Chicago Photography Project – 4 years
Well, I'm nearly two months late in celebrating this, but at least I'm recognizing it in 2009!
October 26th was the 4th anniversary of my lunch hour photography/exercise project. Not much has changed since last year. The map has grown only slightly, as I increasingly have to rely on either the El or the bus system to get me to unexplored locations.
I continue to submit photos to Chicago Public Radio and to Gapers Block for inclusion on their respective websites. Some I've been very happy with have made it, which is encouraging.
As with previous updates, no photobook is yet forthcoming. I find it increasingly difficult to come to any sort of definitive "theme" that would work well in a book. My latest thought was perhaps I simply select photos based on cardinal directions. There are just so many photos to go through...so many that I think are great but probably, as they say, won't play in Peoria. So, I continue to mull...
With respect to the walks, I'm certainly still getting in quite a few every week. I have been able to clock in some rather long treks (anything over 3 miles is pretty good in my book) in an hour to slightly-more-than-an-hour time period. Good stuff. My plan to do a half-day trip with swanksalot to visit Hot Doug's was thwarted by both weather and schedules. But mark my word, it will happen in 2010! 
clean break
Yesterday I spent a rare day out of the office and in the field, as it were. It was actually a rail yard and therefore mostly gravel and broken pavement and dust and wind.
I was there to film a safety video and it was difficult and hot but overall good. I don't spend many days wearing safety boots and a hard-hat and safety glasses but at least I was wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt and not a tie.
An added bonus of the day was that we finished up a little early and I was able to make it home earlier than normal. 
helloheather suggested we head out to a community water park and we left a few minutes after I arrived home.
So, it is only a little ironic that, part-way through our fun time at the water park, I broke one of my toes. It would have been more ironic if I had broken a toe after filming all day about safety at water parks, (which I hadn't been) but still. Broken toe thanks to an underwater obstruction that I didn't anticipate.
I didn't go to the hospital or doctor, because nothing can be done with a broken toe (unless it's your big one and this isn't). So, I wasn't going to wait hours of my time and a co-pay for someone to tell me 1. yes it's already broken and 2. the only thing you can do is tape it to another toe. I already know what a broken toe looks like (having broken one on my other foot a few years ago through an even MORE IRONIC SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES).
So, I taped it to another toe and am now hobbling around. I didn't let the injury ruin my time at the water park though. Nate had a blast and so did we. It was a really great way to end the day.
layers are key
Yesterday I walked for 2.9 miles during lunch and today I walked 3.6. On both days I was too warm toward the end of the walk, but today I had multiple layers (anticipating the frigid temps and wind) and so I was able to cool myself down without becoming cold.
Not much else to say, really. I'm a function before fashion guy but you knew that already.
wherein I talk even more about the weather
This morning on the train platform it was 0F and the wind chill was -15F. During my lunch hour walk it warmed up to 16F with a wind chill of around 2F.
Tomorrow it's only supposed to get up to 11F but then a rather rapid warming trend. 36 for a high then 42 and then, if predictions hold, it'll be 45 deg or warmer on Saturday.
This does not bode well for people living in flood-prone areas. And, baring any February snow storms, we'll be looking at brown grass and dirt for the next month. Oh well.
In other news, after essentially 6 weeks of being sick I'm finally going to the doctor. I think the lingering cold has turned into a full-blown sinus infection.
still sick
It's very hard to entertain a two and a half year-old when everyone is sick. We did go out for a little bit today (the first I'd been outside since Tuesday evening). I'm not horribly sick, but I'm just not feeling well. I wish my throat didn't hurt so much.
So much for my second bit of vacation.
recent news
I'm sick...I have a cold and I feel awful. I'm really glad I'm on vacation (starting tomorrow) until the 5th. I need sleep and I need food. (I can always tell when I'm getting sick because my appetite jumps through the roof.)
Also, my company is closing one of three large facilities, suspending a major project, and is laying off over 200 people. I have tried really hard not to be doom-and-gloom about the economy, because Fear Is The Mind Killer, but this is not good. I am still employed...but I'm more uncertain than ever.
a tiny kick to the sinus
Being sick sucks. All three of us being sick at the same time sucks even more.
But being sick on a weekend like the one we just had? That's just cruel.
Does my name sting your tongue?
This is going to be a selfish post. If you cannot stand that sort of thing, I would encourage you to not read any further.
Nate has been diagnosed with a peanut allergy. His body's frightening, but not life-threatening, reaction a couple weeks ago was confirmed with a standard "scratch" test at an allergists'.
Let me just say that this really, really sucks. And I don't mean it sucks because of how much of a lifestyle upheaval it is for us as a family...I mean it sucks because I won't be able to do a huge swath of things that I didn't even realize I wanted to do...
That's sort of confusing, so some examples:
- I was walking through the store and realized that he and I won't ever be able to take a hike in the park or along the bike trail and share a bag of trail mix.
- Very little dried fruit, in fact, can be consumed. It's almost all tainted.
- We can never again go to, or order from, Nick's Pizza. Ever.
- Almost all ice cream and custard shops are out too. I can't ever go and sit outside Tasty Freeze or Diary Queen at the end of a warm summer day and eat ice cream with Nate.
- We will never be able to pack him a pb&j in a lunch box for when his class goes to a park or a zoo or something.
- I will never be able to share a bag of M&M's (or almost any chocolate candy) with him at the movie theater
What is most frustrating to me about this whole endeavor is that he HAS eaten peanuts before. He's had M&M's and he's had crackers with peanut butter. One of the few meats he will eat is chicken from a chinese restaurant cooked in, you guessed it, peanut oil. And he's never had any sort of reaction to anything he's eaten. So, what changed?
...
And now, I read things like:
The AAP recommends delaying introduction of peanuts until three years of age for children with a family history of allergies in both parents or in a parent and sibling. The group also suggests that mothers in such families avoid peanuts while they are breastfeeding and possibly during pregnancy.
and I wonder how much of this is our fault. I'm not allergic to peanuts but I'm allergic to dusts, molds, pollen, smoke and, as a child, I was allergic to milk. So, was Nate set up to fail because we didn't follow (or even know about) these AAP guidelines? The more I read, the more it looks like we completely fucked up on this. No peanuts of any quantity until 3 years of age is the recommendation? Weren't we told that after age 1 things are ok? I don't even remember any more. We certainly didn't give him any substantial peanut butter until recently, but he had the chicken in peanut oil back in December.
It's just so damn frustrating. And the more I read the worse it gets. The scratch test said peanuts-only and the allergist said that other types of nuts are fine, but most all peanut-allergy websites say things like "...most experts recommend peanut-allergic patients avoid tree nuts as well." Well now what?
As usual, I end up floundering at the end of my post. I'm just tired of being stressed and frustrated with this whole thing. I want him tested again by a different doctor because I don't want it to be true. I don't want this bullshit allergy shoved in my face every single day...I don't want to be "that parent" that has to talk to all the other parents in the school or at the church function or any other of a million fucking common events that we want to go to where food will be served asking about peanut content.
Oh, and Nate also tested positive for a salmon allergy. So there's that too, just less so.
Welcoming back the light
It's really wonderful to be able to leave work and see that the sun has not yet set. It makes the cold seem a little less harsh.
http://www.wunderground.com/US/IL/Chicago.html
Length of Day: 9h 46m
Tomorrow will be 2m 3s longer.
Sick again
Nate became sick again on Friday. The viral-really-scary-might-get-dehydrated kind of sick. helloheather and I spent hours upon hours on Saturday and Sunday forcing Pedialyte (tm) into him every 10 minutes in order to stave off dehydration and another hospital visit. It was a scary and stressful and agonizing weekend.
He is on the mend, thank goodness, but my nerves are shot. I'm a wreck and helloheather is not fairing well either. I know that I'm far too nervous a father to begin with, but this last event has me downright frightened.
I just don't understand how people can take care of two, three, five, and six kids at a time, when I can't mentally handle just one.
More bad things from December
Continuing the doom-and-gloom
- My grandmother went into the hospital on the 28th with double-pneumonia. She is still there and on two different antibiotics. However, she seems to be on the mend.
- My sister is now sick with probably what nate and I had over Christmas.
- helloheather's step-mom also became sick with the same or similar symptoms.
- The power went out for 8 hours on the 23rd (starting at about 3:30 am)
How not to spend December
December, in terms of health, was not a very good month.
As many of you are aware, Nate was in the hospital from the 5th through the 7th due to dehydration from a viral infection. I was sick with the same virus at the same time and helloheather was left to deal with the both of us. Unlike Nate though, I did not feel recovered until the 12th or 13th.
A few days after Nate came home from the hospital, helloheather contracted a nasty cough, aches, and general illness. She was feeling better by weeks end but still had the cough. By the 23rd I was sick and the 24th Nate was sick. It wasn't until the 29th that all three of us finally were prescribed some antibiotics. Unfortunately for me, the possible side-effect of "headaches" has been a reality and something that tylenol and advil /together/ have been only able to reduce but not eliminate.
In the mean time, we missed out on all Christmas activities on the 25th. We had to cancel Christmas morning with my parents, the afternoon with my grandmother (who has since gone into the hospital with double pneumonia), and the evening with helloheather's dad's side of the family (all the cousins). And I was so sick on the 24th and 26th that I am not sure how I made it through.
Yet again, the week was spent with helloheather tending to two sick people in the house. Oh and, like during our last illness, we had house guests and at least one of them also became sick.
helloheather is, rightfully so, very frustrated with how December went. We have been sick since December 3rd. We had to cancel time with family, she worried herself silly with caring for the both of us, and quite frankly the continual coughing, nose-blowing, body-aches, etc has been just about too much.
My plans to finish the tile in the bathroom, go sledding with Nate, work on my photography, visit people, and everything else were all forced aside. But really, this pales in comparison to what helloheather has had to go through. I'm really not certain how she has stayed sane. But I'm sure glad she has.
I really hope January turns out to be a little better than December.
edit/update: I messed some of the dates up. Corrections made.
Healthy or Cheap – Eat one
Eating healthy is not cheap. Eating cheap is not healthy. I'm sure this does not come as a shock to anyone reading this...it's just something that's been on my mind as of late.
As someone who often buys his lunch, this dichotomy is something I struggle with every day. Cheap food abounds in Chicago...but it's very unhealthy. Healthy food also abounds...but it's rarely inexpensive. As someone who wants to become more healthy through both better food choices and exercise, I find the battles between these two ideas difficult.
An all to common occurrence is that I will walk over 2 miles during one of my lunch hours, which was great, but it leaves me very little time to grab any food. So I end up grabbing a fast-food burger and fries, completely negating whatever I had gained from my walk.
I have been trying to bring my lunch in more often, which may help balance the two a bit, but it has been a difficult habit to start. More often than not I'm rushing out of the house in order to make the train with moments to spare. I'm not giving myself enough time to make those better choices.
I have a feeling this is going to be a constant struggle in my life.
always, always check your settings…
Yesterday, with the weather in the mid-40's and the sun shining I walked (during my lunch hour) from downtown to the fabled Goose Island (well the south-east edge of it) for a total of 3.5 miles! It was great, I paralleled (as much as possible) the Union Pacific NW tracks (the ones I ride every day). The tracks are a story and a half above street level, and so it was interesting to see the buildings and sites from "down below." I managed to put 24 images on my 16MB card. (This self-limitation was started in order to focus on quality over quantity.)
Today it was a bit cooler (only 39 downtown), but I was able to get in a 3 mile walk. I walked with a coworker down Randolph to Ogden and then back on Washington. Shortly after starting the walk back on Washington, I realized I had left my camera on the 0.3MP setting. 15 photos were shot at 640x480. Damn, damn. When you have only 2MP to work with, cropping is already pretty limited. With 0.3MP, the images pretty much are what they are.
Apparently this is the “Rob-goes-for-a-walk” blog
It seems like I only talk about lunch-time walks these days. Well, they are fun when I get to do them and I've been photographing a lot along the way so, why not?
Yesterday and today were both nice days for walking during lunch. 3 miles yesterday, 2.8 miles today. Yesterday I walked Randolph St. to Racine and then back and around the river area. Today was down Lake St. to Ada St. and then back along Randolph St.
Lake Street is interesting because it cuts through part of the Fulton Market district. Lots of food warehouses and guys in bloody white butchers coats standing around outside on their lunch breaks. The smells range from the horrific (dumpster next to a fish warehouse) to the exotic (spice wholesaler). Today I saw a guy loading 3 giant plastic garbage buckets full of scrap meat into a truck. I wanted to take a picture, but I still have this fear of photographing strangers.
Lake Street also has the El (Green Line) running right above it, and a walk under it can be painful to the ears.
On my way back along Randolph I stopped at a bar and grill for a burger (considered and then reject the idea of having a lunch-time beer) and eventually arrived back to work only 10 minutes late. Not too bad. Snapped some interesting (to me at least) photographs and stretched the legs.
cetan.org has been moving along swimmingly. I'm pretty happy with having it update every two days. I do need to get in there and cleanup the stylesheets a bit though.