My candidate for the tackeiest place in America

After three glorious weeks in Chicago, I packed up the car and began my journey across the northern tier of the United States with my destination being Seattle to see my family. From there, I will return to San Francisco on the 19th of August. Leaving Chicago, I drove through northern Illinois and then up through central and western Wisconsin. This mirrored my journey to Madison a couple weeks ago. About 40 miles north of Madison on I-90/94 lies Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. It sounded absolutely lovely (Dells sounding quite tranquil) and there were many signs along the way advertising Boat trips along the Dells. So when I got there, I pulled off the interstate, filled up my gas and then went to go find the Dells. Here's what I found as I drove down the main thoroughfare of town...

A horrifically crowded and tourist trappy Main Street

This is not unexpected in summer destination spots. Think the New Jersey boardwalk and it's t-shirt shops and weird attractions. But it got even more weirder....

This building houses an attraction called "Top Secrets"

This trojan horse stood at the entrance of the BIG CHIEF MT. OLYMPUS GO KART facility. Go karting appears to be quite populars in the Dells as I saw at least three go kart establishments

But it appears that the MOST popular activity in the Dells is

Water slide parks

Along the three mile main drag, I must have seen at least seven or eight water slide parks. Each and every one of them had lines that stretched quite long. I only caught a glimpse of the Dells themselves. It did appear to be pretty and I really did want to take the boat ride, but I just didn't have the energy to try and fight through all the tourists. I know I am nominating Wisconsin Dells for tackiest place in America, and I know that my pictures might not convey the entire tacky experience. I hope it, however, gives you a glimpse of what I saw and got away from as soon as I could.

Ravinia

For the past 100 years, the Chicago Symphony has held summer concerts at it's outdoor pavilion and gathering spot called Ravinia a beautiful location located in Highland Park. It really is quite an operation. People gather hours before hand (and these are serious listeners of music unlike the rather rookie crowd in Madison) who bring lawn chairs and these amazingly elaborate picnics. I saw more crab salad than I have ever seen in one place. The lawn dwellers can hear the symphony, but can't see it. I chose to take a seat in the pavilion, which holds some 3,000 people.

The pavilion at Ravinia

I got seats in the sixth row. I don't actually think these are premium seats.

The view from my seat

The reason I wanted to hear this specific concert was that the Chicago Symphony was playing Dvorak's New World Symphony, in honor of the 100 year anniversary of his death. The performance was magical and I was totally moved by this piece. We can thank Dad for being such a classical music buff that it rubbed off on me. I was totally engrossed. The two opening pieces was some modern horn thing by a living composer and a piece by Mozart that I actually didn't recognize. It was New World that was unbelievable.

Chicago Symphony Conductor James Conlon

A magical evening!

Econ Camp is Over

The teacher participants and professors upon commencement

Two words: Coco Crisp

A group of us from Econ camp decided to go see the Chicago White Sox play the Cleveland Indians tonight. The ballpark, known now as US Cellular Field, but formerly known as New Comiskey Park, sits on Chicago's South Side. As with areas with two teams, Chicago, NYC, LA and SF, there is the glamour team (Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers and Giants) and then their more blue collar counterparts (White Sox, Mets, Angels and Athletics).

US Cellular Field (New Comiskey Park), home of the Chicago White Sox

White Sox on the field in the first inning

The glamour teams play in beloved, historical or boutique ballparks (Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium and Pac Bell Park) whereas the "second class" teams play in parks that are serviceable but really don't inspire much love (US Cellular Field, Shea Stadium, Edison Field and Network Associates Coliseum). In the case of all the less beloved teams, just going to the ballpark on the day of the game and buying a legally purchased ticket is not an issue. I did just that. I have to say that I was surprised at the cost of an Upper Deck ticket, $16. That's significantly more than you would find at the Network Associates Coliseum.

The score: Cleveland over the White Sox 3-2.

The most exciting, and ultimately game deciding play, occurred in the second inning. Right after the shock of finding out that a player on the Indians is actually named.......

Yes, you are reading that correctly

Coco Crisp. He hit a three run homerun and that's all the Indians needed to beat the White Sox. The rest of the game was completely uneventful.

It was nice to see an old Mariner favorite, Omar Vizquel still playing well.

Omar Vizquel still the man at Shortstop

But the big surprise was finding out that JOEY CORA, yes, that JOEY CORA from the 1995 Miracle Mariners is now the 3rd base coach for the White Sox. Here's the coaches page from the White Sox web site to show you that I didn't hear it wrong. Glad to see Joey is still involved in baseball.


Parting Observations:
1) My Italian Sausage was excellent, the bun however fell apart in my hands and therefore ruined the eating of the Sausage experience.
2) The find the ball under the hat game was quite a step below in difficulty than what is provided at Safeco Field.
3) The kiss cam guy (the cameraman zooms in on couples and they are expected to kiss) did a LOUSY job of actually finding people would kiss. More than once he zoomed in on a couple and they actually weren't a couple.
4) The diamondvision screen was EXCELLENT. I noticed that it was significantly sharper than ones I have seen at other ballparks.
5) PAUL KONERKO

Econ Camp Field Trip

One of the morning lectures talked about externalities and why it is difficult to hold people accountable for them. It comes down to the simple concept that where there exists ambigious private property rights, there is little incentive for those who produce externalities to deal with them. The second lecture talked about the difference between accounting costs and economic costs (you add the loss of potential income) when talking about entrepreneurship.

The simulation today was a totally enlightening game dealing with cartels and the idea of market power. It's hard to explain in a few sentences, but you'll have to trust me that I thought it was great.

Usually, the afternoon is a three hour session working with the two professors and Smokey. Today, however, we took advantage of the fact that this conference is being held in Chicago. We took a field trip to the Loop and had tours of both the Chicago Board of Trade and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Amish in the city, a sight we saw as we walked to the CBOT

Boeing's corporate headquarters now here in Chicago

Looking north along Lasalle Street

So the Chicago Board of Trade building is one of the most architecturally celebrated buildings in a town that has more than it's share of notable buildings. It stands at the intersection of Jackson and Lasalle and is noted for its Art Deco style. They continue the Art Deco theme inside the building as well.

The Chicago Board of Trade Building

Hey, if you've forgotten what I look like

Now some of you may be wondering what happens at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and why is it important. Chicago being the major metropolitan city of the Midwest and it's vast agricultural production is where the majority of the countries agricultural commodites are bought and sold. Remember I said earlier that when there are numerous buyers and sellers, a near perfect market is formed and price discovery (the amount a commodity such as corn) is efficiently determined. What is being traded here at the CBOT are futures contracts and options on major agricultural commodities. This is all done in person and the floor traders have their very strict system of communication with hand signals and nods of the head.

The floor of the CBOT just before the closing bell

Trading of futures and options of agricultural commodities has been done in this manner since the 1800's. In 1975, the CBOT began the trade of futures and options on certain financial instruments, such as Federal Funds, Treasury Bonds, 10 year notes and 2/5 year notes just to name a few. There is a separate trading pit in the same building for the financials. As we watched the trading floor from a perch above the floor, it looked as though sometimes the trading got heated and that brawls were breaking out. But we were told that those dust-ups are all in the name of sealing the deal.

Our second tour of the afternoon was at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

In 1913, Congress passed the federal reserve bill establishing 12 regional banks that would serve as the "bank to the banks". The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (region 7) covers Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Fed serves many purposes. It stores all currency and distributes it to banks in its region as needed. It processes about one-third of all checks written, although as more people use electronic transfers, this job is becoming less an integral part of the Feds services. The Fed develops, writes and oversees banking rules. But most important, the Fed sets monetary policy, with the goals of a) having stable prices, b) full employment and c) maximum economic growth. This is where Alan Greenspan comes in. He and the 12 board presidents meet 8 times a year as the Federal Open Market Committee to determine interest rates. There was actually little to see at the Fed. We saw a short film and had a very nice extensive question and answer session with a Fed employee.

In the display area there was a video quiz where you were presented with a certain economic newsclip and then you had to predict what Mr. Greenspan would do.

Set the course of the economy

I agreed with Alan three out of three.

A whopper of a storm...

So, there have been warnings all night about this storm that is now rolling across the city of Chicago. Here are a couple pictures. I sure wish I had the ability to take shots capturing the lightning bolts hitting the Sears Tower right here as I look out the window.

The night sky

The night sky all light up

Scarcity, Markets and Allocation

Two days of "Econ" camp down and I've already re-learned so much of the Economics that I supposedly learned back in college. We spent the first couple days talking about scarcity of resources, opportunity cost, the magic of the market place and deriving the supply and demand curves.

The day begins with one of the Economics professors, in this case Mike Salemi of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, presenting for an hour about an economic topic. The second hour has our mentor teacher, Smokey Murphy, running a simulation that teaches an economic concept and then debriefing the simulation. Today, we played a market game in which there were buyers and sellers and from that we learned that when there is voluntary trade of goods and services, creates wealth. In addition, when there are many buyers and sellers there is perfect market competition. The third hour there is a presentation from our other professor, Eric Eschker, from Humboldt State University.

The classroom and some of the students

Mentor teacher, Smokey Murphy, doing his thing

During these morning three hours, the students are the learning as we teachers are watching and learning ourselves. In the afternoon, we get three hours one on one with the two professors and Smokey to ask questions and to pick their brains on how to teach different concepts. It's a great set-up and I am psyched to get back to Head-Royce and begin teaching. Tomorrow we get a special treat. We have had tours set up to visit the Chicago Board of Trade as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As long as the terror threat doesn't rise to orange, we're going. I'm crossing my fingers.

I leave you with some of the topics that we are dealing with.....

What are ways that we as consumers and producers allocate scarce resources?

What are some of the issues that we must address in selecting an allocation method?

"Econ Camp"

For those of you who have been briefed about my teaching situation next year, I have been drafted to teach a one semester Economics course for our seniors. Even though I was an Economics major in college, I really have no idea what I'll be doing. Therefore, for my second professional development conference of the summer I am attending a weeklong seminar run by the Foundation for Teaching Economics being held here on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Here's how much my life is charmed:

My half-mile walk from the loft to the conference

Yes, Leah and Rich's loft is a mere one half mile walk from where the conference is being held. I could not have asked for a better location to be staying. Here's a part of my walk:

I cross over I-290, aka the Eisenhower Expressway. On the left side of the photo is my local "El" stop, UIC-Halsted. I also love that the two signs to the right point to Wisconsin (take the left to the Kennedy Expressway) or Indiana (take the right to the Dan Ryan Expressway). I don't why that tickles me, but it does.

I must, however, have one not so great thing and so here it is:

The 60's architecture of the campus

More uninspired architecture from UI-C

So the conference started this afternoon at 4PM. The format of the conference has college professors and a mentor high school teacher teaching economics to the students in the morning using hands-on activities and simulations. Then in the afternoon, we teachers get further training with the professors and mentor teacher. We actually had a lesson today, that being "opportunity cost". What did each conference attendee give up to be here this week?

My binder of knowledge

I'm psyched for this conference. One note, this is the organization that I used to work for, but now I'm actually a participant. It was nice to reconnect with old friends that I used to work with, Linwood P. and Smokey M.. You'll be seeing photos of them in blog posts to come.

Three Evenings, Three Shows

Thursday July 29th, 2004
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL

This is the show that the student I taught back in 1998 at Head-Royce was in. I have learned that this is an important part for Evan because it gets him work towards his Actors Equity Card. Evan had the role of Mendel, the rabbi's son. It's a small part, but he was on stage often and had some lines. It was hard to watch him without laughing, though. And it was also hard not to laugh because the seat Evan got for me was second row center. I was almost IN the show. I hadn't seen Fiddler since I was in high school so the story was new to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The dancing was great and I recognized almost all the songs in the first half of the show. I must say that Tevye was portrayed less as a Russian Jew than as a blase Texas cowboy, but the actor pulled it off. Congratulations to Evan on a job well done.

Friday July 30th, 2004
Sock Puppet Showgirls
Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 West Belmont Street, Chicago, IL

So you are thinking, "WHAT IS THIS?" Well, so was I. This was a Dave Fink special as he told me that I should go see it. It truly was one of a kind. Let me preface by saying this show will be playing at the New York Fringe Festival next month. That should give you the picture. So, remember the movie in the 90's called "Showgirls"? That one that was panned by everyone for being horrific. The movie that put the kabosh on the non-existent movie career of Elizabeth Berkeley? That one? Well, take that story and make it into a sock puppet show and that's what you've got. The sock that played the lead Elizabeth Berkeley role had all the hair to go with it. It's amazing how realistic a sock puppet can make a pole dance look. There was gross language and foul humor, but it was a one of kind, one you'll never forget performance. I'm still kind of reeling from it.

Saturday July 31st, 2004
Weddings of Mass Destruction
Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL

The famed Second City Improv group has a small spin off group that has named itself "Gayco". One of the founding members and leaders of the group is a co-worker of Aleeza's and so she wanted us to go. This was a series of skits performed by six members of the group all in relationship to gay marriage. Some of them were quite funny. A couple that stick out in my mind are the bitterness of single folk when all their gay friends are getting married around them, the concept of the Old Maid and a mother's coming to terms with her lesbian daughter getting married with and all organic buffet. But the highlight for me was one of the performers singing a tribute to her unrequited love.....Alyssa Milano. I was howling.

The neighboorhood

The loft here in the West Loop is mere blocks away from Chicago's Greektown. For me to walk from the UI-Chicago campus pool back to the loft, I must take a trek through Greektown. A couple of times, I've stopped in at this one bakery and had the very nice young woman behind the counter put together a little box of treats for me. Each time, she has remembered what she has given me in the past, and gives me new stuff to try. Here's tonight's sampling...

Ahhh, Greek pastries

Art that MOVED me

Right next to the Glessner House in the Prairie District at 1801 South Indiana Avenue is the The National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum. Finding this museum is exactly the kind of serendipity that crave on my two and a half month journey.

The National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum

I was initially reluctant to pay the $6 entrance fee to be subjected to art that was lame and uninteresting to me. What a surprise I was in for. How timely it was for me to be here, just as John Kerry has accepted the nomination for the Democratic Party and with our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was just hard for me to imagine that so many of these young men (at the time 19-22) died in the conflict before I was even born. It was really touching for me to read about men who died in the summer of 1970, as I was yet to be born. Here's a sampling of the art that I took pictures of that spoke to me:

The Scream

A letter written by a soldier in December 1968 to his father, with accompanying pictures. I wish each of you could have read it, with the amazing sense of strength, humor and fear in his letter.

The author Jacobs is on the right, age 21 in 1968

Anguish

Some 58,000 dogtags, each representing a fallen soldier of the Vietnam War. As one went through the museum, there was a constant clinking as the dogtags hit each other.

Here was the piece that got me the most, it is the inscription at the bottom that I thought was MOST compelling a statement about what was then and what is now:

"We the willing

Led by the unknowing

Do the necessary

For the ungrateful"

There was a tour group of what must have been Vietnam Veteran's who were touring the museum at the same time I was. I just watched them to see how they were moved, but most were pretty stoic. If this is the power of art, well, then I was completely emotionally charged by what I viewed. For all you who ever visit Chicago, this is a must see.

For me, it was incredibly timely considering what is going on in our world at the moment, especially with the debate on our role in the world.

Chinatown and The Prairie District

Today's adventures took me in a direction different that my usual Chicago travels. Most of my attention has been focused on the hip/happening, yuppie northern Chicago area. Today, I turned my attentions to the near-South. My first stop was Chicago's Chinatown, centered on West Cermak and South Wentworth streets. From the picture below, there is no question that I was in Chinatown. Why do all Chinatown's look, smell and feel exactly the same regardless of where in the country/world you are?

The gate to Chinatown on South Wentworth Street with the Sears tower about a mile away

I haven't had Chinese food in who knows how long, so I went looking for the Chinese restaurant that Leah had taken me to when I was here a couple years ago. She had mentioned that it had burned down and when I found it, alas, it was still being remodeled, therefore I had to find another place to go.

Here's where I ate

Food review:
1) Potstickers, surprisingly excellent
2) Hot and Sour Soup, poor, simply awful
3) Eggplant with ground pork, again, excellent. You can thank Mom for her YEARS of indoctrinating me to eat my vegetables for the fact that I voluntarily ordered eggplant. Her years of hard work paid off.

After wandering around Chinatown, I drove about a mile to the East to what is called the Prairie Avenue district. During the late 1800's, South Prairie Avenue was THE address for the rich and famous of Chicago. Marshall Field and George Pullman were only some of the famous names to have beautiful homes on this block. However, due to zoning changes and the slow drift of the wealthy of Chicago relocating to north of the loop, this area fell into disrepair. Many of the beautiful homes were razed and the neighborhood lost its luster. However, during the 80's, there was a move to save the remaining homes and to revitalize the neighborhood.

An original home at 1800 South Prairie Avenue

Right Across the street, the Glessner House at 1801 South Prairie Avenue

A peek into the inner courtyard of the Glessner House

With the prosperity of the late 80's and 90's, the premium on Chicago real estate apparently came to a head and this area, adjacent to the loop was prime real estate. Here's a look at how these remaining beautiful homes are juxtaposed next to newly constructed townhouses and high rises.

1800's and 2000's

New townhomes in the Prairie District

One of the attractions of the Prairie District is that it is right next to the train tracks (allowing easy access to the loop) and right on the other side of the tracks is Lake Michigan. I walked along the overpass and here's the view

To the southeast, The McCormick Convention Center

To the northeast, the newly renovated Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears

One note on Soldier Field. It is currently a designated national historic site, but there is discussion at the moment to have that removed due to the "spaceship" looking remodelling of the inner stadium part. Both the McCormick Center and Soldier Field are a mere quarter mile from the heart of the Prairie District, but separated by the train tracks, thereby giving the area a sense of isolation. Get your piece of this rock before it goes through the roof.

The loft

Now that I have my camera back, here's some pictures of where I am staying

I sleep in the bed that is in the upper part of the picture and there is another room behind the orange wall.

The dining area, with an amazing table. The chairs are by a Japanese designer and these same chairs are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The kitchen area

A view of the Sears Tower from where I sit as I type to you right now.

So, my idealized romantic experience with Chicago is starting the fade. The weather is warming up and the humidity is starting to rise. And most telling, I am starting to get snarled in traffic (specifically the Kennedy, Edens and Eisenhower expressways). Ahh, the pains of Chicago living are bringing me back reality.