Hayward

....and I know MTS is going to say my building is nothing but trouble

I'm not going to reveal who, but a person of very high importance that lives behind me called the cops on some friends of a resident of our building. Coincidentally, they were smoking weed in the alley. I guess it wasn't so much the smoking but the late night loud talking that amplifies between two tall buildings. However he worded the call to the operator...or I guess his status got 3 cop cars there in a hurry. It was apparently structured like a gang bust on a busy corner...but of course turned out nothing more than kids smoking. They received infractions and were asked to go back in the building.

There's alot of skepticism on the hotel project, but the owner has done some very complicated, but historically sensitive restorations and renovations. The building floorplates are absolutely terrible in terms of planning and layout for a hotel alone, but a condo-hotel conversion might work. The building is more suited for office needs, but whatever.

^ Not for much longer. The building is being closed and we're moving down Michigan ave to Millennium Park

And this past weekend the police had class, and many turned the other cheek when a few protesters threw punches. Quite the difference.

Damn... can just a bit of metal on metal make the worst of sound. I was riding back downtown Chicago from Evanston and in a rush to do it under an hour since it was dark. I was on Howard moving at about 25 mph (not the safest place). I have a damaged disk brake out of alignment and the blocks are gone and have ground the rotor badly. Well I hit a bump and my u-lock falls just as I was passing under the El viaduct. I slam on the brakes and I swear it sounded like a train stopping. It wasn't some wussy rim brake squeal, but a deep sounding screech from hell amplified by the viaduct. It was enough to startle the people posting it up near the station entrance since I had disrupted complete silence. I'll miss that sound when it's repaired. It scares people when they try to jaywalk in front of me since they think it's coming from a truck.

^ Oh gosh, that's a very complicated answer and will probably leave you asking more questions. I don't want to get sucked into a debate because I'm really neutral on the hundreds of issues....some entirely irrelevant. I'm sure someone else can explain. Walking around the protests with a friend today, some people asked what movement we were with. We just said we are residents and spectators. We accepted no materials from anyone. The only communication was asking police where we could walk or stand to get pictures. Virtually no one at the rallies or marches was from the city, except for the local police and journalists. Everyone had Chicago maps and seemed to be asking where the blue line was, despite that it was miles away. Photo from Saturday, before all the protests and the dignitaries arrived. This is the historic Motor Row, and this was the hot zone where protesters faced off in a skirmish with police. Don't worry, with the exception of some tipped over barricades, the neighborhood was left intact and undamaged. A Ford car dealership is sealed up tight in the event of mayhem. The protests never made it down this far. But better safe than sorry. The Stevenson Expressway runs past the McCormick Center and has been closed all the weekend. Heavy duty steel fencing that was purchased for the Lollapalooza music festival has great utility this year. A long march down State Street. If you chose to pass the police line into the march, you couldn't exit until further down the route. This was to prevent the march from departing a designated route. The march hits Michigan Ave Eventually it made its way to the south loop. A neighborhood that had been uncertain as to how the events would unravel. On the move. You can see these are state police. Note the secured building in the background. More state police Falling into formation You shall not cross... Well actually you could at the very end. This was some sort of sliding formation that reacted to crowd densities. Cermak and Wabash, just a block from where there were some problems. There was a police order to move westward. After a slow start, most people complied and walk towards a park then dispersed. Not really many photos of the actual people protesting but we chose to stay safe behind police lines and not get anywhere too close. I wanted to see most stuff out of curiosity without getting in the middle of it. The worst thing I experienced was the 90 degree heat. More photos to come.

NATO Summit protests have begun to intensify in downtown Chicago, though as of Saturday morning have almost entirely gone without a hitch. Most people have taken Friday and Monday off from work, though I still went to the office anyway to grab photos from above. I've noticed an incredible police presence. During lunch on Friday, I'd bike down Randolph street and see cops standing side by side for an entire block. Ground zero these past two days for protests has been Daley plaza. They've been very peaceful and well organized. I really hope it continues to stay that way. But Sunday and Monday are the big days when the meetings are in progress and will test Chicago's capabilities to maintain order and peace. So far the only mishap was a NATO banner was torn down from the Michigan Ave bridge. The cops yelled at the man to get down from the bridge tower (after he rang the bell that hasn't sounded in maybe 80 years) and dispersed the crowd. The banner was put back up a few hours later. No arrests were made today despite the thousands of people out on the street. This thread will be updated this weekend with photos First march was on Thursday. I think this one started from Grant Park and moved up North Michigan Ave. It wasn't anything different than the weekly scheduled protests we see around the city and followed a common march and rally route. National Nurses United marched from the Wrigley building plaza on over to Daley Plaza. There they held a rally and a concert by local guitarist Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Here you see the National Nurses United march peacefully across the Michigan Ave. Bridge. Notice the lack of traffic. Traffic and business had dropped off dramatically this Friday because most people stayed home. Many trains and parking garages were reported empty. My normal bicycle commute home on Friday involves snarled standstill traffic on Michigan Ave, today I had a whole lane to myself the entire way. A march down Wacker Wacker Dr Michigan Ave Bridge Notice they pulled down a section of the banner Riot Police Sorry the images are kind of blurry. I'll walk around with the big camera tomorrow and gets some better pics. When I hold my phone out the window I'm always nervous I'm going to drop it so my hand gets shaky.

^oak st will never recover from it lol.

Here's a collection of instagram photos from my phone from early April to present. I started getting summer vibes after I returned from Atlanta. Seems like the warm weather is here to stay now. The next two installments will be mostly from one weekend when friends were in town. View from my dentist Cubs game. Picked up the tickets for $5 each Damen-Wicker Park Breakfast in Evanston Rush St. Greektown White Sox Rainy Commute home Rainy commute home...just go underground Lower Michigan Ave Michigan Oberon and Sergio's Foggy City Six Flags Great America Ping Tom Park Ping Tom Park Ping Tom Park Another dirt cheap cubs game....it's just sad but they fill the park! We had box seats, but sat with other friends in the upper level Wrigleyville looking toward downtown Probably one of the best places to get off on the CTA....that incredible Merchandise Mart Building Shots Shots Shots Shots Shots Shots......No I didn't but the tray looked cool New Flagship Walgreens with freshly prepared food Oak Street Mall and the 900 Center State Street, location of the Great Red Line subway fire that happened my first summer View from Washington Square Park Home Places to go, places to be..... Stay tuned for Part 2.......

Gold Coast, just a couple buildings down from the Drake heading West. The Chamley House is really cool. Interestingly (and sadly) FLW's "love nest" in the Gold Coast was demolished a few months ago after the foundations failed from nearby construction. BTW, despite that I'm a Detroit fan, I admit to owning a blackhawks shirt.

Shots of my hood! And nice seats!!

^ But that's the problem. The auditorium only reinforces the corporate look. The rest of the building is gorgeous with all the glass and those cool extruded mullions. The auditorium feels like a leftover. Metal panel comes in a ton of different colors shapes and textures. I've specified quite a few. I worked a on a project that had color changing metal...it's at least something different than the standard silver. I'm wondering if it was cost...though there's plenty of other cheap alternatives. PC does top of line architecture......especially here in Chicago. So this is a bit surprising to me.

Love the tower, but that auditorium doesn't strike me as all that interesting. For a building that small, it would have been worth investing in more expensive cladding. Silver metal panels look generic and cheap to me.

For the past 15 minutes there's a drunk couple that's been screaming at each other in the alley below. Cop pulls, sounds loud horn. "Shut up or I'll arrest you both!!!" Gotta love the city.

Mixed Green or spinach. I stay away from iceburg lettuce -Mushrooms -Tomatoes -Cheese -Egg -Chicken or Turkey -Peas -Carrots -Broccoli -Ranch(or swap cottage cheese The particular lunch below was brought to me by Roundy's Marianos of Chicago. Love the customer experience at their stores. Extremely high end, yet cheap.

The online translators work okay for Arabic. Try translating construction documents with technical terms, not fun. The UAE is westernized enough where translation isn't all that necessary. It's like assuming that anything you send to Canada must be translated to french. Why bother?

What a great looking city. Very Philadelphia looking.

They charge high fees for day rentals. The intention of the service is for short trips and they discourage long term rentals. Like zipcar, they start running the mileage counter after 180 miles. I use enterprise for long trips, and always from a neighborhood location. For some reason it tends to be cheaper. Base price is usually $25/day. Then Taxes add $8. Then the insurance your credit card doesn't cover is $15 (since I don't own a car). So it's close to $50 / day without gas. igo's rate is $60 with gas. So it's an ok deal if you're just driving around the suburbs or something. But a long trip is probably not worth it. The only time I ever rent cars is to go to Ohio actually! I'll ask for a prius and was able to do a round trip from Chicago to Cincy for $55 in gas....and that's when prices had peaked this year.

Chicago's worst freeway interchange gets a study for rebuild. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-23/news/chi-circle-interchange-reconstruction-idot_1_circle-interchange-study-aecom This interchange would require a challenging redesign. It could benefit from two lane ramps, and shallower curves. The best way is to probably build a huge stacked, converging interchange so that you get very large turning radii. Knock out the Morgan exit ramps and shift them to Aberdean which will be a busier commercial street in coming years. Hopefully the Circle Interchange project would justify the CTA rebuilding or renovating the Halsted Station which looks pretty sad right now.

^ Thanks! I thought of Cleveland as well when I took this with the bridges, industry and green banks along the river. Here's another phone shot from tonight. Kennedy freeway into the city as viewed from Ogden Ave. Love this spot

Thanks Chris. Blommer Chocolate Factory plans expansion. More surface lots wiped out!! http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-blommer-chocolate-hosts-firstever-press-tour-talks-expansion-20120509,0,6393538.story

That's the real shit right there. I've had that before. I won't stop there, I'll eat a ton of it. ------- Stop lights are unpredictable. I've been doing the same bicycle commute home for 3 years now. At one of the city's busiest intersections is DA turn lane signal. After cross traffic clears, it's always a left green arrow....ALWAYS. Well this time I was a bit paranoid and was closer to the median curb than usual. I wasn't on top of the wires so I guess the sequence was running through some alternative signaling. Right when I expected the green arrow. It didn't.... I had just rolled past the crosswalk in anticipation when oncoming traffic approached. Well, I waited until traffic cleared and made a left on a red. It was the first time I used the new Illinois Law which permits bicyclists and motorcycles to proceed through red lights when the signal fails to change in a reasonable amount of time, or they believe signals are running incorrect sequencing. There was a cop that had just pulled up, so I guess the law works since he didn't follow.

This is my dream neighborhood. Thanks for the tour!

My bad. Total trip was 57 miles, roughly 28 miles in each direction. The trips listed under adjustments are I-Pass / EZ-Pass checkpoints. When I passed under the gantry the tollway authority bills the carsharing service, and they then bill me. My trip used approximately 2 gallons of gas since much of it was city driving. Gas runs around $4.50-$4.90 / gallon here in Chicago...so nearly half of my bill covered gas...then there was tolls. That leaves $6 left for the cost of insurance and just being able to drive the car. Considering time, money, and convenience there's no other transportation alternative in existence that is comparable to reach remote destinations. Keep in mind, my only other alternatives were bus, taxi, or conventional rental services like enterprise. And obviously those are either expensive or require alot of time. ......Of course, I could always borrow a friend's car nearby. But that's risky, and you have to work with their schedule.