you may be wondering how things are going in chicago. you also may not care. if you fit into the latter group, stop reading now.

the good:

we got our stuff last friday and were essentially done unpacking by saturday afternoon. we’re good like that. our place seemed bigger than we remembered when we were here with no furniture, but it still seems big even with all our stuff here. that means, come visit.

visited noon-o-kabab, a mere 1 mile from our place, or 2 train stops. its the hot kabobs of chicago, methinks. very excited about this. their dill rice beats HK, but nothing beats HK’s chicken kebabs. noon-o-kabab delivers and they even include a tiny packet of sumac. a tiny packet!

had some mediocre mexican food. what do you expect me to say? i’ve been to houston recently.

started work. my desk is near a window and in a tall building, so that’s nice. i saw them setting up for lollapalooza earlier this week. getting to work has become a sort of game for me, i’ve shaved minutes off my commute by strategically switching trains, and am confident i can get it into the 45-48 minute range if conditions are right. the commute has given me some more time for reading, too, which is nice.

and the highlight so far: harvestime foods. yeah, that’s right, a grocery store is the highlight so far. the produce quality is great. and the prices: 10 limes for $1. 2 packs of strawberries for $2.98. pineapples $2.99. spinach - $1.50/bunch. seriously? the milk here is a dollar cheaper than anywhere else. they have fresh feta cheese - in various varieties (bulgarian, anyone?) i got a half pound of domestic for $1.62. lots of imported stuff for those who like to cook international cuisine. a ton of stuff is printed in russian, i need to brush up! i heart harvestime!

everyone here is nice. in fact, the average stranger/neighbor here seems to be friendlier than in the south. is that possible?

the bad:

adjusting to no central air. if you ever visited us in nashville, you know we like to keep it at a balmy 68 degrees in the house. no can do on the third floor with window units. our apartment came with two, we bought one more. and we had one fan (the vornado - thanks kbs), and bought three more. now we end up making the power go out at least once daily. oh well, we’ll be happy about the third floor warmth come winter

we miss our friends. its weird to not know anybody when you come from somewhere that it seems you knew everyone. but, our neighbors are super nice, and we’ve chatted with them a lot, and my sole coworker and i get along great, so there is hope!

the weekend:

shannon’s birthday! probably some sort of festivity.

i’ll likely spend a lot of time (and hopefully not a lot of money) here.