ALA 2013

It was quite a trip, I must say...while Chicago is not my favorite place for a conference (McCormick Place is too far away from anything else), there's always a lot to see and do at an American Library Association Conference.

All of us who are poor and traveling at our own expense stayed at Hosteling International.  It was like this mural in the stairwell was made to welcome us - a whole wall with this at its center:

There was very little sightseeing.  Actually, there was pretty much none.

But I did get some good eats.  I mooched from as many free food events as possible, plus I ate at Yolk, P. F. Chang's (I can not resist chicken lettuce wraps), Eleven City Diner and Miller's Pub.  I understand that Miller's is an institution of sorts (good burger, too early in the day for a beer though).

I completely fell apart as far as my resistance to free stuff.  I got a few books.  Actually, I had to check my bag coming home because it was too heavy for me to lift into an overhead bin.

I also was not going to go to Loopy Yarns, but unexpectedly found myself there one day.  Didn't buy yarn.  Did buy a bag.  Turned out to be very useful.  (They were very kind and gave me my birthday coupon from March, which I had not gotten because they did not have my updated email.  In the spirit of returning a favor, I sent two people there for yarn and bags.  I'm all about spreading the love, dontcha know).

The one good thing about McCormick:

These are the people I saw speak/be interviewed:  Steven Levitt, Temple Grandin, Oliver Stone, Alice Walker, Paula Poundstone (and a few other comedians), and Olivia Spencer.  More about them later.

Stanley Cup

I arrived in Chicago this morning for the Annual Convention of the American Library Association.

I accidentally landed in the middle of a crazy parade of people celebrating that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

And worst of all, I was wearing red like everyone else ... several people asked me for directions.

Hopefully tomorrow will be quieter.

If It's Monday This Must Be Chicago

I went to Chicago to have a last brunch with Boy-child before his departure to Chile.
My coffee came in one of these soup cups from my childhood. It was amazing.

The furniture was also from my childhood. People who had cool parents had tables like this one in their houses when I was a kid.
I think the place we ate was called Filter but they were apparently supplied by Vegan Slut.

Another highlight was a visit to Quimby's, which I had heard of but never visited. I like the fact that the sign makes it look like it's called Squimby.

They have an amazing floor.

The signs are great, and they don't beat around the bush. They have the most incredible zine collection ever.

This sculpture inside the door is very cool.

Note the "knobs" and the skirt is made of keys.

I found this excruciatingly appropriate cover art.

We went to a very cool bookstore too, that unfortunately does not allow photography, and also to Loopy Yarns partly because I had a coupon but really because I had forgotten my tool kit and had to have a few things for the return flight. It was a good thing we went, because I was bumped and there were delays and I ended up in O'Hare airport for about six hours.

O'Hare is not that bad, but security is mayhem:

Today I took Pato to the airport. He and Boy-child met up in Atlanta and were just boarded for the flight to Santiago. I went to work, stopped by the farm to harvest some gazpacho ingredients and now I'm off to knit, read, drink beer and do whatever a cat lady might do.

Yup, it's just me and the cat.

Sidewalk Chalk Extraordinaire

Fire Escapes

Observations

Some things I noticed in Chicago:

• Chicago is not a larger version of the Twin Cities.
• It is way, way, way bigger.
• Minneapolis looks puny when you fly home from Chicago.
  
• There are a lot of skyscrapers.
• Many of the skyscrapers are in the Art Deco style.
• There are a lot of people begging in the streets.
• Young women in bars and restaurants wear CFMs and clothing that does not offer adequate coverage.
• North Rush Street is a great place to people watch on a Friday night.
• They have a mass transit system that works really, really well.
• Men sometimes offer up their seats to women on the trains.
• A woman should never decline a seat from a man on public transportation.
• I have trained Boy-child that he should never be sitting on a bus that has a woman standing.
• While I was on a train a woman scowled at a man who offered her his seat.
• I told said man that he was a real gentleman and I wished him better luck next time.
• I love to go to conferences.
• Who knew?
  

Some Chicago Architecture

We took an architecture tour on the river on Friday night and we had a great guide/docent. He had a lot of interesting history tidbits in addition to the architectural information.
This was an experimental community built on the river -if I remember right it was built in the 1970s - the first phase of a grand plan (and the only phase completed). I love the parking lot for boats:
And this is a small set of very cool townhouses on the river:
I thought we had a lot of bridges in the Twin Cities, but Chicago has an unbelievable number of bridges. Most of them are that meshy metal and they open up for river traffic to pass:

But really there are a ton of skyscrapers. When we flew in to Minneapolis there was a great view of downtown which looked puny by comparison.
And and occasional surprise - low brick with vines:
The Sears Tower (which has a new name now but who cares?) which is the ugly one in the middle:
This is one of my personal favorites:

This is a newly refurbished building, now the Hard Rock Hotel - complete with a gilded phallus on top:
These fountains in Millennium Park cool you off just by looking at them:
On our last night we went to Branch 27 restaurant - it used to be a branch of the public library:
It's very nice and open inside:
And although the American Gothic painting has always been on loan from the Institute when I've been there before, there was a way to see it this time (I didn't get to the museum - no time - but I will go back to look for the painting as well as to see the new Modern Wing):

In Brief

Really, the reason this is "In Brief" is because I'm just too *&$! tired to write anything even somewhat coherent. I've taken a lot of pictures. Here are a few.

I love The Bean and its very special perspectives:


This is the evening view from our (real) hotel - that's the ferris wheel on the NavyPier.
This is a mosaic on a bench at the entrance to the Pier:
And, finally, we took an architecture tour from the river. Here are a few highlights (more to come later. When I'm awa