Rufus W. shimmied through the Ravinia pavillion Saturday evening, and it was glorious. Courtesy of a coworker who found out too late that she was going to be out of town for the show, our 15th row seats provided us with delicious views of some sharp sets. Also excellent were opening act The Magic Numbers.

(from Wednesday August 8): This week has been sorrrrrr muggy -- muggy enough to draw Maoxie away from the Alhambra-y cool of the bathroom tiles for only the most urgent of needs, and to relegate all but the best-looking cyclists* to peds and rolling stock. Needless to say I have joined my fellow average-looking commuters in moistly shuffling onto and off of the METRA for the past fiveish business days. Sigh. Hopefully tonight's cool albeit wet climes will prevail through the a.m. so I can bike into the world of rolling stock (and newly acquired barges per this evening's elevator convo with the man in charge) once again. If Maoxie's renewed genk is a harbinger in any way, out will be the oscillating redundancy of railcar-commute-to-gainful-railcar-based-employment-to-railcar-commute, in will be the invigorating zing of multi-modality.

The weekend before this was a full and satisfying one of old topography and the overlapping venn diagrams of old/newer friends. Rounding Lake Michigan in my auto I was able to fill up my Blarney Castle mug for $0.63 so many times you don't even know! Well. Danielle probably does.

The novelty of reading John Updike's Couples last year after swapping it for ____ at a restaurant in Banos, Ecuador wore off for me about halfway through this year's Rabbit is Rich. Then sometime during Wednesday's commute it came raging back and I am currently feeling warm inside and musing over whether I'm smart enough to appreciate its having won a Pulitzer.

*True? Maybe not, but it might be.

Running past a portly businessman in the dappled sunlight of N. Broadway this morning I was greeted by a sharp little gust of air that went on to divest my sidewalkmate of his yarmulke. It rolled through sun and shade down a couple sidewalk squares until he pounced on it like a seasoned Headgear Retriever. It was the first time I'd ever seen that happen and -- I won't lie -- it left me wanting more.

On another note, Maoxie and I are (still) looking for housing in Ann Arbor. Help us!

The nice little entry I wrote two evenings ago is saved on a post-it far from here but now, right now, I have two urgently important bits of information to relay:

I received some mail this morning indicating that the going Sunday-in-Uptown-Chicago rate for an ER doctor’s opinion (details here) and its corresponding iodine soak and plasters (2 applied in-house, approx 10 provided for personal use) is $314.88. Who would’ve thought?

In the corporate restroom on the 29th floor this morning after biking the 8.5 miles to work in heavy humidity I realized I’d brought a full change of clothes minus raiment to cover the area betwixt my ankles and waist. Shades of Fall 2000, Faltos? Ah, but that’s another story for another day. Fortunately this time I was able to purchase a pretty sharp pair of on-sale knickers at 10:00 once C.P.S. (geriatrically-patronized as to be expected) opened across the river.

And -- BONUS -- today Helvetica (the font, not film) is providing me with extreme catharsis. I may never go back to Trebuchet.

Immediately upon learning of my old compy's lack of regenerative Phoenixlike qualities I replaced it with a stunning new MacBook. Given my impending autumnal student status coupled with Apple's regular summer deals, I was privy to delicious treats including but not limited to 1) a free(ish) iPod and 2) a free(ish) printer/copier/scanner. Starved by the railway industry of the daily visual stimulus I truly need, I had WAY BIG FUN with the scanner yesterday. Here's the book I finished on the Metra today, the greater Tokyo area ca. the last quarter of the 20th century scanned from a crusty old free-giveaway U of Chicago library book and, below, some treasured album* cover artwork from 1510 W Ardmore.



*More here!