katie casey had the fever and had it bad

There's really only one thing I wanted to do while in Chicago, besides all the other things: see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Rudy had a ticket to the game too and our seats weren't near each other, but it ended up working out because no one ever claimed the seats next to me.

Rounding the corner, here's what I looked like at the exact moment I first set eyes on Wrigley.



Freakin' Wrigley, man. When I was a little kid I'd spend my summers sitting in my bedroom sorting baseball cards and watching Harry Caray call Cubs games on WGN. I've never really been a Cubs fan, but the games were on and thusly I watched them.

The scene around the park is insane. I've never seen so much hype around a sporting event, including big time NBA playoff games. These folks love their Cubbies.

We got there way early, checked out the neighborhood. Met up with some friends of friends at this hole in the wall bar.

At least I thought it was a hole in the wall. It was packed to the gills, and narrow doorways led from room to room to room. This place was huge!

Ah, there's the famous Chicago El Train, named by the early Spanish settlers to the region.

"Hey, help me get up there. I'm gonna write some awesome graffiti on the El rail."

"Oh yeah? What's it gonna say?"

"It's gonna say, 'Cubs."'

"Nice."

Rudy and I walked through the tiny concourse and he stopped, took a look at the field, and said "Dude." Nothing else needed to be said.

I've been to my share of Major League parks, but Wrigley might be my favorite. It's so intimate, and the crowd was great.

Here's all-star Derek Lee. He hit a home run on this swing.

Fan favorite Kosuke Fukidome.

"You can't arrrrrg-ue with great taste." I didn't understand this at first, then I realized the Cubs were playing the Pirates.

I wonder if they change the sign for every series? "our brewers never strike out." That's all I got. You come up with more.

As it happens, my favorite player, Doug Mientkiewicz, plays for the Pirates now.

You've probably never heard of him, but he played for the Salt Lake Buzz in 2000, a powerhouse team that produced a lot of Major League players. He had to cut the season short to play for the good ol' US of A in the Olympics, where he hit a game-winning homerun to upset Cuba. Then he played for my Minnesota Twins in 2001, their first winning season in like ten years. He's bounced around a lot since then and even though he's known for his stellar defense, he's never really been able to get his bat going.

Cubs won, 13-1. Such a great experience, but it could have been so much better if I hadn't forgotten my banjo.

After the game me and my new friends headed out for a place called Sheffield's. Passed this on the way.

His real estate seems great until you realize it's just a bunch of green-screen.

Every movie that has ever taken place in Chicago has filmed a scene under this track. Probably.

A word about neon. I was incredibly disappointed by the neon selection in Chicago. Maybe I just wasn't going to the right places, but I hardly saw any neon at all. This is the best picture from the whole weekend.

Now let's Microsuede it up a bit.

Spent a lot of time at Sheffield's, a haven for beer snobs. They had 200 different varieties of beer, which is great for me since I like to collect interesting beer bottles or bottles from particular good times.

I really like this one, from a place in Colorado called Ska Brewing. It's like this bottle was made just for me.

I disagree, I don't think I drank too much at all.

Back to the hotel for a half-hour nap, which ended up lasting five hours. I woke up at midnight totally bummed that I had slept through the Jazz game and potentially wasted the entire Saturday night. Luckily there was a place open late, so I was able to get my chill on.

Nora the Lithuanian: "Are you from Illinois?"

B. "No, Salt Lake."

Nora the Lithuanian: "Exactly."

Some Stranger: "Do you like Heroes?"

B. "The show or the ... type of person?"

Some Stranger: "The show."

B. "Well, not really."

Some Stranger: "Okay." (disappears)

Maybe I reminded her of Hiro. Some people have said that before which is weird because I don't wear cardigans.

Finally, time for some food. I seemed to be hot on the trail of a disrobing barista.

This McDonald's was a grand palace of indulgence.

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this guy. He looked exactly like my brother Sean. Same poofy hair, same beard, same size and shape, same hang dog expression. Uncanny.

I realize that it's rude to take pictures of a stranger just trying to enjoy some McDonald's. I'm not proud of myself. But still, he looked just like Sean.

next: art

pressure drop

You can stop sending me your e-mails an petitions. I'm fine, and now I'm back to blogging regularly. Let's go. Recognize this?

Look up there. ^^^^. The Microsuede logo is based on this painting, "Chop Suey." It's my favorite painting, and the MacGuffin that kicked off my weekend, which was as awesome and exhausting as a twenty-two inning baseball game.

I'll get you caught up. Thursday I did a heap load of moving and I'm closer to getting settled into my new place. It's a basement apartment, and upstairs live a cat and a middle-aged woman and ... my idiot brother Michael. Long story, ask me about it sometime.

I forgot that the local Fox Sports channel shows Rockies games. Last season I got all into the Rockies so I'm a perfect bandwagoning fan. While organizing my new domicile I flipped on the game. Six hours later the game ended. 22 innings of baseball excitement. The best part was around the 14th inning when the announcers ran out of things to talk about.

"I might head down to the Walgreen's there and ... get some of that stuff you put on your lips ..."

(40 second pause)

"Lip balm?"

The game ended around 2:22 and I hadn't even packed yet and still had a ton of stuff to do. I had to leave the house Friday by 8am so I didn't get much sleep.

I planned this trip to see an exhibition by my favorite painter, Edward Hopper. Kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all of his major works gathered together in one place. In a series of remarkable coincidences, I found out that my favorite band was playing that weekend and that my good friend Rudy from San Jose would be in Chicago at the exact same time.

At the airport I stopped to buy a magazine and there was a lot of upselling. "That's it? Just the one paper? For only a dollar more you get a bottle of water. You're not going to try the new '5' gum?"

I ended up getting a water. And I had to buy gum because my total came to $6.66 and I didn't want any part of that.

I was tired, but I could sleep on the flight right? Nope. The stewardess had a voice like a number 2 pencil, and stood in the aisle next to me talking to some passengers the whole flight. My ipod couldn't drown her out and I didn't want to turn it up too loud since my hearing is still damaged from shootin'.

I walked through O'Hare and "Song for Bob" from the soundtrack to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Give it a listen here, if you'd like. Hearing this song in an airport makes your life seem much more dramatic than it really is. For a while everything was moving in slow motion.

There were a lot of sailors running around in the airport. Ensign, stop! You've got the wrong type of port!

I realized that I was completely unprepared and didn't know how I was going to get from the airport to my hotel. For all I know a cab would be a hundred bucks. I called Sean.

Sean: "This better be important!"
B: "Oh, uh, what are you doing?"
Sean: "Eh. Nothing."

I ended up taking the train. I liked the image from the top of the stairs. Like something out of a dystopian nightmare.



Here I am, boldly gazing into the future.

From the train window I spotted Ira Glass, just hanging out.

The train went subterranean and I realized I had no idea where I needed to get off, and no phone reception to verify. There was one other guy on the train car with a suitcase, so I followed him when he de-trained.

Once I got topside I was overwhelmed. The buildings in Chicago are way too big! I felt like a farm boy getting to the city for the first time. I'm no yokel, I lived in New York for a while (twenty non-consecutive days), but I was intimidated by this place.

On the way to the hotel I stopped to rough up Dan Rather, then met up with Rudy and we went to the much acclaimed Chicago pizza chain Gioardano's.

What a dish!

View from the 41st floor. The second building from the right is the Tribune building. I think a wizard lives there.

Rudy was in town to see a show by a guy named Saul Williams. The concert had been sold out for a while but I was able to buy a ticket from a sad young French girl who didn't realize it was 21+. I hope she didn't have to travel to far to get to the show.

Remember the skunk with a cup on it's head? How about a guy with a cup on his head?

Nope. Not nearly as cool.

I'm not sure what I expected from Saul Williams, but it certainly wasn't this.

Spoken Word/Hip-Hop meets Nine Inch Nails meets Feathers meets Facepaint meets Spiderman.
He closed with a cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" that would make Bono choke on his own sunglasses. Pretty rad.

Next time: Chicago, day 2

please standby

Technical Difficulties are preventing me from updating the Microsuede as planned.

Please return later this evening to read about my fantastic adventures in the mythical city of Chicago.

griddle

B. enters, wearing a new plaid Western shirt.

Mikey: "Hey what are you doing here - uh, whoa. What are you wearing? Are you looking for some pancakes?"

B. "Huh? Pancakes?"

Mikey: "Well, you just look like a guy who could use a big stack of pancakes."

it's time i got back, it's time i got back, and i don't even know how i got off the track

What? You'll have to speak louder, because I can't hear you. I'll explain later.

Action packed weekend. Friday night was the Bees home opener, and you know how I love the Bees (don't you? is anyone even paying attention here?)

Beautiful night for a ballgame, except for the part where it was 30 degrees.



It was a fun game. The crowd was into it, and there was a lot of scoring. (both on the field and off, if you know what I mean!)

The Bees ended up losing for the first time this year, which I blame on poor fielding, and also poor pitching. Best heckle of the night, courtesy of Lee: "Nice catch, idiot!"

I should mention that I could have been killed by a foul ball. None ever came our way, but still.

Afterward me n' Lee had a very pleasant dinner at the Training Table. Bleu Bacon Burger and Cheese Fries. Not to be dramatic, but I could have died of a heart attack.

Huh?

That's funny because I've always called music "a bleu bacon burger to your ears."

Saturday I did a lot of moving. My stuff, Chris's stuff, a little of Emily's stuff, more of my stuff. If I had to describe the day in one word it would be "sweaty." Maybe I could have been crushed to death by furniture.

Daniel and Scott had been calling for adventure all day, so finally a group of us saddled up and headed down I-80 west, Tooele bound.

Here Scott (professional geologist) explains something about landslides.

The route takes us past the Big Salt Lake in all its majestic glory.

Tooele County is where my pappy done come from, so I'm a little bit familiar with it. It has everything you could ever need. A haunted valley, a mysterious military base, nuclear waste, toxic nerve gas, chemical weapons bunkers, underground fires, the new Area 51, and a very spicy pickle.

More importantly, there's a lot of open country for the discharging of firearms.

Conversation in a gas station in Stockton, UT (pop. 443):

"Is there a good place around here to go shooting?"

"Shootin'?"

The fella was a little perplexed by the question because really the whole county is one big shootin'. gallery.

We drove into the desert along the Old Mormon Trail, the same trail the pioneers used when they wanted to go shootin'.

By the time we found a good spot the sun was heading downward.

Luckily we found an area that had a pre-made foxhole full of shootables. Like a half-empty propane tank.

Scott got a new handgun recently. A .40. Same kind of gun a lot of cops use. It's really fun to shoot, but at the very instant this photo was taken I went deaf in my left ear.

Ear protection should always be used, kids. I'm a little better now. For a while everything sounded like it was coming from a broken radio and the ringing was non-stop. It's weird though, when I touch my ear it feels like it's numb. I'll give it a few more days before panicking.

Camera phone in one hand, gun in the other. Weird.

Lee had some fun taking shots.
We finally decided to shoot at the propane tank from about fifty yards away with Scott's Soviet SKS. We hid behind the car (fearing explosion) while Scott plunked away at it.

It didn't explode so we all took turns. I'm such a good shot I didn't even need to look.

Kapow!

We stopped shooting because we ran out of bullets.

Next on the agenda? Why food and sports of course!

Tooele has a dance-club/sport-bar called Tracks. Don't be fooled by it's location! It's very hard to get to. There was a time it seemed that we would never make it, and that not even Barabus could save us. Finally it was within reach.

We settled in to watch the last quarter of the Jazz game. I was watching the middle tv.

Everything was cool until they made us switch tables so they could clear out the dance floor. We left some time later and there was no dancing occurring.

Sunday, more moving. Also had the family over for grilling and the goose didn't even bother me too much.

I guess I haven't really talked about moving much on the blog. Anyway, I'm moving. Here I am building my bed.

Baseball? Guns? Tools? I feel so manly right now. Totally cancels out the messenger bag and my general spaziness and the fact that I'm unclear on how to jumpstart a car.

capital gains

I won't say how, but I have recently acquired $130.92. What should I spend it on?

rejuvenated rocketship

Hi. Long time since I've updated. I'm not dead, I haven't been stoned to death. All I'll say is, the internet is a helluva place to lose a cow.

Just in case you were thinking I wasn't an idiot, yesterday my car broke down. Turns out I ran out of gas. Then once I finally filled it up I noticed it was running very sluggishly the rest of the day. Turns out the emergency brake was on. To be fair, my indicator lights indicated neither.

Friday night the Utah Jazz embarrassed the Spurs of Saint Antoine's. Which reminds me, I went to a game earlier this week.

I get so embarrassed by in-game entertainment. Does anyone enjoy this stuff?

"Larry! I've got it!"

"How can we lose with Jazzbots on the team?"

"Um... is that legal?"

"There's nothing in the rulebook that says a time-travelling robot can't play small forward."

"Why do they have to be time travelling?"

"Because basketball playing robots haven't been invented yet, duh."


Here Mikey enjoys a snack.

You can't spell "Microsuede" without "blurry photography."

We won!



After Friday's game we watched Plan 9 from Outer Space, which I have never seen.

It's pretty great. The best part is that the majority of the movie is just people standing around talking a lot.

And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.

Then we watched some Mystery Science Theater 3000, a cult classic that I have also never seen. This installment was The Horrors of Spider Island. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Plus, hotchuma hotchuma am I right?

Scott sat in his usual chair.

A lot of moving took place this weekend. I'm on month three of my big move, and I'm almost 10% done. Saturday morning I helped Emily move into this neighborhood.

This is one of her room-mates. She likes to compare him to Orson Welles. Not because he's fat, but because he's a cinematic genius.

I was repayed with these comically huge pancakes.

I helped Chris move too, but my contributions were slight. Even though I am very strong, I mostly handled door duty.

Later that night while walking out of my apartment I walked headfirst into a low-hanging tree branch. This was a thick branch mind you, and I hit it so hard I broke it right off the tree. There is absolutely no reason that this happened.

I am reinstating my personal prohibition amendment. Starting... now.

Oh! Last night me and Emily watched Metropolis. It's a silent film from 1927 but it's stunning. I can't stop thinking about it.

edit: looks like I've gone back to using capital letters. Old habits die hard I suppose.

avril fooling

the other night I had the fellas over for burgers. see?

probably the last dudes/sports/grilling affair at my apartment, good ol' 4C. it was a lot of fun. i really regret not having people over more often.

there was someone that wasn't quite so keen on the idea of me firing up the grill. THE GOOSE!


"hissssssss." no wonder it wakes me up every morning. it lives outside my bedroom window. and it's laid eggs! it's made its home on my balcony, and top of that nest-like tarp. so this is awkward because you're not allowed to touch or move the eggs or hassle with a migratory bird's nest (per federal regulations) so i'm not sure what to do about this.