Picture essay of Chicago

Here are some pics of Chicago - the parts that I have seen so far.

The Buckingham Fountain
(also known as the Married With Children fountain)

Street performers!



The Pritzker Music Pavilion - designed by Frank Gehry.

Part of the downtown skyline from Millennium Park.

One of the lake beaches - right next to downtown.

Me with my new towel.

All the pretty boats, kind of reminds me of San Diego.

Beau on the art/bench.

Me on the same thing.

A mall that we stumbled upon that looks to be made all of glass.

Art in front of the mall. "Monument with Standing Beast" by Jean Dubuffet (1984).

The Sears Tower! So high!!




And here are some pics of the people that I live with and the people I work with.

Me with Nina and Anna - our German roommies.

My partner Beau, our co-worker Geoff (he's Canadian) and me. Representing Hadrian's Wall ad agency!

Nina and Anna

Me and Geoff

Beau and Adam, another of our roommates.

Me and Adam.


Last Tuesday night our boss got us tickets to go see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, it was awesome. We had seats under the level above us so we were in the shade, which was very nice. Here is our view of the field.

And we had to get the famous Chicago Dog - a hotdog on a poppyseed bun with grilled onions. Mmmm, actually really REALLY good.

And the famous Wrigley Field sign - Cubs Win!

Artsy shots of The Bean!

You may remember some other artsy shots of The Bean art piece here in Chicago from my trip in April. But it was raining then, so this weekend I went back with a Bean first-timer - Beau!

We took plenty of cool artsy pics in it's glorious reflective surface.
So *pertty*















Then we went to what I like to call the "Spit Fountain" art piece.
It cools off the hot Chicago-ites on warm summer days.

Partnerz

It is almost the end of my first week in Chicago - and so far so good.
Here is a pic of Beau and I. He is my partner for our internship at Hadrian's Wall.


That pic was taken on July 3rd after we went to the beach to see the fireworks. The city of Chicago does their 4th of July stuff on the night of the 3rd, while the neighborhoods of Chicago do their fireworks on the night of the 4th.

It was pretty cool to walk out on the street and see people out and fireworks going off in all directions. I also saw lightning bugs! We had to make it an early night though because the next day was Day One at work.

Tomorrow we will join the guys from the agency at the Wrigley Building to record stuff. Fun!

I Can See Clearly Now

Just wanted to post a couple of the beautiful pictures that I took from the plane on my flight from San Diego to Chicago.

I am not sure where in the country this is, but I just woke up from a snooze and glanced out my window and saw this.

Amazing.

Beware of the Crazies

Ok, so here is the infamous "Fence" in my parent's front yard.



Yes, it is striped, and yes it is ugly, and yes the man who had it done suffers from Little Man Syndrome.

*the opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author only.

Last Stop - The Windy City

That's right, on Monday I move to Chicago!! It is here that I will intern, take a class, and finish my book! My 8th and final qtr of MAS ad school. I'm excited, I think Chicago is going to be an awesome city. Plus I am ready to do some great work and build myself a great book, which will lead to a GREAT job! (*fingers crossed*)

I'll be living in Wicker Park area in a house with 6 other students. We will all have internships and a weekly class. Our house is pretty cool - I saw it when I visited Stef and Annie in Chicago in April. It is two stories and has 5 bedrooms. Hopefully I'll be able to snag a single room. Hoping that maybe seniority will be a factor ... but who knows. It'll probably be first come first serve.

The agency I will be interning at is Hadrian's Wall. My friend Stefenie was there last qtr and my partner in Prague (Eric) was there at the end of 2005. They both loved it and said the people there are the best, and everyone will be jealous of us for working there. Haha, can't wait!

Here's to 3 more months of living out of a suitcase! *clink*

A Minne Goodbye

We had our "goodbye" party at Carmichael Lynch on a Thursday (since fridays were part of the so called summer hours and no one was at the office past like noon). They brought in Fritos and M&Ms, and a bowl of beer, water, and soda. Here are all of us former CL interns:

Jon, Anna, Me, Lauren, Jon, Nora



And here are The Jon's.



They gave us these really cool bags as a parting gift... and Lauren and Anna demonstrate.



Then Anna and I decided that these bags were so huge that we could stuff them full of all sorts of goodies. So we started by raiding the CL fridges that were on the walls displaying all the very cool CL work.



Ok, just kidding. We didn't really take anything. But we did step on a fallen Frito.
So that made for a perfect picture opportunity (in our minds at the time) to model our new shoes.



After the office party the 7th floor (ie the Creative floor) moved down the street to a bar called Mckenzies. Long Islands were bought and all in all it was good times. Here I am in front of the "Creative" sign.



After the bar we decided to go out to a place called Jet Set with the MAS peeps. (after we watched the Heat game of course ... GO HEAT!) This was Bryan's last night in Minne so we decided to go out with a bang. After he left it started the domino affect of everyone leaving one by one. *tear

Anna, Brad, Bryan, Lopez, Cannova



Anna, Bryan and Me



After Jet Set we decided to go to The Saloon. It's a gay bar on Hennepin (which is the main street in downtown Minneapolis). Things got a little crazy...



Let's just say that was the most tame picture of the night. Haha.

After I left Minneapolis I came back to San Diego only to pack up and head off towards Miami with my sister!! That posting coming soon. :)

I am now back in San Diego till July 3rd when I fly to my next and final location for school. I am off to Chicago, to intern at an agency called Hadrian's Wall. Can't wait!

Green Grass and Lakes

When I flew back to Minneapolis on Memorial Day, I called up the peeps in student housing and was told that a BBQ at the lake was in the works. I patiently waited for the Light Rail to take me from the airport back into downtown.

The walk from the Light Rail station to the parking garage was oddly quiet. There was literally no one else on the street. Maybe one or two cars, but no one else. Very strange. All I could hear was the sound of my rolling suitcase wheels on the sidewalk. I deposited my luggage into my trunk and walked over to 303.

Inside I found Anna and Nora happily cooking away for the "sides" of the BBQ. There was fruit salad, cookies, and the most potato salad you have ever seen. Ok not EVER .. but there was a lot. Here is Anna showing us the proper way to mix it all together ... with your bare hands!


There was one little thing missing ... a grill. So Cannova went to the store and found one for $10 - called BBQ in a Box. Sounded about right for our needs. The burgers and dogs could now be cooked and enjoyed.

Now at the lake I copped a squat and gazed out over the grass out onto the water. Dayna was standing there looking very pensive and knowledgeable about the meaning of life ... so I decided to capture her in all her pensive glory.


This whole going to the lake thing is a little strange to me, since people from here treat it the same as I would treat going to the beach. They have on bathing suits and walk around strutting their stuff (and sometimes their "extra baggage") and playing "beach" volley ball. Yep, the only sand I saw was in the volley ball court. This I guess is what people do when a coast and an ocean are not available.

Time for some pics ... Anna and Dayna!
Wait, was this an attitdue shot or a nice smile shot?


Attitude it is! (sorry for the fuzziness... i don't know what came over me)


And of course I had to take a cool artsy pic.


We did bring something to join in on the BBQ at the lake fun ... a Frisbee!!
Notice how Cannova can not only play, but ALSO drink and smoke all at the same time. (*this blogger does not condone smoking)


So now I can say that I have seen one of the 10,000 lakes that Minne has to offer.
And it was quite nice.