so then there was this

Power House High

So once again I find that I have not kept up with this in a while...  So where to begin.... It's been a bit busy since I ran the marathon.  First of all I have stopped running, whoops.  On the bright side I am back in the gym on a regular schedule so I guess that is good.

Chicago from the top of the Sears Tower

The Sears Tower

The week after the marathon I volunteered with my friend Kate at Open House Chicago.  The event itself was really a great experience.  I got to see sites I didn't even know existed and visit other sites that I never would get to see otherwise.  In all the three years I have lived here in Chicago I never knew there was a second Sears Tower.  The original Sears Tower was built in 1906 and is still standing today with the Sears name on it unlike that other one that we all still call Sears because seriously Willis just sounds stupid.  I didn't work in the Sears tower but I worked at a different site on the Sears Complex.  I was in the original Sears Power House which has now been turned into a high school.

Kate looking out over the city

I went around the rest of the day with Kate and we checked out some other really cool sites.  We went to the Marshal Field building and went into one of the window displays on State Street.  We also went up to the Board Room before we headed down the street to go into the bridge house on the Michigan Ave Bridge.  One of the really cool sites we got to check out was the Tribune Tower.  The views from the executive offices was amazing.  Kate and I also checked out the original Chicago Motor Club building and the Seventeenth Church of Christ with its giant organ.  Overall this was a great experience to see parts of Chicago I had never seen before.

Over looking the Chicago River from
The Tribune Tower

A few days later I boarded a plane headed to LA for work.  I have not been to California since I was a senior in High School.  Once I got to LA I hopped in my rental car and headed to meet up with my old College roommate Nick.  I hung out with him for a while at his place in LA before we went to dinner at a Burger place called Umami.  It was a good tasting a la carte burger very similar to DMK which is down the street from me.  After dinner I headed East towards my office in California to find my hotel.

I stayed in Ontario which for me is so hard to grasp that this is not in fact Canada but somewhere on the West Coast.  It was a very built up area but one really cool feature was the San Bernardino Forest just a short drive away.  After work the first day I took the road headed to Big Bear and stopped frequently along the way to take a view out at the mountains.  I took a lot of pictures one of them even has replaced my MSU background on my cell phone.  The second night after work I headed to Mt Baldy.  It was much closer and at first I was very disappointed in the bland rocky landscape but once I made it most of the way up the road turned and I was encompassed in solitude between giant mountains on both sides.  The sun was setting so I just parked my car and sat around listening to nature (and misquotes) and just watched the sunset.

The next morning I headed home but first I made a detour for the weekend in Michigan.  I went to visit my friend Kristin.  Once she picked me up we went to dinner and then carved pumpkins with her younger sister.  I have been wanting to carve pumpkins for a while.  I tried all last year and no one would carve one with me so I just gave up on the idea.  It was the first time it really felt like fall just sitting around having a beer and carving pumpkins on a kitchen table.  I would say all three of them came out really well even the "cat rocking out on a guitar".

Saturday we headed up to MSU for homecoming against Wisconsin.  We tailgated at Kristin's sisters house which happens to be directly across the street from my old house, "The Green Monster".  After I had a few drinks I walked across the street to meet the guys who live there currently.  They welcomed me in and showed me the bar they built as well as what had been left in the house when they moved in.  The only thing remaining from our days in the house were the old keg tops we had nailed in the rafter in the basement.  We never ended up leaving Barbie's house but just enjoyed the nice fall day drinking on the front porch.  I tried to meet up with Jon and Alan at Peanut Barrel but we couldn't get in so Kristin and I just ended up watching the game at her sisters house.  This was the first time since high school that I have ever been in East Lansing for a football game where I was not inside the stadium.  The game is so loud you can hear it everywhere around.

Gear check at the Monster Dash that I ran

A week later was Halloween.  It is a great time of festivity around Chicago.  Friday night I went to a haunted house down on the lake with a few friends.  It was really a great haunted house I thought specially for only $10 and I do really enjoy supporting the Chicago Park District.  Saturday before I went out to my friend Nagy's party I volunteered from 5:40am till about 2:30pm at the Monster Dash.  This is a race that I would love to run but this year I was just burnt out from running so i just decided to volunteer instead.  I had just signed up to be a standard volunteer but once I got there I immediately went to work helping above and beyond I think what was needed.  By the time the sun came up the director of the event had asked me to manage about 30 college students and run the gear check.  Not going to lie it was a little over my head at first but after about 15 minutes of figuring out how to set it up I had the gear check running like a well oiled machine.  Afterwards one of the ladies running the event told me this is one of the first races they have not lost someones gear which made me feel really good. 

Danielle, Kari, Ashley, Me, Josh, Nikki, Karen, and Bryan

Saturday night was the Halloween party.  I dressed up in my costume I had made from miseclanous items I had gathered around the city.  Once it all came together I was Peter Pan.  I had tights, tinker bell, a knife, and I was ready to party!  My friend Josh came up and we went to a friends for a pre gathering before heading to Wicker Park.  It was great to see lots of my friends all dressed up and there were some really impressive costumes.  Though I must say my favorite costume was of these two girls I met wearing cheerleader shorts and shirts that said Go "Ceiling" and Go "Osolating".  I though the ceiling fan and osolating fan idea was very unique and smart and after I got it I really liked it.  Considering how little sleep I was going off I must say I was proud that I made it till 2am before I started to get cranky and went home.

A lot more pictures

View of Chicago from the
103rd floor

Back in July after a few glasses of wine Kristin and I decided to do the SkyRise Chicago Tower Climb at the Sears Tower.  Kristin got sick and never ended up making it out here so I did this solo.  It was kinda lonely going up the stairs alone but it was still a great experience.  I had no idea what to expect as this is not a traditional event.  I started out in the lobby and climbed 103 flights of stairs (2,109 steps) to the Sky Deck on the 103rd floor.  I was shocked that it only took me 22 minutes and 22 seconds to reach the top.  I was also surpised to find out that I took 196th place out of 2,231 participants.  My legs were sore but they healed.  It was a strange event but one that I think I will repeat next year as well!

After finishing the tower climb

Last weekend I ventured back to Michigan once again.  This trip really did turn into a venture as Michigan saw its first real snowfall which I happened to be driving through.  There were a few times it was a complete white out and the roads had a few inches of that really slick hard packed snow that cars just love to slide on.  I might be one of the few that find these conditions exciting to drive in.  I know go ahead say im crazy I don't care its nice to have to actually drive a car rather than just sit there and move a wheel to turn.

Walking around at home

Otis going for a walk at home

Grapes in the vineyard

Inside my Grandpa's old dairy

Old door

I had not seem my sister in almost 4 months and it had been January before that so it was great ot catch up.  I also met her boyfriend Dave who she now lives with.  I guess I had better get used to that idea that my little sister is living with him.  Mostly we just hung out but on Saturday we went to my old roommate Nick's (the one in LA) film "My Barista" at the East Lansing Film Festival.  It was a short film which really was the best out of the ones I saw that day overall.  Another film called "Poke" I really enjoyed and had a great message but the sound didnt match with the characters which was annoying.  After the film we all went out to Roadhouse for dinner and then on to the Film Fest after Party at Beggars Banquet.  We had to cap the night off with shots somewhere so we tried PT's but apparently their last call is at 1:15AM so we walked across the parking lot to The Riv where they had no problem taking our money in exchange for shots.  It was really great to see Nick and some of the people I spent a lot of time with in college all back in East Lansing!


My Barista from Nick Hurwitch on Vimeo.

Jesse, Me, Nick after Nick's film out in East Lansing