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.