Red Line, Saturday night, just after Midnight.

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My friend Amanda wrote about Chicago’s winters and summers back in April and came up with, I agree, the perfect analogy as to why we love our summers so much:

Now that I’ve survived two winters here, I have now realized the perfect analogy to explain this phenomenon for folks who don’t live here or are new to the area. Let’s say you’re walking down the street and an extremely overjoyed person prances up to you and says, “Isn’t it wonderful that I’m not punching you in the face right now?!” Of course you would look at them funny or try to avoid eye contact and escape, or perhaps just nod and smile and continue on with your day… Now, if that same person were to punch you in the face continuously for say, five (or more) months. When they finally stop and ask, “Isn’t it wonderful that I’m not punching you in the face right now?!” you would say, “Yes, oh yes! Not being punched in the face is marvelous!!”

Chicago, it’s April. Please stop punching me in the face.

Now that it’s June and the weather is still punching us in the face, over and over, giving us little shoulder jabs, just think how wonderful that one sunny day is going to seem. Whenever it gets here.

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The new rule around our house is that if one of us says “We should …” and the other person says, “Yes, we should.” then we do our best to just go do that thing.

So it was that this last weekend we found ourselves driving down to Kankakee River State Park, about an hour and a half south of where we live in Chicago, and riding horses.

It was $25 each for an hour-long guided ride, and it was well worth it. We rode most of the way in quiet, just soaking in the sounds and smells of the woods around us. The State Park Stables are run by Camp Shaw and everyone we dealt with was a peach. Afterwards we had a beer and lunch at BrickStone in downtown Borbonnais and it was a great topper to the afternoon.

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I’m glad the press release is dated March 31, because otherwise I might think this was an April Fools: The City has “suspended the ability of Chicago Parking Meters, LLC (CPM) to issue parking meter violations” until they fix the evidently overwhelming number of broken meters.

Sun-Times: Parking meter hikes, ticket writing to be delayed in areas

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Second City’s Training Center has cranked out some amazing comedy talent: Tina Fey, Mike Myers, and Stephen Colbert just to name a few. However, none of the luminary alumni are stand-up comics, and that is not what the theater or the training center is best known for creating.

Recently, though, the Second City training center has added stand-up comedy to its list of available classes. There is a teen program for ages 13-17 (which has a spring session beginning Saturday April 18), and an adult class taught by amazing Chicago comedian Dan Telfer.

The training center’s stage, Donny’s Skybox Theater, even has stand-up performances on Sundays. Comedy at the Don is a weekly showcase of local stand-up, sketch, and improv. You can check that out on Sundays at 9:30pm for only $5. Donny’s Skybox Theater is located on the fourth floor of Piper’s Alley, 1608 N. Wells.

Who knows? Maybe a current student will be the next big stand-up star.

(photo from Elizabeth McQuern)

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Fortune magazine has an article titled “How To Find a Job”. It has the usual job hunting tips so you can read it for that. I, however, am reading it to enjoy the antics of one of my favorite Chicago sketch groups Hey You Millionaires. The last page includes the comedy group demonstrating how NOT to answer interview questions.

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From the Lakewood Manor Players.

(Via Schadenfreude)

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Trust Us, This is All Made Up, a feature length documentary about Chicago improvisors TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi — stars of the long-running iO show TJ and Dave — will premiere in March at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. There is also a showing scheduled for April at the Independent Film Festival Boston. A little Chicago love, fellows?

(via Coudal)

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One of the best things about drinking in Chicago is the Tamale Guy. A hero to all good drinkers, so much so he has songs written about him. You’re a couple beers deep and getting hungry when in walks this guy with an igloo cooler filled with hot, tastey tamales of 5 for $5. I’ve had numerous conversations with fellow bar patrons expressing our desire to have a GPS tracker on the Tamale Guy. Well, now there’s a twitter page that aims to do just that. According to the page:

Tweet a reply to @tamaletracker when and where you saw the tamale guy and then users could be able to follow the progress by following twitter.com/tamaletracker

Genius. My weekends will now be filled with beer and tamales.

(photo by warm n’ fuzzy)

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Most people believe, just because the novels and movies tell them so, that Sam Spade (and his late partner Miles Archer) lived and worked in San Francisco. But here’s photographic proof that their offices were in Chicago, on Wells Street in Old Town.

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Raise your hand if you’re having employment and money woes. Oh, hello, most of America. Me, too! And if my boyfriend were here, he’d raise his hand, too. But he’s out chasing work, which makes it all the more important that his birthday dinner on Sunday be enjoyable and memorable.

Thanks to my half-Southern roommate, I had once been treated to the marvelousness that is Big Jones restaurant at 5347 North Clark Street. And since my boyfriend is a Southern boy at heart, and an adventurous foodie to boot, I thought a nice birthday dinner at Big Jones was the perfect choice.

From start to finish, our evening at Big Jones was delightful. Granted, we were there on a Sunday night, so we probably got more personal attention from our server than we may have otherwise, but honestly, from the complementary red pepper and cream cheese appetizer, to the crab cakes, to the super fancy bevvies and entrees, everything was just lovely.

Big Jones’ cocktail menu is an impressive array of specialty beers, carefully chosen wines, and mixed drinks that will have you feeling like sophisticated ladies and gentlemen even if you stumbled in the door exhausted from a video shoot in rumpled jeans and a hoodie (oops, maybe that was just me). I can vouch for the deliriously delicious The Original Sazerac, (Remy VS Cognac, Absinthe, Peychaud’s Bitters, and a touch of cane syrup), as well as the True North Cherry Coke (True North Cherry Vodka and Coca-Cola).

My boyfriend tore through a generous plate of Shrimp and Grits (with savory house tasso gravy and organic white hominy grits) while I dug into a sandwich made of crisp Black Eye Pea Cakes dunked in Green Goddess dressing. Both were excellent.

How much did our waitress’ attentiveness add to our enjoyment of our meal? A lot. When she noticed I was nibbling my way through the cherries in my True North Cherry Coke, she brought me more, in a shot glass. Then she bought us each a birthday drink, and I’m pretty sure she gifted us the Mississippi Mud Pie (with a single candle) we had for dessert. Incidentally, the pie was encrusted with some freshly caramelized marshmallows, prompting me to remark (accurately) that I could easily do with a small plate of nothing but toasted marshmallows for dessert and be very happy.

The music selection is also a perfect match - B-side Motown charmers and very pleasing Southern-tinged classic pop. So check out Big Jones if you are planning a special evening out - you’ll be glad you did.

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Blogger April Winchell came to a brilliant realization that in Obama’s book Dreams For My Father there is a character with a colorful vocabulary named Ray. Obama read for the audio book, ergo there are MP3’s of Obama cursing. She posted some jewels on her blog. Please to enjoy.

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The Academy of American Poets has a really great poster for National Poetry Month which is in April. The quote, “Do I dare/ disturb the universe?”, comes from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot. The poster is available for FREE for schools, bookstores, libraries, or community centers. You can also get a copy for a mere $5. Here’s the web page with more information and other posters.

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The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Chicago has more teachers looking for work then it does teaching positions. Which is frustrating to me because I’m a teacher who is looking for a teaching position (check the resume). But finding out that there is little to no demand for my elementary/middle school teaching skills is only half the frustration.

I worked on the west side for a year and a half before leaving the school. It was too stressful to teach every subject to a room of 33-38 8th grade students. I worked hard and got some great results, but paid for it with my sanity and blood pressure.

This is the other half of my frustration. I’m hearing that there are no teaching jobs available in Chicago, but I substitute teach in classrooms that can have 30+ kids in it. With all these eager, young, qualified teaching candidates wandering about the city, why are classrooms still over crowded? Why not work to drop class size to 20, and/or hire teaching assistants? I know, I know. Money. But can you imagine the future graduates of Chicago public schools if the students were in a classroom where a teacher could spend tons of time and attention on their learning?

So teachers, what are we doing for work these days? Those teach English in [insert foreign country here] ads are looking alluring, and McHammer, and Ed McMahon seem eager to give me cash 4 gold (don’t tell them I have no gold). Anybody want to go in on a teacher squatter commune?

(photo from Dequella Manera)

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The new episode of Anthony Bourdain’s food travel show No Reservations was set in Chicago tonight (they obviously filmed sometime in the summer). He did a good job of covering the wide range of food in Chicago — from gut-busting street food to adventurous-but-not-fancy like Hot Doug’s to high-end places like Blackbird and L2O. At first I was disappointed that they seemed to be doing a lousy job of telling you where exactly in the city these restaurants are, but that is, I suppose, the job of websites, and there’s a very complete list, including a map. The only thing missing from their list is The Publican (837 W Fulton Market), which at the time of the filming was just a concept and some dishes in Paul Kahan’s backyard, but is now open. And maybe somebody is going there for his birthday tomorrow (me, it’s me, I’m going tomorrow).

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