over the topic for 30 seconds before the newscast was over.

There's constant debates about how newsworthy, factual or accurate our news actually is - I'm not getting into that argument.  This isn't about agenda-setting and persuasion.  This is about how I'd love to see the lead story on my local news sway a little more positive and a little less homicide and arson.  At least once in a while.

Do you remember, as a kid, when you got a new toy so coveted that you couldn't even consider leaving home without it?  That's how I'm feeling about my camera.  I'm afraid that if I don't have it with me at all times, I'm going to miss a prime photo opportunity.  And my Android camera just isn't going to instill the same giddy feelings in me.

Since I don't currently have a bag for my camera, I'm tentative about bringing it out into the wild.  Not to mention that I don't have a strap attached to the body, and the cold air makes me afraid of fumbling through gloved hands.  I did go for a little test drive through the Lincoln Park Conservatory today, after an owners manual reading session.


Although the camera managed to catch some interesting shots, I'd attribute that more to the naturally amazing baseline of a dSLR and some luck.  When playing with manual adjustments, I was just fooling around with only a scant idea of why I'd nudge the setting up or down a level.  The good news is that I'm excited to learn; being the nerd that I am, learning and projects are exciting to me.

If anyone happens to know Chicagoland locations that would provide rich atmospheres for test driving my gear, I'm all ears.

I've been disgracefully neglectful in reading my typical cache of followed blogs.  So, on this night that I set aside for couch laying and World Series watching, I thought I'd throw in some blog reading.  Some entries were more skim-worthy, others were full-reads, but one was fodder for further perusal.  And it just so happens that I reserve this little space of my own for such acts.

Here's what got me:
"For several years beforehand, I thought about writing but never wrote. During much of that time I dreamed of doing something significant, but didn't have a vision for its form or structure. 

If you have a project you're just now beginning, I hope you'll see it through. If the project is in progress and you haven't achieved the traction you wanted (and you're still motivated to do it), I hope you won't give up. If you keep working at it over time, I hope you'll be able to fill your own stadium with people who engage with it…" (Chris Guillebeau @ AONC)

A disclaimer for the next 72 hours: I cannot promise the timeliness nor quality of blog posts.  My life is reaching the apex of it's recent rat race pace.

After an hour and a half nap, I am soon heading to Midway on a midnight airport pick-up run.  From there, I head directly with my human cargo to the homeland - Grand Rapids.  I'm hoping to sleep from approximately 4:00 to 7:00 a.m., at which point I will have to rise (and doubtfully shine).

Throwing a quick shower in the mix, I'll be back on the road.  Next destination: Novi.  There I'll spend the majority of the day working from an adopted home with my former partner in workday crime.  A working reunion of sorts.

Throw in some hair-doing and getting dressed, somehow 3:30 p.m. will roll around all too quickly, and it'll be time to hit the road again.  On to Howell, where wedding bells are tolling.  The party is bound to roll into some wee hours, hopefully I won't be asleep on my feet at some point.  If only there was the post-reception promise of rest for the weary.

Instead, the plan is family tailgate time for the Spartan homecoming game.  Since that's a noon kick-off, call time for pre-game festivities is about 8:00 a.m.  So I'll be back to doing what I know best by no later than 7:30 a.m. - driving.  Tailgate.  Watch football.  Drive back to Grand Rapids.

From there I should have a full 24-hour hiatus on getting behind the wheel (please and thank you).  I'm trying not to hold out hope for a full nine-hour sleep, too.  Alas, Sunday afternoon will find me back on chauffer duty.  I'll wistfully pass my exit and make the drop at O'Hare, then make an about face and head directly home.

And any other day, by that point, I would drop helplessly into my bed and only rise when the alarm tolled for work the next morning.  But October 14th happens to be the premiere of The Walking Dead and, therefore, the revival of zombie Sundays.  Since my brain is likely to be in a zombie-like state by that point, it's fitting to push myself through the night.

I'm tired already.  And it's just getting started.  Oy.

It's official, a weekend that I generally avoid even being within city limits is likely to become a reality of overpopulated proportions.  The Chicago Air & Water Show, which my parents would like to attend.  They find a thrill in watching the Blue Angels and the Chicago show has the perk of being free.  Although I know about the crowds by local rumor, that's the end of my knowledge base.

So I've started digging around.  Dates: August 18-19.  Time: No clue.  Central viewing point: North Avenue Beach.  Where I won't be viewing from: North Avenue Beach.  From what I can tell, there's still pretty decent views of the show from as far north as Diversey Harbor.  I don't want to give away my secret plan or anything, but I'm thinking that maybe (a big maybe) we'll have a chance to retain some breathing room if we park ourselves under the trees at Fullerton.

Shade and a lack of overcrowding sounds too good to be true.  I still have a month to try to discover a better option.