Check Raise

• I am watching the film  "When Harry Met Sally," early this fine morning. Great film:
  
       Harry: "There are two kinds of women, high maintenance and low maintenance."
       Sally: "What kind of woman am I?"
       Harry:"You are the worst kind, you are high maintenance but think you are low maintenance." 
  
  Hahahahahahahaha, this observation applies to a large proportion of the women I have dated over the years!
• I am reading an interesting period memoir, Stud Terkel's "Talking To Myself."  While this has been wildly uneven, it is worthwhile because it is fascinating to see what Chicago was like in another era.
• I have signed up for a Japanese course!
• Is there some way that I can avoid the coming X-Files film?  Sadly, it seems like every middle aged woman on the planet is anxious to see this film.

Friday found me at the Arlington Park racetrack for some intense gambling.  After a remarkably positive session I treated myself to a T shirt and bought my track companion Candi an epic meal.  It's actually a nice trip to get to Arlington as the Metra train takes you there from the city and drops you at the Gates.  I am unsure why I do not go every day.

I am working on my noshing in New York post, while trying to catch up on my sleep, (awoke at 4 p.m. today) but in the meantime here is an interesting word and some more NYC photos:

• milieu: noun, a person's social setting or environment.

Wabi Sabi is an idea of Japanese aesthetics which tries to appreciate the beauty in the transient and impermanence of things.  It is a melancholy concept exemplified by things like the Japanese Tea Ceremony.  An appreciation of this concept requires the observer to focus on the subtleties of the modest, the imperfect and even things which are dying and decaying.  While not obvious I feel like New York City is full of Wabi Sabi.  Each time you return to Manhattan you are struck by the age of the old winding cobblestones found in and around the Dutch built Wall Street.  Huge crowds of disparate people crush you in Midtown and stately brownstone homes sit quietly as you walk through the Upper East Side.

I found a fine book about Wabi Sabi in an interesting compact Japanese Department Store in Midtown on 5th avenue called Takashimaya.  This is a gem of a multilevel store filed with diverse and beautiful objects.  It required all of my will power not to purchase thousands of dollars worth of items as I moved through the store.  They also have a small eating spot in the basement which serves an afternoon tea which I would like to sample the next time I am through there.  The book, by the way, is called "Wabi Sabi, the japanese art of impermanence," by Andrew Juniper and I recommend it as a fine introduction to the subject.

I also found my way to a small foreign language book shop in Rockefeller Center, Librairie De France, which was one of the first tenants in the Rockefeller Center in 1935 and sadly which is closing later this year.  Filled with rare items it is well worth a visit if you can get there in time.  They say they will move to a catalog sales model but it just won't be the same.

Later I toured the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in the Upper West side on Amsterdam Avenue by 110th street.  This is a beautiful and enormous old Episcopal Church which features beautiful stained glass and fine sculptures.  There was a giant wedding occurring there on the day that I visited and the scene was reminiscent of an Edith Wharton novel.

After touring the church I walked down Broadway on the Upper East side to 59th street.  This is an interesting and worthy walk to see how the rich and the poor live.  I stopped and walked through Zabar's, a gourmet store with just wonderful looking cheese and coffee and exotic fruits.  If I lived there I would try and eat there every day as the deli portion of the store smelled just wonderful.  I also could not help myself and was forced to browse through the giant Barnes and Noble in that area, resisting the irresistible and not buying a cart load of books.

I eventually made my way to the shops at the Time Warner Center which is a huge upscale mall at the foot of Central Park in Columbus Circle.  I browsed but happily had no urge to buy and enjoyed a healthy lunch in the huge Whole Foods Grocery in the basement with what seemed to be every person in Manhattan.

I also toured Wall Street on foot, made a trek to Queens, where my Grandmother lived when I was a wee lad, and found it all to be foreign and different.  Filled with what seemed like most of Asia, Queens has become a giant melting pot and really a wonderful place to eat if you are looking for a nosh.  On one of the evenings I walked around the Circus that the Southstreet Seaport has become and gazed wistfully at the Brooklyn Bridge and the new waterfalls which it features.

I also found time to go to a midnight movie on 34th street and saw, "Hancock", a superhero movie about a superhero who has a negative attitude and whose bad attitude leads to trouble more often than heroism.  I found it to be half a good film, enjoying the ironies found in his bad attitude but hating his reformation.

On Sunday I spent the day at the Museum of Modern Art which I found a little frustrating as they seem to have only exceptional or awful items with little in between.  I did enjoy their sculpture garden and the fine paintings on the fifth floor.  Overall I enjoy the Metropolitan Museum of Art better but there are some fine things to view there and it is worth a trip, although my feet might disagree.

There are things I seem to be leaving out but tomorrow I will note some good eating spots that I sampled and that you might enjoy if you find your way to New York City.

After a very tiring but enjoyable trek through the city which never sleeps by the man who only occasionally sleeps I have returned home to Chicago.  I have much to note about Manhattan as the Depression approaches but that will have to wait until tomorrow after hopefully an epic 14 hour nap.  In the meantime, here is an interesting new word:

esurient: adjective - extremely hungry, famished.

I am headed for the airport and will return on Monday when this blog will resume its normal course.  All important book for the plane: Spook Country by William Gibson. 

Also noted with bitter disfavor that Obama voted for the loathsome FISA bill.  All politicians are evil.

Ok, I have been thinking about going to a Broadway show.  The possibilities seem to be:

A Catered Affair
A Chorus Line
August: Osage County
Avenue Q
Boeing-Boeing
Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy
Gypsy
Hairspray
In the Heights
Mamma Mia!
Mary Poppins
Spamalot
November
Passing Strange
Rent
South Pacific
Spring Awakening
The 39 Steps
The Country Girl
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
The Phantom of the Opera
Thurgood
Wicked
Xanadu
Young Frankenstein

Reviews can be found by clicking on shows.  Any help appreciated. 

I've decided to take a last minute trip to New York City to visit my brother.  Hopefully there will be epic debauchery or at least some decent sights.  Pictures will no doubt follow.

After a weekend of feeling under the weather, here is a website to revive us from the dead: Sky Full Of Bacon, which brings you video HD podcasts about eating in Chicago.

• I ate at some pretty good restaurants in the last few days.  The sublime Salpicon, is a Mexican treat located on Wells Street that should not be missed.  This is probably the second best Mexican Restaurant in the City and should be on your wish list if you make a trip to this fair clime.  Zoba is a Japanese home made noodle spot in Evanston which while a bit Spartan had very fine fresh noodles which are infinitely better if home made and fresh.  It is always nice to go to Evanston in the summer as Northwestern is between semesters and a lot of the places which are jammed during the year are not crowded.
• The Itunes store has available a free episode of my favorite travel show featuring Samantha Brown going to Las Vegas.  Worth downloading as the price is certainly right.
• I read an interesting book about fighting, "A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting" by Sam Sheridan. This is an interesting look into the MMA subculture and made me yearn for my younger days when it was reasonable for me to be pummeling people.
• Quote of the day, "Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error." Marcus Tullius Cicero
• Looking at Intrade's prediction market concerning the US Presidential race:
  
  

  Obama	64.2 %
  McCain	30 %
  Clinton	6.1%

  
  I am not sure why Clinton is so high.  I guess some people feel that Obama's campaign won't survive until the election?

I was out last night taking a constitutional walk with my friend Muffy.  As we walked we chatted about how much scholarship there was still to do in the field of Mayan linguistics.  Eventually Muffy noted one area where we really had very little knowledge.  She said, "At this point we have no idea even how to pronounce some of the names of the Mayan Gods."

I stopped and said, "Well I can help you that. One of them was certainly pronounced Lay-oak, as in Laoch!"

I am headed for the annual Taste of Chicago food festival in Grant Park today with a hundred thousand or so of my fellow denizens.  This ten day long spectacle is full of food that is bad for me but I am hopeful that there will be the idle healthy item to be found amongst the excess.   You can check out the Taste for yourself by clicking here.

The New York Times has a story today about a drink which just must not be sampled: cashew juice!  You can read about this monstrosity here.  I am willing to do a lot of things in the name of health but it must stop somewhere!

"Hell is other people."

Jean Paul Sartre from his play, "No Exit"

It's the end.  Click here.

"When they get ready, we are already done."

"Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue ..." Dr. Samuel Johnson

• I read a very fine novel last night entitled, "The Last Chinese Chef," by Nicole Mones, which weaves a fine story of modern and old China and involves one of my passions, food, so I suppose I was predisposed to like it.  But in the end it turned out to be a delicate and wise book, full of wisdom about people and food and perhaps China.  Worth reading, I finished it in one sitting.
• Staying on a Chinese theme I signed up this week for a Tai Chi course.  Hopefully in no time I will become graceful and Zen like, or at least may be able to very slowly beat people up.
• I notice with disfavor this morning that Congress is set to pass a Bill expanding the Government's powers to spy on its' own citizens.  Nice to see that a Democratic Party controlled Congress has gotten behind the idea of Big Brother.  No doubt that the reeducation camps will open soon.
• The Cubs start a weekend series with their cross town rivals, the White Sox, today, so I am headed over to Wrigleyville this afternoon to soak up some atmosphere, but sadly no suds. Go Cubs go!

• I am reading a pretty decent book by Anne Lamont, "Bird By Bird: Some Instructions On Writing And Life."   Lamont is an excellent writer and this slim volume lyrically instructs about writing and much more.
• One strange aftereffect of my stroke is that I seem to be a better poker player than I was before (and this is significant because I played at a very high level prior to my stroke.)  My brother theorizes that the brain trauma caused me to use other portions of my brain which compensated nicely and the synergistic effect has made me stronger. I am unsure, but sadly this is not true of my guitar playing which is now decent but not at the technical level that I was playing at prior to my thrombosis.
• I am looking for a good recipe for chili.  Any assistance would be appreciated.
• I am thinking about attending the US Go Conference this year in Portland, Oregon in August.  Has anyone been to Portland?  Is it a likable city?  Go is an ancient Chinese board game which can be traced back at least 2000 years.  While not often played in the West it is still very popular in the Far East.  Leave it to me to find obscure hobbies.

Saturday night I set out with Janet and Muffy to Grant park for one of their series of free summer classical concerts in their outdoor amphitheater.  If you decide to attend one of these events it is important to go early as they always end up full.  The concert was quite good although I am not really a Beethoven man (too bombastic).  We were perhaps the youngest people at the event showing again that classical music has a terrible marketing problem.  Here are some photos of the event:

This is how I feel today:

From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T. S. Eliot

“…
I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black. 

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

The US Supreme Court surprisingly today issued an opinion affirming the right of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Habeas Corpus in Federal Court, taking a step away from our growing police state and perhaps showing their desire not to become entirely irrelevant.  You can read this important opinion here.  A good day for freedom lovers in the United States.

I am headed for the Arlington Racetrack later today to make my fortune but here is what I pondering before I embark on my journey:

• I saw the film "You Don't Mess With Zohan," an Adam Sandler vehicle which was mildly amusing but really is merely one long skit.  Not terrible but I think you should wait for it to come out on cable. I took my teen aged relatives along to see this film over the weekend and they quite liked it though, so perhaps it matters how old you are.
• I am reading an interesting book entitled, "The Tao Is Silent," by Raymond M. Smullyan which attempts to edify the Western Reader about Taoism.  Written in the 1970s it is still fresh and well written.  Hopefully I will be filled with a new found serenity and wisdom once I finish it.
• I am listening to a very fine solo jazz piano CD  by Keith Jarrett entitled, "The Koln Concert."  Recorded live in the 1970s this is really sublime.  I seem to be trapped in the 1970s this week.
• The Cubs have the best record in the Major leagues in June.  This has not happened since well before I was born.  It has only been 100 years since the Cubs won the World Series.  Perhaps this is the year? (Of course Soriano was injured this evening so perhaps the Gods are watching?)

• Obligatory Cat in Bag photo:
  

While watching the Basketball game on television last night I became peckish so I went into my kitchen and got myself a handful of peanuts.  While there, I decided that the cats deserved some cat treats as well so I got them a handful of treats and returned to my couch.  I laid out some treats for the cats and absently ate the peanuts as I watched the end of the game.  Eventually I found myself with this truly awful taste in my mouth.  I wondered to myself, "Why do my peanuts taste like dirt?"  I then examined my peanuts more closely and found that I was actually eating some tuna flavored cat treats.  Ugh.  Ugh.  Ugh.

I can honestly report that I do not like cat treats.  At least the felines got a good laugh.

After dinner at Dong Ki (inexpensive, tasty) on Broadway near Argyle, I went into the Oriental Market next door and found some elusive Thai Bird chilies.  Great producers of fiery heat they are a must for any stir fry. I can feel my tongue burning now!

I have survived the great relative visit of 2008.  Here are a few highlights:

• On Thursday it was "dog night" at US Cellular Field.  Both the dogs and the White Sox performed well.  I almost had a hot dog but I controlled myself.
• College tours of University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago on Friday.  Interesting, the students seems more serious these days than they seemed in my day.  I wish I were just about to start!
• At one point we ate at Sullivan's Steakhouse a 1950s style steakhouse near Grand, which was reasonably tasty but eerily empty.  I think the recession is really hurting the restaurants in this city.
• We tackled the Blues fest in Grant Park and fought the rain on Saturday.  It was in the 90s and packed to the gills so I was worn out but it was nice.  Walking around the park is always interesting as well.  It is amazing how vast and nice the parks are here in Chicago.
• The young ones really liked the idea of Mongolian Barbeque which we tried at the Flattop Grill.  Maybe this is a sign that I should open one of these places in Florida?