I decide to go up to Evanston to see the progress Northwestern is making on the big new building that's being built behind my old dorm. As it turns out, not only is that building fairly close to being finished, they're doing something else behind the dorm, namely, excavating for the expansion of another building.
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| Sigh...the main entrance to my old dorm, the Communications Residential College (CRC). |
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| The new building. I'm not sure whether this is the front side, the back side, or the side side, but it's the side that's facing CRC. |
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| Excavating in front of Kresge Centennial Hall. Since this was the front of the building that they're blocking off with the construction, I can't wait to see what it's going to look like when it's finished. The directional signs in front postdate my years at Northwestern, but predate this construction. Because the whole area is fenced off, you can't get to any of the places listed on the signs from here. |
Today's big excitement happened on the way back from Evanston, when I stopped off at a Dominick's supermarket to buy Cherry Coke and a copy of the Chicago Metropolitan edition of TV Guide, and the computer accepted that my Vons club card was equivalent to a Dominick's club card, saving me well over 50 cents. (Both chains are owned by Safeway.)
Well, actually, the big excitement was the Cubs game. I'd bought tickets months ago for what I had assumed was going to be a normal weeknight Cubs game, but then the Cubs decided to debut a new rookie pitcher, Mark Prior. (The weather had actually warmed up somewhat, too.) So I was at Wrigley Field in the middle of a standing-room-only crowd, with such notable friends of mine as Stacey, Jer, Catherine, Bob, and Sandy (Levi, who has a partial season-ticket package, was several sections away) for what turned out to be the best game of the trip. Sammy Sosa hit a home run, Mark Prior pitched well, and the Cubs won. Levi and I tried to come up with "Prior" puns that would be in the newspaper headlines the next day, but the Chicago Tribune fooled us by going with a "Mark" headline.
| Stacey and Levi on the 'L' as we head for Wrigley Field. Levi is wearing a St. Louis Cardinals cap because he's completely insane and thinks every baseball game involves the Cardinals. |
| The view from my seat. |
| Closeup of the Wrigley Field scoreboard, in the top of the second with the Cubs already winning. |
I'd made tentative plans to go to the Ray Kroc Museum out in the suburbs somewhere with yet another friend, Wade, but he had to work, so instead, I took the 'L,' transferred to the bus, and ended up at this building to meet Levi for lunch.
That evening, I met many of the usual suspects for dinner at Merle's Rib Palace in Evanston (although I was the only one who ordered ribs).
Afterward, we drove to Wade and his wife Rachel's apartment for dessert, which for me was about five Oreo cookies because I was stuffed full of ribs.
| An "honorary" street sign near the University of Chicago. I wish my nickname were The Kool Gent. |
| Levi in his office, pretending to work at his high-powered job as advertising manager for the University of Chicago Press, but actually logging in so he can listen to a Cardinals game over the Internet. |
| Rachel and Wade. |
| Rachel and Wade's dog Lyle, sniffing around in his "house" that Rachel made out of an old TV. |