PDT 1944-2006

Siobhan Davies Dance Company

Had dinner with Mr. R, Ms. N (from my office) and daughter Ms. H, and then on to the dance. It was...uh...interesting, but to be honest, I was dozing off.

China September 5-22

This is a marker for the China trip. If you really want to have a full account, John Polking, one of our co-travelers, kept a great blog while he was traveling. John's a great guy, and would be sympathetic to the idea: "never confuse effort with results."

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Here's John's blog: http://web.mac.com/jpolking

More later...

Three Bean Salad

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

The last shot is my bean reflected in the Bean.

The Unmentionables at Steppenwolf

More disfunctional family theater from Steppenwolf. This one by the same playwright as The Pain and the Itch, Bruce Norris.

Cubs v. Philly

Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones blazed the comeback trail, but the Cubs fell just short in the end. Jones went 4-for-5 with a two-run homer in the ninth and an RBI single in the seventh while Ramirez went 4-for-5 with a seventh-inning RBI double, but the Cubs mustered little elsewhere.

Rich Hill allowed five runs, two earned, and struck out six in six innings.

A New Haircut

August Garden

Ms. S's Birthday Surprise!

A surprise in the planning since January...and it worked, with lots of help from her friends. For Ms. S's birthday, I arranged for her to have Wednesday through Monday off, and unbeknownst to her, also invited her sister, her best-friend-since-they-were-10, and her college roommate come to Chicago. The culmination was pedicures and manicure for all, and dinner at Green Zebra.

Other highlights: Frontera Grill, fried chicken from Jewel, dinner at Socca,tapas with the workmates, sushi at Kamahachi, the Northalsted Days street fair, dim sum in Argyle Street neighborhood, and for no good reason, Manhattans.

Mr. B visit

My college roommate was in town for the Gay Games, and stayed with us for a couple of night. Went out to Ping Pong, and met his Chicago boyfriend.

House Theatre Benefit

Ira Glass (This American Life) and Peter Sagal (Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me) were the guest stars, and did a version of "Born to Run." (Or was it Thunder Road?) We learned the meaning of Vincemus Malum, bid on and got a week at a vacation house in Taos, and a good time was had by all. All done in great House style.

Boulder and Aspen

Did a work trip to Aspen (aren't we fancy) and stopped in to see Mom going and coming.

Sondheim in the Park

We've really enjoyed going to the Grant Park Music series, and this was a highlight. Great performance, and at curtain call, Sondheim was in the audience, and came up to the stage!

Gary Griffin, Director; George Hearn, Judy Kaye, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Brian d’Arcy James, Liz Callaway, and Danny Gurwin, Vocalists

Program:

Overture
A Weekend In The Country
Pretty Lady
Johanna
Not A Day Goes By
Multitudes Of Amy’s
Ballad Of Sweeney Todd
Epiphany
A Little Priest
Comedy Tonight
You Could Drive A Person Crazy
Agony
Getting Married Today
Marry Me A Little
Send In The Clowns

NYC trip

We did a trip to NYC in celebration of our 18/23/33 anniversary. (18 years of marriage, 23 years of living together, and 33 years of knowing each other.)

It was the weekend before the real dates, but it was what we could swing, and a great trip. The theme was vaguely "Porcelain." (I think I read somewhere that this was a "modern" theme for the 18th anniversary, but I could be making this up.)

Anyway, the reason for the trip was the exhibition of Boulder ceramics legend Betty Woodman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a very nice small, show, but gave a good sense of the range of her work. We stayed at the Shoreham Hotel primarily to be just steps away from our favorite restaurant Menchanko Tei.

Other highlights. Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument: a noon smoke at the Metropolitan. Dinner in Chinatown. The History Boys.

Fourth of July...we didn't go forth

A pretty low key Independence Day. Ms. S had to work both Saturday and Monday, so I went into work on Monday too. We bought a cool LED fan at Jewel...but didn't make it to the fireworks...again. Ummm...hot, sweaty crowds...love it.