There was one more thing I wanted to mention about our weekend in Chicago and it completely slipped my mind.

As we were walking into Lincoln Park Zoo, two kids were arguing about what they wanted to see first in the zoo. The conversation went something like this:

Kid #1: Sharks!
Kid #2: Bears!
Kid #1: Sharks!
Kid #2: Bears!
Kid #1: Hippos!
Kid #2: Michael Jackson!

As Soniya said upon hearing it, “You can’t make that stuff up.”

This weekend, Andrea and I headed north to visit our friends Soniya and Erick up in Chicago. We were going with the idea of hitting Alpine Valley, a music venue well-known among the Dave Matthews Band fans for being a great location to see said band play. Twice before Andrea and I have attempted to go to Alpine – once in 2005 when we actually bought tickets, but were unable to go due to financial issues once the date came around, and then last year we were offered tickets from a friend who was unable to use them, but we were getting married a month later, so once again finances decided we couldn’t go. This time, though, we’d saved up some cash, taken the time off work, made all the arrangements with Soniya, a fellow “Dave Head”, and we were ready to go.

And go we did Friday afternoon when Andrea’s mom dropped us off at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. However, we didn’t fly to Chicago, instead we took the St. Louis Metro train downtown near Union Station. From here we walked a brief distance to the Amtrak station and waited in the lobby for the Texas Eagle train to arrive from points south.

I’m telling ya, if you ever have the time to take the train to whatever your destination, go for it. For $112 we got two spacious seats in business class, complete with power outlets for gadgets (we borrowed a portable DVD player from Andrea’s dad and put it to good use), reclining seats, footrests, no cumbersome and uncomfortable seat belts, a fairly decent selection of food, beverages (even alcohol), bathrooms, and no worry of weather delays, which was fortunate because the storm brewing as we pulled out of St. Louis surely would have kept any planes grounded back at the airport. We also got to travel through all kinds of little towns, checking out the scenery, and enjoying a carefree ride up the state of Illinois. Yes, it took longer than a flight would, but at 5 hours and 40 minutes, it’s no longer than driving, is a hell of a lot cheaper than gas at $2.50+ per gallon, you don’t have to worry about traffic, stupid drivers, gas stops, and bathroom breaks, nor were there any security limitations – no one checked our bags and we simply carried whatever we wanted onto the train. It was an absolutely perfect way to travel (again, if the time is available).

We arrived in Chicago right on time and caught a cab over to Soniya’s apartment on Waveland Ave, only a block or two away from where the Cubs call home. Shortly after our arrival, we ordered a deep-dish pizza from a local joint and we knew we’d come to The Promised Land. We spent the night in, watching TiVo’d Family Guy episodes, having Erick kick our butts in Trivial Pursuit, and generally catching up on one another’s lives.

Saturday we got moving around nice and late, eventually taking a cab to Bucktown, where we hit a baby boutique that Soniya had told us about called Psycho Baby. There we bought a wildly over-priced onesie for Harper, but, hey, we’re on vacation, so it’s ok. We had lunch at a pretty nice bar and grill, then hit this incredible alternative book store, Quimby’s, where I was so overwhelmed with awesome that I couldn’t even concentrate long enough to decide what to buy. From pin-up artwork, to tattoos, to vintage advertising, to classic underground comics, to small-run zines, to porn, to some shit I never even knew existed, Quimby’s was simply the coolest place I’d been in a long time. I really didn’t know what to buy, so wound up not buying a thing. I could have spent all day there, honestly. After Quimby’s, we went back to Soniya’s to get ready for our trip to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin.

We hit Jewel beforehand so we could get water and general snack items for the trip there and, more importantly, the trip back, and then hit the road. It was smooth sailing the whole way as we passed through some beautiful countryside that was far removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago. We told so many stories during this trip it was amazing. We got to hear all about Erick’s “bhos” (bitches and hos, but the ‘h’ is silent) and even a few of Soniya “dassholes” (dicks and assholes) that she’d dated in the past. I think I told about how my last trip to Wisconsin for a tattoo convention had been cursed with lameness and bad luck. Little did we know this story would be a bit of a foreshadowing to the rest of our evening.

Eventually we hit the concert traffic – a lengthy line of cars on a small, back country, 2-lane road. The concert started at 7:00, which is about the time we hit the aforementioned traffic, and we figured it would be another 30-45 minutes before we’d make it inside the venue. No problem.

At 8:30 we’d moved maybe one mile and the entrance to Alpine Valley was nowhere in sight. It turns out that due to the severe storms they’d had in the area earlier in the week, a major highway was shut down, meaning that 30,000 Dave Heads were trying to get to the venue using only a few, small, back country, 2-lane roads just like the one we were on. Erick and I hiked up to a nearby hilltop (and by “nearby” I mean “a good mile away”) to see what was going on. At the top of this hill was a 4-way stop, with three massive lines of cars converging onto one road leading to the concert. It was cars as far as we could see in any direction from the top of that hill – and still we couldn’t see the entrance to Alpine Valley. Needless to say we realized there was no way we were getting into the concert that night. So we made the trek back down to the Explorer and broke the bad news to the girls. And with disappointment in our hearts, turned around and headed back to Chicago. With this in mind, I think Wisconsin has it out for me.

When we arrived back in Chi-town, we walked down the street to a really cool restaurant called Uncommon Ground, which specializes in organic and vegetarian cuisine. After eating far too many Salerno Butter Cookies, chewy granola bars, and Pop Tarts while on the road, I wasn’t terribly hungry. I did snack on the sweet potato fries, had an excellent Goose Island beer, and then decided to top off my evening of empty calories with a piece of organic chocolate cream pie. Everyone else ate good-for-them foods made from the best ingredients around, so they were obviously better than I was. In hindsight I should have at least gotten the Korean chili-spiced fried calamari, but what are ya gonna do?

We toyed with the idea of going to see a midnight showing at The Music Box Theatre, and had it been “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (complete with people dressing up as their favorite character and doing the whole karaoke thing) rather than “The Princess Bride” that night, I think we probably would have made more of an effort. But instead, we just went back to the apartment and sat around for a little while before eventually going to bed.

Sunday, Erick had to leave to go back to Madison, WI, where he lives and works. So we bid him goodbye and the three of us hit the town for some touristy things to do. First, we took a cab down to Lincoln Park where, after having more excellent pizza, we walked down to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We wandered in there for a while, then crossed Lake Shore Drive and went over to the beaches of Lake Michigan. Andrea and Soniya soaked their feet in the lake while I sat and people watched, soaking up some sun and getting sand all over my butt. Soon we walked back through Lincoln Park a little ways and caught a cab back to Soniya’s to cool off, change clothes, and relax.

While Andrea’s asthma had been relatively light all weekend, even while walking all day Sunday, further proving that St. Louis’ air quality is shit, her inhaler had finally crapped out. Rather than be without it should she need it, she called the closest Walgreen’s and had them fill her prescription. So we walked a few more blocks through Boystown, and got her inhaler. On the way back we hit a Brown Elephant location, which is a series of retail shops throughout Chicago that help support the Howard Brown Health Center. After that we walked over to a really nice, really big Whole Foods and the girls got a light snack while I picked up a bottle of my favorite Trappist ale, Chimay Red. We then went back to Soniya’s, hung out a bit more, watched a little Food Network, and then walked over to Wrigley Dog so Andrea could get her Chicago hot dog fix and I could get one of the best, greasy cheeseburgers I’ve ever had in my life. The rest of the evening was spent talking and generally enjoying one another’s company. It was a nice end to a great weekend.

This morning we got up bright and early, got our things packed, and headed to the corner to get on the bus. We rode the bus to the Blue Line, the train station that takes us directly to O’Hare, where we had a flight home to catch. We said good-bye to Soniya as we stood on the platform and made our way to the American Airlines terminal. Got our bags checked, got through security with no problems, and then we waited for about an hour before our plane boarded.

The flight back from Chicago to St. Louis was one of the best experiences I’ve had in recent memory. The trip is only about 45 minutes and we fly at an altitude of only 28,000 feet. And because it was a beautiful, sunny day, I was able to see everything on the ground for miles around. Much like I was inside Quimby’s, I was so enamored and busy taking it all in that I wasn’t really looking to see where we were until the captain said over the P.A., “We’re coming up on Champaign-Urbana on the left-hand side.” If I’d been paying more attention beforehand, I guarantee you I could have made out Fisher and my parents’ house out on the farm. It was such a great view and really put things in perspective for me, so to speak.

And that was our crazy weekend in Chicago. We’d literally taken almost every form of human transportation on our journey: two commuter trains, one passenger train, an airplane, a handful of cabs, and an SUV into the countryside, as well as walked an unknown number of miles on our own two feet. If only we’d taken a boat, a horse, and a rickshaw at some point, I think we would have hit them all. It was a very exciting, very fun weekend. And also very illuminating.

As many of you know, Andrea and I are looking to make a move sometime in the near future. She’s lived here all her life and I’ve never really found what I’m looking for here in STL, either. She’d love to move to Chicago as she says she really feels at home there. Honestly, until this weekend, I wasn’t sure about the idea of living in Chi-town, just because it seemed like such a big, scary place to me. But now, after going to all of these great neighborhoods, restaurants, shops, and areas of interest, I think I could do it. I’m not saying we’d necessarily live in Bucktown or Lincoln Park or even Soniya’s own Wrigleyville, but I think living out in one of the burbs would be entirely possible now. Chicago has so much to offer in almost every facet of life that it would be hard not to at least consider it as a potential home for us. I love the idea of having a neighborhood to call home, where I can walk to the grocery store, to the Walgreen’s, to my favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and yet still be able to hop on the L Train and go downtown to a museum, to a concert, to The Lake, to the zoo, to a Cubs game, to art shows, and to anything else your mind can imagine.

St. Louis offers some of these amenities – don’t get me wrong. But things are very spread out here and the public transportation system is not designed around catering to many places. Hell, getting a cab in downtown St. Louis on a weekday can sometimes be a chore, let alone if you want to try to take a train anywhere. It is definitely a car-oriented town, which limits some of the possibilities in my opinion. But I digress…

To make a long story short, Chicago is now on the list. It was always on Andrea’s list, but I was hesitant due to my ignorance. Now, however, I can’t help but think that maybe one day this Lammle Family could be calling Chicago home.

Thanks once again to Soniya and Erick for showing us around, spending time with us, and generally being great people. Neither one of us can even come close to repaying you guys for your hospitality.

Today is the first day of my last semester at UMSL (assuming all goes well, of course). I’m looking forward to being done with school for sure, but I’m already looking to what’s ahead.

I think I probably need to do some kind of GIS Certification someday soon, but that might wait until Fall 2008 at the earliest and will most likely be all online. The University of Pennsylvania offers pretty much the industry standard as far as GIS certs goes, so I’ll be looking heavily into that one. But then again, if our plans for the next few years come through, maybe the local university wherever we end up will have a good GIS program, too. It’s one of those things where it’s best not to plan too far ahead because you never know what life is going to throw at you. As if I haven’t learned that lesson pretty well over the last few years…

Anyway, wish me luck as I head into the last leg of a rather grueling journey. It’s been a hard road, but will hopefully be worth it in the end.

It’s been a while since I updated this section of the site, so these will be brief comments on the films I’ve watched lately. If you want to hear more about any particular film, just shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to discuss things with you.

Ratatouille:
Pixar has done it again with this amazing animated film that, on paper, should not work at all. Who wants to watch a rat handle food for a couple of hours? It’s some people’s worst nightmare. However, director/writer Brad Bird has a knack for making us love his characters, just as he did with everyone (even the villains) in The Incredibles and Iron Giant. His talent, coupled with the beautiful animation from Pixar, makes this one a must-own once it hits DVD.
4 / 5 bananas

Zodiac:
I have a soft spot for David Fincher. I’ve loved every movie he’s done, even his much-maligned “Alien 3″ (He’s also directed “Seven”, “The Game”, “Fight Club”, and “Panic Room”, by the way). So it comes as no surprise to me that “Zodiac” is (thus far) the best movie I’ve seen of 2007. While, yes, the film is about the Zodiac killings that took place in the late-60′s through the early-70′s, this isn’t “Silence of the Lambs” by a long shot. This is a film about obsession and it’s often harrowing side-effects. This is a slow, powerful burn, dealing with the clues, dead-ends, and frustration of trying to capture someone like the Zodiac when roadblocks are constantly thrown in your path. The case involves many men, all of whom eventually lose some part of their lives to their obsession with finding the one responsible for this series of murders and taunting letters to the press. Some men give up hope for humanity, some give up hope for themselves, some give up all together. It is a truly moving film, which has stuck with me and, if you go in with the right expectations, will do the same to you.
5 / 5 bananas

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:
I still haven’t read a single word of any of the HP books (I’ll get to them when I read them with a kid), but I’ve seen all the movies, and thus far this is my favorite. I really like the direction the story is going even if it seems that the only evil plotline anyone can come up with anymore is the ever-present Rise of the Third Reich archetype. Here the boy wizard and his buddies start a small terrorist organization…*ahem*, sorry, they form a rebel faction fighting against the corrupt power structure that rules Hogwart’s and the wizarding world (not to be confused with the comic book convention in Chicago) using an atmosphere of denial and disinformation. The action is exciting – especially the wizard battle at the end – and the special effects are, quite simply, astounding. A great entry in the film series.
3 / 5 bananas

I Bury the Living:
I’ve been hearing of this cult classic horror film for years, namely the fact that it’s Stephen King’s favorite film. And until about the last 10 minutes I’d have to agree with King. The story tells of a high-powered CEO who, as a civil service, manages a local cemetery. He soon accidentally discovers that he has a sort of Grim Reaper-esque sway over life and death thanks to a mystical map hanging from a wall in the cemetery office. A white pin in the map means the cemetery plot is sold; a black pin means the plot is occupied. However, our manager gets them mixed up and he soon finds that by putting a black pin in the plot of someone still alive, they die under mysterious circumstances within 24 hours. The end could have easily been amazing, but for whatever reason – maybe it’s simply a sign of the era it was made – it winds up being a giant cop-out and puts a large stain on an otherwise great concept.
2.5 / 5 bananas

Night of the Demon:
This is a classic among horror fans and I can see why. The film deals with kooky cult members, logical-to-a-fault scientists looking to debunk the idea of black magic, and a fairly impressive bit of old school special effects. It gets a little drawn out in the middle, but it doesn’t stop the film from being entertaining.
2 / 5 bananas

MST3K: Swamp Diamonds:
This Roger Corman dud is perfect for the MST3K send-up. Five women escape from prison and set out to find a million dollar stash of diamonds in the swamps. The Corman specialties are here including: attractive women in skimpy outfits, lots of women “fighting” by rolling around on the ground together, a plot that meanders because they didn’t have enough of a budget to do much more than wander around, and generally bad acting, direction, set design, photography, you name it. The MST3K boys do a fine job of skewering the film, including a great running gag as they try to figure out alternatives for the name of the leading man “Touch Connors” (actually Mark Connors of “Mannix” fame).
2.5 / 5 bananas

My Neighbor Tottoro:
We’ve been on a Miyazaki kick lately, checking out some of his older, more kid-oriented works from Japan. This was a really neat little movie telling the tale of a couple of girls who move to the country with their father so the family can be closer to their hospitalized mother. The girls soon discover the house and surrounding forest is haunted by various spirits, including a giant cat-like creature named Tottoro. The film is typically imaginative for Miyazaki, including a cat-erpillar living bus that has to be seen to be believed. There are some astounding sequences and some inventive characters, making it an overall enjoyable ride through the mind of a master of filmmaking.
3 / 5 bananas

Kiki’s Delivery Service:
Another Miyazaki classic, but one that left me feeling a bit wanting. Kiki is a young witch who moves away from her family at the age of 13, as is customary for witches, and attempts to build a life in a new town. Most of the film deals with her learning about herself and her capabilities, which might resonate more with me were I a preteen girl. With that in mind, though, it fell short for me.
2 /5 bananas

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon:
Slasher films are a great way for low-budget, amateur filmmakers to gain valuable experience. Thus all of the formulaic “mad man kills teenagers” movies that have littered our video rental racks since “Halloween” officially kicked off the genre. Filmmaker Scott Glosserman could have easily made another, forgettable slasher flick just to get something on his resume, but instead he decided to write a script that is unlike anything we’ve seen in the genre and do something fun with his love for the gory films of the past. He takes his main character, Leslie Vernon, and makes him a Jason/Michael Meyers wannabe who is training to become the next masked mass murderer. He allows a film crew to follow him around as he trains, stalks his prey, plans his night of slaughter, and otherwise gives them a glimpse behind the scenes of an up-and-coming madman. The whole thing is played with tongue planted firmly in cheek, with plenty of self-referential humor that any good horror buff is going to enjoy. The film is a real shot in the arm to a genre that desperately needed it. Sadly, it’s one of those cult things where only a select group of people would like it, so it didn’t get a wide release, nor has it received a lot of support even on video. Were it not for the folks at CHUD.com, I probably would have written it off as another generic knock-off. So check it out if you’re into that sort of thing. I think you’ll enjoy it.
4 / 5 bananas

The Bourne Identity/The Bourne Supremacy:
In anticipation to the new film in the series coming out, I decided to pick up the new 3-disc set of the first two films so I could get re-familiarized with them before checking out the latest one. It’s a series of films I’ve been meaning to buy for a while now, but just never got around to for whatever reason. Overall I really like the Bourne series, mainly for its realism. There are no Bond-like gadgets that could never exist in our world. The characters behave like normal human beings, rather than caricatures. And, probably the best aspect of the films, the fight scenes and action sequences seem realistic. Jason Bourne gets the snot kicked out of him a couple of times. He gets hurt in car accidents. It helps make him more of a person and not just this superspy concept. Here’s hoping the new one continues this line, though I’m sure it will because director Paul Greengrass is at the helm again.
Identity: 3 /5 bananas
Supremacy: 3.5 / 5 bananas

Hot Fuzz:
One of my favorite movies of the summer, this one has hit DVD and should now be at the top of your Netflix Queue. Action-packed, funny, yet ofttimes a serious drama, this one is worth checking out. The key to enjoying this film is to know your action movies. You don’t have to know specific films 100%, you just have to know the conventions so that the boys behind Hot Fuzz can throw them back at you in a humorous way. For example, there’s the giant henchman who’s tougher than the main villain, there’s the bonding moment between the otherwise polar opposite partners, the false accusation wherein the main character has to clear his good name, the exciting foot chase so we can see how dedicated the protagonist is to catching his man, the bad guy coming back to life just when you think he’s done for, etc. It’s a blast to watch and pick out all the influences, which should give this one legs in the years to come.
4 / 5 bananas

The Simpsons Movie:
Yes, it is just a really long episode of the show. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What’s funny about The Simpsons is that you’ll walk out of the theatre saying, “Yeah, it was pretty good, I guess.” But then hours later you’ll find yourself thinking about it and you’ll be quoting moments, lines, and scenes that cracked you up. It turns out that they throw so many jokes at you that you simply go into overload and forget them all. There’s only one scene in the entire running time that doesn’t contain some sort of joke, be it a line of dialog, a sight gag, physical comedy, or some combination thereof. And for the most part the entire thing works. It does stretch a little in the middle, but they keep the jokes coming to try to offset the noticeable lack of action during that time, and they do a pretty decent job at making you look past this slight dip in an otherwise very funny film. If you’ve been on the fence about seeing it, give it a shot and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
4 /5 bananas