Tom's visit

In one of the highlights of my year so far, Tom came to visit for the first half of August.

Our first day together was MADDEN DAY. I arrived well into the afternoon, my flight from Denver having been delayed. We did some shopping for foodstuffs, but other than that had no plans for adventurous activities. Since we both like sports, planning and considering possibilities, we started up a Franchise competition on Madden on my computer, to see whether the Patriots or the Panthers could win the most Super Bowls.

Next was RAVINIA DAY. We caught a train north, destined for the botanical garden. On the way, there was an extremely heavy hailstorm: it sounded like it must have been damaging the train (actually I think it was fine, but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be out in the weather). Fortunately it only lasted a few minutes, and by the time we alighted it was hot and sunny. We walked to the gardens and explored for a bit over an hour, which was enough to see all the central region (there's a wilder section surrounding it). The Japanese garden and the waterfall garden, which we saw towards the end, were my favourite. Spider island was the biggest letdown!

We continued to Ravinia, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (and friends)' summer festival. It was one of their movie nights: Gladiator, with live soundtrack. We had lawn tickets, so we found a place and saved some room for a few friends who arrived a little after us. It was an enjoyable evening, though since the orchestra and choir (including my friend Peter) were in the hall and we heard them over speakers, it was almost impossible to tell that we were listening to a live track and not a recording. I guess that could be taken as a compliment! We also enjoyed spectacular lightning in the sky during the second act. Many people left to avoid being rained on, but I only felt a few drops in total. It was better than any fireworks show, and not too difficult to watch at the same time as the movie!

WHITE SOX DAY was my first day back at work. Since we hadn't quite filled my pantry, Tom agreed to do some shopping, and bring me lunch when he came to get wi-fi on campus and do some research on what to see and do in Chicago. We ate together in the quad, and then looked at upcoming sporting events. We found that though there were several days we could see the White Sox, if we went that same evening, we would receive a free t-shirt. There was no reason to put it off, so we made plans to go. Tom thus made me dinner as well, and brought it to campus. We then caught the bus and train to US Cellular Field in ARMOUR SQUARE, and watched a boring first four innings (1-0 to Tampa Bay) and an exciting last five innings. The game ended 5-4 to Tampa Bay: their fifth run came with two outs in the ninth innings, and a White Sox player was thrown out at in a hopeless attempt to get home from second on a single.

Two more MADDEN DAYS: I think Tom did some more exciting exploring (I can't remember exactly what he did when, but he certainly visited some museums, saw architecture, ate delicious food, did some shopping... during his time here), but the afternoons were for just enjoying each other's company on a fun common endeavour.

You should know what Thursday brings: GAMES NIGHT! I am a continual campaigner for games night and Sarita a very gracious host, so five of us gathered to play Courtier and Saboteur (including Saboteur 2, which really shakes up the possibilities).

Assuming we're counting by waking hours not midnight to midnight, it was then IMPROV DAY. First stop was Lincoln Park for the Chicago Hot Dog Fest. Hot dogs (without ketchup: very important!) are one of Chicago's famous foods, so it was important to take Tom (and me: this is the only time I've eaten hot dogs in Chicago) here. We tried many interesting examples, preferring especially one with blue cheese and bacon and another with pulled pork. The hot dog itself is fine but not so interesting! We had several hours left until the show, so we wandered south to explore Chicago a little, including Navy Pier. We looked out into the darkness and made bad jokes for long enough that we were able to walk back to our midnight show (which was right near Lincoln Park) and get there just conveniently early. The show was at Second City. I enjoyed their mainstage show when I was visiting Chicago to choose a grad school, so I thought I'd share that enjoyment with Tom. I think their primary show was on a summer break, but they had various improv shows available, and Tom selected Improv James Bond. The first 20 minutes or so was a warm up group, doing general themes beginning with the prompt Isis. The funniest scene was a man coming home to a birthday party after his first day of work as a tanning salon employee (he was fired). The main act then came on, for James Bond: Teen Mom (sorry Australian spellers: that's just such an American phrase it needs an o). The basic plotline was that a Yugoslavian villain was demanding money from a TV producer, who used Teen Mom as a front for raising the money. A particular star was the cameraman who had a secret life (well, not very secret really) as a cat. He also played Bond, so he was killed off partway through and the producer put on his (imaginary, of course) suit to avenge him. A highlight was the effective use of a serum given to Bond to stop his bleeding if he needed it, which was introduced early on and brought back to save the villain (the only one who knew the whereabouts of the producer's wife and child) right near the end of the show. As Tom pointed out, the actors were very good at keeping themes running throughout the night.

On PARK DAY we caught the 6 to the south end of Grant Park, and wandered to see what we could see. We checked out some of the artwork, statues, sculptures, fountains, etc. We also enjoyed how lively Maggie Daley park is: there's a rockwall, a mini golf course and multiple playgrounds for people littler than us. We then headed by the lakeside to Lincoln Park, where we ate lunch before visiting Chicago's free zoo. It's particularly full of apes and monkeys, which are always interesting to watch. The big cats were not so active: perhaps it was too hot for them. After an extremely slow bus trip and some time Skyping with family back home, it was dinner time: deep dish pizza! This actually isn't my favourite type of pizza, but I'm glad that Tom really enjoyed it.

Perhaps PLANETARIUM DAY was the biggest disappointment for me. The shows were just not quite as interesting as I had hoped. We bought the full pass and saw most of the shows, and they were ok, but I had chosen this as the one museum experience to share with Tom in Chicago, and it didn't live up to this position.

Another Monday, another WHITE SOX DAY. Tickets were cheap, we both enjoy watching sport and, as Tom said, he needed to buy another t-shirt to last his trip, and he might as well get a free baseball game with it! Once again half of the game was boring and the other half exciting: this time it was the White Sox's innings that were exciting, as they won 8-2. There were plenty of fireworks (literally: there were fireworks for each White Sox home run and at the end of the game).

Next, SHAKESPEARE DAY. Tom packed a picnic dinner, and we caught the bus west to GAGE PARK, before turning south to Marquette Park in CHICAGO LAWN. It took a while to find the specific performance location, though we weren't really lost - it was just at the opposite corner of the park from what we expected. The performance was a scenes night, and was extremely good, as I've come to expect from Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The actors have so much energy and are obviously enjoying what they're doing. Dromio's description of his purported wife as a globe, from The Comedy of Errors, was especially funny.

After two White Sox days, it was only fair that we have CUBS DAY. No free t-shirt this time, perhaps because the Cubs are doing rather better than the White Sox! It was a close game: Milwaukee leveled the score with two outs in the ninth innings thanks to two wild pitches. The Cubs didn't score in the ninth innings, but hit the second pitch of the tenth for a home run.

With the White Sox and the Cubs down, it was BEARS DAY. It was only a preseason game (the regular season starts tomorrow), but since that was all Tom was in town for, we found some tickets and went along. It wasn't quite as interesting as the Patriots games I've been to, perhaps because I don't care about the Bears as much. But we did see some good plays and scores and a Bears win.

Since we were busy on Thursday, Sarita moved GAMES NIGHT to Friday dinner instead of Thursday dessert. A similar crowd played similar games and had similar fun, until the early (well, not all that early!) hours of the morning. The night was lengthened because we played Saboteur 2: there are more players with an incentive to try to block attainment of the gold, so the rounds last an unexpectedly long time.

Since I had a meeting at Loyola scheduled for Saturday morning, I made it DUCK DAY. Tom did some bowling during my meeting, then we had Peking duck at a Chinese restaurant recommended by Anna. I certainly am a fan of Peking duck! The air and water show took place that afternoon: we didn't go looking for it but saw some planes while waiting at the bus stop.

With all the sights and tastes of Chicago covered, Tom's last day was another MADDEN DAY. By this point his Panthers were picking up and doing better than my Patriots (we never quite managed to reach the Super Bowl in the same season). He did some packing, then went to the Greyhound station ready for a bus to Kitchener. I went to Mass at St Peter's, then went home and caught up on some sleep!