On Friday morning, as I was walking from the train to the office, I saw a scene I recognized at a downtown intersection - the aftermath of an accident between a cyclist and car.  A woman stood beside her bike, crying a bit, obviously shaken up, talking to a police officer.… Read full post »

It all started with a bike.  When I was six, learning to ride a bike was a taste of real freedom and a bonding experience with my dad.  A bike had meant freedom in his childhood.  My own learning experience was a time of encouragement and learning about the positive moments… Read full post »

Over the last several months, I've written about chronic pain, long-term unemployment, and getting a new job.  The pain medication was great for a few months, then I got switched to a different medication, which is now losing its effectiveness.  The new job is working out oka… Read full post »

A while back, I wrote about my unintended vacation and things that have slowed down the process of finding a new job.  Last week I had an opportunity fall into my lap, and things worked out surprisingly fast.

 I occasionally do Critical Mass bike rides and have been on t… Read full post »

It's finally here - NATO summit weekend.  I wasn't sure how I'd feel when it arrived, but now it's crystal clear: fear. 

My husband is one of many Chicago police officers assigned to McCormick Place - site of this weekend's NATO summit.  He'll be working 12 hour days, facing unknown th… Read full post »

Has it been three years already since I first took the plunge and joined you?

 At times it feels like mere months rather than years.  At other times, it feels like a lifetime ago.  I was still at the old job then, hanging out with Stim and trying to survive the trials an… Read full post »

A few weeks ago, I heard something from a friend that was one of the best gifts I could get: the news that he's getting a kidney transplant.  Paul has been one of my best friends for years.  He's also suffered a lot of health issues during that time.  For years,… Read full post »

We've been enjoying an incredible weather week, to continue the trend of unusually warm weather.  Sandhill cranes are migrating early. 

Crocuses are blooming.  We're expecting t-shirt and shorts weather today.

Read full post »

It's been a while since we've had any Chicago-area OS meet-ups.  Recently I've had an exchange with a few folks about remedying that situation.  I was thinking of hosting a potluck barbecue and offering an optional pre-BBQ bike tour of our bike friendly, photogenic neighborhood.  This… Read full post »

Many of us are wondering what May will look like here in Chicago.  Whether we like it or not, the G8/NATO summit is coming.  No one really knows how many thousands of protesters will descend on us along with the bigwigs, but we're expecting lots.

As the date gets closer, we're hearing… Read full post »

In the spring of 2009, I was feeling burned out and frustrated at my job.  The brown nosers and backstabbers made the law firm where I worked a daily hell more often than not.  I celebrated the days when the worst of them were out sick or on vacation.  When they… Read full post »

Seeing all your pictures and videos has been like time travel.  Most of my memories from then are fun.

me in 1980

In this picture, my hair is pulled back, so you can't tell how long and thick it was.  It went most of the way down my back and

… Read full post »

It's been two weeks since I started the biggest change I've experienced in a long time: feeling better and getting good sleep.  My knees still feel good, which is nothing short of a miracle, especially in light of the temperature changes and storms we've seen in that time.

This new… Read full post »

For the last year or so, I feel like I've been dropping in and out of real life.  I started having serious injuries at 14, after a major growth spurt - knees, lower back, knees again.  In the coming years, a foot and ankle injury turned into plantar fasciitis - in… Read full post »

For almost 30 years, one of the largest buildings in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood has been a ghost, a vacant hint of its former self.   The Uptown Theater looms over the intersection of Lawrence and Broadway, empty, waiting.

A few years ago, an excellent video was made about the Uptown (a… Read full post »

Back in 1968, I was a little kid in Logan Square.  It was a nervous year in our neighborhood, starting with the west side riots after Martin Luther King's assassination.

The west side burned for days as all hell broke lose.  No one knew how far it might go. … Read full post »

Back in July, I mentioned that I've been a bit overwhelmed this summer with our big landscape overhaul.  We're getting a lot closer to done, and I'm almost ready to celebrate.

Today I spent most of the day digging and thumping - or as my husband understands it, moving dirt and… Read full post »

The day started out with promise - a clear blue sky, light breeze, and no stress.  I headed for the train.  The ride downtown was routine.

That part of my day yesterday was very much like 9/11/01, until the moment on that day when so many cell phones started ringing on… Read full post »

Last night I sat on the patio, enjoying a cold beer at the end of a really long day.  It was pleasant to simply listen to all the sounds I ordinarily hear without thinking about them.  My aural environment here in Beverly (on Chicago's far south side) is very different from… Read full post »

Since my last installment, I've continued working on the landscape overhaul, been taking a class, trying to get out on my bike a bit, and generally just plugging along.  This summer's New Orleans-like weather has been making me a bit loopy.  Just coming up for air now that we've got a… Read full post »

Sorry I've been so out of touch for a while.  It's not you guys, and it's not all the OS technical difficulties.

I wrote a couple of previous posts about the major landscape makeover we're doing at our house.  We also threw in a few non-landscape house projects because it… Read full post »

The other day I was walking through the Loop and had a good memory from a few years ago.  It was the last winter that my dad was still living in his house, and I was coming home from visiting him.  As the Metra train got close to downtown, I got… Read full post »

As I described in yesterday's post, the big gardening project I've taken on this year has offered a few more challenges than I'd expected going in.

Since we've had a break from the rain during the day, and temperatures have been reasonable,  I decided I'd try to start getting the clematis… Read full post »

After nearly a week of intense heat, I was really looking forward to the forecast rain and cooler weather that arrived overnight.  What I didn't hope for or expect was having almost 4" of rain in less than 12 hours, much of it in the last 6 hours.

For those of… Read full post »