Cloud Gate

Hoorah! Its the 100th blog of 2008, and just in time too, with only a few hours left to get it published. What better way to finish off the year than with more pictures from Chicago? After our morning and afternoon at the Art Institute, we took a walk through Millennium Park, and came across this gigantic silver jelly bean. It's actually Cloud Gate by Anish Kipoor, which was built in 2006. Not only is it 220,000 pounds of mercury-inspired art work, but its also the outlet to thousands of tourist snapshots every day. Yes, we contributed many shutter clicks to the pile while we passed by.

I did a little bit of research on this chunk of art and came across an article on how it was built. Its pretty interesting. Its actually made up of several separate stainless steel plates, which have been welded together and polished in such away that you can't see any seams. The original plan was to have it built in California and then ship it through the panama canal, around the St. Lawrence sea way and down to the bottom of Lake Michigan, but the price and risk of shipping proved to great. Surprise surprise. Instead, they brought all the materials to the park in Chicago and assembled it on-site. The artist demanded that no public eye see the work until it was complete, so they made a giant tent to cover the bean. Crazy.

Sunday in the Park with Georges

One of my all time favorite paintings is located in the Art Institute of Chicago; Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, by Georges Seurat. As opposed to the majority of famous paintings, this one is actually much larger than I expected it to be. That there is Tyler standing next to it. It was really cool to see the famous dots up close and personal. The Art Institue people have put this work right in the center of the first room you walk into so no one forgets to see it. Here's a picture of Georges:

Sara and I have a deep personal connection with this painting since we have actually been to and lived right by the actual island of La Grande Jatte. The Seine runs through Paris and then wraps around the city North and then East creating a Northern border of the city. I lived in a community called Levallois, which is located between the 17th arrondissement of Paris and the Northern leg of the Seine. The Island of the Grande Jatte is in this Northern branch of the Seine, and belongs partially to Levallois, and partially to the city of Neuilly-sur-Seine (once mayored by Nicolas Sarkozy). One Sunday afternoon we took a stroll from one side of the island to the other, all the while trying our hardest to not get stung by the many bees that live, work and play on the island. It really does look just like the painting!

Some other paintings of note that we saw at the Art Institute of Chicago include Le Chahut, also by Georges Seurat (I mention this one because I very much liked it), American Gothic, by Grant Wood, and Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. Since the Art Institute of Chicago is a working art school, there are a number of students with their easels set up practicing their studies among the masterpieces. Seeing their attempts to redo the pieces further proves that art's hard stuff, and very much worth the trip to Chicago.

Standing in Lion

Have I mentioned that we very much like Chicago? Our second trip to our southern megalopolis was filled almost entirely with the Chicago Art Institute. Later that night we were filled almost entireley with Giordano's Pizza...yet again. It was a bit of a rainy day, so the half hour we spent waiting in line to get in to the museum ended up being slightly damp. Waiting in line was no big deal though because we got to commune with the lions, who did not eat us. This reminded me very much of waiting in line for nearly three hours to get into the Musee d'Orsay a few summers back. The main difference is that at the Musee d'Orsay I was surrounded by stone dinosaurs and horses, instead of lions and family members. In both cities though, there were plenty of strange people to watch while waiting.

I'm particularly proud of Sara's picture of us in line to the right here. I think its a great view of the Sears Tower and it's enormity. Don't worry, we eventually got in, and very much enjoyed the museum.

Headline: Dog frozen to Wis. sidewalk; fat helped it survive

This is a hilarious real-life news article I found on KSL.com
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=333&sid=4991064

Sheboygan is between Milwaukee and Green Bay, and on a 6 degree morning like this morning, I wonder why this sort of thing doesn't show up on the news more often up there. I think the dog's name, and the last paragraph of the article are the funniest things about it.

December 5th, 2008 @ 10:51am

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) - A dog weighing more than 120 pounds survived being frozen to a sidewalk overnight, probably because he was insulated by layers of fat, authorities said.

The Sheboygan County Humane Society says the "morbidly obese" dog, an aging border collie mix named Jiffy, froze to the sidewalk when he was left out overnight Wednesday. Shelter manager Carey Payne says few dogs could survive the single-digit temperatures, and it was probably the fat that made the difference.

Jiffy's 59-year-old owner was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of animal neglect, Sheboygan Police Lt. Tim Eirich said. She told police she tried to get the dog inside but couldn't, and instead checked on him every few hours.

The dog is 11 or 12 years old, Eirich said. Shelter workers poured warm water over Jiffy's back end to unstick him from the sidewalk, Payne said, and it was too soon to say whether he suffered any long-term effects.
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Information from: The Sheboygan Press, http://www.sheboyganpress.com/ (Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Have stick, will fry

Milwaukee residents don’t go to the state fair to check out the animals. They go for the food, which can be broken into four basic categories:
- Food on a stick
- Fried food
- Fried food on a stick
- Cream Puffs

I’m not kidding, if you can put it on a stick, or fry it, you’ll find it at the Wisconsin state fair. I believe my favorite stick food was this fish hut that was serving fried macaroni and cheese on a stick. Your guess is as good as mine as to how this is accomplished, but it is. Randy and I ultimately decided to select from the second category for dinner, we got us some fried fish. Sara and Diane went with some sort of healthy sandwich, which was not on a stick. Boring.

Before our excursion to the State Fair, I had never actually met a famous Wisconsin State Fair Cream Puff. Everybody at work gets pretty excited about their Cream Puff, but I gotta tell ya’ that I was slightly disappointed. Yes, they were as fattening and caloried as advertised, but the taste simply was not worth the aforementioned drawbacks. I was expecting a giant version of those great little cream puffs that come frozen and are served at wedding receptions, but what I got instead was a doughnut bowl filled with boring whipped cream and topped with another doughnut bowl and powdered sugar. For fear of lynching, I’ve yet to disclose my cream puff aversion to my co-workers. I think the only reason Wisconsinites are so excited about cream puffs is that they like to make fun of their out-of-town relatives as they attempt to maintain any dignity with all that cream on their faces.

Sooooooeeeey!!

Hazzah, it’s the Wisconsin State Fair! Don’t miss it, don’t even be late. The Utah state fair was plenty fun back in the day, but the fair-going Wisconsinite would scoff at Utah’s meager attempt to exhibit its state’s finest wares and wonders. Being a Wisconsin city slicker, I’ve always wondered if my state truly does live up to its proclaimed status of “America’s Dairyland”. The state fair is my proof that it most certainly does. I’ve never seen so many giant cows, pigs, goats, horses and sheeps in one place. HUGE! And the best part of it all is that you can watch the owners of these large livestock in their natural habitat (most of them live in very tight jeans). What strange and wonderful people.

We wanted to make sure that Randy, Diane and Tyler went home having had a truly unforgettable and life-changing experience here in Milwaukee. Naturally, we made sure to visit the State Fair on an evening which included pig racing. Lest I discriminate though, I should give credit to the other livestock that took part in the track and field events, including goats and geese. Sorry my video footage of the event is a little sub-par. I wasn’t very careful to stay still while filming since I assumed I could catch the races on ESPN later that night. Ends up that pigs aren’t very speedy, they seem to specialize more in being crispy. The real irony behind the event is that as we spectators filed in, we were handed free slim-jims.

But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There

We had originally planned to eat Giordano’s for lunch and Bubba Gump Shrimp on the pier for dinner, but our late and large lunch left us a long way from hungry when dinner time rolled around. Instead we hopped a boat back to Arthur, who was still sleeping soundly by the Sears Tower, and made our way back to Milwaukee. We like Chicago a lot. As a matter of fact, I’m sitting on the train to Chicago right now looking at a beautiful sunrise. I go to work in Chicago every now and then, and I always look forward to it. There’s a feeling of life and energy down there, like there’s always something exciting going on, and just being on the streets makes you a part of it. I’ve been to many major cities in the past three years, and I’ve only felt that metropolitan energy in New York and Chicago. I love big cities, but boy am I glad to come back home to my little wife in our apartment in outer suburbia.

It’s a Great Place to Visit

If only I had a nickel for every existing picture of smiling tourists at the end of Chicago’s Navy Pier. There are lots of reasons that so many people would take advantage of this photo opportunity. For one, you can get yourself pictured in front of the mighty Lake Michigan, or turn around and become the foreground of a sprawling Chicago cityscape. Also, the picture will stand as concrete evidence that you forked out the 30 dollars for parking, and walked the long distance to the end of the pier. Now don’t get me wrong here, I truly do love Navy Pier, but enjoying its length is not friendly to the cash-poor. During this Chicago trip, Sara, Zoe and I took a ride on the gigantic ferris wheel in the middle of the pier. The on-line reviews for the wheel mostly said that its something the avid Chicago tourist needs only do once, but I thought it was cool enough to do again. It’s not meant to be a thrill ride, but I think it was really neat to be up so high looking down at our southerly neighbor, in all its windy glory. Zoe was not a ferris wheel fan. Perhaps she was afraid because the big gaps between the doors and the floor were a touch bigger than she is, but I prefer to think that it’s because she was well past nap time. No matter Zoe’s opinion, we had a great time on Navy Pier.

Space Moose

This is a space moose. It tried to eat me.

Lions and Tylers and Fares...oh my!

An art museum isn't worth its salt unless its watched over by vicious lions. The lions that guard the Chicago Art Institute are particularly threatening because they are gigantic. During our first trip to Chicago while Randy, Diane and Tyler were out we didn't go into the museum because there just wasn't a huge enough chunk of time to fully enjoy the price of admission. Instead we did some posing with these ferril felines and continued our walk up Michigan Avenue.

Boy was it a sunny day. Here's a picture of the Tyler as we crossed over the Chicago River. See the boatload of people getting floated around in the river down there? That's one of those boat tours that seem to be around in every big city. We've always wanted to take one of these river cruises, but the $30 fare is a bit pricy...instead, we discovered that you can take a water taxi down the river for only 6 dollars or so. We took the taxi to get back from Navy Pier later this same day, it was awesome! I guess the only difference between the river taxi ride and the boat tour is that the taxi driver doesn't talk at you. I think I'd rather save the 24 dollars and go without the chatter. Besides, I can look up all the info I need to know about Chicago on my beloved Wikipedia. Every year they dye the river green for St. Patrick's Day. One year Sara and I ought to go and see it.

Nectar of the Gods

We very much enjoy Giordano's Chicago style pizza. If there were a golden calf in my immediate vicinity, and I were the idol worshiping type, I would most definitely make the calf an offering of Giordano's pizza. I've dreamed about it, I've written essays about it, I've eaten it. Oh how I've eaten it. Mmmm...

Anyhow, our first trip to Chicago with Randy, Diane and Tyler was on a Saturday. We weren't expecting the high volume of traffic that we encountered on the way there, so we didn't pull into town until about eleven o'clock or so. We parked Arthur, the Buick at the Sears Tower, scurried on up the Western hemisphere's tallest building, looked around, and came back down. By the time we were once again ground-born, it was well past feeding time. We crossed the street to our usual Giordano's location, (letter E on the map in the blog below), only to find that the joint was full full full. To more fully view our dismay, please see the picture above.

Instead we treked along the green line to letter D and ate there. There weren't quite as many people at D, so we put in our order and started waiting. The savvy Chicagoan knows that you must order your pizza as soon as possible because those stuffed kinds take about an hour to cook. By the time we were shoveling pizza into our mouths it was about four o'clock but every second of waiting was worth it! We were hungry, and it was good, and it changed my life. I recently heard that Zeus actually eats Giordano's Chicago style pizza on Mt. Olympus. Pure ambrosia.

Kason and Sara's walking and floating Chicago tour

It ends up that Sara's parents and brother are big time Chicago fans. We made the trek down south two times while they were out here. Trips to Chicago are tons of fun, its a ginormous city full of famous stuff, and close enough to not have to pay for a hotel. We've been down that way enough times now to finally have our tour figured out. Please see the map above, which we will eventually put in the "Kason and Sara's walking and floating Chicago tour" brochure. The next many blogs will be a more picturesque and detailed rendition of this, our tour's summary from the brochure:

Welcome to Chicago, the Windy City! We look forward to discovering the sights, sounds and smells of America's third largest city with you. We will begin at the Sears Tower, where you will have a breathtaking view of the city from 108 stories up. Get out your credit cards ladies, because next we will walk along Jackson Drive to the world famous Michigan Avenue! As we walk North we will pass the lions that stand guard at the Chicago Art Institute. We will now pause for a very long time and visit the art museum. For you uncultured swines that don't enjoy world famous art, you can go hang out at Grant Park, site of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential acceptance party. We hope you're hungry because we are now going to stuff ourselves to the gills with Giordano's Chicago stuffed crust pizza. After eating we will waddle over the river, heading east on Grand avenue, and clear down to the end of Navy Pier. After spending a few minutes staring out over Lake Michigan we will walk back to the west end of Navy Pier and ride on the ferris wheel. To finish our tour we will take a relaxing boat ride on the Chicago river, enjoying the many skyscrapers along the way, back to the Sears Tower. We hope you enjoy our beautiful city!

Lemons at the Lakefront Brewery

The Lakefront Brewery tour and Friday night fish fry is the acme of Milwaukee culture. We were serenaded by a polka band while Randy and I feasted upon fried fish parts, and the rest ate hamburgers. Our fellow diners very much enjoyed their wide variety of beers and we drank our weight in Golden Maple Root Beer. After dinner we enjoyed the tour wherin we learned the fine art of brewing, and the history of beer. You may recall from a previous post that Zoe became a temporary Lakefront Brewery spokesperson, and can be seen in one of Lakefront's advertisements in The Onion newspaper. To this day Zoe really does prefer their root beer over any of the other brands. Of course she may not be the best source for soda critique, seeing as how at this point in her life her favorite food was lemons.

Imposters in Gotham

Sara waited in line for hours to meet Batman at Six Flags. We're not totally sure if it was the real Batman, but I submit that it was not. There seems to be a lot more Adam West under that suit than there is George Clooney. As planned, while Sara and Zoe distracted Batman, Randy stole his mobile.

Great America, Great Wonderful America

Is it true that in every elementary school across America there's some kid who insists that he or she will grow up to become a professional roller coaster designer? No, that kid was not me, I think my dream job was to become a scientist or a banker (I was an ultra geek), but I always dreamed of going to a real amusement park. Utah's beloved Lagoon never really did it for me, perhaps because back then they polluted local television with the most obnoxious of television commercials (by the way, those commercials were better than Star Wars compared to the Jared's Jewelers advertisements of today). All my thrill park dreams came true when the whole family drove 60 miles south, just over the Illinois border, to Six Flags Great America. And Great it was!! Holy cow, I've never had so much fun. Tyler bought us flash passes, which are these amazing devices that allow you to book yourself a spot at the front of the line of a ride about every 15 minutes. And boy did we get good at it too, we ended up running from one ride to the other, cutting to the front of the line, getting our heads tossed back and forth violently on some nutty ride, and rushing off to the next one still dizzy. The best ride there was Raging Bull which we ended up going on over and over again. Boy howdy, there's no other way to do Six Flags. Thanks Tyler.

Zoe also enjoyed Six Flags, but for different reasons. She was able to hang out with a variety of enormous cartoon characters, with whom she danced and laughed. There were all sorts of things on the ground for her to touch and sample, much to her parents' and grandparents' disapproval. We also took her on a number of "kiddie" rides, which she seemed to enjoy in a very bored sort of way. The pinacle of the trip for her though was definitely the funnel cake, which she was able to enjoy at the modest cost of only $4 per spoonful. You learn a lot about a person by how they act at Six Flags. I never knew that Tyler has the potential to be an olympic sprinter, or that Sara can scream better than those chicks in black and white horror films. I also never knew that Foghorn Leghorn looked so good in a vest.

Santiago's Sail

Santiago Calatrava's building which currently houses the Milwaukee Museum of Art was completed in May of 2001. That's not very long ago. The 217 foot fan closes up at night and during inclement weather, and has become one of the symbols of Milwaukee. Calatrava is a Spanish fellow that has been taking the architecture world by storm this last decade. Our art museum was his first work in the United States, and he is currently overseeing the design of what will soon become the country's tallest building, the Chicago Spire. You've probably read in previous posts about how excited I am for my spire to be built down in the Windy City. Next time Calatrava's in town, I'm totally taking him to lunch.

So one morning in June Sara woke up unable to see. That's certainly not a preferred vision status, so we took her to the emergency room and found out that she had ulcers on her eyeball. Eeeewwww!! All's well now, thanks to the treatment that she got from some very good optomolotritionologists, which included wearing an eye patch for a week or so. Needless to say, a vast quantity of pirate jokes were instituted at her expense.

Inside the MAM

Who'd a thunk that the Miwaukee Art Museum was so much more than a world-reknowned building that looks like a giant Oriental hand fan. We've been telling ourselves to go in and see what lies inside for a long time, but it took our visiting relatives to finally get us to do it. Sara's cultured me up good when it comes to art, and one of our favorite artists is Dale Chihuly. He does incredible glass sculptures, including the one pictured here, which is located in the Milwaukee Art Museum. Can you imagine designing and blowing all that glass? I can't either, mostly because I have no clue what is required in glass blowing, but I'm sure that while doing it, one should be careful not to breathe in. To make it even more impressive, Mr. Chihuly has only one eye, which I'd imagine really throws a wrench in the glass blowin' gears.

I was very impressed with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the works of art inside it. The collection was very large and the exhibits were put together well. I love how you can look out any window and get a fabulous view of Lake Michigan. I know that Randy, Diane and Tyler enjoyed the art museum because they stayed inside on a beautiful sunny day to see it...and that says a lot. Milwaukee often gets sort of a beer-drinkin', Favre-lovin', Harley-ridin' reputation, but it also offers a lot of the finer things in life if you know where to look for them. Its not hard to spot the MAM, and I'm very glad that we finally stepped inside.

In-Laws Visit the US North Coast

We're entering the cold and less-shiny portion of the year, so I declare a flash back to the sunny days of summer! Jennifer, Nathen and Annie must have given a good Midwest review because a month after they left Milwaukee, we played host-family to Sara's parents and brother. The Milwaukee area has plenty to offer over the summer, and we found ourselves rushing from one place to the other during the week they were out here, trying to fit in all the great stuff we wanted to do. I figure that if they're gonna drive 1500 miles to visit us, we better show 'em a good time. I am very proud of myself for having fed my in-laws all four indiginous Milwakee menu must-haves, including cream puffs, frozen custard, fried fish and various sausages...but more on that later. I'm very fortunate to have in-laws that totally rock, so prepare yourself for some heaping spoonfulls of blogging bliss!

And I helped!

I was thumbing through the thumbnails when I came across this picture. I didn't know this even happened until now. I have a perfect wife. I love you my Sara!

Ours is More Sincere Than Yours

Every year we tell ourselves that we're going to go to a real pumpkin patch to find our jack-o-lantern bodies, but before we know it Halloween is the next day and we end up picking pumpkins at Sam's Club. This year we made it a point to find the most sincere pumpkin patch in the area from which to extract our gourds. Wow that's a strange sentence.

Our friend Christie recommended Barthel farms in Mequon, which also includes acres and acres of pick-your-own apple orchards. We picked a peck or so and I'm still trying my hardest to eat them all before they turn into smelly apple goo. Zoe very much enjoyed pushing the pumpkin wagon around the patch, and she nibbled on every apple she could get a hold of. Can you believe there are actual people out there that know how to turn pumpkins into a food item? We searched the farm, but weren't able to find a tree bearing cans of pumpkin pie filling. I assume we were there too early for that harvest. Autumn is such a cool season.

Gumby could always bend, but now he flip-flops too!

The whole reason I started this blog in the first place is because I wanted to be like my buddy Mike. He began his blog while doing an internship in Senator Orrin Hatch's Washington DC office a few summers ago, and he always included pictures of any and all senators he saw/met while there. So now its my turn. I was at a meeting at work on Tuesday (I'm always in a meeting at work nowadays) and we heard a bunch of ruckus outside. We looked out the window and saw the longest man in the world shouting into a HUGE crowd of up to 35 people about the Demo-god (that's half Democrat, half God), Barack Obama. This man was unmistakably John Kerry, you can actually tell from the tenth floor. I went on out there to get a better look, and there I stood not ten feet away from the man that was hourly news four years ago. Did I mention that he is a very long person?

So there are 18 days until the election, I know this because election day happens to be exam day for me this year. I still don't know who I'm going to vote for as President of these United States. Out here in Wisconsin we are exposed to 12 campaign commercials an hour (we counted last night)...and all they do is just cause me to dislike both of the candidates. I'm finally living in a state where my vote counts, so I don't want to mess this up for everyone. I think I'll just vote for the candidate who makes up the best new word during the debates. So far, that gives Barack my vote, thanks to his invention of the word "enbolden". Although McCain giving Joe the Plumber the last name of Wertzenberger when its really Wertzenbacher puts me right back on the fence.

Don't worry, I'll post another blog soon so we can get Senator Gumby off the top of the blog.

Al Capone: Bad, Bad Man

Sara and I have become unofficial Al Capone afficionados. This wasn't a role we sought after, rather it was thrust upon us due to our unquenchable need to understand the roots of our new-found Mid West culture. Also, there's something fascinating about the mob, its sorta like that dead raccoon just off the road, you don't want to go shake its hand, or date its daughter, but you can't turn your head away as you drive by as quickly as possible.

A few days before we moved to Wisconsin we consulted the internet in search of a list of the reputable people that have lived in this fine state. Among the listed we found that Al Capone had two hideouts in Wisconsin, one up in the North Woods somewhere (we plan to find it in the Spring) and the other one right here in Brookfield. We stored this information somewhere in the cache of our brain files and went on with life, never knowing that Al's hideout was in the subdivision next to ours. We took a little hike around the corner to what is now called Capone Court and snapped some pictures of Capone's creepy old house. The place sticks out like a sore thumb, being the only one in the cul-de-sac that was built pre-1970's. People actually live in this place! Can you imagine how awesome it would be to brag to your friends and family that you live in the house once owned by the world's most notorious mobster? Very awesome. I hope they don't mind me taking pictures, no one shot at me with a Tommy gun from the patio, so I imagine it was alright.

You should get on the internet and learn more about Al Capone. He was the ne'er-do-well of ne'er-do-wells. The real irony about the whole story is that after all his shenanigans, he was finally sent to Alcatraz on tax evasion charges. Those Untouchables would not have gotten my vote for G-men of the year. To make it even worse, his ultimate demise wasn't getting all shot up Bonnie and Clyde style, rather, after completing both of his prison terms in California he died of cardiac arrest brought on by syphilis. I take comfort in knowing that he went totally nutso in those last few years. Super sleuth Sara found out that Al's grave is located just outside of O'hare Airport, so we stopped by last week after I flew in from recruiting at BYU. Yeah, we really like to find the final resting places of famous people (see the Pere Lachaise cemetary blogs of 2 years ago) so how could we resist that of Mr. Capone? Its way creepy that grass never grows in front of Al's gravestone. There used to be a huge bush planted in front of the family marker so that strange grave seekers couldn't find it. Next time any of you come out to visit, be sure to fly into O'hare so we can take you to see the mobsta cemetery.

The Brittish Invasion Sweeps Kenosha

Sara and I have been married now for exactly 1,250 days! We've had some great times amid those many days, but one of the best ever was the night we went to the Draper Days festival back in Utah and I made a complete ninny of myself on stage, thereby winning an electric guitar signed by The Beach Boys. After my spectacle was over we stayed and listend to a Beatles Tribute band and watched the fireworks. It was a fabulous night!

Since then we've been crazy about watching Beatles Tribute bands. We've learned that a summer night featuring the Faux Fab Four always leads to a lot of fun. Sara either had her belly or her arms full of Zoe last Summer, rendering us unable to see any Tribute bands, so this year we made up for it by going all the way down to Kenosha's St. Therese Church Festival to watch The Brits impersonate the world's greatest band. They did a very good job, I declare, though I can't say they were the toppermost of the poppermost. They knew every song (even the odd requests) by heart, and each band member played his instrument exactly as the album dictates. They could have used some help on their Liverputian accents, however.

This was Zoe's first experience with a mop-top, and she did not faint, but she did get down and dance with conviction, making her daddy very proud of her. Aren't outdoor summer concerts the best? It really doesn't even matter what the music is, its just a ball to sit there and listen...and chase Zoe all over the park. It was great to talk to Beatles fans both young and old there, no other band could be so recognized by such a wide variety of people (some wider than others). Paul, Ringo, if you're reading this, I love you guys!