Sunday in Three Parts.

While today felt like three distinctly different days there was one piece of continuity: I was sweating essentially all day.

Part One: Melissa did the Chicago Triathlon today. Her mom and I went down to the lake to cheer her on at 6 am. We saw her during her swim and then again at the finish. She did really well overall. Especially considering it was 91 today. We were hot and sweaty just walking around and cheering, much less actually doing the triathlon. However, she did so much so that it inspired me. I've decided to do a race next year. Its unlikely that I will do a triathlon unless something magical happens with my knees, but I am planning to do a 5K open water swim next year. A plus to a swim race: no sweat.

Part Two: A friend gave me tickets to Jenner's Sox box. Today's game was against the Yankees and before the game, the Sox retired Frank Thomas' jersey. I like baseball games if the weather is perfect or if I'm in a box. It was a really nice time. Unfortunately, the Sox lost on a bad play. We took the train home and it was almost as though we were in Tokyo with the people-pushers with the number of people that packed onto that train. Outside of the last twenty minutes, where there was no breeze in the box and I was dripping sweat within two minutes of being on the train, Part Two was delightful. Although, I have learned I don't much enjoy remove-the-pitcher conferences or playing base-check.

Part Three: It was Melissa's mom's birthday today. To celebrate, we along with a fourth friend went to Table 52. Since the move, Table 52 is now a walkable neighborhood restaurant for me. Of course, it was still so warm, that the six block walk had me glistening with sweat once again. It was totally worth the walk though. Our fourth friend is friends with Chef Art (Smith) and he went above and beyond, way way out of his way to make our meal delightful. Between what we actually ordered and what they sent to us, I think we tasted at least half of the menu. And, Chef Art came over and sat down with us briefly, even introducing us to his new husband. And, while sweaty, the walk back home was much needed after such a decadent dinner.

Just My Luck . . .

. . . that I would miss this call:



Oh well.

(Turns out it was a cold call from an expert witness firm.)

Brought By the Letter B.

Today was an absolutely perfect summer day. It was a day that I want to remember and recall when its cold and icy. And, it seems to have been brought to me by the letter B.

B was for brunch at the Beachstro. The Oak Street Beachstro is such a lovely view with relatively good food and drink. You can easily forget that you're in the middle of the city when you see the sand, waves, palm trees, and hear the live music. We had a really delightful time.

B was for a bike ride up to a bowling benefit. A server at one of my favorite bars has been going through breast cancer treatment. Her boss arranged for a benefit to help defray the costs of her radiation treatments at Southport Lanes. Southport Lanes is a Chicago tradition, of sorts. They still have pin-setting boys. If you tip (or, some say bribe) them, they will give you a little help on making that strike. It was a great turnout and a fun time.

B was for a BBQ with a bunch of a friends of friends. I saw beer-can chicken made for the first time. Quite impressive. The BBQ was delicious food and fun and interesting people.

B is for Bull and Bear. We stopped by on our way home to scope the place out. Its not new and its close to the office. I have no idea why I have not been before. Rumor had it that it was a very man-heavy bar. Rumor appears to be right. We will be back.

B is for the bit of a burn I got from so much time in the sun. I'm pink. Proof of actually seeing the sun.

B is for going to bed early after a day well-spent.

Challenge Met.

BIN36 extended The Challenge. We accepted it. And tonight, we completed it. Yes, it was a day ahead of schedule. But, we HAD to. I did a little Twitter research and I realized that we had some serious competition for our goal of first to complete (and get an extra $50 for our free dinner).

We got there with the intention of doing two wine flights and one cheese flight. BUT, we ended up sitting near the girl who was our "competition." (Mind you, we knew that this "competition" was entirely in our heads. No one in their right mind would want to finish The Challenge in four days when you have four weeks. No one else even knew that we had negotiated a first-to-finish bonus. M and I made it a competition all on our own.) After one very mild bit of trash talk via twitter, we decided to just end this.

Winner, winner, free dinner (wine and cheese flights for us). And, both of us are very relieved to say that today is the day that we do not have to eat any cheese and go back to our old friend, Bubbles.

The Challenge.

Bin 36 is a bar/restaurant that has always been right across the street from my office, despite my office moving locations. And, oddly enough, I have never gone there very often. Maybe once a year in the six years I've worked here. In fact, I go there more often to buy a bottle of wine on my way to a party than I do to actually wine and dine. But, they started The Challenge which has and will successfully change that.

The Challenge is to have each of their twelve wine flights and eight cheese flights over the course of slightly over a month. If you do both, you get a free wine and cheese flight every month for a year plus dinner for two. (If you only do either the wines or the cheeses, you only get that type of flight for the year, no dinner.)

Melissa and I decided that we were up for The Challenge. But, we are competitive, efficient, and impatient people. While we have a month to complete The Challenge, we set our own goal of completing it by Friday. In part, this is because we get distracted and busy and it would be so disappointing to not finish what we started because our lives got busier than t his week. In part, its because we like a challenge. We have a plan and are on track to complete The Challenge by Friday. Last night, we were having our flights when one of the servers picked up our tracking cards and just laughed at us.

Apparently, our plan is more aggressive and amusing than most people taking The Challenge.

Air and Water

Last weekend was one of my favorites of the entire summer: the Air and Water show. A lot of people in Chicago complain about it. For some reason, every year as the fighter jets do their practice runs during the week, native Chicagoans forget and act like we are under seige. And, if anyone should complain, it should be those of us who live close to North Ave Beach. Traffic was a disaster all weekend, between people looking for parking and pedestrians streaming through the neighborhood on their way to the beach to watch the show.

But, I love it. I think the pilots are incredible. I like the excitement of seeing them buzz the towers. And, I am lucky to have a great view from my own balcony and an even more incredible view from my friend's balcony. Every year, she is gracious enough to share her view with her friends and family, having a fun, low-key party every year.

This year, I invited my dad to come out for the weekend. Years ago, before I lived here, he was in town for work and got to see a portion of it and always wanted to come back for the whole thing. I never knew that until I invited him -- I just thought it would be nice to spend the weekend with him for once (usually, mom and I hang out because she has a more flexible schedule). It was a little iffy whether he'd be able to come but luckily, despite a rain delay in Cincinnati, he made it in and we had a great time. We went to the party, out to dinner a couple times, and just hung out and relaxed.

And, at the party, he got to meet a bunch of my friends' parents. When we were kids, that was essentially one of my parents' prerequisites before I could hang out at another kid's house. Now, I think its such a nice bonus when my parents get to my friends' parents. Especially as I think all of them would actually be friends if they lived in the same place.

MilestOne.

Time flies. Today marks both my half-birthday and one year since my first-ever blog post. And, this will be my one-hundred and forty fifth post, or one post every two and a half days.

That surprises me and probably no one else. I just didn't realize I had so much rattling around in my head. The one biggest benefit to having done this for one year: I can actually remember what I did in the past year. If it was notable (or, not so notable and I was just very bored), I wrote it down.

Blogs: one way to combat a horrendous memory.

Gym Crush.

One of my friends is a very good and consistent worker-outer and has been the vast majority of his life. But even he occasionally needs something to look forward to at the gym. We like to joke about his gym crushes (GOMD, or girl of my dreams). When GOMD is at the gym, it seems to make his entire workout better.

I decided that a completely fabricated gym crush was what my workouts were missing. However, my gym is weird in that most of the people you see there are hotel guests and therefore do not have good crush potential as you're unlikely to see them again. The male gym members are skewed towards older and married. So, really, that leaves the instructors as the limited pool of single and reliably present guys. Luckily, the instructors are fairly attractive.

However, I realized that a significant problem with my gym-crush-on-an-instructor plan is that it is less of a crush and more of an incidence of Stockholm Syndrome.

Tidbits.

- Wednesday was my friend's birthday. The one thing she wanted to do to celebrate was go to a Cubs game. A delightful activity if you like the sun (she does; when I'm putting on my 45, she's oiling herself up) and daydrinking (who doesn't?). Despite Mother Nature not cooperating, we went to see a Cubs victory (rare thing this season), did not get in any fights despite being surrounded by boisterous Brewers fans, and I had my annual beer and hot dog. Both were delicious. A lovely way to spend an afternoon with a birthday girl.

- I thought today would be tooth-fixed day. Sadly, I was confused on the process and today was only get a temporary crown day while they make impressions and whatnot. It actually hurt more than when I broke the tooth. And, it hurt mentally because I'm missing prime salad-eating days (and normal meals generally really) while I wait for this thing to be final. Another three weeks, hopefully.

- Busy weekend ahead for Chicago with Lollapalooza in town and Transformers continuing to shut down streets for filming. Significantly less busy weekend for me as I have absolutely no plans, unless you count laying around as a plan.